Colorful Hair

Happy Saturday!

I am celebrating today's dreary weather by staying inside and being extremely lazy. I really wanted to share pictures of my new hair color with you all because I am VERY thrilled with how it turned out.

Click to Enlarge!

I always love doing fun new things with my hair, but I have continually had the same red hair for over 5 months now. So when I stumbled across a photo on Pinterest that showed a girl with red and purple hair, I had to try it out. I was slightly nervous because I've never tried anything quite so dramatic with my hair before, but here we are anyway! 

I decided to go with "peek-a-boos" so that the bright purple is a bit more discreet when I need it to be. When I want to show it off more, I just have to pin my hair back a little. 

I know bright colors aren't for everyone, so I won't be offended if you don't like it. :-P 

Also, I want to thank my hairdresser, Haley, for always doing such a fantastic job with my hair. She always handles my quirky requests without flinching, and goes above and beyond to make sure I am happy with the results! If you live in the Oklahoma City or Yukon/Mustang area and are interested in having Haley make your hair beautiful, just shoot me an e-mail and I'll give you her contact info (with her permission of course). :)

--Dixie

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Review: WEN Cleansing Conditioner

Heyyyyyy...

Prepare yourself for lots of blabbering and jib-jabbering (yeah, I'm aware how cheesy lame that sounds) about a product I really like.

Quickly though, if you somehow managed to miss my last blog post about the giveaway I'm doing, please CHECK IT OUT! It's FREE nail polish... who doesn't like that? :)

And now for the real reason I'm here: My review for the WEN cleansing conditioner. I could also title this blog "How To Keep Red Hair From Fading". 

You may or may not have heard of this product. As far as I know, at least in the Oklahoma area, this product is only available for purchase online. I first heard about it when a former coworker informed me that she saw an infomercial about it and it claimed to not wash out hair color. This information peaked my interest, but I was quite skeptical. 

If you know me very well, you know that I am always coloring my hair. My favorite color to play with is definitely red. I can hear some of you groan because you've tried red (and/or other colors), and it fades SO quickly. You either go to the salon or color it yourself and within a matter of 3-4 washes, it is no longer vibrant. After  8-10 washes, you basically can't even tell your hair ever had a hint of red in it. At least that is how it has worked for me. Yet I LOVE and cannot resist the confidence I have with red hair.

That being said, red hair color is so high maintenance that I've given up on it several times. I've tried a lot of things to keep it vibrant, but to no avail. So, as I said, I was very skeptical about this product, but I decided to give it a try anyway. I thought on it a lot because it is a little pricey, but considering it is essentially a 2-in-1 product, I convinced myself it wasn't that bad. ;) Read on to find out how much I like this product!

I took pictures of each section on the back so you can read the information for yourself. I am OBSESSED with reading every last bit of the backs of my product bottles, so in case there is anyone else like that out there, eat your heart out!

When I first read the directions, I thought that 10-20 pumps seemed excessive. I seriously thought they were just trying to get you to use too much product so you would have to repurchase more often. However, if you purchase this, you DO need that many pumps. If you use too few, the "cleansing" part of the cleansing conditioner isn't as effective. For my oily hair, that means that it doesn't wash out all of the oiliness. :( When I used this for the first time or two and discovered after blow drying my hair that it was still oily, I was very disappointed and almost threw it out. I was convinced that this product just wasn't made for oily hair. For some reason I cannot remember I decided to give it another go, and I managed to actually follow the directions. Genius, right?! This time around my hair felt very clean and oil-free, and it seemed moisturized and soft as well. Yay!

Once I figured out how to properly work this new discovery, I used it in place of my regular shampoo and conditioner. I used it every time I washed my hair for the next 3 or 4 weeks. It was amazing! My hair had somehow managed to maintain most of its red color. Yes, I'll admit my hair had faded a little, but not as much as it usually does. If you never washed your red hair with shampoo, but just got it wet in the shower, it will still fade. So I was and still am very happy with the results. The next time I had to color my hair was because the roots were growing out, NOT because the red had completely disappeared!

For whatever reason, I decided to give my shampoo and conditioner another go before I colored my hair to cover the roots. I guess I just wanted to see what would happen? SO MUCH red washed out in that ONE wash it was impressive. I don't know what I was expecting would happen, but it definitely wasn't that. 

A quote from the WEN website: "Unlike many ordinary shampoos, WEN® cleansers are made with natural ingredients and contain no sodium laurel sulfate or other damaging detergents. They don't lather; instead, they create smooth foam when mixed with water for shinier, healthier-looking, more manageable results." The part about it not lathering is very true, and it takes a while to get used to. I've used lathering shampoos all my life, but just because it is not lathering doesn't mean it is not cleaning. 

Now let me get this out of the way. If you have previously tried shampoos that claimed to not have sulfates and were disappointed, don't let that deter you from this. I have tried one or two that still seemed to be drying to my hair and scalp, and it also didn't stop the fading of my hair color. This one is different. 

