Aquis Lisse Luxe Long Hair Towel Review

My hair. It drives me nuts.  You know this, I've written about it endlessly over the years, and after recently buying it a hat to keep it quiet during the night, I thought it was time to treat it to a new towel too, so I got in touch with the lovely people at Aquis and begged them to let me trial their new, and rather lovely, Lisse Luxe Hair Towels. Luckily for me, they said yes, and now I'm the extremely happy owner of one of their long hair towels.

Now, those of you with long memories will remember that I bought my hair a special towel last year too, one specifically designed to encourage curls which is deliberately not that absorbent, but the Aquis Liss Luxe is designed to dry your hair super-quickly without damage. Also, to dry it superquickly without being made of those nasty really cheap microfibres, which, if you're anything like me, set your teeth on edge and just have that "squeaky" feel against skin.  I have a few (cheap) microfibre turbans, but they are just so horrible to the touch that I can't bring myself to use them.

Made of a blend of polyester and nylon called Aquitex, Aquis towels are super light (literally a few grammes, even in the larger sizes, rather than a pound or two for terry-towelling) and actually feel wonderfully luxurious to the fingers. They're slightly textured without that horrific squeaky microfibre feel.  They're amazingly aborbent for such a light towel, too.  I have a lot (and I do mean a LOT) of hair, and it takes hours and hours to dry naturally even after an hour or two wrapped in a normal towel usually, but I've found that the Aquis Lisse Luxe towel can cut that drying time at least in half, if not more. In fact, after around half an hour in the towel last time I used it, my hair felt more than halfway dry already, just about perfect to start heat styling.  If I could ever be bothered blowdrying, that is, which I can't, usually.

Unlike my curl-towel, which at £19 I thought was expensive for a clearly cut by hand with scissors and unhemmed piece of stretchy cloth (even though it does a sterling job, frankly), my Aquis Lisse Luxe towel at £30 seems priced correctly, even though it is on the pricey side.  The quality of the cloth, the finishing details of an envelope to keep it in when dry (it even comes with a pony tail band!), and best of all, the time saved from not having to use a hair dryer to rough-dry before styling all make me happy. And no squeaky microfibre!

The website for Aquis claims that using the towel after every wash for three weeks will improve the health of your hair - I'm still a little sceptical about that, but then I never ever rub my hair with any kind of towel anyway, my hair just doesn't need that kind of help creating frizz, frankly.  However, for drying my hair gently, but quickly, and without having to carry around several pounds of heavy terry-towelling on my head for a couple of hours, it's already definitely a winner in my book.  Any improvements to the health of my hair will just be the cherry on the cake, frankly.

You can buy the Aquis Lisse Luxe Long Hair Towel here for £30.

The Fine Print: PR samples and purchases


This post: Aquis Lisse Luxe Long Hair Towel Review  originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Rahua Shampoo, Conditioner and Omega 9 Mask

I've got backups, don't worry!

 I love this range.  And luckily for me, my hair loves it too.  My hair is coloured, porous and prone to frizziness, and Rahua hair products deal with it admirably.  Rahua nut oil is well-known for its hair care properties owing the small size of the molecules which help it penetrate the hair shaft, and the basic Rahua range (as opposed to the Voluminous - my hair does NOT need volumising!) is great for not stripping hair colour and leaves hair in fab condition after using.

Rahua products are organic, 100% natural, and free from synthetics, parabens and sulfates as well as being vegan.  Alongside all that, every sale benefits native tribes, who harvest the rahua nuts the range is named after, in the Amazon.

The shampoo and conditioner both have a gentle slightly nutty-woody scent that's partially derived from the palo santo oil that works alongside the rahua oil to protect and strengthen hair, and the Omega 9 Mask (which I use interchangably with the conditioner) has a sharper, slightly more citrus, but still subtle fragrance, and they're all a pleasure to use.  The shampoo lathers nicely, and the conditioner/mask both noticably nourish my hair without stripping the colour, and I like using them a lot.  My hair is better behaved because of them, even if I am not.  Also, none of them irritate my sensitive scalp, which is a huge bonus!

