Happy, Healthy Hair: What I Use

Who doesn't want long, full and flowing beautifully luxurious hair? We all do, right? Long, thick hair seems to be a little bit of an obsession for most girls, myself included, and growing my hair seems to be all that I've ever wanted to do. I've never been fussed with extensions because I change my hair colour pretty frequently and it's often multi-coloured a lot of the time too, so I would struggle to find a shade that matches up perfectly, and in the past all the clip ins I've tried have been uncomfortable and hard to work with.

Instead I want my very own mane of super long hair (preferably belly button length), with soft natural waves, rich brown in colour, and thick and healthy with no frizz to be seen ..but it seems hair like that only exists in films! I'll do all that I can get to get as close to that dream as possible though, so as well as banning hairdryers and straighteners from my life for the past 6 months here is what's been working for me recently in terms of products...

(This concoction of products has strictly been limited to washing and treatments, just to keep things simple).

Lee Stafford Hair Growth Shampoo*

As a long time lover of the accompanying Hair Growth treatment mask from Mr.Stafford, it's surprised me that I hadn't yet branched out and bought the full set from this range. My hair obviously hasn't grown 5 inches in a week, but this range makes hair stronger at the root and stimulates follicles to encourage more growth. 

*(c/o North Meet Up Goodie Bag - post)

Lee Stafford Argan Oil Conditioner

As mortified as I am that I walked into Boots and then walked back out again with a bottle of conditioner and a purse £12 lighter, I do really love this conditioner and think that it is the perfect companion to the Hair Growth Shampoo. 

It seemed to make more sense to me to mix and match this pair together and choose a stimulating shampoo to encourage root growth, and then a conditioner from their most nourishing range to be able to heal any damage and restore any well needed moisture to those ends. I love Lee Stafford's honesty in the aims of his products, stating that the shampoo will help hair to 'reach its maximum potential length', and the conditioner will 'restore hair to its optimal condition' - no unrealistic promises there.

Lee Stafford Hair Growth Treatment Mask

Lee Stafford Argan Oil Treatment Mask

I have chosen a mask from each of two above ranges to help my hair out and alternate between the two of them; focusing the Hair Growth on the roots around once a fortnight and the Argan Oil mask on the mid-lengths and ends every weekend. Both of these masks work really well at giving the hair a nourishment boost and bring it back to being silky soft, smooth and manageable. You can see my full review of the Hair Growth mask and read more on what I think of it here.

Moroccanoil Oil Treatment

Ooh so one you'll never have heard of then?! Haha the world famous Moroccan Oil. Now a firm favourite in my life and a definite repurchase until then end of time, I am a huge fan of this hair oil and would recommend it to anybody. It is basically my hair's best friend to keeps it calm, soft, nourished and free from frizz. It can be used on wet or dry hair / before and after styling so it can be thrown into any stage of my routine. You can see my full review on if it you click here.

Redken Color Extend Radiant-10 Multi Benefit Treatment Spray

Again, a product that I have talked about before and you'll be able to see my full review on it here; I use this Redken spray as a leave-in conditioner and as a detangler. Straight after washing my hair, before I do anything, I spray this all over to make sure that I can get a wide tooth comb through it without any snagging, pulling or breaking of the hair (a Tangle Teezer has been welcomed to my life in the past few days that will now replace the comb), and it makes my life a heck of a lot easier. It also adds extra condition to the hair in a super light weight formula too.

Redken Extreme Anti-Snap Leave In Treatment

Umm, okay so I owe this 'Anti-Snap' a little apology after the very blunt and negative review that I gave to it back in October (here), and said that it had made my hair a lot drier and a lot more brittle, leading to increased breakage.. it seemed to be a pro-snap, not an anti-snap!! That's my own fault for not using the product correctly and I've learnt from videos by Tanya Burr and EleventhGorgeous (if you click their names it will take you to the videos where they talk about this topic) that yes, protein/keratin is the the best thing that you can use on your hair, but there is also such as thing as 'too much of a good thing' when it comes to overloading your hair with keratin.. and using too much too often will dry out your hair and make it more brittle. So that was my problem with the Anti-Snap, that I was too keen and was using it too often. Now that I use it in moderation I've found it to be a wonder product and makes my hair feel so much stronger.

One more point: This is supposed to 'seal' the hair cuticles, so if you are using this product in your routine make sure that you're using it last, because otherwise it will block out all other products and they won't be able to penetrate into the hair shaft, so especially if you're also using an oil - make sure that you apply the oil first and then the Anti-Snap to be able to 'lock it in'!

So, that's what has been keeping my little head of hair happy and healthy recently.

It's currently the longest that it's ever been (finally gone past 'boobie length'! yay!), it's in the best condition that it's ever been and is the most 'tameable' I've ever had it. A while back I'd never be able to wear my hair in it's natural style, but it seems I've got things under control now and heat styling is well and truly a thing of the past for me. If you'd like to see a snap of my hair then you can click here to see a recent Instagram picture and I'm afraid that's the best I've got for you!

Do you have any hair care recommendations for me that I might like to try?

