Tuesday 5 March 2013

My new hairdo!

If you're a new or not-so-regular reader of this blog, you may not be aware that I had given up on my real hair and taken to wearing wigs all the time. Unfortunately, my real hair is not so super long and curly and luscious as this. In fact, my real-life-hair had become very brittle, thin and damaged due to a combination of medications and trying to maintain a near-white colour so that it could be bright pink and blue (and green and lilac) all through the first half of last year. It was getting to the point where if I wasn't wearing a wig, I'd feel really awful about my appearance all day. And that's no good. I haven't been to a hairdresser in such a loooong time, but yesterday I thought I'd finally go and get them to try and replicate, if at all possible, this particular hair cut from a magazine I picked up in Japan. (By the way, if you follow me on facebook, this hair cut is your doing because you all told me to go for it! And I thank you for that.)
Trying to do the same pose as the girl in the magazine.. haha.

I took myself along to Japanese hairdresser Allure Hair in Sydney and they did an awesome job! I love my new haircut, and even better, I finally like my real hair. I have noticed, however, that having shorter hair does require a slightly different way of dressing - so I'm going to start trying to wear my wigs less in outfit posts (after the few I've got already lined up), and attempt to suit my clothes more to a short hair style.

So, another reason for this post is that I'm embarrassingly bad (for a fashion blogger) at hair styling, and I was actually hoping for some tips... my hair is super thin and just getting it to look this "full" required about half a can of hairspray, half-an-hour with a hairdryer and a whole lot of curling with a curling iron (edit: my fringe didn't need this, but the rest of my hair did) - which I want to avoid having to do every day or I'll be back at damaged hair again. Mousse doesn't give it enough lift either. And I wasn't really able to style it like it looks in the photo, which I would like to be able to do as well.
If anyone has any tips for me on styling my hair like the photo, without too much heat damage, I'd be super happy to hear them :)

73 comments:

  1. I usually leave me hair wrapped in a towel for way too long and when I remember to take it off my hair is all full and wavy and nice.
    Your hair is very light now (cause it's short) so all you should really need to do is blow dry it and use one of those rounded brushes/combs (sorry, i'm sure it has a name) to give yourself some volume. If you youtube 'volume for short hair' or something like that, you'll see what i mean. It doesn't take long, I do it all the time and don't know much about beauty/hair tips etc.

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    1. Hey! Thanks so much for the tip :) I actually just edited the post because I did do that AS WELL, haha, before curling and hair-spraying. And it is already falling flat since taking these pictures, ahh, haha ;) But leaving it in a towel for longer cooooould help, I'll try it out anyway! ;)

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  2. Bytheway, I really like your new hair cut! It is very cute!!!

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  3. Oh my gosh your hair looks sooooo cuuuute! As for making it bigger, I'm not really an expert, but what I do is I french braid my hair, which makes it super curly and more poofy than normal (but I have thick hair so I don't know how it would look with yours). Also you could try to tease it with a comb (ie, brush towards your roots to make it sort of tangled). That might help as well. As for the bangs, you might just have to straighten those with a straightener. But I've straightened my bangs for years and they don't really get damaged. They grow really fast so that probably helps things too.

    So yeah. Long comment from Lauren complete! And again, I reeeeally love your hair. It's so perfect for you. :3

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    1. clarification: I french braid my hair when it's wet and then let it dry like that overnight. :)

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    2. Thank you so much Lauren! :) Unfortunately, even with hair this short, I manage to wake up every morning with some serious "mad-scientist hair" (like, actually, it looks like someone has been teasing it all night), braided or not. Especially if I go to bed with it wet. So that technique probably wouldn't work out too well for me :(
      But thanks so much anyway - maybe your tip will help someone else who reads it at least! xx

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  4. your new hair looks awesome! you totally rock the short 'do! <3
    www.itsnotheritsme.com

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  5. I love the haircut! Short hair really suits you (well, long hair does too, but I'm particular fond of how short hair looks).

