Glossing, Balming and Prepping: What I’m using and loving right now…. January 12, 2012

I like to shake it up in the product world…keep it fresh, you know. So here are some of my current favs…..first up, Number Four Super Comb Prep and Protect…

Super Comb Prep and Protect

It’s a leave in conditioning spray, that also protects hair color from UV rays….but what I notice is it leaves my hair super manageable. $38….but it lasts a long time…you just use a few sprays after shampooing.

Oh Fredric...you just get it....

Fredric Fekkai’s glossing cream is a long time fav…it uses olive oil to add some moisture back into your hair(I find mine gets much drier in the winter months-yikes, flyaways!). Truly, a little dab will do you…the tube lasts seemingly forever. 4 oz. for $21…

Alpha lipoic acid? DMAE? What?

Derma-e’s Alpha Lipoic Acid/DMAE cream I love, love, love. On Derma-e’s website this good size jar is $22, but at Swanson Vitamins-here(where I get all my vitamins too), it’s only $15…you can compare the ingredients to some of the tres’ pricey stuff at Dr. Nicholas Perricone.

This stuff is just lovely!!

This Speppermint(that’s not a typo) Lip Balm  and Ginger Lemongrass Solid Lotion were sent to me by a company called Rinse Bath and Body-here….I’d never heard of them, but their products are amazing. Rinse is a family run small business in Monroe Georgia…they make all natural, vegan friendly, gluten free products…and they smell good enough to eat(but don’t). And the solid stick lotions are great for travel as they are TSA friendly…no worries about putting them in a plastic baggie. I’m dying to try the Peppofoot Stick.  Lotion stick is $8, lip balm $4. Enjoy!

What I’m Using Right Now….Donna’s top 5 favs of the moment… January 31, 2011

I’ll be honest I like to mix it up a little, so if you were to ask me what I’m using next month, this list might be different, but right now these are the top five things I use almost every day. Here we go….

This is a great cleanser...very thorough...

First off…3 Lab Perfect Cleansing Foam….I first tried this through Beauty Fix….which I told you about in a previous post-here. I like a cleanser that leaves my face feeling really clean….not kinda clean. And this one does. Plus it lasts a long time. It’s $40 for the tube(not sure I would have paid that but it came in my Beauty Fix shipment).

A little touch of Canyon Ranch, without the travel...

Next…Canyon Ranch Balance Moisturizer…from the “chi-chi” destination spa of the same name…. this is great lightweight moisturizer that doesn’t leave your skin feeling greasy. No petroleum, no mineral oil.  It’s another Beauty Fix get…and it, like the 3 Lab cleanser above, were full size products, not samples. At someplace like Nordie’s..it’s $75….again, it lasts a long time.

Moroccan Oil....love love love it...

This is a longtime favorite….almost everyone I know here at WBAL-TV uses Moroccan Oil on their hair….no matter your race, age or hair texture…we love it. They now have a whole product line, which I’ve never tried…but their first baby…the oil… is the bomb. And a tiny couple of  drops of the $35 bottle goes a long way, depending on how long and how dry your hair is. I use it every time I shampoo.

Organic Coconut Oil....you can even cook with it!

Next…Spectrum Organic Coconut Oil, which I get at Whole Foods. I know, I know…so much oil to grease the machine, right? But there it is. While I could put this on my hair(never tried it) and could cook with it(ditto)…it is a terrific body moisturizer. You have to keep it somewhere kinda warm in the winter months, or it gets hard and not as easy to put on. I learned about this from Gwyneth Paltrow, who also uses coconut oil. And I love the slight coconut scent…though you won’t smell like Hawaiian Tropic, promise. Inexpensive too…maybe 7 or 8 bucks for a tub.

Simply a lovely bubble bath....

And if you’re like me, you appreciate a bath. Sure, I shower when I wash my hair, but other than that…I’m with Oprah…I am a bath girl. And Archipelago Botanicals makes a wonderful soft-scented bubble bath that’s part of their “milk line”. I pout just a capful in to make bubbles and help keep a ring off the tub. I’ve had it for months….it’s about $25 a bottle(large bottle). I love it.

Still Using Crap?? The Yin and Yang of Hair Products…. March 18, 2010

I love you Dove...I don't care what they say...

This whole thing brouhaha over hair products started when my daughter moved out. She took quite a few of her fave hair products out of the shower we both use…and I used whatever was left behind ….that’s how I roll. So at a visit to the hair salon for color a couple of months ago, my colorist(God, love her) was running her fingers through my hair and said, “Your hair feels really nice…soft and it’s in good shape. What are you using on it?” I knew what she wanted to hear…some expensive brand of shampoo and conditioner that usually cost upwards of $20 a pop each. But I steeled myself and told the truth….”Honestly…I been using Dove.” Come on…it is their best formula…says so on the bottle.

dregs of the pricier products left behind....

She just stared at me…actually shocked. “Dove?? Seriously??'” When I nodded yes, she shrugged, and said, “Well, it really does look good…”. And here’s the thing…I love that Dove conditioner…it truly takes the tangles out of my hair in the shower, which the more expensive brands just don’t do….at least not for me. Yes, I’ve been told it’s because there’s wax in some of the less expensive brands, that can build up on your hair…whatever. idig it.

