August Favorites!

Although August has already come and gone, I'd like to clue you all in on some of my favorite products and techniques I used throughout August and really, all summer. In summer, hair tends to be less dry however if you have a pool, chlorine will definitely have a negative effect on your hair. So here are some favorites:


1. Au Naturel 
While this is not exactly a product, it was my theme for most of the summer. Why? Because hair needs a break and what better time to give it a break than when you spend a lot of your days working or doing nothing at all? I avoided heat almost all summer including, no blow drying, no straightening etc. Another way to keep in natural would be by only showering every other day to avoid drying it out completely. Whilst dry hair is worse in winter, if you're not careful it can creep in during summer as well. If you can figure out a way to make your hair look reasonable without actually doing anything with harmful product or heat, go for it! This could be showering before bed or having to wait until morning. Maybe french braiding it before bed could give you cute waves as well!


2. Dove Nutritive Solutions: Leave-In Smoothing Cream
Boy was this ever useful this summer! I did purchase some leave-in conditioners but they do virtually nothing compared to this great product! I bought it near the beginning of summer and still have some left, I used it quite frequently. I was a bad girl this summer and highlighted my hair, but this product really helped my hair out during this time. Basically any time I went into my highly chlorinated pool I put in about a quarter-sized amount of this miracle worker in my hair after. If I would forget my hair would be very puffy and dried out looking. But as soon as I rubbed this stuff throughout my roots it would automatically add oils to my hair, making them look silky and healthy once again. Not only that, but in the morning when my hair was crazy I'd just distribute the product throughout my hair and it would help it nicely curl. Almost like a curl enhancer would do.


3. L'Oreal Kids: Tangle Tamer
This is a very important thing, and I'm sure I've said it more than once on this blog but it continues to be an important part of my hair care routine. My hair gets very, very tangley throughout my day. I'm not sure if it's just my type of hair or the fact that it's getting really long but without detangler I would probably be bald. As you may have noticed, I use the kids detangler. This is simply because it smells glorious and I find it does the best job of detangling my hair. I spray it in my wet hair if I need to brush through wet hair. Because wet hair is very weak and needs a little extra help if I'm gonna be trying to tear it out with a brush while it's in this fragile state. Anyway, I feel like this product has been a huge contributor to the health of my hair and I would highly recommend it. Especially to anybody that has problems combing through their super tangled hair!


4. Infusium 23: Moisture Replenisher Leave-In Treatment
Earlier in this post I mentioned not being super impressed with any of the leave-in conditioner I got, remember? Yeah, well I still stand to the fact that my oils are far more effective but this product was really nice to have around in the summer. For one if you're in a rush and don't want oily hands and just want to give your hair a quick spritz before you leave the house, this is great for the job. It just adds that extra bit of shine to get your hair through the day. Also I found it great for a pre-swim. You always want to go in a pool with already wet hair so your hair doesn't soak up so much chlorine. But sometimes showering seems like a lot of work just to jump in a pool. That's how I feel anyway. So I would simply spray in this lovely product. It's very easy to just quickly dampen your hair with so that your hair won't take in all the chlorine. With this pre-swim product along with the oil earlier mentioned that I used after my swim, my hair was well looked after throughout the summer.

So those were some of my favorite products, not only for August but all summer. Although there were few, they were all really effective in making my hair as healthy as it could be. I hope these help you out, as you too try to keep your hair moisturized and beautiful throughout the year. Questions? Comments? Ideas for future posts? Please feel free to email me at the email listed below!

-Ashley
damagebegone@hotmail.com
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Interested in Writing Articles?

Are any of you out there hair experts? Hair dressers? Just have cool hair ideas that have not already been posted on my page? Any hair tutorials you'd like to promote?
If you're interested in any of the above I'd love for you to contribute to Damage-B-Gone. It would be great to get a lot of reader feedback and if you guys could send me any questions you have that would also be much appreciated! I love getting to know those of you who read my blogs and anyone who would like to become a part of it would be even better!
Am I missing some key things to hair styling? Any genius tricks that have been passed down your family? How about homemade hair mask recipes? I, and all my readers would love to be clued in on some ideas that I may be missing.
Interested in helping me out with keeping DBG going? Please email me at the address below with a hair tutorial video, a blog post or any questions and ideas you may have! It would be greatly appreciated. All of your feedback helps me keep my blog up to date. Thanks for your time and consideration!

damagebegone@hotmail.com
-Ashley

Follow Up on John Frieda.

