Monday 27 October 2014

Review!

SHUT THE PLUG UP REVIEW

So I know I may have said when I started stretching my ears that I was only going to 8mm or 0g... I lied... I went to 00g. But that's it! No more! I'm staying at this size!... I am!
Don't look at me like that...

Anyway, I went looking for some steel tunnels for my final size and came across  ShutThePlugUp.co.uk, where all the plugs are not only beautiful, but only £2.19 for the picture one's and less for others. So I ordered 4 pairs of picture, screw-fit plugs and 1 pair of double flared plugs (I normally won't get double flare's because I couldn't get them in before but I'm going to try again.) Of course, they have steel tunnels, what I originally wanted, but in my excitement, I forgot to order some. Go me!...








They are SO pretty!!! I'm in love.
Top to bottom: Anchor & Bird Screw Fit Acrylic Plug. Link  
Owl With Lantern Screw Fit Acrylic Plug. Link
Anchor & Flower Screw Fit Acrylic Plug. Link
Retro Batman & Robin Screw Fit Acrylic PlugLink
Skeleton Silver Rose Acrylic Double Flared Flesh Plug. Link

I ordered them on a Thursday and they arrived the following Friday, having been shipped on Saturday. So it took 6 working days. Also, postage was free as I ordered over £17.50 worth of stuff.

I will definitely be ordering from them again. The plugs are beautiful, the colours are incredibly vibrant and the prices are fantastic! My only complaint is that the Batman and the Owl image's are hard to make out, due to the size of the plug. I think the images are just a little too busy for the size. But I don't mind, all that matters is that I know I have Batman on my plugs :D 
Disclaimer: I paid for these myself, I am in no way endorsed by ShutThePlugUp. I just made a great purchase that I wanted to share.
Thanks for reading! <3 

Hair! And how to do it...


Hai everybody! :D

I did promise I would give some tips on hairdressing once I had learned a sufficient amount, so now that I've been training for 3 months now, I thought the time is ripe to start a super-post on all things hair! In this, I will include the basics: Shampooing, conditioning and the more complicated subjects like cutting and colouring and everything in between!

Just to clarify, I am a trainee hairdresser doing a 9month course in a training centre. We do Hairdressing Science, Hairdressing Theory, Barbering, Colouring, Cutting, Customer Service, Personal Effectiveness and for the fun of it, we have a Health & Safety Module aswell... Currently, we do 2 mornings a week where we take clients and practice on them, Wash & Blowdry's, Set's and Colour's are the services we do thus far, but we're starting to do basic trim's also. Then we do Men's cuts for a few hours in the evening 1 day a week. The men are generally from other courses going on in the area and the ladies are clients who have been going to the training centre salon for years.

Now that that's cleared up, onto what you came here for!
I shall start at the start, what we learned first. 

Shampooing & Conditioning Hair
  • First, when shampooing on a normal day, you only need to shampoo the scalp! The hair itself will be cleaned as you rinse your hair, shampooing the length of your hair only tangles it, meaning when you comb it out later it's harder to do which causes breakages. 
  • Use a small bit of shampoo, you don't need tonnes! The size of a 2euro coin is more than enough, aim more for 1euro. See picture below that I got from Google Images.
Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIwLkYNNae6ADueet6qeZTgWEmYiu3cXz7pJQPUrNPvuScv8qp6slTy4Zh14PCZfuoH1qJymbm9W3diHo-TAyZ_6AUJfzsXiRIQwD14-8cdRJusLYl5qLZXvXXhuS6mPKL5jnhuBGLVuBQ/s1600/2.jpg

