Hello, lovely!

Have you ever had a bad hair job?

If you’re a long time follower of Double Shot of Sass, you’re well aware that Hailey and I used to be platinum blonde. At one point I had a sassy lob and silver hair. Thanksgiving of 2016, that all came to an end when I had a horrible highlight job that resulted in me losing a ton of hair. Basically getting a chemical haircut I never wanted. I went to Taylor Council at Salon Naturale in January 2017 and she truly brought my hair back to life. It was broken all over and the color was awful. She balayaged my hair and gave me a shaded root so I could grow my hair out not have to come back for a retouch every 6-8 weeks. So here we are! A year and a half later I’m finally getting my hair done with Taylor, but nothing too drastic! We’re just adding a little blonde for Summer!

It’s a long road to growing your hair out when you’ve had an experience like I did. But with Taylor’s amazing coloring technique, hair extensions done by my company Etoilly Artistry, and products I used over the past year and a half, we’ve recovered and my hair feels like it did before it was literally fried off! I’m going to let you in on a few of my tricks and secrets on how I’ve turned my hair around and answer a few questions that I’ve received in today’s post! Let’s get to it!

1. Washing my hair 1-2 times a week.

This one is SO important. When you wash your hair multiple times a week, you’re stripping the natural oils from your hair which will cause dryness and breakage – the two things to avoid when growing out your hair! I used to wash my hair every single day because I would get so oily, but little did I know my body was going through supply and demand. When you strip something from your body, it tries to compensate for the lack of. I started going every other day with shampoos and now I typically wash my hair on Monday’s and Thursday’s! I use this shampoo and conditioner (linked below), I feel like it cleans my hair the best and removes build up (i.e. dry shampoo, hair spray, texture spray) extremely well. It also smells really good!

2. Using dry shampoo and texture spray to make styles last longer.

I swear by dry shampoo! I would not be able to go as long in between washes if it weren’t for dry shampoo. I have about three different ones that I love and I’ll link them below! I tried Brighton Keller’s trick with dry shampoo and it’s pure genius. You literally spray your dry shampoo of choice on the root and then round brush/blow dry till it’s completely worked in to your hair. It gives me a ton of volume and you would never know my hair was four days dirty. I’ll do a tutorial on our Instagram so you can see what a drastic difference it makes! I also love this texture spray by Dry Bar, it refreshes, adds texture and volume, and it smells amazing. I can’t use a hair product if it doesn’t smell good. That would just be ridiculous!

3. Using extensions to add blonde to my hair and being able to put my hair up when dirty.

Extensions played a huge part in keeping the integrity of my hair intact. I was able to add tape-in extensions for lightness and fullness without damaging my hair with bleach. I would only have to put heat on my heart the first day it was washed because they held a curl so well, hence being able to go longer without washing my hair or putting heat on it. When it got past the point of wearing my hair down, I was able to throw it up in a cute messy bun or a sassy power pony. My hair had a lot of breakage and the extensions really filled out the volume that I was lacking, so any style I chose to wear had a lot of body. Our company Etoilly Artistry has recently added tape-in and beaded rows extensions to our services and there will be more information coming on that soon!

4. Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides + hair masks

If you’ve never heard of collagen peptides, they improve hair, skin, nails, ligaments, tendons, and digestion. So. Many. Benefits. I first heard of collagen peptides from Katey McFarlan when she had a lot of hair loss from her pregnancy. She raved about them and I thought why not give them a try since I had nothing to lose at the point of me losing a ton of hair. I’m so glad I tried them and I truly believe that it helped immensely in me growing my hair out. I really like this brand of collagen peptides – it’s Whole 30 free, Paleo friendly, Keto friendly, and gluten free. So if you’re on any of these specific diets you’re good! I put mine in my hot tea in the mornings, but it can easily be mixed into water, smoothies, or coffee! If you decide to put in water you literally can’t taste it! I also used quite a few hair masks before I would wash my hair. I would sometimes put straight coconut oil all over my hair or the Kristin Ess Recovery Mask. Both would make my hair super soft.

5. Heat protectants

I always use a heat protectant spray when I’m blow drying my hair. It smooths my hair and minimizes damage/breakage.

6. Hair accessories

I really tried to avoid putting heat on my hair after the first day of washing it and that was no easy task! When I thought it was completely unsalvageable, I would throw in a scarf or little clip to distract people from my three day old hair. Trust me, this trick works and I always get compliments on the simplest pieces!

I hope these tips are helpful and that you see the light at the end of the tunnel! I know it’s totally devastating to have a bad coloring job, hair loss due to hormones, or getting a haircut that you are now trying to grow out. But with a little TLC, you can have healthy, beautiful hair again. You just have to have patience! Side note: hair or no hair, you’re still a hot sexy lady.

Xo, Kailey

Photo by Ling Wang Photography