Be Hair-raising - Dealing With Hair Loss via PCOS

Hair loss is no joke. Whether hormone or hereditary, it doesn't matter how it creeps up on you, it's something which can severely affect your confidence. We spend so much time using hair as part of our identity, whether through cuts, colours or styling, and to have that changed with seemingly little control can really shake you up. As someone with PCOS, the symptom I find most difficult to deal with is hair loss from the front. I'm lucky that the placement doesn't make it too obvious because I can style my hair to cover it, but I know the two small patches are there, and fear for them growing every time I wash or brush it. But what can you do? Well, I've found a few things which help...

All Shook Up - Hair Dye Fun with Colour Freedom at Superdrug

My hair has been a mixture of pinks and purples for a while, as I'm a huge fan of multi coloured hues. But as we changed seasons, I felt my hair also needed a bit of a shake up but couldn't decide what direction to go in. I'm a big fan of the Superdrug brand Colour Freedom and they were kind enough to put together a mystery selection after I gave them a list of the sort of shades I've gone for previously. And so it was decided that my hair would be a mix or blues and greens, which as someone who wants to grow up to be Stormer from The Misfits, was a brilliant choice for me!

Hairspray Queen - The Energy Blow Dry from Hob Salons

Earlier this week, my hair and I had a real treat to help (quite literally) blow the January blues away. There isn't anything quite like a blow out to make you feel like the best version of yourself, and Hob Salons have take things to the next level with their Energy Blow Dry.

Long Haired Lady - Beautiful French Combs And Other Hair Accessories From Stone Bridge Hair.

I love trying out new things with my hair, so was really excited to receive a box of incredible hair accessories from the lovely people behind Stone Bridge. They are wonderful at finding the perfect accessories for your specific hair type and even have a form on their website to tell them about your hair. After sending them mine, I opened a box to find two sets of Round Edge Combs alongside a stunning Trientale Large Barrette and could not wait to try them out on myself.

Rock & Roller Queen - The Amazing and Original Sleep-In Rollers.

Although I love my pin-curls and the vintage waves they offer, sometimes a girl needs a bit of a change. I'm quite fussy with what I do to my hair and it's very rare that I use anything with heat so trying out some sleep-in rollers didn't feel like too far a jump from my usual pin-curl action.

Sleep-In Rollers, Goodbye Sleepless Nights, Hello Great Hair!

I have actually slept in plastic rollers before, and I can tell you know, it is NO fun. I've also tried other brands of Velcro rollers, but even with pins and a headscarf, found that they often misplaced themselves during the night and pulled out a lot of hair when trying to untangle them. However I had heard such good things about the Sleep-In Rollers brand, that I had to give them a try.

My hair is a fairly course texture which verges on dry but can retain a curl really well. After washing it, I ran some mouse and serum through it before letting it air-dry until damp. I had purchased the Original Gift Set for £24.95 which contained two sizes of rollers for both big and HUGE volume. It also contained a handy drawstring bag to keep them all in, along with a velour pouch filled with kirby grips - quite literally everything you'd need to use and look after them. The rollers also come with a handy DVD which is great for anyone a little unsure with how to get the best from them.

Rather than being made of plastic, these rollers are designed to flatten when you lie down whilst still ensuring you wake up with hair filled with bounce and body. Whilst they still feel a little like an inconvenience, they are nothing short of luxury compared to other rollers I've used in the past and I was amazed to find that not a hair out of place when I awoke the next morning. Even without wearing a protective headscarf the Velcro and pins really held them securely. Once the rollers had been pinned in, I'd simply sprayed them with hairspray and left them to work their magic.

The result? Big, shiny hair free from frizz!

Whilst it's not my usual style, I really enjoyed wearing my hair like this. I didn't feel at all like me, and kept getting a bit of a shock when looking in the mirror!

I'll definitely be using them again, and am keen to try out the larger rollers as I suspect they will be great to create the foundation of a volume-centric up-do. Anything which avoids having to back-comb like crazy has to be great, right?

Until next time,

Diana xx

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(All photos (c) Diana Thompson / Fashion Loves Photos. Please do not reproduce without written permission.)

Let Your Hair Down

One of the questions I get asked the most is how I get my hair to look the way it does. As someone who has hair which of a naturally frizzy texture, I have spent many years fighting against it with an assortment of tongs, straighteners and all manner of heated torture instruments.

It took until my late 20s to realise that I just needed to work with it. Despite being neither quite curly or straight, it was still versatile and held a style when properly set. With that in mind, I looked up lots of different ways to create soft waves which didn't require the damaging heat I'd constantly attack it with.

