Caring for hair extensions

I haven’t had my hair extensions in for a while now, but I have turned my weft into clip ins so I can wear them on and off when I feel like it.  I loved the look of them but generally I prefer to tie my hair back for work which can be quite difficult with a weave in.

I do get asked from time to time if there are any special tricks for caring for your extensions and there are definitely a few must-do’s with hair extensions that will make your life easier:

• Brush your hair carefully – watch your braid/joins at your scalp when you brush and deal with any tangles gently so you don’t cause any unnecessary pulling on your scalp
• Use a shampoo and conditioner designed for hair extensions  - using the right products for your extensions will make it all easier to care for.  Make sure your daily hair care products are suitable for the type of extensions you have, for example if you have glue in extensions make sure your products are suitable with glue and won’t damage the bonds (like these).

• Sleep with it tied up or plaited – I learned this the hard way!  Especially if you have long extensions, tying or plaiting it at bedtime will make it a lot easier to deal with in the morning.  Otherwise you run the risk of fighting with tangles and knots!
• Use a hair oil – extensions don’t get natural oils through them like your own hair does so it’s important to use hair oil regularly to keep your extensions looking moisturised and to stop the ends from going ratty or drying out.  You can also use the oil as a treatment every so often.  Something like Pure Argan oil is great for extensions.

• Make sure you go for regular hair appointments to get your weft tightened – it can be tempting to drag out the time between appointments to get your weft tightened/reapplied as your hair’s a bit longer and the weft gets more comfortable as time goes on but it really isn’t worth it.  It’ll tangle badly close to your scalp and will reduce the longevity of your extensions.

If you have any other questions about extensions feel free to leave them in the comments or email me at lucy@beautyandtheblogger.co.uk – I’m by no means an expert but I’ve tried a lot of extensions over the year so I can try to help!

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New items added to my blog sale!

I've added a few new things to my blog sale - it's all brand new bareMinerals compacts and blushes much cheaper than retail price.

Take a look at my blog sale page and the items that are currently available here.

Envy Big Hair Root Volumiser

I was sent this to review recently and have to say it's become an essential of mine on nights out where I want massive hair!  I spray it onto my roots when my hair is damp then blow dry with a large round brush to really create lift and volume through my hair.

The good thing about it is that it stays in place too, the lift doesn't just drop out really quickly like some other volumising products I've used.  I have to say it does feel like you've got product in your hair and you'll need to brush it out at the end of the night/the next day but I definitely didn't think my hair felt overloaded or horrible.

It's just a normal spray bottle so is really easy to use - and it smells like grapefruit which I personally really like, hate chemical-smelling hair products.  The packaging is nice and sleek too which is always a bonus on the old dressing table.

Envy Big Hair Root Volumiser is available here for £14.95, I think it's well worth it for the price and I'd totally buy it in future!

Live Color XXL Blonde Toner M01 Icy Platinum

Another day, another blonde toner that I've tried!  This time it was the Live Color XXL Blonde Toner in M01 Icy Platinum which as you can probably get is a cool, ashy toner for natural or bleach blonde hair.

It's ridiculously easy to use, you just shampoo your hair and apply the mousse toner throughout your hair evenly and leave for 5 minutes then wash out.  It should last 3 washes but I really do think mine lasts longer than that - you can vary just how ashy it leaves your hair too.  I find 10 minutes leaves my hair very ashy and grey (especially on top) whereas 5 less so, and probably the right sort of colour.  It smells pretty nice too!

There are no dodgy purple roots or yellow tones in my hair at all and I'm very pleased with the colour and how easy it is to use.  I actually first tried this on the way to a party on the spur of the moment (not a great time to try out new hair colour products) and luckily it turned out ok!

Here's how my hair turned out after 5 minutes with this toner on:

It's pretty reasonably priced too, around £5.  It says that one bottle will last 1 application on long hair.  I'd say my hair is pretty long - about at my bra strap - and it's lasted me 3 applications already and I've still got some left so realistically it's no more expensive than those individual toner sachets you can get.

I would definitely use this again for an ashy blonde look (though I'm officially booked in for a full head of highlights and lowlights at the start of September to go for a bit more of a natural look).  You can find out more information about this product here.

For more hair inspiration and the chance to upload your style pics and win prizes visit the Live Color Lookbook at http://lookbook.livecolor.co.uk - there are some absolutely amazing styles on there and some fantastic prizes to be won!

http://lookbook.livecolor.co.uk/

Something a bit different - RHS Flower Show Tatton Park

Ok as someone who is - and I admit this 100% -just not that into gardening and knows very little about plants other than "that one looks nice" going along to the RHS Flower Show Tatton Park is probably a slightly odd choice for me!  I decided to go to get a bit of inspiration for my wedding flowers and to enjoy a sunny day out in Cheshire but I actually really enjoyed it!