The price point is a little wince-inducing, starting at £30 for the shampoo, and creeping up to around £50 for the mask, but a little of each goes a long way (and I alternate using these with cheaper products such as Shea Moisture, and they last a very, very long time as a result. These bottles are actually products I've been using since last year.  It helps), and as your hair is the one accessory you take absolutely everywhere with you, I'm a firm believer in treating it well.

You can find Rahua products at Cult Beauty.  Try the shower gel too, it's lovely!

The Fine Print: PR samples and purchases


This post: Rahua Shampoo, Conditioner and Omega 9 Mask originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Shea Moisture Superfruit Complex 10-in-1 Multi-Benefit Shampoo, Conditioner and Masque

This review is so overdue that it's a little embarrassing! However, since the Shea Moisture Superfruit Complex 10-in-1 Multi-Benefit range arrived, it's definitely become a staple, and I've got through backups of everything pictured here.  It's a great range.

Long cult products in the US, I think there were lots of us UK beauty bloggers who were super-excited to see  Shea Moisture finally make it over here, I know I certainly was!  Now, around a year since they appeared in Boots stores, they've become a staple on many bathroom shelves - they were the first thing I unpacked when I moved house recently, that I do know.  Paraben-, mineral oil-, sulfate- and silicone-free, the Superfruit Complex range is perfect for needy hair that gets a bit lank when too-rich products are used.

I have wavy, coloured and porous hair.  Initially, I thought the Superfruit Complex products were going to be too light to have much of an effect on my hard to manage hair, but I was wrong.  Whilst the products are light in texture, they really do pack a conditioning punch, and my hair loves this stuff.  I alternate between using the conditioner and the masque usually (bear in mind I only wash my hair 1-2 a week usually, so it's a weekly masque treatment), but my hair is left soft and smooth and easy to style no matter what I've done to it in the days preceding, or what styling I subject it to afterwards, either, it makes my barnet lovely and shiny.  Not overly-fragranced, there's just a gentle sweet smell that fades quickly, so it won't clash with any other fragranced products you'll use afterwards.   

Once I run out of the latest batch, I think I'm going to try the Raw Shea and Cupuacu Frizz Defense range, as the combination of this and my Silke London hair wrap means my hair requirements are changing.

I'm defnitely a convert, and at £10.99 a product, it's definitely cheaper than my other shampoo range of choice, more of which anon ...

The Fine Print: PR samples and purchases


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Silke London - Isla Silk Hair Wrap

 My hair has a mind of its own.  It's fine - but there is a hell of a lot of it - and it is by turns frizzy, wavy, flat in parts and curly in others, occasionally all of them at once, but the thing it most likes to be is ENORMOUS. I am always looking for ways to keep it under control.  Since it developed the mysterious habit of trying to choke Mr Lippie in his sleep, I decided that Something Must Be Done, and investigated the role of hair wraps for night-time.

I've known for a while that sleeping on a silk pillowcase has helped my hair be smoother, less frizzy and easier to control, but I was disappointed when looking for silk wraps that most wraps you can buy are actually man-made fibre.  Excellent for keep hair in place, perhaps, but not what I was looking for on the defrizzing front.  Then a friend posted a link on Facebook that mentioned Silke London hair wraps and I was intrigued.  They looked beautiful!  Gorgeous jewel-coloured silk turbans (to be honest, the thought of actually "wrapping" my hair was making me nervous, I'm a cack-handed muppet at the best of times), easy to wear, and stunning items in their own right.

Yeah, this isn't me.  I look more like Hilda Ogden in mine

The hardest part was choosing which colour I wanted. The Dita is purple and red; The Eva is black; The Sofia is ivory; and the Poppy is hot pink and orange.  Eventually I settled on the Isla (pictured), which is green and blue, and bought myself one as a birthday present.  It is gorgeously presented in it's tiny colour-co-ordinated box, and folded beautifully, it'd make a perfect gift.

