my top five: hair products

Now that my pixie is grown out and I finally have a decent amount of hair to take care of again, I thought I'd share my top five hair products with you! If you're looking for something to speed up the growth process, honestly "patience" is the only thing I can recommend (and I had it in short supply, let me tell you!) but taking care of your tresses and reducing breakage is the best path to healthy, longer hair.



1. Ouai leave in conditioner. I got a sample size of this from Sephora last year and I loved it so much that I immediately bought a whole bottle (I'm saving that sample size bottle for my travels this year!) If you have knotty hair I cannot recommend this enough. I remember when I was little my mom used to use No More Tangles to help reduce the number of times I screamed "OUCH!" when she brushed my hair, but that product never seemed to work once I got older. This stuff totally erases knots, though (or at least it makes it less painful to brush through them? I have no clue how it works its magic!) Bonus - it smells DELICIOUS.

2. OGX coconut oil hydrating mist. I apply this to the ends of my hair after I dry it. I've always had very parched hair and this helps it to look so much shinier and healthier. I never apply it near the roots though or else it starts to look to oily.

3. Cake restorative scalp tonic. I've had dandruff ever since I hit puberty, my body was like "hey, in addition to pms and cramps and bleeding let's throw something else fun into the mix!" I tried those shampoos with tar in them (not kidding) head and shoulders, even prescription shampoo. But I always ended up with flakes, anyway, plus they seemed to dry my hair out even more. I finally ended up using Redken Scalp Relief which helped control itching/flakes but didn't totally fry my follicles. Then I discovered this tonic and I don't even feel like I have to use dandruff shampoo anymore. It's a little pricey but a little goes a long way and I honestly have never felt this level of itch-free since I was a pre-teen. I actually forgot what it felt like to not be constantly scratching at my scalp.

4. Redken all soft conditioner. Now that I can deviate from the dandruff section in the shampoo aisle, I'm using Redken All Soft. I had tried this in high school and loved the way it made my hair feel (all soft) and the scent is heavenly, but it wasn't long before I had to go back to dandruff-fighting formulas instead. I'm so happy that I can finally use this again now! It's the only conditioner I've ever tried that works so well you can comb it through in the shower without hitting any knots.

5. Aussie clean volume dry shampoo. For the longest time I've been ride or die Dove dry shampoo, but I recently found this volumizing dry shampoo from Aussie and I really love it! I had also tried the Living Proof volumizing dry shampoo (which was WAY pricier) and this was so much better. Living Proof made my hair feel sticky and stiff, but this literally just feels powdery like normal dry shampoo while adding some extra lift!

who is that girl I see

I just discovered these extensions for doing updos and voila! I feel like ME again! About two weeks ago I sent away for their color matching kit and the color butterscotch matched my hair so well it was almost hard to believe. I immediately bought the updo extensions and I've been wearing it basically every single day since it arrived last week. It's essentially one single extension that you can clip in upside down if you're wearing a high bun. It lays really flat, it blended into my hair seamlessly, and you can't see the tracks at all. My hair falls just above my shoulders (you can see it in this post) but with these extensions I'm able to do a giant messy bun! I am obsessed with it!! If you've been following my blog for a while then you know that THIS is how my hair normally looks. For pretty much all of my life I've been wearing bangs with a big pile of hair on top of my head. It feels like "me" if you know what I mean.

You can't really see it well here but I also started trying out wearing bright pink eyeshadow and I am really loving how it looks! One thing that I always enjoy when I have blonde hair is playing around with more colorful makeup (whenever I have pink hair I tend to over-simplify my routine and stick to neutral colors.) I'll have to take some close-up photos to show you, although getting good pictures of makeup seems to be an acquired skill that I haven't quite mastered yet.

dress - target | collar - amazon

sweater - c/o tobi  | shoes - bait footwear

pixie growth progress

It's been just about two years since I chopped off all of my hair and got a pixie cut. I didn't like it. I knew the process of growing it back out would be long and daunting, so I kept getting trims for several months before I started to grow it out again. I've spent the better part of these two years wearing wigs and hats, but I documented the growth almost every month for my one second a day video last year and thought I'd share the progress with you today! Here is where I started, with a super short blonde pixie:



If you're thinking about getting a pixie, be 100% positive that it's what you want to do. I did it on a whim and I regretted it so much. If your hairstylist can tell you if you have any cowlicks that might be hard to style with a pixie, try to find that out first. I had two really bad cowlicks that weren't too noticeable with long hair but stuck straight up once my hair was cut short.

