My hair care routine!

Hi everyone!

Sorry it has been so long. I started this blog with the intention if becoming an avid blogger, blogging this that and the other. In almost a year I have published a grand total of two posts. Woo. I'm not gonna lie, things just cropped up and blogging did not become a priority. I also forgot how to actually log on to Blogspot, I didn't know which email address I used or my password and I couldn't even find the Blogspot website because I kept trying to access it through my Google account. Basically it all became a bit of a shenanigan, however, I've managed to find my blog and log in successfully so let's get cracking!

What I wanted to talk about in this post is my hair care routine because although it's become the norm to me it differs from what may be considered 'normal' hair care. I would have actually prefered to create a video on this so I could physically show and talk about my hair but I'm not a YouTuber, I've never uploaded anything of me actually talking to the camera and I think it'd all be a bit weird for me. I would like to make videos but I just haven't got there yet. Anyway:

Hair background:

My straight hair, this was taken in about June 2012 so it's a lot longer now but still the same colour, cut etc.

Firstly, I do not wash my hair very often. For a long time I was washing it once a week which was fine but recently it's become more like once every 9/10 days. There are reasons for this, I'm not just a tramp walking around with greasy hair for days on end, my hair is naturally curly so you can get away with a little more grease without it being noticed unlike very very straight hair (also, the natural oils in your hair are good for it!). Secondly, I don't brush my hair everyday, when you have curly hair brushing it everyday isn't really adequate; it just goes frizzy. Therefore, my hair doesn't have the added grease from brushing it all the time.

Washing my hair:

Now, when I'm going to wash my hair I always decide what I plan to do with it after I've washed it. For example, am I going to just leave it curly, am I going to straighten it, will I have enough time to straighten it in the morning or am I just going to put it in a platt or something? For this example let's just say it's going to be curly:

• I start off by brushing my hair when it's dry (sounds painful and time consuming, sometimes it is but it works for me).
• Then, I wash it using a specific shampoo for curly hair. Usually 'Umberto Giannini' shampoo, I've found it to be very good and have used it for about four years now. You can get it at Boots and the majority of the time the range has offers on such as two for £7.50, three for £10 etc.
• Next, I don't use conditioner. I just never use it. I find that it adds to the greasy hair problem and it just makes my hair feel heavy. My hair only gets conditioned when I go to the hairdressers, my hair's little treat :D I have never noticed anything bad happen to my hair due to lack of conditioner. Only less grease. What's to complain about? 
• I leave the shampoo on for a while, kind of use it like a conditioner, leave it to soak in for a few minutes then thoroughly wash it off. Make absolutely sure it's all out. No half-hearted hair washing here, thank you. 
• After all the shampoo's out, I towel dry it (make sure i'm not walking about with my hair ringing wet). and just leave it. I do not brush it again, I do not blow dry it, I just leave it to dry. This is a lengthy process as my hair's so thick and long but in the morning it looks shiny and healthy. 

The curly hair shampoo I use

Just a glimpse into my obsession with this brand. I also LOVE their dry shampoo, it's amazing and smells gorgeous I just didn't have a bottle at hand because I've ran out :( Boo.

Straightening my hair:

There's only one thing I do differently when I plan to straighten my hair after washing it and it absolutely determines what I'm going to do with it. Once I do this, there's no going back...

• After I've towel dried my hair, I brush it again whilst it's still wet. I usually use my Tangle Teezer this time because although it takes a little more time I feel as if it leaves my hair feeling extra sleek and shiny for straightening the next day. I then platt it and sleep on it then it's ready for straightening the next day.

My Tangle Teezer (sorry it's a bit hairy, yom) and the Tresemme hair masque I use if my hair's in serious need of a pick-me-up.

I never blow dry it and straighten it. If I'm going to straighten it, I wait until it has dried naturally just to save myself time really and protect it from heat damage and things like that. I feel like this really does help, it doesn't feel as brittle and dry when it's finished. I don't know... my hair just looks happy with this regime and it's worked for a long time.

I appreciate that this won't work for everyone and some people may be horrified that I leave my hair so long between washes but if you can get your hair in to a routine of being washed only once/twice a week you will see changes in the way it looks and feels. Especially if you're putting a lot on heat on your hair too. I think with hair you have to determine what type of hair you have, long, short, curly, straight etc and work with it, don't try and make it something it isn't; a mistake I have made many times in the past. I used to be obsessed when I was in school with straightening my hair, I would not leave the house without it being perfectly straight and it took me a long time to discover it wasn't working. It was time consuming and damaging for my hair and it didn't even stay straight a little bit of damp in the air and it would frizz. It was just horrendous. 

Anyway, I know this has been a long post and I know I haven't been posting regularly but I will try to get more in to this blogging malarkey because I really do enjoy it when I actually write something. It's amazing, when I have to write 3,000 words for an essay it takes me all week but i've just written about 1,000 words in half an hour. Fun, fun, fun! 

Thanks for reading! hope this has helped at least one person :)

Leave your thoughts and questions in the comments if you'd like and I will reply if you're not mean haha.

See you next time, Leanne x

Links to things:

Umberto Giannini Shampoo

Tangle Teezer

(bought mine on Amazon because, at the time, they were A LOT cheaper than buying them from Boots)