So, though I've made a pact (which I broke yesterday but I've reestablished today) with myself to not blow-dry my hair more than once a week (T_T), it goes without saying that I love styling hair. I like styling it, specifically blow-drying it. I do try styles and stuff but I'm not as committed to stuff like that as I am to Sarah, my love and first ever blow-dryer. Oh, here is a pic of her!
Beautiful, isn't she? I missed her all semester and now I miss her again since I'm banned from using her till... the 13th or after that. Oh wells, maybe I'll blow-dry my sister's hair this weekend or something.
But yeah, in terms of this blow-dryer: It's the Conair Ion Shine 1875 Styler 146P
It's important to note that with hair and skin (as well as most things actually...), there aren't many one size fits all options. But especially with hair and skin, we can categorize them to make it easier to address a lot of different people's concerns but that only increases the likelihood that that solution will work for you not that it always does. I've found that some stuff that people say is amazing is terrible for me and stuff that people hate works wonders for me. Does that mean that those people are lying? No, it means that I'm not a clone of them. My hair and skin have their own personality and while you can and should use people's reviews of stuff as a tool to help you pick products you like, you should expect that you, like a scientist (geekiness alert!), are going to be one more person who tests this theory and either confirms it's truth or add to its margin of error.
That said, here's my opinion of this blow-dryer (which I purchased by reading positive and negative reviews on Amazon.com. I can do a post on how I effectively use Amazon.com reviews if anyone wants, shout it in the comments).
Pros: It's my one true love- I'm kidding, I'll be serious and objective here.
It's quick.
My hair is pretty thick; I avoid volume products because I just don't want more volume. As my sister puts it, it's a mane. And while Simba looks awesome with a mane, I'm not a lion (though I really CAN'T wait to be King). But, even in the beginning of my hair styling adventures, it dried my hair super quickly. 5-10 minutes tops.
Using the High setting on Warm does leave your hair shiny.
Why am I being so specific? Because I've used the low setting exactly once because it was nighttime and my parents would probably wake up and kill me if I used the louder high setting. The hot setting I never use because it'd burn my scalp off. Besides the warm works wonderfully. But the point is, I've found that when I'm done, even without brushes my hair is left very shiny.
Cool shot button (in blue in the above picture)
This is basically a continuation of the above mentioned but it seals the deal. Or the shininess for that matter.
Attachments
The blow-dryer comes with both a concentrator and a diffuser. If you're not sure who those people are, this one is a concentrator:
And this is a diffuser:
I do not recommend blow-drying without an attachment. Attachments help direct the flow of the air. Without the attachments you have hot air blowing everywhere and it's just sort of insane. At least for me. The concentrator I use for straighter styles and blowouts and the diffuser I use for wavy and curly hair styles. Both have served me pretty well though I haven't mastered using the diffuser yet unless that's all there is to it, heh.
The filter is easy to clean.
Literally, the cover swivels off the back and you can take the filter off and remove the dust or vacuum it if you're obsessive. Or use a lint roller. I'm obsessive, I would know. But I usually just take the dust off by hand, it's not too difficult. Anyhow, here's some pictures of how it swivels...
It's not heavy.
At all. The only time my arm gets tired is when I'm using a round brush on that irritating hair on the crown. You have to pull it upwards and then it falls and you have to gather it up again and... it's not that irritating but I hate blow-drying the crown hair. It is not worthy of a King. Or a Queen in this case. Or a crown. Okay enough dorkiness.
It manages to pull off amazing results with any experiment I throw at it.
This can be because of other factors as well but keep in mind, I got this blow-dryer in September. It was my first blow-dryer and prior to then I had never blow-dried my hair except once in a hotel bathroom out of curiosity. The results of which were 'WTF?'. So it's been about 9 months of learning and experimentation. Yet I have yet to finish my blow-drying session with my hair frazzled or even unhappy with it. I've ended up with a result other than what I was aiming for, yes, but my hair has never looked fried or well... busted. Maybe it's not the blow-dryer that's doing this but I'd like to think it plays a part. Because it's not like I have the world's most easy to manage hair. It likes to resemble a yield sign if I don't foil it's evil plans. Or it decides that it's going to do different things on each side of my head. I mean, my best friend compared it to teenagers when the parents are out of town. "House party! Woooo!" Yeah, that, all the time.
Cons: That is one short cord, my love.
