Summer care for dry hair.

Hello everyone, I hope you are enjoying the glorious weather we are having!

Today I'm going to share my coconut oil hair mask with you.

As you probably all know, it is extremely important to look after your hair all year round but during the summer months is when I pay extra care and attention to my hair. A lot of sun exposure can take its toll on you hair, causing it to become dry and brittle. I find using this coconut oil mask at least once every 2 weeks is very beneficial for my hair.

Why is coconut oil so good for your hair?

• It stimulates hair growth, improves strength and flexibility by working deep into the follicles.
• It can help to fight dandruff and provides relief from dryness on the scalp.
• It adds shine, softens and moisturises dry hair.
• Preserves hair's natural proteins, which helps repair damage such as breakage and split ends.

Coconut oil is also good for your skin and is known to have health benefits (but I'll save that for another post!)


What you will need:

• pure/organic virgin coconut oil (available in all supermarkets and Boots)
• wide tooth comb
• shower cap or plastic bag (optional)
• bowl
• tablespoon
• towel

Directions:

1. Start with dry hair. 
2. Using a wide tooth comb, gently comb through your hair to get rid of any knots.
3. Part your hair down the middle and then part the top and bottom sections of you hair and tie or clip each section up. (you should have four sections of hair in total.)
4. Place a little coconut oil in a bowl and heat in the microwave until it has mostly melted and is of a runny consistency. (If your hair is long and thick, start with a tablespoon and add more to the bowl as you work through the sections of your hair. If you have fine or short hair, start with half a tablespoon - you can always add more, a little oil goes a long way.)
5. Starting with one quarter of your hair, apply the oil onto the ends of your hair and work your way up to your scalp or vice versa. Add more oil when needed, your hair should be completely saturated with the oil. Repeat this step on the other sections of your hair.
6. Once the oil is distributed, comb the oil through your hair from roots to ends.
7. Place your hair in a loose bun or clip and cover with a shower cap.
8. Leave on for 30 minutes to an hour.
9. Shampoo you hair twice and make sure you work the shampoo thoroughly through your hair before rinsing.
10. Apply a leave-in conditioner (this is optional) and style your hair as normal. If you are using heat appliances, don't forget to use heat protection spray on your hair.

et voilà, you should now have soft, shiny, manageable hair! 

 

(Pictures taken with Canon A3300is)

I hope you enjoyed this post and found it helpful!

Please remember, I am not a professional hairdresser. I try my best to research everything before I try it out for myself. I have been doing this routine for a number of years and find that it works for me. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments section and I will answer them as best as I can.

Do you have any 'holy grail' hair masks that you use regularly? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Natasha Carly x

Pretty Little Lives on Facebook / Twitter / Bloglovin' / Pinterest

Follow me on Instagram @prettylittlelives

Area H2O Shampoo and Conditioner - Review

Hello everyone, hope you are all well!

Today I am going to be sharing my review on the Area H2O shampoo and conditioner*.

You can purchase these products from lookfantastic.com or through the Area H2O website.
Each bottle of shampoo (250ml) and conditioner (200ml) retails at £9.95. The products are also available in duo packs which are priced at £17.50. 

(Pictures taken with Nikon D3100)

These products are available in two categories, normal to fine hair and coloured hair. 

I have been using the shampoo and conditioner for medium water types and colour treated hair and I have to say I think it is brilliant!

I now use these products at least once away as a 'hair detox' I like my hair to feel very clean and because I use a lot of products like dry shampoo and hair oils etc I need a shampoo that will restore my hair back to it's 'natural' state.
Since using these products I have noticed that my hair has become a lot more manageable!

Before trying out these products I didn't know anything like this existed!

