Keeping my mane maintained; Haircare Routine #1

After skincare haircare is something very high on priorities. My hair has been through the works and more now before we begin let me give you a little bit of hair history. In 2009 I moved to university and I had never ever done anything to my hair and it should have stayed that way. I then decided to dye my hair a little darker just to make my colour slightly richer but then that faded and then I wanted red hair so then it was red for quite a while and I really liked it red but little did I know how hard it would be to get out of my hair. Obviously not knowing a lot about hair and colouring I decided I wanted to dye it back brown obviously it didn't go back brown it went black! Not the colour I wanted so my hair had to be stripped to a ginger kind of colour which I actually quite liked. Then I wanted it to be brown with some blonde pieces through, the blonde went ginger and I hated it. Few weeks later I was going through my Lauren Conrad obsession and went to the hairdressers to go blonde. So numerous trips to the hairdressers later I had achieved a nice shade of blonde. For some reason I had a bit of a turn and wanted to have my nice brown hair back.  It didn't work as you need to go red first to go back brown so my hair was a bit of a weird brown. Months later I decided I wanted white/silver hair and the obsession started to try and get the perfect shade I must have spend hundreds of pounds to get my hair to a beautiful shade of blonde. However this had serious consequences my hair was so damaged and dry and lack lustre, I knew the time had come to pay the price of doing so many bad things to my hair so £130 later I had brown hair and bob. I hated it SO much I walked home basically in tears but I knew in the end I had done the right thing because my hair was damaged and there is nothing you can put on damaged hair to make it normal it has to be cut off which I think some people just ignore and think getting expensive products will fix it. It will not it has to be cut off no matter how much you dont want to. In the past 10 months I have semi permanent dyed my hair about 4 times and just yesterday had a permanent colour put over it which is a reasonable amount as my hair faded so quickly because it was so white it still does need a little bit of help colour wise. So since October of 2011 haircare has been so important to me and I have tried lots of products some of them good some of them not so good so I thought I would finally share what I have found to really work and get my hair in great condition. Now I recommend each and everyone of these products as I have been using them for months now but of course like anything what might work for me may not work for you. So my hair currently is a chocolate brown colour at about shoulder length and is very healthy and strong, now I do wash my hair everyday which I know is so bad and I am trying to get out of the habit. Now let me share what I actually use on my locks:

L'oreal Shampoo + Conditioner £5.99 each and Boots expert removal shampoo £3.49

• L'oreal EverPure shampoo colour care & volume: I first started using this new range from L'oreal in March and the first shampoo I tried was the 'EverStrong re-inforcing & vitality' shampoo and conditioner and really enjoyed them found they were so nourishing and really did strengthen my hair. But I fancied a change and decided to go for the colour care and volume range. Now I am just gonna get it out there I really don't think I will ever try another range for a long time as I absolutely adore this range. The shampoo is wonderful it lathers really well and leaves my hair so clean and I find that is just the right mixture of nourishing and clarifying and doesn't ever leave my hair weighed down. As this is also meant to help volumising as well as colour care and I find it leaves my hair nice and thick and well as my colour looking nourished.

• L'oreal EverPure conditioner colour care & volume: This is probably the best high street conditioner I have ever tried. Before I tried this range I loved the Dove nourishing oil range but compared to this I find it really heavy and almost drying and thats a bold statement as I loved that range before. This leaves my hair so smooth and soft, also you really need a tiny amount over the ends of your hair to leave it lovely and soft.  My favourite thing about this range is that my hair feels beautifully nourished but in no way heavy or weighed down at all. I find that because it has no sulphates in it product build up is no more which is a bonus. The whole range is something I want to try and probably will slowly. 

• Boots Expert build up removal expert shampoo: I almost think of this shampoo as a monthly detox for my hair. Basically this just removes any product build up that you might have and leaves the hair super clean. I find this really good to use if my hair feels particularly greasy but I do find it can be slightly drying so its always good to use a nourishing conditioner after. I know something in this same kind of line is the Bumble & Bumble sunday shampoo but that is something I just really can't justify buying right now but when I have a little more money I do really want to try some more things from the brand. 

Vo5 Miracle Mist £4.39, Vo5 Miracle Concentrate £5.19 and Lush R&B Hair moisturiser £10.95

• Vo5 Miracle mist: This is actually my second bottle of this as I love it that much. Its a lovely fine mist that just a fine layer of oils over all my hair. Theres not too much to say about it apart from its a lovely product, something that I actually really love about this product is this the nozzle is distributes product in an even way making it really easy to cover my entire head. 

• Vo5 Miracle concentrate: This is the poor mans version of Morrocan oil and something that I actually prefer and Morrocan oil is really quite think almsot like golden syrup. Again this is the second time I have purchased this and I know if I repurchase a haircare product I really love it. I have a full review on this here.

• Lush R&B Hair Moisturiser: Again my second pot of this and its a wonderful product. I have an entire post on this also here.

TRESemme freeze hold hairspray mini £1.99, L'oreal EverSleek smoothing mist heat protection £5.99 and Lee Stafford Dry Shampoo.

• TRESemme freeze hold hairspray: I always seem to go back to this product as I find it is the best way to hold my extremely fine hair into a style. Now I will say if you spray this to close to your hair it will end up crispy so you really need to be careful with this stuff.   

• L'oreal EverSleek smoothing mist heat protection: I haven't been using this too long so I dont feel that I can make a proper judgment yet but so far so good and I also like the dispenser again. 

• Lee Stafford dry shampoo: I am not too experienced with the world of dry shampoo and I think this is probably the third bottle I have ever purchased. I don't feel like I really have opinion on it to be honest ha, I mean its ok but nothing amazing however I do like that it is specifically tailored for brown hair so I dont get a white cast which most do. I also find dry shampoo is great to give hair a little boost in volume so I sometimes spray some in to give me a bit of a lift.   

GHD limited edition pink straighteners £120 and Tangle Teezer £10.

• GHD Straighteners: Now you might have noticed that there is no sign of a hair dryer in my haircare routine and thats because I don't use one and I haven't for the past 7 months now which has really helped my hair get into great condition. However I do still use a heat appliance which are my GHD's and I have had these for coming up 3 years now and I wont ever use another brand again they are just perfect for me. I also only use these briefly just to style my fringe as I wear my hair up pretty much everyday as I see no point in styling it when I am just around the house. 

• Tangle Teezer: This is my hair brush of choice and I think its easily one the best things I have ever bought. It just glides through hair so easily and doesn't ever snag or pull so I find I lose less hair than I would with a normal hairbrush. 

So there we go my haircare routine laid bare, I am really happy with my routine at the moment and you might have noticed that nothing is to pricy which is great for my bank balance. So if you have any questions leave me below and I will get back to you. I also hope this was well helpful to anybody out there :)