How To: Keep Your Long Hair Fun & Healthy for Summer!

How To: Keep Your Hair Fun & Healthy for Summer!

Today I'm working in conjunction with Brooke Elise on this haircare How To! We've both got a few tips and tricks for keeping your hair type healthy and happy. Personally, I've got super long (almost to my butt) naturally blonde hair - so I'll be telling you what I do!

Stay away from the hot tools!

This is my natural hair! (and natural curl)

No seriously - it may look awesome for like a second but it ends up damaging the hair more. If you want to style your hair try the blow dryer on cool, braids, or rollers!

Speaking of braids...

They will become your best friend, and are practically a necessity if you want manageable hair. A braid is also a super cute hairstyle and is perfect for windy days. I personally braid my hair every night before bed - sleeping with your hair loose just creates tangles and a mess to brush through in the morning. Also - use a metal free hair tie. I bought a pack of 100 at the dollar store!

Find the perfect brush/comb

Personally, I use a wide tooth comb and a tangle teezer to brush my hair. I also own a wet brush that I never actually use in the shower anymore - but dry when my tangle teezer is no where to be found. The wide tooth comb is a shower staple when I've got conditioner in my hair to make sure that the conditioner gets in every nook and cranny.

Washing your Hair

Now I know everyone is weird on hair washing, and we all have our own system. But I'll tell you mine - I was my hair MAYBE once or twice a week. I don't have super greasy hair although it definitely can get that way, it just depends mainly on how sweaty I get during those inbetween days. I use a moisturizing shampoo too - I know there is all this chemistry behind shampoos but I'm gonna be honest, I buy my shampoo and conditioner at Sams club. (which is a wholesaler) So I've got a very large shampoo and conditioner pump sitting in my shower.

Conditioning your Hair

This is going to sound weird probably, but I always apply conditioner to the ends of my hair first. I feel like this is the part of my hair that is most fragile and I will apply a large portion of moisturizing conditioner there before anything else. My hair is also long enough that I pull it up in a bun of its own while I shave/wash my body and the last thing I do before I get out of the shower is wash conditioner out. I always end up letting my hair air dry as well.

Stay away from permanent color!

This is kind of a no brainer - peroxide based hair colors damage hair. Long hair is sensitive and you need to be gentle with it. But I've used demi/semi permanent colors on my long hair before with no repercussions. (I prefer using brands like Manic Panic)

Be Gentle!

No seriously - have patience and be gentle. It may take up some time of your morning- but it'll be worth it in the long run!

Stalk me?

Twitter & Bloglovin & Facebook & Instagram & Tumblr

How To: Dress for Graduation

How To: Dress for Graduation

I'm just gonna drop a couple tips & tricks that I used for graduation and pass them on. Graduation is an exciting time for everyone - no matter what you're graduating from! I recently (May 1st) just received my bachelors degree in computer engineering and wanted to share a few tips and tricks for how I picked out my dress for graduation. Remember: there will be a TON of pictures taken - so I opted to go for timeless rather than trendy!

1. Pick a conservative, but fun and young dress!

You're not an old lady! Pick a dress that is age appropriate and is a proper length. You want a dress that is young and looks cute with your friends, but also looks appropriate when you take photos with your professors and family. I personally chose a sleeveless dress because I graduated in the spring, but if graduating in the fall just watch that your sleeves don't peek out of your gown! Also - if you've got some large ladies like I do - find a dress that accentuates them but doesn't put them all out there on display! Nothing worse than feeling like your boob may fall out at any minute or having that one lecherous professor staring at them in photos.

Also - consider the color of your gown when graduating and choose your dress accordingly! My gown was navy for graduation so it pretty much let me run the gambit on what color I wanted to wear. I opted for a black and white a-line print dress with cross back paired with a cute yellow belt and black shoes. PS: A dress with pockets is a major plus!

My dress the day I got it!

I picked this cute dress by ELLE at Kohls!

Also: (and this is a personal opinion) Do not wear a maxi or high-low dress! It peeks out from under your gown and just looks weird. You can't see the top half of the dress so all people see is the bottom of the dress and they have no idea whats going on and it just looks like a flowy weird gown extension!