The Silke London website promises that the use of their hair wrap will help your hair in the following ways:

1. Repair, protect and prevent hair breakage and damage
2. Maintain your style for longer
3. Save time spent restyling
4. Balance oily roots and dry ends
5. Wash your hair less
6. Reduce hair loss and boost hair growth
7. Eliminate frizz and flyaways
8. Naturally condition hair
9. Dramatically enhance your hair’s appearance

 Now, whilst I am cursed with uncontrollable hair, I'm also incredibly lazy, so anything that promises to reduce styling time and leaves you able to wash your hair less, well, I'm IN, so yes. I was champing at the bit slightly when it arrived.

Having used the Silke Hair Wrap for a good few weeks now, I can say that it definitely delivers on most of those promises, actually.  It's very easy for me to see that my hair is less frizzy after a few weeks wear, and I have to use less styling product now.  Before, I'd be using three pumps of Paul Mitchell Skinny Serum just to get my hair out of the bathroom once it had been washed, and my hair would just drink the stuff, then beg for some styling cream for afters.  Now it's just one pump, if that, and no styling cream (unless I'm going to use a heated appliance after), and it's less coarse-feeling in the mornings.

But the major difference I've seen is less breakage, it's amazing.  With the house move and everything this year, it's been a while since I've been able to see my hair dresser, and normally if I'd leave it three months between visits, the bottom three inches of my hair would be feeling like straw (the ends of my hair are subtly bleached, I've been having balayage for years now), but this time around, even after so long, my hair was only slightly damaged at the ends, and far less prone to breaking off when I run my fingers through it.  I couldn't be happier with the results. 

Even if I do look like a massive plonker wearing it, and my husband has developed an irritating habit of humming "... you can leave your hat on..." when entering the bedroom as a result.  The problem is that whilst I undoubtedly have a shedload of hair, it's mounted on my tiny, tiny pinhead, and sometimes the turban spins round a bit when I move my head.  Or slips over my eyes.  But all you lovely people with normal-sized bonces won't have these issues.  The wrap is soft, and the elastic is loose, so you won't get band marks around your face when you remove it.  It's comfortable to wear (though it can get a little warm on these really hot summer evenings, bear in mind).

So yes, £45 well spent, I think, especially on a cost-per-wear basis.  I just wish I'd bought the black one instead ...

The Fine Print: Purchase.
 
This post: Silke London - Isla Silk Hair Wrap  originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

How to deal with annoyingly frizzy and wavy hair

 My hair is one of the banes of my existence. It's wavy, it's frizzy, and it's a bit curly.  This was it a few years ago when I attempted a quick blow dry, something I've not bothered even trying to do since.  It's big, my hair, and not in a good way, it simply wants to fill the room with itself, and choke anyone who gets in its way.  It hates you, my hair, but it hates me even more.

 A couple of years ago, I went the "No-Poo" way, and that was a complete disaster, my hair was lank and horrific, and never ever felt clean.  Then I tried using hair gel as a "cast" to create curls, and that was better, but my hair was still prone to frizz as it dried - I prefer air-drying to blow-drying, always, but the results can be unpredictable. Basically, with my hair, you simply never know what you're going to get on a day by day basis.  But now I think I've cracked it.

The difference is "plopping". Something you've probably heard of, and the idea is - basically - to tip your head over, as if you were about to scrunch-dry your hair with a diffuser, and then just lower your curls onto an absorbent material and wrap them up.  Where it differs from a normal turban-style wrap with a towel is that you don't use a terry towel (they remove too much moisture), and you don't stretch out your hair into the twists of whatever material you're wrapping your hair up in.

So, I bought myself a curl-towel from Boucleme, and have been trying it for myself.  I also treated myself to some of their curl defining gel (you need something that sets hard for this, otherwise it won't give enough hold to your curls as they dry).  I washed with Rahua shampoo and used their hair mask (but to be honest, you can use any good and moisturising shampoo and conditioner combo that you wish, these just happen to be my hair trials of the moment).

