In most situations I look for a bargain. I tend to steer away from luxury brands when it comes to cosmetics and toiletries. I used to be a head and shoulders 2-in-1 kinda girl (because I had some dandruff once when I was a teenager) and washed my hair every day.
My hair has changed a lot.... When I was young it was hella straight, very fine hairs but lots of them! Over the years I permed it, dyed it, straightened it, tonged and bleached it. Now it's got a bit of a frizzy waves thing going on if dried naturally, and the white hairs are much thicker and coarser than the dark brown ones, so I've had to change with it. People have been telling me for many years that I should stop washing my hair everyday. The thing that persuaded me was Jonathan Van Ness (bless him!), when he said Imagine what your favourite t-shirt would look like if you washed it every day. Yep. That one sank in! Plus long hair takes forever to dry and style and as I said, my hair has changed. If I just let it dry naturally nowadays I look like I've been dragged through a bush backwards! I don't want to spend an hour on my hair every friggin' day! So a few years ago I started washing it every 2 days, then 3, then 4. Nowadays I have wash day where it's washed and freshly styled, day two where I can just brush it and wear it down again, day three when I use dry shampoo and wear it down, then day 4 when I create an up-do. The bonus being that clean hair won't stay up in a do, but unwashed hair is great for plaits and buns etc! Sometimes I do an extra up-do day if I know I want fresh hair for a special occasion.
So anyway, if you're washing your hair less often, the products you use and how you use them are extremely important. I knew re-training my scalp was going to mean having gross hair for a while, so I also accepted that stopping using head and shoulders would make my scalp an itchy, flaky nightmare too! Obviously when your scalp gets reliant on anti dandruff shampoo, you're gonna get dandruff when you stop using it, but honestly.... I don't have bad dandruff and I probably never did. The first month of changing products was greasy, itchy and flaky as fuck! But worth the pain to get past the reliance on a bottle of chemicals, right?!
Now then. Let's not mess around. LUSH is everything and everything is LUSH! Lush isn't cheap, but when you find the right products for you, it's worth every single penny! I'm not sponsored by lush btw, I just absolutely love a lot of what they make. In fact, my bathroom is (almost!) entirely lush. I'll write more about the body stuff in my skin post, but for now, lets just say that I have tried almost every hair product they make and I know what works for me. I'm gonna tell you about it now!
Stage 1
Brush hair before getting it wet!
Flyway Hair Shampoo Bar - Gives body to fine hair
Stage 2 & 3
Lather, rinse, repeat! Not necessary if you wash your hair every day or every other day, but after 4 days, shampoo it twice dude! The first wash takes off the grease and build up. The second really washes and cleans the hair. If you think your shampoo isn't lathering up very well, that's probably because it's just taking a layer of grease off. repeat it and you will notice a massive difference in the lather, I promise!. Now then, LUSH shampoo bars are the dogs bollocks. As with most products you have to find the best ones for you and I use two that contain sodium coco sulphate. I actually don't have anything against sodium lauryl sulphate (the liquid shampoo's I use contain it!) it's just that I really like Angel hair and Flyway hair. For the record, before these were released New was my favourite and it was EXCELLENT for getting me through the rough patches when my scalp was confused!
The liquid ones I use are Daddy-O and Wasabi Shan Kui. What I use depends on how I want to style my hair because they all have different qualities, but generally speaking it goes angel hair followed by Wasabi or Daddy-O followed by Flyway. Angel and flyway have very subtle fragrances that don't really stick around, Wasabi has a delicious citrusy smell that stays fresh, but Daddy-O is STRONG! It leaves hair smelling like a less sugary parma violet. It's amazing, but not for the faint of heart!
Notes - for gods sake don't shampoo the ends of your hair! They're already dry enough without stripping them of even more moisture and remember, they'll get some shampoo when you rinse out what you've used on your scalp. Concentrate on the scalp and a few inches of hair from the roots. Make sure it's all properly rinsed out!
Stage 4
Conditioners from LUSH are basically hair fragrances. I can tell you which ones are fabulous conditioners, but in terms of scent it will be very much personal to what you like! On the plus side Lush will give refunds or exchanges for products if you don't like them, they're amazing like that. I'm super fussy about scent, so some of their best products are smells that I can't deal with because they don't suit me, but I'll shout them out anyway! For instance Power is the best conditioner they make. perfect for every styling option you ever want for your hair. It used to be called hair necessities and I loved it. It smelt like maple syrup and cake to me, but it was recently re-branded as an afro hair product and the scent was changed. Heart broken to report that I hate the new scent.... dunno what it is. Jasmine maybe? Whatever it is I couldn't deal with it on my hair so I had to exchange it. The conditioning though, is still amazing. World changing! Softening without the build up of silicone that high street brands leave on hair. If you dig more floral scents then I recommend this above all others. I'm sure it's wonderful on afro hair, but it's also brilliant on my hair which is fine and relatively straight, so you know it's an all-round banger of a product!
