Quick Hair, Don’t Care

Over the past several years that I’ve been blogging, I’ve had several requests for a hair tutorial and I’ve always had intentions of obliging but whoa, let me tell you, it is hard to film anything with kids running around.  After a few more requests flowed in last week though, I just threw caution and perfectionism to the wind and set up my phone while I was doing my hair one morning.  My thought was that I’d throw up a quick video tutorial, nothing too eloquent, that showed the basics until I could invest more time in a better video.  The filming went great despite two interuptions by kids asking questions but when I went to upload, that’s when everything got a little wrangled.  I couldn’t figure out how to add text, how to compress the size, how to blah, blah, blah.  Suffice it to say, I spent wayyyyy more time than I had intended on this video and it still is pretty awful.  Haha!  But hopefully you get the gist. 

The original video was eight minutes long but the file was too big to do anything with or store in any of my available storage places so I ended up chopping it into pieces that come in at just under a minute.  To make up for the cuts, I figured (and hoped) some written details would suffice.

So, here goes.

If the video isn’t working here,  hop, skip, or jump over to YouTube to watch it.

Just some notes:

First and foremost, it is painfully evident that I have no talent in video editing.  Ahem…

From start to finish, it takes me about seven minutes to get my hair curled.  It’s never perfect and because it’s curly to begin with, it hides that imperfection pretty well…and some people would dub the look “beachy” so I’ll just lean on that justification.  If I’m going somewhere special, I spend a little more time on it so we’ll just say 15 minutes max.

After I wash my hair, I put a little bit of Garnier Fructis mousse in the bottom half and I blow dry my hair upside down, focusing on the roots, for about two minutes.  I can’t stand wet hair on my neck and back so this gets me to dry at the top, damp at the bottom status.  I usually wash it at night so by the time I’m ready to curl, it’s 100% dry.  Also, about the mousse, I’m kind of a mousse snob.  I don’t like mousse that leaves your hair super stiff and this stuff is the best at not stiffening for the price.  I do think blow-drying after applying helps keep things soft too. 

My hair isn’t thin but it’s definitely not thick.  At the thickness it is, I divide it into two layers for curling.  If your hair is thicker, you might want three layers.  Also, my hair is cut with several layers.  The way your hair is cut detemines how it will look curled…that’s probably obvious but I thought I’d mention it anyway.  :)

When curling, it’s key not to adjust your grip at the base of the section you’re holding.  Grab the hair and wrap.  The section of hair will twist as it’s being wrapped and you want that to happen! 

The iron I’m using in the video is this Hot Shot/Helen of Troy curling iron.  It is amazing and I’ve had it since college (10+ years).  I have it in the 1” size and a 2”.  I’m using the 1” in the video.  The link will take you to it at Sally Beauty Supply, where I bought mine.  If you become an email subscriber with them, you’ll probably be able to nab a coupon that would make it even more affordable than it already is!

This is my hair after three days:
In the summer with all the humidity down here, it usually looks a little crazier after three days but the hairs are faring pretty well in this gorgeous fall weather.

I only brush my hair after showering and that’s it.  And actually, this past summer I tried something new where I brush my hair with a wide-tooth comb while I’m washing conditioner out and that’s it.  When I’m done and while it’s still pretty soaking wet, I apply mousse and then I blow dry, upside-down, for the usual two minutes.  My curls stick together more and humidity doesn’t hamper them as much as it usually does.  You curly-haired girls should try it.  :)  Sometimes it looks great as-is and sometimes just adding a few wrapped-curls here and there adds a little more form.

I didn’t have time to tack this on at the end of the video (another reason why I need to make a better one) but I usually tease my hair at the roots when I’m done to add a little extra va-voom.  On normal days, I just grab a fine-tooth comb or a pick and go at it a little bit but if I’m going to a wedding or some other special occasion, I sprinkle in some Powder Play and then tease it.  My sister introduced me to this stuff a few years ago and it is A+.  It holds and a little goes a really long way so it lasts forever.

I’ve never went Live with Facebook but I was thinking maybe it’d be fun to run through the whole process on there one day?  Maybe?  Maybe not?  We’ll see how much courage I can gather and how much awkwardness I can ignore to try that…

Anyway, I know I’m no hair pro but I’ve gotten pretty good at making my hair look fairly decent in the very, very little amount of time that I have to do it.  If anything, I hope I prove that it’s possible to lose the bed head with very little time and effort.  ;)

Questions?  Leave them in the combox or email me! 

