Dealing With Fine Hair: Tips, Tricks & Products

I've had fine hair since the day I was born, I still do and I probably always will. Not only is my hair limp and lifeless, it is also overly soft and slippery, making it a real pain to style, and almost impossible for updos. However, over the years I have used lots of different techniques to deal with this, some worked, some didn't, and today I'm going to share with you what I find to be the best ways of making your unstyleable hair styleable.

The first thing I would recommend is doing the reverse wash. If you haven't heard of this before, it's where you use conditioner and then shampoo. I like to focus the conditioner on the ends of my hair, and the shampoo on the roots and the hair just above my neck. Doing this gives my hair a bit more grip, whilst still keeping it in good condition.

My next tip is to always blow dry your hair upside down. This gives it more volume and body, making it easier to style. Try not to go to bed with damp hair, because if you lie on it, it will dry very flat and lifeless.

Don't skimp on the texturising products. Salt spray, volume spray, backcomb powder and dry shampoo are all going to be your best friend. On a day to day basis I usually just go for my L'oreal Volume Spray, with the addition of sea salt spray if I'm going for wavy hair, however if I want to wear my hair up, I will go all out on the hair products in order to keep the style in place.

If you want to wear your hair straight, straighten it. Don't think that straightening your hair will make it even limper. If you straighten your hair, it will make people trick people into thinking that it's meant to be dead straight, rather than that your hair is lifeless. Also, it can make you look more put together.

Don't go overboard on the eyebrows. If your hair's thin, chances are your eyebrows are going to be too. Therefore if you fill them is too bushily, it will look unatural, so try to shape and define your brows, without making them too bold.

My final tip is a bit controversial, but something I like to do is lightly bleach my hair. I use the L'oreal Sun Kiss Jelly, which is a very weak bleach that gradually lightens your hair after 5 or so uses. I use this once every two weeks, just to dry out my hair a tiny bit to make it less soft. I don't use it often enough to actually damage my hair, and it is only a  very weak bleach (as you can see, my hair hasn't exactly gone bleach blonde), but it just helps to make my hair a bit more managable. I also enjoy experimenting with where I apply it. At the moment I've gone for a slight ombre, with more lighter bits at the front to help frame my face. As I said, controversial, but it works for me.

Lastly, I just want to say that whatever your hair type, enjoy and embrace it. I hope you enjoyed this post, and saw something that you want to try out.

emma x

Hair Styling: Bits and Bobbles

First off, who likes the title of this post? I was very proud of it haha. Today I will be sharing with you my favourite hair styling tools, what I do with them, and why I like them.

The first thing I want to talk about is scrunchies. I like to use these at night or in the bath to get my hair out the way. I prefer these to hair bands as they are less damaging to the hair so are suitable for sleeping as they stop your hair from getting damaged from moving while you sleep.

The next item is hair bands. I always buy these from Primark as you get loads for just £1, and it includes a mixture of thinner and thicker ones. I also like these as they don't have any metal, which again makes them less damaging. I use these for playing sport and when I want to wear my hair up all day as they hold the style well.

Hair grips are an essential for every one and I like to buy the ones from Primark because they're so cheap. We all know that hair grips disappear to some sort of hair grip heaven, so you may as well buy the cheapest ones. I also love how well these ones match the colour of my hair, and they're the perfect size.

Decorated hair grips were something that I used to use basically every day a couple of years ago, and although I don't use them as frequently now, I still use them on occasion. When I'm wearing my hair up during the day I will sometimes use one to add a bit of interest, but most of the time I use them to pin back my fringe/front section of my hair. This keeps it out of my face, meaning I can work without constantly moving my hair out the way.

Next is my bun ring which I like to use to bulk up my bun a bit. My hair is very thin so putting this around my it gives the illusion that my bun is bigger. It also adds interest, and I really liked it in the summer as it made my hair look more summery.

Lastly, is these mini hair clips that I've mentioned on my blog before. I like to use these to clip back the front section of my hair to keep it out my face, and I personally have to use the small ones because my hair is so fine, but other people will probably need to use normal sized ones.

I hope you enjoyed this post and saw some new hair pieces that you want to try.

emma x

The Tuesday Review: Toni and Guy Salt Spray

Salt spray is something that's a daily essential for me; my hair is ridiculously soft so anything that adds a bit of grit and texture is a winner for me. I am on my second bottle of this stuff now so it's fair to say that it impressed me a lot as it's not often that I repurchase a product because I always want to try new things.

After I've washed my hair, I'll spray my hair with a bit of this product to add a bit of texture right from the start. I always blow dry my hair in order to add volume, so this helps to give it more of an undone look. I then style my hair and add this as one of the finishing stages. If I'm wearing my hair straight, this helps to add a bit more of a piecey (I don't think that's a word but oh well) texture. If I wake up and my hair is a bit wavy because of how I've slept on it, I just add a generous amount of this and then scrunch my hair to emphasise the waves and help them stay all day. If I curl my hair, I will spray this in to help maintain the curls/waves and give them more of a beachy look. Basically, this is perfect however you like to style your hair!

I really like that this product gives your hair a bit of hold as well as texture, so you don't need to go overboard with the hairspray. It does leave your hair slightly crispy, but then beachy hair is like that anyway so it's only doing it's job. I prefer to buy the travel size bottle of this because it's still a decent size at 75ml, so lasts a good 6 months, but means that the product never goes out of date before getting used up. Salt spray is something that I will always buy from the drugstore as there is so many budget options available, and at the moment, this is the one that I'm really enjoying.

Everyone has a holy grail hair product, and for now, this is most definitely mine.

emma x