Showing posts with label hair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hair. Show all posts

Concealing hair loss with Nanogen Nanofibres & Locking Mist

Tuesday, 27 November 2012

Let me start by saying this post is REALLY embarrassing for me! I've had this post in my draft folder for a while now but I just couldn't bring myself to hit that big orange 'Publish' button. I'm really not good at talking about my insecurities, it consumes my thoughts so much but I very rarely let it out and have a real conversation about it. But I just want to get this out and hopefully someone else suffering from hair loss will find this product useful like I have.

A couple weeks back I shared with you that I have PCOS which has led me suffered from severe hair fall. If you missed it then you can read my earlier post here. Today I want introduce you to a product with has helped me to conceal the hairfall and has made me feel much more confident.

It was actually my best friend's mum who gave me a bottle of Nanogen Nanofibres first. She also has thinned out hair along her parting and has tried so many different products over the years and this is the one product she recommends and buys over and over again. She could see that my hairloss was getting me down so she kindly gave me bottle of Nanofibres to use along with her legendary motherly pep talks lol!

At first I was quite reluctant to use it as I was worried it would look fake and I didn't want to look like I had dyed my scalp black or something crazy like that. But when I tried it actually looked really good and totally natural!


PRODUCT
So lets talk about the product itself...Nanofibres are very fine little fibres that look almost like dust but are coloured to match your hair colour (I have black but there are also other shades to pick from here). The good thing about the fibres is that are actually made of keratin! Keratin is what the outer layer of our hair is naturally made of so I think this is one of the reasons why it looks so natural.


The Nanofibres are electrostatically charged so that they stick to your hair and don't just fall to your scalp.

This I think is key to the product...because the fibres stick to each hair follicle it actually makes your hair look thicker and it works with the natural wave and bounce of your hair. What I mean by this is...if you look in the mirror you will see...or I do at least...that my hair doesn't just fall flat but it lifts up a little at the roots then drops down. So because the Nanofibres cling onto the hair it also goes with the natural flow of your hair making it look more volumised.

As you can imagine the electrostatic charge doesn't last all day...its really to get the fibres into the place and stop it from falling down to the scalp. So to keep the fibres in place we then need to use the Nanogen 'Locking Mist'. The Locking Mist is like a hairspray to hold all the fibres in place. I did try using a regular hairspray just to see if it worked but it didn't unfortunately.
PACKAGING AND HOW TO USE





The Nanofibres come in a sturdy shaker type tub with holes on the top which allow the product come out. Its really easy to use, you just use the tub to sprinkle the product onto your hair until you get the coverage you are looking for then you spritz on the Locking Mist to set for the rest of the day!






PERFORMANCE
I've found that I can get away with using this product for two days straight..just giving it a little touch-up and spray with Locking Mist on the second day. I think this will vary from person to person though depending on how much you touch your hair etc.

Ok so here goes...the scary bit...my big reveal! Oh jeez this is so embarrasing!! I have say that it actually looks much worse in the photo than it does in real life...honest! I dont know what why the camera makes it look so much more sparse than it look in real life.


I hope that some people will find this useful...I'm sure I can't be the only woman suffering from this. I just wanted to share this because as you can see it makes a huge difference to my hair and it doesn't look fake at all...it just looks like my own hair....pretty genius in my opinion! Bonus is that its even given my hair a little extra volume. Most importantly its given me so much more confidence...I don't worry now that people are looking at my head because it just looks normal.

Nanogen Nanofibres are priced £18.95 for 1 months supply and the Nanogen Fibre Locking Mist is £11.95 for 2 months supply. Both are available from Boots here and are normally part of their 3 for 2 offers. They come in a range of 10 different colours (here) so you should find a shade that suits you.

I didn't want to bombard this post with too many photo's but if you would like to see more pics of the products and packaging including the ingredients...I have added them to my Facebook page here.

For more information about the product itself you can visit Nanogen's website here

Cherry Lane xoxo

♥ Heart to Heart ♥

Monday, 5 November 2012



I wanted to share with you part of myself which I normally don't feel comfortable talking about even with my friends because I'm a pretty shy person.

I have Polycystic ovary syndrome or PCOS as its commonly known as. Its something that has affected me since I was at university. There are many different symptoms of PCOS. Some lucky ones might only be affected mildly whilst others may suffer from symptoms such as irregular menstruation cycles, acne, weight gain, excess hair in the places you don't want it and hair loss in the place you do want it! I wont go into the details of the condition because I'm sure you can Google it and find much better descriptions that I could ever give. But I wanted to share with you one of the symptoms that I have experienced personally and that is severe hair loss.

When I was younger I had really thick strong shiny hair but as I got older my hair shed more and more. Over the past 5 years in particular I noticed the crown of my head thinning more. When I look at photo's of myself I can see that my hair near my parting has thinned out alot and my scalp is particularly visible. I felt so embarrassed by it and it has really affected my confidence.

