Friday 30 May 2014

My Journey to White Hair Part 1 : How I Ruined my Hair

DISCLAIMER: I am NOT a qualified hairdresser, and am not responsible for how your hair will react to any of the techniques used here. Please follow all instructions in any products you choose and when In doubt GO TO A HAIRDRESSER. Thank you!~

If you are considering trying to get white hair I would really recommend reading this! ESPECIALLY if you are planning on BLEACHING YOUR own HAIR.I know there's several parts and quite a bit to read but hopefully it will help you out a bit! It will include a few tutorials and recommendations but I do recommend overall to GO TO A HAIRDRESSER. I know its more expensive but it will save you ruining your hair like me!

This series of articles will include;
How I ruined my hair 
How I stripped my hair
Toning to white (and ending up with blue)
What I use to keep my hair healthy


As a person who loves to dye their hair, its amazing how many mistakes you can actually make. The first time I dyed my hair I was 12-13, which was basically just a shade darker than my natural hair and my mum did it for me. Next was a purple/brown colour, and then a few years after that was red, which friends did, then every time after that I did it myself. Since then I've had one blue disaster, one awesome blue and a bit of a failed white attempt. I went back to red for a few weeks before I decided I wanted to try going back to white again....and its been one hell of a journey, especially considering it still isn't as white as I want!

So, after having quite short hair for about 5 or 6 years, I decided I wanted to grow it again. I'm lucky because my hair grows pretty fast! Here's an awful comparison.



WOW moving swiftly on.....

So I grew it for ages and it still grew pretty fast even though I dyed it, but recently, I had to have a lot of the length cut off because of how much of a mess I made bleaching it.

I bleached it myself and broke all the rules, and ended up having to go to the hairdressers to get it sorted because no matter what product or oil I used, my hair was still straw like when dry and like glue when wet. I couldn't brush it whilst it was wet else I ended up pulling the ends of my hair off. In the end I decided to get it cut when one day I woke up and it had tangled up like mad in the night and was so painful to brush. 

I basically asked the hairdresser to cut off the most damaged bits and this is what I ended up with this


I've gotta admit, it doesn't look that much shorter here, but trust me, she cut A LOT off. I was kinda heartbroken at the time but I love it now!

Now, on to a couple 'rules' I broke which meant I ended up with glue hair.Seriously, I could pull the ends off my hair when it was wet and it would just stretch and snap off....it was gross. My fringe is still like it at the top but not as bad. 

1) Bleaching too many times
You're meant to wait at least 2, better even 3-4 weeks before bleaching again
4 times
4 times in a week I bleached my hair 
That doesn't count the bleach bath I did after trying to make my own toner and turning my hair blue
It was awful for the first few days and I just piled on the deep conditioner a hair masks but really, they're only a temporary fix, and not long after you're right back to brittle glue hair.

2) Making my own toner
If you watch a tutorial on youtube of someone making their own toner using purple dye, use the same stupid dye they used. Don't buy a cheaper one thats actually blue based but you didn't realise.
 Using it as toner with just make your hair blue tinted. 
Which will then fade to green. 
And then your work colleagues will call you snot hair and pretend to sneeze on you.
 Just remember....not all dyes are the same and will react different when diluted with conditioner and if you see someone getting results from one dye it doesn't mean another dye in a similar colour will do the same! 
I will touch on this more in my post about the toners I use!

3) Being absolutely terrible at applying bleach
This was actually the 3rd time i'd attempted bleaching my hair myself.
The first time I tried I ended up with the grossest, patchiest meant-to-be-blue-but-ended-up-with-green-hair, after which I had to rush down to the shop to get more hair dye to cover it.

The second time I tried to go white but gave up after almost getting glue hair, and this time it was also pretty patchy near my roots.

But for some reason this time I thought...wow, I've watched so many youtube videos now, I'm a professional!!
Nope
Not. Even. Close.
Please try and go to their hairdressers, to be honest it will save you a lot of suffering and money in the long run! Save up and get awesome hair instead of trying to do it yourself and messing it up!

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That's the end of part one. I hope it's given you an idea of the risks involved with bleaching your own hair! I'm not saying everyone will have these problems, but I thought the same and here we are.

Part 2 coming soon!



Friday 23 May 2014

Project Spark : BETA

I'm just about to download the BETA for Project Spark
From what I've seen, this is a completely player created game, in which you can create the world you play in, as well as the type of game. For example, if you want to make a fighting game, you can give the main player character different attacks such as combo attacks.

EDIT: I didn't realise that I'd have to buy Windows 8.1 to play it! I'll hopefully be able to get it for Xbox instead.


Friday 16 May 2014

UKCustomPlugs 'Fake Plugs Grab Bag' Review

Phew, I've finally got time to write this review...I've been looking forward to doing it since I got them!!

The products I am reviewing are UkCustomPlugs Fake Plugs. I got their grab bag of 6 random designs because I didn't really know which ones I wanted!

They arrived about 3 days after I ordered them which was great!
First i'll show you the package they came in...




They came in a bubble wrap lined envelope which has their logo on the front. I think this is a really nice touch and makes them look dead professional!

 

I got more than I expected inside the package...