I had this idea that a pixie would make my hair more manageable, that I'd be able to just wake up and be good to go! But my hair took so much more effort when it was short than it did at any other length. I shower at night, and by morning my hair was a mess. I'd have to re-wet it and restyle it. It took more gel and mousse than you'd imagine to tame my stubborn cowlicks. And about 1-2 weeks after each trim it would start to look unkempt around the edges. Sometimes I'd have my mom shave the back for me in between trims just so I felt like the cut looked clean.

I stopped getting it trimmed in September of 2017. Here is a look at the progress that I made over the last year and a half of growing it out:



If you got a pixie and you're trying to grow it out, just be patient. I can't even tell you how many tutorials I watched on youtube about growing out pixies, or how many supplements and shampoos I researched. I met with a stylist about getting tape-in extensions. I took biotin religiously and massaged my scalp like it was a full time job. I only bleached my hair once during the whole growth process (I missed having pink hair!) and avoided heat styling like it was the plague. In the end, your hair is going to grow at the rate it grows. Which is usually 1/2" every month. My hair stylist said that mine grew a little faster than normal, but I think that's just my normal growth cycle (based on how often I've had to touch it up in between dye jobs in the past, I don't think my efforts to speed up the pixie growth actually made any difference.)

And, honestly, if you're like me and you don't like the way your hair looks while it's growing, wear a wig! I had two wigs that I wore constantly, especially during the first 6 months that I was growing it out. I *hated* my hair at the time I went to Paris in 2017, so I wore a wig the whole time. I knew that I'd hate my travel photos if I was sporting a partially grown-out pixie, so I donned a long dark blonde wig and a knitted hat. And obviously I've been wearing a wig in my outfit pictures since 2017. My favorite sources for wigs are ebay (I try to buy from US sellers now since a lot of the ones I've purchased from China don't actually look anything like the photos in the listings) and Keke Wigs on etsy. My pink wig is from her shop and it's so realistic and durable. And I love that it's not super shiny, so it actually looks like hair.

After 17 months of growth, my hair still doesn't touch my shoulders. But it's *almost* there. I have some shorter layers in the back since I kept going in to get the back trimmed during the growth progress to avoid having a mullet. I'd say I'm about 3-4 months away from being able to do my favorite hairstyle, maiden twists. And I think my hair is long enough that if I can find clip-in extensions that match my hair color I can do top knots and high ponytails right now.

I'm not sure if I'll keep wearing my pink wig for outfit pictures. I've reached a point where I hardly ever feel like I have to wear my wig when I go out anymore, but I still feel self conscious about it in photos. It's still way shorter than I'd like, and since I'm still trying to baby it I've been avoiding bleach (so, no pink for a while...) Either way, I just wanted to share my story in case anyone else is contemplating a pixie or is going through the long tedious growth progress along with me. We'll get there... eventually! ;D

my pink hair holy grail

I've been dying my hair pink on and off since 2011 and even though it is, hands down, my favorite hue for my hair I've always found it tricky to get the exact shade I want. Ideally I want a muted pink that isn't super neon. And in a perfect world it would be a light Crayola carnation pink, not orange-y or coral-ish.

This has always been tricky because my hair grows out of my scalp a medium-dark brown color and I need to bleach it yellow before I can even start thinking about pink. No matter how much I bleach it (and trust me, my hair has seen WAY TOO MUCH bleach) even at its lightest it is still a bright buttery yellow. That base has always worked really well for me, but my hair does tend to come out slightly neon (at least before it starts to fade) and often a tad bit orange.

Enter: Toner. Which always reminds me of this:



But in this case I'm talking about hair dye, not printer ink.

I discovered recently that you can tone your hair after you've bleached it to cancel out the brassy tones leaving you with a white-ish platinum blonde. Now this is probably old news to a lot of people but I had never tried it before last week. I needed to touch up my roots and color anyway so I decided to give this a try.

