REVIEW: Bleach London Washed Up Mermaid Hair Dye (Super Cool Colour) and rambling about Kurt Cobain

Bleach London Super Cool Colour in Washed Up Mermaid

So, I gave a heads up, and a rambling opinion about this brand Bleach London a few weeks back, and to be true to my blogging ways, I decided to buy one of the so called, super cool colours, to give them a go. Now, I would put up pictures of how using this dye turned out, but sadly, it washed out before I got round to it, but I will say that the above example is pretty much the exact colour you will get on a very pale bleached head of hair. 

The colours available from Bleach London are very limited, but they're on trend, with names referencing current trends, like Bruise Violet, which references one of my favourite bands from when I was a young teen, in 92, Babes in Toyland, imparticular their song Bruise Violet, seen below

Babes In Toyland - Bruise Violet (92)

First let me have a ramble, I met Babes in Toyland, namely Kat, a few times when I was 12/13, she was massively messed up but obviously really cool. It kind of irritates me that loads of kids love this band now, just because they weren't massive then by any stretch of the imagination, and suddenly they're being ripped off wholesale by so many bands now, and girls who have NO belief in what these Riot Grrrl bands stood for, it's just a fashion thing. Dickheads. Appropriating a culture to sell hair dye is  bit weird too....but then again, Marc Jacobs appropriated the grunge thing in 92, and somehow found a way to sell raggedy plaid shirts and ripped jeans and army surplus boots for hundreds of dollars. Appropriation gets right on my tits.

And on ANOTHER rant, I bought Company High Street Edit this week, and in the center pages covered kids that dress like their famous parents. Anyway, on this page they had photoshopped Frances Bean Cobain, linking arms with her father Kurt Cobain. You know? The man that SHOT HIMSELF IN THE FUCKING HEAD WHEN SHE WAS A BABY? Now, call me reactionary, but isn't that a little bit, no, VERY INAPPROPRIATE???

Frances Bean and her father, together, er, at last...

Also, i'd like to point out to the dickheads that write that magazine, that 'Papa's playlist' is massively WRONG. Soundgarden weren't liked by the cool kids, certainly not Kurt, Doll Parts was on the album that although he was alive when it was written, he was dead by the time it came out (I saw Hole play a couple of months after Kurt took his life, it was a horrid, attention seeking, disgustingly wrong mess) and er, he probably wasn't listening to In Bloom, off an album he came to despise. I won't sound like a total Nirvana geek, although I do know the bands he talked about loving in the press, often to Everett True, but remembering the day Kurt took his life, I was at a guitar lesson (I gave up quickly, I am bad at learning) and my best mate called me and said 'don't kill yourself, I don't know if I can remain strong' and I was like 'er, I loved the band, but I didn't know the guy!'. I had bought tickets to see them at Brixton academy (yes, they weren't massive enough to play bigger venues i'm afraid) and I went and got a refund and used the money to go and see PWEI instead. Nothing was precious! I'd actually got sick of the Nirvana fanboys and had given away all my albums that I had on cassette to kids in the year below, including the really rare stuff like the double A side with Jesus Lizard. 

Shit. I'm meant to be reviewing the dye aren't I?

Basically, the dye is easy to use, its thicker than your average Crazy Colour, or Manic Panic, so you can chuck it on your hair with your hands and it won't run all over your neck. The colour is basically the colour you see in the example above, spot on, but it washes out REALLY quickly. It's an on trend colour, it works well, it is conditioning, and it's not TOO pricey, but frankly, I would rather use a dye from a well worn company who have been doing these colours for years, mix it with a conditioner or pastelizer, I mean, Crazy Colour do one for less than a fiver, and you then save tons of money in the long term, because you just need a drop of strong colour, mixed with your chosen mixer, and it'll probably last the same amount of time! What Bleach do is take the work out of it for you, if you want a surefire colour result thats easy to use and washes out pretty quickly, then give it a go. 

I'll update with a picture of the result when I've faded my bubblegum blue by Crazy Colour. 

You can pick up Washed Up Mermaid by Bleach for a fiver at selected Boots. 

NEW (and desired): L'Oreal Professional Hair Chalk

GIRLS! I HAVE A HARD ON FOR HAIR CHALK!!! I am mega serious. I WANT THIS AND I WANT IT NOWWW!!!

I may have mentioned before, I have blue hair. Starts off dark blue at the root and goes through to a turquoise shade at the bottom. I'm sorry to offend the many ladies of the uk but I'm a dip dye hater. Specifically the natural blonde with the pink or whatever colour ends. It looks rank. Colour is there to be enjoyed, putting two colours together that don't compliment just feels like a waste.

Enough of my prejudices though. ON TO THE PRODUCTS!

This is what the heroes at L'Oreal have to say.

"Right now, brightly-coloured hair is bang on trend. From the editorial take on the catwalk to the super wearable street-style hairstyles, we’ve been seeing coloured ombré everywhere. The NEW Hairchalk range from L’Oréal Professionnel is our perfect product to achieve the look. With five flashy colours and three sophisticated shades, you can achieve a great multi-coloured mix of  hairstyles either at home or in your salon."

