Curlformers Curlspiration Day

TheFoundationDirectory; Curlformers Curlspiration Day

Why didn't you all tell me about Curlformers by Hairflair? I've seen these about for ages, but for some reason have never ever tried them. So of course I jumped at the opportunity when invited to Taylor Taylor Salon for a Curlspiration day, which essentially involved me getting my hair and nails done in the gorgeous Taylor Taylor Salon. If you are reading this thinking what the hell are Curlformers, well read on and let me tell you.

TheFoundationDirectory; *Curlformer's Curlspiration Day

Curlformers are the world's only patented heat free hair curlers, they are suitable for all ages (I wouldn't use them on a baby...obvs), hair types, wigs and weaves with absolutely no risk of heat damage. There are 3 different sizes, starting with the tightest curl you have Corkscrew, Spiral and Barrel. There are also 2 lengths, long and extra long. To use them you take the included styling hook and feed it through the Curlformer, then on damp hair, take a small section of hair, ensuring that all the hair is securely in the hook and pull the hair through the Curlformer (sounds complicated, but you get the hang of it very quickly). Once you have completed your entire head, you can either air dry (I have slept in them) or use the Softhood, also by Hairflair and a hairdryer to dry your hair. Once your hair is completely dry just pinch the root of your hair and pull the Curlformer to remove, then style. Voila the perfect curl. If my explanation has confused you even more, no worries there are numerous videos on the Culformers website here. 

TheFoundationDirectory; Curlformer's Curlspiration Day

On the day the long barrel Curlformers were used on my dampened kinky straight textured weave and dried with the Softhood, I absolutely loved the finished result. If you are rubbish at curling your own hair like me, or don't want to use heat on your hair, then you need these in your life!!! They also have some great brushes I have been loving, check it all out at Curlformers.com. 

TheFoundationDirectory; Curlformer's Curlspiration Day

*All photo's courtesy of CurlformersOfficial

Pre-Holiday Prep to getting Beach Body Ready - Body & Hair

Now everyone is bikini body ready, you have a body and stick a bikini on it, so don't worry, this post is not about fad diets, waist trainers or weeks of starvation, just a few things I will be doing to make myself feel a little more confident when I want to strip down (to my bikini) on the beach. Being 30+ post child there's no doubt that that I'm feeling a little hesitant about donning a bikini on my pending summer holiday, yes I know I should be brimming with confidence and have a 'no care' attitude, but here is what I'll be doing to help that attitude along a little bit. I'll have a series of posts on pre, during and post holiday preparation/reparation, for my face, body and hair as I will be going to Greece next month to be Matron of Honour at my best friends wedding, we (husband & son) decided to extend our stay a little and make it our family summer holiday. 

This post will focus on what I'm doing to prepare for the holiday, with regards to my Body and Hair;


So other than wishing I could have abs overnight, my main body prep is hair removal, when going away I opt for waxing all over. I normally wax my underarms anyway, but now we go into full leg and bikini territory (ouch). To get the best wax, especially if it's not something you do regularly, you need to schedule a wax approximately 6 weeks before the actual waxing session before you go away. This ensures you catch most of the hairs around the same length in their growth cycle for the smoothest results possible, also I would encourage some body exfoliation about 5 days prior to the waxing appointment and at least 3 days after to prevent ingrown hairs. In shower body scrubs are great for this, saves time, prevents too much mess and are effective. I've opted for my latest descovery DHC Olive Corn Body Scrub and Polish, which contains Olive Oil and Vitamin E, but in the past I've also used the one by Soap & Glory Pulp-Friction Foaming Fruity Body Scrub (here & here), which s a little less abrasive.

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Hair: So I have natural afro dyed hair, which is usually worn in a protective style, think wigs and weaves. I have done a Olaplex treatment on my hair (I bought a sample off ebay), this is a unique treatment in that it's the only one that can repair/build broken bonds, usually broken through chemical processes like relaxers, heat damage, permanent colour processes, bleaching the hair etc. This should help strengthen my hair and make more resistant to the damages that can occur from sun, sea, chlorine and sand.

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I'm also getting an Arosci Keratin Treatment done at my hairdresser salonABV, (check them out) this will hopefully allow for quick frizz free washing and drying of my hair, to ensure I can easily wash out the sea and chlorine water with ease, nobody wants to spend half their holiday doing wash day activities. The Olaplex treatment is also recommended to be done prior to keratin treatments, to protect hair from the amount of heat that is usually applied during these processes. I haven't decided how I am going to wear my hair on holiday, so this will impact what I get done before I go.

