My best friend came up to visit me at school once and ended up meeting a guy at a party.  She went home with him and amidst hooking up, said: “it’s not me, it’s you.” Harsh. Anyways, shortly thereafter, this guy, now with a seriously bruised ego, encountered me at another party.  Recalling that I was her friend, he took out his frustration on me. With a cup of beer.  That he poured from a porch. Onto my head.

While at first I was angry that this unfortunate boy was taking out his anger on me ruined my straight hair that I spent an hour on, I now know better. After some research on natural beauty remedies, I learned that beer actually adds volume to hair!  This guy wasn’t trying to hurt me; he was trying to help me out!  His glass was empty, but I’m choosing to look at the situation as a glass-half full kind of thing.

Who knew that beer was helpful for more than getting drunk?  Actually though, it turns out that lots of food and beverage products are quick fixes for hair and skin problems.  Spend 5 minutes looking through your pantry or fridge and you’re sure to find some ingredients that could improve your beauty problem areas.  Below are some super simple ingredients and what they can help you fix.  Save money, be natural, and be beautiful?

Win-win-win. Read More »

There’s nothing I love more than summer, and sometimes my hair agrees.  I love the waves that salt water puts in my hair, and the fact that I can just throw it up and go out.  But what I don’t love is the greasiness and frizziness that accompanies the excessive heat.  If I’m not looking over-gelled like Danny in Grease, then I have a minor fro going on comparable to a clown.

Shockingly, neither of these are good looks.

But what am I supposed to do? If I let my hair go naturally, it blows up Monica-Gellar-goes-to-Hawaii-style. But if I add product, my hair becomes a slick, oily mess.  One summer problem would be enough; dealing with both of these can be tricky.  Luckily, I’ve devoted lots of time to fixing this problem before the heat sets in this summer and I’ve found some products that can help tame these heinous summer looks.

Control the Oil:

Shampoo: Oily hair is actually caused by an oily scalp.  Your scalp produces sebum (oil) and it transfers to your locks.  So when you are looking for a shampoo to combat the oil, you want one that will control the root of the problem.  Shampoos labeled “Sebo-control” are designed to remove the oil from your scalp, like this shampoo from L’Oreal. After lather/rinse/repeating with it, I’ve noticed that the grease stays away longer, especially when hair is straight.

To Condition or Not to Condition: If your hair is only mildly oily and you want to condition, make sure you don’t condition the roots of your hair.  If your hair is especially oily, condition only twice a week and just apply a small amount of conditioner to the ends. Read More »

As if you needed another reason to just roll out of bed in the morning, throw on an outfit, and run out the door. Well now, you can feel really good about skipping your morning shower. Why? Because doing so could actually be helping to save the environment!

You don’t say!

Greasy hair is good, according to a University of Missouri study. After exposing eight washed and eight unwashed hair samples to ozone for 24 hours, researchers discovered that unwashed hair absorbs around seven times as much ozone as freshly washed hair. This is most likely because the ozone reacts with oils in the hair.

What does reducing the ozone mean to you (in case saving the environment isn’t enough)? The less ozone you breathe in, the lower your risk of having respiratory problems is. According to one of the researchers, “For dirty hair, the ozone concentration around the head is likely to be substantially lower than the level in the room.” Read More »