Slow grower

About to years ago now I cut my hair to chin length from just past my shoulders... At the time I thought it would look amazing, as I'd had short hair before and loved it. However after I cut half my hair off I cried because I remembered that I wanted to grow it long :'(
Anyway, It's really a good thing, I had so much damage from years of constant dying and frying that if I had kept it long the ends would have looked terrible. In other words, I had to find a sliver lining to make myself feels better.

About a year ago I discovered The Long Hair Community Forums. It's a well of information and really quite useful. I've just started looking on there more often recently and this speared me to start taking better care of my hair, as I slipped in the summer and stopped caring for it so much...

So today I looked at some pictures, and although my hair has grow, I expected more. I know it was really quite short, but looking at these makes me think 'is that really all it grows in two years?!'

After the cut, Feb 2010, sorry about the dumbass expression :s

A year on, March 2011

Nov. 2011

Is it just me or has it hardly grown? The difference between the first and last pictures is significant, but between this year and last year? Not so much :/
I was however cheered up by the photo to the right which I took today (after I showered, hence my hair looking rather stringy). My hair is about the length it was when I last cut it, and unlike two years ago, it's not constantly pissing me off! I'm thinking this is because I'm taking better care of it now. It's thicker then it was and doesn't play up as much. It used to look like I straightened it everyday because my ends were very dry, but now they're lovely and normal.
I'm happy with my hair growth, I just wish it would hurry up and be what I consider 'long'. When I was a child I could sit on my hair, that's long! Having shoulder length hair, to me, is the most annoying stage, because you can't just brush-and-go, yet you can't put it up in fancy styles because there isn't enough of it :/ It just sits there, looking a bit out of place...

Anyway, that's my rant about my hair over with. How long do you spend on hair care?

Thanks for reading :)

Superdrug Colour Effects an experiment.

This is what I used to hopefully create a ginger tone to my muddy blonde hair. My theory was that using the conditioning treatment at the same time would allow the colour to sink in more. I used my current favourite conditioning treatment, which I shall be blogging about at some other time and comparing it with some other lovelies...

So, to start I mixed the two Colour Effects together, que gross looking picture #1:

I then added in the conditioning treatment and mixed further:

I did initially put this mixture on dry hair, but it didn't feel right so I massaged some water in (if that makes sense) with my hands and the consistency seemed to become more normal...

The result:

Thinking about it now, I don't think using the conditioning treatment worked all too well. Although my hair felt nice afterwards, I think it actually stopped the colour from getting into my hair. Maybe if I used only a little bit my hair would have been moisturised AND coloured. However I do like the colour which the Blonde and Red mixed together gave me and will be doing it again ;)

 Before                                                                                        After

 

Thanks for reading :)

Spring face creams.

Left; Superdrug Vitamin E intense moisture cream 100ml, £2.99 Right; Superdrug essentials, moisturing cream 150ml, 99p when bought

These have been by far my favourite face creams over the last month and my skin has been a whole lot happier, along with my wallet ;) I use the Essentials one at night as it's cheaper and I feel better about slapping more on my face, it also takes longer to absorb into the skin. It's fragrance free too which I always think is better, the less ingredients the better in my opinion. When I wake up my skin isn't greasy which I've found with some other creams/night creams I've tried, it just feels moisturised.

The Vitamin E one I use just before applying makeup. I used less of this because I don't want to wait for ages for it to sink in, but on the occasion that I have used more it's not been an issue. I've just finished my Jergens ultra Hydrating lotion, which I've loved for years and I'm not going to be repurchasing it. Not only is there the animal testing issue, my skin just doesn't like it any more. What used to be a nice, non-oily moisturiser, now takes 10 minutes to start absorbing into my skin, meaning I have to wait around to apply makeup and leaves an oily residue in it's wake. Not something I want to be dealing in the morning, I like to save as much time as possible! The Vitamin E is moisturising, not oily and although it has a scent it's not an overly strong one. Coming into summer I a moisturiser to not leave oil on my face and this product seems to be doing very well for me at the moment.

5 stars to these two products this month, I like them and will continue to use them throughout the summer months! 

What skin care products are you planning to use this summer?

Thanks for reading :)

Superdrug Hot Cloth Cleanser

I'll be honest, when I first bought this, I thought it was a slight gimmick. I thought the same of the Liz Earl Hot Cloth Cleanser. It's a cleanser which comes with a Muslin cloth that you dip in hot water to take makeup off. I've been using face wash and I flannel for years, big deal... I take it back!

In need of a new cleanser, I thought I'd give in to the hype and buy this while Superdrug were having a 3 for 2 on this range. For £5.99 you get 200ml of the cleanser and a Muslin cloth, all packaged in a little box.

On getting this home I went to use it and was confused by the instructions. Normally any face wash you use with water tells you to wet the face first. Not this. Following the instructions, I genitally rubbed the cleanser into my face then washed it off with the cloth. I loved the result. All my face makeup and most of my eye makeup came off in one go. I rinsed the cloth and with another wipe all my eye makeup came off.

Needless to say, I love this product. It has the perfect consistency, has a very slight and not at all over powering scent and best of all, it makes taking off my makeup amazingly quick! My skins condition has improved so much since I've been using this and I genuinely think it's because I've been taking all my makeup off everyday. Sometimes I'll only take eye makeup off and not bother with washing my face because I'm tired at 2am from work. With this, I take everything off and my face is slightly exfoliated from the Muslin so my skin is nice and squeaky clean ^.^ The only thing I had I problem with was water proof mascara, although it did make a good dent in it, but I'm not too bothered by that, it's not a magical product after all.

£5.99 is quite a lot for me to spend on makeup removal, however I think it's worth it for this product and I highly, highly recommend it to anyone... anyone at all!

Thanks for reading :)

Vitiamin E exfoliating facial scrub from Superdrug

When Superdrug were having a 3 for 2 on their Vitamin E range (which I believe is still going if you're quick) I picked up this. I haven't have a facial scrub for a while and thought I'd try this one out for size. It has what I would consider a slightly runny consistency and quite large chunks of 'grit' in it. Upon reading the back, I discover that the 'grit' is in fact oatmeal, which isn't too surprising and I'd sorted guessed anyway.  

I normally use it after using my hot cloth cleanser and finish off with the Vitamin E face cream. All this leaves my skin feeling soft and looking fairly clear, which is all I really want :)

It's a nice enough scrub and not too expensive at £2.99, but it reminds me why I don't often buy exfoliators. Think about it, a lot of people already have oatmeal - aka porridge - in their cupboards already, along with other everyday goodies which are good for your skin. At the end of the day you don't need to exfoliate everyday and it doesn't take long to make up something to do it with. However, if you are someone who really can't be bothered to make anything, this is a perfectly good product. It feels nice on the skin, isn't too harsh and it's fairly natural too.

Do you buy exfoliators or do you like to make your own?

Thanks for reading :)

Sparkly shoes!

Not too long ago, I saw Jorges sister wearing some shoes which I really liked but I forgot to ask her where she got them. The other day I went into New Look and found these, which are exactly the same as hers but in blue (hers were cream with gold sparkle). Don't you just love it when that happens? 

They were £7.99, more than I would normally pay for shoes like these, but I love them and they will be my summer shoes when I'm not working!

Thanks for reading :)