Over the past few years I have made a conscious effort to take care of my hair as much as possible...
  • Washing my hair every other day or less if I can get away with it with the help of dry shampoos
  • Using mild shampoos, nothing harsh like the anti-dandruff ones
  • Reduced heat considerably, drying naturally as often as possible
  • Using the low heat setting on my hairdryer to straighten and style my hair rather than straightners
  • Always using heat protectant
  • Using a hair oil like Coconut  Oil, Amla and almond oil once a week as deep conditioner
  • No chemical hair dyes at all (until about 2 months ago)
All this has really helped the condition of my hair making it feels stronger and more nourished. I've also noticed that my hair can grow much longer too without needing a cut (around 2 inches) and I have more little hairs growing but sadly I haven't seen any significant improvements.

I have to admit I have never really used any products before which are specifically designed to stimulate hair growth because I have been reluctant to use harsh chemicals on my scalp in case it gets any worse. However I am about to start trying out a few products which have had clinically proven results for some people.

So this is my little heart to heart and my hair story so far. Over the next month or so I will feature a few products which I have been using recently to help me with my hair dilemma which I hope some people will find interesting.

Cherry Lane xoxo

Review: L'Oreal Casting Crème Gloss Hair Colour

Wednesday, 10 October 2012

Ciao Bella's!! Over the past two years I have been giving my hair a real detox...no dyes, drying hair naturally as much as possible and trying not to use any heat and so far I have been pretty successful! My hair has been feeling stronger, healthier and is growing more! But I have started to notice a couple of grey hairs and even though the condition of my hair has improved I was feeling abit fed up with the boring flat tone of my hair so I decided it was time for a change!


I have very thin hair and am very careful about products I use so I knew I wanted a colourant which would be gentle on my hair (well as gentle as a colourant can be anyway). After scoping out all the different boxes in Hair Colour section at Boots I decided to go with L'Oreal Casting Crème Gloss in 454 Chocolate Brownie mainly because it free fr
om Ammonia and contains Royal jelly so I figured it would help to condition my hair during the process. Also the promise of 'shimmering colour' and 'intensely conditioning for satin soft, voluptuous hair' clinched it for me! How could I say no to that!

I wanted a shade which was still dark like my own hair but would give me a rich brown tone and make it look shiny so I opted for 454 Chocolate Brownie. Looking at the colour chart it looked good but we all know that colour charts are never really accurate.


L'Oreal Claim:
Casting Crème Gloss is the perfect hair colour for women who prize quality and care over everything else. It is a no ammonia hair colourant that gives your hair rich, visibly shimmering tones and a stunning glossy shine. Enriched with Royal Jelly, a naturally occurring substance known for its rare nutritive and rejuvenating quality, Casting Crème Gloss ensures that post colouring hair is left revitalized with a glossy shine. Its crème formula contains a special patented conditioning complex that helps protect the hair fibre inside and out for exceptionally soft voluptuous hair. It is easy to apply, takes just 20 minutes and comes in a do-it-yourself kit which saves unnecessary trips to the salon. The delicate fragrance makes colouring a luxurious treat! It delivers on every aspect, quite like the modern woman.

My thoughts:
This kit was extremely easy to use. You just have to squeeze the tube of colourant into the plastic bottle, shake thoroughly and its ready to apply. The precise nozzle made it apply and I didn't find that the formula dripped once it was in my hair which is good because the last thing you want is colourant dripping down your neck. It doesn't have a strong nasty scent and best of all it only takes 20 minutes to develop. I left it on my hair for about 10 mins longer just because I was in the middle of something at the time. After I washed the colour out I used the conditioner provided which was really lovely and contained enough product to last a couple of washes.


Overall I was pleased with the result. It didn't change my colour too much which is what I wanted but just gave it a subtle sheen and warmth. My hair didn't feel dry afterwards, in fact it actually did feel really soft and healthy which is a huge tick in my book. I think the only point which it didn't quite deliver was making my hair feel voluptuous but like I mentioned my hair is quite thin so it never really feels very voluptuous! lol

This is semi-permanent colour which L'Oreal say lasts upto 28 shampoos. I first applied the colour just under two months ago and I can still see the colour visable in my hair today and still covering the couple grey hairs I have. Its obviously not as vivid as it was on day one but I'm pretty impressed with it considering in theory it should have faded out completely a long time ago.

Before
Check out my sexy PJs! lol
After

In summary...
Product is easy to apply
Only needs 20 mins to develop
No harsh scents
Contains NO Ammonia!
Hair felt soft and shiny
Colour lasted much longer than expected for a semi-permanent colourant

I'm really impressed with L'Oreal Casting Crème Gloss and would definitely recommend it.

L'Oreal Casting Crème Gloss is priced at £6.49 at Boots and Superdrug in the UK and around Rs499 on UrbanTouch
If you are new to home hair colour kits and would like some further information, L'Oreal India have created some FAQ which you can read here.
You can also visit their Facebook page and take their 'My Hair My Colour' quiz to help you pick a shade. Click here to take the quiz.

Cherry Lane xoxo

Top Tip: If you put some Vaseline on your hairline and ears it will create a barrier stopping the colourant from staining your skin.

Disclaimer: I purchased this product with my own money and all views are my honest opinion.