Tips for Adding Volume to Your Hair

Everyone loves to have big voluminous hair but not all of us are gifted with hair which is naturally like this every day.  Having fine hair, in the past I have often found this to be a challenge but I have learnt some tricks over the years and what better way to share them with you than in a blog post? If you have any your own tips please feel free to leave a comment, I would love to read them!

#1 Volumising Products

I'm starting with the most obvious tip and that is to introduce hair products that are specifically designed to add volume to your hair.  There are many products that fall into this category but the ones I always use are Shampoo's and Conditioners and a favourite combination that I keep going back to is the thickening range by John Freida. There are also hairsprays, texturing sprays and powders that can help add volume to your hair as well.  I don't tend to use these very often but some of my favourites include the VO5 Oomph Powder, Toni and Guy Sea Salt Spray and James Brown Photo Finish Volumising Mousse. I tend to avoid using the Oomph powder unless my roots are very flat because it changes the texture of my hair which I'm not overly keen on but it does the job very well.  The sea salt spray adds beautiful volume and texture to the length of my hair but I only use this when I have waves. Lastly, I occasionally use a mousse on my hair but they do tend to dry it out if I use them for long periods of time so it isn't something I would use every time I was my hair.

#2 Don't Use Too Many Products

Despite what I've said in no.1 and there being lots of amazing volumising products on the market if you use too many at once or use products with a heavy texture you could actually achieve the opposite effect. Due to this I'm always very careful about the amount of products I use on my hair each time I wash it and stick to their bare minimum depending on what nourishment my hair needs and how I am going to style it.

#3 Back Combing

This post wouldn't be complete without mentioning back combing which is a simple method to add lots of volume to the hair. I love back combing because you can easily add volume to your roots as well as the length of your hair plus you have control over the amount of volume you add but it's not good to do it very often because it can damage your hair.  I probably back comb my hair once a week and mostly just on nights out when I want extra volume and I simply use any brush or comb I find, select a selection of hair, spray the underside of the roots with hairspray and then gently tease the upwards towards the roots in small sections starting as close to the roots as I can. I always leave a top layer of hair because this makes the back combing really easy to hide and after a little more hairspray I'm ready to go!

#4 Blow Drying Your Hair Up-side Down

This may sound odd to some people but for years I've blow dried my hair upside down. By this i mean I flip all my hair over my head so it is hanging in front of my face. This adds a huge amount of volume and I actually find it's much quicker to dry my hair this way.  One down-side is it can go a little frizzy sometimes but to combat this I use Moroccan Oil and tie my hair up for a short time and it soon calms down.

#5 Wash Your Hair

My hair doesn't tend to get greasy quickly and therefore I only wash it every 2-3 days. However, on the odd occasion when my hair is very flat the day after washing and I don't feel any of my other tricks will work I resort to washing my hair again. I've noticed this sometimes happens with certain shampoo's I use and it is very rare but this is always an option if nothing else works.

#6 Add a Little Dry Shampoo

I could have added this tip in section 1 but dry shampoo is such a brilliant product for adding volume to hair I think it deserves it's own section. I always use the Batiste Dry Shampoo as this product works brilliantly at both refreshing my hair and adding volume, particularly at the roots. Personally, I would recommend sticking to the original dry shampoo rather than the volume version because the texture is completely different. The latter being slightly sticky which I'm not a fan of.

#7 Styling

Styling can be both a good and bad thing for adding volume. If I'm curling my hair I find it is much easier to add and maintain volume than when I am straightening and by sectioning my hair into three layers before curling small sections I find this works really well. When it comes to straightening it's much harder and I find if I straighten my hair too much I easily go from having big voluminous hair to a flat, dull and lump hair style. To help prevent this I try to move the straighteners along my hair quickly and achieve the style by actually straightening my hair as little as possible.

 What do you think of my tips to add volume to hair? What are yours?

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Moroccan Oil Shampoo and Conditioner Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before I start the review let me tell you a little about my hair type.  I have long, fine, naturally curly brunette hair which regularly gets styled whether it be an up do or something that requires heat such a straightening or curling.  I use heat on my hair most days of the week so I am keen to use as many nourishing products on it as possible to stop it from getting dry and damaged but something I haven't really splashed out on before is a fancy shampoo and conditioner... until now.

