Vibrant Hair Maintenance

I've been through several changes in the past couple of months with my hair color.  My biggest change was this color, and though I loved it at the time, I realized I feel more like myself with a more orangey sort of red.  I was scared of throwing too much pink in there at first, which is why I asked my hairstylist, Erin, to be subtle.  The more it grew on me, though, the more vibrant I wanted it to be. Sometimes you have to ease into change, you know?

Well, I promised I would report back on how the Ion Color Brillance brand pink was for my hair, and sadly, it washed out a little too quickly for me.  I've currently been using the Overtone conditioners on my hair (you use them as regular conditioners in the shower to keep your color vibrant), and so far I've been loving them!


I started with the Vibrant Orange for the top of my hair and Vibrant Pink for the bottom, but have recently transitioned to Extreme Orange for the top.  It seems to be covering my roots pretty well, which is definitely a bonus!

That's where I am with hair colors right now.  The change has been nice for me lately-- I think it was something I really needed.  I'll keep you updated on my hair care routine in the coming months!

Happy Friday, friends!  xo.

A Most Welcome Hair Change

This week my beautiful friend, Erin, gave my hair a little update.  Honestly, I've been dying for a change, and I'm totally in love with my new 'do.  She switched up my normal red and then added in peaches and pinks with Hot Heads hair extensions.  This is my first experience with tape-in hair extensions and wow... they are so comfortable and lovely.  I've used clip-in and micro-bead extensions in the past, and these are BY FAR the best experience I've had.

Anyway, I thought I'd share a peek at the new 'do.  You can see more pictures on my Instagram and Erin's Instagram.  Happy Thursday, friends!  xo.

**Dress c/o Seamly.

 

I Left My Curling Wand in the Dust

Earlier this year I professed my love for my curling wand.  I used it for quite a long time... until enough was enough and I had to give it up.  I had a terrible issue with burning my wrist over and over.  It wasn't any flaw in the wand itself, just a problem with my own clumsiness.  Anyway, instead of going back to a traditional curling iron, I decided to try out this method of curling your hair with a straightener.


I like the natural waves this method creates.  As you can see, I use a GHD straightener and I love it.  It has rounded edges so there are no creases in your hair while you're running it through for curls and it heats up really fast.  Here's an example of the finished product:


Anyway, this is my current routine for curling my hair.  What kind of curling iron/wand/straightener do you prefer?  No heat curls are always a great alternative.  I'm going to try curling my hair like this next!  xo.

New Stuff on ABM!

(photos by Sarah Rhodes)
I have some new stuff up over on A Beautiful Mess, so I thought I'd share here as well!  I haven't stopped talky-talking about this Garden Box DIY since it went live yesterday, but I love it so much!  Even more than that, Poesy loves it so much.  Some of you saw a peek of it in her room tour from the other day-- now you can make your own if you want!

I did a post on making your own Dry Shampoo.  Hope said, "Are you gonna put that cinnamon in your hair?!"  Yep. I totally did.

I made a pattern for this traditional style rag doll.  Poesy is loving all of these kid's posts I'm doing lately.  "Is that for meeeeeee???  Aw, Mama, you are so nice."

A little bit of here, there, and everywhere, right?  If any of you ever make anything from my DIYs, I'd love to see! Please be sure to leave me a comment or Tweet at me or something!  I LOVE seeing photos on Instagram.  :)
Happy Wednesday, friends!

Making the Switch to a Curling Wand

I get a lot of questions about how I curl my hair, and up until now I would just say, "uh, I wrap my hair around the barrel of a curling iron with the clip open."  What?  Some people understood and others thought I was speaking a different language.  I don't know why it took me so long to take the plunge and get a curling wand, but they are so much more efficient!  This Karmin Curling Wand gets way hotter than my 5 year old Wal-Mart curling iron (okay, that's not saying much, but this thing can get REALLY hot) so I can curl my hair a lot faster.  The settings go all the way up to 410 degrees, but I keep mine at 185 degrees so it isn't too harsh on my hair.

If you use the larger part of the barrel you will get bigger curls, and the smaller end produces tighter curls.  I usually try to stay somewhere in the middle for a semi "natural" look, but if your hair really looks like this naturally, I'm definitely jealous.

One thing worth mentioning in case you are thinking of making the switch-- I'm so used to a curling iron with a plastic cap at the end, that I burned my wrist several times over the first couple of weeks while I was still getting used to the curling wand!  I didn't even realize it, but I had a habit of resting my wrist at the end of my old curling iron, and I had to break that habit fast!

It took me long enough, but I'm glad I made the switch.  Old habits die hard, you know?
How do you curl your hair?  I'd love to hear your favorite method!

*Special thanks to Rylees Professional Hair Care for sending me this curling wand!

Pin Curls

I forgot to mention last week that I have another hair tutorial up over on A Beautiful Mess.  This time:  Pin Curls!

If you have tried it out, leave me a link!  I'd love to see.  :)

xoxo Katie

Holiday Hair DIY

If you're looking for an easy & pretty way to style your hair for the holidays, I did a fun hair tutorial over on A Beautiful Mess last week!  One of these days I'll find myself a girl with short hair and do a DIY for all you short-haired beauties out there.  <3

Dress: c/o Lulu's

You can see the full tutorial here!  

Have a great Tuesday!  xoxo Katie

Red Hair 101

I get lots and lots of emails and comments asking about my hair, so I thought it was about time I devoted a post to it.  I am not a hair dresser, heck, I don't even know if the things I'm doing are just plain horrible for my hair.  So, if you do follow any of my tips, be warned that your hair might fall out.  Okay, probably not... but you never know...  ;))

My hair is naturally a light brown color (maaaaybe you could call it dark blonde-- it's kinda hard to say at this point).  Lucky for me, I my current red color goes right over my natural color, so there is no bleaching or lightening.  If there were, I probably would have quit a long time ago.  I'm lazy.  And not rich.  Oh, and I color every 4-6 weeks.  It just depends on how motivated I am.

Here are some pictures from past hair:

 Yep, that short cut up top is me.  Let's not talk about it.  

I know some of you are hoping I'll tell you what box color works the best for me, but I can't.  My friend is a hairdresser (and also happens to be MY hairdresser) and she gets really mad at me when I buy a box.  So I don't.  My color is some sort of copper red.  I was handed a book of hair, told to point to the color I was wanting, and it's been my go-to ever since.  I guess I got lucky there.  

If you are wanting to change your hair color, but you haven't settled on one, I would suggest finding a reputable hair person and asking their opinion.  I'll be the first to admit that a big change is scary and bad things can happen.  The last thing you want to do is run down to the local drugstore, diy, and then hide your head in a bag for weeks.  

^^^

This is the shampoo/conditioner I use.  I started on level 2, but one day the store was out of 2 so I bought 3.  They smell pretty and seem to work great.  I know there are better "red helpers" out there, but they are expensive.  Bed Head seems to be in my price range so that's what I use.

Now, here are some pictures of my current hair:

(Truth be told, I make this face a lot.)

So, you can see there are color variations.  The red starts bright and fades to a pretty nice, soft shade by the end.  I wouldn't even mind it if it weren't for those not-so-red roots!  

I know it's funny, but I feel more like "myself" with this color than I ever did with natural, dark, or lighter hair.  I've thought about changing the shade, but I'm pretty certain I'll be sticking with some sort of red for a while.  :)

This was fun!  Thanks for reading about my hair stuff.  I actually LOVE talking about hair.  ;)
xoxo Katie