First I did a bleach bath, which is supposed to be a gentler way of bleaching your hair. If you're interested just look on youtube, there are a ton of tutorials for it and that helped me a lot. I bought one of those bleach kits from Sally's and just mixed it 1:1 with Redken All Soft shampoo. It lifted my roots and got rid of any remaining color on my hair but my scalp wasn't burning and my hair didn't seem fried when I was done. Woo hoo!

Next I applied Wella toner mixed with developer and watched the brassiness disappear from my head right before my eyes. It was like magic!! I used pink Overtone conditioner and it left my locks the most pretty pastel pink you've ever seen. I was honestly obsessed with how this looked when I was all done. I decided to add more pink the next day (this dye mixed with a TON of conditioner) and now it's the majestic muted pastel pink I've been dreaming about for years. I'm not sure what the upkeep will look like yet since this was the first time I used toner but honestly I love it so much that even if I had to do weekly maintenance I'd be okay with it.

It goes without saying, but this is just my own experience with hair dye and bleach and stuff and I'm not a professional so don't listen to me unless you're dangerous and like living life on the edge.

my comprehensive pink hair guide

I've been dyeing my hair pink on and off since 2011, so I thought I'd finally assemble everything I've learned in that time period and write a post about it! I am not a professional, so if you're unaccustomed to fooling around with your own hair I'd definitely recommend going to a hair salon if you want to dye your hair pink.



Deciding to go PINK!

If you're considering pink hair and haven't dyed it or bleached it before, I'd definitely recommend trying a wig first, or at least photoshoping a photo of yourself to see how you like it. In the first photo above I was wearing a pink wig that I bought on ebay. I just wanted to make sure that I'd like the color before I went and dyed my whole head. At the time I went pink, I was already bleaching my hair and then dyeing it red with a box dye. Switching to semi-permanent pink dye was actually healthier for my hair than the red I was using! Even though most people need to bleach their hair before applying fun colors, the actual fun colored dye is usually completely harmless (depends on the brand, but most are free of harmful chemicals) and when mixed with conditioner it's actually like a deep conditioning mask that also dyes your hair at the same time!



The Bleaching

I usually touch up my roots once every five weeks, and touch up my pink hair dye two times in between. If you aren't comfortable bleaching your own hair, you should definitely go to a hair stylist for this part. After years of doing my own hair I feel like I know what it can handle and how to treat it. I have really thick, dry, medium brown hair. I usually use one of the bleach kits that they sell at Sally's (like Beyond the Zone or Manic Panic) that comes with bleach powder and developer. The instructions say to leave it on for up to like 90 minutes, which seems insanely long to me. I usually rinse it off about 10 minutes after I'm done applying the bleach to my whole head. For pink hair, you really don't need it to get super light. Mine is usually a light/medium yellow after bleaching and the pink shows up perfectly vibrant and true to color. Some colors (like when I was dyeing my hair purple earlier this year) require more of a whiter base to start with, but pink is really forgiving.

The dyeing

I usually apply the pink dye right after bleaching, since I mix it with a ton of conditioner. It's ridiculous how soft and healthy my hair feels after I had just bleached it the same day! I usually go for a medium pink, not super light but not neon either. Pour a tiny bit of your dye into a plastic container and then add white conditioner until you get the shade that you're going for. Always start out with a little dye and then add more as needed -- I can't even count how many times I put in too much dye and ended up using a whole bottle of conditioner to try to dilute it down to the right shade of pink!

Keep in mind, dyes are a lot like paint -- you can mix them to get a shade that's perfect for you! Sometimes I've bought pink dyes that were kind of magenta when I really wanted more of a coral, so I'd mix in a little bit of semi-permanent red dye to get the color I wanted. I'm not a big fan of Manic Panic (it usually fades fast) but I keep a bottle of their Wildfire Red dye on hand for whenever I want to coral-ize a pink dye.