Moroccan Oil is a brand I expect most if not all of you have heard of before.  The first product I started to use in their range is the hair oil treatment which is amazing (read the review here) and if I'm honest, when I started using it I didn't realise they had other products in their range, I guess I just hadn't ever looked into it.  After a trip to my hairdressers I had noticed they had changed their products to Moroccan Oil and then the temptation begun.  I resisted buying the shampoo and conditioner for several months because of the huge price tag but eventually I gave in because in the long run I thought it could be better for my hair.

The Moroccan Oil shampoo and conditioners come in two variations, either to help add volume to your hair or to repair weakened and damaged hair.  Despite using heat on my hair I have been pretty lucky and it isn't badly damaged.  This probably has something to do with the fact I religiously use large amounts of heat protector and regularly get it cut.  Therefore, I was more inclined to try the volume range. Things didn't quite go according to plan, though.  My hairdresser only had the volume shampoo so I had to settle for one of each.  This is something I wouldn't usually do as I normally like them to be matching (weird I know) but the impatient side of me didn't want to wait until they came back in stock.

Anyway, home I went, a happy bunny, with my new Moroccan Oil treats in hand.  I've been using my new goodies regularly for the past two months and I love them.  Not only does the shampoo and conditioner give me the best of both worlds, volume plus repair but they smell a-mazing! I could quite happily smell them all day and thankfully the scent does linger on my hair for a little while after washing.  The formula of the Moroccan Oil shampoo and conditioner is no different from other brands.  It is simply a creamy solution that maybe needs a little more effort than usual to make it foam due to the fact it isn't full of chemical nasties.  As the formula is more concentrated than your average shampoo and conditioner you also don't need to use as much meaning it lasts longer, hurrah! For shampoo I use around a 10p size for each wash and for conditioner a 20p as I concentrate this mainly on my tips and work my way up with any excess.

The shampoo aims to add volume, revitalise hair and restore it with the antioxidant argan oil whereas the conditioner aims to nourish your hair as it contains argan oil, keratin and fatty acids as well as help de-tangle.  Something which I find great with my curly hair which is often a tangly mess after washing or sleeping on it. After using both products my hair is left feeling smooth and silky soft both when wet and dry.  After leaving my hair in a towel for a short while I always blow dry it and at this point my hair has a gorgeous shine as well as added volume from root to tip.  I've also noticed since using Moroccan Oil shampoo and conditioner my hair doesn't seem to get greasy as quickly and stays volumised for around two days, although not quite so much on the second day.

Since using these products several people have commented on how healthy my hair looks and I haven't changed any other products in my hair care routine.  This tells me that although these products are expensive, they have made a difference to my hair and were definitely worth a try.  I do really like them but my decision to re-purchase or not will depend on how long they last.  I've been using both regularly for around two months (in addition to my normal shampoo and conditioner occasionally) and to be honest when I pick them up they don't even feel like any product has been used.  I'm hoping they will last me a good few months in which case I will happily re-purchase but they are just too big an expense to purchase too often!

You can buy the Moroccan Oil shampoo and conditioner from Feel Unique for around £17.00 each.


Have you tried this shampoo and conditioner?

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John Freida Luxurious Volume Thickening Shampoo and Conditioner Review

 

 

 

I hope you’re all well.  Today’s post will be a review of the John Freida Luxurious Volume Thickening Shampoo and Conditioner.  I’ve only been using these hair products for around three weeks but I love them so much I couldn’t wait any longer to share them with you. I have long, fine hair so I’m always looking for ways to add more volume whether it be through products or the way I dry and style my hair.  The first step for me in this process is when I wash my hair so using a volumising shampoo and conditioner regularly is a must.  I have used a lot of different volumising shampoo and conditioners over the years but have never found one that adds volume for a reasonable period of time plus nourishes my hair… until now.

