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Tell Frizz to F*ck Off: Best Hair Products to Beat the Heat
It’s summer…and your hair knows it. Guest blogger Hayden of Pretty In My Pocket is back at it, telling us the best products to keep our hair as smooth as a Justin Timberlake tune when humidity is high.
(Because that Friends episode still haunts us ladies who have potential for frizzy situations…)
Summer boosts several beauty benefits like a dewy glow (click HERE to make sure it’s not a sweaty glow), natural highlights, and sun-kissed skin. But one fiasco many females face in the heat is an unwanted flyaway fro. While everyone’s hair is different, we are all prone to full-on frizz or frustrating fuzz with amped up humidity in the air. Was there a flame near your head or did someone just rub a balloon on it? Let’s avoid that question, shall we? Depending how curly, coarse, dry, damaged, or fine your hair is, there are some basic ways to tame that runaway renegade hair halo.
The Wash
It starts with a solid shower routine. A key ingredient to successful taming: Moisture. Sun, salt water, chlorine, and general rough summer play can suck the life out of your hair. Shampoo and condition with products like Alterna Bamboo Smooth Anti-Frizz Shampoo & Conditioner ($22). If you have fine hair, opt for a light moisturizing formula like Nexxus Hydra-Light Weightless Moisture Shampoo & Conditioner ($11). And don’t be scerred to skip days between washes! Take a volumizing dry shampoo like Marc Anthony 2nd Day Clear Dry Shampoo ($10) to day-old hair to pump up texture and minimize stripping your hair of its natural oils.
The Styling
Make nice with your mane. Beat-up, over-styled, over-heated locks make frizz rear its ugly head…on your pretty head. Give your hair some drank and apply an anti-frizz serum or cream like Blow Pro Weather Girl Pure Anti-frizz Serum ($22) or Josie Maran Argan Oil hair serum ($30) before blowdrying. (And always squeeze and blot the hair dry, not rub.) For finer and/or oiler hair (Wassup, strand sisters!), be cautious with serums as they can make you greasy. Always select lightweight products like Living Proof’s Weightless Styling Spray ($26) or John Frieda’s new Frizz-Ease Sheer Solution ($10) and use a minimal amount. For curly cuties, opt for a product that’ll enhance your natural texture but tame frizz like Aveda’s Be Curly Curl Enhancer ($22) or Bumble and Bumble’s Curl Conscious Calming Cream ($29). For natural, very curly/coarse, and/or unruly hair, turn to Carol’s Daughter for your strand saviors. And always remember two things: 1) When it comes to serum/oil/cream, a little goes a long way, and 2) Go light on your roots or keep it away from that region altogether if you want to skip a day or two of shampooing/styling.
When brushing wet hair, go old school and use a wide-tooth comb. When blowdrying, don’t forget all the knowledge W+P dropped on your regarding the actual dryer and boar bristle brushes. Using a concentrator on the nozzle will give you a smoother blowout, but just remember to keep the dryer moving at all times; holding it on one piece of hair for too long will fry it. If you use a lot of heating tools, try to skip a day between flat-ironing the shiz out of your tresses. As for the finishing touches, you can lightly smooth/spray on an anti-frizz shine spray like John Frieda’s Frizz-Ease Shine Glossing Mist ($6) if you have normal or drier hair (it can weigh down finer or oilier strands). Hairspray can be loaded with alcohol leaving locks dry and frizz-prone, so steer clear or use sparingly.
The Treatments
Once a week (no matter your hair type), apply a deep conditioning treatment like the indulgent Oribe Signature Moisture Masque ($59) or W+P’s favorite Recitals Mud Masque ($36) and leave in for 10 minutes. If you’re soaking up the sun a ton, use a mask like Fekkai Advanced After Sun Daily Mask ($25). This is also great for color-treated hair as it protects hair from UV rays and fading.
In short, there are several ways to tame frizz before, during, and after your wash and style sessions. Everyone’s hair is different, so take it slow when figuring out what’s best for you. Try one product at at time, and either add another step to your routine or switch it out for another product. Stay smooth, my friends.
♥,
Hayden
And hey, you! Don’t forget to check out and download the Pretty In My Pocket app for way more product reviews, expert recommendations, GIVEAWAYS/perks, and overall beauty awesomeness! It will change your beauty game.
