Does Your Hair Color Fade?

The number one complaint from women with colored hair, especially red, is that their hair color fades too quickly. We know it's natural for chemical pigment to leave the hair after some time, but what about those situations where the hair starts to fade in a week?

Miss MyMy uses Wella Professional products to color all their extensions and wigs so the following tips are based on Wella products.

Here are 8 tips to help keep hair from fading

Tip No 1: Always have your hair color applied to clean hair.

Yes, I know about the old wives tale that your color takes better on dirty hair. well its actually not true or at or at least no longer true. Back in the days when the chemicals in hair color were much stronger a build-up of natural hair oils, helped protect the hair from damage.
Hair color is now much more refined and less damaging to your hair. The color penetrates and last longer on clean hair.

Tip No 2: Semi Permanent Color by Wella Color Touch

Wella's reds in particular are out of this world. Not only do they have every shade of red, the colors are shiny and sexy. My favorite shade by this brand are 7/4 and Rage.

Tip No 3: Avoid washing your hair 48 hours after getting your hair colored.

Color molecules are large, especially reds, and aggravating the cuticle soon after getting your hair colored with hot water and shampoo can release pigment prematurely.

Tip No 4: Do not do hair treatments the same day you have your color done

This can also allow color molecules to be released.

Tip No 5: wear caps when going to the tanning salon.

Tanning, as well as the sun will cause your hair to fade so you need to protect your hair when you tan.

Tip No 6: Wear hats or UV protection on your hair in the sun to prevent fading.

The sun can be very damaging to hair, so protect hair when hanging out in the sun.

Tip No 7: Get a clear or red cellophane gloss one week after having your hair colored 

Cellophanes are vegetable colors that are safer than henna and fade gently without residue. It is applied to the hair, then you are placed under the dryer fro 20 minutes. This seals the color and gives your hair great shine.

Tip No 8: Don't use harsh shampoos.

You spend a lot of money on your hair color. It is time to invest in a good shampoo and conditioner. I'm always amazed at people who pay a lot of money on their hair, doesn't matter if you grew it or not, and then skimp on the products needed to care for it.

Hope this helps!

Here's to happy hair days...
http://www.missmymy.com/home.html

Happy Halloween!

Images via Martha Stewart

Have a fabulous Halloween ya'll!!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween, eh! It kinda snuck up on me this year. Did you dress up or opt for pj's and scary movies instead? Us South Africans don't really celebrate Halloween with the same gusto as the Brits and Americans do but I'm personally in favour of more commerical madness. On Friday, we partied at Unit 11 or 'The Unit' as I've taken to calling it. It's pretty much the only club in Durbs where you can have an indie razzle these days. Plus there's free popcorn - bonus! My first outfit idea was to chuck some red food colouring down a chiffon dress I'd accidentally singed with the iron but the result was far too disturbing for my (and I'm sure anyone else's) liking! In the end, I erm, dribbled some colouring down a polka dot top (told you I would bust out spots over stripes) for a bit of a zombie doll look. What did you guys do? Score any epic treats? Is the whole thing a bit freaky for your liking or do you go full tilt? I'm not so into the devilish looks myself but I'll take any chance to dress up!

You can find Fire Through The Window (pictured above) here and Unit 11 here. Fun party gang!

Powder Room Makeover *Reveal*!

Oh my! Are you SO ready to see my bathroom??? :D I know you are! If you have forgotten the sad state it was in before you can see it HERE and the beginning stages of the makeover HERE. Now, before we reveal, I must show you some of the process...

First we painted the back of the bathroom (reveal coming in a sec.), then we painted the first color of the front of the bathroom (you can't really tell what it looks like in these first pics because I had to edit it so you could see the pencil lines better). Then, using my (suprisingly) FANTASTIC math skills ;) I measured out the wall and drew all the PERFECTLY straight lines we needed. I had to ask my mom to do the top ones... I'm a bit short if you didn't know already... even with the stool! Haha!

See?? Perfect rectangles.

Then I had to draw these PERFECT diagonal lines. Not easy. If you can't tell already, I'm really proud of myself. Haha!

Then we had to tape off all of the diamonds along the INSIDE of the lines of the diamonds that were STAYING the lighter color. Then you paint the ones that will NOT be staying that color with another coat of the first color to seal the tape so no bleeding happens. (this is how we got the perfect stripes in my room. You can find that post HERE) After it dries you can paint the new color. Be careful not to get it in the other diamonds.

Want to see how it turned out?! Eeeeeeeeeeep!!!

*TRUMPETS* DA DA DA DAAAAAAAAA!!!!

My royal bathroom!!! Perfect diamonds!! Oh I love them. :)

I wish I could get the color a bit closer to reality. It's really more of a gold than that yellow tan. But you get the idea right??

