Hair History and Current Hair Care Routine

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

I was born with a full head of thick, black hair. Since I was a teenager, I've colored my hair with box dyes (not the best, I know, but it only gets worse). As far as I could tell, my hair wasn't really affected negatively by doing this - it was always strong and healthy and really long.

I used to be skinnier too.

Fast forward to February 2013 when I get the bright idea to go blonde. And I mean platinum blonde.

Being a hair do-it-yourself-er, I got the supplies at Sally Beauty and bleached my hair myself. I must have bleached it at least three times. My once strong hair was now like delicate rubber bands waiting to snap if you looked at it funny.

Long story short(ish), I'm back to dark brown hair, but the parts that had been blonde are extremely damaged. I was thinking of just hacking all the old bleached parts off, until I had the idea to try and salvage the length if I could. So, Here we are at my current hair routine.

I wash my hair every day with Salon Grafix Healthy Hair Nutrition Conditioning Cleanser, the one for dry and damaged hair. I know it's bad to wash your hair every day, but while my ends are like the Sahara, my roots get greasy the day after I've washed my hair. I started using this conditioning cleanser (think WEN) because it's sulfate and paraben free and combines two steps in one in my shower routine.

Every other day I use the Macadamia Natural Oil Deep Repair Masque on the ends of my hair, comb it with a wide tooth comb and holy moisture, Batman, my ends feel like silk! When I get out of the shower, I comb it again, with a Tangle Teaser this time.

Now all of this conditioning really weighs down my hair. When I feel it just won't hold a curl any longer I use the Garnier Pure Clean Clear 2 in 1 Fortifying Shampoo and Conditioner. While it's not exactly a clarifying shampoo (I actually bought this in error), it does help to remove some product buildup.

When I blow dry my hair, I first put One 'n Only Argan Oil Treatment on my ends as a heat protectant and treatment. I comb it through with a wide tooth comb. I love the smell of this oil. I blow dry willy nilly as I'm incapable of using a brush and drying my hair at the same time. When my hair is dry, I brush through it with a paddle brush.

When I curl or straighten my hair I use the Schwarzkopf Got2B Guardian Angel Flat Iron Balm. I find it works just as well whether I'm curling or straightening my hair despite the product name. When I straighten my hair, I use the GVP Ceramic 1" Flat Iron from Sally Beauty. Lately when I curl my hair, I've been using the TIGI Bed Head Maxxed Out 1 1/4'' Curling Iron. To set my style I use Sebastian Shaper + hair spray, which I'm not in love with because I feel it dries out my hair.

 So that's what I do with my hair these days. I'll keep you updated as to how this routine is helping my hair or not.

Products I've Used Up and Will Repurchase

I've been hoarding empty product containers lately, as I planned two "Products I've Used Up"-type posts. This one is obviously going to be positive reviews of its I'm either planning to repurchase, or already have restocked. A subsequent post will follow, detailing products I used up only so I didn't feel I was wasting money by throwing them out. This post will have a decidedly smaller collection of goodies because, honestly, I try out more products I dislike than ones I like enough to buy again.

We'll start off kind of boring with Suave Natural Mineral Eucalyptus Blossom Antiperspirant/ Deodorant.

Now, I'm weird about deodorant. When I sweat, as I inevitably will, I don't want deodorant smell to emanate from my body. I want it to do it's job and keep me from smelling foul, but I don't want any other "fragrance" to come from my body either. This stuff is what I was looking for. It smells nice when applied, but you aren't reminded throughout the day that you put deodorant on in the a.m. This is probably my 4th tube (stick?) of this formulation and scent I've purchased and I've already started a new one.

Next is the One 'n Only Argan Oil Restorative Mask.

  

This was at least tube #2 of this hair mask, if not #3. I was platinum blonde for the better part of 2013 and my hair was a wreck. So bad, in fact, that I used this mask daily as a conditioned and it didn't make my hair greasy. It smells wonderful and helped keep my hair from looking like straw. The only reason I'm not running out to replace this is because my hair has gotten even drier and I've gone to using a cleansing conditioner and a deep repair mask (I'll do a post on those soon). If my hair heals a bit and I don't need as much moisture as those two newer products give me, I will definitely buy this mask again.

Sephora Triple Action Cleansing Water

Love this stuff. I initially got it as an alternative to Bioderma micellaire water that everyone online raves about. The Bioderma is a French product and hard to get ahold of in the US. I use this Sephora version it to remove my eye makeup before going in with Boscia Makeup Breakup cleansing oil to remove all traces of makeup. I'm not sure why I prefer this to relying on the oil to remove my eye makeup, but it works great and I've just bought and started using a new one.

Algenist Gentle Rejuvenating Cleanser (mini 1.5 oz size)

Holy soft skin, Batman! I bought this to use with my Clarisonic Mia2 and they really are a perfect pair. This lathers up nicely and leaves my skin feeling silky when I rinse it away. I haven't repurchased this yet because I want to jump on the Michael Todd True Organics bandwagon and give some of their cleansers a shot. If those fail me, however, it's comforting to know I have this gem to fall back on.

Last is a mascara, Jordana Best Lash Extreme Volumizing Mascara to be exact.

The formula is what I really love about this mascara. It builds nice volume as the name would suggest, but I also find it to be lengthening as well. The color 301 Black is a super dark black, which I look for in a mascara. Now, the brush is not my favorite part of this product. I found it to clump product on my lashes. Boo. A mascara brush that is just amazing is that of the Cover Girl Clump Crusher - just not a fan of the formula on this one. So, genius that I am, I cleaned off the Cover Girl wand and stuck it in the Jordana tube. This is one of my prouder makeup moments. I'm not saying this hasn't been done before, but I'm glad I gave it a shot. The Cover Girl brush works great with the Jordana's thicker formula for beautiful, defined lashes. I can pile on layers of the mascara with this brush without fear of clumps. A match made in makeup heaven. Here's a pic of that Cover Girl wand.