I love my current (before cut) hair. It has reached to my waist in just a short few months and all fashion color from previous coloring are all gone except for the bleach, which is also a color I like. I play safe when it comes to hair fashion. I cannot say the same for hair color though lol. I have been very much into fashion color although it does not last long sadly. I can go beyond boundaries for hair color. Pink, purple, green, blue, you name it. So when it comes to new hair color, I usually leave it to the hair stylist. They will know what to do, what is new that I should try and how it is.

All my preparation for Chinese New Year this year are ready. The only thing left for me to do is to get a hair cut and a new hair color. Then I am all set for the Year of The Rooster! Two months ago, A Cut Above invited me over to be one of their guest at any of their salon. I was given the freedom to choose to go to any of their salon that I preferred. I chose A Cut Above Mid Valley as it is nearest to me and I can go over to Mini Mini Cafe after that to settle some work

Talking about Chinese New Year preparation, A Cut Above went all out with decorations! This picture does not do its justice. The cherry blossom tree was more massive in real when I am standing underneath it.

Now, back to the hair. The long overdue hair cut and color. This is my Before. For someone who had bleached her hair numerous times, I am lucky to still have a soft and healthy hair length. My hair grows steadily regardless the stress I had put it through. How? Condition your hair each time after shampoo, hair masque, hair treatment and coconut oil. Yes, coconut oil. It does make your hair looked oily but it works in conditioning the hair.

My stylist of the day is Steph Lu. She said I should keep my hair length as it is beautiful being at that length. I kind of agree with her and despite how unwillingly I am to part with my long hair, I need a hair cut. It is too long for me to handle. And because my hair grow out so fast, I am not too worried. I also told her what color I want. I wanted to skip fashion coloring this time and just do a one tone hair color. The shade that I wanted is the bleach shade I had on my hair length. That bronzey light brown which I love!

After consulting and talking to Steph, she then came back over to show me Shiseido latest color – Baby Pink. For some reason I said I did not want fashion color this time but I ended up agreeing to have Baby Pink on my lower bottom hair LOL. I can’t say no to pink or purple. That is my weakness . So she sent another girl over and start coloring my hair with extreme gentle and light hand because despite having a healthy hair, I do not have a healthy scalp. I have been having sensitive scalp, which means it is red, itchy and flaky. The flakes are due to sensitive scalp. Many people would get mixed up between dandruff scalp with sensitive scalp. I have written about that before. You can search for it by using the search bar on the right

I have to say, Shiseido hair dye is more stinging and minty comparing to other brands I have tried. So be prepared if you are thinking to have Shiseido hair coloring. I was told that it stings even more if you freshly shampooed your hair like I did. Wrong move. You should shampoo your hair the day before, not the same day. I shampoo mine because I always wake up with an oily scalp. But the stylist told me a little bit of oil is good for hair coloring. It provides a grip for the color to grip onto. Lesson learnt. But the stinging goes away after a few minutes so it was all good.

After all the hair dye is on my hair, a rotating UFO-alike steamer is placed on top. So cool! It rotates all over the top of my head so it does not feel burning or too hot.

After rinsing off all the hair dye, my hair was given a little treatment using L’Oreal Powerdose Color A-OX.

The hair length I had in mind requires me to chop off 6 inch. Not an issue for me. In fact I was looking forward to it. The Baby Pink doesn’t show up like how it should be because my hair was not bleached before that. The previous bleach were all on the bottom of the hair length and I chopped off most of it. So medium brown hair is what I ended up with. I was really looking forward to a lighter brown. Perhaps next time

Oh and the prices for all A Cut Above services are displayed on the glass at the entrance. You can easily take a look at it even without walking in. I like this idea. At least customers get to know how much they are paying for a service before walking in and agreeing to one. No hidden charges.

Thank you A Cut Above for having me at your salon <3

For more information on A Cut Above, please visit A Cut Above Website, Facebook Page and Instagram.

