How to dip dye your hair without damaging it..

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Hey guys,

Today I thought I would share with you some advice on how to dip dye your hair without damaging it. As many of you know, if you want to achieve the dip dyed look you are most probably going to have to use bleach on the length of your hair, or at least a high lift dye with strong peroxide. Neither of which are particularly good for the condition of your hair.

I've been rockin' the dip dye look for some time now, but if i'm honest the maintenance of my style is an outright pain in the ass!

My hair is red at the top and fading to an orange/strawberry blonde.  To achieve this look I had to bleach the ends of my hair twice with bleach and 30 vol peroxide. 

From doing this the ends of my hair are now frizzy, damaged and tangle very easily (they look a bit straw like in the picture above). I've had to use deep conditioning treatments twice a week and even still the condition still isn't great. 

I also need to touch up my roots every 6 weeks and the red runs into the blonde and stains it a different colour every time I wash my hair.

So, you might be wondering that the solution is to having healthy hair and still be bang on trend? Check this out!.. (P.S I can't believe how cheap these are! Take a look at the link below)

Seriously, this is my exact hair colour.. I NEED to get me some of these!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/108768548/ombre-red-auburn-to-gold-blonde-clip?ref=sr_gallery_6&ga_search_query=hair+extensions&ga_search_type=all&ga_facet=hair+extensions&ga_view_type=gallery

How freakin' AWESOME are these ones..

http://www.etsy.com/listing/113495774/peacock-ombre-black-hair-extensions-with?ref=sr_gallery_22&ga_search_query=hair+extensions&ga_search_type=all&ga_facet=hair+extensions&ga_view_type=gallery

http://www.etsy.com/listing/113495774/peacock-ombre-black-hair-extensions-with?ref=sr_gallery_22&ga_search_query=hair+extensions&ga_search_type=all&ga_facet=hair+extensions&ga_view_type=gallery

http://www.etsy.com/listing/114326344/six-pieces-clip-in-ombre-remy-human-hair?ref=sr_gallery_17&ga_search_query=hair+extensions&ga_search_type=all&ga_facet=hair+extensions&ga_view_type=gallery

http://www.etsy.com/listing/119154169/light-pastel-dip-dyed-hair-clip-in-hair?ref=sr_gallery_17&ga_search_query=hair+extensions&ga_page=2&ga_search_type=all&ga_facet=hair+extensions&ga_view_type=gallery

http://www.etsy.com/listing/93109244/pastel-tie-dye-tip-extensions-dark?ref=sr_gallery_17&ga_search_query=hair+extensions&ga_page=4&ga_search_type=all&ga_facet=hair+extensions&ga_view_type=gallery

http://www.etsy.com/listing/98353330/tie-dye-dip-dyed-hair-clip-in-hair?ref=v1_other_1

I honestly can't believe how cool these are. I'm going to dye my hair all back to one colour and just buy some of these clip ins. It will save me so much hassle and hopefully I'll be able to get my hair back to good condition again.

If you want some decent, affordable extensions check out http://www.buyhair.co.uk too.

What do you think of this style? Are you loving these clip ins as much as me? Leave me a comment below :)

Until next time...

Carly xx

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How I dropped 3 dress sizes - Hula Hoop Workout

As some of you may know I hula hoop for fitness. The hula hoop workout is fun, accessibly, easy and most of all addictive!

I've been hooping for about 5 years now and in the first couple of months after discovering the hula hoop workout, the weight just fell off me. I was receiving comments all the time about how my shape had changed too.

Because hula hooping worked so well for me I decided to start my own hula hoop classes and teach other women how they could lose weight in a fun, healthy way too!

Here is a couple of video's I created teaching you how to hoop and how to workout with the hoop ..






I would recommend a hula hoop like this Hooping4Life Silver Rainbow & Black Medium (40") Weighted (625g) Exercise & Dance Hoop with instructional DVD for beginners.

Have you tried hula hooping for fitness before? Would you try it? Leave me a comment below :)

Until next time..

Carly x

Sleep In Rollers - Honest Review

Hi Folks,

Today I want to do a review on sleep in rollers. I decided to get some rollies after watching a video on Youtube of a girl ranting and raving about how good they are. (It turns out she is the official 'spokes person' for this product). I didn't know this at the time and thought her review was great and very honest. 

In the video you see her putting the rollers in while chatting about how soft and squishy they are, then laying down on a pillow and promising a great nights sleep, apparently they feel like an 'extra cushion' for your head (her words). 