As well as my fake plugs I got a few postcard flyers and some stickers!
I love getting extra stuff like this, even postcards, so I got pretty excited over how much stuff was in here!!
The stickers are very high quality too.



SO! On to the fake plugs!!
These were in their own little bag inside another bubble wrap bag. I love this, it shows how much UKCustomPlugs care about their products and customers.
They even have a custom bag....



I was really happy with the 6 designs I got, as as promised they were all different!

They were smaller than I expected, but thats nothing to do with the company, I just didn't read the specifications on the website....they're meant to give the illusion of 8mm plugs. Anything bigger would look out of place in an unstretched ear, so these are the perfect size!


(Please excuse my horrible nails!!)


I'm very impressed with how clear the designs are despite them being so small. The rubber ring around the edge is a nice touch too, it makes them look more realistic!

I only had one issue with the fake plugs....and its that I can't actually get them in my ears.
As you can see in the photos, they have a screw end rather than a pointy end like most earrings. 
This might not be a problem for most people, but I don't wear my earrings as often as i'd like to because of my job so I think my piercings might be smaller, but here's a size comparison between my usual earrings and these....

The bar is thicker, much more like my septum rings rather than my earrings.
Like I said, this might not be a problem that most people encounter, but just be warned if you have annoying ears like mine that like to close up after 2 seconds then maybe these won't fit you!

Luckily I have some tiny tapers that I've used in the past to try and stretch my piercings so that I don't encounter this problem as often (I've always had problems with my ears even though I kept them in for 6 weeks and all that jazz) So I'm hoping I can wear those for a bit to get these to work!

Overall I think these fake plugs are awesome, the designs and quality are great!I just wish I could wear them.

UPDATE: After persevering I got them in my ears!
They look super cute and I love them!
I can't wait till I can actually stretch my ears for real.

Like I said, these probably won't be a problem for most people, I just can't wear earrings as much as I'd like to because of my job, so my piercings shrink quite often!




Please check out UK custom plugs by clicking HERE, their website is fab and they sell clothes and accessories like phone cases and badges, as well as their huge variety of amazing plug designs!
Thanks for reading!












A Hat In Time pre-order

Gears for Breakfast are working hard on their first game, A Hat in Time, which is now available for pre-order! Read more about this quirky 3D platformer over at AdroitGamer !!


Tuesday 13 May 2014

My Custom Plugs order arrived!!

Actually it arrived yesterday, but life has been a bit hectic so i'll do a write up and review in the next few days :)

Friday 9 May 2014

Ordering with UKCustomPlugs.co.uk

Today I made my first order with UKCustomPlugs. I havent got my ears stretched, but I still wanted to see what else they had to offer. Other than the beautiful plugs they sell they also sell clothes, stickers and accessories such as mirrors and wallets.

My first impression of their site was really good, the design is really stylish and fitting for their products. It was very easy to find the shop and even easier to find the products that I wanted to look at. All the products are photographed very clearly and have very straightforward descriptions.

After searching through their site I decided I wanted to buy their Fake Plugs Grab Bag- Individuals package. I didn't know which fake plugs I wanted to get since I liked them all, so this was a perfect way to get some awesome fake plugs that I know I'll like, and save some money, since normal sets of plugs are £5 each, and this package comes to £9.99 (+postage) for 6!

I'll post a review of them once they arrive! :)


Source: UKCustomPlugs

Pokemon Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby

Nintendo have announced they are finally releasing Hoenn remakes!! Read more about it over at Adroit Gamer!! :)
Source : Pokemon

Titanfall Statue only at GAME

GAME have released a collectors edition package for Titanfall! Read more about it over at Adroit Gamer :)


Source : GAME 

Thursday 8 May 2014

First time playing Bioshock

I just started Bioshock, I've had it a while but only just got round to starting it tonight. I'm surprised at how creepy it is but it definitely keeps me wanting to play to find out more about the story!! It seems so far like it has quite a unique storyline!

Pre-Ordering Watch Dogs



I was in Gametronics today, Games line of trade-in for cash stores, and their very friendly cashier got me talking about Watch Dogs. Its something i'd probably never have looked at before, but since starting at Adroit Gamer I'm really trying to get out of my comfort zone. It looks very different to anything I've played before, which is pretty exciting, and I'm hoping it won't disappoint!!


Image from Ubisoft

The Room Two Review

I recently wrote a review on an app by Fireproof Games called The Room Two, an amazing horror puzzle game. If you'd like to read the review and learn more about the game as well as watching the trailer, please read my review over at Adroit Gamer!!


(The Room Two is available on iOS, Google Play and Amazon Apps)

Hello!!

Hi, my name is Jess and I've just started working for Adroit Gamer, an upcoming gaming news site that focuses on new and upcoming talent in the UK.

This is going to be my personal blog with more casual posts about the games I'm writing about and anything else happening in my life relating to gaming.

My favourite games are Fallout 3 & New Vegas, Portal 2, Pokemon and the Professor series.
I'm using my new writing position at Adroit Gamer and an excuse to play more games that are way out of my comfort zone, so expect to see posts about all kinds of games!

I hope you enjoy and please let me know anything in particular you'd like to see!

-Jess