 

I use the John Freida Volume Shampoo and Conditioner around 1-2 times a week (I like to mix up the products I use so my hair doesn’t get ‘bored’ of them so I use other shampoo and conditioners too).  The formulation is thick, creamy and smells amazing but unfortunately doesn’t linger on my hair as long as I would  maybe like (Head and Shoulders products are brilliant for this).  After leaving my hair to towel dry for a while and adding other products such as leave in conditioner and Moroccan oil, I dry my hair upside down as normal to help encourage even more volume.  Instantly I can see my hair is nicely volumised and whether I style it straight or with curls it is maintained and stays all day/evening.  The following day my hair doesn’t have quite so much volume but still has a reasonable amount and much more than I have experienced from other shampoos.  My hair also feels soft, smooth and nourished. This is what I love most about these products, I am not making a compromise by wanting to add volume to my hair like I seem to have experienced with products in the past which have given me volume but left my hair dry and dull.

 

The packaging of the Luxurious Volume range are a simple bright green so they are easy to spot and definitely stand out on a shelf. I like the basic design and although I love pink (incase you hadn’t guessed hehe) the colour combination is a nice alternative to what other brands are using on the market.

I love this shampoo and conditioner, they are definitely a favourite of mine at the moment and I will be repurchasing them!

You can buy the John Freida Luxurious Volume shampoo and conditioner from Boots for £5.99 each.

What is your favourite shampoo and conditioner for volume? Will you be trying the Luxurious Volume range from John Freida?

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James Brown Photo Fabulous Volumising Mousse Review

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are all well.  As I've mentioned many times before, I have fine hair so I am always looking for ways to add volume.  A product I have used on and off for years is mousse and the one I will be reviewing today is the James Brown Photo Fabulous Volumising Mousse.

The packging of the product is different from anything else on the market which really makes it stand out on the shelf.  Rather than going for your typical pinks or pastel's they have used black with neon orange which makes the packaging edgy and funky.

* some of the wording is chopped off in the above pic as I didn't originally plan to make a collage.

The texture of the James Brown volumising mousse is your typical white foam which expands in your hand.  It's scent is nice and lingers on your hair...it reminds me of the hair products used in salons. I'm sitting here with my boyfriend trying to work out how to describe this smell and we've both come to the conclusion it is unlike any other products and pretty hard to put your finger on.  My attempt would be a sweet, floral, musky fragrance which isn't overpowering.

This product works consistenly when teamed with a variety of shampoo's are conditioners (such as Elvive, James Brown and Charles Worthington) and can be used to add volume to the roots and length of your hair as well as create a messy, beachy waves look (read the tutoral here).

I apply the James Brown mousse to towel dried hair upside down.  I find this allows me to evenly distribute the product easier as I start from root to tip.  Following this I simply brush through my hair and dry it as normal.

There are two key things to remember when using mousse:

1. Shake, shake, shake - You need to throughly shake mousse so when you pump it out it turns into a foam which expands rather than a wet mess. If you don't do this you won't get the volume you want.
2. Quantity - Mousse can make your hair sticky if you use too much of it so you need to make sure you don't go overboard. It is very much down to trial and error but to give you a rough idea this is how much I use for my length hair:

I really like this product and I've been using it every time I have washed my hair for around two months.  If you use the correct quantity it doesn't leave your hair sticky or flat but I have found it does dry out my hair a little.  To fix this, I make sure I apply moroccan oil (read the review here).

What do you think of mousse? How do you add volume to your hair?

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VO5 Give Me Texture Instant Oomph Powder Review

I have fine hair but a lot of it and I find it can sometimes look flat the day after I have washed it (depending on the shampoo etc I use)  Due to this, I am always on the look out for volumising products and the VO5 Give Me Texture Instant Oomph Powder caught my eye as a quick and easy product to use on the go.

The packaging of this product is a petite but bright pink bottle which instantly makes it stand out on the shelf.  The size of the product is perfect to fit in your handbag but make sure you always have the cap twisted on correctly as the thin powder can easily escape and end up everywhere but on your hair.

The product itself is a fine, soft, white powder which is rather clever!  It expands when it is shaken because this helps activate the product before you put it onto your hair. You can literally see the difference by just looking at the powder in the bottle before and after shaking.
 

