Trying To Keep Hair Healthy & Shiny At A Certain Age

Is there anything prettier than the youthful bounce, and shine of a healthy head of hair? 

Shine is something that is hard to maintain if your are, shall we say, a bit older, or if you enhance your hair with color treatments.

(This was taken a few years back, it shows the style and color of my hair that I try to maintain)

Personally I try very hard to take good care of my hair because I realize as I age the once youthful glow of hair and skin do diminish.

I don't use a lot of products on my hair, however I do get highlights about 3 times a year. 

I won't even use a curling iron, or a flat iron on my hair because I have found it fries my fine hair. Electric rollers are still my styling tool of choice.

 (more recently taken last year)

With the new year  and the fact that I ran out of my shampoo I went on the search for a new shampoo. 

I have read more than once it is a good idea to alternate your shampoos, so I thought I would try something new. I looked at my pinboard of products I would like to try and ran across Klorane.

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Here is what is says:

What it is:
A shampoo enriched with chamomile to gently cleanse hair and intensify blonde highlights.

What it is formulated to do:
Blonde hair tends to be more susceptible to dullness caused by environmental elements such as air pollution, chlorine, and hard water. Klorane Shampoo with Chamomile intensifies beautiful, blonde highlights without irritating the scalp. Recommended for natural, highlighted, or color-treated blonde to light brown hair, chamomile extract naturally enhances golden tresses while cleansing—leaving hair radiant, glossy, and perfectly refreshed. 

Sounds pretty good doesn't it, and it had some really good reviews so I think it is worth a try. I also ordered the special rinse that contains vinegar and chamomile.  I remember when I was in high school I use to use vinegar to rinse my hair and I know chamomile is wonderful for blonde hair.

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I think they are worth giving a try. I will keep you posted on what my review of these two products are after a few washings.

Two products I swear by and have used for several years and will continue to use as long as they make them are....

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I absolutely ♥♥♥ this product. Just a light misting over your finished hair gives a wonderful shine and glow to your hair. It only takes a tiny bit. It smells heavenly and it does not leave my hair greasy or weighed down. I have used this forever and will continue to do so.

The other finishing product I love is Alterna's hairspray. I like my hair to move so I do not want a heavy spray that is sticky or damaging to my hair. This is a bit pricey, but so worth it. It has never shown damage to my hair and holds it in place just enough without making it look like a helmet, if you know what I mean.

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These two products have been tried and true for me for many years so I will highly recommend them. 

The Klorane products are new to me, so I will keep you posted on the results. Please leave a comment and share what hair products you use and love. We can all learn from each other!!

Two of my Pinterest boards you might like to peruse :

Products I Love

Products To Try

 

 

Creative Dreaming About My Guest Bathroom

    

With the start of the new year I have been doing a little creative dreaming, I borrowed that phrase from my fellow blogger, and friend, Yvonne, from Stonegable blog. She wrote a post on a step that we all need to do in our homes and she called it, "creative dreaming."

This is a process I always go through before I can get anything concrete going in my mind. 

I thought it might be fun to take you along with my process and how it evolves.

Today I am going to share a little creative dreaming that I have been doing about my guest bathroom in our new home. I know I will be doing some changes in stages in there, but for now it needs just a little sprucing up.

I will admit I had NO inspiration going on in my head at all, and to be honest that was a bit alarming because I always have a million ideas swimming in my head.

The first thing you have to know about this room is it's very, very small size it is 5ft wide by 8ft. deep. We have a nice 5ft by 3ft shower, however that does not leave much room for the toilet and vanity.

The biggest downfall for this bathroom is there is literally no countertop space, but we will get to that later. Right now we are going to start with the dreaming process.

In my perusing on Pinterest I ran across a piece of artwork that captured my interest....

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Being a Mom of three sons, this handsome young man really caught my eye. The colors are beautiful and did you notice the striped bow tie? Stripes are a pattern you will find throughout my home, so he just fits.

This was my jumping off point and from this point I let my imagination go. Once I went to the Etsy site, Elizabeth Mayville, where this piece of art came from I found another piece I liked that I thought paired nicely with him. I would place both in nice white frames with large white mats.

Now here is my thinking....