Convinced by her video, I asked my mother to get me them for my birthday, they cost approx £17 for the one's shown below, that's not including P&P.

When I finally got them I was really excited as i'm sure you can imagine, I ripped them open and gave them a squeeze, I was quite surprised at what I found. 

I expected them to be completely made of foam but they had a hard outer layer, kinda like a normal roller only it was stuffed with foam inside. They didn't feel THAT squishy and right away I didn't think they would be comfortable to sleep in.

So that night I washed my hair and blow dried it until about 70% dry. I then proceeded to apply the rollers. They were pretty easy to use and clung to my hair really well. I only needed to secure a few of them with a hair grip, the rest held onto my hair really well by the velcro. I have really thick hair so I had to use all 20 rollers that were provided.

The rollers felt very light in my hair and were comfortable, but I had my doubts about sleeping in them. 

Well, I was right to have those doubts because that night, I had the worst sleep ever!

I woke up several times during the night with the rollers pulling the underneath of my hair out. I also found that the velcro was digging into my scalp and face which was a horrible scratchy/burny feeling. I felt like I was sleeping on a bag of potatoes! I must have woken up every hour in pain. At one point I thought about getting up and taking them all out but I knew it would take me ages so I suffered until the morning.

Now, although I had a horrible nights sleep and was tired all day at college the next day, I was really pleased with the result in the morning.

Taking the rollers out were a bit of a pain because my hair was tangled around them, however once I had removed them all I was left with lovely bouncy hair. I didn't have to do much to my hair once they were out apart from gently brush my hair through. The bouncy style stayed in my hair for a couple of days and didn't really drop at all.

I think these rollers are good, they are a good size and very light weight and the hair grips to them well. However I feel as if I was mid led by false advertising about the 'sleep in' part and was quite annoyed at the girl in the video whom I trusted and subscribed to! Anyone who says they can sleep in these rollers must be talking crap. I don't think they are worth £17, you are basically paying for the packaging and gimmick, especially since you can get rollers other places at £2 for a 6 pack.

Sorry this turned into a bit of a rant. Like I said I just felt misled and quite disappointed in the product and want to let others know about my experience before they shell out the money for them.

Have you tried these rollers and had a better experience, or do you agree? Comment below!

Thanks for reading,

Until next time...

Carly x

Jewellery Trends - Rings

Hi guys,

Since it was my birthday last week I decided to treat myself to some new jewellery. 

If there's one thing I LOVE it's quirky jewellery, mostly in the form of rings and necklaces.

Here is what I'm loving right now,

Open finger rings..

You can also get 2 finger rings in the same style (which will be my next purchase).

Another trend i'm loving is 'slave rings' I think the ring is actually supposed to be on the middle finger but the ring size is too small for me (so be careful to get the right size when purchasing).

I'm waiting on some more stuff arriving that i'm excited to show you! I finally got my sleep in rollers too, so i'll do a review on them ASAP!

There rings were bought online from http://www.ringsandtings.com

What do you think? Are you loving these trends or not?

Until next time... 

Carly x

Birthday Celebrations, Rats and Rollers!

Hey,

This week has been full of fun, surprises and celebrations as it was both mine and my littles boys birthday!

We celebrated by going for dinner at TGI Fridays on Thursday which was lovely, I had the New York Strip with Jack Daniel sauce... delicious! I always love the atmosphere in TGI's, although they tried to make me stand up while everyone sang happy birthday which was rather embarrassing.

Here is a picture of my son Daniel and I..

In addition to all the madness we now have a couple of new additions to our family. Meet our rats Ben and Spiderman..

Ben and Spidey were Daniels present from us, he had been going on about wanting pet rats for ages, so when he got home from school on his birthday, the cage was all set up with the ratties inside. He had no idea and was delighted!

I asked my mum to get me sleep in rollers for my birthday but unfortunately they haven't arrived yet! However, when they do I will do a quick video so you guys can see the result. I have never used them before so I hope they work good, i'm sure they will! :) I also ordered some nice jewellery which has still to arrive, as soon as they do I will do a 'haul' type post.

Thanks for reading, and i'll be posting another hair tutorial soon!

Much love,
Carly x

How To Blow Dry Your Hair For Volume!

Hi Guys,

as promised I'm writing todays post on blow drying the hair. I spent ages making a video to accompany this post but when I watched it back the audio was completely out of sync, I tried again this morning and finally managed to do it.. I also spent ages editing this video and had to upload it to youtube twice, total nightmare haha hopefully once I get used to making video's it will come a bit easier.