An Analysis of Miss Utah’s Pageant Performance
I was one of the lucky ones who, by some miracle of the TV Gods, saw the Miss Teen South Carolina 2007 fiasco LIVE. I haven’t watched a pageant since I was about 10, but was flipping through the channels, stopped for a moment and saw that Miss Teen SC was up and thought I’d check her out since I went to college in South Carolina, and after she answered (if you can even call it that), I sat there stunned for a good 20 minutes. When I finally came to, I remember texting a friend, “I can’t even describe what I just witnessed, but it will be on the Internet tomorrow.”
And now we have Miss Utah’s cringe-worthy performance from last night’s Miss USA pageant. Let’s be clear this is MISS, not MISS TEEN, which means that this is a WOMAN, not a young girl.
I have so many thoughts…
1. Nene Leakes is a judge? I mean…what? All I have to say is I wish she would have started off with “So let me axe you this…”
2. I thought pageant chicks had to PRACTICE answering questions. I mean, if you told me that Miss Utah had been a mute her entire life and this was the first time she had ever spoken actual words, I would believe it.
3. I would also believe that she was wasted (her eyes do look a little low). And if that was the case, I’m totally ok with this, because if I had to answer that question after 17 vodka drinks and 4.5 Fireball shots, it would be a very similar situation.
4. Is that a Jonas brother?
5. How the HELL does Guiliana keep it together? I could never.
6. No seriously, Guiliana should win an Oscar for her serious, encouraging nodding and straight-faced “Thank you, Utah” at the end. If only Chelsea Handler had been hosting…
7. In Miss Utah’s defense, they did complicate the question. Why couldn’t they just say, “Look, women are bringing home the bacon in a lot of households, but still make less than dudes in the workplace. What up with that?” She might have understood it better. And I’m sure Nene wanted to axe it like that anyway.
8. Thank God Brent Musburger wasn’t commentating this pageant, because that gal looks like his type. Although I’m sure he was watching at home with a boner.
9. Maybe this is all a publicity stunt to become the next big Internet sensation. Didn’t Miss Teen South Carolina get offered a porn deal? Oh wait, that was Miss Teen Delaware (reppin’ my homestate!).
10. Bottom line: We need to continue to try to strive to figure out how to create education better.
I mean, I guess we can’t argue with that.
LYLAS,
Ashley
Drugstore Love: Revlon’s Lip Butters
I mainly shop Sephora, Woo, and Bloomie’s for my makeup (go ahead, call me a snob), but that’s not to say there aren’t great products on the drugstore shelves, and when I find ‘em, I want to spread the budget beauty gospel!
Guest blogger Hayden mentioned Revlon’s Lip Butters ($6) in a recent post, and maybe it was just the name, but they intrigued me, so when I rushed into CVS recently for some emergency stain remover (don’t ask), I headed over to the Revlon section (I guess I wasn’t in that much of a rush). I spotted them, and after some serious deliberating (apparently I’d forgotten about my emergency), chose the Raspberry Pie hue. I was prepared for it to give me smooth, subtle color.
I was headed somewhere in a rush (as always), so I put it on like lip gloss sans mirror, then was literally shocked when I finally caught a glimpse of myself.
These sly smoothies look like glosses…but act like lipsticks! They’re like that sneaky guy who makes you think you’re casually dating, then all of a sudden introduces you as his girlfriend and you’re all, “WTF, DUDE!?”…..but then you kinda’ like it.
And I am certainly liking these.
They go on easy, give you GREAT color, stay put for a while, and feel smooth the whole time they’re on your lips.
(Kinda’ like that guy…)
LYLAS,
Ashley
A Father’s Day Tribute to My Badass Dad
My dad is a certified badass. He has had his pilot’s license and a plane since he was in his twenties; used to race cars (and win); is an avid skier and travels the world to hit the slopes; kayaks (sometimes to the bar); has a motorcycle as well as an old (read: classic) Porsche, Jaguar, and Land Rover (hello, hoarder); started a successful business, sold it, and retired early during my freshman year in college (and when I came home, my first sight of him was mowing the lawn with a Guinness in hand); can drink anyone under the table; has kicked cancer’s ass; has been happily married to my mom for 34 years; can tell a dirty joke at a party that will seriously stun people; looks like The Most Interesting Man in the World (and yes, has used that to get free Dos Equis in the bar); AND most importantly, is an amazing, inspirational father to my brother and me.
