My Hair Product Favs!

I am super excited to share with you my favorite hair products! I get asked all the time what I use in my hair. To be honest, it changes rather frequently! Being a hair stylist it is easy to try lots of new products. It can be an addiction of mine! But, I have been using Awapuhi products for almost two years now and still loving them. They are Paul Mitchell's newest line. They are infused with Wild Ginger from Hawaii. The key is to look for products that are paraben and sulfate free for your hair! Why? Parabens and Sulfate can strip out your hair color, dry out your hair, some say they are led to be carcinogenic. I personally make it a goal to go the natural route whenever it is possible!

1. Awapuhi Moisturizing Lather Shampoo! I love this product so much! It really does lather amazing. It is super rich for your hair. The Awapuhi lines smells amazing! I am really sensitive to scents, that is why the ginger aroma is perfect for me. Ginger helps with nausea. I use a nickel amount for my hair. You want to scrub your hair for a minute with your finger tips (not your nails). If you have a hard time spreading the product, re-rinse your hair in the water to help spread the shampoo.

2. Keratin Cream Rinse. This is really awesome! I love how light weight the conditioner is. I only wash my hair every 3-4 days so this is an awesome conditioner for me without weighing down my hair. I put the conditioner on my mid shaft to ends! I don't use conditioner on my scalp at all! It adds lots of shine and rebuilds your hair shaft with keratin.

3. My first styling product I put in my hair is, Aquage Uplifting Foam! This stuff is killer! Oh my word, does it work! I use a quarter amount on my roots! It is the best root lifter I have ever used! It isn't sticky, crunchy, or heavy. I love how weightless it is!

4. After the foam, I put in my "Old Faithful", Moroccan Oil! Seriously, this stuff is the real deal! My hair quenches for this amazingness! I have been using this product for 5+ years now. It lasts forever! I have a pump on it, so all you need is one pump for your hair. You can put this in wet or dry hair! I prefer wet hair for me. The Moroccan Oil comes in "Light" too. Light is great for fine hair or really blonde hair. The pigment of the regular one is an amber tone and the light is more gold. Why does the oil work so well? It has Argon oil in it from Morocco. It transforms your hair adding omega-3 oils and vitamins. I LOVE IT!

5. Once my hair is dry, I curl or flat iron my hair using the Awapuhi Shine Spray! It is lightweight, adds shine, and looks natural. This is my favorite scent in the whole Awapuhi Collection. It is fab! You can spray this in as a heat protectant or a finisher.

6. I love myself a good hairspray! My favorite of all time is the Awapuhi Finishing Spray. It is a medium-strong hold. I love how it has the ginger aroma. Being a hairstylist, I use a lot of hairspray on my guests, and I have struggled in the past with headaches from hairspray. This hairspray doesn't leave a fog after applying either (pet peeve). It is wonderful.

What are your favorite hair products? Have you tried any of these? Do you have a styling aid you swear by?

Happy Weekend Yal'l!

//mention this post at Tala and I will give you 10% off these products at your next visit//

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Every Friday, I link up with Lauren and show you my top 5 for the week! 

Loving our Breville espresso machine. It has been sitting in our storage room for over a year, missing a part and wasn't working properly. So my awesome neighbor/friend, Mike and my husband worked on it to get running again! (Thanks Mike!)  While my hus bid on the part this past week on EBay and we got it! I love good coffee/espresso drinks. Working from home now, I try not to go out and get coffee as often. I have made some yummy Cafe Miel lattes this week! :)

Snow is the name of the game in Rochester right now! We are expected to get more snow this weekend. It is beautiful though. This is our backyard view. 

I seriously can't get over how beautiful daffodils are! $2 at Trader Joes and I am a happy lady. My husband got me these! So gorg.

 We have started Easter crafting here! I have been browsing Pinterest for ideas! 

