Nanokeratin Befri Brush

I know what you're thinking "what a crazy looking brush"... yep, that's exactly what I thought the first time I saw it too.

This Brefri brush is by a brand called Nanokeratin, and it really is something very different.  Here's what they have to say about it "a Next Generation professional brush that brings immediate hair relief. BeFri Brush, based on revolutionary patented technology, features a unique Kinematic structure with eight free-moving arms that glide through your hair and smooth it out. Indulge in wonderfully gentle yet effective brushing that actually conditions and strengthens your hair, leaving it healthy, shiny and full of body. So stop pulling at your hair and start pampering it. With BeFri Brush".

What really surprised me about this brush is how each of the eight arms move about, I've never used a flexible brush like this before.  For me, there was two main ways I found it to be really good for my hair.  Firstly, thanks to how it's designed, my hair dried much more quickly with this brush as the air could flow through and around it much more easily.  Also, again because of the moving arms, when I had a knot it didn't tear my hair like a normal brush would.  It forced me to stop, and brush differently and more focussed so not to damage my hair.  It's also really lightweight.

If I was a hair dresser I can see that having a really lightweight brush would really help.  I've really liked this and it's become my go-to brush for when I'm drying my hair, I love that it's more gentle on my hair too, something I've become more concious of since I lost so much hair after having Squidge (don't worry, it's growing back!).

Here's the catch, this lovely brush is $65.  While I'm super grateful that I've been able to try this as a gift, and feel that it's definitely the best hair brush I've used, I will say that I don't think I could ever part with that much money for a hair brush.  However, if I was a hairdresser then it really is something I'd consider for my professional kit.

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*Post contains a PR sample

My hair saviours from Lush

Just lately my hair has been horrific.  Say I wash it on a Monday morning, by Monday evening it'll be starting to feel a bit lank and weighed down, and by Tuesday afternoon it's feeling and looking pretty horrid, heavy and greasy.  I refuse to wash my hair every day, and if I'm not going anywhere at the weekend, I'll leave it 3 days.

I've tried all sorts of shampoos and conditioners, John Frieda, Tresemme, L'Oreal and ultimately all led to hair in desperate need of a wash on day 2.  

I used to always get my shampoo & conditioner from Lush, but I found them to be quite expensive, you're looking at around £10 a bottle, but they're full of good natural ingredients and not with any rubbish in them.  When I used to use them, I never really had issues this bad.  So I decided to re-invest and see if they could work their magic again.

For shampoo I went back to my trusty I Love Juicy, it has lots of fruits in there and lemon which is great at cutting through the grease.  The great thing about this too, you only need the smallest amount to generate a good lather, I use about half the amount I would with other shampoos.  I can feel that it cleans my hair really well, leaving it ready for conditioner.

For conditioner, I've gone back to my old favourite, Veganese.  I'm not overly in-love with the scent, however, once rinsed off I can't smell it on my hair anymore.  There's lemon in there to help keep your hair shiny, and seaweed to keep it lovely and soft (I think it's the seaweed smell I'm not keen on).  Only real negative is that you need to use more conditioner than you feel you should as it is quite light and doesn't spread over the hair that well - it absorbs in fast!

Now for the important stuff, how it actually makes my hair feel.  Well, I still wash it every other day, but my hair doesn't look and feel awful on the second day.  The day I wash it, it has volume, but is still soft and has lots of movement in it.  Once again I'm not a slave to the horrendous grease that I was getting just 12 hours after washing my hair.

Thanks Lush for making such great shampoo's and conditioners.

This months Biggest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Jaina from Which Beauty Box UK

 

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Ojon rare blend oil total hair therapy

Ojon rare blend oil combines different ingredients to bring you a hair treatment that claims to boost moisture, nourish, repair, tame frizz, prevent heat damage and reveal shine.  It contains rouge oleifera, tahitian monoi oil, tahitian kukui oil, african marula oil, ximenia oil and kalahari desert oil - all are from things like seeds from melons, extracted from trees, coconut oil (renowned for its great qualities for hair) and nut oil.

To use it, just apply it like any other hair oil after washing your hair and before you blow dry it.  Shake it up so it goes cloudy like in the picture above.  Here's where it gets tricky, from my experience, if you use too little, you won't feel the benefit, and if you use too much, as I found out last week, your hair will look oily.  The ideal amount for me with quite long hair was about the same size as a 1p - a 2p size was too much, and less than a 1p I found to be not enough.