So, how do you plop? Here's my (simple) step-by-step guide:

Wash and condition your hair as normal, using a good, moisturising conditioner.
Squeeze out as much water from your hair as you can with your hands, trying not to agitate it too much.
Apply your curl-forming product whilst your hair is still sopping wet (and be quite generous with it) all over, taking care to scrunch a bit extra into the ends to help start the curl-forming process
Have your curl towel (you can use a t-shirt if you don't have a special curl towel, but not a normal terry-towel) onto a flat surface.
Tip your head forwards, and gather your hair together as if you were going to put it up into a high-ponytail onto the crown of your head
Gently lower your curls into the middle of the material you put onto the flat surface, until your head touches the towel.
Bring the front and back (long edges) of your towel together onto both your forehead and nape of neck, leaving two long "wings" at the sides, where your ears are
Twist those wings until the fabric gathers over your ears, then tie them up at the back of your neck. 
Look at yourself in the mirror, marvelling at how stupid you now look.

By the way, there should be no hair in the wings of your material, it should all have been in the centre, so when you stand up, your hair is all now on the top of your head.

DO NOT RUB YOUR HAIR AT ANY STAGE.

And voila, that's IT! Just leave the towel on until your hair is no longer sopping wet, and remove it to let your hair air-dry (you'll have to arrange your curls slightly to ensure they fall properly) or diffuse your hair through the towel until there's only a very little moisture left.  If your hair looks like it will be a bit fluffy once you've taken the towel off, just add a little more gel.

Once your hair is completely dry - the gel will be crunchy at this point, btw, but it's necessary! -  scrunch the curls gently in your hands.  The gel will disappear, leaving you with soft, FRIZZ FREE curls in their natural curl formation.

Makeup free, aside from mascara.  It's my blog and I'll leave off the makeup if I want to ;)

This was how mine looked after 30 minutes or so "plopping" in the Boucleme towel, then I left it to dry naturally for a couple of hours. I gently scrunched it to break the gel "casts" my curls had dried into, and this was the result!  My hair is soft, bouncy and shiny, I really like it!  I had no idea I could get those beachy curls without heat, or any real effort at all, so it was an added bonus.

The Boucleme towel has made all the difference for me, it's basically cotton and bamboo with a hint of elastane and it works really well.  For the price of £19 though, I would have expected hemmed edges, rather than the rough scissor marks that are on mine, as £19 is quite expensive for what is, essentially, a big rectangle of stretchy t-shirt fabric.  The curl defining gel by Boucleme though, I can't really fault. It smells fresh and clean, dries hard, creates fab curls and disappears completely without a trace once you scrunch it out.  At £15 for 300ml, it's a big (and not cheap) bottle, but as it's designed to be used in a generous application, so I'm not sure how long it will last.  I'll definitely be re-purchasing though, regardless. I used to use Deva-Curl which you can only source from Amazon, and it's breath-takingly expensive for hair gel, as they import it from the US.  The Boucleme is just as good, if you ask me, and much easier to find.

So, please share your curly hair tips with me in the comments, I'll be ever so grateful!

The Fine Print: PR Sample


This post: How to deal with annoyingly frizzy and wavy hair originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Phytoplage Sun Protectant Hair Oil and Recovery Mask

Sharp-eyed readers might have noticed there's a bit of a theme this week ... holidays!  This is because I'm preparing to head off into the sunshine for a while, and, in typical "me" fashion, I'm concentrating on the products I'll be packing instead of the clothes ... (I hate summer clothes generally, it's always a problem when you basically dress in black all year round!).

I actually trialled both of these during my honeymoon in 2013, and thought they were so marvellous that I'm taking them along with me during this year's holiday too.  I have coloured hair, and it is also rather curly, so hot climes and saltwater tend to do a lot of damage to what I laughingly call "my hair" when I'm away.  The oil spray protects from pool chemicals and UV rays from the sun during the day, meaning you can both swim and sunbathe without worrying about your hair frying, and the hair mask (which I use as a normal conditioner when abroad) helps soothe frazzled strands after a hard day in the sunshine.

They smell delicious too. There's a matching shampoo, but I don't bother with that, usually just taking whatever I normally use, but it's hard to beat these two for hair protection in the sun.