Here's a view of the side by the door...

And the side closer to the back of the bathroom...

A closer look... I LOVE that mirror. We got everything (all the accesories) at Hobby Lobby! Love that store.

A closer look of the other side. I'm also in love with that box on the wall. Sigh. Haha!

Ready for the back of the bathroom??

Ta-Da!

Mint Green and ruffles! Love. :)

My new pretty towel hooks...

My newely painted shelf! Used to be white. I like it better this way.

A close up of the light and outlet fixtures...

My shower curtain! It took forever and a day to find this thing. We almost just made one.

And...

My new floor!! Yay!! Sooooooo much better than that half carpet half tile it was before!

A closer look...

Well there you have it!! You may have noticed the cabinents are the same. Eventually (never??) we'll get around to just redoing them entirely. Hence the old hardware. Oh well. :) As always, the pictures aren't near as good as the real thing. Guess you'll just have to see it in person! Haha!

for the boos

Happy Halloween! Festive jams for you here (supernaturals) and here (monsters)!

This is Halloween!!

I wish I could have given you more pictures from my mom's Witches Party, but I wasn't even there. I was teaching a dance class. My neighbor/ photographer was kind enough to come over and take some pictures for us (you can find his blog HERE). But I do have pictures of what Halloween looks like at our house for you! Lets take a look, shall we??

A cute wiches hat.

Our Living/ Family room shelf.

Our Dining Room.

Our Fire Place Mantel.

Entry Sitting Area.

And what you'd see as you stepped into our Entry Way.

I also have a couple other random pictures for you.

Here is what my mom made as her Invitation for her party... Ya, she's talented and a bit obsessed with Halloween... She even added a hook on the back so that her guests are able to keep it as a Halloween decoration! And for the info part she didn't do your basic time, date, place etc. No. It was a full on 6 paragraph Halloween poem folded and sealed on the back of the invitation. Sheesh. One day I will be like her. Until then I can only try.

Sunday evenings I often find myself bored. So this last Sunday I decided to start (a tad late in the season) our neighborhood "BOO"'s. I made pumpkin cookies and everything! Yay. I am a terrible doorbell ditcher. So I enlisted my neighbors little boy to help me out. He LOVED it and begged me to take him whenever I doorbell ditch in the future... I guess I'm going to have to come up with versions for all the holiday's so he's not disapointed that I rarely doorbell ditch. Haha!

I know what you're thinking. Two posts in one day and still no bathroom update?! I PROMISE it's coming. Still no hardware. :P But I am heading up to Hobby Lobby today so hopefuly I'll be able to get some hardware and be done with it!

Again, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

SoBe Hair Show 2010

I have to say I had high expectations for the SoBe hair show, in South Beach.  Bear in mind, this is just their third year.  I try to attend various hair trade shows to keep up with what's new in the industry.  As we all know,  if you're not moving you're standing still, and if you're standing still,  chances are someone else is moving past you, (and we definitely don't want that!).  Educating yourself in whatever profession you're in is always a good idea, and that's where these type of shows come in.  Okay,  enough with the lecture for the day...back to SoBe.  I think a smaller venue would have provided a much more intimate setting for a smaller show.  I also would have loved to see more exhibitors.  I'm positive that next year will be even better.

The Hair Olympics, which was hosted by celebrity stylist Derek J. from the Real Housewives of Atlanta, was my favorite part of the show.  It was awesome!  The energy of the models and performers was palpable.  

Anyway, this show is still fairly new...just 3 years old.  I'm looking forward to seeing how they mature and get bigger and better over time.  We'll be there again next year!

MyMy

Here's to happy hair days...

http://missmymy.com/home.html

Q&A with Sydney of The Daybook

Guys, I have become obsessed with Sydney! Ok, that sounds creepy. Put it this way, I check her blog every five minutes, daily. She is just so adorable, you can't help but love her. I always think that she must look at her blog stats and see these billions of hits from the same South African IP address and wander who the stalker is! That would be me Syd. I like to call her Syd, as if we're best friends. (We are, right, Syd?) Anyway, Syd kindly took the time to chat to me all the way from the US.




Hello Sydney/Syd! How are you today?
I am in my P.J.'s right now. So obviously, I'm fabulous.

Obvz! Your blog has exploded recently - in the very best way possible! You must be so chuffed with the response?
Indeed, I am chuffed. I also just had to look up that word in my dictionary. And will now be using it regularly ... because it is very British and because it is awesome. I'm sure husband will be stopping by later to thank you for that one. To answer your question, I have been surprised but thrilled with the response! And I have a few, very kind bloggers who have spotlighted me to thank for the recent influx.