Yeah, kind of awkward if your plug outlet is I don't know, wedged between the dresser and the heater? One side of your head is always getting less lovin' and that is not something you want on your conscience. And I don't like blow-drying in the bathroom because there's always some puddle of water on the counter and dying by blow-dryer is not one of my goals in life, thanks. If there's less water then I'll wipe it up but my room is a better choice since I have access to all my products and brushes, etc. in case I forget something.
Yeah that's the only thing I dislike really. As for noise, it's not a pro or con since I'm not annoyed about it but it's not anything legendary. It's not like an airplane and it's not like a negligible hum. If it was, you know I'd be blow-drying at night.
There's been a lot of talk on Youtube (my #1 source for hair tips/techniques!) about getting expensive blow-dryers and "drugstore" dryers sucking. I have only tried this blow dryer so I can't give any conclusive opinion on this. My blow-dryer is a drugstore dryer. I use it. I've tried it on other people, all with thick hair, two with curly hair and it's served me extremely well. But this is of course only my experience. I can't say for other drugstore dryers or even this blow-dryer in other hands.
Moving on, Tools:
I got this a while ago, possibly and likely from Duane Reade, I think it's made by Goody and I'm probably right. It's from a drugstore, who else would it be made by? But this is pretty simple. It detangles hair. I use it usually only when my hair is wet or after some types of blow-drying. No complaints but I mean a sucky detangling comb is a sad thing indeed because how can you screw that up?
Haha, behold my Conman. It's not a Denman, it's a Conman as it's made by Conair :D. It's pretty small but I've found getting a big one wouldn't make too much of a difference since this works pretty well for me. I really like this brush though I can't actually identify one reason why. When I use it, my hair looks good. My nieces like this brush because it does the same for them. It's also good for flipping your ends out or in. I once used it to blow-dry and it made my hair straight but with very beautiful waviness on the ends. It's one of my favorite unexpected results so far from blow-drying.
I got this one at Jack's. If you're in NYC, hit up Jack's. Best 99 cents store ever (though this brush was 2 or 3 bucks, I think). 32nd Street between 6th and 7th I think... There's another one up in the 40's. Google is your friend. But anyway, I like this brush, I have no complaints. I use it a lot to blow-dry and it always gives me good results. It doesn't pull or tear your hair unless you're doing something weird. Happened to me once so far where I got stuck and yeah I did something weird. It's pretty nice looking and the wood handle is pretty cool. It has some grippy things on the sides which I have no real opinion about.
I got this one on Sunday from Walmart. I know, how sad. Moms dragged me there with her so I was like, since I'm here and I need one of these, might as well get it. I dislike Walmart. Though if I ever find out that Target is guilty of similar behavior, I'll be so depressed. I love Target. But since I just got this I can't say much about it. I used it to blow-dry yesterday and it was nice. I definitely like the size. I haven't used it while dry, again, because once my hair is dry I do not brush or comb it. But I have high hopes for this one since it seems promising.
I actually noticed that only a couple of days ago. These aren't cute little Bobby pins, they're big Daddy Bob pins. Haha. These are nice because they don't pull my hair and they slide on and off. I did manage to stretch one of them to the point that it does not hold hair well but I don't know how I did that since the rest have been used a billion times without any damage. I usually use these to pin hair at the end of a blowout (the results of which are adorable, by the way) though I also use them to pin hair away from my face. And as you can see they are 1.99 at Eve Beauty Supply in Soho. Just look for the yellow store squashed between two clothing stores (I think?). It's on the end of Soho closer to Chinatown.
These are awesome. I use them to section and clip hair out of the way. I got the idea from the first Blow-out video I ever watched and that one was on Stylecaster done by Blow, the New York Blow-dry Bar. My style has changed since then and is now a combination of a lot of different tips and techniques I learned mostly from Youtube and personal experience but this video did help start me up. Maybe I should watch it again, heh. But yeah, as she says in the video, they have amazing hold.
Love this stuff. I picked some up from the health food store near my school and it is amaaaazing. I use it for hair and for my skin. I've transferred a bit to a spray bottle I had for body oil. For my hair, I spritz maybe one and a half spritzes of this stuff on my hand and then work it through my hair focusing more on the ends and then rubbing the rest on the roots. I usually do this before blow-drying since thanks to its incredibly high smoke point, avocado oil is an amazing heat protectant. It makes my hair unbelievably soft and shiny. Like, there should be a warning: will cause excessive hair fondling. I used to hate oil because well... it's oily. But this oil is not greasy and doesn't leave your hair nor your skin greasy. It leaves it soft and you don't look like Snape after using it. Though I do use only one or two spritzes for my hair. Some people will need more of course depending how moisture hungry your hair is. This isn't a skincare post but I do use this as a sunblock/moisturizer/cleanser. Sounds weird, huh? Well, it protects your skin as well as it protects your hair from your blow-dryer. What I do is take a spritz and a half and massage it on to my face after washing my face with warm/hot water. Then I rinse it with lukewarm water. You can't tell that I just "washed" my face with oil because... simply, this oil is awesome. My skin is soft, not dried out like it gets with other cleansers, and protected from the sun. And yes you can wash your face with oil. It doesn't clog your pores and removes dirt as well as makeup.
