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?

Box-O-Color

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Living in NYC can be expensive. REALLY expensive! What would normally cost you $5 will cost you $10 in the city. The same goes for salon services. It. Sucks. Since we're all trying to saving every penny for this one special day in our lives, we have to compromise and/or completely forgo spending money on ourselves.

Like many women out there, I dye my hair. I have been since I was in high school. I've been blonde, red, dark brown, reddish brown, purple and green. OK I lied about the last two but you get my point. I like to color my hair. For years I've gone back and forth between salon colored hair and boxed color hair. It all depends on my budget. And of course I find the salon color always trumping the boxed color but honestly my wallet can't keep up with the requirements the salon gives me for touching up.

I'll be honest and admit I got my hair colored by a salon in September just before we were engaged (see picture below) and I haven't had it done since. YIKES! Although, my hair looked pretty dark good in our e-pics if I do say so myself! I toyed with the idea of splurging to get it done again but I just couldn't justify spending $220 on my hair when I could put that money towards the wedding. Yes. $220. That's ridiculous, right?!

*my own picture*

So I went to my local supermarket and randomly picked the box that looks like the nicest. Dead serious. L'Oreal Healthy Look in 5G Medium Brown. Little did I know that it wasn't permanent and washes out in 28 washes, which can be a good thing and a bad thing. Good-if I hated the outcome. Bad - if I liked the outcome and now have to die it in a few weeks again.

Well it was a tad darker than I was expecting but overall I'm happy with my choice and it looks similar to the color I had in September. Score! So only $8 later and I'm a happy bride-to-be!

*my own picture*

Have you made any sacrifices with beauty in order to pay for the wedding? Did they turn out the way you expected?