The other conditioner I love but sometimes the scent can be a bit much, is Candy Rain. Fantastic conditioner with a super sweet candy smell. If you like scents that some others may consider sickly sweet then this is their 2nd best conditioner after Power! Particularly good scent combo with daddy-o as it makes me smell like a sweet shop! I am currently also using the following..... Aga's is good for natural days as it doesn't seem to be the best for styling, but it smells fruity, like sweet plums and Ilove the scent! It's not going to work if you need quite intensive conditioning but if you want a light conditioner that smalls amazing then this is for you. Glory is the deepest conditioner and it's my new favourite. It's so good for wavy days where I use a hot brush or straighteners to make my hair a bit Jessica Rabbity! How to describe the scent..... there is definitely a lime-vibe along with some florals, so it's great with Wasabi shampoo. All the other conditioners I’ve tried from lush (most of them now!) haven’t given me the softness I like, so the ones above are the only one’s I’d recommend.
Notes - Slather generously (depending on length of hair!) on to the ends and lengths of hair, and massage in to the hairs. NEVER THE ROOTS! If you want flat hair and greasy roots then go ahead, but honestly, conditioner is not made for all over the head! I leave it on for a minimum of 3 minutes while I wash my face and clean my body, then I use a brush that I keep in the shower to brush the conditioner through and remove the tangles. The conditioner helps the brush to move through the hair and also gets rid of knots that would be problematic when styling. I leave it for another minute or so then rinse rinse rinse!
Honorable mentions!
Damaged Hot oil treatment. If I want a deep conditioning I'll use one of these bad boys. All over the head and scalp once in a blue moon and it feels like my hair has been on a spa day!
Revive hair moisturiser (used to be called R&B!). I cannot explain how surprised I was by this product. I have tried SO many things to tame the bottom of my hair and make it smoother and less frizzy, when I brush it the day after styling. I was sure that this would be heavy, greasy, sticky..... but it just works wonders! You only need a TINY amount. rub between your hands and then smooth over the ends of your hair and it just calms it down. It has a floral smell that people often notice and (positively!) comment on. It's so good for wavy or curly hair. a Miracle product! If your hair goes frizzy at the bottom when you brush it (or you want defined curls!) Then this might change your life!
No drought dry shampoo powder. This smells like sherbet! I used to use batiste (didn’t everyone?!) But wanted something a little less toxic. The lush dry shampoo isn't for everyone though. If you have dark hair then this might be too noticeable. It's fine on me thanks the all the greys. It's also a bit heavy. Needs to brushed regularly to keep it looking fresh, but I've found that with most dry shampoo to be honest.
I tried this once before and was like.... errr how do I use this?! It comes loose in a bottle so how do I avoid chunks and lumps if I just put it on to my head? You shouldn’t really use hands or the oils from there make a paste right? Thankfully a reviewer on lush fixed everything. Kabuki powder brush! I’m considering putting some in an old loose face powder tub too. Best smelling dry shampoo and pretty dang natural!
Whoop, there it is! The day three greasy crown.
So here is my day three greasy hair. I just dust the powder on the use the dense brush to buff it into the hair. It's pretty effective.
Just try not to use too much or it will get a bit cakey! For those of you who don't want the faff then I use a spray dry shampoo too and that will be in my next hair post!
So to sum up, lush has helped me completely revitalise my hair routine and made my hair fabulous again. It seems hard to believe that a four day old unwashed head of hair could still smell lovely, but it does! My hair just doesn't smell dirty. If I wear it up to bed or when cooking ect, I can smell the lovely scents the moment I take it down. I know my scalp still smells good too because my partner is always sniffing my hair when we're snuggling!
So then.... day by day shots!
Big post about a small thing. Some things in life you just have to be evangelical about.... one of those things for me, is LUSH hair care!
I'll do another post asap with the non-lush products I use on my hair because as much as I'd love to be full lush, there are still a few things that they haven't perfected for my sort of hair. Only a few though!
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