Hello everyone-
I am literally lying in bed and unable to get up (I’ve been moving for a couple of days, and my back and shoulders are so sore…)
check out the mess I have to deal with =’/ (and it’s only one side of a room! T-T)

anyway,
I felt bad for being MIA for a couple of days, so I’ll drop some hair care tips I’ve learned here and there throughout my life

Rule #1
DON’T MESS WITH YOUR HAIR WHEN IT’S WET

It’s basically the 101 of hair care, but never flat iron, curl or apply heat on wet hair. Blow drying isn’t that healthy for your hair either. It is best to let it air dry but if you don’t have time, try blow drying your hair with cool/warm air before you start straightening it

Also, if you want to brush your hair while it’s wet, avoid dense combs or brushes and try to use a wooden comb with large teeth (what’s the name of it? I totally forget.. anyway)

No yanking or twisting.. Also, never tie your hair when it’s wet. I can’t stress this enough, but just let your hair dry out before you do anything to it. Your hair is very vulnerable when it is wet and if you mistreat it, it will become damaged really easily.

Rule #2
DON’T RUB YOUR HAIR

rub your hair on what? I meant, don’t rub your hair against each other, especially when your towel drying your hair. that’s just asking for trouble. =/

Rule #3
DON’T USE REGULAR SCISSORS TO CUT YOUR HAIR

I don’t know what the difference is, but my stylist would always tell me that cutting your hair with scissors (like craft scissors or regular scissors we use daily) is very bad for your hair. Maybe it’s because the blade is blunt? I really don’t know the reason to it, but if a professional says so, I just tend to bow down and follow their instructions.

I’ve read in a magazine before that Brittney Spears would have a Japanese handmade $3,000 scissors to trim her hair or ends, and discard it after a one-time-use to keep her hair in top condition. Obviously, this was when she was all popular and more focused on her singing career, but I guess scissors do matter. So if you trim your own hair or bangs at home, go to a beauty supply store and buy yourself some professional scissors for the sake of you hair~

Rule #4
GET RID OF SPLIT ENDS

Split ends are like the ugly pimple on a beautiful face. It just makes your hair look flaky and dull and dry. If you start to spot split ends, go to the salon and get them trimmed out. They tend to tangle, which will make your hair harder to brush through, and the split ends cause more split ends, eventually spreading them ugly splits all over the end of your hair. They can’t be cured or glued back together, so just forget about it and trim your hair every once in a while. That will make your hair healthier.

Rule #5
IT’S THE BEST AS IT IS

Applying hair dye or constant perming will seriously damage your hair. It is the best to let it as it is. Whatever alternation you give to your hair will involve harsh chemicals, and doing that too often will damage your hair and the roots.
So unless it is totally necessary, don’t be too harsh on your hair. You might look all fab and gorgeous at the moment, but in the long run, you are more likely to the victim of hair loss and balding. Or worse, you could suffer from scalp-burns (if you use too much chemicals), and could have empty patches in your head.
Always try to understand what the trade-off is for beauty, and think properly and know what risk you are willing to take before you jump at anything

Rule #6
BE AWARE OF THE SHAMPOO YOU’RE USING

It’s not just about your shampoo bottles, but always have a good habit of looking at the ingredients listed at the back of whatever you are eating or putting on your body. It has direct contact with you so you wouldn’t want to risk anything harmful by being careless.
So go check and see if your shampoo contains SODIUM LAURYL SULFATE (or simply SLS). It is a cheap chemical that is used as cleaning agents for garage floors etc. Many manufactures put this in to make the “foam” of the shampoo, but I don’t think anyone could say “Geez! that’s so healthy and good for my hair!”
Try to go with shampoos that are made of natural ingredients and avoid dangerous products that contain SLS. If you are not sure, you could always call costumer service of the company and ask for the ingredients list.

————- personal brag? or so LOL —————

Ok, I’m not the socially active kind of person. I like being by myself and looking at the wall and mumbling stuff to myself while rocking back and forth.. (not really, lol) but, anyway! when it comes to makeup, I have no connections whatsoever. I’m like this outsider of this huge industry and I never thought of getting to know anyone in it because the people that are surrounding me are more like bankers, wannabe bankers, consultants, wannabe consultants, law school kids, wannabe law school kids, dorks or wannabe dorks.. -_- I mean, you get what I mean, right?
I don’t have anyone who is even remotely related to the fab-glam of the makeup world around me. And I’m like come on! it’s NYC! the mecca of MUAs!!

But, going back to the point I was trying to make. So, while I was busy with moving around the other day, I got a chance to meet someone. She’s not a professional MUA, but the cool thing about her job is, she is the person who is actually purchasing all the products for the show (and shall I say, the show = one of the most famous musicals on Broadway?! – no more details for the person’s privacy). So she is constantly at the MAC PRO store (she said that the entire crew uses only MAC products) and the company has so much leftovers or over-purchased stuff (like stuff they bought, but never got a chance to use) they have to get rid of it as quickly as they keep on purchasing new stuff.
So she sold two new PowerPoint eyeliners (engraved) and a pro LE e/s all for 25 dollars (and they were all new and boxed/packaged – awesome! Retail price would be $40.00 + NY tax of 8.75% or so) to me. I told her I’m a recent graduate with no life -_- and only with the love of makeup, she laughed and told me that she’ll def. let me know first when she had stuff to get rid of for a fairly cheap price.
Ohhh, how I wish it was like a huge variety of products =/ I mean I’m cool with MAC, but it would be nice to get all sorts of new stuff for such cheap prices =p

Ha! so that proves my theory.
I have always thought that paying full price for MAC was foolish (it is just my personal theory and weird way of logic). You could somehow wriggle around and find a way to pay less for MAC stuff since it is so popular, and everybody has it – it is very easy to get things cheap compared to Chanel or Shu Uemura products.

anyway, there’s going to be no video for that, since it was just a personal route of getting stuff. But, always keep your eyes open~ You never know what good things will happen to you!

Have a good one ladies

Catalina

* PS. just a couple of pictures of the entrance of the MAC Pro shop in New York. I thought it was so ghetto, I just had to take pictures on my very first trip there.

the buzzer.. to the secret society.. LOL

the building it’s in. No sign, no nothing… it was just so weird for me =/ and across the street, there’s a huge regular MAC store