It's that or a hat. And I look like an idiot in a hat ... Phyto haircare is available now, and these two products will set you back £16 each.

 
The Fine Print: PR Samples


This post: Phytoplage Sun Protectant Hair Oil and Recovery Maskoriginated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum - Get Lippie Hall of Fame

Apparently, just writing "I LOVE THIS STUFF" doesn't make for a proper review, but I've always been a bit woolly on what constitutes a real, "proper" review, so that will have to do.  I've tried other hair serums, of course, but only the Paul Mitchell Super Skinny seems to weigh my hair down enough to keep it from frizzing up at even the tiniest opportunity, without weighing it down so much that my hair goes lank and flat.

It wasn't the first serum I ever used, of course, that would have been John Frieda, but this is the only serum I buy over and over and over again, and it works whether I'm wearing my hair curly or straight - I've found that some serums are good for one or the other, but rarely both, and as I never know what mood my hair is going to be in till I've woken up, it's good to have versatility in my styling products! 

What's the one styling product you'd never be without? 

 The Fine Print: PR Sample

The Even Finer Print: We're not featuring full fragrance reviews on Get Lippie at the moment owing to illness - please see The Parosmia Diaries for more.


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Liz Earle Botanical Shine Shampoo and Conditioner

 Kalahari melon.  Apparently, they're a melon that grows in the desert, and an extract from their seeds has made it possible for Liz Earle to re-release their haircare range.  Initially rather underwhelmed when the Liz Earle haircare offering was just the shampoo alone, I've found using it in conjunction with the new conditioners is actually really good for my slightly coarse, definitely frizzy and (slightly) coloured hair.

Designed along their skincare lines, ie one "cleanser" (shampoo) to sort every possible type of skin (hair), then a specific "moisturiser" (conditioner) to address your particular concerns. There's one shampoo, and three silicone-free conditioners in the , one for fine hair, one for normal, and one for coarse/coloured hair.  There is also a hair "oil" (which I haven't tried), but I notice that the ingredients list Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethiconol, Cetyl dimethicone and Aminopropyl phenyl trimethicon, which are all silicones, so don't be fooled by the "oil" moniker if you're going silicone-free.

Surprisingly, given my hair's propensity for being big and frizzy and basically out of control, the normal hair conditioner actually suits it best. I found that the one for "dry or damaged hair", which I initially found myself drawn to, was actually far too heavy, and led to greasiness.  But, I find the normal hair conditioner just about right, enough moisturisation to not leave it frizzy,  and it leaves my hair soft and shining for days after I wash - I don't wash every day, never have, never will, frankly.

All in all, I'm reasonably pleased with the conditioner, I remain a bit meh about the shampoo, but together they definitely get the job done. They cost £10 per tube.


The Fine Print: PR Sample

The Even Finer Print: We're not featuring full fragrance reviews on Get Lippie at the moment owing to illness - please see The Parosmia Diaries for more.


This post: Liz Earle Botanical Shine Shampoo and Conditioner originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Everyday Essentials: Dove Advanced Hair Series - Pure Care Dry Oil

By Get Lippie

I just can't get that excited about expensive hair care, I'm afraid. Give me a £36 lipstick, or a £250 perfume, and I can justify that to myself (not so much my bank manager, admittedly), but a £30 shampoo?  Something that just goes down the drain?  Man, I have a hard time thinking about that.  Ironically, a £20 shower gel (something else that just gets sluiced away), I can get excited about.  Rational?  Logical?  Not really, but, you know, no one ever became a beauty blogger because they were entirely rational about things.

Anyhoo, Dove have recently released their Advanced Hair Series, in three different types.  Oxygen Moisture for creating volume in fine, flat hair, Youthful Vitality for  ... er ... more mature hair types and Pure Care Dry Oil which gives moisture and nourishment to dry and treated hair.  I've been using the Pure Care Dry Oil range for a little while now, and it ticks all my haircare boxes, cheap (£5.99 to £9.99 at the time of writing) simple, and - most importantly - effective.