If you haven't read my last post I'd suggest doing that before this one. Just as a quick intro, I was using John Frieda Go Blonder Controlled Lightening spray to lighten up my roots. I was fairly pleased with the product to begin with. In the last few days I have a bit of a follow up to do.
          When they say not to use it on brown hair... they mean it. It's not that it did anything terrible to my hair, my roots are just more of an orange-y color now while my highlights are ash tone. Overall I'm not a super big fan of orange hair on myself so I'm not too pleased with that. Since I noticed a fairly good rust color beginning in my hair I haven't used it again. Because I am not sure whether it will make it even more red, or if it'll actually blonde out for me. I'm afraid to try because I'm broke and may not have money to fix my mistakes.
          As far as damage goes, I have been noticing a fair amount of damage. But my hair wasn't super healthy lately before I started using this. So I can't confirm that this product is completely to blame. I do know that sometimes my hair feels a little straw like right after I spray it in but it seems to soften out as I blow dry. I wouldn't say that this product did any intense damage to my hair, but it probably at least dried it out a bit.
          I'm sorry that this has to be so vague but overall I wouldn't suggest using this, even on light brown hair. Unless your hair is very dirty blonde or blonde, it's not worth it. It just makes it a rusty orange color. However the orange color does kind of make my roots look better because it's at least not a brown color. If you're super worried about damage also don't use the product. To my hair it didn't cause obscene amounts but it will probably cause a bit as it contains hydrogen peroxide. So if you're blonde and okay with a bit of damage, go for it. If you're brunette or very concerned about damage, you can do without it.
       If you want other alternatives I do have a post about highlighting your hair or how to bleach and dye it causing the least amount of damage. You can find them all on this blog. Good luck everyone!

-Ashley

John Frieda Controlled Lightening Spray Review & Instructions

So I've recently done something, not great for my hair. I started using John Frieda (sheer blonde, go blonder) controlled lightening spray. On the bottle it suggests to only use with light brown to blonde hair and not on dark hair. This is important as it could turn dark brown hair to an orangey colour as opposed to blonde. So please keep that in mind, it's not to bleach dark hair only to lighten already light hair.
          So I've done this about 3 times in my hair so far and I haven't noticed obscene amounts of damage besides what was already there. The spray bottle says you should see a difference of color between 3-5 times of use. I can confidently say that I think I see a difference. It is really hard to tell as I already have highlights and the summer sun begins to lighten my hair as well. But I definitely do think it has made a difference. I'll let you know in a few weeks how it is. For now I am quite pleased with the product. After 10 uses they say that's the lightest your hair will get.
              The bottle itself is quite cheap in my opinion, it's around 10 dollars at most drugstores. I've seen it at almost every drugstore I've checked in Canada. The downfall is that the bottle is quite small so if you're doing very long or thick hair you may run out quite easily. The product does smell nice in my opinion. Maybe slightly acidic but also very clean. I know that's a strange combination.
       So far the product has done a lot less damage than I would have thought it would do as it contains hydrogen peroxide. Although I have taken cautionary steps (some from other blogposts) to keep damage minimal. See below:

1. You're to use the product on towel-dried hair so I start with a shower. During this time I condition my hair TWICE instead of once just to be sure it's lathered in as much moisture as possible. Also you'll want to apply it on as clean hair as possible. When conditioner is in run your fingers through your hair to eliminate most tangles.

2. Once I'm done showering you're to towel dry your hair and then spray in the product. You can either spray it in sections to create highlights, I just spray overall. I concentrate on my roots as my highlights are growing out.

3. Then it instructs you to comb out your hair. I'm sure to use a wide tooth comb while doing this as it will be more gentle on your hair. I also quickly spray in some detangler just to reduce the pulling that goes on.

4. Last but not least you are to blow dry your hair, and when doing this I do have my blow dryer on the warmest setting as that is what will actually cause your hair to lighten. However the lightening spray does have a heat protector in it, so you'll have a bit of protection.

5. Once the hair is completely dry, before I style I always apply Moroccan Argan Oil to the ends to help put the moisture back into them.

6. Also on days where I don't use the product I try to not use heat on my hair and leave it natural. This just gives it a bit of a break after all the strain on 'blondifying' days. And if you want to be extra careful you can also cut off any split ends you may notice

Pros:
>it truly lightens the hair
>doesn't cause too much damage
>easy to use
>smells good
>cheap (I got it for $9.99)
>found in most stores

Cons:
>itchy scalp
>creates slight damage
>less noticeable than getting highlights at salon (this could be a 'pro' for some)
>must be done more than once
>small bottle

Highlighting Your Hair

So, as many of you know bleaching your hair is especially bad for it and for those of you who are like me, you do it anyways. Well here's a bit of a better way to get your hair a bit lighter for the summer. Just know that any way you go about lightening your hair will probably cause damage, but this is a bit more natural and better for your hair than bleach in a box.

Alright so you're going to need some things to start off:
>1 cup lemon juice
>1/4 cup conditioner
>1/4 warm water
>hot sunny day
>spray bottle

Step One: 
Mix all of the ingredients together until they are well blended.

Step Two:
Take your spray bottle and pour in the mixture you just created.

Step Three:
Spray the mixture into your dry hair. It is important that you do this an evenly as possible. Continue spraying evenly throughout your hair, roots to ends until it's completely wet, or until mixture it gone.

Step Four:
Sit out in the hot sun for up to 2 hours to allow the Sun to do it's thing on your hair.

Step Five:
Wash out hair using a deep conditioner (or if you only have normal that will do). As I said bleaching hair any way is bad for it and this will dry out your hair so conditioner generously!

