You know Nair.

That smelly white cream you put on your face for 3 minutes every couple of weeks to keep the girlstache away? That stuff that can burn your face off if you don’t wipe it in time? That stuff you hate?

Well, they’re coming after your little sisters.

In an all-new advertising campaign, Nair is targeting “first-time hair removers”—girls ages 10-15.

With a sparkly new bottle and two new scents, kiwi and peach (which, I’m assuming, smells exactly like every other Nair scent: sh*tty), “Nair Pretty” is all about enticing girls without much hair to take off every spare stub.

“I am a citizen of the world,” the bottle proudly states. “I am a dreamer. I am fresh. I am so not going to have stubs sticking out of my legs.”

While I’m not convinced there’s a direct correlation between hairy legs and having no dreams, the marketers behind “Nair Pretty” seem pretty sure that they’re doing a monumental good in the lives of little girls everywhere. Read More »

After rocking a boy-cut shag à la Natalie Imbruglia’s early career for two years, I started to get long-hair lust. Everywhere I went, long hair mocked me. Layers, shags, straight, curly; it all taunted me.

Back when I had long hair down to my waist, I was a tomboy. My morning hair routine consisted of making a ponytail. But now that my beauty regime has stepped up a few notches, I’m lacking a few feet of hair and experiencing Phantom Hair Syndrome.

And so a couple of months ago, I made an important decision. I would stay away from the scissors and begin the painful and arduous journey of growing my hair. Any woman that has undertaken this task knows what a commitment it is.

It means bad hair days, awkward flyaway hair, and all too often, a few weeks in the growing-out period where hair shape is frighteningly mullet-like.

I’ve experienced it all and believe me, it hasn’t been pretty. But I’ve picked up some tricks along the way that have kept me from taking the kitchen scissors to my locks in a fit of hair-rage.

Here’s how to grow out short hair and stay sane and chic:

1. Stock up on thick headbands and hair scarves. Think Lauren Conrad’s signature headband look, sans about a foot of hair. The pop of fabric on a short crop looks très cute and is perfect for holding down hair that starts sticking up in an alarming fashion.

2. Cut bangs. When the state of my hair was getting hopeless, I grabbed a pair of sharp scissors and a comb, and cut blunt bangs into the grown-out side fringe I had already. If you don’t have a steady hand or don’t have bangs at all right now, head to a stylist. Bangs will spice up your look, and you can keep trimming them yourself while the rest of your hair grows out. Read More »

Maybe she’s born with it, but for me, it’s definitely Maybelline. Like most women, I don’t even think about how many beauty products, from face wash to perfume, I layer on every day. Something I’ve given even less thought to is what’s in my products—until I found Kaia House.

Jumping on the organic bandwagon a little late, I just discovered Kaia House, the foremost source for organic skin and beauty care. Kaia House focuses on banishing the use over of harmful petrochemicals, parabens and other skin offenders, and offers 20 lines of premium organic and natural products including celeb-trendy Osea, Perfect Organics, Red Flower, and Biotique.

But when it comes to beauty products, is going out of your way to buy organic really worth it? Absolutely, according to Kaia House. And after reading their extensive list of un-safe (and common) chemicals that should be avoided when purchasing beauty products, I think I’m a convert.

Read up on the dangers lurking in your makeup bag and then head to KaiaHouse.com for a more comprehensive list. Your skin will thank you! Read More »

A lot has changed in a year: world conflicts, the senate majority, Lindsay Lohan’s rehab status (oh wait), but most importantly – my hair. Those cherished dead follicles that most every girl protects (or rather, harms) are essential to my well-being for any day. If my hair looks like crap, I feel like crap. I totally 100% believe the story from the Bible about Sampson’s hair being his strength. Once that chick cut it off, what happened? He was captured by his enemy who then gouged out his eyes and forced him into manual slave labor (thank you, private Christian middle school!).

Needless to say, I take my hair very seriously. Any haircut or dye job I get is agonized over and meditated on for days. Once the deed is done, it’s another week of roller coaster emotions for me. “I love it!” “UGH! I HATE IT!” “It’s still got a good length.” “OH MY GOD, NO ONE WEARS THEIR HAIR THIS SHORT!”

You get the picture.

