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For those of you that know me, you know that I take great pride in my hair though I am wildly low maintenance when it comes to styling. In order for me to not have to "do" much to style, my haircare has to be on point. A few weeks ago Formulate.Co reached out and asked if I wanted to try their custom shampoo and conditioner - I've heard such good things about Formulate, so I jumped at the chance. Since I've been using Formulate, I've loved the way my hair works with any style I want, so now I am sharing my experience with Formulate and my 5 favorite hairstyles to work my wash. Chances are, if you've seen me in the last few weeks, I was probably working one of these looks!
In order to get started with customized shampoo and conditioner, you take a survey/hair assessment from Formulate. In the survey you define what your hair is currently like, what you hope to achieve and scent preferences. They they formulate (hehe, I see what they did there) a shampoo and conditioner specifically for you.
When I got my kit in the mail, I was so excited to try it out, the packaging is so sleek and I personally love pump packaging on my haircare products. The experience of washing my hair was so luxurious and the scent was incredible (I picked it out, so I'm glad it was perfect... I know me so well). I went with the Verdant scent and I love the floral-herby vibe it has. I was also so impressed by how well the shampoo lathers up considering it is sulfate and paraben free (which are what commonly gives soaps their suds).
I loved everything... until my hair dried - uh oh. The texture of my hair felt kind of sticky, like I couldn't run my fingers through my hair without it getting tangles. I tried this formulation a few more times to be sure it wasn't user error (aka, me not rinsing well enough) but it never got to where I was pleased. Luckily, Caroline from the Formulate team reached out to see how I was doing. When I told her the scenario, she was so kind and mentioned that it takes an average of 3 formulations to get the perfect combination. So they tweaked my formula and immediately sent me a new variation to try out.
Now THIS formula is mine. It has the same delicious scent and luxurious lather but it leaves my hair soft but full of volume. It also resolved my life long hair issue, I have a lot of hair but it is a super silky/fine texture so my hair is always, always, ALWAYS flat and I always adored the "effortlessly tousled" look but I couldn't ever achieve it... until now! I am thrilled to be able to work those piece-y, beach-y, effortless looks and its actually pretty dang effortless.
I would highly recommend checking out Formulate.Co if you haven't been able to reach your hair goals yet. I had no idea that custom shampoo and conditioner would make such a difference. If you're interested, I am doing a giveaway with Formulate, so one of you can get your hands on your own custom shampoo and conditioner for free, all you have to do is enter HERE.
Now for my favorite 5 hairstyles to work my wash, now that I have hair that does exactly what I want it to.
1. The first morning after I wash my hair, I give myself a blowout. I sleep on wet hair so that it dries as much as possible over night to minimize the amount of heat I have to use on it. I use a Conair Quick Blow Dry paddle brush to straighten my hair as I dry it the rest of the way. I am not skilled enough to round brush my hair, so this paddle brush is perfect for blowdrying 101
2. If I am feeling fancy, but not fancy enough to actually mess with my hair (you know that feeling, right?) I do my "fancy ponytail." The only thing that makes this ponytail fancier than your standard low ponytail is that I grab a small, maybe quarter-inch, section of hair from the bottom of my ponytail and wrap it around my hair tie to conceal the elastic. I secure that section of hair with a bobby pin, pushing the pin upwards, behind the base of the ponytail. Then I fluff up my ponytail by shaking out the hair to achieve an effortless/beachy look. (FYI I just said ponytail 6 times... it felt like a lot more than that, didn't it?).
3. The lazy french braid. The longer my hair gets, the more often I wear french braids. They're just so easy and a classic. The reason mine is "lazy" is because I start it in the back of my head behind my ears instead of on top of my head like the traditional french braid. This way, I only have to pull pieces in twice before I get to regularly braid my hair (which is perfect for the day after your workout those triceps, ya know what I mean?)
4. Basically the fancy ponytail, just higher and lazier (I'm sensing a theme). My hair gets pulled up higher the longer I go without washing it. So, this is just a mid to high ponytail with a bandana or scarf tied around it. I think bandanas/scarves add the sweetest touch... and distract from any potentially greasy hair ;)
5. Then, of course, my infamous top knot bun. If you're using more than one hair tie, you're doing it wrong. I know top knots are already a thing but I'm mildly known for mine - humble brag - I think its because A) I have so much hair, I often don't know what to do with it or the skill to really do anything and B) my hair is dirty more often than it is clean... #reallife. So to get your top knot going, gather your hair at the top of your head like you're doing a very, very high ponytail, then twist your hair until it's tightly wound (like me lol) and it will start wrapping around it self. Once your hair is wrapped around itself with about one inch of hair sticking out, wrap your hair tie around it until its snug, then tuck the inch of hair under your bun or pull it around to the back of the bun... you can't see back there anyway. At this point I look like I'm standing in front of a high powered fan, so I loosen the slicked back hair a bit and tah-duh you've got a top knot.
Thanks to Formulate.Co again for gifting me my custom shampoo and conditioner and for helping me reach my hair goals. If you want to enter the giveaway you can do that HERE and let me know, what are your hair goals?
