Superdrug Killer Volume Dry Shampoo

I love dry shampoo (or tramp shampoo as I call it when I'm just being plain lazy). We all lead busy lives and its definitely earned it's place on my dresser.

However, not all dry shampoo's are made equal and this one, Superdrug Killer Volume Dry Shampoo, unfortunately just doesn't do it for me. I find it leaves a white residue even when I've shook it and that's a big no-no when you've got dark hair like me. I know it's supposed to absorb oil but I feel like this over does it leaving my hair feeling dry and stiff, although this might be good for those of you who have super oily hair.

Volume-wise I found it lacking also, it didn't give me any volume, just a dry sticky mess. No thank you! It's a thumbs down from me!

Superdrug Killer Volume Dry Shampoo is available HERE or in your local Superdrug store.

What's your favourite dry shampoo?

Thanks for reading,

Wench x 

Garnier Ultimate Blends The Sleek Restorer Shampoo and Conditioner

Hello again internet! I have a review for you today of Garnier Ultimate Blends Shampoo and Conditioner The Sleek Restorer (long ass name!)

These are fairly new offerings from Garnier, they have a whole range of different ones for different hair types but today I have The Sleek Restorer. I chose this one because my hair is naturally poker straight but for whatever (many!) reasons the ends have been quite frizzy recently and it needed sorting out.

These made my hair feel nice and clean and they smelt gorgeous although I feel the scent faded quite quickly. A little went a long way. This is a particularly good thing as since I moved from Manchester to Stoke on Trent I noticed the water here sucks. Nothing foams up like it used to in Manchester resulting in me using twice as much product here as I would back up north. Before I start on a massive rant about water, I'll just say I liked that I didn't have to use loads to get a good foam.

Unfortunately, they didn't do much else for me. My hair still felt dry and frizzy at the ends after use and I'm now at the end of both my bottles I feel I've given them a fair shot. Before buying these I'd heard such good things about them but they just weren't for me, it wouldn't stop me trying other shampoos and conditioners in the range but it goes to show you that what works wonders for one person doesn't for another.

Have you got any shampoo recommendations?

Thanks for reading,

Wench x

What Do Those Numbers On Your Hair Colour Mean?

I was eyeing up hair colours as I quite often do the other day and I was looking at the shade numbers on the boxes. It got me thinking, what do all these numbers mean anyway?

I had vague knowledge of what they mean from working in my shop but staring at all the hair dye boxes and not being sure exactly what the numbers and shades meant I decided to do some research and thought I'd share my findings with you.

First thing first, there is a system known as the International Colour Chart (ICC) which most companies use but many use their own numbering system. For the purpose of this post though we'll use ICC. 

So for an example if we take Garnier Nutrisse colour 4.3 Dark Golden Brown.

The number 4 indicates the level of colour (how light or dark it is) and in this instance it's Dark Brown. The numbers after the decimal point .3 indicates the tone of colour, in this case the tone is Golden. Confused? The charts below might help

 COLOUR LEVEL 

1. Black

2. Darkest Brown

3. Dark Brown

4. Medium Brown

5. Light Brown

6. Lightest Brown

7. Dark Blonde

8. Medium Blonde

9. Light Blonde

10. Lightest Blonde

Manufacturers name colours differently but you get the general gist and some also go higher up in number to signify extreme blonde colours.   

TONE LEVEL

.1 Blue Ash      - Cool

.2 Purple Ash   - Cool

.3 Gold              - Warm

.4 Copper         - Warm

.5 Mahogany    - Neutral

.6 Red               - Warm

.7 Khaki            - Cool

.8 Pearl Ash     - Cool

.9 Soft Ash       - Cool  

So the tone of the colour changes its appearance to look either warm or cool. Ash usually means a colour is cool and golden usually means that it is warm, these descriptions can help when looking at your hair colour.

It does get more confusing than that when two numbers come into play after the decimal point. If we take Garnier Nutrisse colour 4.15 Iced Coffee. 

The first number after the point is the primary (stronger) tone and the second is a secondary (weaker) tone. The .1 is the primary tone which if we use the chart above is a cool, blue ash tone and the 5 is the secondary tone which is neutral mahogany (neither warm or cool, this surprised me as I thought mahogany would be warm but its not).  

