Hair has always left me bewildered. I hardly ever visit the hairdressers and I buy whatever is on offer in the supermarket to wash it with. So when I popped in to see Nina at Lush Leeds Spa I (unsurprisingly!) learned a whole heap of how to take better care of the mop on my head ;)
I’m a colour fiend, I absolutely love my red hair so I dye it within an inch of it’s life. I don’t straighten it, but I do curl the ends so I’ve damaged the poor little guys at the tip and have a lot of split ends. I also have quite thin, limp hair with a very greasy scalp. BAD COMBO.
In this post you’ll find out some general upkeep tips, but mostly how to care for hair in the same condition as mine. If you have completely different hair, why not visit Lush for your own consultation?
Brushing // Always spend that bit extra on a good comb and a lovely wooden paddle brush. Those horrible synthetic barrel brushes just rip my hair // Brush your hair before showering, especially if you have dry, damaged split ends. This distributes the natural oils from the scalp all the way down so you don’t strip your hair as much when you wash it // If you can help it, don’t brush your hair when it’s wet. Your hair is more susceptible to damage when wet.
Conditioner // If your hair is limp and flat you need to avoid weighing it down with a heavy conditioner. This is usually caused by the ingredient ‘lanolin’. Rich conditioners can also make your hair appear greasy. // You really only need to use conditioner from the chin downwards (obviously applied to your hair, not your chin!) // Leave your conditioner in for a few minutes instead of washing straight out. I wash my hair and condition first, tie loosely in a bobble and then wash my body and face before rinsing it out.
Shampoo // Don’t be afraid to use a couple of shampoos that each have their own advantages. If you have limp and lifeless, coloured hair like me you could shampoo once a week with a volumising product and the rest of time a colour shampoo // When shampooing, really massage those roots which both stimulates hair growth and makes sure you clean that grease out!
Product Testing //
For shampooing, I tried out Big (c/o Lush Leeds Spa) and Daddy-O (c/o Lush Leeds Spa).
I have never had so much FUN washing my hair! Big is packed with sea salt so I’m excited to paste this craziness in my hair and it has never felt SO clean than after I have used this fella. In technical terms the salt acts as a natural volumiser, lifting that drab hair up and looking fuller and more luxurious! It’s not drying like I expected; Grab enough to cover the tips of your fingers, rub it together with a splash of water and apply the silky smooth/gritty sea salt combo to your hair!
Like Big, Daddy-O is also so much fun to use! It’s a rich, deep, craaaazy purple! This dude lathers up purple and rinses out, yup you guessed it, a gorgeous purple foam! Lush made this for white/blonde hair to stop it going brassy, but it’s great for all coloured hair with extra goodness to keep it soft without stripping colour.
For conditioning, I tried Veganese (c/o Lush Leeds Spa) and I also pinched a tester of Happy Happy Joy Joy.
Sadly, Happy Happy Joy Joy didn’t make it past the second wash for me. It wasn’t a bad product, but the smell was too intense for my poor senses (I’m a bit of a wuss when it comes to smells!) so I can’t offer much of a product review there. Apparently one of the ingredients is proven to increase serotonin in the brain though, hence the double happiness! ;)
Veganese is possibly my favourite hair product of all time! The smell is INCREDIBLE. I constantly smell my hair, seriously. I’ve developed a little habit while sitting at my desk, which you can peek at here ;) Not only does it smell great in the shower, it smells gorgeous the next day too. AND the next day. Even when my hair is dirty and greasy again, it still smells great! It’s also always a plus when your boyfriend tells you your hair smells nice every morning. Veganese is lanolin free too, making it super light for thin hair.
Treatments & Miscellany
Before meeting with Lush Leeds Spa, I had never tried a hair treatment before!! I used H’Suan Wen Hua (c/o Lush Leeds Spa) and I made a tonne of mess around the sink as I slopped it on and it didn’t smell great :/ However as my hair dried after washing it out, it was softer, silkier and my colour was more intense. A lovely treat – plus it has avocados in! Whut.
After telling Lush about my greasy scalp having, colour dying hair – I told them about my love for dry shampoo. I try not to wash my hair too often because the red fades so quickly so dry shampoo is my hair essential. Lush gave me a wee tester pot of No Drought dry shampoo to try and I was really impressed that they even cater to that market. Sadly I wasn’t a big fan of No Drought. I found it difficult to apply enough to my hair which resulted in it looking greasy again a few minutes later and I really missed the easy spray application of my Batiste Dry Shampoo. Sorry Lush!
Results // After a few washes I began to see impressive results. My hair felt lighter and brighter as the goodness seeped into my follicles. After a month, my hair felt brand new. It no longer feels thin and drab and even the ends of my hair are renewed. No shampoo or conditioner can really fix split ends like a good chop, but they are vastly improved and I don’t even need to curl the ends as much, because Big & Veganese work together to create the volume for me. I only wash my hair every three days now and it’s completely manageable with the odd spray of Batiste dry shampoo. My scalp isn’t as greasy, my ends aren’t as dry and it always smells great, plus two months of use and I’ve only emptied half the bottles – I’m SO happy!
My definite, new ‘essentials’ are:
Big & Veganese – My only gripe with Big is that the screw top pot is really inconvenient. I don’t have enough hands to screw the lid back on and I don’t have a shelf in my shower so when I put Big down on the floor without the lid on I always knock it over. Lost Big = Sadface. Otherwise I absolutely love this beast and will be using it from now on, two-three times a fortnight. Veganese is just LOVE.
I think I’ll try out a couple of other shampoos before declaring my ultimate love for Daddy-O, but I’d definitely buy it again. As for H’Suan.. perfect for a treat or the night before a big event; An instant spruce up, but not an essential I’m afraid.
What are your hair care essentials?! Do share in the comments or tweet at me!
Loves x xx