The products

My all-time favorite pink hair dye is nowhere to be found anymore (at least right now it isn't) Special Effects in Cupcake Pink was A DREAM. One bottle would last forever, the color would last for like 3 weeks, it was a perfect candy shade of pink -- not too blue, not too red. Perfection. Unfortunately, my last bottle ran out earlier this year and I set on the path of finding a substitute -- 

1. Manic Panic cotton candy pink -- Sally's usually has this, so I'll get it if I need pink hair dye IMMEDIATELY and can't wait for something to come in the mail. It's a pretty color but it fades really, really fast. This is great if you're trying pink for the first time, though, because if you don't like it it'll wash out in like 2-3 shampoos.

2 - Creative Image Adore pink rose - This is my current favorite. The consistency is more of a liquid than any of the other dyes I've tried, but it's the closest I've found to Special Effects cupcake pink in terms of color, longevity and how much you get out of each bottle. The color is really saturated, so to achieve the color I prefer I usually add just a few drops to a big heaping wad of conditioner. I bought one bottle in April and I'm still using it!

3 - Ion Color Brilliance rose - I feel like this one was kind of deceiving. I bought it at Sally's earlier this year. It's one of Ion's pastel shades -- they just look SO pretty on the shelf, all sweet and dainty with perfect pastel packaging. Well, the hair dye was like intense neon pink, even when I diluted it with conditioner. And it faded almost completely after one shower. I would not recommend this one at all.

4 - Pravana chromasilk pastel too cute coral - I've heard a lot of good things about Pravana so I decided to give it a try last month. The color is really pretty, kind of peachy pink and perfectly pastel. It faded kind of fast though, and one tube didn't seem like enough to totally cover my hair (and my hair is not that long.) I'd consider trying it again, but I'm so happy with the Creative Image one I don't think I'll be testing anything else in the near future.

5 - Kevin Murphy color bug hair chalk - This isn't a dye, but it's a lifesaver if you're maintaining pink hair. I like this particular color and how it's packaged, but basically any pink hair chalk should do. If you miss a big chunk of hair when you're dyeing it, or if one section is fading fast (the top back part of my head always fades quickest because that's where the shower head is pounding the most water onto my hair) one swipe of hair chalk and a quick brush-through will help disguise the blonde peeking through.

6 - Pink temporary hair mascara - Again, not dye but another lifesaver. When your roots are coming in and you're not ready to touch them up yet, this stuff is a little miracle worker. I had bright blue hair mascara when I was a tween and thought it was the coolest thing ever. Earlier this year I did a search on amazon to see if it was still available and voila! Pink hair mascara. This only really works if you're still touching up your pink in between bleaching, otherwise your hair will be practically blonde by the time the roots are coming in. I touch up my pink often enough that it's always relatively vibrant, and the hair mascara still matches the color. Bleaching isn't the healthiest thing for your hair (duh!) so anything that helps stretch out the time between touch-ups is worth trying.



Some things to keep in mind

In addition to making sure that you're going to like the color, you really need to consider the time and energy that goes into maintaining pink hair. I don't pamper myself with things like spas, massages, pedicures, etc. so I consider pink hair maintenance my one little beauty indulgence. It takes me a few hours pretty much every other week to work on the dye. I'll camp out in the bathroom watching Netflix on my laptop while the dye is taking. It's actually enjoyable me-time! But if you don't have that kind of time to spend on your hair, definitely consider that beforehand. Also make sure that you either cover your bathroom with towels or own a bathroom that can get dye EVERYWHERE. My  bathroom was basically an art project for me all through high school, with so many layers of paint on the walls it's probably impossible to find the original color. So I don't really care if dye is flinging onto the walls while I work. But I'm guessing most people don't want pink spots on their white tile, so keep that in mind lol.

Also, especially if your hair is vibrantly pink, people will talk to you about it. I'm really shy so it's not my favorite part of having pink hair, to say the least. A lot of people will joke "is that your natural color?" (to which I always just reply "yes.") A few people might want to touch it. That's always super weird. But no matter which colors I try, pink always feels the most "me-ish" so I keep coming back to it. I guess I'm not really lying when I say it's my natural color -- it feels the most natural to me, it just doesn't grow that way out of my scalp (unfortunately!)