Lols re 'chuffed!' Can you tell us how your blog has evolved since you began in October last year?
I started our blog as a little journal for my husband and I. But then one day, after being inspired by several other style bloggers, I decided that I wanted to post my daily outfits too. So I did. And that's when the blog started to grow. I still feel like I'm being true to the original endeavor of the blog though, as I hardly ever post about the clothes themselves, just mostly the hub's and I's life together.




What is your favourite thing about blogging?
Absolutely, my favorite part is the connections I get to make with other readers and bloggers. There are some seriously awesome peeps out there.

There are indeed. Your photography is amazing. Can you please share some tips with us?
Oh goodness! Well thank you. I will indeed. Here's 3 quick tips that will make your pictures look amazing no matter what kind of camera you use:
- Use great lighting! We usually take my outfit pics around 5:00 or 6:00pm when the sun is lower in the sky. That gives you softer, golden lighting and will showcase your clothing significantly better than the harsher lighting the comes around the middle of the day.
- Do not take a picture with your subject in the direct center of the frame. For example, try shooting a close-up of someone's face, cropped off to the right of their cheekbone and placed in the right side of the frame. This type of cropping make the picture more visually interesting and appealing.
- Use the rule of thirds. Always try to compose your shots with this in mind. By using {roughly} a small, medium and large object/negative space in your composition, the viewer's eye will always have somewhere to look and travel to throughout the picture.

Excellent tips, thanks girl. You also have such a sharp eye for style. What are the ten items you reckon every girl should own?
Ten items huh? A Fitted Blazer, Statement Scarves, A leather {or faux leather} jacket, A waist cinching belt, a chunky necklace {or lots of necklaces you can chunk together}, the LBD {of course}, a nautical striped top, knee high boots, a great pair of skinny jeans, a floral or interestingly patterned dress.



What is your personal, go-to outfit?
Knee High Boots, Skinny Jeans, A patterned button up, chunky boyfriend sweater and boyfriend watch. I am so in my element with this fall weather right now.

If you were to visit us in South Africa, what would you pack?
Well, since you guys are entering Summer right now I would be packing my straw fedora, plenty of maxi dresses, my boyfriend roll-up shorts, some white cotton boat shoes and absolutely everything in my closet with stripes.



Do you have any exciting news or plans you'd like to share with us?
I don't know how exciting this is for everyone, but my husband just received a job offer from a company in Washington D.C. ... of which he accepted. We will be moving there shortly after graduation in this coming year!

Oooh, that is exciting. Lastly, please can you post a photography and photoshop tutorial if that's not too cheeky to ask!
I will indeed! In fact, that's the next tutorial I plan on posting on the blog, so stay tuned! Should be up sometime this week. :)

Thanks Sydney, you're such an inspiration to me and I'm sure, many more!
You are too sweet. THANKS so much! 



Ah, isn't she just the cutest? You can check out Sydney's blog here and of course pop her a comment below. On the topic of interviews, sweet Rachel had a natter with me the other day. You can check it out here if you fancy. Have a great weekend guys!

Hand Tied and Machine Tied Wefts Explained

In the past little while we have received many questions regarding hand tied weft compared to machine tied weft so here is the comparison:

Hand tied wefts are exactly what it sounds like; hand tied. Trust me, it takes forever to do.  I've done it. :-(

The weft is ultra thin and pre cut into measurements of about 10 to 12 inches,  so you need not, and SHOULD not cut the weft.  If the weft is too long,  all you need to do is fold it back on itself. It is so thin that even when you fold it back it's still thinner than a machine tied weft. 

If it isn't wide enough to go from one end of the clients head to the other simply over lap the weave.

This type of weft will NEVER shed which is one of the concerns people have when wearing hair.

Hand tied hair.

Machine tied is made with a sewing machine that is able to sew the hair into a weft. This weft is one continuous weft which looks similar to the surged seam on the inside of your clothing. Depending on the machine that is used the weft could be very secure or not so secure; as is commonplace with lower-end hair. Before using, we recommend checking your weft by pulling the hair downward to see if you are losing any hair.  If you find you are losing hair,  you can reinforce the weft with a regular sewing machine.  I know some of you are very handy!

When putting in a machine tied weft, you will need to cut the weft to the length that is needed. Any time you cut the weft, however, you introduce an area where the hair can come out. If you don't do something to reinforce the cut ends, the thread can unravel. We suggest either gluing the ends in order to prevent that or sewing the ends to avoid hair loss. If you don't do the above you may experience hair loss because each cut end will lose hair giving the appearance that the complete weft is shedding.

We prefer hand tied and mainly sell hand tied but it's a personal preference.

Hope this helps
MyMy  ;-)

Here's to happy hair days...
http://missmymy.com/home.html