Hair myths we all believe

Hi everyone,

As a hairdresser I have loads of clients coming into work and asking me things about their hair. Most people though don't know the difference between the myths and the facts. So today I thought I would point out a few of the myths we have all been believing for years. So here we go.

1. You should wash your hair everyday.

This just is so wrong in so many ways. Your hair should only be washed when it looks like it needs to be. So if it FEELS greasy but it LOOKS fine, don't wash it. Please note feeling and looking are two complete different things. When you wash your hair you are removing all the natural oils from your hair. If you are washing your hair everyday, lets face it, its just not any good for it. By removing the natural oils you are drying your hair out. Do you colour your hair? Do you have fine hair? Then this is not ideal. I personally wash my hair 3 times a week. I know what your thinking, "gross". Trust me I use to think the same, but now I could never wash my hair everyday. You should aim to wash your hair 2-3 times a week.  



Picture: http://www.youbeauty.com/beauty/wash-hair-with-conditioner/



2. If you pluck a grey hair, you get two more.

Now how many of you have been told or heard this? Most of you I am guessing. Now you can forget it, this is one hell of a myth. Bare in mind the basics, a grey hair is a hair that has lost its pigment. Now I am about to get more technical, but lets face it, its what us hairdresser do. Each hair on your head comes out of a hair follicle. Stay with me. A hair follicle can only produce one hair. So when that hair falls or is plucked out, it can only reproduce one hair in its place. So if you pluck that grey hair, regardless of its colour, you will only get one hair grow back. Saying this I don't advise you pluck your grey hairs out.

 3. Going outside with wet hair will give you a cold.

Lets to honest here, everyone has been told this by their mums when they were younger. A cold is caused by a viral or bacterial infection within the body. This has nothing to do with damp hair. So if you just happen to go out with wet hair, but already have a bacterial infection that has not yet surfaced. Then you wake up the next day with a cold, it wasn't your hair that caused it. As much as you shouldn't go out with damp hair, it won't make you ill.

Picture: http://www.boldsky.com/beauty/hair-care/2013/is-rain-water-good-or-bad-for-hair-033774.html

4. You should brush your hair 100 times a day.

I had a friend back at school that once told me she brushes her hair 100 times a day. So she has soft, silky, shiny, healthy hair. In reality this isn't the result you get when you excessively brush your hair. Your hair should only be brushed when it needs to be, for example when its knotty. Each hair on your head has a cuticle (sorry getting technical again, I cant help it) and over brushing your hair will damage your hair cuticle and result in split ends.

 5. You can mend split ends with the right products.

Right first off the person who told you this, should take the walk of shame. Split ends are caused by damage done to the hair. It is where a strand of hair at the bottom, has another piece of hair coming away from it. If you were to pull the two separate pieces apart one of them would break off. Please don't try this, I cant stress that enough. The only way to mend split ends is to cut them off. So if this is you I advise you get yourself an appointment with a hairdresser and have a decent trim. Products tend to make the split ends appear less noticeable. But by no means does it fix it. So don't go wasting your money on tons of expensive products which probably wont do the job. Just go have them cut off, trust me its better in the long run.

Picture: https://www.birchbox.com/magazine/article/how-to-make-a-haircut-last-longer

 So that's just a few hair myths. I bet there are tons more out there. If you know any hair myths, leave me a comment below telling me what they are. I would love to hear. I hope you enjoyed this post and learnt something new. I will see you next week, have a fabulous week.

Love
Zoe x

My evening skincare routine

Hi everyone,

Last week I wrote a post called 'My morning skincare routine'. If you haven't seen it, check it out here. So today I am going to speak about my evening routine. What I am going to include is my normal evening routine but also my once a week skin treat that I like to do in the evening.

So here is the routine my evening consists of:

Step 1: Remove make-up
This step I obviously only do if I am wearing make-up. This step is important as you need to remove all traces of make-up before you can move on to any other steps. Think of this as you are making a base for the rest of the products you are going to apply. I take the Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water on cotton wool discs. I then wipe these over my eyes and skin till all traces of make-up have been removed.

Step 2: Cleanse
This step is so important to make sure you remove any make-up that could be left on the skin. This will help to avoid any unwanted blemishes/breakouts. To cleanse I take two pumps of the Neal's Yard Remedies Rose Facial Wash on my Clarisonic Mia 2. I cleanse twice in the evenings. Once to remove leftover make-up, second to clean my skin.

Step 3: Tone
You need to tone your skin to balance and refresh it. This is prepping your skin for the rest of the products you will be following with. I use the Neal's Yard Remedies Rehydrating Rose Toner. I use this on cotton wool discs and wipe these all over my skin in an upward motion.

Step 4: Eye cream
Eye creams are great as they hydrate under the eye area and help to care for fine lines around the eyes. There are lots of eye creams available on the market. I personally use the Neal's Yard Remedies Rose Formula Hydrating Eye Cream.

Step 5: Moisturise
Moisturising is one of the most important steps in the routine. You need to make sure you keep your skin moisturised to keep your skin soft and balanced. I use a small amount of my Neal's Yard Remedies Rose & Mallow Moisturiser.

Then once a week I do an at home facial on myself, this is how it goes:

Follow Step 1: Remove make-up and Step 2: cleanse as before from the normal evening routine.

Step 3: Exfoliate
Exfoliating your skin is a must. This removes dead skin cells and evens out your skin. This gives you an even base for your make-up, which makes it apply better. I have been using the Neal's Yard Remedies Rehydrating Rose Facial Polish.   