Right now I have a more muted pink. I did this in September 2012 and absolutely loved it, so I decided to go back to it again. I use the same pink, diluted with conditioner, except instead of bleaching I started with Clairol Light Red-Neutral Blonde (8RN) mixed with 20 volume developer. It gives me a strawberry/honey blonde base instead of a bright yellow one, which results in a more muted pink. I love that it's more subtle, but still pink! And the 20 volume developer is healthier on my hair than the 40 volume developer that comes in the bleach kits (plus, no bleach!)

One last thing that I love about pink hair -- whenever I've decided that it's time to switch to another color, be it red, brown or even purple, pink has always gone away nicely. I'll apply conditioning masks, rinse it with hot water, and after 2-3 showers it's practically blonde again and ready for whatever color I want to throw on next. Purple was NOT that forgiving. It would not rinse out no matter how much I tried. When I attempted to bleach over it, my hair turned green! Basically my only option seemed to be dyeing it green or teal to make it look intentional. Then I did some research and read on a hair forum (don't remember which one, sorry!) that there was a color you could dye over green-stained hair that would still look amazing. Guess what color? Go ahead, guess!

Yup, it was pink. My beloved pink to the rescue!! Seriously, it's just the best color ever.

when skies are cloudy and grey

I've been having a major case of the "blahs" lately. I took outfit pictures almost every day this year and so far I've only been satisfied with (I think, I'm too lazy to double-check) four. It's like I forgot how to get dressed all of a sudden, nothing looks right (except those four(?) that I thought were half-decent enough to post) I'm also really not thrilled with my hair -- I had to touch up the dye since I missed a huge chunk and ended up accidentally dying it too dark again. blargh!

I'm also not thrilled with the cut. It looked great at the salon but I majorly suck at styling my own hair after I wash it. I try so hard and watch youtube tutorials and read tutorials but everything comes up FAIL. I think it's a combination of being super incompetent in the beauty department (still pretty sure I don't apply concealer correctly either) and having hair with a mind of its own. Each strand is programmed to go in a different direction and no matter how hard I try to blow it out straight, my waves come back with a vengeance. I miss being able to just whip it up into milkmaid braids and call it a day.

On a much brighter note, I'm meeting two of my best friends today and I'm so excited about it! We've been friends online for five years this month. We're all so close I feel like we're sisters, I'm not even nervous about meeting them in person, just super, incredibly excited :)

dress- modcloth | cardigan - c/o modcloth | tights - target | shoes - c/o oasap

mustard and mauve

After I took these photos yesterday I went to Sally's and got supplies to re-dye my hair -- it was just really bugging me. Plus I'm meeting two of my very best friends next week and wanted to look super spiffy! I've been really good about bleaching (the last time I even touched up my roots was in October) so I decided to bleach the purple out (I know, it's not good for my hair, I know, I know!) and it turned my hair.... green. Not horribly green, actually kind of a cute light mint, but I really wanted purple. So I panicked a little, then put toner in and hoped for the best. It actually lifted out most of the green so I decided to throw caution to the wind and put in my new purple dye. If it turned out murky brown or throw up green, I have a back up wig for emergencies ;)

Well, it turned out PERFECT. I mean 100% completely head-over-heels perfect. I'm typing this at 2am before I go to sleep and I cannot wait to wake up and look at it in the daylight! Honestly the darker purple wasn't that horrible but it just didn't feel like me. This is a light pastel purple and, ugh, I'm just so giddy about it I could dance. I just might dance. At 2am.

Also, how about these tights?! I got them at Target (you know those little rolled up $5 ones that come in a bunch of colors and fill the hearts of tights-lovers around the world with boundless glee) and I'm so in love with them! They're almost a neutral since they aren't too bright, dark or light -- just a happy medium pink. And they match this cardigan so well it's almost scary.

dress - modcloth | cardigan - c/o modcloth

tights (in bold rose) - target | shoes - c/o bait footwear

eggplant pigtails

A little sneak peek at my bedroom! :)

Right before the new year I re-dyed my hair and it came out so dark! It was one of those really cold icy days and I was still getting over being sick and I was dead-set on dying my hair, so when I saw that I was out of the conditioner I use to dilute the hair dye I thought "oh what the heck" and just applied it as-is. And wow does it come out dark when it's not diluted. It was basically black with an ever-so-slight blue/purple tint. I mean, this photo was taken after it had faded a bit with a few shampoos and it's STILL super dark. Right now it's getting a little closer to what I consider acceptable lightness (ex: if you follow me on instagram you can see what it looks like now, here) but I'm really looking forward to when it fades even more. It's funny, I have naturally dark brown hair and lived with it for 17 years but as soon as I (accidentally or on purpose) end up with a dark hair color now I hate it so much.