So the colours below are all the same depth level (4), but the tones running through give them a different appearance (.3 gold and .15 cool mahogany) 

I hope this sheds some light on the subject, this is only a basic summary but it interested me so I thought I would share. It definitely opened my eyes, who knew there was so much to it?!

What's your favourite hair colour?

Thanks for reading,

Wench x

*This is not sponsored and these are not a product placement it just so happened Garnier had the best examples for me to use at the time :-) 

Got2b Mind Blowing Express Dry Styling Spray

I have to say, since having my son I find washing my long hair such a chore, and drying it even more so! Then I found this!

Got2b Mind Blowing Express Dry Styling Spray claims to add heat protection to your hair, detangle, condition and most importantly speed up hair drying time and I have to say it ticks all those boxes! I spray onto my towel dried hair after I've washed it, give it a good brush through and then dry with my hair dryer and it literally takes me half the time I love it! A few things worth mentioning, it doesn't speed up hair drying time if your just leaving it to air dry, that's probably obvious but I thought I'd chuck it in there and also be careful you don't use too much as it can leave your hair crispy!

It's one of those things that I had seen in my shop and deemed totally unnecessary but I picked it up out of curiosity while it was on offer and I have to say it's earned its place in my stash as I've got better things to do than dry my hair for twenty minutes!

Get yours HERE or from your local store

Thanks for reading,

Wench x   

My Hair Through The Ages!

I've done lots of crazy things with my hair over the years and today I thought I'd share them with you!

You'll have to excuse the bad photo's but some of these are very old! From black to blonde I've done it all, including bright pink and bright purple (middle left and bottom right). I loved the brights but they're so hard to keep on top of as you have to keep colouring it as they don't come in permanent. Not to mention all the bleaching, I wish I was a natural blonde I'd have all the colours of the rainbow, all at the same time! (not sure my employers would like that mind!)

If your wondering what's going on in the middle picture of the top row, they're synthetic dread extensions and I loved them! It took my friend ages to put them in, you have to braid them into your natural hair and they were so heavy! The only problem was after a few washes they started to unravel and look tatty. It was funny when I took them out I had an afro!

When I went white blonde (top right) I decided to bleach my eyebrows too (I had been blonde before and succeeded in bleaching them blonde to match) as I hate the whole white hair and dark eyebrows thing (don't even get me started!) but I did it and they went ginger! So I did them again and they disappeared completely, I must have left it on too long! I had to draw them in until they grew back!  

The oldest picture here where my hair is black (top left) and the waviness at the ends of my hair is my perm growing out, yes, I said perm. Not an old lady perm, but a spiral perm and I loved having curly hair it was so easy, all I had to do was wet it, mousse it, and scrunch it. Done! 

What's the craziest thing you've done to your hair?

Thanks for reading,

Wench x 

The True Price of Beauty

How many times have we looked in the mirror and thought to ourselves, I wish....

Whether that be whiter teeth, bigger boobs, less wrinkles, thinner, curvier, the list is endless. For me? I hate my nose, I wish it was straighter. 

I'd like to share some information with you today, did you know that 4 out of 10 people who are in a relationship would consider cosmetic surgery to keep their partners happy! I found that quite shocking, if my husband turned to me and said "I think you should get lipo," he would probably get a high five to the face! (although I did ask my husband if he'd have surgery to keep me and he said yes!) In a recent survey, the top "keep partner happy" procedures were:

• 19% Dentistry
•  11% Hair Removal
•  9% Liposuction
•  4% Implants

Scarily, dentistry is one of the least regulated industries and this came top of the survey! I always wondered when I've past salons with teeth whitening services if they really are qualified, surely that kind of thing should only be done in your dentist's office? But you shouldn't think your safe just because you go to a dentist over a salon, as the whole industry is poorly regulated make sure you do your research and make sure the person carrying out your procedure is fully qualified (and that goes for ANYTHING you have done, not just teeth!).   

