Washing My Hair Once A Week ~ Secrets, Tips and Tricks

What comes to a shock to most of my friends is when I say I wash my hair once a week. I get a variety of 'ew' to 'wow' reactions but I don't mind. I have always washed my hair irregularly - twice a month when I was a child then once a week when I began swimming lessons aged 10 onwards.

I have very thick and wavy mid-brown hair. I have never dyed it although I do straighten or curl my hair most weeks which causes most of the damage. I tend to use a variety of shampoos and conditioners as well as 2in1 shampoos. My favourites are TRESemmé Beauty Full Pre-Wash Conditioner and Shampoo and Head and Shoulders 2 in 1 Apple Fresh. I admit that I am also a fan of Batiste Dry Shampoo but I tend to use that once a week only if I'm going out and need to look somewhat presentable!

~ Week Plan ~

On the day I wash my hair and the two days after I keep my hair natural. After I wash it I leave it to air-dry completely which brings out most of my curls and over the next couple days will drop out. I don't brush my hair when it is like this as it would then resemble Mia from Princess Diaries - before the makeover!!

After the third day I will brush my hair and straighten it which makes it more manageable for the rest of the week. On the fourth day the greasiness of my roots will begin to show so if I'm heading out that day I will give it 2 'squirts' of dry shampoo. If I stay in I'll just leave it alone.

Day 5 I will tie all my hair up in a ponytail or in two dutch plaits. This way, any greasiness in the roots won't show and I can get away with it for another three days. Bringing us to Day 8 when I start the cycle again

~ Tips and Tricks ~

If you don't need to wash your hair - don't. I've gone two weeks regularly purely because I've been studying and haven't had any need to look good. My hair will begin to clean itself after a week and a half too so it isn't disgusting.

Switch your brands of shampoo and conditioner up and try different formulas. It took me 4 years before finding the right kinds of formulas for my hair which leads to lack of greasiness and stronger hair!

Train your hair! Get a routine for yourself. I forced myself to go to the gym so afterwards I would have an excuse to wash my hair. Works wonders - I lost a stone in 4 months as a result. If you are a daily hair washer begin by having an off day every few days and work from there, slowly taking more and more off days.

Leave any questions you may have in the comments box below and let me know on Twitter how you get on or if you have any other tips! See you all soon!

A Scottish Travel Diary: Skye

If you ever find yourself with a few days spare in Scotland and want to make the most of them I always say - GO TO SKYE! It is one of the most beautiful islands in my opinion and has everything - a lot of small towns and villages, beautiful scenery, historical sights and a real Scottish feel.

The view South of Portree

On my visit I stayed in Portree - the islands main town. We stayed in the Youth Hostel on the town square which was super comfy and welcoming to students! Previously, my family have rented a house for a week looking out to the Bay in Portree. 







Some highlights I would recommend visiting:

Cafe Arriba - Portree
I've been for breakfast a couple of times and it is such good value! The atmosphere is lovely and peaceful and the cafe is also dog-friendly! 

Fairy Pools - Glen Brittle
Another lovely tourist attraction! Be warned, the car park is extremely busy especially in tourist season and be mindful to the environment around you as it wasn't build for such a huge audience.

Talisker Distillery - Carbost

The view across the Bay in Portree

Take. The. Tour! It is so interesting to find out how Scottish Whisky is made and you get a taste at the end if you're above the age of 18! It is a hidden luxury of Skye

Dunvegan Castle - Dunvegan
The historical home of the Clan MacLeod. Learn more about Scottish Clan history particularly the MacLeods' and their significance in the Outer Hebrides. 

Clan Donald Centre - Armadale
A centre explaining about the significance of the Clan Donald. It is worth paying to get in here, not only is there lots of space to run around for children but there is plenty of information to interest them and adults!

To finish, a small fact: The Isle of Skye could fit everyone in the world standing side by side with some elbow space! I hope you've enjoyed this blog post and I've interested you in the world of Scottish islands! This is one of the more accessible islands as it has a bridge to the mainland for cars. That's all from me now - until next time x 

Makeup Review - Revolution

Hey everyone! I was recently recommended the Revolution Redemption Palette Iconic 3 and let me tell you! It. Is. Amazing! 