There's a whole bunch of science behind the Dove Advanced Hair series, which I had explained to me, and now can't remember, but essentially, what it boils down to is that Dove spend a lot on their R&D, and in this range, it shows.  In the Pure Care range, there's a shampoo, conditioner, mask and an oil.

You know how some shampoos leave your hair really rough during washing, and you desperately need conditioner to smooth it back down again?  Well, I've found that washing with the Dove Dry oil shampoo leaves my hair really soft, and feeling like it has already been conditioned.  As my hair currently has plans to take over the planet in this humidity, I've never tried not using the conditioner (anything to keep it tamed, ANYTHING), but I find that the shampoo and conditioner together definitely leave my hair soft and shiny, and less frizzy than usual.  The mask is good too for those weeks when my hair is dryer than usual.  I love the oil, I use it every time I wash, as it's perfect for those of us with slightly unruly locks, it beats down frizz, and helps keep things under control.

Infused with pomegranate and macademia oils, the range has an unexpectedly beige formula which is refreshing in this age of pearlised white haircare formulas, and it has a pleasant and (in the nicest possible way) inoffensive scent which won't clash with any of your body products or fragrances.

So yes, cheap and cheerful and effective, what more could you want in your shampoo?

The Fine Print: PR samples initially, but repurchases since.

This post: Everyday Essentials: Dove Advanced Hair Series - Pure Care Dry Oil originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

BaByliss Pro Perfect Curl

 Somewhere, down deep inside Lippie Mansions is a graveyard.  A dark and forbidding place, it is where hair gadgets go to die.  There are straighteners, wands, tongs, dryers, brushes, brushes that spin, brushes that don't spin but do heat up, special combs of all kinds, heated curlers, rollers what you are supposed to sleep in, bits of string you're meant to tie your curls into, crimpers, wavers, totem poles, seriously all kinds of things, all of which are completely useless to me.  Many is the time I've thought that someone should start a support group for cack-handed muppets with insane hair and a slight tendency towards clumsiness.

Luckily, I no longer need that group, thanks to the BaByliss Pro Perfect Curl.  I was lent one a couple of weeks ago so I could try it out, and now I'm in love.  If I could leave my husband for a gadget, this would be the one ...

Seriously!  It's so simple, so easy to use, and gives such great results, it's A M A Z I N G.  I've never had such good hair, either so simply, or so quickly.  It's as simple to use as a pair of straighteners, because basically, the machine does all the work for you.  All you do is feed your hair into the round section at the end, hold it closed till the machine beeps, then out drops a perfect curl (do you think the clue is in the name?), keep going till your entire head of hair is curled, and there you go!  Here's how it worked on my hair:

This is what my hair looks like when airdryed and combed through.  Scheckshy, no? Apologies for not wearing any makeup here ... anyhoo, this is what one curl looks like after going through the Perfect Curl (and after a bunch of liner and lipstick got applied too):

Simple, and took less than 10 seconds to form without snagging, tangling or burning my fingers.

You keep forming curls until your entire head is covered, in my case, this takes around 15 minutes.  Bear in mind, I have a TONNE of hair though:

Now, if you like the Taja Sevelle (google is your friend if you don't understand my 20 year old cultural references) look that I'm sporting here, you could stop at this point and just spray yourself with a bit of hair spray and go. It was a bit ... severe ... for my taste, so I shook it out a bit:

And then a bit more:

Because I like it messy, frankly.  Best of all, if you use a decent heat spray, your curls will last several days:

This is, without doubt, a life (and, indeed, hair)-changing gadget, I love it.  By experimenting with the various heat and timing settings you'll find the one that gives the curls you like best, lower heat and a shorter time in the curler will give you looser waves, higher heat and longer time will give you tighter, more ringlet-y curls.