The post 6 Inch Hair Cut and Coloring at A Cut Above, I’m All Ready for Year of The Rooster! appeared first on Street Love. by Fiona

When I received a beautiful box from Yves Rocher quite some time ago, I opened it up and saw a note – This Will Change The Way You Wash Your Hair Forever. The first impression I had was “sure or not?”. Then it turned to “really?”. And, finally after I flipped through the products inside the box, I was “whoa this is interesting”. So yes, I went through three stages of impression at the same time . One excited blogger I am!

Low ShamPoo (RM43 / 200ml)

Low ShamPoo is a sulfate-free shampoo cream. If you had used sulfate-free shampoo before, you will be expecting a shampoo that does not foams up very much. It does foams up but just a teeny weeny bit. The word Low Poo came from no pow (no shampoo) method used in the United States. It is a more natural way to wash your hair without infusing all the harmful cleansing agents to your hair. Just like the stories on how some women don’t wash their hair with a normal shampoo anymore? So this Low ShamPoo adapted the same concept for the self-exigent women, except that you are actually using a non-harmful product on the hair instead of no product at all. It contains ZERO sulfate, paraben, coloring, and silicone.

Does this changed the way I wash my hair? Oh yes. I am not going to lie. I hated it on the first use. I have long, dry hair length of over the chest so this Low ShamPoo is an eye changing experience. I needed something that lathers so I can clean my sensitive scalp better. It took me about 4 washes to use the product right according to my own personal preference. I make it work. What I did was to squirt a generous amount on one palm, smooth evenly onto both palm, apply one palm on a side of my head, lather it, and the other palm on another side. I work by sections on the head until I am done washing. Then the last step was to squirt another generous amount and start working onto the hair length. What I did to make it work really took me some time because of the hair length I have. It does not lathers in foam but because I was working by section, I managed to make it lather just a bit. It is a cream shampoo so it actually nourishes my hair.

Rinsing Vinegar (RM48 / 150ml)

Now, this Rinsing Vinegar changed the way I look at hair conditioner all together. I love this so much so that I wanna drink it all up AND pour it on my hair every night!

I have never ever heard about hair vinegar, what more rinsing vinegar. I learnt that this method is a traditional remedy to enhance the natural shine of the hair. Vinegar is known for its hair smoothing properties and ability to reduce limescale build up. I didn’t even know that! It is extracted through a natural fermenting process. For a vinegar, this one SMELLS SO GOOD! At first I thought the delicious grape scent is similar to Ribena. I knew it was not and I couldn’t put a finger to the familiar scent. One night I finally remembered. This Rinsing Vinegar smells like Sugus, a childhood chewy candy. Grape flavour specifically. It is said to be used before the final rinse. I have no idea what that means so I just treat this as hair conditioner. I started off with pouring some onto my palm and apply onto my hair length. After some time I got impatient and just pour the whole bottle directly onto my hair length, smooth it all over and rinse. It is very simple to use. The hair feels completely different when used compared to not using. Hair feels smoother and softer. Unfortunately the scent does not lingers long. I wish it did. I find that it works particularly well along Low ShamPoo. Low ShamPoo alone can be a bit meh but together with Rinsing Vinegar, it became a power team.

Here is the After result of using Low ShamPoo and Rinsing Vinegar. My hair was bleached and coloured before Chinese New Year so it became dry and brittle. Just look at how shiny and soft my hair are!

Disclaimer: Product was sent to me for review consideration. This doesn’t affect my judgement in the review in any way.