The benefits:

• Area H2O is scientifically tailored to work with your water type.
• Area H2O gives a more thorough and effective cleansing of the hair.
• Area H2O gives an improved lather using less water.
• Metal ions, present in the water which can react with shampoo to form mineral deposits are washed away.
• Hair is less flyaway and has a noticeable smooth texture.
• Both the Shampoo and Conditioner contain a PH of 5.5 - (the body's natural PH)

Summary

'The scientifically formulated by biochemists to combat the effects of mineral deposits and work with your water type. Area H2O attracts the metal ions that are present in every water type allowing you to wash them away more easily before they react with your shampoo to form deposits. This means your hair will feel noticeably cleaner, smoother and shinier. '

Pros:

• Smells gorgeous
• Good amount of product
• Lathers well
• Leaves hair feeling squeaky clean
• Smooth, soft hair

Cons:

• As far as I am aware there are only 2 hair type categories.

Have you tried this hair care range yet?

*Disclaimer PR sample - My opinions are still 100% honest

Natasha Carly x 

Pretty Little Lives on Facebook / Twitter / Hellocotton 

 

My Favourite Hair Products

Hello everyone, 

I apologise for my very long absence! I haven't had time to blog lately as I have been busy starting back at uni and haven't had much time on my hands at all!

I have still been keeping up with your lovely blogs though and now I am settled back into my flat, it means I'll have plenty more time to blog!

Also I want to welcome the new followers I've gained whilst I've been away! 
Thank you so much for following my blog and I hope you enjoy reading my future posts!

Now my little ramble is out of the way, lets get on with my favourite hair products! I use all of these products on a regular basis and I would say I cannot live without them! 

(Taken with Canon A3300is) 

Dove Overnight Intensive Repair |  VO5 Nourish Me Truly Conditioner | Herbal Essences Split Beautiful Ends Leave-in Conditioner | TRESemme Deep Cleansing Shampoo | It's a 10 Miracle Leave-in Conditioner | Batiste Dry Shampoo - Tropical | The Body Shop Macadamia Straightening Balm | Davines MOMO Moisturizing Curl Enhancing Serum.

All of these products work brilliantly on my hair! If you haven't tried any of them yet then I highly recommend you do! Most of these products work well to combat frizz and fly-away hair! Definitely my favourite must-have hair products!

What are your Holy Grail hair products??

Natasha Carly x

Pretty Little Lives on Facebook / Twitter / Hellocotton

Dove Overnight Intensive Repair Creme - Review

Hello everyone, I hope you are well!

Today I want to share my love of Dove's Overnight Intensive Repair Creme. I have been using this for quite a while now and feel it is time to rave about this product! I featured it in my July Favourites and today I want to tell you why I like it so much! I purchased this for £4.99, it is now on offer in Superdrug (take a look here).

I bought this product after my holiday, the chlorine from the pool and being in the sun for prolonged periods of time had taken its toll on my hair and I was in desperate need of an intensive hair treatment!

Dove Overnight Intensive Repair Creme 120ml (more info)

This product is so easy to use, it glides onto my hair really well! I like the fact that I don't need to use too much of the product even though my hair is thick and curly!

After one use the texture of my hair felt so much smoother and less dry, I have to say I don't think it's a miracle worker on it's own! I cut my hair to get rid of split ends and to help improve the appearance of my hair as well as using repairing shampoo and conditioners such as the split end remedy from Herbal Essences. All of these things in conjunction with one another have helped my hair dramatically over a matter of weeks!

Packaging

This product has a pump application which helps to disperse an even amount of the cream, which allows you to control how much you use so you're not wasting any product by over-using.

Directions

 (Taken with Fujifilm HS10)

The directions say to apply 2-4 pumps of the product onto damp hair, I actually apply a little bit more than that as my hair is quite long and thick! I usually use about 6 pumps instead! Depending on your hair type you might use less, it's down to personal preference and what is right for your hair type.

I apply this product to my ends and mid sections of clean towel dried hair, I have to say I concentrate more on the ends of my hair as I feel that is where most of the damage occurs. I leave it on overnight and when I wake up my hair is glossy and soft!

You can wash it of the the next morning or style as usual. I usually use the product on freshly washed hair so instead of washing it off the next day I just apply curling serum and style my hair as normal. As my hair is curly I think I can get away with not washing the product out, my hair appears to have absorbed everything by the next morning. 

You don't have to worry about your pillowcases getting ruined when leaving this product on as it doesn't stain! 

I use this product twice a week as I feel that is what works best for my hair.

