Let down your hair

Rapunzel, Rapunzel by LaurenL0vesL0ve on Polyvore.com





I have thicker hair than anyone I know. It's also really long right now. Fun to take care of right? These are a few of my saving graces and tools that I love no matter what the occasion or time of year.

I used to do my hair everyday without fail no matter what. To me this means blow dry and straighten or curl. Somewhere around junior year of college I got lazy or bored or both and for the first time in my life let it do its natural thing. Don't get me wrong, I still love to do my hair for an event or night out, but there is just too much of it to go through this every single day and it doesn't hurt that I'm really into the bohemian/hippie thing right now. Perfect.

I really try not to blow dry my hair more than once a week. Even if I straighten or curl it I try to let it air dry before I do. This also helps because I have the kind of hair that will not curl no matter how much coaxing or hairspray I use, so when I already have some texture to my hair it curls much better. Enter the Conair You Curl wand, my solution to curl heaven. I don't know what it is about this iron, but it's the only one I've ever used that makes my hair stay curled. Even the next morning the curls have hardly fallen. I am in love.

I've talked about sea salt spray before and I will talk about it again. It is hands down my favorite hair product. My only issue is how few drugstore brands make one and the few that do tend to leave my hair really crunchy. My favorite is the Garnier Fructis Surf Hair spray which I fell in love with when I studied abroad in Sydney, Australia. I came home to find that they either don't sell it in the US or you can only get it in some sort of store I haven't found yet. We do have the surf hair paste though, which I like but it's not the spray. I'm going to try to make my own spray this summer, or maybe take a bottle full from the source when I go to the beach.

Since my hair is so thick I also use a leave in conditioner daily. I've tried countless different kinds and I usually find these are pretty standard and they all seem to do their job. I do prefer a spray over a cream however so as to not weigh my hair down. Some of my favorites are Aussie Hair Insurance and Healthy Sexy Hair Soy Tri-Wheat Leave In Conditioner.

One trick I have learned is my use of dry shampoo. When I air dry my hair the roots end up really flat because my hair is so heavy. Once it's completely dry I lift sections on the sides and back and spray the dry shampoo to give a little body without teasing.

95% of the time I have to put my hair up at work because I work in a confectionary and the other 5 I'm either working outside or running around all day. So it's pretty much top knots and lots of braids for me. This easy, no fuss hair routine I've developed is perfect for my lifestyle and I really love the controlled mess, undone look. What are your must have hair products?