Blue & Green

I Bought This

My prelude to split hair.

I'm very hesitantly trying Manic Panic with low expectations—it's that notorious fade and other things that make the hair community cringe. (I swear, every time I've seen someone with Manic Panic hair, it just looks awful—extremely fluffy like it was very, very severely over-processed then they didn't care to do a treatment of some sort and the dye, which claims its conditioning, did nothing to re-hydrate it even a little bit!)

Review: Hask Keratin Protein Smoothing Deep Conditioner

I Bought This

First time using a Hask product (you know how I feel about placenta hair treatments, ugh) and first time using a keratin product!

It was only $1.77, so this isn't a bank breaker luckily.

Going RAW: A Non-Scathing Review of Hot Topic's RAW Hair Dye

I Bought This

I really wanted pink hair when I was about 14-15, about the time I started bleaching my hair myself.

I knew Manic Panic was severely hit-or-miss (usually miss) and expensive so I decided to try RAW... It didn't work first go-round. Nope. Second time, I mixed it in with some red and pink in an attempt to refresh my red hair before picture day. I'm not too sure it had any affect. Now today...

The Undercutting: First Try

Nothing to Disclose

After contemplating this through 2013 and into now, I finally decided to take the plunge and give myself an undercut. I tried to wait till Thursday, but I wanted time to be able to fix the edges behind my ear.

I wasn't inspired by the fact it was trendy. (When do I ever do anything trendy?) Trends tend to bore me.

Review: ApHogee 2-Step Protein Treatment and Balanced Moisturizer

I Bought This

I brought this up in my hair care post, and recently re-purchased it because my hair needs the protein.

Although the bags are empty now, I might as well show you the pictures I took, right?

I picked this up on a whim the first time, thinking it could help my hair and it did quite well. It was mainly due to my hair becoming gummy-mush once (luckily the bleach kit I had bought that time had a lovely re-constructor) and a fear it would happen again (despite it being approximately 6 months) made me pick up this treatment the first time around. It didn't happen that time—the worst of that was my ends felt dry! My hair has gone a bit mushy again, in a very mild way this time, so I knew a protein treatment was in order.

ApHogee is a fairly well-known professional brand that specializes in various repairing/caring products. The simplistic pink, purple and white packaging is easily recognizable. The prices make it fairly affordable on a budget for some pretty powerful product!

Enjoy my hideous yellow bathroom counter top. No, that's not age--it's actually colored yellow.

These packs are just white and pink foil pouches with purple lettering. Simplistic! There's also enough in both pouches to cover my slightly-past-shoulder length hair; longer hair might want two packets. My one gripe with these? The box they come in for retail sale kind of annoys me; it's a little bit difficult to pull out one of the packets because the slit in the box is rather small plus you can't really see if there's even anything in the box. Hrmph. Silly box.

Step One

Step One of the treatment is a brown, thin liquid. Gross. Just gross. It smells noticeably of egg and this whole treatment isn't recommended for those who have an egg allergy, likely because the treatment itself uses egg as a contributing (or possibly the main) protein. To get the best results, you'll need to apply heat with a blow dryer. I do heat ever couple of minutes mainly because my arms get tired.

Step Two

Step Two is a thick, creamy, deep conditioner. I love this stuff. It's wonderful. You need to do this step because it re-hydrates the hair. The protein treatment itself actually dries out the hair some, hence why you get a deep conditioner to combat the dryness. Always follow up any protein treatment with deep conditioning products! Pain in the butt, but so worth it for healthy hair. It's a key balance of protein and moisture.

This is a very easy to do treatment that I, as others, have used successfully at home! It does help eliminate my hair issues when it's weakened by bleach (like now ~ ). The price (only about $4) makes it an inexpensive treat for hair, though use it too often and you'll find you're doing more harm than good. A protein treatment would be good about every 6 weeks or once a month. Don't do them too frequently, like I said--it can be more harm than good. You can scoop this treatment up at Sally Beauty Supply or online in bulk if you can find it. I don't find myself needing this too often, hence why I don't just buy it in bulk! (Probably should...)

Sadly, I didn't get photos of the treatment. Didn't want to get the camera wet or get the protein treatment on it. Ewwwwww.

SPOOKEHDOOM

Hair Update: The Road to Going Blonde, Pt. 3

Nothing to Disclose

My hair posts are building up, huh?

Anywho, after lots of coconut oil and babying my hair, it's been feeling better. Obviously, it won't be perfect after just a few weeks--it needs a month or two!

Review: Jerome Russell PUNKY COLOURS Semi-Permanent Conditioning Hair Colour (Flamingo Pink, Plum, & Turquoise)

I Bought This

This was the first really good, bright, semi-permanent dye I ever bought.

The colors I've used, I've liked but they have their issues!

Hair Update: The Road to Going Blonde, Pt. 2

Nothing to Disclose

It's been two weeks since I did my bleach cap and I'm finished for now.

Magically, I had slight roots! What?!

REVEAL ALL THE SECRETS!: How I maintain my hair

Nothing to Disclose

So I thought I should do this post, because I do bleach my hair with some frequency and like everyone else, I get split ends.

But how do I get my hair looking and feeling healthy after I get an attack of the "bleach fluffies"?

Review: Ion Color Brilliance Powder Lightener

I Bought This

I change bleach a lot. I never really stick to one brand for long, partially because Sally's Beauty Supply might stop selling the bleach and that really sucks when it happens! (Only has happened once so far.)

So let's talk about this bleach!

Hair Update: The Road to Going Blonde

Nothing to Disclose

I told you it was coming. Didn't say when, but I told you!

So I'm going blonde...

She does it again! Lavender → Teal (BONUS: Tutorial!)

Yes, I changed again. It's been  4  5 months (I can't count apparently! This is why you don't write and edit a blog post at 3 AM EST) since I bleached my hair and roots, which have gone pretty insane. I have a photoshoot to do as well as probably makeup and a show to perform in.

I'm doing Teal for these purposes!

Sample Review: L'Oreal Total Repair 5 (Shampoo, Conditioner & Damage Erasing Balm)

Yep, a sample review. Not because I received a sample to review, but because Ze Boyfriend had sample packets of the shampoo, conditioner and damage repairing balm lying around. My hair wasn't feeling so great after I tried a yogurt mask on it.

Moral of the story: don't use Greek yogurt on your hair in an attempt to do a moisturizing yogurt hair mask.

GASP! New Hair: Platinum + (Nearly) Pastel Pink

Two weeks later... I couldn't hold out. Nope.

Yeah.. I'm pretty weak but you know what? I pretty much always baby my hair: if I'm not going anywhere for some days, I let my hair just relax and get oily but if I'm going somewhere then I use some dry shampoo. Heat? Only once a week, with a nice heat protecting serum. Lots of conditioner piled on in the shower. I plan to do a moisturizing DIY treatment for it.

Anyway...

Hair Update: Platinum + Pastel Pink

I needed a change. Badly.

I'm turning 20 soon (May 10th) and have had 6 different colors in my bangs over the course of last year. Only once was it an all-over, two-color combination. I don't do my whole head merely because I would need a stylist at a salon to do the back/part of the sides or a friend and maybe three packets of bleach to do my whole head at home. Anyway, I'm also trying to clear out my medicine cabinet and have been pretty into pastel hair as well as wanting something "natural," meaning platinum blonde bangs.