Preaches n' Cream

Sometimes hair gets in a rut. I colour and cut my hair at the salon on a regular basis, use great hair products and pretty much obsess over my hair at all times.

All that attention and my hair still manages to turn out a bad hair day once in a while. Typically the reason for my bad hair days is that I’m due for a colour. The annoying thing about this is that my hair colour usually looks fine, towards the 5 week point it has lightened and has a bit of that ombre effect.

It’s the texture that’s off. Colouring hair gives hair great texture and shine. I’m in hair heaven during that first week of a fresh colour. So when I saw L’oreal Shine Gloss which basically boasts salon colour results without changing your hair colour I was very intrigued. 

I bought it for about $14 at Shoppers Drug Mart and gave it a try. It was easy to use: put on hair, wait 10 minutes, wash out. 

Afterwards I gave myself a blow out and set my hair in velcro rollers.  

My hair felt a bit softer and a bit shinier, not the most impressive results, but I was thinking that if I saw this stuff on sale for like $6 I might buy it again. 

From there things turned to worse, my hair became too soft and therefore impossible to style. The more I tried the more staticky it got. My hair has not been staticky since grade 3 and turtlenecks. 

So now, even if I saw it for sale I would not buy it or recommend it. The results were minimal, and $14 for a one time use is expensive…Just double that price and buy a good deep conditioner that’ll last 6 months (if used once a week).

• One idea to keep your hair looking salon fresh is to stagger your cuts and colours. Instead of getting your hair coloured and cut at the same time, try to get your hair cut and schedule your colours in-between your next cut. This way your hair is always changing and getting freshened up; when you do it all at once it all wilts (the colour and cut) at the same time.

Back to School has me thinking about beauty habits I formed in high school and how they followed me into my adult life and the work world. 

Having important essentials stored in my high school locker got me through the day comfortably and beautifully.  

I would have never been seen with a hair out of place, oily skin or a blob of pizza sauce on my shirt; stored in a cute makeup bag in my locker would be the tools required to combat these problems if they ever occurred.

Naturally when I started working I kept this system; to me, looking beautiful and appropriate for all work scenarios is very important. Starting the day off clean and fresh is lovely, maintaining that image throughout a long day is key.  

Creating yourself a Beauty Tackle Box is a great way to get through long days and not be be foiled by beauty blunders.  

Go out and get yourself a nice makeup case or makeup bag and fill it with the following essentials:

1. Brush
2. Dry Shampoo
3. Bobby Pins
4. Nail File
5. Clear Nail polish 
6. Mascara
7. Blush
8. Highlighter
9. Make up brush kit
10. Oil Blotting Sheets (industrial toilet paper used in most offices doubles as a great oil blotter)
11. Lip Gloss
12. Toothbrush, Toothpaste & Floss
13. Hand Moisturizer
14. Fashion Tape (to fix fallen hems or a gap between your breasts on a button up shirt)
15. Nude Pantyhose
16. Black Cardigan
17. Pair of flats
18. Tide Stick

*A great way to collect some of these essentials is through cosmetic “Gift With Purchases”, they always come with a nice makeup bag and travel sized cosmetics. 

**Sephora also gives away little samples with purchases, those samples come in handy stored in your desk. 

It may seem like a tonne of stuff to store in your desk at work; it may even take up one whole drawer, but it will help you feel fresh and pretty throughout the day and rather than worrying about a bad hair day, your breath smelling like your lunch or dark circles under your eyes come midday you can concentrate on your actual job and meeting clients or talking to VPs: where it’s important to be especially presentable. 

I’m paraphrasing here: Legend has it that Elizabeth Arden had a barn fire and her prize winning horse was injured and burned in the fire. Elizabeth went to the lab and created a salve to heal the burns, and it worked, amazingly well. 8 hour cream was born.

 I was originally introduced to this stuff about 10 years ago when working part-time at the Elizabeth Arden counter in Sears. I’d never heard of it, it smelled funny and was like a sticky vaseline. However; it had a hardcore cult following of older ladies and mothers who would use this stuff on dry skin, burns, rashes. 

 I have since adopted this product and literally use it on e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. It’s the best lipgloss ever; creating a shiny protected lip that looks great (you cannot kiss with this stuff, it tastes a bit gross). It’s an amazing cuticle cream, it is a bit messy, so you need the smallest amount and probably want to use it in the comfort of your home because stuff sticks to it. Dry heels? Slap this on, put some sock on and go to bed; your feet will feel lovely in the morning. Literally any skin oddities get the horse cream treatment from me. 

 A tube is about $25 and it last forever (a year or more) I use it constantly for everything and I think I’ve only had to buy it 4 times in 10 years. It’s so worth buying and adding to your beauty basics arsenal.