Obviously it's full of plant, flower and gardening supply stalls (a lot of stuff gets sold off on the Sunday in the last hour apparently!) but as well as that there's all sorts going on from demos, to food and drink, furniture and a variety of garden displays developed by all sorts of different groups.  It was a lovely day out and I got lots of ideas for things I like, things I definitely don't and things I didn't even know existed!

There was a bit of a carnival theme going on too.  We just happened to be wandering around looking for a certain stall and we spotted all carnival dancers with huge butterfly wings dancing in a procession to moving, it was so great and well done to the dancers who made it look effortless when it definitely wasn't.

Here are some of my fave flowers that I spotted for the day, I'd quite like to incorporate these into my house or wedding somewhere:

And here are just a few of the fab garden displays that were on show at the event, the stories behind the displays were so good and it all fitted together really well.  There were quite a few displays that local schools had created too and they were so imaginative!

I have to say I really didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I did - I'd recommend it as a day out, maybe with family or someone garden minded.  I'm actually thinking about going again next year already and taking some other family members with us!

You can find more information about the RHS Flower Show Tatton Park (including dates and tickets for next year) here - the show runs in a variety of other locations too.

I'm talking weddings again...

Find my guest post on wedding make up and nails over at the Wedding Fair blog.

For more information about the Wedding Fair shows visit theweddingfairs.com/

How I use Pinterest (and some of my top tips!)

I'm a massive fan of Pinterest and I'm actually a bit of an addict - I was an early adopter and I use it for practically everything.  It appeals to my list making tendencies, the fact I've got a memory like a sieve and that I tend to do a lot of online research for everything!

In case you're not sure what it is, in simplest terms Pinterest is an online scrapbook that you can organise and categorise images.  You can search and pin images from within Pinterest or from other websites.  The best thing for me is that it links back to the original site you found the image on so if you want to buy something later or find out where you found the image from it's so easy.  It's helped me so many times and has outlasted various technology fails.

Here's some of my tips for how I use my Pinterest account:

• Organise your boards - I have a variety of different boards ranging from food to weddings to nails.  It's easier to keep track of your pins and for people to find and follow your boards if they're categorised and not too general.  Call them something that makes sense too so interested people can follow you.
• Have a variety of boards - that way there's something everyone can relate to!
• Pin regularly - a bit like other social media, what's at the top isn't there for long.  I usually pin daily out of habit and this seems to work to keep my followers up.
• Fill in your profile - people are generally nosy and want to know more so why not oblige?  I have my blog link in there too so if people like what I'm about they can follow me on other social media too.
• Easy ways to pin - I have the Android app on my phone so if I'm on the go I can pin easily and kill a few minutes.  I use Chrome as my web browser on my laptop too and have added a Pin It button to my toolbar so whatever website I'm on I can pin easily rather than having to copy and paste each time.
• Descriptions and titles - if you're pinning it can be tempting (especially if you're adding a few images) it can be tempting to just type the minimum for each description to do it quickly but this means it's harder for people to search and find relevant pins.  A meaningful description helps with the search.
• Use Pinterest to promote your blog - when I publish a new post I pin the images from the post to my relevant Pinterest boards and my Beauty and the Blogger board - with a meaningful description of course!  
• Use other social media to promote your Pinterest - I use my blog and Twitter account to link to my boards just so people can find it easily.  I tend to ask people to tweet me their Pinterest links and include my link in there too so I'm not just spamming my own link again and again.
• Follow other people's boards - it's easier to find things to repin and things you like if you follow some other boards too, they show up in your feed and it can be a good way of seeing stuff that you wouldn't necessarily see otherwise.  You can synchronise contacts from other social media, search for relevant boards or even check if a person or brand you like has a Pinterest account.
• Utilise secret boards - a bit of mystery goes a long way sometimes!  I find secret boards really good for things like planning my actual wedding (I have a general wedding board that's public but my secret one is my actual wedding boards) and creating a portfolio of work I've had published
• Pinterest widget - using a widget builder to create a visual link to your boards like the one below can be a more interesting way to promote your boards instead of just a text link.

Visit Lucy -'s profile on Pinterest.

Hope you found this useful!  If you have a Pinterest account leave a link in the comments below so people (including me!) can follow - you can find all of my boards here.