Now that's the big stuff but the small stuff matters too! Do you use home hair dyes? And do you always patch test before you use it? I'm pretty sure there's a lot of you who don't but it's actually so important, even if it's one you regularly use. A colleague of mine coloured her hair from blonde to brown and she had an awful reaction to it, her scalp and neck looked burnt and sore. She was lucky, a lady DIED in 2012 from a hair colour reaction. It was reported that she had a black henna tattoo in 2007 and this increased her reactions to her hair colour. There is a reason there are henna warnings on hair colour boxes as black henna (which is ILLEGAL in the EU) contains a chemical known as PPD which causes lasting damage to the skin and increases reactions to this chemical. Years later, this chemical was in her hair colour and because of the tattoo she reacted badly and lost her life. If you go to a salon to have your hair done you will be required to have a patch test every time so why wouldn't you do this at home!

It's not just hair colour that can cause reactions, fake tan and even wax can cause reactions too! How many people do you know who have had a bad experience at a salon? A friend of mine went to a salon to have her legs and bikini line waxed as she was going on holiday a week later and the salon required her to have a patch test which she did, and the test area went a bit red. She pointed this out when she went for her treatment but they said it would be fine and she had it done anyway. Unfortunately, she came out in a horrible lumpy rash in all the areas she had waxed (yes legs and bikini line!) which required a trip to the GP and needless to say it was not a good look on her holiday. 

So what can you do?

• Always have a patch test (and ask for one if not offered! I would probably seek another salon if one is not offered)
• Always go to consultations before your appointments
• If you get a reaction go to your GP and DO NOT use the product again
• See a specialist to pin point the cause of a reaction so you know what to avoid     

Finding a good salon is imperative! There are lots of great salons out there but there are also some bad ones. 


There are lots of things you can do to make sure you are going to a reputable salon. When I first moved to a new town I asked my work colleagues where they go to get their hair and beauty treatments done and where to avoid too! Word of mouth is a great source of information for many things.

You can also look online, social media is huge and many salons have their own Facebook and Twitter pages where their customers will leave comments and a quick Google search might bring up customer reviews.


You can also check qualifications. No salon should be offended if you ask about the qualifications of the staff. You can even casually ask about their training and what it was like. A conversational piece, if you like. 


And if it all goes wrong? In serious cases keep any appointment cards as proof you were there and take photos of injuries and also photos of how any injuries progress (such as bruising, rashes etc) as evidence and find yourself a good solicitor!

    

I know this isn't my usual kind of post but I hope you found it informative as I think it's important. 

For more information click HERE

Thanks for reading,

Wench x

* I was approached to do this post, I didn't HAVE to and I was not compensated for it.

Sources of information and thanks to:

  
Hudgell Solicitors
www.searchlaboratory.com 
www.bbc.co.uk 

Freebie Friday! #9

I know I've already spoke about Latest Free Stuff before (HERE) but I wanted to show you a couple more free samples I've had from them. 

I've signed up to their mailing list and they send me emails most days with freebies, although I know some people won't like that you don't have to sign up to a mailing list you can just check the site regularly. Do read freebies carefully, as some require subscriptions (which you can usually cancel after) or other requirements. I usually scan through their emails quickly and see if anything takes my fancy and recently I received these goodies in the post!

I got samples of Garnier Ultimate Blends Strength Restorer shampoo, conditioner, and serum and also an Eve Lom Rescue Mask (coming to a Mask Monday near you soon!) 

I've not been paid, sponsored etc to write this post but I just wanted to show you some of the free samples I've had from this site and as a blogger (and a shiny new one!) it's really good to get samples like this that I can write about and as a budget blogger nothing is more budget friendly than a freebie!

Have you found any really awesome freebies?

Thanks for reading,

Wench x   

College Hair Dressers and Spa

Would you let students loose on you?

That sounds very wrong but what I actually mean is that it seems to be a little known fact or an often overlooked one that you can get your hair done or have beauty treatments at your local college (depending on the college of course!) and the best part is it's miles cheaper! 

For my birthday my hubby kindly treated me, so I had my hair cut and coloured, my eye brows tinted and waxed, a manicure, and a facial! (I needed a lot of work!)

