Haircare Routine

Hello!

I'm about to say something that will probably make you all think I'm incredibly conceited, but bear with me, please:

I get a lot of compliments for my hair.

There. I said it. But it's not what you think - I am genuinely surprised that I get so many! It's just hair, after all. And that doesn't mean I appreciate them any less, but yes, I'm always a little taken a-back by it.

On the whole, I have pretty healthy hair, though it hasn't always been like this, I've worked on it to get it this healthy, but I thought I'd write this post to tell you about what I use/do to keep it looking good.

In the summer of 2011, my hair was an absolute state. It was in horrible condition because I didn't look after it - I didn't get it cut, I had bleach highlights put in, I over straightened it.... you know the deal. So I had my nearly boob length hair chopped off to just above my shoulders.

I went from this:

(Taken on my 18th birthday in Icmeler, Turkey in July)

To this:

(Taken in a Camden cafe in August of that year)

My amazing hairdresser decided I was in desperate need of a chop in order to grow healthy hair again. I will admit that I cried when I got home - my hair is my security blanket and I felt so sad that it was gone. PATHETIC CHILD.

Anyway, I have since got my hair cut every 6-12 weeks and I've stopped bleaching it. For a while I switched from highlights to demi-permanent all over colour, but I'm back to highlights now and I get 10G in the Paul Mitchell range.

It's taken nearly 3 years, but now it's like this:

(Taken in November of last year in Oxford)

In terms of my own haircare, here are the details.

I wash my hair every other day using shampoo and conditioner for either dry and damaged hair or volume and body - I had crazy thick hair, but I like a lot of body so it doesn't lie flat. At the moment I'm using Pantene for volume and body.

Then, I occasionally use Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Relaxing Balm when it's still wet. I don't use this very often simply because it's expensive to buy so I'm using it very sparingly. I do get frizzy hair but I tend to just spray hairspray on a hairbrush and brush through, which also does the trick.

I then leave my hair to dry mostly naturally and brush through it when it's just damp (takes about 30/40 minutes). My hair gets VERY tangled in the bath/shower because there's so much of it so I use this detangling spray from Tantrum. It smells deeeeeeeeelicious and is a miracle worker!

I sometimes blow dry it, but I tend to use this blow drying brush from Tresemme which is fab! It leaves my hair silky smooth and frizz free. I don't do this very often though - it takes quite a long time and I don't like to use too much heat on my hair (I've learnt my lesson the hard way!).

Finally I use a GHD to either straighten or curl my hair. I've used GHD's since I was about 14 and I've the same iron since then - which is nearly 7 years! It's lasted me so well and is showing no signs (touch wood) of breaking.

And that's my barnet!

IOTD - Lana Del Rey. *Sighs happily* My Lana. I love this woman so much and her hair is amazing. Nuff. Said.

SOTD - Lucky Ones by Lana Del Rey