Now, I have never used the traditional hair chalks you'll find in the high street stores. They're not strong enough to do anything to the colour I already have all over my head, and generally if I want a colour in my hair I just do it. I've gone from luminous orange to pink, to purple and pink, to blue and pink and now turquoise in the last year. I love colour. I don't feel like me if i'm not peacock like about the hair.

So what's so amazing and got me so excited about these hair chalks?

There's an example below....

Do you see? The nice lady has DARK brown hair, and they've applied the chalk (which is actually a liquid) and it has completely covered her dark hair colour!!! Not only this, but the hair isn't a nasty clogged up mess that will transfer everywhere and go all hard and stiff. It moves! It's free like the wind!

Look! You can paint BLONDE over DARK BROWN!? Do you see now how amazing the possibilities of this product are!? Sorry for all the punctuation crazy but seriously, this is amazing. You can go mental on your hair without having to bleach it, or use straighteners to boil it into your hair and damage it horribly. You can paint on colour and do whatever the hell you like.

The colours available will be...

First Date Violet, Sweet Sixteen Pink, Blue Ocean Cruise, Coffee Break, Red Carpet, Black Tie, Garden Party and Bronze Beach.

Personally i'm going to go bare crazy with Garden Party like below...

STUNNING.

So. How do you use these cheeky tarts?

The L'Oreal Hairchalk and Applicator gives hair a temporary yet fantastic hair transformation. The paint on colour, in garden party, works on both light and dark hair and applies easily with the built in applicator. Colour will last for up to two washes and is stain resistant. The highly pigmented liquid gives a natural look and dries quickly once applied. - R.K.

Directions for Use:

• Use the applicator to apply the chalk to the desired sections of hair
• Allow to dry
• The colour washes out in two washes

ARE YOU KIDDING? So basically I can paint this on, with given tool, it dries quickly and is STAIN RESISTANT?

I swear, if you knew my ex girlfriend, and what she looked like (even more peacock like than I) I'd have had a field day painting this all over her head, with the added bonus of not burning her scalp with bleach because of constant changes (she went from purple to yellow in one sitting, it was painful).

The best news? You can buy it NOW NOW NOW BABY!

It's available at Look Fantastic for a mere £15 a bottle (spensive but so essential) and as soon as I have some money, i'm going to be going paintbrush crazy with this shit. Trust.

REVIEW: Swarzkopf Got2b Oil-liscious Tame and Shine Styling Oil

Continuing on the hair theme, i'm chucking this review out too. My ends are BEYOND dry. I have spent so many years bleaching, colouring, stripping, and straightening my hair, without properly conditioning, because of the desire for volume, that my hair is broken to hell, and beyond a mess. When I got these extensions courtesy of the lovely guys at South Kensington Toni and Guy in London, I was told that extension hair needs constant nutrition to stop it becoming a ratty matted mess of gunk.

Full disclosure, I am poor right now, really poor, I haven't even got enough to have my daily subway sandwich. Thats what happens when you get your heart stamped on sadly, you lose your work and you end up a rotten mess rambling about hair oil. 

Sorry....back to the review....

So a year or so ago, I would have treated myself to Kerastase Ultime Elixir, which is AMAZING, and I can't knock it, regardless of it's stupid price. However, I don't have any money so I can't really be buying hair oil for thirty plus quids. So to superdrug I went and searched for the cheapest hair saviour I could find...

This is what it says. 

"Got2b Oil-licious tame & shine styling oil is enriched with Argan oil and designed for everyday use. Say goodbye to frizzy, flyaway hair and hello to sleek, glossy styles, without leaving residue on the hands."

And thats what it does. I put two pumps through my damp hair and blow dry, and I get a much sleeker frizz free finish. Once i've finished, I pop another pump in my palm, and smooth it on the ends and over the myriad of flyaways I have from my very broken bleached hair, and it gives me SHINE (my hair hasn't shone in two years), it looks nourished, and it smells nice.

What more do you want?

You can get this from Superdrug for £4.05, it's a bargain, it'll last you ages and it's works hard for you! Yay! 

REVIEW: Head and Shoulders Extra Strengthening Tonic Thick & Strong.

Head and Shoulders?! The child in me has always been totally turned off ever having ANYTHING from Head and Shoulders, because all it screams is DANDRUFF. However, when I saw a little box nestling on the H&S display in Superdrug, I was intrigued. 

So what enticed me to buy this? Well, there's eff all about it on the internets, but basically there are two tonics, one is called Extra Strengthening Thick and Strong, and Extra Thickening Thick and Strong. So, basically, you look at the box blurb, and they say exactly the same thing on the back. They're are leave in treatments, that you can use on wet OR dry hair, and they thicken every strand of hair, whilst also improving strength and preventing breakage by conditioning and moisturising your scalp, whilst poofing up your barnet. 

I didn't really know whether I needed it or not, but since i've had extensions (don't label me Katie Price, it's a full head of blue messy hair because my hair is so weak and pathetic it doesn't get past chin length) I have no idea how to get volume in it at all, so the top, which has no extensions in it, sits flat and makes my chubby face look rounder. NO THANKS.