Adios!

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*affiliate links included in post*

Jingle All The Way

Well our internet is back up and jogging Praise the Lord.  It was agonizingly painful to not be able to facebook creep, blog hop, and pinteretize whilst feeding the sprouts.  Sad maybe, but true.  

But, let's put all that behind us and get into the holiday spirit with a little video of our five month old prodigy.  A real singing sensation she is and it'll only get better as we go I'm sure of it.  Cecilia LOVES to "sing" along with me and our recent collaboration was "Jingle Bells", in english and gibberish.  I apologize for the awful camera handling.  I can't hold the camera up in her face because she all of a sudden becomes super interested in only it and any performance I might want just doesn't happen.  So, I hid it/tricked her by holding it to the side, thinking that I had her entire face in the picture but a corner is all you'll get...and sideways too.  Oh well, once the music hits your ears, you won't care.  So, without further ado:

The very appropriately named (St. Cecilia = patron saint of music), Cecilia:  

2 vs. 1

Home alone with the duplicates this eve and I say, “If you can’t beat ‘em, film ‘em”.

Triple Attack

In this house, on this Saturday, we've got three unfinished projects in motion.  One, ze master basroom:

It's painted but not all the way...you'll see what I mean in a couple of weeks.  Also, a roman shade needs to be made and hung.

Two, ze teking-forever lofeseat:

Finally ready to be reupholstered - that's the batting alayin' on top!!!!  Hopefully we're working on that while you're reading this!

Sree, ze valances in ze kitchen/dining room:

Don't remember if this project has been formally introduced yet but we're concocting some valances to adorn our dining room windows.

So, next Saturday, you can expect at least one fully finished project unfolded in a blog post.  I do, however, have one other teeny, tiny project to show and it involves a sweet little bundle named Alex.  Alex just happens to be our one month old Godson.  He's getting baptized tomorrow and we are so excited!  As a reminder of our love for him, I souped up a wee-little onesie with a little paint brush and some red acrylic paint:

And, just for kicks (and to make sure his loyalties are set at a young age), I pulled out the white paint and branded a hoodie with his Godparent's fave team. 

So, if all that doesn't make a smorgasbord of a post, to top it all off, I recently revamped our "Our First Nest" page and ran across these two 'home tour' videos, taken right before we moved down south and courtesy of 'yours truly'.  Take it away Anthony!

Have a great weekend everyone!

A Birthday Dedication

It's my little (but big) brother's birthday and to commemorate his day, I put together clips of his life to a song that he loved growing up.  He was born after three sisters which, as you can guess, put him into quite a predicament sometimes, including some dresses and lipstick (sorry about that Prez).  Nonetheless, he's one of three hunks in the family and I love him! 

Here's to you Preston! 

A Little Entertainment

So I know everyone is so darn excited (just humor me) to see the progress on the office and I'll get that up but first I thought y'all would like some entertainment while you're waiting.  This is a video my Irish twin sister made me for my 25th birthday and I just love, love, love it.  She's uber-talented and someday we are hopeful to start our own design/decorating business making all sorts of goodies and also roping our other uber-talented sister in too...surprise Rock!  You just keep on learning to play that guitar and you can serenade Peach and I as we sew our dreams into reality.  :)  So, without further ado, here's your entertainment and a glimpse into one of the greatest days in the lives of The Bean Team.

Independence Day Fun

Here's a peek into our sun-soaked Independence Day this year!  We loved spending time with great friends and celebrating our freedom as "One Nation, Under God".

Dorm Daze!

A visit to a couple of thrift stores, Lowes, some tacos, and caramel brownies and this is what you get:  fun decor for dorm rooms!  Last night the "Fab Four", as I dubbed them, who are a part of the "Mighty Fine Nine" and I had some fun buying super cute, cheap picture frames and mirrors from a thrift store and spray painting them.  They're college-bound in the fall and bound to have the cutest dorm rooms around!  Take a look at the cuteness we created.  :)

These are some of the frames before:

Ugly, out-dated, and very uncool.

But with five cans of spray paint and some creative minds, here's what we made:

So cute, huh?

We could've left them like this and they would've been so cute but the girls showed their artsy sides and souped up these already-cute pieces.

 

Here's what we accomplished:

Just another project that shows how fabulous spray paint is, especially when combined with a fun girls' night!