The Wardrobe Angel and Part 2 of my journey to Hair Health

Big Sur Sunset

For the most part I wore my hair up on honeymoon (hiking and windy city breaks didn't bring out the best in Brian) but disaster struck: my hair and the sulphate and paraben free shampoo and conditioner from Kind Natured fell out BIG TIME. Rich and I had arrived in Bodega Bay. I headed out to the hot tub and watched the sun sink slowly in the distance. After an hour stewing in human soup, I donned my big fluffy robe and headed back to our room for a shower. Naturally, I washed my hair. We ordered room service and when I went to dry my hair it had turned into a matted mess, much like an oil slick taking up residence in my barnet - just gross. Ah Kind Natured, I had such high hopes for this shampoo and conditioner. I used them for a couple of days before Rich and I jetted off to America for our honeymoon and to be honest, the frizz seemed worse after I'd used them but I packed them nevertheless: I wanted to give them a fair try. Three weeks of use, one disgusting oil slick of a hair disaster later and they were gone; I ditched the Kind Natured shampoo in the cabin in Big Sur and at the next CVS Pharmacy I bought some TIGI Moisture Maniac.

The cabin in Big Sur was the "lucky" recipient of some really dodgy shampoo..

We got back from honeymoon in May so what have I done since? I have changed my hair brush, worked out that washing my hair at night is a frizz inducing fest BUT come morning, the frizz has (nearly) abated and it kinda looks ok! I've resisted getting a fringe trim for the last few weeks and it has grown out to hit my eyebrows, plus my hair has gotten past my shoulders and has started to wave - gotta say I am LOVING the new relaxed vibe atop my head, even if there are still some frizzy mountains to climb. A chance conversation with my friend Cate also drew my attention to the fact the the frizzy  hairs are a lot shorter than the rest of my hair. She reckoned the pesky frizz hairs are re-growth of hair lost after a period of stress and will eventually settle down BUT they ain't gonna grow if they kept getting broken by being swept up in to a topknot every day.

San Fran and a Whistles Bardot Top. Oh yeah, and I LOVE riding the tram cars

I have broken and used my GHD's on a couple of occasions (insert guilt trip here) BUT I had no end of compliments on those days. Rich came home from work one day and said

"Your hair is all nice and straight and lovely. What have you done to it?"

I've had some cracking suggestions via Facebook to help my hair health - try the Kerastright Smoothing hair treatment, Olaplex (although I thought this was just for coloured hair?) and some other shampoo and conditioner ideas. If you have any tips please let me know! I finally dug out some photos of my mane back in my late 20's and there was some frizz there! In the mists of my mind I thought my hair was wavy and frizz free but nope! So maybe I'm just going after this unreachable hair ideal....

My journey to hair health continues...

Til next time...The Wardrobe Angel x

The Wardrobe Angel and Coconut Hair Oil

Like she just stepped out of a salon...Salon Selectives!

Last week I had a coconut oil hair treatment - the 1st step on the long road to hair recovery. I got in the car afterwards and snapped this super cool selfie. Like I just stepped out of a salon or WHAT?! For a day I was blessed with the kind of locks that dreams are made of - silken, smooth, frizz free. I felt like a million bucks, baby! I specifically asked for no hair straighteners after the treatment so this was the blow dried result.

My hair dresser did allay my fears that I'd utterly cocked up my crowning glory,

"Your hair is not in bad condition," Chantelle said running her hands through the tangle of Brian May locks pre-treatment, "your hair has a real depth of colour considering that's your natural hair colour."

Preaching to the converted sister! If it's not all bad then it's just the frizz to work on. A couple of days after the treatment my hair was still silky and completely grease free but the frizz was back - not as bad as before - but noticeably back. I snapped this pic below in &Other Stories. What I have noticed is that the natural wave in my hair is ever so creeping back and I am LOVING IT!! Can you see the little waves creeping around the side of my face? When I wore my down and long in my late 20's it had a slight natural wave to it so it's a pleasant surprise to see it return.

Wearing a magnificent 80's dress from eBay, leather jacket (4 years old and counting), boots from ASOS and cross body bag from Aurora London

I have been digging around on the great world wide web and apparently shampoo with sulphates can make your hair frizz worse so I hot-footed it to Boots yesterday and spent the best part of half an hour reading the back of bottles to find a sulphate free shampoo. Discovered Kind Natured which is free from chemical nasties so I'll let you know how I get on with that over the coming week! The reviews online aren't particularly glowing but, hey, can't win them all.

Til next time...Stay Wardrobe Happy!

The Wardrobe Angel

The Wardrobe Angel needs your hair care tips!

Wardrobe Angel reporting for duty. Aged 9. Strong hair game. 