So in comes this tonic to save the day, and it REALLY DOES HELP. Now, I cannot vouch for the strength it imparts quite yet, but I do know that the moment it hits my hair, I get a very obvious boost of volume. Now, if I was using my usual volumising regime, I think you could get some real massive volume out of it. The fact that it's helping my very broken hair is frankly a cheeky bonus. My hair is so desperately damaged on my crown area that parts are barely two inches long, so I can do with the help!

So if you're interested in a results before your eyes volumiser that also treats your hair and scalp, I say give this a go! It's a lot cheaper than Kerastase Initialiste, so if it works, you've saved yourself a load of quids. Also, it smells like sunshine!

Available from Boots online and in superdrug stores for £9.99.

Review: Fudge Urban Raspberry & Vanilla Mousse Strong Hold

Fudge Urban Raspberry & Vanilla Mousse

Hiya! So I have rubbish hair, which I have mentioned before. It's thin, it's damaged beyond belief due to my bleaching and blue/pink gradient, and it lies flat, and if I get at all hot it's a pathetic, lifeless, limp nightmare. I'm always looking for new and vaguely affordable products to fight my follicle faults. 

I spied this on offer at Superdrug three days ago for the bumper price of £1.23, so I couldn't stop myself from giving it a go. It's part of the Fudge Urban range, which is a diffusion range courtesy of Fudge, who i've been a fan of for many many years, which is available exclusively in Superdrug. 

I've tested this on three consecutive nights that have involved extremes of heat, sweat, rain and a hat, and I can vouch for the fact that it works. My hair feels bulkier, the volume hasn't dropped despite sleeping on it and the added heat protection is a total bonus, as my hair is really damaged and weak. The smell is lovely too, which, without being a total rubbish girl, does make a difference to me. 

If you'd like to purchase this, it's only available on offer instore at Superdrug at the moment, so get a wiggle on and get some before they hike the price up! 

Review/Update - Kerastase Intialiste

So as I mentioned here last week, I purchased Kerastase Intialiste in hopes of saving my half dead mane of pink, purple and blonde, with big chunks that have already fallen out via bad cheap dye jobs i've got done out of desperation and lack of dollars. I was told that I would pay in the end for those cheap fixes, and indeed I have, to the tune of £40. Dang.

Kerastase Intialiste, yesterday...

So, I wanted to update you on my results so far. The idea is that you're meant to put two drops from the pipette onto your scalp and work it through your hair after every wash and towel dry. I've done this for nearly two weeks of using it every time, I would like to say that I have indeed had positive results, although I am a little confused....

Two drops goes nowhere. Really nowhere, it covers nothing, so i'm going with the idea of two full squeezes of the pipette. I have very thin hair, half of which is shaved off one side, so it's not like being drunk up by galloons of lustrous hair. However, after the second application, I would say I have definitely noticed more volume to my hair. Not much more, not Dallas levels of volume by any stretch, but there is a definite fullness to it in comparison to normal.

As for the condition, well around the root area, that is smoother and feels softer and has more of a sheen, but the ends are still as terrible. I don't know why I expected a change to my whole head, down to the ends, which are shattered to within an inch of their life, but for the price, I did expect 'something' to improve. So far nothing has.....but I will keep you updated.

So in summary, I would say it's worth it for the root health and the body, but it's not going to change your life, and if, like me, you're on a budget, it'd probably be better to buy a volumising product and sleep in coconut oil which will cost you £2 from Superdrug or Boots. 

If you would like to give it a go, you can find out more from the Kerastase website HERE

In other news....Kerastase Intialiste

In other news, I picked up a bit of a haul today, which includes .....

Kerastase Initialiste

The reason I have bought Kerastase Initialise is due to the fact that my hair is DYING ON ITS ARSE. Absolutely DYING. For years I had orange hair, and I don't mean ginger, actual vivid orange which was achieved with L'Oreal Majicontrast in pure copper. I then dyed it bright pink, which mean from that point on i've had to bleach it, which was okay, until the day I made the biggest mistake of leaving my local hairdresser and deciding to go to east london and get an editorial hairdresser who does Vogue and ID etc do it. He OBLITERATED my hair with cheap badly mixed bleach, which fried the front and it broke off. Then he cut my razor sharp, been growing to achieve for TWO YEARS bob, into a dated, layered, floppy, droopy, unmanageable, mess. 

So yes, to try and save my thinning, breaking, vile mess of a bonce, I have spent too many pounds on this item which is apparently a miracle worker for weak, thin hair.  The idea is, you use 2 drops from the pipette for thin hair, 4 for thick, on just washed and towel dried hair. You apply it directly to the scalp, and then work it through to the ends and blow dry, and apparently you are left with thicker, stronger, more resilient hair. 

I will start using it as of friday and keep you updated on how good is it. My hair is thin, weak, breaking to buggery and I think the perfect subject to try this apparent miracle worker on. Fingers crossed for success!!

I bought this from Headmasters salon in wandsworth for £40.