hair care

The last time I did a post about my daily hair routine, it was completely different than it is today! Going blonde ended up changing my hair a lot more than I even expected -- when I look at this video, which was my everyday hair routine, almost none of it is the same now.

Most importantly: I used to flatiron my hair every time I washed it (3-4 times per week), and now I pull out my flatiron maybe twice a month. I try to avoid anything with heat altogether -- rather than letting my hair air dry and then styling it with a curling iron or flatiron, now I rely on a few really great products and leave it to air dry completely. Moving to Houston probably contributed to this change -- summer humidity does a number on heat-styled hair (to the point where, despite flatironing, I basically felt like I was back at square one after 20 minutes outside). Almost every photo you've seen in the last few months is of my hair air-dryed after one or a few of these products!

Since I've changed my routine, I thought I'd share my absolute favorites with you guys! These are the ones I grab every single day -- so from left to right (ish), here goes:

Mark. Give It To Me Straight Super Smoothing Lotion and Curl to Curl Reactivate and Define Mist:

After using them for a few months, I'm flat-out amazed at the quality of the Mark. beauty products -- they compare to really expensive products, but they're incredibly affordable. Not a day goes by when I don't use them! Each of these sprays is around $15 -- the curl spray ($14) is incredibly light (and doubles as a heat-protectant spray, if you're looking to style) and does such a great job of keeping my natural waves free from humidity-induced frizz. I use the straightening lotion ($16) almost every time I get out of the shower, it's perfect to keep hair healthy and smooth as an everyday product!

Kerastase Cristalliste Lumiere Liquide and Chroma Cristal Shine Perfecting Mist:

I fell in love with both of these products during February Fashion Week, but had so much trouble finding them afterwards -- turns out the Cristalliste line is brand new, but it's now available online! Both of these are amazing for shine -- I usually use them once my hair has air-dried, to get rid of any frizz or flyaways that have formed in the meantime! Since going blonde, my hair is a lot less healthy than it was in its un-dyed state, but these always leave me feeling like my hair least looks healthy. These are more expensive, but a single bottle lasts forever! I've been using them since February and I'm only about 1/3 of the way through each bottle.

Suave Keratin Infusion Leave-In Conditioner:

This is a really great leave-in conditioner and it is three dollars. Ok, it's $3.49, but are you kidding me? Sometimes it's so nice to have a product you can grab at any drugstore and just go through once a week without worrying about it! Again, because my hair needs a lot more TLC since going blonde, I try to use leave-in conditioner almost every time my hair gets wet, just so I don't get breakage from brushing (it's way to easy to yank through knots and wind up with major damage).

Paul Mitchell Daily Moisture Shampoo and Daily Moisture Treatment:

This is the shampoo and conditioner I've been using nonstop -- I go back and forth on using shampoo that's made especially for color-treated hair, and to be honest, most of the time I end up using regular-hair shampoo. When you have hair products that are great quality, they shouldn't (hopefully) hurt the color in your hair! I haven't noticed any color fading or changes since using this, and I love how thicky and healthy the shampoo makes my hair feel! I use a ton of the conditioner too (I'm embarrassed to tell you how often I go through a bottle) because whether or not I'm using a leave-in conditioner, I always still use conditioner in the shower. And as a bonus, these products are unisex -- so Chad can even borrow them!

So there you have it! What's your daily hair care routine?