Yes, it's done by students and their not fully qualified but they are supervised by tutors who ARE fully qualified, they've probably practised on those creepy doll heads first, and come on, everyone has to start somewhere! I also feel that as their training they take extra care to get it right, particularly when they're practising on people. Be prepared to put some time aside if you do decide to go to a college hairdressers as they do tend to take their time (and I don't know about you, but I'd much prefer them to take their time rather than rush and make a hash of it!) my appointment was at 9:30am and it wasn't finished until 12:45pm although my hair was a big job, after dying it red then brown and stripping etc it was multicoloured and needed correcting but the two ladies assigned to the task did an excellent job, the poor things had to do the top one colour, the bottom another, and lots of mixing colours to get what I wanted and then cutting it. I am so impressed with the result definitely worth the time! 

I also went to the college spa where I had a Dermalogica facial which was lovely, I could have fell asleep! I didn't realise it went past just the face and across the neck and shoulders too, bonus! I had my eyebrows tinted and waxed which is just as well as they were turning into werewolves again! I had a french manicure too, I've attempted to do white tips myself before needless to say I failed and it's always so much better when someone else does it for you! 

All of that little lot (or should I say large lot!) cost £42.50 and that is a real bargain!

Would you let students cut you hair?

Thanks for reading,

Wench x      

Mask Monday! #3

It's Monday again already! Mask Monday time! 

And just to throw you off I've got a hair mask to show you today! Who said Mask Monday was all about face masks eh?! 

So anyway, here I have Lee Stafford For Hair That Never Grows Past A Certain Length Treatment and I had my eye on this a while as it's a bit on the pricey side (for me!) at £8.49 (RRP) but when I saw it on a good offer I thought it's now or never! 

So does it work? I can't say yes definitively but I feel my hair is growing quicker than usual AND past the length it usually gets to before it stops. I can't decide if it's because I'm paying attention to the length of my hair more, like a placebo effect if you will, or if it's actually working, but I feel like it is.

You apply this treatment in between shampoo and your conditioner, however I don't use conditioner (shock horror!) so I just use this after shampooing and slather a load through my hair paying more attention to the roots and scalp and then leave it for 5 minutes before rinsing it out. I did wonder if I'd like this product as I'm not really into deep conditioners because I feel they make my hair lank and oily after using them (my hair is oily enough as it is!) but this felt like a deep conditioner when using it, and my brush slid easily through my hair as it would if I'd used conditioner but the day after my hair just felt like washed hair, with none of that oiliness I seem to get after using conditioner. Definitely a win for me!

I will definitely re purchase this as long as it's on a good offer (which it seems to be fairly often) at the moment you can get yours in store or HERE at Boots 2 for £10!

Thanks for reading!

Wench x     

The Hidden Braid

 

This is the hidden braid and I first saw this on Hair Romance blog HERE (which has a complete how-to guide!), and when I saw this I thought I have to try it out. Hair Romance does a much better job of it than me but I thought I'd show you my rough attempt in my own hair.

I really like that this style looks like a normal, uninteresting pony tail from the front and then you see the back and there's a sneaky little braid saying peekaboo! 

Anyway, if you haven't already you really should head over to Hair Romance, there's loads of hair ideas, tips, tricks, and tutorials!

Thanks for reading,

Wench x

Vidal Sassoon Salonist

Hello there! I bring for you a hair dye review (poet and I know it!) following on from when I used PRO:VOKE Hair Colour Remover (link to that post HERE). This is the new Vidal Sassoon Salonist hair dye and I did mine with the colour 5.1 Medium Cool Brown. They had swatches of all the different colours which helped me choose this one. I chose this one because the swatch was a green-brown colour and this was just what I needed to counteract the reddy ginger tones in my hair after the colour removing process.

This is different to your conventional hair dye in that you do the roots first and then the lengths of the hair, and for this reason I wouldn't recommend this for a beginner as doing this is very fiddly and time consuming. However, if your cool with that then it's very much worth it.

The kit itself includes the usual colour cream and developer that you mix in a tray with the tinting brush that's all included. You get a decent pair of gloves (hooray!) and a big tube of conditioner too (win!). The tray has a marker on that indicates two thirds of the mixture, this is because you use two thirds on the roots and then mix the remaining third with the sachet of serum and use that on the lengths of the hair. This system is slightly flawed because it's a liquid it doesn't stay on one side of the tray but you can figure it out for yourself. 

The formula doesn't drip everywhere, it rinses out easily enough, and it's easy to clean up any smudges you may end up getting around your bathroom! It doesn't dry out your hair like some hair colourants do and considering mine had been stripped beforehand my hair felt nice and soft after use. 

