babyassface

April showers bring frizzy hair. Not if Frederic can help it.

Yes, I know Frederic Fekkai products have been around for a while, but I never looked at them twice, because I assumed I couldn’t afford anything made by someone named Frederic Fekkai.

But as fate would have it, I got caught in a downpour the other day.

By midday my hair had dried into an exact replica of my sister’s Standard Poodle.

Next thing I knew, I was at Sephora standing in front of the hair care section. I squeezed some Frederic Fekkai Glossing Cream into my palms and ran them over my hair. I didn’t care that the price tag said $27 and that I hadn’t worked in 6 months, it took my frizzy hair from Richard Simmons to well-coiffed newscaster, within seconds, and I decided I couldn’t live without it.

The next day I applied it to damp hair and styled as usual. (It also protects from heat styling, and contains UVA and UVB sunscreens.) Since I have thick, dry hair I also applied it after I dried it. Once again it worked its magic. My hair was super soft, silky and shiny. The oddest thing about this product is it doesn’t feel like there’s any product in my hair. It leaves absolutely no residue, greasiness or synthetic feel. It just makes my hair feel super soft and healthy.
 
After using it, my hair had so much bounce, that you’d have thought I was on an invisible pogo stick.  That’s also my only complaint. As someone with very full hair, I needed to add some oil to weigh down my hairdo or else I’d look like I was in a gravity-free space station somewhere. 

Just so you know that I’m not exaggerating about how good this stuff is, on Sephora’s website, it got an average of 4.6 out of 5 stars based on 700 reviews. 

So next time you’re in Sephora, ask them for a sample.
 

If you’re like me, Frederic Fekkai Glossing Cream could be the only thing, this spring, that’ll keep your hair from blossoming into a hydrangea bush. 

What's your favorite leave-in conditioner?

What will the next “Rachel” of hairstyles be?

So recently Japan held a Hair Show. Down the runway came the latest cutting edge (bad pun intended) hair styles. I can tell you this, I’ve seen the future and it looks like we spend a lot of time doing break dance spins on our heads.

The styles in the Hair Show aren’t exactly the styles you’ll see gracing the escalators at the local mall. Actually, I think I've achieved some of these looks, in the morning, after my cat has slept on my head.

I just have one question. What’s wrong with subtle cuts that say “don’t I look pretty", instead of "don’t I look pretty deranged?”

“The Posh Bob”, “The Rachel”, “The Farrah Hot Dog Holder”, “The Mia Farrow I’m carrying Satan’s Baby”. These were all cuts that were not only appropriate for every day living but they actually complimented people’s faces.

Oddly enough, according to the Hair Show, bangs are still in in the future. You know the other models were jealous that they didn’t get the bangs. They were probably thinking “why do I have to sit for 3 hours of styling, only to end up looking like I’ve had my hair styled by rabid squirrels?”

The good news about seeing this video is, it made me stop worrying about the future of the economy, because in the future we’ll have bigger concerns,

like how we’re going to get through airport security with hair that looks like we’re smuggling a bazooka.

Would you straighten your hair with embalming fluid? I did.

My hair often has its own agenda. One that pretty much involves forcing me and it to become recluses and live the life of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?”

My hair is definitely the Bette Davis character.   

Then last summer, I heard about a treatment called Brazilian hair-straightening,and impulsively went to have it done.

After they showed me before and after photos, from dry and frizzy to pin-straight and glossy, I gladly handed over my $200.



The only odd part was they kept emphasizing the fact that it was all-natural. Thee does protest too much. 

The treatment involved applying the concoction, then flat ironing it into the hair. It was going well until I looked up to find the woman suddenly dressed in gloves and a mask, like she’d be heading straight to her night job as an asbestos remover.

When I got home I researched the treatment. Yes, I know this paragraph should come before the one about how I went to get it done, but I’m a bit dyslexic that way. 

Anyway, I found all these articles online about how formaldehyde is the ingredient that facilitates the straightening. Yes, the very same chemical used to preserve three-headed fetuses at that creepy museum you went to in the 7th grade. Yes, the known cancer-causing carcinogen.

I was pissed that they never thought to mention this to me, and that she kept emphasizing that it was all-natural. Yes, maybe formaldehyde is technically all-natural, but so too is arsenic, but that doesn’t mean I want it flat ironed into my hair.

But I angrily digress. The final result: My hair was pin-straight and shiny. 

It lasted 2-3 months as promised, but I would never do it again, knowing now what everyone forget to tell me then. 

