Hello Everyone!

Since I went back to red hair I knew the maintenance would not be easy. 

I was going in to the salon every 3 to 4 weeks and it was showing on my hair. The damage to my hair was the main reason I cut it off. To maintain the brightness of the color, my hairstylist recommended Color Jamz. I tried it already once and it is very messy. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. 

I also want to mention I'm no expert this is just how I used the product after using it for the first time I learned some tricks so I wanted to share them.

 Also I apologize for the quality of the pictures, I used my iPhone. 

I hadn't planned on doing a whole post but like I mentioned I did things a little different from the first time so I did want to share. I didn't find many reviews on this product so I hope this helps someone. 

Before. 

(After one use of the Cool Jamz). 

Please remember my hair has been previously bleached and dyed red, professionally not by me. Depending on your hair color this Semi Permanent color will show up differently. 

You can find them at Sally Beauty Supply, they are pretty inexpensive. ($6-8's)

I had trouble finding my color at the stores near me. So I went on a hunt for it lol.

I used the Wild Red. 

What you will need: 

Color Jamz Sally's Beauty Supply

Mixing bowl & brush Sally's Beauty Supply

Gloves (Courtesy of my BF)

Conditioner (Any will do)

Clips/Hair ties

Comb

Plastic bags/paper

I was pretty lucky and found a mixing bowl, gloves, brush and bottle set at Sally's the day I went in to the store. Keep an eye out for them if you want to try to dye your hair at home. 

It was around $5-6's so I thought it was a good deal. 

Make sure you use some kind of plastic to cover your counters and floor and any carpets. This will help with staining. Anything this dye touches will get stained. 

First step add conditioner to your bowl. 

Now guys I will tell you I am no expert! 

This is simply what I do and I do eye ball the amounts. 

Add the Color Jamz and mix it all together. 

I felt like mine needed a little more conditioner only because I wanted this to cover my whole hair. The last thing I wanted to do was to have to mix more dye as I was going. 

This seemed like a good mix and enough to cover my hair so I stopped here. 

I parted my hair as best I could, oh and don't forget to brush it before so that you don't have knots in your hair. I found that the clips helped me hold my hair back as I moved on to the next section. I used the hair ties for the bottom hair. 

I pretty much painted on the color and brushed it out as I went. I did miss some spots so I went back in with my fingers and made sure I got every strand. 

(My sister also helped me point out the dry spots). 

Make sure you brush it out and that you go back in to add color where needed. 

All done. 

This stuff is messy! I don't know how many times to warn you!

Look at those gloves. My sister said it reminded her of Grey's Anatomy. lol

After you have brushed it out and made sure you got every part you can put your hair up. 

I left it on for about an hour to an hour in a half.

When I washed it out I used regular shampoo, I needed to get the dye out. 

To condition it I used the Aussie 3 minute miracle. 

To remove any stains I used conditioner, the same one I used to mix the dye. It did the job.

This is my hair after. 

Keep in mind the lighting wasn't the best but you can see my hair has a little more life in it than before. Of course my roots will not be red, they will have to be bleached before any color goes on. 

I'm pretty happy with the results. 

The only negative thing about it is that I feel like the color isn't as red as I would like it. As you can see from the bottle it's pink and I see some pink spots in my hair. I expected red dye not pink.

I still like the look it gives my hair and that I'm able to keep it from getting damaged a little more. 

As far as the messiness just be careful what you touch. Make sure that when you wash it out you also wear gloves. Yes I am not joking about that. The first time I used it I told my BF that if smurfs were pink I would look just like one. My whole neck, chest and arms were stained pink. 

Remember I'm going for a red color and the dye still stained pink. 

Please let me know if you have any questions. Again please remember I am no expert. I'm just a red head trying to keep my hair as bright as possible. 

Brew your coffee, I used the breakfast blend on the Keurig. 

This one taste really good. 

I let the coffee sit out for awhile to cool down. 

Hello Everyone!

I wanted to share this quick and easy nail art idea for 4th of July. 

It took me less than 20 minutes if that. 

What you will need: 

Base coat/strengthening polish - Sally Hase nail growth - Target

Top Coat - Seche Vite - Sally Beauty Supply

Red, white & blue polish (The ones of your choice).

Dotting tools (You can also use a bobby pin). - Sally Beauty Supply

Cotton balls & Q-Tips

Acetone

Start with clean nails. I added a coat of my nail strengthener to work as a strengthener but also as a base coat so that my nails are as even as possible, it makes the best canvas for nail art. 

the look I'm going for needs clean nails so that you don't have other polish colors on it to distract from the design. 

I stared with the stripes. 

The easiest way to get the stripes is to move your hand at the same time you move the brush. 

Make sure you use a thin nail art brush to make the lines as clean as possible. 

Do the lines quickly so that you don't drag the brush to much. I found that when I did that the lines came out thicker or just messy. 

One of my biggest tips for doing your nails is to do your thumb last. As you see I'm dipping my thumb nail in to acetone so that I can use it to clean up my nails. 

After dipping it a bit in the acetone take your nails and wipe around the edges of your nail.

I've seen the ladies at the nail salon clean my nails this way, I just add a little acetone to make it easier to wipe off. 

Moving on from the stripes add the colors you will be using for your design on to a piece of cardboard. For the purpose of showing you what I do I added all the colors at the same time to the cardboard but when you are doing yours do them one at a time. They tend to dry quickly on to the cardboard. 

After you have added all the colors you will be using, grab your dotting tool. 

Remember if you don't have these a bobby pin will do just fine. I like the dotting tool because you can get different sizes. 

I dab the polish on and sometimes do a dot on the cardboard to make sure I don't have too much polish. If you dip it to much you will get a sloppy dot on your nail. 

Start adding your polka dots!

Do this slowly do that the tool you are using doesn't slide around and mess up your design. 

Add as many dots as you would like. In the pattern you want. 

For my middle finger I wanted to include all three colors. So towards the bottom I started with red, then added the white and finished off with the blue. 

Add all the dots in the colors you want. I finished off my thumb nail with just white polka dots. I really like how they look just in white. 

Grab your top coat. 

Make sure you let your design dry. 

Although with this design I didn't find that it took long to dry. Remember I didn't add a nail polish under the polka dots so it's less polish to dry. 

Again cleaning up the edges with my thumb nail. 

I think this turned out cute, simple and it was so easy. You don't have to use the red, white and blue you can do them all one color or mix and match. It's a lot of fun. 

I hope this was easy to follow. Please let me know what you think.

Have a great 4th of July weekend!