Lee Stafford Bleach Blondes Shampoo

With having bleached blonde hair from being dark all of my life I'm constantly trying out new shampoos, toners and colour products to try and keep my colour looking fresh. The Lee Stafford Bleach Blondes has been a stand out for me.

This is the first purple shampoo that hasn't left me hair multicoloured, and whenI say multicoloured I mean patches or purple, silver, grey, blonde and sometimes yellow all at once obviously isn't a great look! This one leaves my hair a clean blonde without the blotch colours. Its a very easy product to use and does gently keep the colours updated. 

The shampoo itself is scary at first with it being bright purple but is okay once you start with it. It is very light on the hair, it leaves it weightless and looking fresh. It has a clean smell, nothing fancy just a fresh smell. 

If you have blonde hair that needs a gentle refresh then this is a product for you to try out. All about the colour but manages to keep your hair in healthy condition without weighing to down. 

This is also a good price for a good quality toning shampoo and can be bought on the high street. 

It costs around £7 and can be purchased at Boots. 

Label.M Faves

Label M has been my hair saviour over 2016! The salon that I go to use all Label M so as soon as I noticed just how damaged my hair I was straight online buying some for my self.

My favourite product is the Rejuvenating Radiance Oil. I apply this all over my hair when it's damp focusing mainly on the most damaged areas. The oil gives my hair that little bit more protection and moisture boost that it needs. It leave my hair looking super shiny and health from only a small amount of product. If I style my hair between washes and it starts to look dry or frizzy I will apply a small amount of the oil and it give my hair the shine and healthy look it has after first washing. And lastly I often apply a layer onto my hair when it's dry and leave it on over night as a mask jus really give me hair a boost.  

Buy Online.

  

The next thing I purchased is the Protein Spray. Admittedly I'm not entirely sure the full benefits of protein with bleached hair, I just read its good! I do know it has UV protection and evens out porosity.  I spray this a few times when my hair is damp. I'm just trying anything out that might help the damage! Buy online here.   

The last thing and by far my most used since I'm onto my third tub is the Intensive Mask. This is by far the best hair mask that I've came across. It is super moisturising and has kept my hair in great contain. This has been my saviour product and really has stopped my hair from being so damaged. I always leave the mask on for around 5 minutes and it leaves my hair very healthy, shiny and weightless! My favourite hair care product! Buy online. 

Noughty To the Rescue Shampoo

A few months back I was very lucky to receive the Noughty To the Rescue Shampoo from the lovelies at KMI Brands, thank you!!

This shampoo is 97% natural, vegan and vegetarian friendly and is super moisturising. With having bleached hair its nice to have a product that can clean and moisturise my hair without adding even more chemicals and artificial things. The Shampoo is free from Petrochemicals, Parabens, Sulphates and Silicones - you can recycle to bottle too.  And just to top it all off there was no animal testing involved, I think we may have a full house now.

Sweet almond and sunflower seed scent is a massive winner for me. Theres something about a sweet almond smell, I think it from when I worked in Newcastle City Centre and I'd get an almond croissant for breakfast maybe. It's a scent that makes me feel chilled out and refreshed. 

This shampoo is made frizzy and damaged hair. Although my hair isn't frizzy, quite the opposite really, it is damaged from all the bleaching and heat styling. So this is ideal to give my hair a little extra moisture boost and to get some extra shine. When using this I first apply a small pear size amount and apply just to the roots just to firstly cleanse away any build up or grease. I then go in with a slightly larger amount and apply it everywhere but mainly focus on roots to mid length. After doing this, my hair is left clean, hydrated and shiny but not weighed down or heavy. 

I feel as though products like this will soon be taking the lead, products that are natural with no animal testing involved. Animal testing is a massive problem and not know where products actually contain can be a little frightening. I would really recommend trying this brand to support what they stand for and find out what magic natural products can do to damaged hair! Available in Superdrug and online here.

Bleach London Haul/Going Rose

I have said many times before, I love Bleach London. They're the main reason I decided to go blonde! I kind of feel confident enough with my blonde hair now to experiment with different colours, hello Super Cools!

So off I went to Boots to impulse buy then apply. I thought I'd start small and not be overly adventurous and go for the Rose shade. I've had pink hair before, although this was done at a salon but hey ho. 

Before I applied the pink my hair needed toning desperately. For some reason my roots have went yellow which does not look good with silver hair..or at all! To sort it out I went for my trusty Bleach White Toner. I've went on about this for a while now, I love it. I kind of use it monthly; with my hair being bleached it sorts out the in between hair appointment jobs, bit of a refresh and get rid of the yellows.

