No Heat Hair Care Routine

As you may or may not be aware, I haven't been using heat for the past few months and I have noticed a change in my hair. (You can read my posts here). It hasn't grown that much as I keep trimming it to maintain healthy ends, but it feels stronger and I have less breakage. I've also been loving the extra time in bed that I used to spend on my hair!

Today I have decided to share my current hair care routine with you. This is just the products I have been using lately. When I use heat on my hair on special occasions, I have other products and tools that I use, which won't be featured in this post.

First of all, I just thought I'd let you know my hair has a natural wave to it. It gets frizzy and dry easily and is quite fine. I also don't have much volume.

Shampoo and Conditioner
I have recently been using Aussie and I am loving the products. All Aussie products smell amazing! Aussie Volume shampoo gives your hair a nice boost of volume. I have noticed it works better when you use a hairdryer though. It cleans your hair well without stripping it. The Aussie 3 Minute Miracle works well as a conditioner and as a leave-in conditioner. It really moisturises your hair, leaving it soft and manageable. The scent from the 3MM really lingers on the hair too, I can sometimes still smell it the next day!

Deep Conditioner
I bought this massive Tresemme tub almost 1 year ago and I still have loads left! I use it once every 2-3 weeks and tend to leave it in for about 20 minutes before rinsing it out. It leaves your hair feeling so soft, without feeling weighed down or greasy.

Sorry about the state of the middle hairbrush! It really needs a wash!

Tools
I use the Tangle Teezer (left) when my hair is wet to get rid of any knots. It works amazingly for getting out knots painlessly and without pulling out too much hair with it. I love the Denman hairbrush (middle) for general styling. I prefer this one to the TT as the bristles are longer, so I find it easier to use. The comb (right) is from China and I just use it to find my parting and to backcomb my hair.

V05 Ultimate Hold Hairspray
This works really well. It doesn't leave your hair feeling crispy and holds the styles well. It smells lovely! It's also great value for money as you get such a huge can.

V05 Miracle Concentrate
This is a lovely leave-in treatment, which I gushed about in my January Favourites. It leaves your hair feeling moisturised and soft and stops the ends from looking all dry. It smells amazing too! You only need a small amount, unless you want your hair to be greasy, so this bottle will last ages!

The Body Shop Coconut Oil Hair Shine
This has also been in a previous favourites video. It's a waxy texture, which is nice for taming frizz, moisturising the ends and styling (to an extent). It's perfect for throwing into your bag for use on-the-go. The coconut smell is lovely, not as strong and sweet as some others, but still nice.

H&M Clip
I decided to feature this as I have been sleeping with my hair in a bun on the top of my head to give my hair some nice curl/waves. I was previously using hair bands to fasten the bun, but I recently watched a video on Youtube by Nikki Phillippi where she uses a clip, so I thought I'd give it a go and I have to say, I prefer it. I was initially worried about breaking the clip, but the bun is so high up on the head that you wouldn't be able to (unless you sleep on the top of your head).

What does your current hair care routine consist of? Are there any products you would recommend?

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy

4 Week, No Heat Review

In October I decided to attempt the 4 Week, No Heat Challenge. It's been just over a month now, so I thought I'd do a quick update and give you my thoughts on the challenge.

I have been enjoying not needing to dedicate up to 20 minutes for styling my hair. This means more time in bed! I tend to wash my hair at night and have recently been going to bed while it is still a little damp and in a loose bun. The next morning, this gives me nice natural looking waves, which I just run a little serum through and I'm good to go. I usually wear my hair straight every day, but I'm really enjoying having wavy hair and in my past experience, as my hair grows, my natural wave becomes more pronounced. But for now I will continue cheating (by wearing it in a loose bun while damp).

I feel like my hair feels stronger and fuller, but I still get a lot of fall out, especially when I'm running conditioner through my hair or when brushing it. My natural hair gets frizzy much easier than when styled, so I found slicking a little serum through my hair helped to tame it.

The picture below shows the change in length. As you can see, there hasn't been a drastic change in the length of my hair, but it definitely feels healthier and I have noticed fewer split ends.

Left - Before (Air dried), Right - After (Slept in a loose bun)

I have decided that I will try to persevere with this challenge. I will try to avoid heat altogether, but there are occasions where I will still use it every so often. I am glad I tried this and would definitely recommend it if your hair is feeling a little damaged from heat.

Have any of you tried the 4 Week, No Heat Challenge? How did you get on with it?

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy

4 Week, No Heat Challenge

Earlier this year, I saw a few posts and videos from a number of people saying that they were doing a 'Heat Free Hair Challenge'. CosmeticsCharlotte72 did a great summary video of her experiences and some tips here and Hannah from beautylishious did an amazing series on ways to style your hair without heat.

I am trying to grow my hair at the moment and in a bid to get healthy hair, I thought this would be a good challenge to attempt. I have terrible willpower, but I am going to try this challenge for one month and update you about how I get on! This is how my hair looks air dried and I guess this is how my hair is going to look for the next 4 weeks:

Please excuse the cheesy grin! It's probably because I'm wearing one of my favourite t-shirts of Danny Robert's Chanel girl illustration, which I bought from Fritha's blog sale :)

I thought I'd also throw in some 'hairspiration' pictures of people that give me hair envy...

Photo: Mariannan

Photo: Leblogdebetty

Photo: Tumblr

Photo: Google Images

Photo: Google Images

Have you ever attempted the '4 Week, No Heat' challenge? How did it go for you? And who gives you hair envy?

Thank you for reading. xoxo, Joy