Styling My New Cut | Two Ways

WhatIWore: Since starting my new hair regimen (I’m about 3 weeks in!), I’ve been playing around a lot with second day hair. In the past, I would have hid under a hat or pulled it into a pony tail but now I’m finding it actually almost looks better on the next day! Plus it’s a lot of time to wash, dry and style it and it’s damaging to strip away all of those good oils too often. 

Today I had a little extra time to style my hair and this is how I think I’ll wear it for New Year’s Eve. A little bigger, a little more bouncy. Not sure what our plans are this year, but if the past is any indication, I’ll be snoozing by midnight. We’ll probably just have dinner at a friend’s house and go low key. That said, I’ll still take the opportunity to spend more time on myself before we head out the door. 

Click through to see how I did it!

For soft curls…SEE THE VIDEO HERE!

In short:

• Full Shampoo and Full Condition hair as normal
  
• Towel dry and spritz on prime style extender spray
  
• Blow dry completely.
  
• Divide top layers from bottom.
  
• Use a 1″ barrel curling iron in smallish sections, curling hair away from the face
  
• Twist each section while it’s hot to give it a little more curl
• Give it a spritz of hairspray and let down the top section of hair.
  
• Curl in same method as bottom layers.
  
• Lastly I flat iron my bangs to give them the slightest round shape
• Lightly finger comb it out.
  
• Give it one final spray and off you go!
  

Now! How I’ve been playing around with second day hair…

SEE THE VIDEO FOR MY SECOND DAY HAIR HERE

After a late(ish) night out, the next morning I often want to just get myself to the diner STAT and don’t spend more than 10 minutes to get dressed and do my hair and makeup (plus I have a toddler to chase!) Here’s how I revived my second day hair:

• Brush it well BEFORE you go to bed to help spread any natural oil down the hair shaft.
  
• In the morning, divide hair in sections and spray Perfect Hair Day dry shampoo at the roots. Let it sit for a bit and then brush your hair again. I like to flip upside down when I do this so I it looks a little poofy when I flip back up, but I love the volume!
  
• Next I brush it back into place and finger comb it so it’s not one perfect smooth section. A little messy is good!
  
• Now I take my bangs from the side (and grab a few strands of longer hair) and create a little braid. I give that a light spritz and pin it to the side. 
  
• Ta da! A cute, easy way to style without plopping on a big ol’ hat. 

Heads up! This post is the second in a series with my sponsors Living Proof. They’ve provided me with all of the product so I can share the results with you. 

In Pursuit of the Perfect Hair Day

Not too long ago, I wrote how I was having some seasonal blues and just not feeling myself. I usually find that switching things up - like with my hair - can be part of a jump start to feeling better about myself, which can domino into my day to day being better too! 

The winter does weird things to my hair. It’s baby fine and has the ability to feel dry and greasy at the same time. Limp and unable to hold a style. Just yuck. Not too long ago I had the brilliant idea of cleaning out my stash of random shampoos and using them all up. Spoiler Alert: It was a bad idea. I found myself having day after day of gross hair days (and a lot of hat head because when in doubt, just cover it up). With a hair appointment on the calendar weeks way, I decided to start the change at home. Luckily, the fine folks at Living Proof asked if I wanted to sample their line and because it’s fancy fancy (and grounded in science), I thought to myself Hell. Yes. 

First I needed to pick out what I thought would fix this rats’ nest best. I used their ‘Your Best Hair’ product selector tool to select the right products. Gimme soft volume! Help extend my style longer than a day! 

A few days later, my little box of goodies, courtesy of Living Proof, arrived at my doorstep. Luckily my in laws had just rolled into town to watch Felix so what did I do? Run errands? Go on a date? No! I wanted to wash my hair! I used the Full Shampoo and Conditioner and once it was towel dried off, the prime style extender spray. I took my time blow drying and gave the final ‘do a light spritz of the flex shaping hairspray. All night I couldn’t stop touching my hair. It felt thicker, but still silky (but not slinky if that makes any sense?)

That night I found myself talking about… hair textures (because, what else do you talk about at Holiday parties?!?) and this gal said to me something along the lines of “well you have thick hair!” to which I replied “no! I just have new shampoo!!”

Then a couple of days later, my butcher of all people complimented me. “Did you do something new with your hair? It looks really good!” And that was on my second day after a wash too (yay dry shampoo!)

So last Friday, I took my healthy head of hair down to my stylist and this is the result! I love the balyage highlights and the shorter length. I think it’ll look really cute peeping out of winter knit hats and work both straight and with more texture. 

I’ve read the rave reviews of Living Proof online I’m eager to add my full experience once I’ve given everything a longer test run. They’re definitely an investment, but that reminds me of something my mom taught me as a teenager - it’s better to put time and effort into your hair and makeup with a plain tee shirt and a pair of jeans than to wear a ball gown and not try at all. See also: You’re never fully dressed without a smile!  

As with any new cut, I’m still practicing with the style, but I really like the way it actually feels - like I was born with a head of thick, full hair! 

Heads up! This post has been a collaboration with Living Proof. Thanks for supporting the brands that make What I Wore possible!