hair

Hottest Haircut For Spring 2019

@bufferingbetty

It’s time for something new

Spring is in the air! Let your hair down and fall. If you’ve been itching for a new look, one of the trendiest looks is a thowback look that always seems to make it’s way back to the spotlight.

(re)Meet the Shag

It’s easy, sexy, bed hair that is flattering for everyone!

Looks good with all hair textures!

Ok this isn’t a fair representation. Zendaya can pull off every look.

EVERY LOOK.

Make it a little edgy!

It still looks FIRE when polished up.

Not into the bangs?

Yeah, still looks good.

The Key is all of the layers that stack on top of each other. You have volume + lift.

Time for a Cut?

This No Frizz Hair Care Line is your First Defense Against Humidity

Danyelle Valentin // @bufferingbetty

When your love for big hair turns ironic.

 With frizzy hair, even the slightest presence of moisture in the air ruins your low slick back ponytail into a swirly mess.

 

Don’t doubt for a minute that I don’t love every inch of my hair. I can manipulate it into anything. There are certainly cute frizzy hair days.

 

But THIS is not one of them so these are the days that we need to embrace the power good hair care.

The first step for managing frizzy hair is identifying why your hair swells 3x it’s actual size in the first place. Frizzy hair means that your hair is on the dryer side; regardless of your hair type. For me, it’s, 1, I was born this way, and 2, using hot tools in my hair. Using heated styling tools to smooth my frizz just creates more of what I’m trying to, not eliminate, but keep well below Hagrid levels. I also shower with hot water. I know it’s bad for my dry skin and hair but I can’t help it!!!!

So, if you were born this way, the first thing you need to do is ACCEPT and EMBRACE your frizzy hair. Almost nothing can correct nature. There are dozens of ways to style your hair where frizz adds an exciting element of beauty. We see it on the runway all the time!

Note: I wouldn’t be mad if my hair looked like that every day. And I do mean that big too!

I also need to accept that I am damaging my hair with heat and products that dry it out -only making it frizzier. What are your habits that effect your hair?

Related: Rotating Curling Iron Review

Frizzy hair be like 0 to GODDAMN in 5 seconds. You’ll think you’re going to have a great natural hair day and POOF. Your hair had other plans but you were already in your car on your way to happy hour and now you have to enlist ‘the bun’ to save you. -Just me?

To keep your hair fierce rather ferocious, prepping your hair starts in the shower. The Living Proof No Frizz shampoo and conditioner left me blown away the first time I used it. It has continued to impress me every time I wash my hair. I’m on my third set!!! Do you remember how nice you’re hair felt before your discovered hot tools and styling products? Or do you feel slightly jealous of your baby cousins’ hairs because they just look so healthy and untainted by the pressures of adulthood? Yeah. that's how good my hair feels and looks with this combo.

Most ‘no frizz’ hair care lines I’ve tried leave my hair weighed down. I. Hate. Flat. Hair. The Living Proof combo is everything. My hair looks and feels so healthy. My wavy hair texture is at peak waviness when I let it air dry -even with no added product. Are you paying attention! NO ADDED PRODUCT! I get compliments on my hair when I use this shampoo and conditioner.

Add it to your cart, your wishlists, your mood boards now! -
Shampoo // Conditioner

On second and third (+ so on) day hair, I use the Living Proof No Frizz Nourishing Styling Cream. It brings down the frizz to a socially acceptable level. I keep mini ones with me at all times! One in my purse and one chills in the cup-holder of the front seat of my car. It doesn’t act as a smoothing oil which works to eliminate all signs of frizz. Like I said, I love my frizzy hair. I just like to not walk around looking like I haven’t brushed my hair in 3 months. The styling cream gives more definition to my waves without making my hair heavy.

Living Proof
No Frizz Nourishing Styling Cream

This next product is not part of the Living Proof line BUT it is a ‘holy grail’ level product for keeping my hair in shape. The Bumble and Bumble Hairdresser’s Invisible Oil Balm-to-Oil Pre Shampoo Masque -ya need it. Just to keep it simple; you need it. Damage in my hair always shows on the ends. This masque makes my hair look like I just got it cut. It’s boujee salon level excellent that you can do at home. I would just avoid using it directly before styling your hair because it is so rich that your hair will just fall flat.

