Skitch-I-Y: Naturally lighten your hair!

I know I've hopped on the beauty bandwagon quite a bit lately but I'm a sucker for all things personal care. I'll get back to fashion in a bit. In the meantime...

Quite a while back I stumbled upon a DIY video by Andrea's Choice on You Tube on how to lighten your hair with natural, household ingredients. I've been meaning to change up my hair for quite some time now but since my hair grows so slowly (it took me two years to grow out the last color change I did to it!), I've been quite afraid of doing anything drastic. Also, it's cheap! For under $10 you can get similar results to what a $50+ appointment would be at the salon. I mean, this was a trip to my kitchen and back! Sure, the process takes a bit more than a trip to the beauty salon would, but if you're like me and would prefer to see a gradual process and have the option of stopping then here's what you'll need to do:

The MVP of this process is honey. As Andrea explains, it has small traces of peroxide (yes, that thing your mom and aunt used to lighten her hair with when she was your age) that will gradually lighten your hair unlike the harsh effects of bleaching. So do keep in mind that this will take some time. I have quite greasy hair so I tend to wash my hair every other day. Whenever I'd wash my hair, I'd slather on the honey mask a while before getting in the shower. I did the conditioner and honey mask (1 part honey, 2 parts conditioner). You can also do it with honey, olive oil and maybe half of a banana but I found it was easier to do the honey/conditioner treatment and I didn't want to add more oil to my already grease-prone hair.  I'd slather it on, wrap my hair in a plastic bag, let it process for about 30-40 minutes, wash off and dry.

Now, Andrea explains that you'll start noticing your hair lighten right about at the fourth or fifth try, but I started seeing changes immediately. I was shocked when I rinsed my hair after the first try. It wasn't much, but there was definitely some change! I just finished my fourth mask and I couldn't wait to share it with you guys because this stuff really works. The more you do it, the more it will lighten up so I think it works really nice for the upcoming summertime. It's nothing too extreme but just the right amount of change. Heck, I think this might even work for girls that are still into subtle, ombré tips.

Here's my progress. Every time I did a honey mask I took pictures of the result.They were all taken in my bathroom with the same flash, aperture and velocity so you could notice the difference under the same lighting conditions. Sorry if some are a bit blurry but I always forget to charge my camera and I tend to take these pictures a bit rushed.

1st Mask

2nd Mask

3rd Mask

4th Mask

As you can see, the results are quite surprising for something that is as easy as going into your pantry and applying it to your hair. I'm going to keep on working with this until I get to a desired tonality. Maybe I'll even try out the demure ombré tips. Maybe. Also, go check out Andrea's You Tube channel. She's pretty darn awesome!

Skitch-I-Y: Chanel s/s 2012

Wow! It's almost been a month since I last blogged and I am deeply sorry for that. I blame the holiday season. Handling a job in retail and an internship at the same time barely leaves me with any free time on my hands anymore and when I do have it, I catch up on my rest. I mean, holiday season meant literally 17 hour days for me, barely any breaks. So now that the holidays in Puerto Rico have come to an end, I can finally rest and catch up on my personal life, and you guys!

Now, where did we last see each other? Oh, yes! The Chanel Skitch-I-Y pearl hair pins I promised months ago! Tsk, tsk, tsk. Shame on me, but a promise done is a promise kept! Today while my hubbs took me on a date to Old San Juan, we stumbled along the most awesome bead shop and I finally found the pearls I've been looking for. I've been searching for them forever but I always found really expensive strands of dozens of pearls or they were plastic and cheap looking. In this store I found inexpensive freshwater pearls on their own so I could purchase a just what I needed without breaking my budget. I found so many different types of pearls in many different shapes, colors and sizes. For this Skitch-I-Y I decided to keep it simple and stick to traditional white pearl, but it's up to you guys to make your hair pins the way you choose. After all, I just give you some guidelines here. You guys can modify it however you wish and make your creations unique! Also, this is the absolute easiest do-it-yourself project. I mean, this actually took me like 5 minutes to make 3. So, if you're short on time or just simply like to get things done easily and still look chic, this is the project for you!

Also, I apologize for the picture quality. I have the worst lighting in my apartment and my DLSR has no battery so I had to use my old point and shoot for this. Ugh.


You'll need:

• pearl beads
• bobby pins
• thread
• a needle
• glue
• scissors

Step 1: Take your thread and prep your needle with it by stringing it double and making a knot. Take your thread and knot it around one of the bobby pin legs and securing it with a bit of glue.












Step 2: String the pear onto the thread and loop it around the bobby pin leg several times. Make sure it is centralized on the pin leg or else it will look wonky and will be a pain to centralize later on. Loop the thread through the pearl and pin as many times possible.

Step 3: Secure the bead and thread in place by knotting the thread and dabbing a bit of glue to the thread once you cut off the excess. Make sure to knot it tight!

And you're done! See? Easy! Place them all over your hair as you wish. You could try the wet hair look and dot your hair with the pins just like they did at Chanel or your could even let your hair down and place some of these all over! I'm thinking playing with sectioning my hair and dotting these along the lines too!

Chanel photo via Style.com