In January I talked about giving my hair the chop. I'm going to renege on that chat and go long. Now, the only problem is that my hair literally looks like Brian May when it's down and after 4 years of GHD torture, my hair has inherited a halo of fuzz. At my niece's 1st birthday a couple of weeks ago there was much hilarity at some old pictures my sister Penny had unearthed of me basically feeling up trees and flowers in what can only be described as some pre-blogging pose premonition shots. Now the photos are here for you to laugh at but what I'm most interested in is my HAIR. Aged 9 it was awesome!!! Poker straight, amazing colour and in fab condition. My Dad implored me during my teenage years to "stop messing with yourself and leave your hair alone." Bloody hell, it really pains me to say this but Tom Roper was right. My hair now verges on black, which I don't mind, however it's the condition I am worried about - it ain't pretty. I love how my 9 year old hair is just flipped over on one side my head, all nonchalant and GLOWING. It is a cascade of hairy wonder!

No trees were harmed in the taking of these photos....

SO - join me on my hair restoration journey over the next few months as I try to reclaim my crowing glory. First up I'm booked to have a coconut oil treatment at my hair dressers next week. I've also been reading up on Hairburst and Hairfinity and googling what Kim K uses on her tresses (only washing it twice a week seems to be her top tip.) If you have any "get my hair back to aged 9 awesome" tips then please leave them in the comments below. This is what we're dealing with people, prepare for the halo....

This is a product free, halo heavy day. 

PS - if you look really closely at these pics you'll see my red nails - started young, eh?! AND I'm wearing a white denim skirt. I happen to have a Preen white denim skirt hanging in my wardrobe right now. Those style seeds were sown early!

Stay hair happy! Til next time... x

The Wardrobe Angel

#WeddingWednesday - My wedding day hair which I am so excited about!

Wedmin this weekend: we went to order Rich's suit from the tailor and we had a meeting with our wedding planner Emma who works at the reception venue. Favourite thing I found out this weekend in wedding land? Emma decorates the reception room for us. I had visions of me and various friends up at the crack of the wedding day hanging bunting and sorting out the table centres but Lo! Emma does it for us. I'm calling her St. Emma from now on. Other wedmin tasks related to my bonce.

I've felt my image changing ever so slightly in the past 6 months: I'm ditching the red lipstick and trying a new pink shade come Spring, I've loved my red nails but want a colour change there too. And I want my crowning glory back:

I want to be able to sweep my hair up into a bun and forget about it. 

Since starting The Wardrobe Angel my hair has been cut into a severe bob followed by an even more severe bob. It's got shorter and shorter, the fringe more and more blunt. This has taken so much upkeep - bi-weekly fringe trims, monthly cuts, straightening nearly every day. I loved how the cut has become synonymous with my image. People have stopped me in the street to tell me they love my hair. I've been offered free haircuts; I have a 'box bob' which is a great haircut for training purposes (apparently). But last September as I sat in the hairdressers chair and she said, "Am I just taking off the regular amount?" I replied without thinking, "no, I'm growing it. Please can you just trim it?" And that was that.

So 6 months of growing have passed and it is neither up nor down, as the nursery rhyme goes.  The real volume has started to show; without straightening it looks like a mushroom from Super Mario Bros but fingers crossed by THE BIG DAY it will be a shoulder length bob of epically healthy proportions.

This is what I'm aiming for, mushroom hair allowing. 

I read that on your wedding day you should be the most beautiful version of yourself - well for nearly 4 years I have been a red lipstick wearing, short-cut severe bob owning Wardrobe Angel so now I feel all these awesome hair shaped possibilities are ahead: curls, waves, an up-do, a head shroud (?) I've been all over Pinterest like a well-meaning rash this week looking at all my options; you can tell I am thoroughly excited about this! I found a great post on Bridal Musings called 30 ways to style short hair for your wedding which these following pics are from:

Photo by Tyler Branch Photo via Green Wedding Shoes

Look at that VOLUME!! Mushroom head over here can definitely achieve this!  Photo via Sephora

Head Shroud. Erm.....Photo by  This Modern Romance via Green Wedding Shoes

Let's see what the next few months hold, hair-wise. Another Saint who has been an absolute gem in wedding land is Natalie Willingham - the lady who gets to make-up my face on the day. She's opened her contact book and recommended people and businesses left, right and centre so the wedding day can go as smoothly as possible. One such recommendation is  Louise Puchalka  - a bit of a wedding headpiece angel based in the Corn Exchange in Leeds. I am genuinely excited to see what she can come up with to stick in my long lustrous locks come wedding day.

Onwards....only 7 months to go...wedding!!!!