My BFF from Leeds calls my constant state of conflict over my hair, “the big stress.” She would know. She has bleached, cut, and extended her hair more times than I can count. Actually, it was due to her prodding that I went mostly blonde last year, a huge step for a strawberry blonde like me who until then had only lightly highlighted my golden curls (and even that was tentatively as all my hair stylists swoon over my natural color and scowl when I ask them to change it). Read More »

Why the HELL didn’t I think of this?! I can’t even explain how many times I’ve left my dorm room with great hair only to arrive at the bar with a frizzy, poufy mess. Many miserable hair nights could’ve been avoided if only us Americans would’ve come up with this brilliant design first.

The Straight Up hair straightener vending machine is the latest craze in the U.K., thanks to Scottish entrepreneurs Neil Mackay and Richard Starrett, founders of Beautiful Vending. These machines have popped up in more than 700+ clubs, bars, gyms and shopping centers around the United Kingdom, with interest coming in from everywhere from New York to New Zealand (they hope to enter the U.S. market later this year). Read More »

So we all know how expensive dying our hair is. And when you’re in college, it really sucks to have to shell out $200 every three to six months to get your roots re-touched and highlights re-done at an expensive salon. As a highlighted blonde myself, I’ve discovered a few (cheap) products that can help extend time between colorings.

Paul Mitchell’s Color Protect Shampoo is great for the daily washing of color-treated hair. It gently cleanses while adding strength, elasticity and body and contains sunscreens to extend the life and longevity of your hair’s color. Read More »

I’ve always been a fan of John Mayer, and I’m not ashamed to say it. There’s just something about him, his rhaspy voice, his sick guitar skills and his clever wit that gets me all hot n’ bothered.

Let’s face it: he’s a great songwriter and that fact has pretty much stayed the same since he hit the music scene hard in 2001. It’s his appearance that has changed over the years, and since we’re all a bit superficial here, (some more than others) let me indulge you in the physical transformation of John Mayer that all seems to center itself around one little feature – hair.

When his popularity first grew circa Room for Squares he was clean-cut and clean-shaven – total preppy, total gel-head, total HOTTIE.

With Heavier Things, he got a little grungier, let the doo grow out a bit, rocked the blazer look, and yet, still hot.

Then, he met Jessica. Thus began John’s confusing, downward spiral into this, which has left me saddened beyond belief. It’s just bananas how much hair can totally change a person’s appearance, and sometimes, for the worse. Read More »

Kids, the year is 2007. Lindsay’s doing blow on camera, Paris is going to jail and people are actually dying their own pubic hair. Personally, I know very few people who even keep their pubic hair anymore but this product from Betty Beauty is anything but ordinary.

According to the website, the founder was in Rome and saw a hairstylist slyly slip a bag of a little extra hair dye to a woman and whisper “Per sotto, per farli combaciare” which translates to “for the hair down there…to make it match.” After reading the story, I figured that this would appeal most to someone who might be going grey down there (mental image of the Sex and the City episode where Samantha dyes her pubes and they end up orange) so I decided to ask my mom about the product to get her thoughts.

Now mind you, my mother is a total hippie-at-heart (the woman only wears a bra from the hours of 9-5) and after being asked what she thought about the idea of women actually dying their pubic hair, she responded “eww, gross, WHO would do that?!” Read More »

It’s Cinco de Mayo! What better time for beach and alcohol-inspired beauty products galore?

Lips:

Avon Glazewear Extreme has ultra high shine and is enriched with Vitamins A, C and E to moisturize lips…try Sangria to get a good Cinco de Mayo buzz going on your way to class.

Stila’s mixed up some special cocktail-inspired glosses for Cinco de Mayo. There are three different shades with names like Pina Colada, Spiced Rum and Daiquiri…and yes, they taste and smell as delicious as they sound. Read More »

Need a little entertainment while waiting for class to start? Well, Redken has partnered up with Vogue magazine to create weekly podcasts featuring the top Spring 2007 hair trends straight off the runway.

Each week a new podcast will go live on redken.com featuring one new hair style. The podcasts include quotes from the infamous Vogue Beauty Director Sarah Brown, backstage segments with Redken’s creative consultant, Guido Palau, and in-salon segments with steps to create the looks you see with Redken artist and salon owner, Rodney Cutler. Log on now to take a look at the first hair trend – “Bejewled.”

So now I have another reason to put off studying for finals …