So I was back in for color a week or so ago….and the stylist asked, again fingering my luxuriant locks….(that’s how I like to think of them), “Still using crap on your hair?”  To which I replied, “Yep.”, though I was thinking “and saving my self a bunch of money too!”  But again, she had to agree that the proof was in the pudding…ok, bad metaphor…but you know what I mean. If your hair looks good, and feels good, and is shiny, bouncin’ and behavin’….it’s all good, right?

My nephew Quint...Julie in background...

Oh, and my sister replied to my blog about my recent trip to Pensacola…she was obviously not satisfied with my level of detail….here’s what she had to say…”Hi sis–quint will be upset if you don’t at least mention beyond the piece of a sentence –his wedding and his beautiful bride–”the lovely julie”–(does that term sound familiar??)–and i think the hotel where we stayed deserves a hit on your blog—i loved the bed and breakfast feel of it–NEW WORLD LANDING INN –15-16 individually decorated rooms, wonderful staff, and great place to have a wedding and our family time~–and i know for a fact you enjoyed the HUGE jar of m&ms outside your room! i also liked the fact that it was in the historic district of pensacola–and lots was in walking distance –sooo—i guess i have just blogged about it for you! but feel free to edit! love you–audrey”

New World Inn...loved it...

OK, let me just say this….Quint won’t give a rat’s butt about what I say or don’t say in my blog….what she means to say is that SHE will be upset if I don’t say more…hey, I know my sister. And Julie is lovely…gorgeous actually…she’s the kind of girl who can fit a dress off the rack and make it look like it was custom made for her. You know the type….my nephew is a lucky man, and he knows it.  And as for the New World Inn…I really did like it, and the large glass jars of m&ms were a nice touch. And yes, sweet sister….you blogged it for me…all correctly. Love you too!

Dirty Little Secret….. February 4, 2010

My hair is too darn clean today....

Sing it with me now….”I’ll keep you my dirty little secret, dirty little secret…”  OK, I  know lots of people who religiously wash their hair every single day. Each and every blessed day they shampoo…unless they’re sick and in bed, and greasy locks can be tolerated. And I must admit, I have been among the washaholics in years past, until I discovered the dirty little secret of people who need for their hair to look good on tv and in movies. It’s dirty. A hairdresser on movie set(Line of Fire if you must know), was styling my hair, and asked, “Is it clean?”….and when I told him I washed it the day before, he said, “Good. It’s easier to style when it has a little dirt in it.”

Seriously, the first day I wash my hair(usually a Monday), it looks ok, but it’s too full, and just too much hair, no matter how much I fool with it. The next day, it looks better, and I’ve recently discovered…on the THIRD day, while it feels a little gross….it looks even better!  Last week on a Wednesday(third day), one of my fellow anchor women said,”Your hair looks really good. ”

“Really?”, I asked incredulously..”I haven’t brushed it all morning”….to which she replied, “Isn’t it funny…sometimes when you try the least, it looks the best.” Point well taken. Sometimes when you futz over your hair…washing, conditioning, blowdrying, straightening, seruming….all it really needed was a little dirt. And this is true for guys too, but their hair is often so short, you’re not saving that much time or effort bu washing every day, and just adding “product”.

People pay money for dirt!

And they even make a product called just that…DIRT Texturizing Paste by Jonathan. You can pay $14 for a tiny little jar, or do as I do…get it for free by not washing your hair every day. Today is Thursday and I washed my hair this morning…so forgive me of having  not it exactly the  way I want it…close but no cigar. And I’ve decided having dirty hair is actually a green thing to do. Sure I could wash the locks every day and product the hell out of it, but this way I save: 1.time 2. water 3. money.  What’s not to like??

I was right…it is…all about the hair. November 18, 2008

See it? See the hair? Love the hair...be the hair!!

Again with the hair!! You may find this hard to believe…I did…and then again , I didn’t….but our website here at WBAL TV….has had 67-thousand hits on our “hair then and now” post. The one with Jayne Miller and curly locks….me in much shorter hair, oh the hairdos, the hairdos, the hairdos-dos-dos-dos! It’s still on the front page, getting more hits. (And my hair is different still from my most recent photo).

 

 

If we had all the money we have collectively spent on color, cuts, glossing creams, shampoo and conditioner, stylists, mousse, straightening cream, silicone gels, flatirons, hairdryers(now one knows but the hairdryer graveyard)….and just gooey stuff to make you hair look better, we could all take a trip to the Carribbean….a really nice trip.

You may be thinking wow, how shallow is that…all that attention on hair. And yes, you are correct,  at first glance seems to be …a vanity issue. And I suppose it is, but Corbin (who you saw doing Deborah Weiner’s hair, and whom I have also known for over 20 years) put it this way. Or something like this. “It’s all about the framing. You look at someone on television, and you have to like the silhouette, the look,….because if you don’t, chances are you might just use the clicker.” Horrors. We definitely do not want that. And many viewers are not shy at all about sharing their opinions of how our hair looks. Yeah.  Soooooooo, we worry with our hair, and curl it and color it and straighten it and gloss it. But really, we’re not so different from anyone else….not at all. Most women (and many many men)spend a great deal of time and $$$$ on their locks. Hair ain’t called “the crowning glory” for nothing. But still….67-thousand hits. Really?