Step Six:
Repeat the process until you get your desired look. Only do this once a week, it may take up to 4 weeks to notice a very significant difference.

So there you have it! Just please note that with really dark brown to black hair it can be very difficult to get results, for some people they do it a long time and nothing happens others see slight results. This process works better on people with already blonde hair or people with light brown hair.
I hope this helped you out a bit! Good luck!
Questions? Email damagebegone@hotmail.com

-Ashley

Long Summer Hair!

This has been a long awaited post... lots of questions like this come up over and over again, and although this whole blog will really help you with growing longer hair but this post is just a lot of tips combined to help you with longer hair! Hope you enjoy!

1. Eat more protein!

Your hair is made of protein and so when you don't get enough of it your body stops giving your hair any, therefore slowing down growth. Protein is found in eggs, chicken, red meat, beans and a lot of other foods.

2. Drink lots of water!

This helps keep your hair healthy. If your hair is not healthy and hydrated then it gets dry causing split ends and breaking off of the ends of your hair. When the ends of your hair constantly break off it can't grow at it's full speed.

3. Get hair trimmed every 6-8 weeks.

Although you might feel like this slows the growth it doesn't! It is better to cut off all the dead ends sooner than later. Because eventually the split ends travel up your hair and the higher up they go the shorter you'll have to cut it. And again you don't want split ends because they break off and cause hair to grow slower.

4. Protect hair from heat.

This can be done various ways. For one eliminating all heat tools on your hair is probably the best, but if you must use a heat tool use heat protectant and LET IT DRY before applying heat to your hair. You can find all sorts of hair tutorials not involving heat on youtube or on my blog (see other posts). Also using protectant spray before going out into the hot sun is useful. It's also good to not have your shower too hot (difficult I know). The purpose for this again is to reduce split ends.

5. Keep your hair moisturized!

Again this can be done different ways, like using a deep conditioner about once a week. Using a hair mask once a month (approximately depending on amount of damage). Also being sure to always use normal conditioner is helpful. Moisture in hair is healthy hair, and healthy hair is faster growing hair.

6. Protect from chlorine!

Okay, okay, wearing a swim cap IS dorky. But there are ways you can reduce chlorine damage without the swim cap. Try rinsing out your hair with fresh water before entering a pool, and applying spray-in conditioner to help your hair not to absorb so much chlorine. Chlorine can be very damaging for hair!

7. Get more natural products!

The more natural the better. All these chemicals in the hair products we use can be very handy for our hair but also very harmful. If you can get natural shampoos and conditioners, oils are very good for this. I used Moroccan hair oil shampoo and conditioner for a long time, my hair was so much healthier!

8. Don't stress it!

Reducing stress and increasing sleep can help with hair growth. A lot of times if you are not sleeping well or are very stressed or not eating right, hair can start to fall out and break. So keep your entire body physically and mentally happy to increase the time in which your hair grows. If you struggle with stress/depression/eating disorders see if you can do something about it. Anything from listening to music on your bed, seeing a counselor or doing yoga can help your stress level decrease. Whatever works for you!

9. Do not wash your hair daily!

This will end up drying your hair out. As you have read in former tips, this is not good for your hair. So to keep your hair moist and healthy try avoiding washing hair daily. Dry shampoo or baby powder can really help with being able to go 2 days without washing your hair.

10. Avoid dying and bleaching your hair.

This involves a lot of chemicals and is not natural at all and can fry your hair completely if involving bleach. So do your best not to dye or bleach your hair. Because as I have mentioned lots, dry hair is unhealthy and will decrease the speed in which your hair grows.

Hope you found this helpful! Good luck with growing your long hair!

Feel free to e-mail me with questions or suggestions for future posts:

damagebegone@hotmail.com

-Ashley

Post Requests and March Favorites!

Hey everyone! March favorites is in next paragraph if you want to skip ahead! I'm sorry I haven't been blogging much lately, I know it sounds lame but I have been very busy. I am obviously off my once a week blogging schedule, that has just been too much for me so I'm going to try to post once a month and hopefully more if everything goes well! I REALLY WANT YOUR HELP. I'm looking for ideas for new posts, or requests of what you'd like to know about! So please if you have ideas, tips, requests or questions please e-mail me at damagebegone@hotmail.com I would appreciate it and would be more than happy to reply or make a post about it. So feel free to e-mail away! I will also start putting up polls again, it stopped working but I'm going to see if that will work again. Also feel free to let your friends know about my blog! Would you like more product reviews, videos,  pictures? Feedback is always appreciated!

Now for my favorites! These are more my favorites from the past 2 or 3 months but let's just go with March favorites. Recently I've been very happy with the way my hair has been going. I've tried 2 new shampoo/conditioners and I am really pleased with them!

