Shiny hair.

Ever since my haircut, I’ve been obsessed with getting my hair as straight, smooth, and shiny as possible. My hair is naturally straight, but the texture is very fine and it tends to get really puffy and frizzy and gross unless I take special measures.

Darker hair always looks shinier because it reflects more light. I’ve been dying my hair black for a long, LONG time, and despite passing phases where I think about bleaching it bone-white, I kind of know I’ll always have really dark hair—even when I’m old and it makes me look like a crazy lady (especially then, come to think of it). My favorite hair dye right now is L’Oreal Superior Preference in Purest Black. It’s totally neutral, with no blue or red undertones. Of course it fades a bit, but that actually keeps my light brown roots from being super obvious. I try to go at least two months between dye jobs to avoid completely killing my hair.

I’d never really felt loyal to a particular shampoo and conditioner before I started using MOP Glisten. It smells like oranges, it doesn’t overclean or overcondition my hair (good, since I do like to wash my hair every day), and I only need to use a small amount of product at a time. Love.

Before blow-drying, I like to spray my hair with a little Nexxus Heat Protexx. I don’t know if it actually protects my hair from heat styling products like it claims, but it definitely does make my hair supersoft and un-static-y. I also work in a wee dab of Bumble and bumble Grooming Creme. It just gives my hair a little more substance and makes it feel a little thicker. It’s expensive, but a tube lasts for months and months.

I let my hair air-dry for about 20 minutes, and then I blow it completely dry. I don’t use a fancy dryer, just a little folding one I’ve had for years. If my hair were thicker I might want something more powerful, but with fine hair like mine, this little guy is enough. When my hair is totally dry, I iron it with a CHI Ceramic Flat Iron. I used used cheaper irons for years, and finally gave in to the CHI about a month ago. It’s FABULOUS. I didn’t realize what a difference a professional iron would make. It’s so much faster and more efficient, and actually seems to damage my hair less—probably because I don’t have to make 6 passes over the same piece of hair to get it smooth and straight. After straightening, I blast my hair with cold air from the blow dryer. This seems to be the key to preventing it from getting puffy.

Once everything is neat and smooth, I rub a TINY dab of Bumble and Bumble Sumotech between my hands and work it in to the ends of my hair and the bangs. It holds my hair in place without making it look hard, and gives it just enough definition to make it look “lived-in” and natural (as opposed to looking like a wig, which is a look I can’t really pull off anymore).

Yay! Shiny!