Let me know what your pre-holiday prep consists of? Do you have any tips for me?

Thanks for visiting the blog today.


Ojon Damage Reverse Treatment, Rare Blend Deep Conditioner & Oil (Plus Giveaway)

If like me you've been living under a rock and didn't realise that the retail giant Estee Lauder had acquired Ojon in 2007, now you know lol!!! However the founder of Ojon, Denis Simioni remains as president, now Ojon sits alongside Origins. Origins was founded in the 90's by Estee Lauder's son William P. Lauder, and is one of the original Lauder companies. I was invited down by Origins to the Ojon Restorative Hair Clinic to get a hair consultation by the fabulous Jennie Roberts, and was given a hair prescription of Ojon products to cater to my hairs needs.

The basis of the Ojon range is 'Ojon Oil', which is included in all their products, and Ojon refer to as nature's golden elixir. It's Palm Nut oil that grows on trees in Hondura, the oil within these nuts is extracted by hand by a local community in Central America called Tawira, Tawira in their native language literally translates to 'people of beautiful hair', Ojon states their products are clinically proven to transform hair back to great health.

Ojon Damage Reverse Treatment, Rare Blend Oil & Deep Conditioning Treatment

First up in my prescription was the Damage Reverse Restorative Hair Treatment, a pre-shampoo deep conditioning treatment for damaged hair. This claims a 64% improvement in dry, damaged hair after just one treatment, when left on overnight, which I'm yet to try this method. It's a highly concentrated balm textured intensive hair treatment, that hydrates and improves the condition of damaged hair. Fortified with pure 'Ojon Oil' that is rich in essential lipids similar to those found naturally in hair, you apply this to dry hair, rubbing the product to transform it into an oil first. I left this on for 20 minutes in conjunction with my Heattreat Cap, my hair felt soft and hydrated following this, I then rinsed my hair and followed with shampoo.

Next is the Rare Blend Deep Conditioner, formulated with potent hair repairing oils, it protects, softens and boosts shine.  it contains two Potent phases;

1. Amber Phase; A restorative blend of 7 rare oils, including hair repairing ‘Ojon Oil’, African Shea, Brazilian Muru Muru and Indian Kokum butters.
2. Ivory Phase; A moisture rich cream infused with deeply nourishng plant derived conditioners.

I apply a generous amount to wet hair, comb through with a wide tooth comb as it has a nice amount of slip it's great for detangling, I leave it for 5-10 minutes and rinse. If I’m not using the Damage Reverse Hair treatment, I would use this as my deep conditioner and leave on my hair with the Heattreat Cap for about 20 minutes. This can also be used as a leave in if you like rocking your natural curls out.

Last but by no means least, is the Rare Blend Oil - Total Hair Therapy, for thick or coarse damaged hair. Ojon gathered potent natural oils known for their healing powers and infused them into 3 hair reparative phases; Amber, Crystal and Red. Ojon state that only one drop is needed for this oil to protect, nourish, repair and transform dull, dry or damaged hair. On my hair type I required more than a drop, this oil is lovely and lightweight, that still left my hair feeling nourished and hydrated.

Ojon Damage Reverse Treatment & Rare Blend Oil Giveaway

You can find all these products and more at Origins.co.uk, but so you can also experience some of the Ojon magic, I am doing a twitter giveaway, where you could win the Damage Reverse Restorative Hair Treatment and the Rare Blend Oil - Total Hair Therapy. All you have to do is go to my profile (twitter.com/aallexxy) and retweet and like the pinned tweet, you must obviously be a follower of mine, the giveaway closes on the 20th May and a winner will be chosen w/c 23rd.  

Good luck

Grow Gorgeous; Back Into The Roots 10 Minute Stimulating Scalp Mask

If you've seen this post, then it won't come as a surprise to you that I like most things that come out of the Deciem umbrella, and I'm yet to not like anything from Grow Gorgeous. So when I saw this Stimulating Scalp Mask I bought it without hesitation, I've used up an entire bottle of the Grow Gorgeous Serum, and will definitely repurchase it.