Also, a shampoo pet peeve of mine? That damn John Frieda Radiant Red Shampoo that claims to "preserve and magnify vibrant red color". As far as I'm concerned, it is no different from any other shampoo out there. It has all kinds of sulfates in it and if your shampoo has any of that, I don't care how much the bottle says it, it will NOT prevent fading. 

**Steps down off soap box.** 

I will leave you with a couple of links for places you can find this product.

• WEN® hair care by Chaz Dean - Official Site - http://www.wenhaircare.com/
• This site is only if you want to buy a subscription to this product. It is $29.95 for a 30 day supply which includes a 12 oz. bottle of the cleansing conditioner as well as several other extras. I think it is a good site to learn about the product, but I personally hate having subscriptions to products. 
• ChazDean.com
• I like this site. I haven't yet purchased from it because I just discovered it while researching for this blog post. I like it because, unlike the QVC site below, you can purchase each scent separately. 
• $32 + shipping (~$10+) for 16 oz. bottle
• QVC.com
• This is where I purchased the bottle you see in the photos above. Overall, I would say this is the site where I've found the cheapest cleansing conditioner, but there aren't as many options. I was able to buy the Summer Mango Coconut by itself, but I can't seem to find many other scents that aren't bundled with other products. 
• $29 + Shipping (~$6-7) for a 16 oz. bottle. $40 for two 16. oz bottles.
• You can also purchase this from Amazon.com or eBay, but you never know how much it's going to cost. I got lucky the first 2 times and purchased it cheap, but currently everything I can find is more expensive than the other sites I've mentioned.

The cleansing conditioner comes in multiple different scents, and I have found that they cater to different hair types:

Cucumber aloe - Fine hair, and those with oily scalps but dry ends.

Fig - Thick, coarse, curly hair, and any hair that is extremely dry/damaged.

Lavender - All hair types, this is their volumizing cleansing conditioner. 

Pomegranate - All hair types.

Summer Mango Coconut - All hair types. (Limited edition)

Sweet Almond Mint - Fine to medium textured hair.

Tea Tree - For anyone experiencing scalp issues like itchiness or flakiness.

Boy... I have rambled a LOT. I have so much to share about this cleansing conditioner, as well as my experiences with red hair. I will stop here and let you recover from reading my novel... If you've made it this far, thanks SO much for reading!

--Dixie

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How To Fight Static Hair

This adorable photo courtesy of herm007 on Flickr

I know this topic may be a little late in the season, but a friend requested that I address the issue of static hair. I am lucky enough to not really have issues with static hair, even in the winter. I think it is partially because of my hair type, and because I condition it A LOT. Sorry, I know you're jealous. :-P

I wasn't really quite sure how to tackle this topic, but I finally ended up just asking a few friends how they handle it and spent some time with my buddy, Google. I eventually came up with a few tips and tricks to help those of you who battle the static frizzy mess on a regular basis.

First of all, I think it is important for you to know what causes static in our hair. It may seem like common sense to most of you, but I'll pretend like it is not. Without going into a lot of detail about electrons and pH balance, the main thing you need to know is dry hair and dry air are very conducive to static electricity. Winter is the worst because the air has less moisture in it, therefore it is more difficult to keep your hair hydrated.

Here are some things to do and NOT to do to help prevent or tame static flyaways:

• ALWAYS condition your hair! I understand those of us with oily hair might want to avoid the conditioner sometimes, but be sure to at least get some conditioner on the ends of your hair. ESPECIALLY during the winter. If you need to, avoid the roots and that can help prevent your hair from getting as oily.
• If you can manage, avoid washing your hair every day. The more you wash, the more it dries your hair. If you have an oily scalp like mine, you can use the product I reviewed HERE to make your hair last a second day without washing.
• Look for styling products that are WATER BASED and avoid those that are petroleum based (waxes, gels, & pomades).
• Use hairbrushes and combs made with natural bristles. Apparently those with plastic/synthetic bristles tend to make static worse.
• When styling your hair with blowdryers and straightening irons, be sure to use a thermal protection product. 
• Spray a finishing spray on your hairbrush and then brush it through your hair. This is great before styling or even later in the day. After styling your hair, it is also not a bad idea to spray the finishing spray directly on your hair.
• Getting a humidifier in your home should help. This is the first year I have had a humidifier running all day, every day and I seem to have had fewer issues with dry skin and dry hair.
• I wouldn't recommend rubbing dryer sheets on your hair or spraying your hair with Static Guard. Multiple websites have warned that both of these have chemicals in them that aren't healthy for skin and hair and they could cause you to break out. With that said, I use both of these products on my clothes and the clothes touch my skin and I seem to do fine. So I say if it works for you, go for it!

Sorry for the long-winded post! I think that covers just about everything I could come up with. PLEASE feel free to comment below and let me know any tips you might have for preventing static hair.

Thanks for stopping by! :)

-Dixie

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