Dead End Zone!

I have a secret to admit and its not a pretty one. This past winter I got lazy and I used my FI Head and Shoulders 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner for a good 2 months. What a mess! And THEN I read Miss Nachos blog about buying store brand products and what it does to your hair and I cringed!

I know using Head & Shoulder's was a HUGE mistake but at the time I got really lazy in the morning and would wait until the last second possible to get out of bed which didn't leave me much time to get ready. I also had to let you know that I haven't had my haircut since last September since I wanted to grow it out for the wedding. So you mix those two factors in you get this:

Isn't this scary looking??? Source

My hair had so many dead ends all over and they were also fried to crisp. LITERALLY they were crispy if I just let my hair dry naturally. I knew I had to do something about this so I took the first steps and sucked it up and bought quality salon products from Harmon Beauty Supply which is my savor when it comes to saving money!

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I have been using these products for 2 1/2 months now and I notice a HUGE difference especially when I FINALLY got an appointment with my stylist and got my hair trimmed. I walked in and his eyes opened wide and I turned red. It was like I totally got caught with my hand in the cookie jar! His first reaction was, "WOW your hair got so long!" And then I saw down in the seat to discuss what we wanted to do and I instantly caved in and told him everything that has been going on! He just laughed thankfully and mentioned that he will take care of it but won't be able to get rid of ALL the dead ends since it would make my hair too short (aka - you waited too long!).

Much better! *personal photo taken same day as haircut*

I won't ever make the mistake of going 7 months without another hair let alone wash my hair with such crappy shampoo! My FI is much happier as well since I'm not using up his shampoo/conditioner! LOL

I know as brides we want to grow our hair out for the wedding and we think that just by not cutting it that we are doing ourselves a favor but honestly we're not. The ends of our hair split for a number of reasons: heat, color, lack of vitamins or lack of protein. Then the end either breaks off or continues to split up further and keep breaking.

Another lesson learned for me! Are you even surprised at this point?? Did you make the switch to salon products and did you have results? Anybody else want to admit that they too have used H&S as well?

The unveiling!

I've finally come to a decision..well...more like a step forward. I spoke earlier about whether I was going to wear a veil or not on the day of the wedding.

Well I found 2 smaller flower organza beaded hairpins from Etsy seller PowderBlueBijoux for $30 and I fell in love. I received them in a cute little box with Tiffany blue tissue paper. Although at first I wasn't overly excited about the quality of the flower, I got over that fast once I put it in my hair. I chose two small flowers because I didn't one big flower to consume my entire head.

In the center is a tiny pearl and rhinestone which fits well with my jewelry and dress theme.

Back of the hairpin

So I have naturally wavy/curly hair and in the summer time due to humidity I have NO choice but to leave it this way. I plan on leaving my hair like this in the Dominican and most likely the day of the wedding. I found inspiration from a very common picture found on the web.

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So I decided to just pull my hair back lightly into a bun for now. Then strategically placed the two hairpins, one on top and the other on the side.

View from the front, not bad eh!

Another view trying to get the flower in more. At this point I'm wondering if I need to go bigger since you can't see the flower unless I turn my head. Hmm...

I was surprisingly happy with the way they looked. I was relieved to be honest. At this point I realized there was no way I was going to have a veil. This works very well with the back of my dress being open.

I suck at taking pictures on my own at an awkward angle but I wanted to get a close up of the flowers. You can't tell but my other hand is holding a hand mirror up to try and make sure the camera is position right. HA!

So what do you think? Should I go bigger?

*all photos are personal unless otherwise stated*