Pin curls became my hair saviour for a variety of reasons - they are easy to sleep in, can resemble a neat up-do when setting and take little more than a handful of bobby-pins. And as for the fringe, my trick is to roll it around a cut up bun doughnut and secure in place with more pins.

Beware - make-up-less  how to photos ahead!

What Do I Need?

♥ Freshly washed hair which is mostly air dry.

♥ Paddle Hair Brush.

♥ Hair serum.

♥ Hair Pins.

♥ Hair Spray.

♥ A hair doughnut cut open.

Make sure you're armed with lots of bobby pins to help keep the pin-curls in place.

Use a cut-up bun doughnut to create a faux-bang.

A little hair serum run over the ends before pining up will help reduce frizz when the curls are brushed out.

How Do I Pin-Curl My Hair?

1. Section off the front part of your hair which will later create your faux-bangs.

2. Take the doughnut and with your hair starting underneath, roll upwards towards your forehead.

3. Secure in place by pinning the ends into your hair with bobby pins.

4. Once secured, fan the hair out along the fringe so that it covered the entire doughnut.

5. For the pin curls themselves, take a section of hair and roll the ends around your fingers. The larger the section, the larger the wave created.

6. Carefully roll the hair back up towards your scalp, making sure that the ends are kept tucked in.

7. Pin the curl to your head. Cross over two pins in an x shape for maximum hold.

8. Continue this until all your hair is pinned up and spray with hairspray. Leave overnight or as long as possible

How Do I Tie A Headscarf?

Often I'll run to a shoot with my pin-curls happily concealed under a silk scarf as it keeps my hair out of my way and ensures that it'll be freshly brushed out if going somewhere afterwards. It's become a style which I choose to wear whilst running errands as no one need know it's functional rather than just a look you were going for. I'm always amazed by how many people compliment me on my "hair" when all they can see is my faux-bangs peeking out!

1. Take a large headscarf and fold it in two so that it becomes a triangle.

2. Place the "triangle over your entire head so that the longest ends are on your shoulders, and the shortest ends, your forehead.

3. Take the longest ends and bringing them upwards, tie into a knot. This should make the scarf feel tight and secure around your head.

4. Pick up the two shorter ends and pull one either side. In each hand, you should be holding one end each from the shorter and longer sides of the triangle.

5. Tie the ends into a bow and use a few hair grips to ensure the scarf stays in place.

6. If you feel inclined, add some sheer red lips and black eye-liner flicks to really go for that retro nod.

What Next?

When you take the curls out the next day, you'll find that you have something resembling ringlets in your hair. I always feel like some sort of screen siren at this point, although the reality is I look a bit more like a cocker spaniel!

There have been times where I've sprayed insane amounts of hairspray on them and let them be, but they will sadly drop very quickly especially if it's warm.

What I do next is take a large paddle brush and start to gently break through the curls. This is the point where I always panic as for a few minutes, you will see frizz. A lot of frizz. However, keep brushing again and again, and use your fingers or the brush pad itself to create the shape of the curls. After a few minutes if doing this, your hair will magically start to look like waves again and you can breath a sigh of relief!

When happy with it, rub a tiny bit more serum over your hair to smooth any fly-aways, and you are good to go!

I really hope that helped with how to do pin curls - please feel free to leave any questions in the comments if you're not sure about something.

Until next time,
Diana xx

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www.fashionlovesphotos.com

(All photos (c) Diana Thompson / Fashion Loves Photos. Please do not reproduce without written permission.) 

Pattern Recognition

www.fashionising.com/pictures/s--Movement-by-Diana-Thompson-17594-1.html

Hold the front (web)page!

This morning, I had quite a nice surprise in discovering that a series of images I'd worked on had made the front page of www.fashionising.com. The concept of the shoot was devised by Alex Hardy, Hair stylist extraordinaire from the home of RUSH Hair Salons and with an incredible team built up, was one which grew.

The shoot was intended for competition usage, with colour and texture at the forefront. However we wanted to shoot the series of a proper fashion story to fit in with Autumn / Winter trends with publication at the front of all our minds.

We were incredibly lucky to find Coco Syed to take care of the make-up, with independent designers Sasha Louse (Latex) and Lovechild Boudoir (accessories) taking care of the edgy look we were going for.

There were also lots of out-takes which didn't make the final set, but I still loved.

Models: Hope Obertelli, Natasha Boyce, Holly, Lou, India Elise Graham, Megan Darkes-Seddon.

Hair Stylist Assistant: Adam Furczyk.