I want to talk a little bit about blow drying the hair for volume today. This is always a hot topic in the salon..

Here is a list of things you will need:

1. Volumising Mousse (here is a great one with built in heat defence)

Tresemme Thermal Volumising Mousse

2. A Large Barrel Brush, like this:

Avon Advance Techniques Large Barrel Brush

3. Hairdryer with nozzle (if you don't have a nozzle it's not a disaster)

4. Hairspray - I love VO5 High Volume


So here is the video on blow drying the hair for volume (quick way) - P.s my hair is naturally thick and volumed, so there's not a huge difference, but if your hair is normal/fine this will work really well for you!





If you have any questions or advice to add  feel free to do so in the comments box below :)

Until next time..

Carly x

My Hair Obsessions Right Now..

Hi guys,

Today I thought I would write a quick post today about some hair things I am LOVING at the moment. The first thing is pretty popular and i'm sure a lot of you are rockin' this dooo.

1. Ombre / Dip Dye Hair

I have dark red hair at the moment and I decided to bleach my ends to blonde. Well they came out orange which I knew they would anyway but it actually looks pretty cool so I decided to keep the red to orange look. Some people said it looked like flames which I liked :) Here's a pic..

2. Tresemme Hair Wand

I had to get myself a TRESemme 2804BU Volume Curl Wand after borrowing one from a friend to use on a client. I was in love from the first curl! I really like this wand because it's pink, it's comfortable to hold and it looks professional and expensive! Here is the look I achieved from using this wand..

Here is a picture of the wand, not a great pic but you get the idea! :)

3. VO5 High Volume Hairspray

This hairspray is FAN-TABBY-TASTIC! I'm sorry I had to write that in capitals because that's how much I love this hairspray! It's not sticky, it doesn't make your hair like straw. It's a nice fine mist and you can spray it into your roots for some lovely volume. Another thing I love about this hairspray is that it smells amazing.. some hairsprays can smell of well, grannies perfume and if i'm honest I hate smelling like an old person whenever the wind blows through my hair! This is a really nice sort of sweet smell, it's more like a nice perfume than a hairspray.

So there you have it guys, things I'm loving for my hair at the moment. Have you tried any of these things? What are you loving for your hair at the moment?

With Love,

Carly 

Are You Shampooing Your Hair Properly?

Hi Guys,

Today I wanted to write a post with some helpful tips on shampooing the hair. You may be thinking "yeah I know how to shampoo my hair, I do it all the time! But you would be surprised at how many clients I come across who don't wash their hair right.

If you don't wash your hair properly you eventually end up with a build up of dirt and grease that can make the hair limp and greasy and you may think you have hair that gets greasy quickly when infact if you washed it right your hair would be lovely, full and shiney and you could go a few days between washes. (This obviously doesn't apply to everyone because some people have over active sebaceous glands that produces too much oil on the scalp making the hair look greasy.)

I'm training to be a hairdresser (I only have until June until i'm qualified, yipee!) and the first thing we study is the structure of the hair and how shampooing and conditioning affects the hair. So I thought I would share some of what I have learned so you have a better understanding of what happens when you shampoo your hair :).

So basically the hair shaft resembles little fish scales. This is called the cuticle, and when you wash the hair the shampoo lifts those fish scales up ever so slightly and all the dirt and grease on your hair clings to the shampoo, then washes off the hair when the shampoo is rinsed off.

There are different shampoo's for different hair types and it's helpful if you can identify your hair type and use the right shampoo for you. For instance if your hair is quite coarse from using too many heated styling tools or bleaching the hair then you want to get a moisturising shampoo. If you have flat hair you want to be using a volumizing shampoo. I personally love the  VO5 RANGE if you are on a budget. If not, then Wella is what we use in the salon and it's fantastic.

So now you know a little bit about how shampooing works, I'll give you a step by step guide on how to shampoo the hair properly.

1. Wet hair fully

2. Squeeze a walnut size blob of shampoo onto your hand

3. Run your hands through the length of the hair from root to tip spreading the shampoo evenly

4. Using a firm pressure* (obviously not hurting yourself though) rub the scalp in small, fast circles using the pads of your fingers, work all over the head and include the length and ends of the hair. Your hair probably won't lather that well at this point but that's ok it's not supposed to! 

*Note - If you tend to have hair that gets greasy quickly then rub the scalp gently. If you are too hard this stimulates the sebaceous glands that produce oil on the scalp and can leave you with greasy straight away.