The first I tried was Dove Therapy Volume Boost Shampoo and Conditioner (link below). I really liked the product, I thought it made my hair feel a lot more smooth, which I really like, I'm not sure if it helped for volume at all but most of the shampoos I try for volume don't really work. (If you know one please comment or e-mail!) But I was happy with the product and thought it worked fairly well. You can probably buy it at your local Wal-Mart!
http://www.dove.ca/en/Products/Hair/Dove-Volume-Boost-Shampoo.aspx

The next shampoo and conditioner I tried was from the new Clear brand. I had heard a lot of good things about it but still wasn't sure if I wanted to jump into it, but then my mom bought some and I figured, why not?
She purchased the Volumizing Root Boost Nourishing Shampoo (and conditioner). Okay I LOVE this product, like it's actually amazing. To start off it smells AMAZING, like actually I've gotten a bunch of compliments about the smell. Also it really helps my hair to not get greasy so fast, usually I have to wash my hair every day to make it not greasy, or at least use dry shampoo because you're not suppose to wash your hair everyday but with this stuff it's not even greasy on the second day! I'm super impressed with this product so far, have any of you tried Clear? I would recommend it because it worked great for me!
http://www.clearhaircare.com/women/212394/volumizing-root-boost-nourishing-shampoo-conditioner

The last product for today is my "It's a 10 Miracle leave-in Product" I got a bottle of it from my hairdresser because she didn't need it anymore, I was so excited because I've been wanting to try it but it's slightly pricey! However now I know that it's absolutely worth it! On the back of the bottle it lists 10 things it's supposed to do, I will list them and let you know how I think it actually did with my hair!
1. Repair dry, damaged hair ~ well I don't think my hair can be repaired within a couple of days but I think it's definitely feeling more healthy than before!
2. adds shine ~ I would agree with this one, if I spray it in after my shower while my hair is wet, it dries shinier.
3. Smooths and Controls Frizz ~ Definitely! My hair is a lot smoother.
4. seals and protects hair color ~ I could not say, my hair isn't dyed, sorry!
5. flat iron spray & thermal protector ~ I can't say for sure but I'm pretty sure it does this pretty well because my hair doesn't feel as "blow dried" when I'm finished blow drying it. (Shame on me, I know.)
6. Detanlges ~ this is actually one of my favorite parts, I feel like it detangles my hair so well! Which I need because my hairs curly and I must only brush it when it's wet so I need a good dentangler to really reduce the damage, this works amazing!
7. stops hair breakage ~ It's not stopping all the breakage but I think it's making my hair stronger!
8. Creates silkiness ~ I feel like this is a lot like smoother hair and yes it's silkier!
9. enhances natural body ~ I'm not sure I agree with this one because my hair is still pretty flat however I only really spray it on my ends.
10. prevents split ends ~ This I can't really say for sure off hand. Sorry.
So that's how it's been working for me. All in all I feel like it's a really good, healthy product for my hair and I  encourage you all to try it out! Oh and it also smells DELICIOUS. It smells like a hairdresser, kind of. Maybe all hairdressers smell different but I love the smell of stuff my hairdresser uses in my hair and this smells like a profession product to me!

I hope you enjoyed, comments and feedback are always appreciated and encouraged!
Any products you've been loving or wanting to be reviewed? Feel free to e-mail me. Have a great day!

damagebegone@hotmail.com
-Ashley

December Favorites!

So although the cold dries out your hair a lot, I've been having a pretty good hair month after the discovery of some awesome products! Mostly my new shampoos and conditioners. So let's begin.

This is my new shampoo and conditioner, well some of my new shampoos and conditioners, I have a few. They are moroccan argan oil products as you can see. These products have done amazing things in my hair! I have a slight obsession with soft hair and these products made my hair UNBELIEVABLY soft and luscious  I would highly recommend them. Not only do they make your hair look and feel awesome but they are also very healthy for your hair because they're based on natural oils. So feel free to check them out!

Another shampoo and conditioner I've been using on my hair at the beginning of this month was my TRESemme Naturals Nourishing Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner. They also made my hair softer but what they really did for my hair was helped regain strength and moisture in my hair. I feel like they really brought back some life to my dead hair and helped to reduce dryness during the cold winter season. So if you're having trouble with very damaged hair I'd highly suggest these products. Also the conditioner is silicone free and shampoo has lower sulfates. 

I'm continuing to enjoy my Chi Shine Infusion spray. Especially for when my hair dries out in the winter months it really brings life and moisture back into my hair! I would highly recommend this product as a shine spray, it works very well.

This is the last product I'll be listing today. It's one of the shampoos I'm really loving this last month. It did the same as my other Argan shampoo. It really made my hair a lot softer and nicer to work with, and again it's really good for your hair!

Hope you enjoyed! 

Tip 16 and 17: Break Bad Habits and Avoid Rain

These will be very short tips, so I put them together. First I apologize for my lack of blogging- December is a little crazy for me. But I'm back.
First of all for breaking bad habits you may be thinking, eating junk food, using heat on your hair, brushing it when it's wet- well yes those are all bad habits you should break in order to keep your hair healthier. But I'm talking about a specific habit, which may seem rather weird to some of you. And that is sucking or chewing on your hair. Weird, I know. But if you have this problem I would suggest stopping. Sucking or chewing on your hair can actually cause split ends! So just a heads up if you're a hair chewer- DON'T DO IT!