It is highly pigmented but you do need a primer for it to stay that way for more than a couple hours! I bought this for £4 (!!!!!!!!!) and I've never been more impressed!

I am loving the pink sparkle one third from the right the most! It is going with everything I've been wearing recently! Another favourite is the three gold ones which can be built up to create a gold glitter look which isn't too striking! It also brings out my blue eyes - another perk!

I'm not a fan of the applicator as I prefer brushes however it is good for the glitter shades as you can pat on the eye shadow rather than brush it on and lose a lot of product in the brush.

Ratings:
Shades: 8/10
Applicator: 4/10
Price: 9/10
Overall: 7/10 

Hope you all enjoyed reading this, and I'll be back soon with another post! See you next time x 

University Essentials

As summer unfortunately draws to a close I am beginning to think about my new semester at university and planning one of my favourite things: a stationary haul! I'm going to briefly run you through some of my favourite purchases from before which I will be repurchasing soon!

Highlighters: BIC Marking Highlighter Flex
Pack of 4 = £2.00 at Tesco
I love these highlighters purely because of their flexible tips! It allows me to underline rather than go through my writing and still in the bright neon colours!

Pens: BIC Cristal Ball Pen/Assorted Colours
Pack of 10 = £3.72 at Paperstone
Trusty ballpoint pens will never let you down! I like the pack with the red and green pens as well as blue and black as colour coding is essential for me! I also go through my blue and black pens at an extraordinary rate so I usually try find a larger pack which has double the amount of blue and black than red and green! 

Notepads: 
A4 Wide Ruled Notebook = £1.99 at WHSmith
A4 Pack of 3 Campus Refill Pad = £2.99 at WHSmith
I prefer typing during a lecture then writing my notes down afterwards. I tend to buy A4 refill pads and a large folder as I'm left-handed and don't like spiral binded notepads. However, the WHSmith Wide Ruled Notebooks have been perfect for me over the summer rewriting all my second year notes! They are spiral binded but the metal doesn't stick out as much!
The A4 refill pad I like are the Campus Refill pads as the paper is really good quality and when using highlighters, they don't bleed through to the other side.

Folders:
I always have a large lever arch file for each semester, and have dividers for each module. It is so important to stay organised throughout the year and folders are perfect for me. I usually go to Paperchase, WHSmith or Tesco and get something floral and pretty. As of dividers I usually get 5 per folder and get a cheap set from Ryman or WHSmith.

Finally, something I highly recommend is a wall planner! I have a weekly one which comes with a shopping list section from Paperchase! I swear by this, it keeps my head clearer and my life a lot more organised!!

...and here are some of the stationary I will be buying for the upcoming academic year! I hope you enjoyed this post, and I'll see you next time! 

A Scottish Travel Diary: Aviemore

Hello again!! Over the course of the past few months I was fortunate enough to visit lots of places in Scotland with friends and family. Travelling Scotland is one of a favourite of my summers as there is plenty to see and lots of different ways of living!

The first place I visited was on my first music tour with the Universities of Scotland Symphony Orchestra. Around 70 of us stayed in Cairngorm Lodge in Glenmore (owned by the SYHA) which is close to Loch Morlich. We had beautiful weather with around 25 degrees on both days which is unheard of for Scotland! 

As it was a music tour we performed at the MacDonald Resort in the Osprey Suite with a repertoire of Holst's Planets, Debussy's Clair de Lune and Neilsens Helios (The Planets, The Moon and The Sun if like me took a while to work out the link between the three) which took up most of our time in Aviemore itself but we had mornings and evenings to ourselves so they were spent on the beach at the Loch!

La Taverna - Aviemore

Loch Morlich at 10pm

Myself and a few friends went for dinner at an Italian buffet restaurant called La Taverna which was delicious! I had a pepperoni pizza which was delicious!!

This photo is currently my phone wallpaper as I think the colours of the sunset are so beautiful! This was taken after our first concert and I sat by the water as a couple of friends went swimming !!

Life Update - Staying Focused

My biggest problem with having a blog is losing my focus, my patience and before I know it, its been nearly 2 years and no post. I've thought about restarting my blog with different ideas, more details of trips I've been on and talking about my experiences at university but especially over this past year I haven't found the time or the enthusiasm for it. 