If you’re looking for a non-formaldehyde straightening option, try the Conair Infiniti blow-dryer, which straightens your hair as you dry. Plus it gives you options, like leaving hair a little wavy, flipping it up at the ends and not poisoning yourself with formaldehyde.

Has anyone else had this treatment done?  Anyone think it’s worth the risk?

  

Is the water you're shampooing with damaging your hair?

My new apartment resides in a brownstone that was built in the late 1800s. The pipes are older than dirt, which could explain why my dripping sink faucet leaves a brown spot. Needless to say, since moving in

my hair has looked and felt like a bad wig. Dry, coarse, dull and shaped like a nuclear explosion.

I’ve tried everything: washing my hair less often, sulfate-free shampoos, I’ve even resorted to putting castor oil in my hair. (It's the consistency of engine lube.)

I always seem to add too much, and end up spending 30 minutes blow drying my hair, only to have it look like I haven’t washed it in a week. 

Then I heard that on one episode of “Blow Out”, the reality show with Jonathan, the celebrity hairstylist, Jonathan’s water got cut off, so he had to shower with bottled water. He said his hair felt amazing after and he realized what a huge difference using water that's free of heavy metals and damaging chemicals, made on dry, brittle, damaged hair.

I, of course, immediately ran into my kitchen and filled 5 vases with Brita-purified water and proceeded to wash my hair with it. I used the same shampoo and conditioner I always use and only one styling product (as opposed to the usual 3 or 4). 

I don't think "miracle" is too strong a word to use here. After just one washing, my hair is completely fixed. I can’t stop petting it. It’s so soft and smooth and shiny and less coarse and there are fewer split ends and it has nice body. 

The minute I get some income, I’m buying the Jonathan Beauty Water Shower Purification System. It’s the shower-head filter he invented after his epiphany. It got 5 out of 5 stars on Sephora.com (and that’s by 78 people). 

It’s not cheap $95 for the system and $55 for replacement filters (which need to be changed every 3-6 months). But with the money I’ll save on frequent desperate hair cuts, hair products, and dye jobs (it helps preserve hair color longer), I'm sure it'll pay for itself. 

Will someone else please try washing their hair with purified water, and tell us what you think?

If there are lots of typos in this post, it’s because I was typing with only one hand, because the other was preoccupied with petting my hair.

more honey = more pretty

Did you know that honey was used to embalm people back in the Egyptian times?  It has such a high sugar content, that no bacteria can survive in it. Thus it prevented skin from decaying. And if it can help preserve the youthful appearance of someone who’s dead, just think what it can do for the rest of us.

Honey is a humectant, which means it has the ability to attract and retain moisture. It pulls it right out of the air (without leaving skin oily).

This means you can mix honey with pretty much any skin care and hair care products, for an extra moisture boost.

Here are two hair care usages that I really like:

I add around 1 tbsp of honey to my bottle of conditioner and shake it up. It not only helps keep hair healthy and well moisturized, it also adds a nice honey scent and shine. 

I was worried it would leave a sticky residue. It doesn’t. It blends right in with the creaminess of the conditioner and completely rinses out.

My other unwarranted fear (perhaps I should be on anti-anxiety medication) was that I would be attacked by a swarm of bees. Not so far.

This isn't the appropriate response for being attacked by a swarm of bees. She looks more like she’s watching a homeless man pee on her car.  

Another hair care usage I highly recommend: mix one tsp of honey in one liter of warm water and pour it over wet hair. Don’t rinse it out. It’ll leave your hair super shiny.  

And because God forbid I stay on topic, here’s a honey tip, that prevented me from ending up in the hospital, when I was in Mexico and became the host of some stomach bacteria. I was getting thinner and more the-opposite-of-tan every day. I was beginning to look like the long-lost Olsen triplet.

I’m not sure if this is Mary Kate or Ashley, so I’ll just call her Mashly. 

I then remembered that bacteria can’t survive in honey, so I started drinking it straight from the jar. Within a few swigs, my stomach issues had disappeared. No joke. (Just something to keep in mind when you’re traveling.)

Check out honey.com for a list of other great honey beauty recipes.  (Thanks to Robin for telling me about that site.)

a shampoo that gives you younger-looking hair?

"What is younger-looking hair", you ask? It’s that really soft, healthy hair that kids have.

And apparently some dogs. (Is it wrong to see Jesus in an Afghan?)

The hair you had way back, before you started using products in your hair, then harsh shampoos to strip out all the products, then more products to fix your hair, because it’d been stripped of its natural oils.  Well, you get the idea.