Bumble and Bumble
Hairdresser’s Invisible Oil Balm-to-Oil Pre Shampoo Masque

Have I told you how I’ve crowned myself as the Sample Queen -because I have. You can be too! Try all of the Living Proof products I wrote about in this travel kit they put together.

Living Proof
No Frizz Smoothing & Frizz Fighting Travel Kit

For the days when the frizz factor will not be controlled. always keep some sort shield with you. It could be a hat, headband or scarf. For me it’s at least 4 bobby pins to create a secure bun and a hair tie for when I can’t be bothered. Frizz happens fast. Don’t let them catch you slippin’!


From the moment I emerged into this life, I have had frizzy hair. As a child, my mom saturated my sisters’ and my hair with Infusium leave in conditioner. In middle school, to control the frizz, I coated my hair in Pantene Pro V mousse or any brand gel -I had one that tinted my hair blue and made it as hard as plastic. I’d pull my hair into a high side ponytail with a scrunchie! In high school, I discovered the blow dryer but only used it the night before school to “let the frizz settle overnight” -I still do this sometimes.

I fully embrace my hair! I often try something new: blonde, blue, purple, bob, bangs, braids. and all of the things!

If all else fails, live in your Diana Ross- big hair, don’t care-moments!

Easy Hairstyles For Spring 2018 Using A Rotating Curling Iron

@bufferingbetty

Hair so cute. Air so Breezy. Vibes so Spring.

Put a little Spring in your hair by adding
bouncy curls to your locks all season long. 

It's time to pack away all of your Winter hats so that your hair can breathe in fresh looks. I'll tell you how I created these four easy Spring hairstyles. Read to the end of this post for a review of the Spinstyle Pro rotating curling iron from Salon Tech. 

Lazy Blow Out

This one is for all my frizzy-haired-beauties trying to thrive in the humid seasons. It's my saving grace for when I haven't spent time prepping my hair. Or, I've spent too much time on my makeup and left myself only 5 minutes for hair. The heat from the curling iron smooths the frizz while giving my hair some shape and body so I don't look like Rubeus Hagrid. After tying my hair into a high ponytail, working from left to right, I grabbed a section of hair to begin curling it. I made sure that the sections weren't too thin because it would have made the curls too defined giving a completely different look. Once all of the section of my ponytail had been curled, I let down my hair and delicately ran the tips of my fingers through my hair to break up the curls. 

Video Tutorial Here

As a final touch, I sometimes like to smooth some of the frizziness framing my face. I sprayed a soft touch hairspray on to a comb. Instead of pushing the teeth through my hair, I flipped the comb to face the teeth upward so they would glide down my hair shaft. For some added va-va-volume, you can use dry shampoo or any texture powder to the roots of your hair. 

Essential Tool: Hair Bungee

If you were to use a regular hair tie, you run the risk of ruining the curls you just spent time creating. The hair bungee is better because it just wraps around the base of your ponytail without having to slide down your hair shaft. 

BinaryABC Ponytail Hooks Holder Bungee Bands

Amped Up Waves

To get these mod-70s  frizzy waves, I began by dividing my hair in two. I pinned up the left side and curled the right in rows working from the nape of my neck to my hairline. Each row consisted of 3-4 curls depending on my hair density in each row. For more volume, I alternated the direction of the curls by row. That’s to say that if the row by my neck was curled to the right, that I would then curl the next row going to the left. That was easy with the Spinstyle Pro because it automatically curls in both directions.

Video Tutorial Here
 

To allow the curl to set properly, after curling each individual section, I rolled the curl in on itself by following the curl shape while my hair was still warm.  I pinned each warm, rolled curl to my head then covered my hair with a hefty amount of hair spray and let them set for about 15 minutes, After I removed the pins, I gently brushed through my hair to begin styling it. I also teased the roots and some of the waves for volume.Adding funky pins to each wave dip can be a really cute way to make this look feel more fashionable.

Essential Tool: Soft Touch, Lasting Hold Hair Spray

My hair tends to not hold styling very well. Still, I never use a strong hold hairspray because crunchy hair is gross. For my hair to have that fluffy, wavey look, a light hairspray is best. My hair won’t fall flat under the weight of the spray. Plus, you can still run your fingers through my hair -but *sings* ‘don’t touch my hair.’

