Getting nutty with my hair

Today’s blog post? A rave about Macadamia natural oil line I’ve discovered. Conveniently enough, Flat Iron Experts sent me some of the products to try out! Bonus, saving my own money and trying out a product I’ve always wanted to purchase is a way better dealio! Right?

They sent me 3 Macadamia Hair Care products and I went to town on my hair immediately. My hand was a little shaky. Guess you could say I was more than a little excited to start using the products.

Macadamia Natural Oil Rejuvenating Shampoo. I found that the shampoo was more liquidity than my Aveda shampoo that I use on a regular basis. Of course, as everyone always says the Macadamia natural oil shampoo smells amazing and does wonders for my limp hair. I’d describe the scent as an Aveda hair salon. Hey, other hair salons smell different. Macadamia nut oil products smell earthy just like Aveda does, and I love that sort of smell.

The Macadamia Natural Oil Deep Repair Masque is basically a conditioning mask which is quite an intense conditioner, you want to use this at most 2x a week. Using this alone changes my hair texture, I usually blow dry my hair straight with a brush. But with this conditioner I feel like I can blow dry my hair upside down and it doesn’t get frizzy.  I simply followed the directions on the jar and left it in my hair for 5-7 minutes while I was showering, and washed it out. You can use your regular conditioner on your ends, before using the mask (again, only on your ends). But I felt daring and just shampooed and put the mask in my hair directly after.

The Macadamia Natural Oil Healing Oil Treatment is comparable to argan and even Moroccan oil. However, you’ll have to be careful with the oil itself as it can get heavy if you use too much. Only use a tiny tiny amount and apply it only on your ends.

This is how much I use, and I use it when my hair is damp and towel dried, and then again after I’ve blow dried my hair to give it a bit more shine. If I was going to only choose one product to get, I’d suggest the oil since I like how sleek it makes your hair feeling, without making it look oily. Make sure that you apply it to the ends first, then working your way up to the roots. I’d even suggest not putting it on your roots at all, as it may get oily. But I’ve tried and tested and I can do so, to get the little fly-aways to tame down.

These products are perfect for me at this point right now as my hair is currently dyed. Think candy-corn (yes, three colors) but on a much more muted scale. I went on a hair dying spree from March to May, and my hair has been damaged from it a bit. My ends are dry and I’ve been trying my best to not use my hair straightener and I haven’t used it AT ALL in September or October. Are you proud of me? You’d think with the fine, flat hair that I have that this product would’ve been too intense, or heavy, or oily/greasy on my hair. But it isn’t. Everything in  moderation. I don’t pile anything on my hair, especially these products. The only thing that touches the roots of my hair is my shampoo. Everything else I apply on my hair whether it be in the shower, or any heat styling products always and only always goes at the ends of my hair – below my ears.

Macadamia nut oil products conditions my hair, makes it shinier, softer and more manageable. I’ll definitely keep this product in mind when I need to go out and purchase it after I’ve used it all up. I’ve even seen their products at Winners.

Do you use anything in your hair for styling or conditioning? What do you use?

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Let’s talk about hair brushes

I probably shouldn’t even be writing a hair care post. Because as soon as I started caring about my hair, that’s when it all went down hill. Funny how it worked out that way. All throughout High School I had shiny, very healthy hair and I never got hair cuts, I also wore it up in a pony tail almost every day of those 4 years. I didn’t go to hair salons. My Mom often told me when to cut my hair and she did it herself! Savin’ the dolla bills.

Now I blow dry my hair, I straighten it and use Aveda shampoo. I’ve been getting regular trims every 10 weeks (but now I’m going to push it back to every 12 weeks or so because I would like it if my hair were a bit longer). It needs a break from all the damage of the blow dryer and straightener. Every single day.

But get this. I’ve decided to give my hair a break. I haven’t used my hair straightener for the month of September, or October. After my last hair cut I decided to see what the turn-out would be if I took a break from it. So far so good! The reason why I used to straighten my hair so much is when I used my Body Shop (see below) hair brush, my hair wouldn’t go straight. I decided to pick up a boar bristle hair brush and when I blow dry it with that, it stays straight! I have flat hair, dry with a round brush occasionally and it still goes flat at the end of the day.

I’ve had that hair brush on my wishlist for a while, so when I was in San Diego I popped into Sephora to buy it since I wouldn’t have to rack up a $120 Sephora online order to get free shipping. Oh, and my local Sephora doesn’t carry hair brushes, I asked that the day the place opened. Shame. OK! So! I picked up the Boar Bristle Hair Brush. It has received 187 reviews with 4.5 stars so it must be doing something good, for people.

Of course there are cheaper alternatives found at Shoppers Drug Mart, or Walmart for that matter — but hello you earn points when you shop at Sephora!

For the past number of years, and I know it has been more than 6 years because I’ve had this brush before I met Scott (how I remember odd things like when I purchase hair brushes, and not remember movies I went ot last week, I do not know why)  — and before that I had the exact same one I left in a hotel once, so I had to re-purchase it. It’s a Body Shop cushiony pin brush that seems to work well. Or so I thought, until I bought my Boar bristle. Rawr!!

I tried to find the exact dupe of the hair brush I own, on The Body Shop’s site — but I can only find these. Lameo. Anyway, this is my very own hair brush I’ve been using for many years:

Also, I do use this $7  wooden wide tooth comb to detangle my hair when I get out of the shower. Detangle is a word Mister Firefox, stop making it a squiggly red line underneath.Getting back on topic as to why I’m not needing to straighten my hair every day. Blow drying my hair with The Body Shop cushiony one was fine if I wanted to look like a 5th grader. It left my ends wonky, au-naturale looking and just all over the place. I had to straighten my ends basically, to get a sleek look even after I’ve gotten fresh trims. When I use my Sephora boar bristle brush it basically straightens my ends for me, brushing my hair the exact same way when blow drying. I do not understand why, but I’ll take it!

I’ve been recommending this (or any boar bristle) brush to everyone lately! Have you ever used one? I think I had a travel sized one back in high school and I remember it used to give me a sleek pony tail with no bumps. Are you picky with your hair brushes? What sort of one do you use on your hair?

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