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Review: Lee Stafford Hair Growth Treatment Mask

Lee Stafford Hair Growth Treatment 200ml - £7.99 - link

This pretty little pink tub full of a conditioning treatment mask is a much used, much loved and heavily reviewed product in the beauty world, but that isn't going to stop me voicing my little opinion on it too, for those of you out there who maybe haven't heard of/tried this product before and need a little convincing about its wonders.

First off, don't expect a miracle when you use this. It's a little bit misleading to call it a 'hair growth' mask, insinuating that it will miraculously increase the rate of growth and have you waking up in the morning looking like Rapunzel. No, it won't do that at all, it's £8 a tub so its an averagely priced drugstore conditioning treatment and if it really did make everyone's hair grow at twice it's normal speed then everybody would be using it, wouldn't they? 

I find this a really interesting product, it's pretty unique as far as conditioning treatment masks go as most hair masks focus solely on repairing the already dead, dry and damaged ends of the hair, whereas this one's primary focus is to nourish the roots and 'fertilize your follicles'. As explained on the packaging this mask encourages growth of hair by doing one thing; nourishing your roots and the scalp for optimum health and strength within your hair from the earliest stages possible, so it's growing in good condition from the very beginning. 

I'm all stocked up on this bad boy as it is one my favourite hair products to use and I'm on about my 6th tub of it within the past year. You massage this mainly into roots as that is the area that you are focussing on, and then I just use a wide-tooth comb to run it through to the mid-lengths and ends so that they benefit from it's conditioning properties. Then leave on for five minutes (I usually sit in the bath and leave for longer) and rinse away. If you have already spotted the images below and noticed that I have included an egg and you have never come across this product before then you may be a little bit confused. Well, I brought the egg in for demonstative purposes with regards to the instructions for use of this product. Users are direct to, after shampooing, scoop out 'an egg sized amount' of the treatment and massage from roots to ends. An egg sized amount you say Lee? This egg is only from my kitchen cupboard, just your average medium sized egg, but I think we can all agree that it looks pretty big in comparison to these 200ml tubs. I'd say if you followed the directions and really did use an 'egg sized' amount with every application, and also used this with every wash as advised, then you'd be going through this stuff at a pretty quick pace. I wouldn't say anymore than 5 eggs can be scooped out of here, and if it's used every wash that's about two weeks it'll last you? I don't know about you but I won't be dishing out £8 every two weeks for an extra step in my hair washing routine on top of shampoo and conditioner! Even with regular offers surrounding this brand, often 3 for 2, or 3 for £12, then it still works out as a pretty costly product.

I use around half of the recommended amount and use this once/twice weekly, depending on whether or not I can find the time to leave it sitting on my hair when I wash it. One tub will last me on average two months.

After moaning about how it's not a miracle product, and how costly it would be to follow the directions I suppose I'd better give some justifications as to why I actually do really love this product! Okay, well I'll start off first of all with the superficial factors and tell you that I like the smell of this and also the packaging, but more importantly than that is that I really do feel like it's doing something for my hair. It isn't just an illusion, or I wouldn't have purchased at least 10 tubs of this product if it was just a conditioner in a tub - it's more than that. After just one use of this and leaving my hair to dry naturally the effects on my locks really was noticeable - the condition was vastly improved, it felt silky smooth to the touch and I smelt like I was fresh from the hairdressers! To deep condition the hair isn't even what this product primarily claims to do; it's just a by-product of the nourishment that is gives to your overall head of hair, so even if you're not convinced of it's growth properties then you can benefit from it's conditioning treatment. This feeds the roots of your and it's follicles (let's not get into the science of it) and it helps to anchor your hair to your scalp which is great if you suffer with a bit of hair loss and thinning, but it makes your hair strong from the root. It also moisturises and reduces irritation on the scalp and Lee's little quote on the tub is that 'if the earth's not nourished you'll never grow beautiful flowers' so it really does tackle problems from the root.

This is a bit of a 'marmite' product; I've seen so many people talk about this and say they were totally unimpressed and saw no benefits, but there are just as many others, such as myself who pretty swear by this product. There will always, always be a tub of this in my bathroom, probably until they stop selling it. Those people who claim that this product is useless and just made their hair a little softer probably used the one tub, not on a regular basis and that was it so of course they wouldn't reap the full benefits. I'd say that you really have to persevere with a product like this as this isn't going to take instant effect on your hair in just five minutes of sitting there and then being rinsed away, it's something that I have been continually using for about a year now to have been able to see noticeable improvements to my hair growth and also a reduction in hair that I lost whilst washing and brushing. 

My hair is now in the best condition it has ever been and I can always judge the rate of my hair growth by looking at the visibility of my roots and how urgently my dye is going to need a touch up! Prior to use of this my hair used to grow at an average speed and I'd say my hair would need re-dyeing around every 5-6 weeks but now it's more like two weeks after dyeing and the roots look pretty unbareable - if that's not improved rate of hair growth then I don't know what is! So, YES, it does work and does do what it says it does, you just need to give it chance and invest a heck of a lot of time and money into repurchasing and regularly using to be able to see noticeable results in growth and length. All I need to work on now is stopping these bleached, dead ends from snapping away and then I can have hair even Rapunzel would envy!

If you've tried this 'rate it or hate it' product yourself then what did you think of it?

♥