Soapnuts & Amla Shampoo Powder is the perfect way to break this vicious, hair-destroying cycle.
It deeply hydrates, strengthens, adds tons of softness, volume, shine and makes your hair so youthful-looking, you’ll feel like you should be playing in a sandbox (instead of the adult version- scooping out a litter box).

Soapnuts & Amla Shampoo Powder has a low pH and is extremely mild. It also detangles and combats dandruff.  Plus, it’s completely all natural and eco-friendly. 

One of the main ingredients, soapnuts (who knew they had nuts), is the fruit of the soapnut tree.  Soapnuts were used in ancient India for soap, shampoo and laundering fine silks and linen. (FYI: This shampoo also contains henna -so it’s probably not great for light-colored hair.)

Here’s how it works- just mix 2 tablespoons of the shampoo powder with some water to create a paste. Then massage the paste into the scalp and wet hair. 

Since this paste kind of looks and smells like dirt, it’ll strike you as counterintuitive. But from the second you start to rinse it out, your hair will feel amazingly soft and decades younger.

In case, you were thinking, “hey, why not use a baby shampoo for child-like hair?” It’s too gentle and doesn’t have enough detergent to get all the products out. 

I would use this shampoo every time I washed my hair, if it wasn't slightly inconvenient to have to mix it into a paste. But for a once-in-a-while, "strip all the products out, without stripping my hair of its natural oils" usage, this stuff is amazing.

And oh, yeah, all the net proceeds go to charity. 

I love the way you can see the branch behind the jar cap, helping to prop it up.
Guess when you have a great product, you don't need to spend money on fancy photography.

Happy Inauguration Day, everyone!  Yeah!!!!

A hair conditioner made with silk and pearls

I saw “Smooth ‘N Shine Therapy, Silk Fusion, Sixty-Second, Critical Repair with silk and pearl extracts” (jeez, I think I have carpal tunnel after typing that name) in the drugstore and thought, “Oh, my.  Silk and pearls, how first half of 2008”, but seeing as it was only $2, I thought I would splurge.  

Sure, she thinks it's opulent to wear silk and pearls, but I condition my hair with it.  Now who’s fancy?

SNSTSFSSCRSPE (that’s the shortened version of the name) contains coconut oil, pearl powder and silk amino acids, as well as a bunch of other ingredients, that I can’t pronounce and make me feel dyslexic, when I look at them. 

The directions on the packet say to work a generous amount from roots to ends, leave it in for one minute, then rise.  I applied it to my hair after shampooing.  I have to say, to the touch, this conditioner is less silky and more sateen, bordering on polyester-ish. I didn’t like the feel of it at all. Until I dried my hair.  Then I loved it. 

My hair felt and looked exactly how you’d expect it to look, after being treated with crushed pearls and silk.  I don’t know if it can be called shiny.  It was actually more shimmery (like pearls).  Plus, it felt, for lack of a better description, like a mink coat. (Hopefully no one will throw paint on my hair.) 

You can get it at drugstores and it contains around 3 conditioning treatments per packet. 

Silk, pearls, and the feel of mink.  How Upper East Side.  Now all I need is a maid to yell at. 

Feel free to use the "search the web" box, to the right, to find out which stores around you carry it.

What's your favorite conditioning treatment for silky, shiny hair?

what? you don't have a hair designer?

So, the other day, a friend of mine looked like she’d just come from a visit with a celebrity hair stylist. I asked if she’d just had it cut. She said “no”. She just bought a new hair dryer called the Infiniti Hair Designer by Conair.  It comes with a brush attachment that straightens your hair as you dry it...  I didn’t even let her finish her sentence, before I ran off to CVS to buy one. 

A little background: I have naturally curly hair, but not the good, curly hair. More like my hair has the personality of a teenage girl- strong-willed and erratic. Plus, I hate my last haircut. It’s so choppy, it looks like Edward Scissorhands attacked me after he drank 10 cups of coffee.

The Hair Designer has a triple action, straightening attachment with a detangling comb, center Tourmaline Ceramic straightening plates and a polishing disc. 

If it didn’t come with an instructional DVD I probably would have injured myself.

There are 4 tension settings, so it works on anything from fine to super thick hair. 

At first, I was a bit spastic trying to find the right angle for the attachment (it rotates 360°) but once I figured it out, it was really easy to use.  You just hold the end of your hair taut, pull the dryer through it and voila. It’s straight and frizz-free. 

I forgot an umbrella one day, and my hair didn’t even frizz in the drizzle. (Didn’t mean for that to sound so Snoop Dog.)