When I did get the size right though, my hair was lovely.  It looked healthily shiny (not greasy), it had a nice weight too it and not too flyaway, and best of all, it felt lovely and soft and just looked really healthy.  In fact, if I had to sum this up in one word, healthy would probably be it.  I love how it makes my hair look and feel, especially now I've figured out how much I need :)

This isn't a cheap product by any means, it'll set you back £30*, but do I think it's worth it? Yes, definitely.  A little goes a long way and will last you well.  For your money you get 45ml of product, it's a little more expensive than say, Moroccanoil, but this has arguably better and more natural ingredients.

This months Biggest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovelyLuchessa from Beauty Expression

 

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X Factor hair with TRESemme

Welcome to my first ever hair tutorial!  I'm sorry I haven't been blogging every day this month, I've been busy knitting! I know that sounds like a bad excuse but I'm heading to Ireland for xmas and trying to make as many scarves for Christmas presents as possible, so I've needed to spend lots of time on that. Anyway, on with the tutorial (this was shot as a video, which I'll embed below).

This tutorial is for the side sweep as worn by Abi Alton in the X Factor.

Step 1

Wash your hair with the TRESemme pro shine wash shampoo* & conditioner* :)

Step 2

Dust your hair with heat protector spray, I'm using the TRESemme with keratin protector.

Step 3

Dry your hair with your hair dryer (randomly, my hair dryer is the TRESemme one too - bought this a couple years ago) :) 

Step 4

Sweep your hair to the side and separate your hair into sections to use your curling wand to create beautiful curls.

Step 5

Spray your hair brush with TRESemme lasting hold fixing spray and brush through your hair to loosen the curls and set in place.

Step 6

Your hair is now done, and just like Abi Alton from the X Factor :)  Depending on how long your hair is, you might need to pin your hair at the back to keep it in place, and if you're heading out, perhaps add some hair jewellery to sparkle things up.  If your hair doesn't hold a curl well, dust over your finished hair the lasing hold spray :)

Here's the video tutorial :D

This months Biggest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Jess from Coffee & Cosmetics

 

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Moroccanoil hair treatment

I really like hair oils and over the last year, I've built up quite a collection, which now includes Morrocanoil.  I've sampled Macadamia, Happy Hair Day's argan oil, DGJ Organics and more.  But over the last couple of weeks I've been using a different one.

** Can you see the tiny sparkles in the oil? **

The Morrocanoil treatment is a golden brown oil with a soft gentle sparkle going through it (this doesn't translate to the hair).  You only need to use a pea sized amount, just warm it between your hands and run through the mid length of your hair to the ends.  My favourite bit?  The scent, it smells so good and leaves your hair smelling lovely.  It leaves my hair feeling soft, nourished and healthy.

What I do wish is that it was in a better dispenser, I really wish it had a pump, the problem with oil in a bottle is that it's far too easy to pour out too much and overdo it, but that's pretty much all I'd change. The price is quite fair considering the quality of the product and the fact that hair oils do go a long way, so unless you're a hairdresser you wouldn't ever really need a big bottle.  The bottle I have is a 25ml bottle (travel size) and I've been using it each time I wash my hair (every other day), and it's only gone down a tiny bit, not bad.

All in all I really like this product and will definitely replace it when it runs out.  It's actually lovely to be writing a positive review today after nearly a week of writing quite negative ones :)

You can pick up this size bottle of Moroccanoil treatment for £12.95*.

This months Bigest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Karen from Liverpool Lashes

 

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Hair care haul

That's right, two hauls in one week!  This is the danger of me going food shopping with the hubby.  No danger of buying too much food, nope, the danger is me walking down the hair care isle and the makeup isle.  Luckily my local Sainsburys doesn't stock much makeup and what's there is too often used or wrecked.  They do however, have a great hair care selection.

I've been a fan of the Happy Hair day people for a long time - my favourite being their marshmallow & coconut shampoo and conditioner, it makes my hair so so soft and without any parabens or SLS.  When browsing the hair care isle tonight (by tonight, I mean Thursday evening when I'm writing this) I saw that they'd launched an argan oil shampoo & conditioner, and they were on offer (2 for £4.99 - basically half price).  It would have been rude not to buy them right?

It was actually the argan oil serum that I found first, but it was in the wrong place, when I found where it came from I saw the shampoo & conditioner too, after that stroke of luck I had to buy all three!  I already had in my paws the Aussie 3 min miricle conditioner, I haven't tried the one for coloured hair yet though, so I'm keen to see what that'll be like.

Fear not though my friends, I'll be reviewing all of these over the next few weeks once I've given them a proper road test, so watch this space :)

This months Bigest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Stacie from Life is worth the fight

 

Written by Georgina Kent

My Saturday cleanse

I don't know about you, but I really look forward to my Saturday morning shower.  I'm not in a rush like I am any other day of the week and I use the time to have a good cleanse and wash the stressed of the week away.  I don't use an excessive amount of products, but here's a look at what I use, and why :)

Clarifying my hair

At the end of a week of using Pantene on my hair, I like to use the Naked shampoo and conditioner (I use the one for coloured hair) to remove the build up of products & silicone and strip my hair back to it's natural form.

Adding moisture

After I've used the Naked shampoo and conditioner, my hair can feel a little dry if I leave it at that, so I delve into the luxurious Macadamia deep repair masque, working it all through my hair, I leave it in for about 10 minutes, and rinse it off when I've finished washing.

Cleanse & polish

As it's a Saturday and a bit of a pampering, I opt for my best shower gel :)  I adore my Korres Vanilla and cinnamon shower gel, it's not too overpowering but leaves you with a lovely sweet subtle scent and nicely hydrated & clean skin.  After washing with that, I use a body scrub, now, until today (I just ran out!) I would have used my Soap & Glory sugar crush body scrub, but that's gone for the moment (until I replace it), so now I'm using up my grapefruit body scrub from The Body Shop, this smells amazing!  If you can't tell, I like really fresh zingy scents for scrubs, it's what I'm going to get out of the shower smelling of, and I usually shower in the morning, so it's a great wake-up scent.

Moisturise

Once I'm out of the shower and dried off, I use my Korres fig body butter.  I wouldn't really call it a butter as it doesn't have that buttery melting consistency, but it does absorb well and feel amazing :)  The scent is delicate and sweet, so it won't overpower the lime or grapefruit of the body scrub, but just mute it slightly and add a little warmth.

Smooth and protect the hair

Finally, before drying my hair I use 2 pumps of the Paul Mitchell smoothing balm, I had this in a beauty box a while ago and really like it, I'm not sure I'd replace it as I have so many little samples like this to go through from various beauty boxes, but it does help calm my hair and frizz without making it greasy or feeling weighed down.

So that's my Saturday cleansing ritual - the products change now and then as things run out and I try new things, but this gives you an idea of my little Saturday morning routine :)

What products do you use for your pampering or cleansing each week?

This months Bigest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Shang from The Feminine Crusade

 

Written by Georgina Kent

BaByliss curling wand

Babyliss curling wand from Very.co.uk £20-£25* 

They say "The BaByliss 2285CU Curling Wand is a salon quality hairdresser styler, giving you the freedom and flexibility to create curls, flicks and soft waves. Simply wrap and curl - it's that easy.

Designed with advanced heat technology, the BaByliss Curling Wand has a ceramic conical barrel that heats up to 200°C for long lasting salon quality results."

As you may know, I went to a wedding at the weekend, I used the opportunity to do something a little different and curl my hair with my new Babyliss curling wand*.  I'm not the kind of gal who likes big tight curls or ringlets, I like big waves, but I don't have hair long enough to really pull that off, not as long as I'd like anyway.

This curling wand has a couple of really nice features.  Firstly, the way the cord is attached to the wand, it swivels so that the cord doesn't get all twisted - if only my hair dryer had the same attachment!  I really like how clear the LCD display is telling you what temperature it is too.

One of my pet peeves with my old curling wand is that the hair would always slide down to the end of the wand, which meant I'd have to keep re-curling it until I could put enough tension into the hair to make it grip, which isn't great as it's a bit damaging to the hair.  But with this wand it has little rubbery grippy circles going down the ceramic wand to help grip the hair.  It really does help, I didn't have any instances of my hair slipping down :)

All the photo's you can see of my hair curled were taken about 3 hours after curling it, and with no hairspray or product to hold the curl.  My hair still had a bit of a wave at the end of the evening, but not much.  But had I used hairspray or a curling serum, I know it would have lasted better :

This months Bigest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Shang from The Feminine Crusade

 

Written by Georgina Kent

Feature - Festival hair

You’re going away to a festival for the weekend and you want to look your best, but a decent shower is hard to find at a festival, and there’s much better things to be doing than washing your hair anyway! So here are some top tips in order to make sure your hair still looks great the whole weekend:

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The night before you leave, give your hair a wash using intense moisturising conditioner, tong your hair in order to build volume and shape and try to leave your hair as big as possible without using too many products- it will naturally settle and become more manageable over the next few days. You could also try some temporary pastel dip dying to make your hair really stand out over the weekend.

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Whilst at the festival, plait your hair before going to sleep to keep a curl and avoid frizz. In the morning, turn your hair upside down and spray salt spray or hairspray at the roots. Shake your hair through, toss it back and you'll have naturally looking wavy hair for the rest of the day.

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The number one product you're going to need over your festival weekend is dry shampoo- it adds texture and builds volume at the roots, disguising any greasiness. But be careful not to use too much! If for some reason all the shelves are clear of dry shampoo, then talcum powder will also do the job. You're also probably going to need a tangle teezer to help sort your hair out in the mornings! Avoid using any oil based hair products, your hair will have plenty of natural oils secreting anyway so you don't want to add to it. You also want to try not to touch your hair throughout the day, as all the dirt on your hands will be passed to your hair, making it greasier even quicker.

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To help draw attention away from greasy hair, accessories are a must. The top festival hair accessory is of course the floral headband- it can act as a focal point so as to distract from your roots, and can be paired with plaits, such as a loose fishtail, to give you a whole new hairstyle. Other top festival hair accessories are hats (to hide your entire head of hair, if it really gets too much), bows (to hide problem areas of greasiness) and head scarves (to tie into your hair, keeping it half hidden, whilst still looking good).

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On the very last day you can put your hair up into a fashionable messy bun, using hair grips and a hair doughnut- this will ensure you can enjoy your last day at the festival without worrying about how greasy and lifeless your hair is looking. Of course, the most valuable piece of advice is watch out for any drinks (or any other more questionable liquids) being thrown over your head, if they land in your hair then there’s not a whole lot you can do to fix it!

Author Bio:
Milly O’Sullivan is a hairdresser and blogger from England. Her interests include fashion and dance music. For all your hair styling needs, Milly recommends The Chapel. 

What's your favourite way to wear your hair at a festival?

This months Bigest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Stacie from Life is worth the fight

 

Written by Georgina Kent

Feature: Hairstyles to match your face shape

Hi guys, today I have a guest post for you :)  Just to clarify this isn't sponsored, I haven't received anything for adding this to my blog, I'm just nice like that :p  Enjoy!

Find The Perfect Hairstyle To Match Your Face Shape

Flicking through a hairstyle magazine is enough to make you want to book your next hairdressing appointment. However, impulsive trips to your closest hair salon, might feel exciting at the time, but can leave you with an unflattering haircut you wish you’d never had. Hairstyles are a bit like dresses; that gorgeous bob may look fantastic on a model, but it won’t necessarily do you any favours. Knowing the shape of your face is the first step towards showing it off at its best. Before we explore which hairstyles would be perfect for your face, let’s find out what your shape is:

Oval Face

Definition: your face is roughly 1.5 times the width, creating a smooth, oval outline.

To be honest, if you have an oval-shaped face, you’ve lucked out. Most hairstyles look good on you, so you can’t really put a foot wrong. Take advantage of the sleek, centre-parted, straight hair style which is so hard for any other face shape to pull off. Stay away from short layers as they can make your face look long.

Round Face

Definition: your face doesn’t have any striking angles and is roughly as wide as it is long.

Long hair or shoulder-length hair is perfect for round faces. Unfortunately, short hair doesn’t work for you in general, so veer away from those pixie cuts. Create lots of volume and layers to frame your face. A blunt fringe or a side-sweep will help break-up and give structure to the roundness of your face. High, piled-up dos narrow out your face shape too, so slim down your cheeks with hair and beauty supplies.

Square Face

Definition: nearly as wide as it is long, but with square-like angles.

A swept-back front and high-volume, large waves softens the angles of your face and balances out the width for a softer look. Section off your hair and wind a strand around a curling wand, then run the iron through your hair for spectacular waves. Square faces also look great with choppy layers flicked out with hair product and a fringe to counteract the angular forehead. Do not drag your hair back into unflattering up-dos.

Heart-Shaped Face

Definition: narrow jaw with wide cheekbones or forehead.

Choppy layers in a nice, thick, long bob add extra lift where your face needs it. Also, a fringe has a softening effect on your face, so whether they are eyebrow-length or swept across your face, choose bangs to reduce length. Generally, heart-shaped faces can support many hairstyles, but you’re not as versatile as the oval face, so know your strengths.

Long Face

Definition: your face is longer than it is wide.

Why the long face? We have just the hairstyle for you. Don’t go for long hair as it can extend your face further. If you must wear your hair long, get layers that reach your cheekbones and curve around your chin. Add some waves to create the illusion of width to your face shape.