If you're curious, I used punky colors in violet. I like it most when it's almost completely faded, and it looks kind of grayish-lilac. When it first goes on, even when I dilute it, it's a little too blue. I bought some punky colors purple and I'm going to try mixing them for my next touch up :) I'm also going for a haircut this week and taking along a photo of Phryne Fisher from Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries -- is anyone else hooked on that show (and her hair?!) I love it! She's like a living flapper doodle!

dress - modcloth | blouse - thrifted | bow - topshop | shoes - c/o bait footwear

purple purple purple!

I have purple hair! It came out darker than I wanted, and the bleach didn't lighten all of my hair enough so some areas look kind of murky grey... but I do like it. It's like the first time I did pink, it takes a few times before the hair color really gets the way I want it. I need to fiddle with the dye to conditioner ratio and I think I might need to mix this color (Punky Colors violet) with a redder shade of purple to get the hue I was going for.

I've had a weird week. I ended up catching Chloe going on my bed, so now I know which cat was the culprit. She ended up doing it three times before I caught her.. luckily when I got my new mattress I bought a waterproof liner just in case, but that still doesn't really make it any less gross :( I just hope she's ok.. she did this once before when she had a UTI so we're off to the vet to make sure everything is fine.

I got SUPER excited today because I managed to snatch up tickets to an X-Files event in NYC next month... I called pretty much everyone in my family to gloat and even ordered a smaller version of my I Want to Believe poster so I could get it signed. And then I got an e-mail from the place hosting the event letting me know that they actually sold out on Wednesday (!!) and anyone who purchased tickets after that would be watching the event on a closed-circuit tv in a room on another floor. So I just cancelled :( It really bummed me out because I was just SO excited about seeing Mulder and Scully in person. But you know what, I got to meet Steve Carell (and a bunch of other Office cast members!) earlier this year so I guess I had more than my fair share of awesome tv experiences for 2013. Maybe I'll have better luck when the next X-Files event rolls around :)

sweater - c/o oasap | skirt - h&m | shoes - urban outfitters | glasses - c/o firmoo

hair we go

I've been pinning my bangs back for a few days and I think I'm going to stick with this for a while. I've gotten very used to hair covering up half of my face, so all the forehead I'm seeing in the mirror is a little odd but it just feels so good. I don't have to worry about wind blowing them out of place, heat making them stick to my skin, accidentally making them too short or letting them grow out too long. I love the way bangs look on me, but I need a break. Instead of putting up with them, I'm putting them up ;)

On an unrelated note, has anyone seen the news about The Little Mermaid re-release? It's apparently being released this week with a gimmick that has you bringing your ipad into the theater and participating in audience games and sing-a-longs. I was so excited when it was originally announced that it was going to be released in 3D (and very heartbroken when that was cancelled) but now I'm not sure if I want to go. I know I'm old fashioned, but I really love that movie theaters are one place you can still go to escape from constant connectivity. Will you go?

dress - c/o oasap | shoes - c/o bait footwear | sweater and belt - forever 21

diy clip in bangs [guest post]

Hi there, my name is Ally and I blog over at now that's pretty. Today I'm here to share a little DIY that can totally change your hair but doesn't require any awkward cutting or growing out periods. The other day I was out shopping and saw clip in bangs (we call them winges over here because they are fringe wigs...oh yeah we call bangs fringes). They looked pretty cool but were uber expensive so I decided to make my own. The only downside to the DIY version is that you have to wear a ribbon to cover the seam but there's nothing wrong with a little encouragement to decorate yourself with bows right?



You will need:

Hair extensions of the same colour as your hair- I had some from when I'd been growing my hair out but you can usually get them in chemists and beauty stores quite cheaply. If not you can use a wig and then cut the hair away from the net (keeping the hair fibers on the seam).

A needle and cotton
Scissors
Hair straighteners



The making- 1) First straighten the hair you're working with, it makes it easier to manage and judge length. 2) Cut off the existing clips or attachments. 3) You will now be left with hair on a seam. Do this until you have a few layers because you need the bangs to be nice and thick. 4) Layer up your seams and sew them together (You don't have to be very neat here as long as its relatively strong). Also at this point check they are the right width for your head. 5) You now have the hair you will be working with! 6) Re-attach some clips- one in the middle and one at each side. 7) Finally cut your bangs. It's better to cut a little at a time than to suddenly realise you've cut it way too short. 8) Yay! All finished! I left some little tendrils at the sides as well because they make it look a little more natural.



The styling- 1) Unclip all your fastenings. 2) Clip your bangs on. 3) Use a straightening iron to slightly curl your bangs under. This makes them look less rough. 4) See? Much better. 5) Since you can still see the seam you will need to cover it. You can get a little creative here, I usually use a ribbon but in the past I've used plaits or curls of my own hair. 6) Ta-daa!

Have fun with your new hair style!

quick & easy hairdos [guest post]

Hello wonderful readers of Scathingly Brilliant! I'm Britney from Scout and today I am blogging for Kate while she is away. I am sure that we can all understand the hardship that Kate is going through. I recently lost my dog and its so heart wrenching that at times it is unbearable. You've spent their life thinking you are prepared but up until it happens you never realize just how much it will hurt. Lets all send Kate hugs and love from all around the world. Lots of them!!!

In honour of Kate (and her brilliance) I'm going to show you a few quick and easy hair-dos to make your day better if you are feeling a little uninspired and sad!! When I am a little down and even if I have no where to go I'll do my makeup, hair and get dressed up. Its amazing how it can make a difference!



First and foremost a pretty little half-up beehive. If you want to do a full beehive its super easy to just tuck in all the ends! I would have to say this one is my favourite! And it is remarkably easy too! I love the vintage, 50s feel this hairstyle gives. Plus it can make any outfit so much more prettier!! Who doesn't like a beehive?



1. Part the top section of your hair from the bottom. 2.Tease the top section all up!! Try and avoid the very top as this will show at the end and I'm betting you'll want it to look smooth! 3.Use a bun ring to add extra volume. 4. Simply tuck it in under the teasing. 5. And pin it down with bobby pins. 5. Tease the side sections out more and then clip at the back (with more bobby pins). 6. Spray and smooth with lots of hairspray. 7. Add any finishing touches. I added a big white bow as a homage to Kate! 8. And wear it with pride!!




The Tinkerbell Bun is just as easy, perhaps even more!!! I recently purchased this pretty floral hair tie from a New Zealand accessories store but you can find similar (possibly prettier) here, here (this one has butterflies!) and here. All you need here is a bun ring, a hair tie and any pretty decorative things!



1. Start with your hair out. 2. Put it into a silly (but fun) high pony tail!! 3. Grab a bun ring. 4.Pull the pony tail through the ring. 5.Drop the hair down (making sure it covers the ring completely) and tuck in the edges. 6. Decorate!!! With anything you like!




This is the easiest!! So simple! You can just put it up and go! Generally when I am at home and want my hair out of my face I'll go for this. I've used a scrunchie-esque bow. The bow itself has wire in it so it keeps itself in great shape!!! And its in a pretty red polka-dotted pattern. Whats not to love?



1.Start with a head of teased and voluminous hair. 3. Bring it all into a pony tail and wrap the hair tie around a few times. On the last time through don't pull it all the way. Leave some tucked in. 4. If needed add some bobby pins until you are happy with the shape. 5. Done!



I sure do hope I've given you some Kate inspired inspiration!! She sure is one amazing gal. Am I right? So lets all send her our well wishes and hugs. If you are going through something similar reach out!! Take steps to make yourself happier (like putting your hair up all pretty even if you aren't leaving the house). Its not easy. But people always tell me it will get easier! And I am pretty sure the passing of a loved one gets easier when you are surrounded by more love, friends and family.
Britney