To apply this product you can either gently shake it directly onto your roots or apply it onto your hands first for a more precision.  I do the former the majority of the time and it works very well.  I seem to say this a lot in my posts but a little bit of this product goes a very long way.  Rather than applying a lot of the product it is more important to get an even coverage and put it where you want.  After application I gently push/fluff my hair into place using my fingers tips and I can literally poof my hair in any direction I want because it grips to the roots. As I'm doing this, the texture of this powder changes.  The only way I can think to describe this is that it transforms into a dry, clear, gelly like substance so even in my brunette hair the white powder doesn't show up at all.  This powder doesn't make your hair greasy but when you touch it you can feel that there is product in it, it's a little tacky but not overly sticky. The smell of this powder is also floral which is lovely and something I wasn't expecting.

 

 After adding a little hairspray to keep everything in place I have lovely volumised hair for a good few hours.

 

 This product is a really great alternative to backcombing which can damage your hair so easily.. and it only takes seconds!

 

 

This oomph powder is available in one size (7g) at Boots for £4.07.

Have you tried this product? What is your favourite volumising product?

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Trevor Sorbie Volume Thickening Leave In Conditioner Review

 

Today we will be looking at the Trevor Sorbie Beautiful Volume Thickening Leave-In conditioner. This product is most suited to fine/flyaway hair, neither of which I really have but I love trying out volumising products as I hate having flat, limp hair!

This leave-in conditioner boasts it has a lightweight formula, which adds all day volume with heat protection and shine enhancing technology. I have mixed views about this claim.  Firstly, I find that the formula is lightweight if used sparingly.  When I've used too much it has made my hair very sticky and flat.... not good! So if you use this product be very careful of how much you are applying.  I tend to do two sprays per section (I use large sections) and I have long hair. I don't ever apply this product to my roots.

As for shine.. I don't feel it is fair for me to comment either way on this point as I use several other shine enhancing products on my hair.  It's too hard for me to tell if this one adds shine or not unless I use it in isolation for a period of time.

Lastly, volume.  I do find this product makes my hair fuller but it has been harder to get a smooth, sleek look.  Saying that, I think it would be unfair to say this product is the sole cause, if at all.  The weather has been/is pretty awful lately and as I've got naturally curly hair it's prone to frizzing and losing that 'just straightened' look anyway.  This product is great to use when curling your hair, though.

The smell of this product is gorgeous.  It has a really perfumed fragrance which I have found lingers on my hair even the following day I have used it. Some people may not like this but I love it when my hair still smells fresh and clean the following day after washing as I don't wash my hair on a daily basis (my hair just doesn't need it!)

Another great aspect of this product is the heat protection.  I use heat on my hair almost every day so the more I can protect it the better.  I use this in addition to a heat protector spray.  Here's a review on the one I'm currently using: Vo5 Heat Protector Spray.

I will finish using up this product but I won't be in a hurry to re-purchase. By that I don't mean that I never will, I just won't in the near future.

What are your recommendations for leave-in conditioner?

 

:: Va Va Voom! ::

:: Va Va Voom Mascara ::

My mascara ran out last week and I didn't have much time to go shopping for a new one so I did the next best thing and popped into a nearby Boots on my way home. The store was only tiny so there wasn't a huge amount of selection but I didn't want to be without a mascara so I decided to try something new.

The mascara which caught my eye was the 17 Va Va Voom volume mascara. The one I bought was in colour brown/black and priced at £6.29.

I've only used this mascara a handful as times as after all that, the next day I got a sty on my eye so I couldn't wear any eye makeup anyway! Overall I feel pretty mixed about this product.  The coverage is even on the lashes and they definitely do look fuller but I found the brush to be too big to easily get to the smaller lashes in the inside of my eye. I also found the brush picked up too much product. I prefer to build the mascara on my lashes rather than one layer go on so thickly. Despite this, my lashes didn't gloop together to badly, but this did happen on the odd occasion. The staying power of this mascara is also good. It stays on all day without any touch ups but at the same time doesn't need too much scrubbing at the end of the day to get it off.

 

I'll continue to use this product every now and then as I've got it but I wouldn't rush out to buy it again.  
 

 

Rating: 3/5

What is your all time favourite mascara?

Top tip: Don't be tempted to pump your mascara as this will dry it out.  Instead, gently twist the brush around.