Hair

France Luxe Wide Double Headband As weather starts to get hotter, you may want to think about putting your hair back (and off your face) in a professional way. I feel like headbands may be making a resurgence of late — and I love these double headbands on sale at France Luxe.  The “sand” color in particular seems like a great basic for women with blond or brunette locks. They were originally $40, and are now marked to $16.90. France Luxe Wide Double Headband

Readers, what are your opinions on headbands?  Do they still scream “Hillary Clinton in the 90s” to you, or are they more fashionable these days for women?
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I’m always a fan of pretty ponytail holders for those days when you intend to wear your hair back all day. This one walks the line from being really interesting and pretty, but being better priced than a lot of similar things I’ve seen: it’s $6 at Ulta. If only it came in other colors! Purple Check Elastic Ponytail Holder
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France Luxe Galaxy Ponytail HolderThe low ponytail is one of my default “I want my hair out of my face while I’m trying to work” modes, and for the office it’s always best if it can be as polished as possible. So I was thrilled when I found that the sale section of the France Luxe site included a number of lovely ponytail holders. I got the “Ivory Tokyo” one, which is a great basic that I can probably get away with wearing with anything. Was $18, now $6.90 — love the free shipping, also.  France Luxe Galaxy Ponytail Holder

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Wet Curls, originaly uploaded to Flickr by YaelBeeriOk, guys — I know this is a common discussion in the comments, and, I thought I’d finally throw an open thread up here. My own hair has been getting wavier and wavier as I get older (yay, age!) and it seems like there are different routines for fall/winter versus spring/summer.  (Pictured: Wet Curls, originally uploaded to Flickr by YaelBeeri.)

How do you deal with your curly or wavy hair in the winter? What are your favorite diffusers? What hair products do you pull out when you do your seasonal swaps? I’m still trying to figure this out myself, so I’m curious to hear what the readers say.  (And a caveat — as anyone who’s spend any time on the excellent NaturallyCurly.com site and forum, everyone has their own technique, and it can be a process of discovery to figure out what works best for you.)

For my own $.02… my hair has always had a slight kink in it in the very back of my head — and as I get older, I’d say that it’s now about 60% wavy/curly (again, only in the back of my head) and about 40% straight. If my hair is longer, like it is right now (about 2″ above the top of my bra strap) the hair itself is so heavy that I can get it pretty straight with a quick 15-minutes with my hairdryer, diffuser, and (when it’s 95% dry) some time with the roundbrush. It’s still a bit poufy and, in the very back, kinky, but for a day-to-day look it’s more than fine. In more humid weather I was liking the Avon Anti-Frizz stuff; now I just try to be sure to use a gel or whatnot to protect it from the blowdryer’s heat. My own blow dryer is a pretty cheap one, bought a few years ago at Bed Bath & Beyond for about $30 — but I’d be willing to spend more if anyone has any suggestions. I’ll also sometimes use a flat-iron, which I think was about $120, also at Bed Bath & Beyond.

Kat Griffin

me, last November

Last fall/winter, though, my hair was so short I could barely put it back into a ponytail — in July I donated 9″ and did the post-wedding chop. Attempts to blow-dry it straight were largely unsuccessful — it seemed like I was just walking around with my head looking like a triangle, if that makes sense. However, my hair was short enough that I’d let it airdry most days into curls/waves. In terms of products and tools, when I let it go wavy/curly I use the little clips to “pick” the hair up to help it airdry (as they taught me the one time I went for a Devachon cut), and I’ll use a towel designed for curly girls to “scrunch” my hair as the water drips to the bottom of it. When it’s nearly dry I’ll throw on some gel or cream to help the waves hold their shape — my favorites are the Frederic Fekkai Luscious Curls Cream and the Devachon AnGel. (I’ve tried a few of the “beachy” misters and hated the residue-y feel to my hair afterwards — same with most of the “curl revitalizer day-after sprays” that I’ve tried.  If I try to rock a second-day curly look, I tend to just spritz water on my hair and re-scrunch it.) (I still haven’t figured out how to dry it “curly/wavy” with a blowdryer — my skill set ends at airdrying!)  (At right: a pic of me on a day the curls came out okay…)

Personally, I like my hair both curly and straight, although straight feels more like “me” — but ultimately I just want to be able to spend as little time on it in the morning as possible!