The next tip is also pretty straight forward as well. As much fun as running or dancing in the rain can be it can actually make your hair greasy! So if you're on your way somewhere, or already are somewhere, where you don't want greasy hair and may not get the chance to wash it, avoid running around in the rain!

-Ashley
damagebegone@hotmail.com

Oily/Greasy Hair Solution

So last weekend was the dry hair solution, today is the greasy or oily hair solution! So if you have this problem, keep on reading!
So this first idea, is slightly different than getting rid of grease for good. Use a dry shampoo. Doing this will absorb the grease already in your hair, and will make your hair less greasy that day, but it does not change how fast your hair will get greasy. So if you're just looking for something to spray in, in the morning to reduce the greasy look then try purchasing a dry shampoo. I like the Dove Dry Shampoo and TRESemme Volumizing Dry Shampoo is also pretty good. But that's just for my hair, so try out some different kind and see what works best for you! All you have to do is spray it into your greasy roots and sometimes rub it in a little if it gets a little white looking (generally not a problem for people with lighter hair). Another thing to consider if you don't want to use dry shampoo is baby powder. It will also absorb grease from your hair. The cons to using baby powder though are that it's harder to apply to your hair, you can either shake it straight onto your hair or brush it in, but it's rather difficult. Also it tends to make your hair a little staticy and can leave more white in your hair than dry shampoo will, again, not a problem for people will light or blonde hair.
So that being said let's look at ways that will actually help eliminate grease all together! Try purchasing a clarifying shampoo and rubbing your scalp vigorously. Often the problem is the oily build up at the roots of your hair that causes it to be more greasy so if you have a shampoo that is to clean really well the top fo your head, and if you scrub it into your roots well it will get rid of some, or all of the build up and your hair will take longer to get greasy.
Another thing that will really help is avoiding conditioning at your roots and scalp. Conditioner adds moisture to your hair and if your roots are generally getting greasy fast, you won't need any extra moisture there. So when usuing conditioner only condition the ends of your hair, that's where it's needed most!
Also to get rid of build up on your scalp, once a week use a scalp scrub. You can either buy one in the store, or make one using things you probably already have in your house. I'll post one idea below, however I have never had a need to use a scalp scrub, therefore it's just an idea from online and I haven't yet tried it so I couldn't tell you whether it worked well or not. But basically you just take the scrub and scrub it onto your scalp... pretty straight forward, right? I will post the link from where I go this recipe below. Here's a recipe:
Step 1
Combine 2 tbsp. brown sugar and 2 tbsp. finely ground oatmeal in a small bowl. Add 2 tbsp. hair conditioner to the mixture and knead the ingredients together with your hair
Step 2
Add 15 drops of the essential oil of your choice to the scrub mixture. Work the oil as evenly through the mixture as possible
Step 3
Shampoo the hair before beginning the scalp scrub if you have styling products such as gel or mousse or hairspray in it. If no styling products are in hair, wet the hair and scalp thoroughly.
Step 4
Get a few tablespoons of the scalp scrub mixture onto your fingers, but not all over the palms of the hands. Put your fingers on your scalp and begin to work the scrub into your scalp, using a circular motion.
Step 5
Add more of the scrub mixture, as needed. Continue to massage your scalp in a circular motion for a few minutes, until you have covered the entire scalp area.
Step 6
Rinse the scalp scrub from your hair, shampoo and conditioner as normal.

You could also just use your fingers to massage your scalp which can help loosen the build up but may not be quite as effective.
As much as you try to minimize the grease in your hair it's usually hereditary, meaning it runs in your family, so there's not a bunch you can do about it. But I hope you found this useful and will try out some of the ideas!
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions feel free to e-mail me: damagebegone@hotmail.com
-Ashley