Hair before

The toner is super easy to use. I apply it all myself and it's been a success every time yet. So in the box you'll receive an instruction leaflet, plastic gloves, a colourant, a developer and a conditioner. All you do all the colourant into the developer and shake well, then you're pretty much good to go. I started out covering all of the roots focusing on the front and parting line. The developing time it 10-20 minutes. After around 7-10 minutes I applied the to the rest of my hair. This is just down to my whole hair not needing to be toned as much as the yellow roots. 

After the 20 minutes was up I just rinsed it all off and gave my hair a wash using the Aussie Mega shampoo. Normally after this I would put a conditioning mask onto hair but with me going pink I opted not to.

I towel dried my hair and tangle teased it all through. I then got some clean plastic gloves and went in with the Super Cool Rose. I tried to apply this as evenly as possible but it spreads super easily. Its like applying a thick conditioner to your hair. Be careful to where you get this product though, although its only a semi permanent colour it has some staying power if you get it on your white wood panel wall...

So I left it on for the full 15 minutes the rinsed only with water. I did follow the instructions of 'do not shampoo' but I did apply a conditioning mask. I used the Bleach London mask mixed with a one by Label M that I always use!

Over all I'm really impressed with the Bleach London Super Cool Colour! It turned out to be really easy to apply, rinse and it hasn't killed my hair! Due to the amount of different dyes that have previously been on my hair any colour over does tend to go uneven, but that isn't a fault of the product but just old built up dye! 

My hair doesn't feel damaged and still looks healthy.  Really recommend for a quick and easy hair change! Only £5 too!    

What I've Learnt From Bleaching My Hair

If you follow me on any of my social medai you might have noticed over the past few months that I've went from a dark brown to a bleachy blonde... The good the bad and the ugly of bleaching..

It Takes Time

Rome was never built in a day and neither is blonde hair! It took me 4 months and at least 24 hours in total to get an even, clean blonde. After years of box dyes and hair experiments my hair was very patchy with a lot of build up, which I had no clue about and it just takes time and peroxide to fix it. Don't expect to go from dark to silver really quickly and still have healthy hair afterwards.

Less is More

My goalz hair colour has always been the Lou Teasdale white/grey. So I did my research into silver shampoos and white home toners. Honestly, I so regret using any silver shampoo. They are great for colour but I just find they caused so much unwanted build up in my hair and didn't exactly make my hair look healthy!  Less is definitely more with silver shampoo, if my colour is looking really dull then I might use it as a one off just to give it a bit of a kick.
Any styling products kind of show up more with blonde hair(in my opinion). Any hair sprays or texture sprays often show more.

Cool it with the Heat 

I always kind of thought that heat did not massively affect my hair, then I bleached it. WIth lighter hair any damage is a lot more visible.Small things can really help, simple things like using the curlers on a medium to low heat rather than full blast and only straightening the parts of my hair that actually need it. Salt spray and plats is cool for hair and no heat it involved! 

  

 Conditioner 

The all mighty saviour. Intensive conditioners are your new best friend. Do not wash your hair with a good hand full of conditioner in the mix. Andrew Barton and Bleach London ones are my favs.

Its Itchy as Fuck 

Self explanatory. You'll be in the hairdressers for hours wanting to remove your scalp. And then its also its for the next few days. Fun times.

Leave it to the Pros

Yes box dyes are the cheap and often disastrous option. Its your hair, that's on your head, where everyone can see. Serious talk, don't risk your hair falling off or getting extremely damaged. Even if you speak to a hair professional about what box dyes etc. would be best to use or just get advise first. Its a lot harder to dye damaged hair. Your hairdresser can advise on shampoos and products that would be best for your hair. I get my hair done at a Toni and Guy Salon which is a lil pricey but I wouldn't go any where else, they've never made any fault and I'm always leaving happy. If you wear hair extensions, dont try and buy some online without seeing it in person. Blonde hair is so  much harder to match in comparison with dark hair, go to a salon and get properly matched before spending any money.

Going Silver? | Bleach London Haul

You know that silver hair colour that loads of people want right now, yeah I want that too. But I just have to find the confidence to actually do it. So I went and purchased a few things I will be needing when I finally find the bravery. 

Fudge Urban Miracle Ends Review

Another hair product, another Fudge Urban product, another thing that I'm in love with. This time though its the Iced Tropical Miracle Ends that smooth, condition and seal. 