I love a good scalp tingling product, I was using Lush's Roots, but realised after a got a brazilian Blowdry that it contains SLS. This is now my happy replacement, you apply this to your scalp, wait 10 minutes and rinse. It helps promotes scalp circulation, stimulate hair follicles, lifts hair at the roots to give the appearance of thicker, fuller hair. It has a blend of vitamins, caffeine, biotin and low-molecular weight hyaluronic acid!!!

I apply this to my dry scalp, apply a deep conditioner to the rest of my hair, put on a shower cap and wait at least 20minutes before continuing with the rest of my wash day routine. It's £24 for 240ml, but if you sign up to the website's newsletter they often send out discount codes, I got 20% off this.

It's here, I've also just noticed they have an intense version of the hair serum, that's definitely on my wishlist!!!

Have you tried anything from Growgorgeous?

Thanks for visiting the blog today

Alex

DECIEM; Grow Gorgeous, Hand Chemistry and Inhibitif

I'm so intrigued by Deciem released products, it's a collection of brands launched under the Deciem umbrella, they wanted to release a host of products that will change the beauty industry and have been doing so one launch at a time. I've tried a range of items from the brand, so thought I'd give an overview of what I've tried to date, also see the Hair Molecule review from Fountain.

First up is the Grow Gorgeous Hair Growth Serum; Designed to give lethargic hair follicles a kick up the behind, this will not work on dead follicles. It's an ultra concentrated formula with a blend of 21.5% (that's really high apparently) active complex, that includes hyaluronic acid (of course) with 7 technologies working together to make hair visibly longer, thicker and fuller (same thing?!). It comes housed in a glass bottle with pipette dispenser, for accurate application to the scalp, it's recommended to apply 20 drops daily and the 60ml bottle at £30 should last 2 months. I absolutely loved this, I mainly focused on applying this to my hairline, as this is my main area of concern, so it lasted longer than 2 months. I definitely noticed a thickening of the hair along my hairline and will definitely return to using this once I'm done testing another hair growth product (stay tuned).

The next product is the Hand Chemistry Intense Youth Complex hand cream, designed to improve the 8 signs of hand ageing with visible results promised in 11 days, it also had the tag line of 'Making hands look 10 years younger in 10 days'. Being in my 30's I'm lucky to not be so worried about wrinkles on my face, but they do say your hands can give away your true age and with very dry hands I'm always on the search for the best hand cream. However my hands did not look younger, and I did not find this hand cream moisturising enough for me, at £19 for a 100ml I used the product up, mainly at night before bed underneath another hand cream, but I will not be repurchasing. I did not give up though and decided to try another hand cream from the range, with a 20% discount code I decided it was worth the risk for the Triple-Function Hyaluronic-Rich Hydrator (what a mouthful), at a more reasonable £7 for 60ml. Promising to offer above and below surface hydration, while forming a protective invisible glove to help prevent moisture loss and boasting ingredients like mango butter I was sure onto a winner. This faired better than it's predecessor, it hydrates and absorbs quickly with a light citrus scent, but was still lacking a little in the moisturising department on my very dry hands. Again it seems the hand creams are not for me, I will use this up, but not repurchase.

Also part of the Hand Chemistry range is the Retin-oil, multi-vitamin dry body oil that's said to target scars, stretch marks (joys of motherhood), ageing, dehydrated skin, surface irregularities and discolouration in just 2 weeks. I've been using this for approximately that amount of time and have to say the smell is not that pleasant, but it does dissipate, I didn't find it moisturising enough on it's own (blame the cold weather) so have been mixing it with another moisturiser, but am yet to see any fading discoloration or stretch marks. I'll use up this small 100ml bottle, but unless something great happens before it's empty I will not be repurchasing this at £20.

Finally is Inhibitif, a range of products designed to minimise hair regrowth so you don't have to shave/wax as often (yes please), I tried the Deodorant, which I loved. However it's probably one of the most expensive deodorants I've used at £9 for 50ml, but it definitely reduced hair regrowth, within the claimed 2 week timeframe. Being an anti-perspirant girl at heart and using this during the summer months I still sprayed my usual anti-perspirant over the top, but this didn't affect it's efficacy. I would definitely repurchase this, in fact writing this post is reminding me that I should have bought it when I had my 20% discount code (sigh).

Have you tried anything from the Deciem branded ranges? On the website you can pick items across all the brands into one basket with free P&P, and it looks like they have no plans to stop with more brands in the pipe line.

Thanks for visiting the blog today

Alex.