From Leigh Hesseltine, I get my impatience, inappropriate sense of humor, fast and aggressive driving, drinking habits, ambition and drive to work for myself, and “above the law” attitude (he may have gotten in trouble with authority growing up more times than I have). He’s made me the person I am today, and I am so thankful my mom pinned him down and they decided to stop partying long enough to have a child (then another one).
Here’s to you, Dad. (Hopefully Mom will show you this blog entry on her iPhone while you’re boozing at the beach today since you’re too old-school for smart phones.) I love you and look up to you so much.
And Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there (except the deadbeats). Enjoy it!
The Friday 10: Why We Love (and Hate) NYC
I grew up going to New York City on the reg, visit once or twice a year now, and was just there last weekend for a wedding. You’re probably thinking, “Ohmygod, don’t you totally LOVE NYC? Isn’t is the best city in the world?!”
I meeeean…
Ummm….
Don’t get me wrong. Sometimes I REALLY do love it. But sometimes I f*cking hate it. And I know (almost) everyone who lives there or has ever visited feels the same way, but they’re scared to say it because we’re all supposed to loooooove The Big Apple.
Let’s get real, people.
1. You can’t just get in your car and drive somewhere. Like the grocery store. Or your ex’s house at 3 a.m.
BUT…
You don’t have to worry about DUIs, annoying car insurance payments (no offense, Flo), paying for parking and the inevitable tickets (Park Atlanta, go f*ck yourself) or behind-the-wheel road rage (which is way more intense than backseat-of-a-cab road rage).
2. You will be pressed up against strangers in a germ-filled subway car and sometimes they will smell bad and/or talk to you (or themselves) with halitosis breath and you will want to kill yourself.
BUT…
Then it’s suddenly your stop and you’re like, “Damn, I’m here already?” And you’re OUT.
3. Drinks are more expensive (this one hurts).
BUT…
There are more hot, successful dudes in power suits to buy them for you. $18 cocktail? Psssh, that’s pocket change for those fellas who were just yelling at the NYSE for eight hours straight (who exactly ARE they yelling at, btw?)
4. There’s SO. MUCH. WALKING. and your feet are KILLING you even in your “comfortable” shoes. Waaaah!
BUT…
You’re burning about 9038402983423 times more calories than you usually do in your lazy ass driving city (ahem, Atlanta) and getting skinnier.
Extra skinny points if your Prancercise.
5. You’re probably going to stay with or visit a friend who lives on a 5th floor walkup (seriously….WHERE are the elevators?) and you may have to carry a suitcase and/or wine bottles and/or something of weight up these five flights whilst wearing heels and want to die (and slap your friend when you get to the top).
BUT…
Again, you’re getting skinnier. Plus a glute workout. So you can drink more wine.
6. You’re peacefully walking along when you get a hot gust of air to the face that smells like sewage mixed with wet dog. Then it happens again five blocks later. And five blocks after that.
BUT…
You can run for cover in the best H&Ms ever…or Barney’s…or an incredible Anthropologie….or an Apple store with all the newest, best shit…or some badass little vintage boutique…or any other possible retailer you can imagine that will be better than any other city because it’s the BEST. SHOPPING. ON. THE. PLANET. (And the stench won’t follow you indoors.)
7. Restaurants are more expensive.
BUT…
Delicious street bananas are a freaking quarter. (Just try to eat them tactfully on the subway.)
Plus, you can get ANY food from pretty much ANY place delivered to your door at ANY time from the touch of your phone. Calling for Domino’s? Pssh, that’s so 2007.
8. Everyone is always in a hurry (you Southern-bred folk just can’t seem to understand this one).
BUT…
There will come a time (or many) when YOU’RE in a hurry and you’ll be glad people have their asses in gear so you don’t have to FREAK THE F*CK OUT.
9. You party way too hard and spend all your money because bars stay open so late, and then you get late-night pizza and don’t end up getting in until 6 a.m. and it takes you days to recover because you’re not 22 anymore.
BUT…
You get to take #NYCsunrise pictures like this and put them on Instagram/Facebook and everyone will like them and think you’re cool. #LikeABoss
10. If you shack out sleep elsewhere, you’ll have to do a walk-of-shame, cab-of-shame, or train-of-shame.
BUT…
No one will even bat an eye because 90% of people in New York City dress in way weirder shit than your last night’s outfit.
Ok, so maybe I do love it…
To visit.
LYLAS,
Ashley
Let’s party together (on the Internet)!