At Home Hair Hacks

We all have hair goals - whether it's a quest for thicker hair, bouncier hair, longer hair, or just healthier hair. Sadly not everyone is naturally blessed with the hair they want and even healthy hair can be hard to maintain, thanks to environmental aggressors (e.g. UV exposure and pollution), chemical processing, hot tools, and frequent wear and tear. Luckily there are some great DIY masks out there to help protect, treat, and improve the hair. The team at Luxurious Look - the leading online retailer of salon-based haircare products - has put together a few of their best recipes, as well as a guide to the products worth purchasing if you don't want to get your hands dirty.

The Tuesday Tip: DIY Salt Spray

Beach waves are the staple hairstyle of the summer; they look good on just about any bitch. However, as most of us aren't lucky enough to live by the beach or spend our summers in Saint-Tropez, we depend on salt sprays to achieve those gorgeous waves. Fake it until you fucking make it after all...

The Tuesday Tip: Facial Mist Mask

If your skin is in desperate need of a pick-me-up but there is no face mask in sight, fear not! You can always create a facial mist mask! All you need is a facial mist (or toner) and a few cotton pads!

To make your facial mist mask, just tear four cotton pads apart into thin sheets and saturate them with your favourite mist or toner. Then place the pads all over your face and leave them on for 10-15 minutes.

The Tuesday Tip: How To Fix Broken Makeup

There is nothing more frustrating than opening your favourite pressed powder product and finding it broken up into little pieces. It looks ugly, creates a mess every time you open it and makes application trickier.

However, there is a genius way to repair broken pressed powders and the only thing required is you and rubbing alcohol (aka surgical spirit). All you have to do is follow these super easy instructions...

1. Open up your compact and pour a little rubbing alcohol on the crumbled powder until it is saturated
2. Mix in the rubbing alcohol and then even out the new mixture using your finger
3. Leave it overnight to harden
4. Wake up to find your pressed powder fully repaired, with no difference in colour, smell or texture!

It is a makeup miracle!!

The Tuesday Tip: Heat-Free Beach Waves

The summer season is all about rocking gorgeous beach waves and I have a hassle-free tip to achieve this look without the use of heat. Yes, you heard right!

To get heat-free beach waves, just do the following:

1. Before going to bed, divide damp hair into four equal sections
2. Twist each section tightly from root to tip
3. Wrap the twisted sections into little buns and hold them in place with a hairband
4. Sleep
5. Then, when you wake up, release the buns to reveal gorgeous waves!
6. Don't forget to hold everything in place with a flexible hold hairspray

If you want to give your heat-free waves even more hold, spray each twisted section with a texturising spray before wrapping it into bun. I love the TRESemme Texture Style Tousled Spray 200ml (£5.75 Boots) as it helps to create - and hold - beautiful waves, without weighing the hair down. You can also find out how to make your own texturing spray by clicking here!

The Tuesday Tip: DIY Lymphatic Drainage Facial

If you don't know about lymphatic drainage facials, you need to. They reduce wrinkles and dark circles and  improve skin health. A lymphatic drainage facial works by increasing movement through the lymph node, filtering out waste products, dead cells, excess proteins and toxins from the tissues in our body.

Now a lymphatic drainage facial doesn't come cheap but, lucky for us, Urban Retreat's Head of Beauty, Victoria Battersby, has given the lowdown on doing it yourself! As Victoria explains, "Cleansing your own lymph nodes takes just a few minutes at the end of the day and will leave you feeling relaxed and detoxified".

Before you start your lymphatic drainage facial, ensure you are in a quiet space with no disturbances. It is important to remember to only stretch the skin very lightly, as the lymphatic vessels are sensitive elastic fibres just underneath the skin. Each movement should be repeated a total of 10 times and be sure to lift your hands off the skin after each so you are not simply moving the lymph node back and forth.

1. Start by massaging the area around your collarbone, massaging horizontally across the bone outwards from the centre of your neck to your shoulders.
2. Then work your way up to the contour of your face moving your fingers along the jaw line from the chin to the ears.
3. After here, press one finger underneath the inner corners of both eyes and move along the bottom of the eye socket until you reach your ear, repeat this again moving along the top of the eye socket.
4. Finally, from the side of your face below your ears massage the lymph nodes of your neck down towards your shoulders.

So get massaging and let me know what you think!

If you don't want to get your hands dirty but are in need of a little pampering, book yourself a facial at a reputable salon or spa. If you're based in London, check out the Delarom Limited Edition Suite at Urban Retreat, which launched today. The Delarom Suit is only open for one week and, if the treatments are anything like Delarom products, you have  to book an appointment!