Hair

Help Me, I Bought a Supersonic

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Dyson Supersonic

Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer, $399

It’s almost Christmas. 2018 is almost over. After Thanksgiving and Black Friday, Dyson was running some specials on refurb appliances via their eBay outlet – including their absurdly expensive dryer, the Dyson Supersonic. It was down around what I expressed in March 2017 as being willing to throw at it.

Hmm, interesting.

My poor current dryer, which I reinvigorated earlier this year, is showing different signs of failure. We’ve had a good run, but it seems likely that I will need to replace it before long. The timing can’t be argued-with.

I wrestled with it for a while because even with the heavy discounts it is damn rich for my blood. After a couple weeks, I decided to lose my mind give it a shot. With a sale plus a promo code, I got it the badass Iron/Red combination for $214. Plus, you know, eBates.

The dryer has yet to arrive but should before the holiday. Since it is a refurb, I do not expect it to come in its fabulous retail packaging – but it will come with both concentrators, the diffuser (which I don’t need), the mat, and the hanger.

Admittedly, I am vacillating between, “What have I done?” and, “CAN IT GET HERE ALREADY?! I WANT TO TRY IT.”

I plan to put the dryer to work immediately and will report back with first impressions. Hopefully it suddenly makes me really good at hair.

Done with European Wax Center

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Preparing for Waxing

Last year, I shared that I had started partaking of services European Wax Center. In spite of my comparatively (to the past, anyway) lower beauty budget, I enjoyed the results enough to justify the ongoing splurge. To fit it in, I did things like take advantage of their Wax Pass promotions to cut the per-service price down further.

My Skin

For a while, the results were fantastic. As time went on, though, I seemed to develop more issues with ingrowns and other unpleasant things. It felt like I was spending almost as much time and effort on preventing and treating waxing-induced ingrowns than I was saving by not shaving. That hardly makes it a winning proposition for me.

Turnover & Attention to Detail at European Wax Center

It seemed like every time I’d get comfortable with a particular Wax Specialist (esthetician), she would get promoted (yay!), change schedules (boo), or part ways with the company. This resulted in more last-minute rescheduling than I care for, and it meant reacclimating to a new person whose job is to rip hair out of you.

Beyond that, not all specialists are equally good; some are more or less thorough than others. Let’s face it – waxing isn’t inexpensive, and there are several good reasons for that. That said, when you’re paying for a premium aesthetic service like that, you should expect not to have to go home and find you need to finish the damn job.

The environment is not that of a luxurious spa, which is OK – but you still expect to receive a complete service at least, I don’t know, 90% of the time.

The Upsells got Old

Each appointment includes a hard sell on product even you in fact just bought product last time. Additionally, EWC employees don’t seem to be well-versed in their product; namely, what makes their products effective or preferable to other things on the market.

Done with European Wax Center

After several months in a row of this, I decided that I’m done with European Wax Center. I called to cancel my prepaid Wax Pass. This caused me to forfeit a $25 cancellation fee (terms I had agreed to upon sign-up); the remainder was refunded to my original payment method without fuss.

The Bottom Line

For my needs, I am considering investing in a small hard wax kit from Sally Beauty and resort to shaving (and giving my Silkn Laser another shot).

Bi-Weekly WTF :: Vol 17 – Hair Dryer Recall

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Xtava Allure Hair Dryer RecallXtava Allure Hair Dryer Recall

Imagine it’s early in the morning, you’re getting ready for the day … and your trusted hair dryer burns you. Or catches fire. Hell of a way to wake up!

Back in August, over two-hundred thousand hair dryers sold by popular retailers Amazon and Wal-Mart were recalled. The dryers in question, the Xtava Allure and Xtava Allure Pro 2200W, are also commonly (and currently, WTF) sold by Groupon Goods.

Why the Hair Dryer Recall

Hundreds of reports were filed with referencing incidents involving explosions, melting, or catching fire.

Oh, that’s good.

Additionally, a few dozen people reported being shocked or burned by the appliances when they overheated.

Great, even better.

Who is Xtava

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Diply Hairstyling Hacks

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This is a legacy post that has been given a facelift. Content is the same but has been edited for clarity and readability. Enjoy!

Through some flavor of social media, I came across this article from Diply. Most of the, “hacks,” this Diply list offers, though, are fairly common knowledge for those interested in beauty. Nothing groundbreaking or inventive. Tips on how to use bobby pins, curl with flat irons, etc.

Nonsense

Then I reached the third page and saw number 8. See for yourself.

Diply Hairstyling HacksHow the hell is this a hack? It’s been a few years since I’ve had bangs, but washing my whole head would be easier, quicker (drying might take longer, but still!), and result in less mess. Suuure, wash your hair in the sink, they say. It’s easy, they say. Is it effortless the same way the ladies in skincare commercials wash their face at the sink, splashing water everywhere like a damn Magikarp?

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August 2018 Favorites

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  1. OPI Red Hot Rio, $8 / 2. Drunk Elephant Marula Oil, $80 /
    3. Perricone No Eyeshadow Eyeshadow, $35 / 4. Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum, $21

On top of coming in later than usual, my dang graphic had issues – thanks for bearing with me. I’ll update with a picture later. :) For details on my August 2018 Favorites, follow the jump!

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