We are personalizing our lighting in our kitchen! This is our new drum shade over the kitchen table! Obsessed with this bad boy. I heart West Elm and gift cards that allowed me to get this! IN LOVE! Totally Cass fam. I will show more pix next week of the kitchen updates! Are you doing anything fun this weekend? Working on your home front? We have a Gate (youth group) overnighter tonight! Pray for sanity. ha. Loves.

lil' ladies

Thought I would share some favs off my camera today. I love my girls. They are such a blast. I have been really enjoying observing them play together the older Kiyah gets. I can't believe she is almost 7 months old already! Wow. She is wearing a hand knitted sweater from our friends Etsy shop. Check it!!!! 

It is like muscial chairs sometimes to keep Kiyah happy right now. (teething) She loves her high chair though. Zi loves to play with her when she is in there. Sister love caught on camera.....

Getting our craft on.....celebrating Easter with glue, paper. scissors, glitter, etc. Love. Zi is a crafty one. 

 Favorite smile again. 

Finished product! Love!

Do you have any traditions for Easter time? A favorite project? I would love hear your ideas! 

Andy brought us girls flowers again! He ROCKS!

Lock Love Wednesday!

Can you believe it is Wednesday already?!!! Crazy! I can not believe how much it has been snowing here in Minnesota! I am ready for spring. But I have some fun hair to show to you today! I started Lock Lock Wednesday to get myself motivated to style my hair everyday. It is so easy, for even hair stylists to get in a rut with their hair. I am hoping to inspire you along the way with simple and fun techniques to help you look fabulous! Join me along the way. It will be fun! All you have to do is take snapshots of your hair during the week and link up with me below! (Feel free to grab a Lock Love Wed button on the right!)

I have been doing a lot of updos with my hair in knots/ twists! It is easy. It only requires a little backcombing and bobby pins. My hair was on its 4th day of no washing here! You might think I am crazy, but seriously, most hair does not need to be washed everyday. I have Eufora Dry Shampoo in my hair and Awapuhi Hairspray. I took my hair in 3 sections after backcombing the crown and part. I twisted it in a fun knot and pinned away. 

Kiyah is teething her top two teeth right now and wanting her mama a lot! She is taking 3 naps a day and obsessed with our cell phones. She literally just started grabbing it this past week.My precious babe!

 As you can see, its not perfect....but it is fun and not a pony! 

I have been loving using my flat iron to curl my hair. I use a GHD professional 1" flat iron! It is my Favorite by far! I have used many brands over the years but this tops them all. It heats fast and has beautiful rounded edges. 

 I put in my Matrix Miracle Treatment lotion spray and moroccan oil here. This was a wash day! :) Then I just went through holding my flat iron vertically/ no sections and curled around my head. I always curl away from my face! I twisted my left side and put in a few bobby pins. I like to do this so my hair is less grab-able for Zakiyah and stays out of my face when I am working! I finished with Awapuhi hairspray.

My hair below is a wash day too. I blow dried my hair upside down with Aquage Uplifting Foam and Moroccan oil. I ran a flat iron in some random strands. My hus thought this was a little puffy but I like the casualness of it! 

I am so over the dryness that winter brings. I have been using my deep conditioners every time I wash my hair. I also rinse conditioner with colder water to prevent my hair from getting too dry. Join LLW below by linking up with your post or instagram pix! Use #locklovewed or #locklovewednesday on Instagram! Check back tomorrow for my favorite styling products! Have a blessed day!

SNOW SNOW SNOW

Seriously, MN is getting dumped with snow. It is crazytown. I swear we have over 12" right now. Yesterday, before my hus went to work he made a fort for our daughter Zion to play in. She was outside with our neighbors and I ran outside for about 5 minutes to take a pix. That was enough for me! Note:  Summer toys in the pix! Good grief. Zion was insistent on all of them.

Zion with Collin and Caroline! and water bucket and blow up innertube. well, right.

below is my favorite smile Zion has right now!!!!!