My aim for the next month is to bring some new ideas and posts forward that I hope you all will enjoy. I hope this time I will stick at it, even if I do start posting a little bit more irregularly when university starts again and I have to get back into the swing of studying!

Two years ago when I started this blog I wanted it to be about how I live my life as an ordinary teenager. Although in 3 months I will no longer be a teen, I still want my blog to continue and reflect my life. So... Here we go again, Take Two of the Life of a Tall Scottish Teen! 

I for one am excited to see what this brings,

See you shortly

Teen Tips: Surviving the Start of University

Hello everybody! I must apologize for my silence since July! It's been a busy time in my life. Since then I've moved out from my parents, started university and left my job! As this super crazy lifestyle has started to settle down I'm picking up my blog again and what better way to start off than with another chapter to Teen Tips!?

Going to university is an amazing decision. So is college, doing apprenticeships and taking a gap year but I could not imagine myself anywhere else apart from at university right now. I live in my universities accommodation too so I'm extremely lucky to have a 2 minute walk to lectures, an absolute blessing if I accidentally sleep in!!

University is an experience, for some people this may be a great experience and for others it may be a horrible one but for me personally, I'm loving it! Today I'm going to focus in on University priorities - lifestyle, work load and the dreaded issue NEW FRIENDS!

Before I continue I'd like to add that I'm in no way an expert on all things university all the advice comes from my own experiences!

(1) Freshers Week

It's only fair that I start this off with the biggest week of the year for most first year students! Freshers week is one of those really odd weeks where you attend 'classes' and then go out for a drink(s) afterwards to celebrate your newly found 'freedom'. If you're currently stressing out because you don't like going out drinking then do not fret! University unions plan other activities to meet people that don't involve alcohol!

It's true what the rumors say, "you make your friends on freshers week". On my very first day I sat next to 5 other girls and we've fast become really good friends. No matter how scared you are on your first day be comforted that you are not the only one and don't think about it - just talk to the person next to you. If you don't think it's important to make friends on your course (and trust me I've heard that a few times) then think about when its nearing exam time and you're needing someone to talk to about how stressed out you are about a certain class. Uni friends are good for just talking through how you're feeling about Chemistry and how you really enjoy Biology but don't understand a certain aspect.

(2) Getting lost

I remember my first day at high school I got lost so many times. University is so much bigger and if like me you've moved to a different city then you have to navigate your way around that as well.

Getting lost isn't a bad thing, in fact if you get lost you're more likely to find a shortcut! I got lost a lot on Freshers week and I also got lost around the city too but me and my flatmates went for walks every day and together we were able to locate places like Starbucks, Tesco, the train stations, subway stations, Sainsbury's, cheap off-licences, and shortcuts around which aren't 'dodgy'.

(3) Studying

Although you might be a first year you still need to do some studying!! Managing your workload is really important because if you don't learn how to do it in first year you will not cope by the end of fourth year.

Personally, I keep drinking nights to when I have the morning off the next day. Planning this way means I can keep on top of my studies without missing lectures and possibly failing or getting extremely low marks which could risk my place at university next year. 

My one piece of advice would be to timetable your week. Even just a general timetable with your classes and sports clubs/orchestras etc will help your organisation and allows for you to fit in time for relaxation

(4) Day to Day Life

Once Freshers Week is over you might want to settle into a regular pattern which is completely natural. If you're living with other people the best way to do this is prioritize yourself. If you don't then chances are you'll quickly become tired, fall behind uni work and feel rubbish. Don't feel guilty for leaving your flatmates an hour early to get a good nights sleep. If they don't sleep till late then that's their problem not yours! 

Cooking for yourself is also a common problem especially if you share a kitchen! Plan your meals out and then buy what you need. This saves money and hassle deciding what you fancy for dinner. It also means you know exactly what you need to prepare your meal so you can get in once a flatmate has finished!


That is it for this chapter of Teen Tips! I might expand on this topic once I've experienced more at university because it was definitely a worry for me before starting my course! I hope you've enjoyed catching up with me and look forward to seeing what will be happening soon! 

See you soon! x