Dry Hair Solution

Alright so a lot of people either struggle with dry hair or overly greasy hair. It's not uncommon and often questions are asked, begging for advice on how to prevent your hair from being this way or at least make it more manageable, so I would like to do a post on dry hair, and hopefully soon greasy hair. I'll give you the best advice that I can!
First of all what causes dry hair? Well there's not one 'right' answer, it can be brought on by dandruff, your diet, chemically processing your hair, or being in the sun too long. So those are things you want to watch out for by taking care of dandruff right away, keeping yourself on a healthy diet and drinking plenty of water, not bleaching or dying your hair and if so doing it as healthily as possible (see post on bleaching and dying hair) and using heat protectants while going out for a long day in the sun or using heat tools on your hair!
Now you know some of the ways you can prevent it, but what about those who already have dry hair? Well first of all, all the ideas listed above are still relevant in helping restore moisture in your hair but there's even more you can do for your dry hair.
Number one being, doing everything you can to make the rest of your body healthier through exercise, healthy diets, drinking plenty of water (8 cups a day) and trying not to get overly stressed. Next you do not want to be washing your hair every day, which could very likely be the cause of your dry hair. You want to wash it only every other day, even longer if you can without it looking too greasy. Washing it everyday will strip it of its natural oils making it dryer and dryer. Although the ends of your hair might be super dry at the ends you may feel like your hair gets greasy at the top so you need to wash it everyday, well try purchasing a dry shampoo to absorb grease so you can go longer without washing it, baby powder also works but tends to need to be blended in more that dry shampoo as it makes your hair white, which is generally not a problem for blondes.
Next I would suggest looking into the shampoos and conditioners that you buy. I would always encourage getting a moisturizing shampoo, whether your hair is dry or greasy, it's just simply the best for your hair. So always look for a shampoo that says something about moisture or moisturizing. Apply shampoo to just your scalp and roots and conditioner to mostly your ends. You can also look into buying a deep conditioner and using it once a week, applying it to your hair (but not scalp as it will generally get greasy easier) and then leaving it in for at least 5 minutes, longer is always better, then rinse it out. When rinsing out the deep
conditioner or normal conditioner start with warmish water (not hot water, you should never shower in hot water as heat is bad for your hair) the warm water will open up your hair cuticles and let the moisture from the conditioner in but then rinse with cool or cold water to close the hair cuticles and trap the moisture within.
Also look into buying a natural oil product for you hair such as coconut oil or olive oil. The product will generally say whether to apply it to wet, damp or dry hair and how much but I wouldn't apply it to scalp or roots because it's oil so it tends to be slightly greasy and could make your roots look greasy quicker. Another really great thing for your hair is hair masks! You may or may not have heard of them but they're extremely good for you hair and you shouldn't have to buy anything for it, generally the masks are mixed with things you would find in your house. You can see more on hair masks if you go to my blog post about it, there are different hair masks to try out there. I'm pretty sure it's just titled "hair masks".
And almost anything suggested for getting "healthy" hair on this blog should help with dry hair considering, dry hair is generally damaged and damaged hair is generally dry. So feel free to flip through the rest of the blog to get even more ideas!

I can make another post on this with more ideas if you guys would like that, feel free to e-mail me with comments, questions and suggestions at: damagebegone@hotmail.com
Thanks for reading,
Ashley

What Type of Foods to Eat for Healthy Hair

So awhile ago I posted a tip on eating healthy to help maintain healthy hair but there are specific foods that can help with your hair in different ways, so here's some ideas!

The following foods have a lot of Omega-3 in them so they help keep hair, nails and skin healthier. You should try and have some of these food everyday.
-Salmon, tuna, mackeral and other fatty fish
-Flax seed oil
-Walnuts, almonds, milk

Vitamins B-6, B-12 and folic acids are important for your hair. Taking multivitamins helps get more of these nutrients but the following foods have lots of these vitamins and are good to add to your diet
-Vitamin B-6: bananas, potatoes and spinach
-Vitamin B-12: meat, poultry, fish and dairy products
-Folic acid: citrus fruits, tomatoes, whole grain, fortified grain products, beans and lentils

So those are the main ones. I hope this gave you some ideas or helped inform you a bit more on foods for healthy hair!
Questions, comments or suggestions? Feel free to e-mail me!
damagebegone@hotmail.com

Tip 15: Switch Your Shampoos and Conditioners

So you know when you find that one shampoo/conditioner that just is AMAZING and works MIRACLES in your hair and then a couple weeks later the effect kind of wears off. Maybe you've experienced that maybe not. But here's a tip for those of us who have. Alternate what kind of shampoo and conditioner you use, whether that be every other day or every other week it's good to switch things up so the 'wow' effect never wears off. You should try to find 2 shampoos/conditioners that work really well for your hair and alternate between them so your hair doesn't get too 'used to' just one kind.
That's the tip for today! Enjoy your evening, or whatever time of day it is right now where you live!

-Ashley
damagebegone@hotmail.com

October Favorites

So, often YouTubers have a 'favorites' video for each month. I'm not promising one for every single month but I will have one this month- a little early because otherwise I might forget or just not have time! This month I've purchased some really great products I would like to share with you, hope you enjoy.

This is a product my mother actually bought from I believe it was TJ Maxx although I'm not 100% sure when we were in the States. It's a Deep Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner for damaged hair by Giovanni. I've never heard of Giovanni before but my mom thought we should try it. Anyways I used it once and my hair was noticeably softer and more healthy looking, after ONE use. I was super impressed. I really do feel like it puts a lot more moisture into my hair than the previous shampoo and conditioner I used and would definitely recommend it if you have dry or damaged hair! I did not purchase this item myself so I'm not sure how much it costs.

The next product I've really been enjoying this month is my Chi Shine Infusion hair shine spray. Mostly I've been LOVING the smell, it's amazing. That's actually why I bought it. So not only is the product weightless and not only does it make my hair look shiny and polished without flyaways, it also provides protection against heat damage! Which is awesome! Although it says it will repair split ends, which is impossible I still love the product for it's other abilities. I would highly recommend purchasing this product if you're looking for a shine spray for your hair! I got it for about $8.00 but I believe it was on sale.