    As someone with ridiculously THICK hair, I can say that it's not all it's cracked up to be - it takes forever to dry, as soon as you start sweating it becomes gross, and... uh, you get covered in a serious amount of hair when you get it cut. Well, at least I do. :p

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    1. Aw, thanks Jack! Well, it's nice to know the problems from the other side, haha. BUT STILL, if you have thick hair then you can be all swishing it around (well, if you grow it a bit) and it looks GLORIOUS and I will never be able to experience that. I think that I could totally put up with a bit of sweaty head for that...

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  6. LOVE this new haircut on you! I love how well you pull off wigs also, but now you have even more options. Plus, maybe now it feels more like a choice to don a wig, rather than something you need to do out of self-consciousness? I wish I had some hair tips, but I have the exact opposite problem... my hair is very long and thick, and needing more volume isn't really an issue for me. I did stumble across this article of 10 must-have hair products for ladies with thinner hair though, so maybe you'll find something of use: http://www.hairromance.com/2011/09/the-ten-must-have-hair-products-for-fine-haired-girls.html

    Love your blog, by the way! :)
    www.thesoubrettebrunette.blogspot.com

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  7. Oh, my hair is quite similar when it's short! It's super wispy and fine and hard to get much volume. I always use those stretchy elastic-y headbands at night, and loop the ends of my hair around it so it's all tucked up. In the morning I use a teeny tiny bit of salt water spray and a hair mud (but not too much because then it ways it down!) to keep it looking floofy and cute c: Hope this helped (◕‿◕✿)

    www.alittlefoxtrot.blogspot.com

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  8. Oh Annika it looks WONDERFUL!! I wish I could pull off short hair like this (I used to hate long hair, until I got this helmet haircut, and tried to fix it and let it grow out with a horrible tightly curled perm as "transition" hair).

    From someone who's been very (sometimes stupidly) brave with hair.. Why don't you try hair curlers (the thin foam types for shorter and thinner hair)? You can leave them in when you sleep and when you wake up you just have to remove them and style it a little!

    http://www.dreamstime.com/pink-foam-hair-curlers-thumb16344485.jpg
    (but thinner)

    I'm too impatient to have had success with it, but my friend who persevered a little longer than me swears by it!

    gissy :)

    P.S. I've been staring at your blog since a few weeks ago and LOVE it!! More DIYS!!

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    1. I was just going to suggest this! Hopefully it'll keep mad scientist hair at bay, without any damaging heat!

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    2. Haha, I think I am also too impatient to do this every day BUT I am totally going to try it out at least once and if it ends up awesome then I'll just have to do it everyday! Thanks heaps :D

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  9. I have always had really thin hair, and I'm not sure how this would work for you or whether you would consider it, but I got something called a "hit and miss" perm late last year which has really given me volume. Perming is a sort of dying art with hairdressers, but if you get a good one you could end up loving the results! What they do is they sort of half each section of hair which they would regularly perm, so you get this awesome effect (on biiig rollers, so you don't end up with poodle hair) where your hair is half curly, half straight, and basically you just end up with heaps more lift and body in your hair without it flattening and without much effort each day. My hair never used to last more than an hour curled with shitloads of hairspray in it, and now I have wavy hair every day and can puff it up even more with mousse and a hairdryer if I want it to be really full and curly :)

    oh, I should mention, I have super duper thin, weird hair and my perm didn't take well the first time, so I did actually end up going back and she kindy re-did it for free for me and ended up just fully perming my hair since my hair didn't like the stuff very much, but she said that a hit and miss perm is usually sufficient to give thin hair lift and volume :) something for you to consider, anyway, since it's a bit of a commitment.