Pros

• Non-greasy
• Cheap
• Smells great
• Easy application
• Doesn't stain your pillow

Cons

• None that I can think of!

Have you tried this repair creme or anything similar? Let me know!

Natasha Carly x

Pretty Little Lives on Facebook / Twitter / Hellocotton

Lush Big Shampoo - First Impressions

Hello everyone!

Today I'm going to be sharing my first impressions of Big Shampoo by Lush.

(Taken with Nikon D3100)

Ingredients: 

Coarse Sea Salt, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Fresh Organic Lemon Infusion, Fresh Sea Water, Toothed Wrack Seaweed Infusion, Cocamide DEA, Lauryl Betaine, Fresh Organic Lime Juice, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, Neroli Oil, Mandarin Oil, Vanilla Absolute, Orange Flower Absolute, *Limonene, Methyl Ionone, Perfume

 

First Impressions:

I recently tried this shampoo and thought it was pretty good. It cleaned my hair very well and removed the product buildup too, my hair was literally squeaky clean!

This shampoo smells gorgeous! Many people have said they're not particularly keen on the smell but I think it smells lovely! It contains sea salt particles which feel very stimulating on the scalp. It also contains fresh lemons and limes to help add shine to your hair. With this product I would definitely say a little goes a long way and it lathers up extremely well too! 

When my hair dried it looked beautifully shiny, the only thing I didn't like is that it made my ends feel quite dry! I wouldn't recommend this shampoo for dry or damaged hair as I have heard that prolonged use can really dry out the ends of your hair! If you do have dry hair and want to try this shampoo out I would recommend using it alongside a hydrating conditioner or treatment mask, I'm going to try this next time I use this shampoo to see if it make a difference on how dry my hair gets.

Overall, I like how clean it left my hair after use and like all other Lush products, I love the packaging! However I don't feel that my hair was particularly voluminous afterwards.

This shampoo retails at £10.95 which I think is a little pricey for what it is!

 I am wanting to try out more Lush hair products and would love it if you could recommend your favourites for dry hair!

Natasha Carly x

Pretty Little Lives on Facebook / Twitter / Hellocotton

L'Oreal EverStrong - Fragile/Brittle Hair

Hello everyone,

Today I'm going to talk about the L'Oreal EverStrong hair products for fragile and brittle hair. I fell in love with these products at the end of last month and thought I would share it with you today.

I started to noticed that my hair was feeling much drier throughout the past few months as I had been using quite a lot of heat stylers on my hair. 

I decided to get myself some new hair care products as I don't feel I look after me hair as well as I should do sometimes. I bought the L'Oreal EverStrong Shampoo and Intensive Mask. Most of the time I prefer to use treatment masks instead of conditioner as I only wash my hair 3 times a week so I feel a deep conditioning treatment is what my hair needs the most.

As well as using these products, I have waved goodbye to my hair straighteners and said hello to my natural curly locks! I feel this has made such a difference to the condition of my hair and it seems to have grown quite abit too!

 

What L'Oreal say:

"EverSleek Reinforcing System: Non-sulphate cleansing for over-processed, fragile hair. Infused with botanical rosemary and juniper oils."  

Shampoo (£5.99):

"Specifically designed for fragile and brittle hair, EverStrong Reinforcing & Vitality is a Reinforcing System that combines non-sulphate cleansing and conditioning care. The formulae are enriched with botanical rosemary and juniper oils. Hair looks shinier, smoother and protected." 

Intensive mask (£6.99):

"Specifically designed for fragile and brittle hair, the EverStrong Nourishing Intense Mask combines reinforcing care with an indulgent conditioning treatment. The formula is enriched with botanical rosemary and mint oils. Hair looks shinier, smoother and protected."

(Pictures taken with iPhone 4s)

What I think:

I love these products, they really are amazing and work very well on my hair.

After just a few washes I notices my hair was feeling much softer with less breakage!

I love the fact they contain no sulphates it makes the product even more appealing!

Have you tried the L'Oreal EverStrong products yet?

Natasha Carly x

Pretty Little Lives on Facebook / Twitter / Hellocotton