This product I believe I've blogged about before, I recently repurchased it because I ran out. It's my favorite heat protectant that I've had before and this month I've just been really especially enjoying it because with school on I've been using a bit more heat in my hair lately and I'm really thankful I have this heat protectant so I can be reducing the damage done. It smells AMAZING and works really well and instead of making hair sticky and gross it actually makes it softer I find! It's a really great product. I got this for about $5.00.

This is the last product on my October Favorites post. Aussie still continues to be my all time favorite hairspray brand! I haven't actually found an exact Aussie one that I prefer over other Aussie ones but anyways this is the one I have right now. I've really been loving it, after straightening my hair I just go ahead and spray some in and then brush through it and it doesn't even feel sticky after, but it holds my hair in place all day! And of course it smells great too! Approximately $4.00 dollars at Wal-Mart.

Tip 14: Keeping Your Hair Safe From Chlorine

Alright so during the summer, what better way to cool off then jumping into a nice, clean pool? Even as the winter season approaches, indoor swimming pools can be just as much fun! But here's the problem, pools have a bunch of chlorine in them, and chlorine is not good for your hair, it can dry it out and do damage to it. But there are some steps you can take so that it reduces the amount of damage done to your hair.

1. Shower before going into the pool.

So often swimming pools will have a freshwater shower for you to use before entering the pool, so use it! It helps prepare your hair for the pool water. So you need to saturate your hair, by doing this is won't soak up the chlorine water in the pool,  it should keep your hair from getting dry and weak.

2. Rinse out your hair after swimming.

If chlorine stays in your hair for a long time it can damage your hair. If you wash it out right away there's less chance that it will dry out. So when you're done swimming just quickly rinse it out in a shower!

3. Take special care of your hair.

So after you swim, once you get home you should shampoo your hair with a moisturizing shampoo and leave your conditioner in for 3 minutes, to get moisture back in your hair. Do this the next couple of times that you wash your hair after swimming, if you don't already do it every night. Also once a week use a deep conditioner to really help your hair to not dry out. \

4. Leave conditioner in your hair.

Before entering the pool, shower then put conditioner in and don't rinse it out, just swim with it in. The coating should help protect your hair from the chlorine, but if you're swimming for a long period of time it may wash out, making it ineffective. 

5. Purchase a special shampoo.

There are shampoos out there made especially for people who spend a lot of time in the water. If you're a professional swimmer or just spend a lot of time at the pool you might want to consider purchasing one.

6. Swim Caps

Yes, they can be dorky. I get it, but if you feel your hair really needs it and you're comfortable with doing it, then you could use a swim cap to tuck your hair in so it doesn't even get wet, then getting chlorine in it really isn't an issue. Professional swimmers may use these anyways.

There you have it! Some tips on what you can do to protect your hair from chlorine damage. Hope it helped you or gave you some new ideas.

-Ashley

damagebegone@hotmail.com

Tip 13: Don't Always Thin Your Hair

So if you have really thick hair, or pretty thick hair you may have discovered getting your hairdresser to thin it out is a great solution! I know I did! So lately I've been thinning my hair almost every I go to the hairdresser but lately it seems that my hair has gotten kinda thin on its own so yesterday when I was getting my hair trimmed the lady asked if I wanted it thinned and I said I didn't think I would do it this time and she brought to my attention something I didn't know. She told me that thinning my hair can actually make it weaker and damage it. You know the tool they use to thin it? Well it tends to be really hard on your hair, pulling it a lot and it can end up making your hair more prone to get split ends. So my hairdresser said if you're going to be thinning your hair try to only do it about every other time you get it cut to help keep it looking nice. So just take that into consideration when you next get your hair cut!
-Ashley
damagebegone@hotmail.com

Tip 12: Drink Water and Eat Healthy

So this tip is rather straight forward. Like the title says, drink water and eat healthy, drinking water helps moisturize hair and skin. Eating healthy will also help your hair and skin. Your body is all connected somehow, if you are eating healthy, drinking healthy and getting enough exercise you should have a healthy weight, a clear face, healthy hair etc. I mean there are some exceptions and conditions but learning to eat and drink healthy is a great start to strengthening your hair. If you're noticing really dry hair then drinking 8 cups of water a day can help you get a bit more moisture in your hair. Also homemade hair masks are kind of linked to that because they're putting the nutrients in the foods directly on your hair instead of inside your body, then used by your body and then a bit is used towards your hair. I'll post a direct link to my hair mask blog post, so feel free to check that out. For further questions on specific foods you should eat for healthier hair just comment or e-mail me at damagebegone@hotmail.com and if you want me to make a post about it I can do that too.