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    1. Oh wow! Thank you so much. I had never heard of that before and I think it might be a good option for me! My hair sounds a lot like yours, really tight curls fall out after only a few hours, even with what seems like a whole can of hairspray! I think I might ask for this as a 21st birthday present hehe

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    2. That sounds like a good idea, since its a tad expensive! Although your hair would be cheaper than mine because its a lo shorter :) My best advice if you're considering it, if you are worried about the effects on your hair is deep conditioning your hair once a week with a natural deep conditioner for a few weeks in the lead up, shy away from using too much chemical stuff in your hair until you get it done, and try and find a hairdresser who you trust and who uses the newest perm treatments. Everyone freaks out about how chemical perms are, and their effects on your hair, but I have personally seen no difference in the health of my hair, even after having to go back and get it done again two weeks later because it didn't take (apparently my hair is weird like that). These days perms are a lot less harsh than they used to be, because the technology behind them has improved dramatically since their 80's big hair hey-day. I spoke to my hair dresser about getting it done for about a year before i got up the courage to do it, and she was actually of the opinion that by getting the perm I would be sort-of doing less damage to my hair that what I was before it by blowdrying and straightening every day and using crap loads of hair spray and mousse and stuff in it every day :) Find a hairdresser you trust and talk to her about it a it before you do it. She will be able to tell you whether or not she thinks it will damage your hair, work with your hairstyle and take well :) Good luck with it :) I love my perm. I've had it for about 6 months now and its just started to drop out, but I reckon I could go a few more months before I get it done again still because with a bit of mousse it's still going super curly :)

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    3. Do you have any idea, when you get a perm done, if they have to do it from the roots, or could I get them to just to do the bottom ends of my hair?

      But that's awesome - thank you for providing so much info on perms! I am very grateful as I am very in the dark about them. I'll have to go and do a bunch of research as well, I think. Thanks so much for suggesting it, I'll definitely be keeping it in mind if I get sick of the 10 tonnes of hairspray everyday (or if I don't find a good curly mousse!) xx

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  10. oh gosh!! you cut your hair! i'm gonna miss it :(
    but anyhow, you look pretty! :))

    xoxo,
    Rae \(^o^)/
    Raellarina - The Ballerina on Fire

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    1. she didn't cut her hair though! Did you read the post? :O


      Annika, the hair looks great! I can't help with the volume question though, my hair is always fluffy no matter what I do :'( you pull off short hair so well though! x

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    2. Heheh... yeah I think you might have missed something there Rae... thank you Emily! ;)

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  11. Have you considered volumizing shampoo/conditioner/detangler? These won't weigh down your hair. And you should try adding a bit of root lifter before blow-drying your hair; and while you're drying, that's when you should brush, instead of brushing right off the bat (immediately brushing only makes the hair flatter). This should (hopefully) pump it up a little. :)

    -Cadyn

    P.S.- Love the new 'do, by the way! Short hair is such a wonderful journey (my hair hasn't been long since I was fourteen!).

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    1. Ahh, okay. That could help! I've always been a bit skeptical of specialised shampoos and wondered if they really did anything, but I may as well try it :) And thanks for the tip about not immediately brushing!

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    2. oh, with the whole brushing thing, I NEVER brush my hair. And I have incredible, voluminous hair. I comb it in the shower, and NEVER mess it up with the towel. If it's annoying me ill put it in a bun until i go to bed. my hair doesn't knot, (if you use a little bit of smoothing weightless serum) it's gotten used to not being brushed, takes a while but it works.
      So just something to keep in mind. :)

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  12. Aw it looks really cute :) I just got one of those rotating hot air brush things (I think mine is the VS Sassoon Big Hair Styler 2000 maybe) and I think it is actually the best invention ever. My hair is not that much longer than yours (a bit shorter than shoulder length) and I am still able to use the brush, there's actually a barrel you can use for shorter length hair. But anyway! It takes about 10-15 mins to use and it makes your hair look all hair salon-y. SO GOOOODDDDD. That is my only tip because I am shit at doing hair haha. LONG COMMENT OUT.

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    1. Ooooooh! Okay. Sweet!! Thanks for the recommendation!

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  13. Love ! :)
    kiss from leblogde-joy.blogspot.fr

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  14. It looks great. Glad you came out of your wig shell

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  15. Hi Annika!

    Try some volumising shampoo too, it does wonders!!! Stay away from hydrating/anti frizz, as they weigh it down. Speaking of weight, theres a great weightless shampoo & conditioner on the market too to help keep any natural ompph you may have.