I am happy with the result, there's still a slight red tint in my hair but red is notoriously difficult to remove and it's covered it well enough for me.

It is on the expensive side for hair dye but I got mine on offer for £7.99 HERE (On offer at time of posting RRP £9.99).

Thanks for reading,

Wench x  

Cheapies! #1 Hair

Who doesn't love a bargain?!

I love a bargain and some of the best bargains I've come across are on ebay. I seriously don't understand how some things can be so cheap! A lot of the things that I'll put on these posts are from China and such places and before you wince, I've bought plenty of things from such sellers and I've only had 1 thing that didn't turn up. Yes it can take a long time for things to turn up but it's worth the wait when you pay such little prices! Today's instalment is all about hair.

Poof Maker 99p HERE - I don't actually know the proper name for these so I made it up! I've got one of these on the way because I can't for the life of me make a decent poof! I'll let you know!

Bun Maker 99p HERE - A good ol' bun maker for those bad hair days! Cheap and cheerful but surprisingly expensive in some places!

Floral Headband 99p HERE - How cute are these! Need I say anymore!

Hair Ties 99p HERE - What ponytail is complete without a cute hair tie!

Clear Elastics 99p HERE - I always need more of these, where on earth do they go? 

Bobby Pins 99p HERE - Same as the clear elastics, where the hell does these disappear to? I think it's hair pixies! 

Hope you enjoyed this post! Stay tuned for more posts like this as I love hunting down cheapies! 

Thanks for reading!

Wench x

(These photos were taken from Ebay)

PRO:VOKE Hair Colour Remover

Be prepared for a long post, as there's quite a bit of explaining to do here!

Hello! Today we have a review of PRO:VOKE hair colour remover. When it comes to hair colour and things I would ultimately recommend going to a hair dresser, but I can't afford it and I don't really have the time having a young baby and all. I've always used box dyes for my hair, I know some of you will probably recoil in horror at that but I like to mess with my hair fairly regularly and I know you don't always get the colour you see on the box!

I've used a few different colour removers in the past and this is the one I like the best. The reasons for this is the price (it's the cheapest I've come across) and the fact you only leave this on for half an hour (others I've used you have to leave a full hour). There are a few things you need to know about colour removers:

• Always patch test!
• Leave plenty of time - you can't hurry the process and you have to do a lot of rinsing
• The smell is horrendous (like rotting eggs!)
• They can only do so much - most hair colours (even dark ones) contain peroxide which permanently changes your hair colour (you usually get a warmer and lighter result than your own colour)
• Bleached hair will never go back to it's natural colour as bleach strips the colour pigment out of your hair. 
• Some colours (e.g. Fashion brights) will stain the cuticle of the hair and permanently alter it's colour.   
• The result is so variable - lots of things can determine the result you get (e.g. previous damage, porosity of the hair etc)

These points are all explained in the box so make sure you read the leaflet before you proceed. Below I've inserted a before/after photo, I do apologise for the poor quality as I only have my phone camera and I had to use the flash for the after photo as it was a particularly dull day. To explain with words, before my hair was reddy brown (I previously had red hair and then coloured over with brown but the red still showed through and I want rid!) and after using PRO:VOKE hair colour remover it turns my hair a light, ginger colour (probably because of the red, when I've used it on over brown it goes more light brown). Before you gasp like worst nightmare ginger hair, it's removed some of the red, which is what I want and then I will colour over this with an ash brown that will hopefully cancel the gingeriness (making up words again but I'm sure you get the gist).     

Colour removing is a harsh process for your hair (even though it claims to have no ammonia or bleach). I'm not particularly precious about my hair, it's hair, it grows back! My advice if you are going to use this type of product would be tread carefully, leave plenty of time, be prepared to stay in (in case it goes horrendously wrong!) and have a colour ready to go over the top (the leaflet inside says you should use semi-permanent only immediately after, I don't always do this, and that's at my own risk).

Congratulations! You've made it this far! 

PRO:VOKE hair colour remover is available in places such as Bodycare (where I got mine), B&M Bargains, and Home Bargains for around the £3.99 mark or at Amazon HERE

Thanks for reading!

Wench x