 

Amika Touchable Hair Spray

Top Knot

Yup. They’re still in and aren’t leaving any time soon. I first sectioned off the part of my hair that I wanted in the top knot. I have thin hair on top of my head. So my bun isn’t a little bun-lette or oddly wide, I section off hair starting  from my hairline to a little past my crown. Then I curled my hair with the same alternating pattern as I did with the frizzy waves. To keep most of the bounce towards the ends of my hair, I curled the ends slightly tighter than I did the rest of the hair shaft. To do this, just wrap your hair more tightly around the curling iron on the ends, about 4 times. Then more loosely as you get towards the middle of your hair shaft. It adds body without giving a tight curl. This added wide dimension towards the ends. Exactly what I wanted! This made the whole look more interesting rather than just the knot atop of my head.

Video Tutorial Here

For the top knot itself, once I tied off the ponytail. I sectioned the hair in two, vertically. The right section of my hair was curled to the right. And the left side went left. Rather than just gathering up all the hair into a cute messy bun or a classic sock bun, I wanted the bun to look more styled. I warped the right curl going to the right side beginning behind the base of the ponytail unraveling the curl with each loop around my head without incorporating the left curl at all. After the right curl was pinned in place, I grabbed the left curl and wrapped it going to the left beginning behind the base of the ponytail while unraveling the curl. This created a neat, swirling bun with dimension and volume. 

Essential Tool: Decor

The last touch was my chic diy hair pin. I placed it in a way that it felt like it was peeking out from one of the swirls in the bun. The reflective gold pin was exactly what this look needed. 

ASOS Pack of 4 Mixed Floral Hair Clips

Deep Side Part + Curls

Edgy. Girly, Attention getting. Check, check, check; sign me up! The most time consuming look but totally worth it. The key to this look is how you section your hair. I began by giving myself a deep side part. So that the hair behind my part could give volume to my crown, I sectioned off the hair framing my face to curl later and pinned the two section of my part. I began curling my hair behind the part working from the back of my head up to the crown. I sprayed each section of my hair with a soft touch hairspray before I curled it. I sectioned my in small parts and tightly wrapped my hair around the barrel of the curling iron as many times as I could. This would make my curls very tight and thin.

Video Tutorial Here

The smaller section of my part was going to be slicked back above my ear and have cute pins so the curls did not need to be as tight as the rest of them. I curled that hair in the same way that I curled my hair in the top knot: tight on the ends and looser as you went up the shaft. For the hair on the other side of my part, I began by sectioning the hair into much smaller, vertical sections working from my ear to the parting line. This gave me more control of how the curls would frame my face. As the sections got closer to the parting line, the more lax I was with the hair closest to the roots. If the roots of the curls in the center my face on my hairline were as tight as the rest of them, I would have had hair falling in my face all. damn. day. Annoying! 

Goody Folding Brush & Comb

Essential Tool: Teasing and Sectioning Comb

This hair goes from child star, Shirley Temple, curls to, Broad City star, Ilana Wexler, doesn’t go to prom because of the aggressive amounts of teasing. A dual ended brush + comb is your bow and arrow in the Quarter Quell. You don’t want to waste time looking for this or that brush. 

Once all of my hair was curled, I had a snack because I needed to recharge after all of the curling. I'm so glad the Spinstyle Pro does most of the curling for you otherwise this blog post would be ‘1 Easy Spring Hairstyle.’ Then I ran my fingers through all of the tightly wound curls to break them up. I also individually separated some of the curls to make sure there weren’t any super clumpy ones. I wanted VO-L-UME in my hair so I then teased my crown and fluffed all of the curls to max capacity without destroy in the shape. Finally I add some more diy pins to my hair and felt oh-so-divine!

Spinstyle Pro Review

My hair is so frizzy that it could take me 10 minutes to locate a bobby pin I might've used in an attempt to tame the mane. Because of the frizz factor, just the idea of testing a rotating curling iron in my hair gave me heart palpitations. What if it snapped my hair? What if it got stuck? Would I then be forced to get a pixie cut? I don't have the head for hair that short!

Related: Smooth n' Shine Hair Polisher Review

The Real Question is: Am I Bald Now?

The obvious pro to the Spinstyle Pro is the rotating barrel. Just slide your hair through the prongs that guide your hair on to curly, swirly, precious-ness. The fact that it spins in both directions amazes me. The temperature settings are easy to see and the on-off-switch isn’t hidden or placed where you might accidentally turn it off mid-curl.