This was a birthday present from my best friend and it literally changed my whole attitude about my hair. Before using this shampoo, I used Dove. Sulfates, anyone? I literally could not pull my hands through my hair, and this is back when I had super straight silky hair. It tangled extremely easy and I had a LOT of it. I was just not into my hair, I didn't like it nor it's length. I didn't know what to do with it honestly since I felt it was too long to leave out. Ironically enough, now I'm waiting for it to grow again. Back then I paid no attention to it so I probably didn't realize how long it took to grow. I never had it cut too much anyway so it was always long and it grew back quickly. Now I pay a lot of attention to it so I do notice that it takes time to grow not to mention it has a lot more to grow now. Before, my hair was never this short so it just went from long to longer. It's going to take me a year I'm guessing to get it as long as I want. But anyhow, after I started using this shampoo, hand through hair became possible and I was amazed. Whoa, this is possible? Apparently. My hair clearly didn't enjoy being dried out. It just fell nicer and it looked nicer. And so I started paying more attention to my hair and learning new things to do with it so now when my hair is longer, it's going to be a lot of fun :) This shampoo has a nice texture, it cleans very well and you feel very fresh afterwards. I might pick up the moisturizing one instead since this (sadly) has run out and I'm currently out of a shampoo. The only complaint I have is that ridiculous cap. It's a friggin ball and when your hands are wet and slippery and you're trying to pour shampoo in your free hand to use, it's a little awkward. I tend to drop it while trying to screw it back on one-handed but then again some people claim I remind them of the force of gravity. I'm glad I do. Someone needs to take care of that.
This is a newer addition. Couple of months old I think. I got it after I gave my Nature's Gate Henna Conditioner to my sister since she liked it. I like this conditioner, it smells very nice and doesn't take 8 billion years to rinse out (like certain Henna Conditioners I know, cough *Nature's Gate* cough). It makes your hair very smooth which is nice. Again my complaint with this one has to do with the bottle. I have to turn it upside down and slap it and squeeze the bottle beforehand so that when I open it, something will come out. And this has been since day one :O. Sometimes I'm literally losing my mind trying to get the damn conditioner out of the bottle. I'm thinking of suggesting that to the company. Good conditioner, bottle = bad idea! There are some parabens at the bottom of the ingredient list which I hadn't noticed before which is not cool but ok. I am not going to get this again as it was expensive and I didn't see why since cheaper brands do similar things but it was fun to try it.
UPDATE: This does not have parabens, sorry, I was confusing it with another product lol. I should not post when I'm tired :O
I need more of this stuff! Currently, the bottle is being used to hold salt water in it but I need to get more. I like this stuff. It smells extremely good and it works well. It makes your hair shiny and smooths it down. It has at times made my hair feel a little crunchy which is not good but it's all in how much you use and how. It's one of those products which I'm really unsure what they do but they just do everything. That's literally how I used it. I had any issue with my hair, I sprayed this in and went from there and it worked well. It is a heat protectant so I used to spray it on before blow-drying. I haven't really tried it with a diffuser which is its main purpose so maybe I should next time. On my shopping list.
SO... On a more personal note. I am leaving at the end of the month for vacation with my family so the blog will be on hiatus for 3 weeks. I'm a little sad about that since I posted after a month and so this is going to be short-lived. I will post a lot in the next few weeks but my posting plans for the month of July are canceled. I do promise to take a lot of pictures and do an awesome post when I get back. I will also, I believe, keep updating the twitter, but I'm not 100% sure about internet and stuff yet. Aw, I'm already missing blogging and my silent readers, heh. Much love.
Okay, so... this post took 2 hours. OMG. Later!
2 comments:
I felt special when I saw the shampoo I gave you mentioned :)
But OMG yesssss, that stupid ball! I kept dropping it on my foot this morning in the shower :(
You are special! <3
aww, poor foot! but specifically on your foot? I've never managed to have that good aim in my klutziness. With me it usually falls randomly on the bottom of the tub with a loud clunk and my parents are probably rolling their eyes somewhere in their room :O
Post a Comment