This has been something I've used on my hair just about everyday ever since I bought it. Its a hair cream that smoothes frizz, conditions hair and seals dry ends. The instructions are too apply a small amount to damp hair before blow drying, to dry hair to de-frizz and to seal ends, or post straightening for shine. I use this when I have damp hair using a small amount running it from mid length to the ends concentrating on where my dip-dyed hair.

I normally always use heat styling on my hair to make it wavy or curly, in the kind of styles shown here . And everyone knows that the brushing of the hair the day after curling means frizz, so all I need to do is apply a small amount of this to the frizz and my hair is back smooth and the curls are still perfectly there. Having naturally fine, straight very flat to the head hair curling it creates more volume and a product like this that can keep curls in for longer without any frizz is perfect. 

Like just about all of the Fudge products this has a nice smell to it, funky and bright packaging, and is one of my best hair products. 

Fudge Urban always takes the hair cake.

x 

Bleach London Review

Being a massive lover of super textured hair mixed with multicolour hair lust, Bleach London just caught my eye. Not to mention a Nirvana lover. So  when i popped into boots one naughty spendy Saturday I saw it was 3 for 2 on Bleach London I couldn't really say no...

So to feed my texture love I was obviously the Swamp Spritz. This texture is something that I like to use on the roots of my hair before blow drying, it gives hair a lot more hold and a major volume lift. Having very flat and fine natural hair a volumising/texturising product that actually works and a rare thing. After styling I put a few little sprays throughout my hair . One thing that I would say about this is somethings it goes onto your hair a little bit harsh and looks unbrushed and stuck together, if you use texture sprays you will probably know what I mean. But this being one of the only things that works for giving my hair volume whenever I need it it will be no surprise that I love it!

Another thing that I couldn't leave in the shop was the Reincarnation Mask. My hair was in bad condition for a long time due to over dying and not getting enough hair cuts, so most of my 2014 was focusing on getting my hair in better condition and healthy. Luckily. my hair is on the mend now and is okay. On the packaging it says about dyed hair, although I haven't ever completely bleached my hair it was hair dye that killed my hair off so this seemed like something my hair would benefit from. The conditioning mask is designed to hydrate, moisturize and repair dyed hair. 

 The size of this product was what caught my eye. On the picture above it is the larger tube and comes in that big box. The directions say to leave it on for 10-20 minutes which is a little bit long for my liking since I wash my hair in the bath sitting there for ages until the water goes cold isn't my fave.  

After I've used this product my hair is moisturized and hydrated. But sometimes with my hair being flat and thin it sometimes weighs my hair down. Also my hair goes greasier quicker but that will just be from extra moisturizing stuff. But the way it made my hair, the pros outweigh the cons, good hair mask.  

And the last thing from the 3 for 2 was the dip dye kit. I bought these all a few months back and used it straight away so sorry I dont have a photo of it but all links to the products will be at the end of the post.  This is what my hair now looks like after using the kit. My hair was a browny ginger colour and i wanted a dip dye that started high up in my hair...

The kit is very easy to use, the blending lotion was a big help it getting a natural fade. The instructions were very easy to follow and was over all just easy to use. I like the colour that my hair turned out. I left it on for about 40 mins to get this sort of colour, I was worried about the orangey brassy tones but ive grown to like them because my natural hair is slightly ginger. When applying this a tried to start it at different lengths rather than all from the same point, I like it better this way. It also comes with a little hair mask which is very helpful. 

Over all I have had a really good experience using Bleach Londons range and is a range that I would reccomend to anyone. It was exactly what I was looking for for my hair and would definitely use the range again. Its making me want to just dye my hair all multi colours haha, good work Bleach London. 

Swamp Spritz-£6

Reincarnation Mask-£6

Dip Dye-£7

x

Fudge Urban De-Gunk Deep Clean Shampoo

When it comes to hair products Fudge Urban is a definite staple brand. After using some of their other products for months it was only a matter of time before I tried this one.  I tend to use a lot of products on my hair so when I read that this shampoo claimed to dissolve away styling build up it was a must try.    

After using the De-Gunk it instantly became my no.1. I use about 3 pumps and thats enough to leave you hair looking a feeling squeaky clean, This product leaves a salon feel, leaves hair soft and shiny but the first time I used it I could tell that my hair had been striped of all the nasty product build up.

With a refreshing citrus mint scent it is the best product I have used to wash away and prepare my hair for styling. I've had this shampoo for about 3 months, washing my hair 2-3 times a week, and I have used about 2/3 of the bottle. Although it is priced at £5 which in my opinion is an expensive shampoo for the quality and quantity of the product it is a steal. A solid 10/10 investment, no wonder Fudge Urban is my favorite.