Fortin' it! Yes it is safe. Yes, the dad's checked it....with water bucket.

Are you embracing this brisk season? I am from a window- by a fire- with a coffee- and my red robe!

Thankful for a husband that is cooler than me.

Art Gallery Wall

Today I thought it would be fun to show the details on my newly updated wall in my living room! It has been a working progress. Ever since I put our computer in our living room, I have been wanting to personalize this space. With it being our "office area", I wanted it to be fun, inspiring, creative without being too busy or distracting. I love color and fun punches of personal favs. So here is our new gallery wall! 

The top left oval painting is Zakiyah. My friend, Kelly made it for her! I love it! I am so happy with how this space turned out. 

 Here is a good picture of the wall! As I mentioned here, my clock is from Target!

My desk is from IKEA. I would like a bigger one someday. It is not urgent, just a little small for our stuff. The amazing blue chair is TJ MAXX!

I got these Umbra polaroid pictures from my friend Shel a few years back. I love how you can just slip in pixs in the frames. They measure 3.5" by 3.5". The top two are me when I was little. The middle left is Andy and I when we started dating. It was taken at the north shore (MN) in 2002! The middle right is Andy as a little boy.....hilarious. The bottom is Andy snakeboarding back in his glory days. ;)

 This is sketch I did on a plane ride 5+ years ago, when we were coming home from Mexico. We had taken the youth to a orphanage to work for a week or so. I love it. It is my life now! I am so blessed. I love how it says, "dancing in the kitchen with my Nova". Which is Andy's nickname, and now our daughter, Zakiyah's middle name. 

I also love using clip boards to hang art. Easy to change up. Fun and casual. 

This is Andy with his dad and bro. Love. I think our girls look a lot like him!

Here is Zakiyah at one week old. So precious. Photo taken by Michelle Fagan. 

My sister, Chelsea just gave this picture to Zakiyah for her baby dedication! I love how the commandments are perfect for little ones. The colors and background are so happy too! 

I got this sketch on Etsy a couple of years ago for Andy' birthday. I thought it would be fun to give him random art over the years. We don't own a mini van, however, we have discussed how we approve of the Volkswagen Van. It definitely tops the Coolness factor for car-life. So, I gave this to Andy, stating this is the only van we will ever own. 

I just finished this hoop art this past weekend. I found the quote on Pinterest! It says, "Everything you say to your child is absorbed, catalogued and remembered." Amen. Good reminder for me to keep it together! I used embroidery floss, fabric, and felt. I stretched duct cloth on the hoop.  It was super easy, cheap, and inspirational for me as a mother! 

I gave this art to Andy this past Valentines day/birthday. I got the PDF of the "I love everything about you" on here. I water colored it then mod podged it on some duct cloth. I painted the duct cloth first then mod podged on the paper. I painted on the flowers/ arrows/ hearts after the mod podge dried. I used some sharpie marker to define the flowers and arrows. I used this walnut circle frame from my Grandma Cherie. I think it turned out great. 

My cousin, Brit sent us this fabulous Cass Street picture. She goes to college at University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse and stumbled upon this sign in her town! She surprised me with real mail and printed this for me! I love it and I love her! She rocks!

This is a pix of my girls! Kiyah was a couple weeks old here and Zi was 2.5 yo. Precious ladies.

Our friends gave us this "love will save the day" sign for a gift when they got married. It is perfect! 

Zion Leilani at 1 yo. Photo taken by Fagan's. Her eyes sparkle in this picture. Stunning.

My BIL and SIL took this picture at a local apple orchard. I love how happy Z is here. She was 1.5 yo. 

I am working on making my desk more happy. I brought down this tray from our bathroom. It is West Elm, candle is Aveda, faux greens are Pier One, and Cass Fresh glass is a beer in Korea. We have some glasses from our friends. The owl paper is Target. 

Do you have any gallery walls you are working on? I seriously have 8 in our house! Never too many! Have a great day!