Normally, to get my hair this sleek and straight (although it still had body) it would have taken a hair stylist 40 minutes and they would have had to put ice on their arm afterward from all the brush pulling. 

Thanks to this “hair designer”, (I’m with Conair on this one- this thing is too good to be called a “hair dryer”) I no longer have to wear my hair up in a ponytail everday that the humidity is above .02%.  Since I purchased it, I've actually received a couple of compliments on my hair, which hasn't happened since the Edward Scissorhands mauling.

My hair looks absolutely nothing like this, but it looks less unlike this than ever before.

Has anyone else tried the Infiniti Hair Designer yet?

Feel free to use the Google "search the web" box to the right, to find out where you can get it for the cheapest price.

a pill that can make you smarter and more beautiful?

It says on the “Udo’s 3.6.9 Oil Blend- Flax and Other Oils Rich in Essential Fatty Acids” bottle, that it helps support cognitive functioning.  No offense Udo’s, but if I want to improve cognitive functioning, I’ll chug an espresso. 

But what does interest me about this product, is its supposed effect on dry skin, acne, dull hair and brittle nails.

The essential fatty acids in Udo's are from plant sources- flax oil, sunflower oil, etc. (not the usual fish sources).  I take the capsule form. (I find the taste of the liquid inhospitable.)

After one month of ingesting Udo's 3.6.9 capsules, here were my findings:

Effect on skin:  It’s hard to tell. I use so many new skincare products, that I’m not sure which positive benefits can be attributed to Udo’s.  Results:  Inconclusive. (Don’t I sound scientific?)

Effect on nails:  After a month, the white flecks and slight ridges on my nails were gone.   My nails were now a shiny, light pink color with white tips.  It looked like I just buffed them and applied clear polish. But I’m lazy, so I’m pretty sure I didn’t.  

Effect on hair:  Again, it was hard to tell because I use lots of new products. Thankfully, there’s also a pet version of Udo’s. So I recruited some lovely, old assistants.  My cats.  They're getting kind of bony, and their fur has become dull and scrappy-looking in their old age.  So I thought they might benefit from the essential fatty acids in Udo’s.

Effect on fur:  Within a week of using the pet version, their fur was glossy and soft and they were shedding less.   Since they don’t use any other products (as far as I know), I’m confident it was the Udo’s. If the effect on human hair is anything like the effect on my cats' fur, this stuff works wonders.   

I swear this isn’t my cat.  My cat would smoother me to death, while I slept, if I ever did this to her.

Side note:  Udo’s 3.6.9 is also supposed to help with things like cardiovascular and thyroid health. For the past 10 years, I’ve had a thyroid condition called Hashimoto’s.  Suddenly, this year, my thyroid levels inexplicably improved, perplexing my doctor.  I believe it’s the Udo’s oil and according to this article, so too does the Ph.D. who created Udo’s. 

 
As for cognitive functioning?  All I can say is I don’t feel any dumber. 

I know Udo's is sold at Whole Foods, but feel free to use the "search the web" box to the right to find out where you can get it at the cheapest price.

the hair whisperer

So when I got my hair cut the other week, my hairdresser sprayed some styling product in before blow drying.  I didn’t even touch it.  Still, I could tell my hair was the texture of silk, just by the way the brush glided through it like Dorothy Hamill (the Olympic years, not the Ice Capades years).

I asked my hairdresser what it was and she said “It’s a 10”.  I said “Yes, but what’s it called?”  It was like a bad, Three Stooges episode, until she showed me the bottle.

Actually, the full name of this product is  “It’s a 10, Miracle Leave-In Product”.  Yes, they really did have the cojones to use both “It’s a 10” and “Miracle” in the same name. Guess “It’s a 10, Miracle Leave-In Product, So Bow Down Now Bitch”, was taken.)

This product claims to do 10 things instantly.  Things like shine, detangle, control frizz, protect from the heat of styling, seal in color, blah, blah, blah. 

I used it on half of my hair, for comparison sake.  It did make my hair slightly more silky, but the difference between the two sides wasn’t that drastic- at first.   But, as the day progressed, the “10” side stayed super silky, while the non-miracle side started to get frizzy and more coarse.  Then the next day (I didn’t wash my hair), the discrepancy between the two sides grew even bigger (both literally and figuratively).

So, for its ability to provide miraculous, long-lasting, tangle-free, frizz-free, silky, glossy, sleek hair, I'm giving this product ... an 11.   

From the brilliant film, Spinal Tap.

To find out where you can't get "It's a 10" for the cheapest price, feel free to use the search box to the right.