http://damagebegone.blogspot.ca/2012/08/tip-7-hair-masks.html

Tip 11: Letting Your Hair Dry Naturally vs. Blow Drying

First and foremost, please do know that in the side poll at the blog, the 'light brow' is supposed to be 'light brown' as I'm sure you assumed. Sorry about that but because people have already voted I cannot change the spelling. So as you all already know if you've read my blog at all I am very against heat on hair and avoided it a bunch. But here's a question that I've seen come up a couple of times. This is the question. "What is more damaging, straightening or blow drying?" or "If I don't blow dry it I have to go over one piece of hair with a straightener more than once but if I do blow dry I don't have to straighten each piece more than once, which is better?". So here is my answer. Although I am no professional hair dresser or anything this is partly my opinion. I personally think that blow drying is a lot less damaging than straightening. Here's why, a blow dryer generally doesn't get as hot as a straightener would, so that's already a good thing, but that also depends what heat you have your straightener at. But also the heat is not being applied directly to your hair, I mean yes it's blowing heat on your hair directly but its not like a hot plate TOUCHING your hair. If that makes sense. Also if your blow dryer has a 'cool' setting be sure to use it. Because cool= less damaging than heat, as you probably already know. So in my opinion if blow drying your hair will reduce the amount of straightening you need to do, then you should do that. But before you blow dry your hair, although I believe it's less damaging you should still spray in a heat protectant, wait for it to dry and THEN blow dry your hair. Hope this answered your questions. If you have further questions regarding this subject or anything else about your hair, feel free to e-mail me at damagebegone@hotmail.com
-Ashley

Tell Your Hair Dresser !!

So I'm not sure if this has happened to any of you but i hate it when I go to the hairdresser, get all my split ends cut off and then right when they're done they blow dryer my hair and then STRAIGHTEN IT. Even worse when they don't use a heat protectant! It literally makes me wanna cry. I paid for you to fix my hair. Not fix it and wreck it again 5 minutes later. So if your hair is really damaged be sure to inform your hair dresser on the problem. Tell her you would prefer she (or he) use a heat protectant or tell them if you don't want it straightened or styled at all. Try telling them before they start though because if they're already starting it can get kind of awkward. Also yeah your hairdresser can probably tell how damaged your hair is without you telling them but if you tell them they can make suggestions on what shampoos or conditioners to buy for your hair specifically. They're the experts! So don't be afraid to ask for advice from them or ask them not to style your hair after. Good luck!

No Heat Styles and Contacting Me.

So I didn't really want to make a post just about contacting me, but I'll start off this one by saying, if you have any questions or comments or suggestions for a tip, product review, no heat tutorial or anything you can e-mail me at damagebegone@hotmail.com I'll be sure to e-mail you back as soon as I can! Also I'll be away from the computer for the next 3 days so I won't have any new blog posts, but when I'm back I'll be sure to put a new post up for you guys! Now to the no heat styles!
We talked about how to curl hair without heat, well I posted links to YouTube video tutorials that I thought you all might find helpful but there's other stuff to do with your hair besides just curling or straightening it.

Style #1: The Messy Bun

There are many different ways to do a messy bun, because it's "messy". There are no right or wrong ways to do it, just do it how you like it. It's generally done by twisting all of your hair through a ponytail holder one time and on the second time pulling it only halfway through then wrapping it around a bunch of times. Maybe that didn't make a lot of sense but it doesn't necessarily have to because it's just a bun that's messy that YOU like.

Style #2: The Ever Famous Fishtail Braid

Though not everyone has mastered it (including myself) many thinks it's an easy way to do your hair in the morning, not to mention it's super cute! There are a bunch of tutorials on YouTube of how to fishtail braid your hair I'll post a link to a video I like down below. So it takes a bit of practice (or a lot in my case) but apparently once you get it it's a breeze. So have fun with it and try different variations of it- have fun with it!

Fish Braid Tutorial 

Style #3: The Bow

There are different ways to do a bow in your hair, all very cute and chic. Most common ways are shown in the pictures above. Doing one bow with all your hair or one with a bit of your hair from both sides. Because pictures speak louder than words, I got tutorial pictures so I didn't have to try and explain this hairstyle because that would probably leave everyone very confused. So here's another hairstyle that doesn't involve heat. Good luck!

Style #4: The Unicorn Braid (or Rope Braid)

I recently discovered this type of 'braid' and it's SUPER easy and SUPER cute and unique. It mainly consists of twisting your hair, doesn't get much easier than that! People will be asking you how on earth you did it when it only took you 30 seconds! I'll post a tutorial video down below, again there are different ways to do this, you can do it across your bangs, do 2 on both sides of your hair, do 1 to the side. Anyway you want it basically! Have fun!

Picture Day Hairstyle: Rope Braid Tutorial!

Style #5: Sock Bun!

Last but not least we have the sock bun! It's super easy and cute, as are all these hairstyles. I did this one a couple times and got a bunch of compliments, it's really great! Putting on a fun headband with it is cute too! I'll again just post a link to a tutorial as it's kind of hard to describe without a model. 

Megan and Liz: Sock Bun Tutorial

So I hope that this gave you some new ideas for how to do your hair without heat and I hope you have a lot of fun with them. Again if you have any comments, suggestions or questions e-mail me at damagebegone@hotmail.com

Thank you!
P.S. All picture are from Pinterest, I do not own them.