  • You only need a second shampoo when your hair is really dirty or greasy, but generally 1 will be enough, 2 will only weigh down your hair and make it greasier. 
  • When conditioning, generally you only need to condition the ends unless you have just coloured your hair or it is in very bad condition. 
  • Shampooing your hair everyday is completely unnecessary. Aim for every second day at most- I know this might sound gross to some people but excessive shampooing is removing the natural oils in your scalp that makes your hair healthy and shiny. And if you feel your hair is always greasy and you think it needs washing everyday, you might be making it worse by doing so! Give it a break some weekend you're not going anywhere- use dry shampoo if you really can't stand it- and your hair will thank you. 
  • When combing your hair after washing- do just that- comb it. DO NOT, EVER, BRUSH WET HAIR!!! Use a wide tooth comb, or a detangling comb- brushing wet hair is one of the worst things you can do, it pulls and tears and destroys your hair causing breakages and split ends and is just so damaging- DO NOT DO IT!!! 
Use one like this one!!! Source: http://cityofhair.com/shop/image/cache/data/brushes/60180-600x600.jpg

  • When towel drying your hair, there is absolutely no need to rub it vigorously!! Pat it dry gently- your hair is most vunerable when it's wet so rubbing it like a maniac with a towel is only going to ruin it, opening the cuticles and pushing them up so your hair looks frizzy and feels horrible. It's wrong, again, DON'T DO IT! 
*The cuticles are the outer layer of the hair, they lie overlapping each other like fish scales or the tiles of a roof and when they lie down flat, your hair looks healthy, smooth and shiny. Hot water opens the cuticles to remove dirt and grease from them with the aid of shampoo. Cold water will close them. This is why you point the hairdryer down the shaft of your hair when blow-drying, this closes the cuticles and makes your hair soft and shiny!


Source: http://blackafrohair.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/hair_cuticle_big-jpg.jpg

Colouring

I won't lie, I'm struggling with all the colour theory at the moment. There is a lot in it. I will give a quick run down on some tips, and will add more as I learn :)

I'll start by just explaining volume (the American measurement) and percentage (the British and Canadian measurement). 

Hydrogen peroxide is the catalyst that causes permanent haircolour to work. When you mix a haircolour with peroxide, a chemical reaction occurs. (It's very hard to decide what you guys would like to know and what is just science stuff that I need to know, hahaha!) Anyway, here is a quick conversion chart:

3% = 10 Volume (or vol.)                  6% = 20 vol. (used in most cases)
9% = 30 vol.                                  12% = 40 vol.

(An easy tip to remember here is; For every additional 3%, add 10 vol.)

  • As soon as you mix up permanent haircolour with peroxide, it begins to oxidise in the air, meaning, it will start to lose it's strength straightaway. Therefore, the quicker you put the dye on, the more effective it will be. 
  • When putting on dye, section your hair in 4 parts- right in the middle to the bottom of your neck, and across the top from ear to ear. Like a hot cross bun! I did this before I started my training, and it really speeds up the process! 
Source: https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/rbi-communities/wp-content/blogs.dir/2/files/step-by-step-dip-dye-colour/1.jpg

  • Start at the back with permanent colour. The hair at the front will be slightly more damaged naturally, due to the natural elements- sun, wind etc- hitting it constantly. Therefore, it requires less processing time than the back of your head will. 
  • Using tin foil or cling film (seram wrap?!) when bleaching or putting on permanent colour will help the colour develop and slow down the oxidization in the dye. Meaning it will work better for longer. 
  • When bleaching or using permanent dye, don't wash your hair for at least 24 hours beforehand. Washing removes the Acid Mantle- the scalps natural protective barrier which helps stop that burning sensation you sometimes get when dying your hair. This is essential and applies when getting your hair dyed professionally too.
  • Always apply conditioner after dying your hair, it deserves and needs it!
Cutting

Well, all I have to say here is, even if you do cut your own hair (as I did for years) it won't be the same as getting it done professionally- or even just getting a friend to do it :P In saying that though, I know you're going to do it anyway and I can see why. Cutting your hair yourself isn't something I can really help with. 

