1. Yuko Kokoro G Shampoo
2. Yuko Phi-Ten Bella Treatment (I actually buy this bigger jar of it)
3. Yuko Repair Through
4. Aveda Damage Remedy Daily Hair Repair
5. KMS Silk Sheen Leave-In Conditioner
6. Bumble & Bumble Thickening Hairspray
7. Bumble & Bumble Styling Creme
8. Bumble & Bumble Surf Spray
9. Oscar Blandi Pronto Dry Shampoo

I’ve received a lot of super nice responses lately about my hair – thanks so much guys! …but I must admit, I’m guilty of a lot of hair don’t‘s like sleeping with it in a pony tail (sometimes), brushing/combing it when it’s wet and fragile, constantly heat styling it at the highest temperature my tools will allow me to, etc. Because of these bad habits, and the simple fact that my hair is long, I’m constantly plagued by split ends so I’m in no way claiming my hair is in great condition. I abuse the heck out of it! I do, however, try to counteract this abuse with some pretty awesome products that I’ve found and fallen in love with over the years – all by trial and error.

I know what you’re probably thinking when you look at the image above – this girl is crazy, she uses all of this? No, well, I mean I do but not all at the same time, I promise! 😉 I use a combination of them at different times for different situations. The first four, Yuko’s shampoo, treatment, and repair spray along with the Aveda leave-in conditioner, were recommended to me by one of my favorite LA hair salons (Taka Salon on Sawtelle Blvd.) and I’ve been in love with these ever since. They are definitely what I try to use regularly to battle the dreaded split ends and have found that they work amazingly well!

My typical routine:

Using Yuko’s Kokoro G, I shampoo the roots of my hair – meaning just applying it to my scalp or basically top 1/3 of my hair then rinse. I then apply Yuko’s Phi-Ten Bella Treatment to the rest down to my ends and leave it in as long as I can while I do everything else (shave/soap up etc) before rinsing it out. After I towel dry my hair, I spray it thoroughly with Yuko’s Repair Through to condition and as a heat protectant. Then, I squeeze a nickel sized drop of Aveda’s Damage Remedy into the palm of my hands and work it onto the tips of my hair (those aforementioned split-ends). This is my typical routine. Sometimes I air dry my hair after, sometimes I blow dry it, but regardless, I try to do all of this regularly. When I do, I always notice my hair is much healthier looking and the split-ends are less apparent!

The extras:

One of our best friends did the photography for KMS’s latest products a while back and gave me a bunch of their items to try out afterwards. KMS’s Silk Sheen has been a must have for me ever since. It gives my hair an amazing healthy shine with absolutely no grease or oily feel. I spray it onto my hands and work it through my hair (mostly the top layers, any visible areas). I do this sometimes before I blow dry or other times after I style everything because it emphasizes the layers and/or curls.

I’ve used the Bumble and Bumble Thickening Spray and Styling Creme ever since we lived in San Diego (when I used to regularly visit our go-to salon there called Disconnected). I love these two for awesome volume and heat styling. I spray the Thickening Spray around the crown of my head and then squeezing about a nickel or quarter sized drop of the Styling Creme into the palm of my hands and work it around my roots and the crown of my head. When I use these, I always blow dry upside-down. A trick I use regularly is to blow dry upside-down on warm or hot and then before flipping my hair back, I blow cool/cold air all around and within to “set” the volume. If I don’t do this, and I flip my hair back while it’s still warm (to stand back up lol) my hair ends up flat/less volume while it cools off.

The Surf Spray was a recent addition (which you probably read/saw if you follow me on twitter or instagram – @hautepinkpretty). I’m not completely “in love” with it yet but I really like the texture it gives my hair when I do beachy waves. I haven’t found it adding volume – I tried the whole spray it on my roots around my crown and blow-dry upside-down thing but it didn’t do anything noticeable for me. This is probably because of my slick/fine/slippery asian hair. What I’ve tried and so far really like is… I curl my hair using a wand (like this one) for a beachy wavy look and then I spray it either directly onto my curls or onto my hands and work it into my curls. It creates some really fun texture and definitely makes my hair look beachy-er!

After trying numerous dry shampoos (Salon Grafix, KMS, TRESemmé, Suave, Bumble & Bumble, and even the aerosol/spray version of this one) Oscar Blandi Pronto Dry Shampoo has been the only one that I found really works as it should; getting rid of my dreaded 2nd day oily roots and making my hair look fresh again! Got to thank my Sister in-law for introducing me to it! I usually squeeze little spurts of it around my roots, leave it there for a minute or two, work it around with my finger tips and then brush any excess out. Though, I must say, Bumble & Bumble’s Black Hair Powder would be a close second favorite – I just dislike worrying about the black powder getting on my clothes and bed sheets lol. I imagine the blond version isn’t so worrisome for those blonds out there!

What are your favorite hair products?

Thank you so much for reading my extra long and wordy post today 🙂 and as always, I love reading your comments and always try my best to respond and pay you all a visit.

Xox,
An