New year, new hair

Each time that I’m planning a trip to the hairdressers I think that I’ll go for something different, but I always chicken out at the last minute. In fact, my hairdresser knows me so well that I don’t even need to tell her how I would like my hair; she knows I’ll be having a blunt fringe every time and knows just the right combination of highlights and brown dyes to use to give my hair a sunkissed blonde look rather than my natural ash shade.

So I’ve basically had the same hair colour and cut for years and have been wearing it straight down pretty much all the time. There was a brief period back in September that my hair straighteners broke and I had to go for the natural look (kind of fluffy) for a couple of weeks, but I just couldn’t find a way of taming it – I looked like I had bed-head all the time, and not in a good way. So I reverted back to my usual routine of blow-drying and straightening, and dealing with the fact that the only way to make my hair look neat was to make it as flat as possible.This year, I am determined to get my hair under control and to try out some different styles for everyday wear. Actually, that is the key phrase; everyday wear. It’s easy enough to do some lovely vintage curls for a night out, when you have plenty of time to set your hair in rollers and use lots of hairspray. But when you’re in a hurry in the morning and are just happy to be leaving the house looking vaguely presentable, it needs to be a much more simple solution in order to fit a new style into your routine.

So this Christmas I got a new styler and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to use it this year to give me those naturally bouncy, healthy-looking waves that I know my hair is capable of. In fact, I just want to recreate how my hair behaves when it’s been rained on; once my hair has dried after being caught in the rain, it goes wavy/curly but not fluffy, and without looking too ‘done’. The styler that I chose was the Remington Your Style Styler Kit, which has three attachments; a tong, a conical wand and a hot brush. I’m guessing that at least one of these attachments will help me create the look that I’m hoping for! What also drew me to the styler was the fact that more attachments can be purchased to turn the styler into a barrel curler, waving wand and so on. So I’ll have one appliance that can do practically everything – space-saving or what?!At the Cosmopolitan blog awards last year, I chatted to some of the Remington styling team and found out that my problem with getting a style to hold is the fact that I’m using too much heat on my hair. Even though I use a thermal-protection spray, the stylists had a look at my hair and agreed that the fine texture didn’t need to be styled at the maximum 220ºC all the time and that it would hold a curl better if it was styled at a lower temperature; somewhere around 150ºC. So the variable heat of the Your Style styler was another feature that drew me to the product, along with the smooth ceramic coating on all the attachments, ensuring that my hair won’t snag while it’s being styled.

I tried out my new piece of kit over Christmas and now that the holidays are over, I’ve been including it in my new morning routine. Yes, just like last year, I’ve come up with a ‘schedule’ (yes, I even wrote it down) to ensure that I can get everything done in the morning before I start work, and I’ve allocated 15 minutes to sort out my hair as part of this routine. In fact, as I’ve been using it more and more regularly, I’ve been getting used to handling the styler and I’ve even got my styling time down to about 7 or 8 minutes. That’s pretty good for me!

A pic snapped at the end of the day and I’ve still got some waves and bounce in my hair

I’ve been using the hot brush to work with the natural waves in my hair, rather than against it and it’s been really easy to get some extra bounce in my hair. Even when I’m not washing and blow-drying my hair in the morning, I can just spritz on some heat-protection spray and then use the large round brush attachment to lift the hair up and backwards on the top of my head, which gives it a lot more height and oomph. I never usually get volume like this, and the fact that it’s done in two minutes is amazing! I use the conical wand to the curl the lengths/tips of my hair to neaten them up and then go over them with the hot brush once more after the curls have cooled, which loosens them up and doesn’t look over-done, so I end up with a natural daytime look. I finish my curling my fringe under and to the side, which makes a change from my usual straightened fringe.

I’m happy with my new hair look for the new year! The fact that it’s been easy to incorporate the styler into my getting ready routine means that I’ll be able to keep it up and maintain my new hair for 2015. I’m hoping that using the lower-heat settings will help improve the condition too (I had to have lots cut off last year because the ends were just too dry!) so fingers crossed that 2015 will be good hair year! Let me know if you’ve made any changes to your morning routine this year and whether you’re planning to try out a different hair style for yourself – leave me a comment below!