Anyway — any tips for the care and feeding of wavy/curly hair as the weather gets colder?

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Avon Advance Techniques Lotus Shield Frizz Control Anti-Frizz TreatmentI was lucky enough to receive a bottle of “Lotus Shield Frizz Control Anti-Frizz Treatment” as part of a gift bag at a Fashion 2.0 meeting a while ago, and was eager to try it given my new life mission: perfecting my at-home blowout. And while my blowout is still a work in progress, this stuff has become something I use every time I attempt it — it smells nice, keeps frizz at bay, and seems (to me at least) to make my hair silkier smoother for longer. I will admit, I haven’t tried to put it only on one section of my head, like the ad campaign — but my naturally wavy hair has stood up well to some pretty humid temperatures with it. The product is available at Amazon for $2.20 (wow, really?) or at Avon for $9.99 (on sale from $12.)  (Do these prices make sense to anyone?) Avon Advance Techniques Lotus Shield Frizz Control Anti-Frizz Treatment

Readers — what are your favorite techniques and products for controlling frizz?

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Happy Rainbow Love Hand With Costume Jewelry free creative commonsReader E wonders about jewelry — or lack thereof…

I enjoy reading your blog and I’m wondering what you and your readers suggest for a woman who doesn’t wear jewelry. It’s just not my thing, but I find that my outfits sometimes look a little boring, a little young, and/or a little masculine without it. I think great shoes and a belt can help out, but was wondering if there are perhaps some great ideas I’m missing. Are there great makeup tips, silhouettes, necklines, or even hair styles that you think might compensate?

Wow — I’ve got to say, my gut impulse here is to try to talk you out of this – jewelry can add so much to an outfit. I once wore a different black dress every day to the office (just for, um, kicks) and felt like it was the accessories that made it fun and interesting. Could you *try* just picking up a few great brooches and adding them to a blazer or two? They can just “live” on the blazer, and you won’t have to do anything. Or how about just investing in a few boring, but classic pieces — a great diamond stud or a simple high-quality huggie earring, a good strand of pearls (I like 18″, but 16″ is also popular), or a few simple rings? And a watch, do you wear a watch?  Or glasses — do you wear glasses?  You can have multiple pairs, you know, and they make  a lot of really fun glasses that have personality in them… (Pictured: Happy Rainbow Love Hand With Costume Jewelry, originally uploaded to Flickr by D Sharon Pruitt.)

OK. Forgive me — like I said, gut impulse. I’m going to take a deep breath here, and try to actually answer the question.  So:  if jewelry is out, how do you make your outfits unique and feminine?

First, you want to avoid looking like a female operative in one of those TV shows.  For example, avoid a harsh look in your hair — don’t slick all of your hair back into a low ponytail or bun, for example.  Instead, you may want to try to leave it down as often as possible, or work with your hair stylist to come up with some easy but attractive ways to put it back.  Similarly with makeup, you don’t want to overdo your makeup, but you don’t want to look like you’ve just scrubbed your face, either.

Pattern and color are going to be your biggest friends, here.  At all costs, I would avoid wearing solids with solids, unless you’re mixing the colors in an interesting way.  For example, black suit + white blouse = waiter (or aforementioned female operative).  Black pants + light yellow high quality t-shirt + dark purple cardigan = something approaching an outfit.  If you often wear suits, I would stick with printed blouses — and some slightly form-fitting ones, too, if you can swing it.  If you’re feeling really wild, you can try mixing print with print.  (Some advice: start slow — try a pinstriped pant with a floral top, for example.)  You may want to try adding a beautiful scarf or two to your repertoire — particularly if you’re tall, they can be almost better than a necklace.  Belts can also be great, and if you’re open to wearing those we’d go fairly bold — think Michelle Obama.

Finally, remember — just because you’re not accessorizing with jewelry doesn’t mean you can’t accessorize with clothes (a great blazer or structured cardigan), shoes, or bags.

Those are some of our tips — readers, what are yours?  Would you notice someone who isn’t wearing jewelry?

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