5. Rinse shampoo off.

6. Using another blob of shampoo around the same size or smaller repeat the process. - The hair should lather up really really well and this is when the hair is really properly cleaned!

7. Rinse shampoo off and use conditioner if needed. This adds moisture to the hair and closes the fish scales so they all lay flat. This leaves your hair lovely and shiney! :)

Like this .. 

:D

I'm going to be talking about blow drying the hair soon as well, so if you want to find out some useful tips then follow me! :)

Did you learn something from these tips or did you do it right all along? If you have any hair questions feel free to ask me in the comments below.

Until next time..

Carly x

I Heart Hula Hooping!

Hi Readers,

 Today while my baby boy was sleeping I decided to try some yoga followed by some hula hooping. The yoga was actually really fun and I didn't lose motivation half way through or anything, it's definitely something I'm going to stick with!

 I decided to film a hooping video since I've not done that in aaaggess! It look me a few minutes to get into a flow with the hoop but once I did it was blissful :)





If you are interested in learning hoop dance then I have several tutorials on youtube http://www.youtube.com/user/hoopworkouts is my URL!

Have you tried hooping before? If so leave me a comment below :)

With love,
Carly

Would You Try Yoga?

Hi readers,

Today I want to tell you about my Yoga class!

If you are looking for a new way to get fit but hate feeling as if you're sweating like a pig in sh*t then I would highly recommend trying yoga.

There are different types of yoga including Bikram, Vinyasa and Kundalini to name a few, but we do 'Hatha Yoga' in class. It's very flowy, spiritual and there's some meditation involved (which I loved).

There was about 8 people in class most of them were quite old tbh! I expected it to be full of young women however my friend and I were the youngest there. 

We began by doing a gentle warm up then learned some poses. The only one I remember the name of is 'Cobra' you basically lie facedown on the floor and put your hands by your side and lift your head up so you are stretching your back, it felt good! 

We did a lot of balancing, holding quite difficult poses (even at beginner level they are quite challenging) and floor work. Everything flows nicely though and you learn some breathing techniques to go along with it.

At the end of class we all lay down on our mats with a pillow and blanket and the teacher turns the lights out (you will receive a medal if you manage not to giggle at this point!) and we are led through a lovely guided meditation.

Even though it felt very strange at first I actually got really into it and when I got home I felt really calm, positive and revitalised.

Here are some of the benefits of yoga:

Here are some yoga video's if you fancy trying it at home. 

Have you tried Yoga, or is it something you already do? 

With love,

Carly

Wet Look Hairstyle 2013 Trend - Love Or Hate?

So apparently one of the hair trends for 2013 is the 'wet look' hairstyle. 

I have to say i'm really not loving this look at ALL. I remember reading at the start of 2012 how it was meant to be the hair trend for last year.. but it never really caught on. Now it has been regurgitated for this year.. maybe in 2013 we will want to look greasy!? .. No thanks!

I guess this look is popular on the runway and for super famous models who can pull it off, but I really hope this doesn't become a trend for the general public. I mean, WHY would you want to look like you have dipped your head in a chip pan, or not washed it for a month!

Even though I don't like this style i'm sure there are some people who can pull it off...so respect to them.

So what do you think? Do you love or hate this style?

Leave a comment below :)

With love,

Carly

 

How To Wear A Short Fringe/Bangs...

This may seem like a trivial matter, but if you have ever had your fringe/bangs cut too short then you will realise what a devastating, earth shattering, momentous, life changing matter this happens to be. (Ok, slight over exaggeration :p).

In all seriousness though - I'm not loving my hair right now, I feel like no matter how I wear it I just look like a 10 year old! It's funny how just a simple fringe can completely change the look of your face, hair and over all style. I used to go for the sort of long retro blunt fringe, but I guess i'm going to have to sport the pin up/Bettie Page style for the next couple of weeks. Just so you can see what i'm talking about i've attached a before/after hair picture of me.

I guess I'll just have to rock the short fringe! Here are some short fringe hairstyles below.. actually really pretty. It's important when having a fringe cut in that you take into account the shape of your face. If you have a round face then you want a blunt straight across fringe and if you have a square face you want a concave/rounded fringe. If your face is oval or oblong you can wear anything really.. lucky people!

And here are some short fringes that are not so hot lol..

Do you have a fringe/bangs? If so, how do you wear them?

Comment below :)

With love,
Carly