I've had the Perfect Curl for a couple of weeks now, and my hair has been commented on a LOT in that time, a hell of a lot, even by people who tend not to notice this things at all.  Bosses, and the like, you know.  I've even had a few people find themselves unable to resist touching it!  They're dead now. Worst part of all of this is the price, the BaByliss Perfect Curl Pro is around £200 or so, but you can pick up the similar BaByliss Curl Secret (which is identical bar a heat setting or so) from around £120 at Boots.

Now, how to tell my husband that I've replaced him ....


The Fine Print:  I was lent the Babyliss Pro Perfect Curl for two weeks only - and there were hot, salty tears on giving it back, I can tell you.  One of these is now currently on my wishlist.  Which contains one thing.  THIS.  Do you hear me, BaByliss??????

This post: BabyLiss Pro Perfect Curl originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Aesop Shine Oil

I've been styling my hair curly recently, and I've found that it always tends to lead to dryness at the ends.  Luckily, this turned up recently, and I'm a little bit in love with it.

It's an extremely lightweight oil, that spreads easily in the hair - you just need two or three drops which you spread over your palms, then smooth lightly through the mid-lengths and ends of your hair.  It doesn't build up, and - best of all - it doesn't contain silicones.  Far, far, far too many hair "oils" on the market are basically cocktails of silicones with just the scantest addition of argan oil or something, it drives me crazy, as some silicones can build up and actually make the condition of your hair worse.  Not to mention that a lot of them can be heavy and lead to greasiness if you overapply, as what they're actually doing is forming a coating on the outer layer of your hair (therefore making it look smoother, and shinier), rather than being absorbed by it and conditioning your hair from the inside.

Ironically, actual oils are less greasy!  Counter-intuitive, I know. But if you just use a couple of drops, your hair should absorb the oil, and make it less dry or brittle from the inside.  And I do mean DROPS, btw, if you need more just add it drop by drop until you feel like your hair has softened up.  When I style my hair straight, two drops is enough, but when I've had it curly for a day or two, then three or four would be more in order.

You can also use a full pipette (or two), as a pre-wash conditioning treatment.  The oil is chock full of conditioning ingredients such as borage, sweet almond, olive and jojoba oils, and smells lovely, herbal, and somehow fresh at the same time.  You can leave the oil on overnight, or just an hour or two before washing it out.  Whilst it hasn't cured my dry hair problems overnight, (I need a protein treatment or two, I think), it sure has made it less of an issue.

Aesop Shine hair oil will be available from Aesop very soon.

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A Curly Girl Survival Guide. Sorta ... with Label M Protein Spray

Suddenly finding myself back in curly hair has involved a massive learning curve.  After 12 years or so of daily dependence on hair straighteners and other - more chemical - aids, learning to live with curls has been ... interesting, to say the least.

Surprisingly, I've found that the best thing for my hair is to do as little as possible to it.  After years of daily styling, the concept of "leaving it alone" is a scary one!  But, I think it's necessary.  Whether your hair is naturally curly, or ... ahem ... chemically enhanced, here's some tips I've picked up along the way, and I'd love to hear yours too!

1) Leave it alone: excess touching, combing and brushing will make your curls fuzzy, frizzy and bushy.  The less you play with your hair, the better it will look.  I'm a hair-twirler, so this is surprisingly tough!  Still, hopefully it'll stop me getting my fingers stuck in it now ...

1a) Allied to that, I don't brush or comb my hair at all inbetween washings, now I only comb (wide-toothed, naturally) when my hair is wet and coated in conditioner - it's all my hair needs.

2) Curly hair is less shiny than straight hair because the curved surface of the hair doesn't reflect light in the same way.  It's also less shiny because the oils from your scalp find it more difficult to travel down the hair shaft, which means that the ends can be drier than the scalp.  To combat this, I find I want to use a hair mask more often,  but only on the lengths, I'm avoiding putting them on the scalp at all costs!

3) Don't rub: when shampooing and drying, try not to rub your hair in too many different directions,  it roughs up the cuticles on the surface of the hair, and makes it frizzy.