"Since it is a guest bath, both boys and girls will be using this so a picture of a boy and a girl will make perfect sense!" Or at least it does to me.

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The three girls in my family all have blonde hair, and this reminded me of all of them. I like that both images are a touch whimsical and different. Plus the addition of the stripes made it a win-win in my book.

Some of the things that can be changed fairly easily in the bathroom are the mirror and the lighting. So that was my next stop!

I did not have to look too far for a mirror, since I already have one that I think will work nicely in there.....

 (mirror from Ballard, Atoll mirror no longer available)

The size is perfect and with the scalloped edges will give a softness to all the linear lines in the bathroom.

Now for lighting. We have a bar light in there right now, it is perfectly fine and after all it is brand new, however I don't really like it and planned on changing it out all along.

When I saw this image I just knew this could work with the look I want to go for.

Seeing this image also conjured up visions of wallpaper down the road. I loved this pattern that is shown in the image and thought that it could work nicely with the look I am going for. It has some stripes but is broken up with angled lines.

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This neutral would be light and airy and it will also go nicely with the countertop and the shower walls, and the 12X24 in tile flooring.

This is an image of our actual guest bathroom.

The wallpaper also comes in a navy which I like as well. I will order samples of both before I take the plunge.

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I have two other patterns that are interesting to me. One is a dark navy stripe and the other is a neutral...

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This could look really sharp in there,  it is dramatic, handsome and makes navy the dominant color in the room,however I have to see it in person first.

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This has all the colors in the room and it is easy on the eye, fresh and quiet.

In my looking I had already pinned a couple of shades for the lighting that could work and they can work equally well with any of the above wallpapers. I like that they will give a nod to the stripes in the room as well.......

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OR

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I actually like the simplicity of the first one the best but I have to admit this one is very appealing to me. The wallpaper will be the deciding factor in this decision.

Because there is no real storage in the bathroom I felt we could use a shelf above the toilet to hold towels for my guest. I am limited to what size I can use, but I found one that I really love.....

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This will fit the bill nicely. I like it's simple lines and the nice quality of the metal finish. 

Speaking of metal finishes that brings up another question, dream, want, need. 

I have brushed nickel which is quite nice, but not my first choice so I am going to opt to change out the faucet and hardware down the road to polished nickel. 

So when I get the shelf it will be polished nickel  because I do not want to replace that when we are ready to make the other changes. 

I think it will look better than chrome, since chrome can sometimes have a slight bluish cast, and nickel has a softer, warmer glow.

Rugs and towels will be kept simple in all white for a clean, fresh look. I have always had all white towels with monograms, but I am not sure I want our monogram in there. If I stick with this whimsical plan for this room, maybe I will do something a bit more fun and use a word.

I do like this style of monogram for this particular bathroom, something to think about....

I think this look would go great with any of the above wallpapers.

I do have one more touch of whimsy, and this will go right outside the door in the hallways...

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Normally I would only use one, but for this room I think all three inside an open white frame will be fun and interesting.

So there you have it, my creative dreaming for my guest bath. Now I am not sure when we will get to any of this and I am actually going to draw up another bathroom plan as well. The next one will be a bit more elegant in feel.

It sure is fun to dream and source products. Until you do a little of both, you really can't, or shouldn't jump forward. 

By getting all your ducks in a row, so to speak, you will have a better idea of what your finished product will be........

 

 

Adding A Touch of Winter To My Room With Blues!!

   

Today was the day we took down the Christmas decor. Usually my home feels a bit bland and flat without all the color and lights, but this year it was different.

I am sure it had a lot to do with the fact that I am still getting use to our new home. The last two months have been a whirlwind to say the least.

This year was no different than any other year for me. I like to start out with pillows to add color and texture in my room.

I got out my Fall/Winter pillows and placed them in the room.

I have to say that I really love the way they look in our Great room, especially with our new shutters.

The pillows set the mood and color for our room. I chose to use pretty shades of icy blues mixed with soft linen which adds texture to the room. 

Next on the agenda will be the mantel. I am not quite sure what I will be doing, however I do know it will be simple. If I can find the box that my blue and white porcelain urns are packed in I will try those out. 

Wish me luck!!