Step 4: Steam

I love steaming my skin, this is a real treat. It is great for helping to clear the skin. This helps to gets rid of anything nasty out of the skin that doesn't need to be there, like the dreaded blackheads. I use the Champneys Facial Steamer.

Step 5: Facial mist 

Now this is very similar to using a toner but it is lighter and in a mist form. It's is used to rehydrate and calm the skin. It is really refreshing on the skin, perfect for after steaming. I am using the Neal's Yard Remedies White Tea Facial Mist.

Step 6: Mask

Masks are an amazing way of treating your skin. There are so many different ones out on the market, all of which have their own benefits. I love the Neal's Yard Remedies Rose Formula Antioxidant Facial Mask.

Step 7: Tone

For this I use the same toner as normal. The Neal's Yard Remedies Rehydrating Rose Toner.

Step 8: Eye cream

As before this is where I take a small amount on my ring finger. I use the Neal's Yard Remedies Rose Formula Hydrating Eye Cream. 

Step 9: Facial oil

Oils are incredible for the skin, but bare in mind, only in small doses. They are intensely nourishing and leave the skin feeling incredible. I use the Neal's Yard Remedies Orange Flower Facial Oil. 

Step 10: Moisturise 

As always I finish with moisturiser. I use the Neal's Yard Remedies Rose & Mallow Moisturiser. 

I know this seem like a lot of hard work just for your skin. But trust me it is so worth it. Remember your skin is always on show, so care for it. This is my evening routine, what does yours involve? What's your number one evening skincare product? Let me know in the comments. I hope you have enjoyed the last two blog posts as much as I did writing them. Hopefully it has inspired you to care for your skin too. As I can not stress enough how important it is.  

Love 

Zoe x 

My morning skincare routine

Hi everyone,

Todays post is about my morning skincare routine. Now back in November I posted a post called "Skincare: Acne". In this post I talk about the struggle I have had with my skin. These products that I am going to mention today are my saviour products. Which I rely on using everyday. I do understand that these products are at the higher end of the price scale. But these are generally the products that work for my skin. As I mentioned in the  "Skincare: Acne" post I have tried many products and these are just the ones that work personally for me.

So here is the routine my morning consists of:

Step 1: Cleanse

Cleansing your skin is really important. This is the step that cleans away any dirt or residue on your skin. Think of this as you are prepping your skin for future steps. I cleanse by using my Clarisonic Mia 2 with 2 pumps of Neal's Yard Remedies Rose Facial Wash.

Step 2: Tone

Toning your skin helps to balance and refresh the skin. I take a cotton wool pad with the Neal's Yard Remedies Rehydrating Rose Toner on. I wipe this cotton pad all over my skin including my neck in an upward motion.

Step 3: Eye cream

Eye creams are a newer purchase for me. They help to hydrate and reduce the appearance of fine lines around the eye area. I use the Neal's Yard Remedies Rose Formula Hydrating Eye Cream. I take a small amount of this on both of my ring fingers and pat it around my eye area.

Step 4: Moisturise

To finish I always use a moisturiser. My go to is the Neal's Yard Remedies Rose And Mallow Moisturiser. Moisturisers are great for balancing the skin while also adding moisture where needed.

So there is my morning skincare routine and the products I like to use. Let me know what you use in the comments below. Have you ever tried any of the products I mentioned? Let me know. I will be posting my evening skincare routine next week, so keep a look out for it. I hope that you enjoy reading this weeks post and I look forward to seeing you next week.

Love
Zoe x

January Favourites

Hi everyone,

This weeks blog post is about my January favourites. These are a few of the things I have been loving through last month. I hope that you find something that you might like to try, so here we go.

Hair:

John Frieda sheer blonde colour renew tone correcting shampoo:

I recently changed from having bleach highlights to having a permanent high lift blonde colour. In a result of this I am left with slightly warmer roots. This shampoo for sure has helped to tone it down. I use this shampoo once a week to maintain my blonde.

Beauty:

Marc Jacobs perfume dot:

I got this perfume for Christmas (see my 'what I got for Christmas' post to see what else I got) and I fell in love with it instantly. The fragrance includes notes of red berries, jasmine, vanilla, musk and driftwood. Which all combined makes an incredible combination. This perfume is perfect for a special occasion or everyday wear.

Morphe brushes vegan brush set:

These are some of the best brushes I have ever used. They blend and apply make-up to a great standard. The quality of these brushes is amazing. They clean fantastically and are always left feeling soft. I highly recommend these brushes to anyone looking to try new brushes.

Morphe brush cleaner:

This is a great product, it clean make-up brushes so well. When you apply this to a brush and clean the brush on some tissue, you can just see the make-up coming away from it. This is scented vanilla and leaves your brushes smelling lovely.

 

Food:

Thornton's mini chocolate fudge brownies:

These are no where near the healthy food I have been eating. But every now and then you deserve a treat, and boy are these it. They are very rich in flavour and once you have one its kind of hard to stop. If your in need of something sweet defiantly give these a go.

Other:

Lean in 15 by Joe Wicks:

This book is like my healthy eating bible. Joes recipes are incredible. Don't have time to cook good food? Well now you don't have that option. The recipes are quick, easy and so tasty. Joes workouts are also easy to follow and you can start slow and work up. Overall this book is my holy grail. If you haven't tried it I highly recommend you do.

 

These are my January favourites, what were yours? Have you tried any of these products? Let me know in the comments. Also comment any products that you think I should try.

Love

Zoe x