4) Apply serums, hair oils etc when your hair is sopping wet.  I squeeze excess moisture out of my hair then apply a squeeze (or two) of hair oil - currently using Paul Mitchell Awapuhi -  then squeeze out more moisture, and only then dab gently at my hair with a towel.  I usually add a bit more oil once I've dabbed. I no longer wander around the house for an hour with a towel wrapped around it before adding styling product, this leads to fuzzy, undefined curls.

5) Hair does get tangled up a bit between washes, so if there is a big knot that I need to  deal with, I break out the wide toothed comb, spray on a bit of detangling spray (Mark Hill and Lee Stafford both do good ones) and gently work away at the knot, from the bottom.  Spray on a bit more detangler after, and your curl should pop back.

6) Don't wash your hair every day - it can be stripping to the drier ends, and it can overstimulate your scalp leading to the dreaded flat (greasy) roots and straw-like ends.  Not a good look.  I was mine every two days, and every three if I can get away with it.

7) To "reactivate" your  curls between washes, styling sprays are your friends.  Personally, I'm currently addicted to this:

 Label M Protein Spray, which is a conditioning treatment, and also one of the nicest smelling hair products I've ever come across.  Full of wheat proteins, and scented with jasmine and sweetpea, it helps refresh curls that have gone a bit limp, and also has excellent conditioning properties.  Lovely stuff!

What are your top tips for dealing with curly hair?
 

This post: A Curly Girl Survival Guide. Sorta ... with Label M Protein Spray originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Wedding Preparation - Creative Curl at Trevor Sorbie

Sentences I never thought I'd say ever again: "I've had a perm".

 
Don't worry, this isn't the perm I've just had, this is the perm I had in 1988.  It'll become clear why it's here shortly, I promise.
 
Sometimes you just get an idea into your head and it will NOT go away.  Since I first read about digital perming a few months ago, the idea of getting one has seeped into my brain, and I HAD to have one. But do you know what's an horrific idea?  Getting a major change to your hair in the final weeks before your wedding, that's what.

Regardless, I did it anyway.  Thanks to the wonderful team headed up by Nathan Walker at Trevor Sorbie in Covent Garden, I haven't regretted it, and I'm now the proud posessor of a head full of the curls of my dreams. Look:

This was taken just a couple of hours after processing, but it still looks nice and natural. Actually, what it looks like is what I always think my hair should  look like after air-drying, but never does. My hair is naturally about as curly as this, but only in certain sections, the rest is either just a bit wavy, or not quite straight, and all of it is fuzzy. I've never been a wash and go kind of a girl, even though I'm lazy enough ... if I couldn't be bothered styling my hair, I'd just tie it up. However this is what my hair should look like all the time, even when I don't do a thing to it from now on.  That I can live with!

 I'm not going to lie to you, it's a loooooong process (I was in the chair for around four hours, all told), your hair is clarified with various shampoos, then treated with various potions to protect any damaged areas, and only then is your hair chemically softened, all this before your hair even sees a roller!   

Once your hair is soft enough, your hair is rolled up onto the rods (completely different to rods of old, I think they used about 16 in my hair, of which there is LOTS), and then finally it gets digital.  Essentially, the rollers used have an electrical core, and once they're all connected to the base unit, they heat up to around 190 degrees, which means that your hair essentially "steams" the curls in.  Once your rollers have cooled a little, the neutralising solution is used, and your curls are left to set.  Then you're essentially ready to go!  We used a little mousse on my hair (talk about a blast from the past!), then finger dried it into ringlets and diffused it slightly.

I've left it to airdry since then, and went to a wedding with the resultant beachy-waves.  I'm delighted. Now I can wash and go, and if I want to style my hair with straighteners or whatever, I still can.  My hair isn't crispy, crunchy or processed-feeling, and it feels right, like my hair should.  The team spend  a lot of time in consultation with you to make sure you're prepared for what you will get, and will advise on both the correct haircut for your new curls, and new products too.  They really do know what they're talking about.

Of course, now I get to spend a couple of months playing with new styling products! How do you look after your curly hair? 

The Fine Print: Get Lippie was a guest of Trevor Sorbie. 

This post: Wedding Preparation - Creative Curl at Trevor Sorbie originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper