Beautiful lengths photo a day, day 8

Welcome back, everyone! I hope that you had an excellent weekend.  Okidokies, time for more silliness and beauty stuff with my photo a day, day 8: favorite hair accesory!

Woot!

Um....except, I'm going to post a lot more than just a few photos because I have a ton of accesories, and honestly I don't have a favorite.  I really don't wear a lot of hair jewelry, I just tend to hoard them and look at them when no one is around.  Kind of like Gollum....*enter bad impression of Gollum saying "my precious...."

Okidokies.  Also, for those of you who are familiar with my youtube channel, check it out in the next few days, I'm going to be sharing some new stuff.  I've decided to start actually recording my piano playings and will be posting a couple of those in the new future.  I don't have a great quality camera or setup right now, and my piano is very, very old and has seen a lot so it has some creaks and groans every once in a while.  You'll have to bear with it until I can find a better alternative.

So, I'm going to just give you a quick tour of my treasure lol.

Here are the hats - I used to be a big fan of swing and blues dancing and you can't be a dancer without a decent fedora, so I decided to get several just to be on the safe side.

For those of you who love hats, fedoras in particular, I got all of these, save the two black, at target; they have an awesome selection.  The first black fedora I got at Walmart and the second at Spencer's - though they no longer have the decent selection that they used to.

Moving on to my sparklies, I have a lot - be warned.

Headbands that I very rarely wear.  The first bead thing is technically a bracelet, but I like it better as a band.

These are all barrette like things; the butterfly is also not an actual hair toy and it's a new piece, but I plan on using for something hair related.

Again, sparklies I don't use a whole lot.

These are special because I wore them at my wedding.

These are my flowers; I have a blue flower that didn't make it onto the page because it's somewhere in the back of my car waiting to be rescued.

After that, it's on to hairsticks!! Woot woot! - Here is what I have in "wood".  You'll notice one pair of the white sticks look like they have been taped in the center and that is because they met an untimely death months ago, but they are my favorite still because Husband got them for me; I just can't wear them anymore.

These are all my metal hair sticks; sorry about the photo quality - my flash was on auto and I didn't have time to redo it.

My dragonfly - and a couple of random ones I didn't know I had.

And last but not least, my sparkly hairsticks!

Whew! I think that's it.  So, not really what the project asked for, but since I couldn't think of one, I hope this will do.

Thanks, and stay tuned for day 9: straight hair

Beautiful lengths photo a day, day 7

Okay, well here I'm going to break the cycle here and not post a photo.  Why?  Because regardless of the times I've had good hair days it's never occurred to me take a photo because someday I might be doing a photo a day project that asked to post a photo of my best hair moment.  In fact, I can't even really think of one.

One might automatically go back to their wedding, but I wasn't happy with my wedding hair because it was way too short and I was in the process of growing it out.  It's not that I didn't like it, it's just not what I would consider a best hair moment.  It served its purpose.

I honestly can't think of a one great hair moment.  Really, it's more a matter of confidence.  My hair has gotten a little bit wild in these past few months and I absolutely love it - I don't use a lot of product; I make sure it has the right nutrients, it's the one part about myself that I have absolutely no self doubts about, so any day with my hair is a good hair day.  When I didn't have a decent routine down there were definitely good and bad days, but lately they've all been very good.

Another key I think is not trying to force your hair to do something it doesn't want to do.  And example would be this morning; I tried leaving it down and that just wasn't gelling, so I tried a half ponytail and again, not happening.  I settled on just pulling back the very top of my hair with bobby pins and it looks fine.   If you don't try to make your hair do something it doesn't want to do and if you maintain confidence you're sure to have a good day.  Also, if you take care of your hair and don't subject it to heat, dyes or bleaches on a regular basis it will pay off in the long run.  So many people lament their hair, but they keep doing the same things that will kill it over and over and then they want to know what they did wrong.  Well, you exposed a very delicate part of your body to 300+ degree heat, stripped it's color with a chemical, forced colored chemicals back into it, you strip the oils everyday with shampoo and don't deep condition - I think those things are probably what you did wrong. Just sayin'.

So there's my mini soapbox moment for the day. We will resume the photo a day project on Monday - tomorrow, my featured reader is my Mom! Woot!

Beautiful lengths, photo a day, day 5

Hello all,

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

So, Day 5 is my going out hair.  To be honest, I've never been one for super fancy hairstyles; my going out hairstyle is very similar to my everyday styles; I just tend to make sure it's brushed and clean:

As you can see nothing super fancy!

Stay tuned for day 6, my hair-do of the day

Beautiful lengths photo a day, day 3

Hello all!

It is time for day 3: flashback! 


Haha, this was when I was in a musical/choir special that was called "British Invasion".  We sang songs in the 60s.  This was the last time I made my big chop 3-4 years ago from where it is now to a 60s-ish bob.  I think it's interesting to see the progress that I've made.

And that is my little brother beside me; we're a little crazy.

Stay tuned for day 4: Going out hair

Beautiful lengths photo a day, day 2

Hello all!

Okay, it's time for my photo a day project! Day 2 is Celeb hair you love. Now, before we start this off, I'm going to start by saying there is no celebrity that I like enough to put on this blog.  Regardless of their awesome, salon perfected, product impregnated hair.  BUT in an effort to keep in the spirit of the photo a day I settled on someone I didn't know anything about, which is good because then I can admire their hair without feeling conflicted about their personalities. 

Lara Lieto is a model that I know absolutely nothing about, but she has really really pretty long hair: 
This is about the length that I'm hoping for.  I know that a lot of people wouldn't like how crazy it looks, but I personally love the wildness of it.  I also love the fact that there aren't really any noticeable layers; she's managed to, in a world of upkeep and specific looks, take a very traditional hairstyle and make it look absolutely stunning.

Stay tuned for day 3: Hair flashback, which should be pretty funny.

In an effort to get back into blogging after the holidays

Hello all!

Yes, I know, I bombed on yet another Friday Feature, but it's been busy, so I'm going to use that as an excuse for as long as I can.

I've also decided that, because I don't want to get into the habit of making excuses for my Friday Features, I'm going to start a major blogging project.

I read Hair Romance which is really fun hair blog that has a lot of cool ideas, and looking through her old posts and came across this lovely gem.  It's a 30 day, photo a day challenge that I think would be a great way to get myself back into the groove of posting more often.  I can't promise that I'm going to do all of them, like take a stranger's photo, but I'll do something similar:

*UPDATE* Since a lot of these are becoming somewhat redundant; I'm going to revamp the rest of my photos to suit my blog a little better.

1. Hair self portrait
2. Celeb hair you love 
3. Hair flashback 
4. Going out hair 
5. Hair you adore 
6. Your hair-do today 
7. Best hair moment 
8. Your fave hair accessory 
9. Straight hair 
10. Long hair 
11. Dream hair 
12. You mom's hair 
13. Weekend hair 
14. Stranger's hair - Probably changed to a coworkers hair
15. Favorite short 'do 
16. Curly hair 
17. Hair Swissssshhh
18. Worst hair moment 
19. Straight of out the shower hair 
20. Your hair as a child 
21. Friend's hair 
22. Hair product you used today 
23. Bed head 
24. You hair at 8pm 
25. Hair don't (hair you really don't like) 
26. Flashback: your hair as a teen 
27. Where you did your hair today 
28. Daily hair routine 
29. Work/school hair 
30. Donated hair - I don't have any photos of my hair the times that I've donated it, so I probably won't do anything like that, not sure what I'll change it to yet

So without further ado, day 1: hair self portrait: 

My hair is now officially down to my hips; the ends are red from henna as it gradually goes back my natural brown as you move up the length.

The waves are natural, my hair can't make up it's mind; it goes from stick straight to wavy to stick straight again. Go figure. 

Tomorrow: My favorite celebrity hair! 

Coming soon: hairstyle tutorials!

I'm tired of no pictures in this blog.  It's boring.  Therefore! I shall change it.

I've decided that I'm going to start adding hair tutorials to my blog, I don't really do a lot of braids because of my layers, but I am a black belt in hairsticks. :) So, below I'm going to post a number of hairstyles I'm going to feature in the coming weeks, and if you have a request you are welcome to message me and ask.  I may not be able to do all of them, but I have a plethora of youtubers I follow that I can refer you too if I'm not up for the challenge.

I'd like to start off with my go-to hairstyles:

• Flipped half up Hairstyles  
• Buns for people with layered hair
• One stick only hairstyles

After that, I would like to start featuring some special styles from various movies that I love.  I'm going to start off with Memoirs of a Geisha: 

• Hatsumomo
• Half up 
• Alternate view 1
• Alternate view 2
• I might try to tackle one of Hatsumomo's updos, but I know they use a lot of product, teasing, extensions, and I'm just not up for that kind of torture.  If I can get a model to work on I'll try to figure out a hair-friendly version
• Sayuri
• Debut
• Alternate view
• Sumo match
• Alternate view 1
• Alternate view 2
• Odango bun
• Peasant worker 
• Last Scene
• Alternate view
• Mameha
• Mameha has basically one updo that has slight variations to it; we'll focus on one variation only
• Mameha casual
• Pumpkin
• Double odango
• Alternate view
• Half up
• Pin up girl 
• Alternate view
• Other 
• Dance recital

Other movies that will be included in my list will be:

• Vanity Fair 
• Sense and Sensibility 
• Duches (maybe) 
• Princess Bride
• A Knight's Tale 
• Ever After 
• Tenant of Wildfell hall
• Lord of the Rings 
• Star Wars (maybe) 

I'm sure there are others that I have spaced/forgotten at this moment, but this is a good start up list.  I will not be doing any crazy, wacky, costume-day hairstyle.  My goal is to take the hairstyles in these movies and to create a version that is easy to do at home, hair-friendly and applicable to everyday style and life. 

Feel free to comment or request more, and I'll see what I can do! Like I said before, I am no expert with braids and some of these will require a model instead of working on it with my own hair; I'm more than happy to refer you to someone who can execute a request if I can not.  

New project: Featuring my favorite hair gurus!

Okay everyone, I am going to start something new, but before we begin, first I want to shout out to the blogger at www.ibraidhair.wordpress.com because she is the gal that inspired me to do this with my blog.

Featured readers!!  Woot!!

Okay, I know I don't have many readers (yet; happy thoughts.), but she had this brilliant idea for her blog to feature the people who read her posts.  I participated and thought "wow, what a great way to highlight the people that inspire me in my hair obssession!"

So, here we are!

I hope to be start my features here in about a week or so, and if you are a reader and are interested, you are welcome to contact me and we'll line you up, but I would also recommend - HIGHLY recommend going to Sarah's site first, because she is the one who started it and also because she is super awesome and has amazing hair and her site is wonderful.

Talk to you all soon!

Project: How long can we make my curls last! Day 4

Yes, I washed my curls out...so they lasted three days.

I woke up in the morning with loose waves, but honestly my head was getting itchy and I wanted my straight hair back so I went ahead and got rid of them.  It was a fun project and I am extremely pleased with the curlformers.  So there we go, the end! 

Project: How long can we make my curls last! Day 3

Alrighty everyone, so I am becoming more and more impressed with my curlformers and the results of this week as each day passes.

For a little background on today; I went to bed feeling really not great at all so I didn't really care about how my hair was arranged on the pillow; I passed out around 9:30 and tossed and turned until some random person texted me at one in the morning saying they were the tall guy that I met at Old C's.  Yeah....wrong number.

So I woke up, took my shower, didn't my makeup and clothes and then brushed out my hair with my paddle brush, I didn't comb at all and here are my results:

I am seriously impressed.  These are nice soft waves that have no product in them, went through a hot shower so they got a little steamed even though I tried to keep them out of the water as much as possible, and were brushed out.  Very awesome.  Also, I'm not noticing extra grease buildup or anything on my scalp so I could easily another day with curls, I'm going to see what they look like tomorrow morning and keep you posted.

Project: How long can we make my curls last! Day 2

Alrighty, here we are on Day 2 of the curly hair Project.


So I slept with my curls on my satin pillow case and tried to make sure the curls were on top of the pillow instead of getting crushed, but I move around in my sleep so I did end up smooshing them a little bit.  Here is the result after I got dressed and just tossled the curls about a little bit.  Please keep in mind that this is with no product other than my Giovanni Anti-Frizz:

 Not bad!!  The very bottom of my hair near my neck had pretty much given up and let the curls falls so I had some wavy/straight locks, but for the most part they all held pretty well.  I was tempted to just leave my hair like it was, but the only problem is I tried running my fingers through my hair I noticed the dreaded rat's nest had started to form in several places.  I can't stand having tangled hair. I just can't....one of the reasons why I will never tease my hair apart from the fact that it's bad for your hair, it makes it tangling and I just don't like that feeling. So, I combed them out with my boxwood comb and then ran my brush through them.  This was the result: 

Honestly I don't think that's too bad.  It brushed out the ringlets, but it left some really nice waves and I still have a couple of ringlet face framing locks.  I like it and now it's tangle free.  So far I'm super impressed with the curformers...the last time I tried to make ringlets with a different product I gave myself an afro that fell into inconsistent spiral thingies. 

Another plus in this is that I'm starting to miss my straight hair, which is nice because I was getting bored.  I like being able to run my hands through my hair.  It will be nice to see how my hair fared through this whole experiment.  I might do a protein and honey masque afterwards, but since I used the WEN hair cleanser instead of shampooing two days in a row, I think it helped maintain the overall health.

I'll post third day hair tomorrow to see how it goes? 

Project: How long can we make my curls last! Day 1

Okay!  So we're going to conduct an experiment.  Yesterday you saw my awesome curlformer curls and I decided that I absolutely HATED the sugar water spray.  Not because of the bees; I actually don't mind critters flying around and smelling my hair, I just really didn't like how stiff and untouchable my hair was, and if you know me at all, you know that I like touching my hair. A lot. It's weird. So my experiment is to see how long I can make my curls last with just using my regular hair routine.

SO!  I went ahead and washed my hair with WEN last night and reapplied my curlformers, this time with smaller sections of hair; I ended up using 45 of them.  Before using the formers, I applied I used my Giovanni anti-frizz serum per usual, but didn't use any aloe vera.  I took them out this morning and this is how they look:

So you can see the curls are a little tighter individually because I used smaller sections, but they are also not as "sculpted" as they looked with the product in my hair, which is fine with me; I prefer the more natural, crazy look. I think next time I will mix in aloe with my serum because it made my hair really soft and shiny.

So here we are day 1.  I'm going to see how long I can make these babies last and will photograph my progress. The End!