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    1. Ohh, okay! Sweet. I'll have to be on the lookout for those!

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  16. Your hair looks amazing and matches you and your blog! I usually brush my hair to the front of my head and put it in a bun or leave it as a ponytail and pretend that I'm Unicorn for a little while! You should do this and sleep! If you're hair is too short to reach the front of your head, you should brush it and tie a scarf on your head and have your beauty sleep! In the morning, your hair should have volume! Just don't comb or brush your hair back down, use your fingers! When styling, you should tease your hair just a little closest to your roots!

    I really hope it works for you!!

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  17. Your new hairdo really suits you!

    xo
    http://madamepreppy.blogspot.com/

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  18. If your hair is anything like mine (as it currently looks like), it is curly and when you wake up in the morning, you resemble a lion. Because you have lots of layers in your hair now, once you get it going you should be able to get it going. I use a batiste dry-shampoo that is labelled "XXL Volume" and even a little makes my hair quite voluminous.If your hair is naturally curly/wavy; when it is wet i wscrunch it and pin the bottom upwards so it takes the certain shape I put it in, once dry, I put a light spritz of either sea-salt spray or light hair-spray for curly hair to keep its shape and i carry it in my bag x

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    1. Hahaha, YUP. My boyfriend calls me a mad-scientist though haha.

      That sounds awesome! Do you mean you use dry-shampoo in the mornings, without having a shower and getting rid of the whole lion-look first?

      Thank you for the tips :) I think I definitely need a little hair-spray to keep in my bag! haha

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    2. I usually dampen my hair in the shower but not wash it; then proceed to towel dry and dry-shampoo it simply because I have red hair and the colour doesn't run this way! But I definitely recommend sea-salt spray x

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    3. Ah thanks so much for replying! My hair always needs dampening in the mornings as well, to get rid of frizziness. I just discovered my mum owns seasalt-type spray as well, score!

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  19. in fact this hairstyle fits to you :)

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  20. you should try hair rollers you know the thin ones that are pretty long I think it will work !!

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  21. Haha as a new reader, I had no idea that wasn't your real hair. But I have to say this really really suits you! Maybe begin with a volumizing shampoo as your base? Sorry I can't be of more help, but seems the other comments gave you enough tips. Good luck!

    x

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  22. you should try hair rollers you know the thin ones that are pretty long I think it will work !!

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  23. I LOVE IT!!!!!! Oh my goddess, this is such a perfect haircut! I can't wait to see more of it.

    <3 Melissa
    wildflwrchild.blogspot.com

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  24. New reader here also! :) I would have never guessed you were wearing a wig! :) my suggestion is similar to an earlier one.. Maybe use the bigger Velcro rollers near your crown while your hair is damp to give lift and then use sponge rollers towards the bottom for curl. Cold sets should last much longer than heated sets. This cut is spectacular on you!

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    1. Ooooh! Okay. There's different types of these things, thats what I'm learning. :D Thanks for your help! Much appreciated!

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  25. Your new hair cut is really, really cute! :)

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  26. Welcome to the thin and short hair club, it looks fabulous! I say don't fight it, let it be. Life's too short to be worrying about hair.

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  27. I love it! I too am still getting used to my short hair- I found the best way to maximize my fullness is to blow dry immediately after washing. It's just a hot mess for me if I let it air dry or wait even 10 minutes.

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  28. holy-moly annika you look AMAZING! I chopped off my really long hair last summer and am still trying to figure out what to do with it! I love the waves in your do' and am definitely going to scroll through the tips you are getting to see what people are saying! I have used some extra strong beachy waves gel before on damp hair, then put into two messy little buns on the top/sides of my heads and then let it dry naturally (with maybe a bit of help with a blow dryer at the end). It ends up with this slightly scrunched wavy look, so that might work!
    Have a wonderful day, and again, you look so pretty!
    xo Hannah

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  29. Oh that looks great! I'm so happy you went along with that cut :)

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  30. Awwww it looks so great :) Sorry I can't help with hair styling, I'm really not that good at it!

    http://melly-go-round.blogspot.co.uk/ x

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  31. Oh, Annika! You look so beautiful. This is absolutely gorgeous!

