you like my hair?

A few things about this post.  It is rather embarrassing.  It is relatively long.  And probably pointless.  But people asked about my hair products and styling and such, so this is what you get :o).

What?  You want to talk about my hair?  You mean the hair that most frequently looks like this?

Or, oh my goodness.  The hair that often looks like this?  (Ok, only when I wake up, or right before bed, but still)

No.  I suppose your referring to the pictures of myself that I usually post, where my hair looks decent.  Since I hate posting pictures of myself with bad hair.  Seriously, if I look like crap, I'm probably NOT going to post the picture.  I don't care how cute Ryann looks.  That may not be 'real', but it's my blog.  Deal with it.  :o)  For the record, I'm terrible at fixing hair.  I get lucky sometimes, but it is usually down and straight because I don't know what else to do with it.

First, let's back track.  I've mentioned that I'm naturally a blond, right?  When I was little, it was really light.  Maybe not quite as light as Ry's, but pretty close.  It started to turn a pretty 'dirty' blond when I was in middle school, so of course, I started highlighting it.  Occasionally I experimented with the the under side of my hair being red, or having red highlights, but mostly it was blond.

what's your count for times on the blog now sis?  you look like a baby in the pic.

My sophomore year of college I decided I wanted to dye my hair red.  Everyone told me I was crazy.  My hair was supposed to be blond!  I was nuts!  AHHHHHH!  And then I did it anyway.  It was really funny, because people didn't recognize me right away, I was entertained.  But overall, the consensus was that surprisingly, it looked better red.  Actually, my friend Kesley probably still wants to see me as a blond again, but I think she loves me just the same.  Hi Kels!  :o)

mmmm.  my long hair.  oh how I miss you.

When I used to get my hair done in my hometown, my stylist would put highlights on first, and then use some sort of dye that went over all of that, but made some color variations, or something.  I don't do hair, I don't know.  The girl I go to now, who is absolutely adorable by the way, didn't do that.  For a while we were putting highlights on top, just a little bit, after she dyed it.  But we've decided (my hair is generally a group decision) that we like it darker and all one color.  Not to mention that is cheaper.  I get it colored every 10-12 weeks usually.  Thankfully the color it fades to isn't bad, but sometimes my light roots start showing, and they look kind of gray.  Or maybe I'm going gray, I haven't seen my hair au natural since I was like 14.  Eek!

As far as styling goes... my hair is, well, interesting.  It is easier if you just look for yourself.  This is what my hair looks like when I brush it, and then just let it dry.  It is quite a bit curlier in the back, wavy towards the front, with lots of frizz and some random straight pieces in there.

What product I use, often depends on what is in the budget at the time.  My hair looks the best when I am using Pureology products, but that stuff is expensive!  My next favorite shampoo and conditioner are the Artec Kiwi Colorflector, and when I'm really short on cash (which is usually), I just buy Biolage by Matrix.  There are other products cheaper than that one, but I spend enough coloring my hair, that I want to buy a shampoo and conditioner that isn't going to ruin it.  If you have any suggestions for cheaper shampoo and conditioner for color treated hair, I'm totally open!

When I wear my hair curly (not curled with an iron), I use a spritz like the wonder waves in the summer, and more of a mousse in the fall, winter and spring.  My hair curls like crazy in the humidity, so I don't need as much hold to keep it all day (although I do end up with a lot more frizz).  Usually I just blow dry my hair, straighten with a chi, and go sans product (ok usually it is in a frizzy messy bunish thing).  When I do use hair spray, it is Big Sexy Hair kind.

Now that you know more about my hair than you probably ever wanted to, and definitely more than you cared about, I thought I'd show you my attempt at the no heat curls that have made their way around the interwebs.  I've been wanting to try this for a while, but it hadn't fit into my schedule, because I'm usually showering in the morning after my workouts.  Check out the awesome video tutorial here, and I saw it first here, and then here thanks to pinterest.

What did I learn from this hair experiment?  1:  I suck at taking self portraits.  2:  I make stupid self portrait faces.  3:  Even when something is simple and easy I shouldn't just skim through the video tutorial and jump right in.

I didn't put any product in my hair before wrapping it around the band, and as we've discussed, my hair is frizzy.  So after sleeping on it wrapped around a headband it was extra frizzy.  Also, I didn't try very hard when I was wrapping it around the band, which means I just kind of shoved the hair in the back around it, not really paying attention to what I was doing.  The back wasn't so hot.  I didn't really know what to do with my bangs either, so I pinned them back.  The nice curls also didn't last very long, but I barely sprayed any hairspray in, AND went on a walk outside, so I'm not real surprised.  I'll probably try this again, just have to figure out what product to put in my hair before I wrap it.  Any suggestions?

Wow.  I totally just made a fool of myself.  You're welcome :o).