The post Yves Rocher Low ShamPoo and Rinsing Vinegar: Oh Yes These Definitely Changed The Way I Wash My Hair appeared first on Street Love. by Fiona

I desperately needed a brand new hair colour and a root touch up. The desire to have the same purple hair as Alicia Keys from the Empire show kept giving me dreams on purple hair. For the first time in my life, I wanted to do something drastic to my hair. Everyone was shocked when I told them I am going to do my hair purple. Well, Fiona with purple hair? You would not even imagine

While many refer their new hair do a makeover, mine was really an “overhaul” as I walked into the salon looking like Fiona and walked out looking like Fiona’s twin sister lol. All this thanks to Davines Malaysia for the hair colouring system and Evo Fabuloso Pro for the Volumising Conditioner Base to condition and help prolong the colour.

For those that are wondering, I was at the salon at 10am and I left at 3pm. Mine took longer time as I needed to bleach, colour and touch up the roots. I washed my hair at home in advance before going to the salon. The hair overhaul process started with applying ammonia free bleaching product on half bottom of my hair and leave it on until it turns to the right colour.

The right color in this case was gold!

The colouring system used on my hair was the Davines Ammonia Free Hair Colouring System. As the name suggest, it is an ammonia free product which is enriched with carotenoids and melanin for a strong anti-oxidant action. Even though so it is ammonia free, it is able to give one an intense and bright colour tone as well as pastel tone on bleached and prelighted hair.

My choice of colour is of course purple. Purple is my favourite colour since last year after I started Modern Mavens as it is Modern Maven’s main colour. Purple represent empowering, which is why I chose purple . For my hair, the colour Violet and Blue were used to obtain two shades of purple for layering.

An innovative colour instrument called the Flamboyage® were used instead of the usual aluminium foils. I was told that this is an additional paid service which you can request at Davines salons. Flamboyage is better for hair colouring as the sticky surface is able to hold each and every hair strand separately for easy product application.

For a sticker-like sheet, boy these are quite heavy once all my hair was done. Two tones of purple were used on my hair. The pink one are lighter purple and the purple one are darker purple. The colour turns darker as it was left longer. The colours are applied in such a way so that it creates an ombre layers. Something different from the ordinary ombre.

While waiting for the colours to sink in and “overtake” my hair, my roots were touched up so that the wash off can be done simultaneously at once.

And here is the result, straight after blow drying. No, I did not do rebonding. My hair are naturally fine and straight. It will become straighter as it grew longer.

A close up of the two different purple layering.

And of course I couldn’t leave just like that. I was also given a complete hair styling. It has been some time since I had my hair curled. That is because my hair are so straight and soft that curling myself is impossible. People say healthy hair are the hardest to style. That is so true.

Tadaaa! The result. Yes it is not the purple I had in mind. I did told the stylist to do whatever she think suits me lol. It actually turns out quite red but none the less absolutely gorgeous. I have never seen colour layering like this before. I actually like it a lot. Like a peekaboo. Some angle you see purple, some angle you see pinkish purple

Hair colouring like mine comes in two option – 16 washes or permanent. I had mine done with permanent colour. Permanent means the colour will last me for 2 months with a special concoction of colour conditioner. The wonderful thing about Evo Fabuloso Pro Volumising Conditioner Base is that the concoction is done based on the hair colour and it is suitable for any other hair colour brand. You can do a Wella hair colouring and still able to prolong the longevity of your hair colour with this conditioner.

As my hair colour are Violet and Blue, my colour conditioner conditioner also consists of the same colour mix. It is fascinating to watch how my conditioner were mixed in front of my eyes. The amount used are also based on how the stylist mix the hair colour initially. So the conditioner will go accordingly to the hair colour mix.

Before the mix.

And here’s my conditioner, after a vigorous shake.

Interesting how the conditioner colour is exactly the same as my hair colour!

I thought I might want to show you how does the hair looks like the next day. I was surprised that the curl stays on till the next day. It’s even more beautiful the next day lol. I must admit. The hair colour stands out so well with curls on. So I’m taking extra effort now to curl my hair more

I was told that my hair will become very dry after the colouring process. It turns out not as bad as I thought it would be. The slightly drier ends enable me to style my hair easily. I actually like it

This photo below are taken just yesterday. The colours are still pretty and even more stand out with curls. In real it is more pink. Can’t wait to see what colour it will change to next

Thank you everyone at Davines Malaysia for the hair makeover. Love love loveeee my new hair!