The only tip I have for the actual cutting is to tie your hair in a ponytail at the very bottom of your neck, then tie it in sections lower and lower til you get to the length you want to cut off. Keep your hair straight and even in the ties, and cut the ends off with a sharp scissors. I have used this method so many times! It gives a beautiful straight across cut! In fact, watch the beautiful LilithMoon do it on YouTube! Link here! (Also, Boots have hairdressing scissors for less than €10 and professional one's are acually quite reasonable if you plan on cutting your own hair for years to come! Link here for a Boots scissors!

This is the razor I have. Source: http://www.coolblades.co.uk/images/P/efalock-pink-pioneer-razor.jpg
When using a razor to "feather" or soften your layers, ONLY use this on wet hair! Otherwise, you're only causing more split ends. And be very careful, go slow, you can easily take too much off.


Really, that's all I can say for now on cutting hair :) 


Straightening

  • Section your hair to make it easier for yourself, use small sections instead of bigger ones.
  • Go over it once, slowly and get it right the first time! There's no need to go over the same section more than once, you're damaging it more and it's unnecessary.
  • If your hair is due a trim but you're not ready to let the ends go just yet, give your hair a tiny turn in at the very ends to help hide the split ends.
  • Use heat protection spray. Seriously. In fact, I watched a video yesterday that explained if you spray a heat protection spray on the back of your hand and hold the blow drier over it, if it's a good spray then you shouldn't feel the heat on your hand! I must give that a go!

Well, I think that's it for now. There will be more, but as I said, it's hard to know what you guys would need to know and whats just too technical if you're not in the field :)

I hope you enjoyed this post, or at the very least I hope you learned something. Let me know if you have any questions or anything you want to know in particular and if I don't know the answer, I will endevour to find out for you! 

Sunday 5 October 2014

Dr. Martens, they need no further introduction!

I did it, I bought another pair of Dr. Martens. This time, I paid full price (the 14-eye Lilac one's I have I was lucky enough to get on sale for €58!) Well, I say full price, I did get the 10% student discount. 

I bought them in the ever-faithful Schuh Store in Limerick City Centre. The full price was €130 and I got them for €117. They're ever so nice in there- I spent a good half hour there trying to decide between the black and the cherry red one's (having spent month's previous agonising over the decision too) and they never once made me feel like I should hurry up. On the contrary, they tried to help me decide by telling me about their 365 change of mind thingy, where if you haven't worn them and decide you've made the wrong choice, you can bring them back with no fuss.

The Cherry Red one's are SO beautiful, easily the prettier choice;

Picture from: http://www.armynnavy.com/catalog/catalog/images/dr_martens_cherry_red_8_eyelet.png

But the black one's are the more sensible choice- they go with everything, I can wear them to work and I do find myself thinking I can't wear my Lilac one's sometimes because they "won't match" or "won't look right!" So I went for the safer option and got the black one's.



My lilac pair, with ribbon laces from the Dr. Martens site for €4


The only issue I met was the size, I was 99% sure (there always that 1% where I second guess myself!) that my pair at home were a UK size 5- my usual size- but the UK size 5 in the 1460's were too big on me, they even LOOKED way too big! So I had to get a size down, size 4. When I got home and held up the soles of the old and new pair together, they were the same, but the old one's are size 5 and the new one's are size 4?? Perhaps it's down to one being made in Thailand (Lilac pair) and the other made in Vietnam! Either way, if you're planning on buying a pair, be sure to bear this in mind, try them on and don't go by the size on the tag!

Dr. Martens are notorious for being a pain (literally) for breaking in, but I've been wearing mine around the house for 2 day's now and they seem fine! A bit of the tongue hurts when putting my foot in but so far that's the sum total of breaking in issues. We'll see what happens on their first day out though...

Anyway, happy days for me! I saved up for weeks with the idea of getting these and I've been planning on buying them for months so to finally have them in my loving arms is a great feeling. The link to them on the Schuh.ie site is here.

I shall leave you with a few pictures of the new addition's to the family. Aren't they adorable? And not a bit camera shy...