    Becky
    xx

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  32. I love your blog :) your hair looks lovely and really suits you

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  33. Super gorgeous hair! I love it :)

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  34. Beautiful! You really suit short hair, lucky you :) xx

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  35. I have super thin hair and I've damaged the sh*t out of it w/bleach, bleach and more bleach. First, Redken makes a shampoo and conditioner and other items called Extreme. This does wonders on dry, brittle hair. They have a leave-in called Anti-Snap. Check that out too. 2nd, Aveda makes a root lifter that is incredible. Lastly, make sure you have a decent hair dryer and dry your hair on low. It will take longer, but it will prevent more damage. That's all I got! Hopefully this will help.

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  36. Your hair looks lovely like that. You should try seasalt spray! It gives it a boost, and is really good for your hair! I have a bottle from a shop called LUSH. I'm not sure if they have those in Australia, but if they do, you should try it out!

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  37. I dig it!
    My hair is really thin, too, but it's naturally curly so that makes it look at least sort of not thin.

    Rachel

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  38. Oh wow I LOVE the hair! You look amazing! Seriously, seriously love it. I wish I had some hair advice for you, but I'm absolutely rubbish at beauty-related anything, so alas... I'm useless. I have to know, though; where did you get the shirt you're wearing? x

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    1. Awh thank you! It's vintage, and from Japan actually!

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  39. OH MY GOODNESS I'm so overwhelmed by all your helpfulness!!! It is soooo appreciated :D I'm gonna have the bounciest hair anyone has ever had!

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  40. Wow I really love the new hairstyle! It really suits you and the hairdresser did an amazing job. I cut my hair two years ago, about as short as yours, but I don't think I pulled short hair off nearly as well as you are. I never was able to get much volume to my hair, but I think everyone else has some great tips here!
    ===
    ofdistantdreams.blogspot.com

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  41. cute haircut, it looks perfect on you
    xoxo

    alice c'n'r
    http://cutenroll.blogspot.it/

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  42. Hi!

    I'm new here! I'm Mariana and I stumbled on your blog on Bloglovin. :) I find you and your style soooo cute! I think either with long or short hair you look very pretty!

    I had short hair for a long long time, at this moment I'm trying to let my hair grow and it's a struggle... I'm in the "almost by the shoulders" stage - the most annoying stage when someone is letting hair grow. Let's see what happens next! *hehe*

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    1. Aw hey Mariana :) Thanks so much. I have been constantly at that stage for about the last 5 years so I know how that feels, haha. And "cutting it shorter" rather than wait half a year for it to get past that awkward phase, always wins out. Good luck ;)

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    2. Like Barney Stinson would say: "Challenge accepted!" I'll let know when I accomplish this great achieve! ahah
      Have a nice day! :D

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    3. I'm past the awkward shoulder stage!!! It's worth it promise you! just wear alot of buns right now with cute bows, you can get away with it cause it's fashionable!

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    4. Hi Sarah!
      Thank you so much for your tip and encouragement words! I truly appreciate it!
      Have a lovely weekend! :)

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  43. Oh my gosh I'm so excited for you!

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  44. One thing that works for my mom is flipping upside-down when she blow dries her hair, sometimes with a little mousse. Her hair is a bit longer than yours, but it seems to work pretty well. Some others suggested volumizing or shampoo/conditioners, which might help. If you're worried about brittle hair, maybe do a deep conditioning treatment every week or so?

    The new 'do looks lovely and super cute!

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  45. Wow! I just find your blog and I really love your cute style, you inspires me! And I think you look so good in short hair, you should be proud! :)

    Hope you don't mind me asking you what that Japanese Magazine with the hairstyles is called?
    Have a good day! ♥

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    1. Awwww thank you SO much:) it's called choki choki girls and it's an awesome magazine :)

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  46. Hey Annika what is your natural hair colour? Brown??

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Thank you so much for taking the time to leave me a message! I read every single one. Don't forget to check back for a reply if you leave a question! ♥

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