One con that I immediately noted was that the barrel is kind of short. I felt like I didn’t have enough play space on the barrel to get what I needed.

I don’t believe that the Spinstyle Pro is beginner friendly. I could see, for example, a parent buying this for their child thinking that this could help teach their young one to learn to curl their hair. The kid is going to have curls but the hardest part in learning to do your hair is learning to style your hair. Because of the shape of the barrel and the prongs that guide the hair onto it, what you get with each curl is just a barrel curl. However loose or tight it’s a barrel curl. You can do a million different things with barrel curls but if you’re new to doing your hair, that can be hard to figure out. Barrel curls are also kind of dated so if you don’t know how to manipulated the curls to get what you want, your look might also turn out kind of dated. This may not necessarily be a downside but it will take more practice then I think people will initially realize.

That being said, I still think that the Spinstyle Pro is a nifty hair gadget. If you know your hair and you know how to style it, this rotating curling iron make doing your hair go faster and easier.

Answer: I still have all of my hair. Plus, I'm extra-extra cute.

Your hair has never been this clean before, R+Co's Oblivion will wipe out all!!

By: Amanda V.

Long story short, I have had so many hair mishaps that I am extremely picky with what I use on my hair. My scalp is extremely sensitive and can be irritated easily and my hair is more on the dry, unruly side. Most of the summer i have been leaving my hair in its natural curly state but during the month of August I've dealt with a few blowouts and that lead to product buildup (thanks to dry texturizing spray and massive amounts of dry shampoo) which lead to an irritated scalp. Even after a regular triple wash my hair never felt clean. I recently took a walk to my local Bluemercury to invest in a new scalp scrub by one of my favorite brands, R+Co but sadly it was already sold out. Since I didn't want to leave the store empty handed, I decided on getting their OBLIVION clarifying shampoo and conditioner. This just so happened to be the best purchase decision i have made in a very long time. 

Keep in mind that when I used this on my hair I had a week old blowout with tons of product buildup and reside from finishing creme, dry shampoo, dry texturizing spray, hairspray as well as the natural oil my scalp produces... GROSS, I know. Even during the summer the chlorine from the pool and hard water from my shower head can lead to build up but after a triple wash with this shampoo my scalp was squeaky clean I mean C L E A N!! Not stripped completely from moisture but stripped from all of the buildup and residue from products and pool sessions. The lather was so comfortable and soothing which I think was due in major part to the ingredients like coconut oil, rosemary leaf extract, witch hazel and tea tree oil. My hair didn't feel like a parched brillo pad at all. It feels like a Detox but for my hair. I feel like my scalp has received a brand new lease on life. The restorative gel conditioner serves as the perfect companion to make this one powerful duo. This conditioner is an oil-in-gel hybrid that hydrates your hair while incorporating nutrients back into it. About 80% of this conditioner is made up of Coconut, Almond, Moringa Seed and Peach Kernal Oils but in a gel form to attach to the strands better. Although it won't lather like your average creamy conditioner, which might turn some people off, but it gets the job done perfectly and my hair is left moisturized and hydrated with superb shine. When would a basic clarifying product leave your hair like this? Never!! At least not that I know of. This lightweight conditioner left my normally dry, and kinda thin hair frizz-free and shiny without any weigh down. Also While Blowdrying my hair it smelled fresh and like the subtle scent on this shampoo and conditioner, THAT'S HOW YOU KNOW THIS CLEANSING DUO LEFT MY HAIR AND SCALP CLEAN AF! I'm 3 days into my blowout and my scalp feels great and my hair still smells clean. It feels so good to finally touch my scalp and not get grossed out. 

The vegan and cruelty-free Oblivion duo is also gentle and mild enough for daily use which is a major plus to those with parched hair like mine. 

R+Co's Oblivion Duo is smaller than the other shampoos and conditioners, Both are 6oz rather than 8oz like the rest of their line. The shampoo retails for $24 and the conditioner retails for about $25. These are worth the splurge for me and I and it to be a worthy investment, whether you just purchase the shampoo or both. You won't realize how clean your hair can actually get until you use this. Totally recommend this duo for the dry, frizzy and thin haired babes. 

Can be purchased at Bluemercury.com and Bluemercury stores as well as RandCo.com and Birchbox.com.