For more information on Davines, please follow Davines Malaysia Facebook page and Instagram for more updates and exciting new hair innovation!

The post Hair Overhaul with Davines Ammonia Free Hair Colouring System appeared first on Street Love. by Fiona

If someone ask who skipped applying conditioner after shampoo in a room full of people, I would be the first to raise my hand. I am lazy when it comes to hair care #truefact. As lazy as I can get sometimes, I do like to pamper myself from head to toe when I feel like it. It can be a whole week of pampering or maybe alternate days. Otherwise it would be three times a week. So yes, I am slowly getting my hair care routine back on track as my hair is growing longer and longer

If you find yourself nodding to what I said earlier on being lazy or you have a busy lifestyle, 3 minute is all you need to revive your hair. With Pantene 3 Minute Miracle Conditioner, I no longer say no to extra hair care after seeing the result. Lo and behold!

I have straight, fine long hair. It should be silky smooth so when I feel that my hair is rough, that means I have damaged hair without realizing it. Hair feels rough when it lost its protective layer. This Pantene 3 Minute Miracle Conditioner comes with new formula and improved cationic polymer (BTMAC: Behenyl Trimethyl Ammonium Chloride). BTMAC is a dual-function molecule that neutralizes negatively charged damaged sites; one end attaches to the hair, while the other forms a protective shield. Pantene is known for its Pro-V Complex. When it works with ‘wet conditioning ingredients’ such as the cationic polymer BTMAC, it is able to attach itself to the hair surface in wet condition, forming a thin film that lubricates the surface. This action will refuce friction between individual hair fibres. As a result, hair is easier to rinse, and tangling between hair fibers are reduced.

This Pantene 3 Minute Miracle Conditioner has a sweet berries scent to it. It smells yummylicious but I refrained myself from eating it so don’t worry . The texture and consistency of the conditioner is pretty similar to normal conditioner. I thought it would be thicker but it’s not

You must be wondering what is the difference between this 3 Minute Miracle Conditioner with normal Pantene conditioner. This one right here contain up to 80% more of the key conditioning ingredient. It also contains the highest ever level of new generation advanced Terminal Amino-Silicones (TAS), which means higher deposition of repairing ingredients in areas of physical damage, as well as improved protection through a more uniform deposition of the protective layer on the hair surface. TAS works to flatten and smoothen the cuticle cells on the hair surface, protecting hair against damage and moisture loss from further styling and combing.

When I received this gold tube, I did not know how powerful it is. I just use it like a normal conditioner every night after shampooing my hair. I do know that my hair feels lighter, less greasier the next day, and feels somewhat extra smooth. I did not know how my hair condition looks like as I am not someone who will take a mirror to look at the back of my head LOL. So when I sat down to take a photo of my hair for this review, I was shocked. REALLY SHOCKED. I don’t have a lot of hair and the longer my hair is, the flatter it gets. This is the only time I see my hair this fluffy and looked more airy than usual. Trust me. This for me is considered airy as my usual hair is as flat as a flat bread.

Rinsing off the conditioner was fairly easy. However this is not a silicone-free conditioner so do expect the usual slippery residue on the bathroom floor. To test the efficacy of the new Pantene 3 Minute Miracle Conditioner, I skipped a few days of not using it and the hair is back to flat bread condition. No matter how much I brush my hair to make it artificially airy, it is still flat. I just like how my hair is bouncy now when I walk, not forgetting to mention easier to manage and style as well.

Disclaimer: Product was sent to me for review consideration. This doesn’t affect my judgement in the review in any way.

The post Pantene 3 Minute Miracle Conditioner: Bringing flat hair back to smooth, airy and bouncy state appeared first on Street Love. by Fiona