Abby Does Life: Pamper Evening

Almost a year ago, Zoella90210 (a YouTuber) posted a video with her pamper evening essentials. I don't really have any "essentials" because I don't do it that often, but I thought I'd show you a way to improvise your own pamper evening without paying for all the expensive bath products.

First, I pull my hair up.

The night I took the bath was extremely cold, so I turned my electric blanket on before taking a bath so my bed would be nice and warm after I got out.

I always like to make a hot cup of tea before I take a bath. (Caffeine free of course, as it's usually close to bed time when I take baths)

Next I remove my makeup. I'm using Simple Oil Balancing cleansing wipes which I really love.

Makeup free here wey hey!

While I'm letting the bath fill up, I wash my face. The face wash I've been using lately is Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Wash in the pink grapefruit foaming scrub.

I didn't have any bubble bath, so I improvised and used hotel shampoo. It was actually very bubbly and smelled like citrus, so it turned out to be a great thing to use.

Now my bath is all full and bubbly. I've got my tea and book next to me so I can relax and read for a little while (I'm currently reading Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass).

Oh look some toesies!

Now I've finished my bath and put on my onesie as you can see by the delight on my face

Now I've got to wash my hair. Right now I'm using the Vidal Sasson Pro Series VS Repair Shampoo and Conditioner set. It's really great and I think it's done a great job of keep my hair protected and healthy.

And then to release the mane so it can be washed...

That's better! Now my hair is washed. When I wash my hair, I like to apply the shampoo mostly to the roots to remove oils, dirt, and dandruff, which is where most of it collects. I don't like to apply too much shampoo to the ends of my hair because it can be extremely damaging. Then, I use conditioner on the ends of my hair, avoiding the roots. Your scalp naturally produces oil, so you don't really need conditioner near the roots of your hair (unless you have a particularly dry scalp). If you put a lot of conditioner on and near your scalp, it can cause your hair to look greasy and need washing more often, which damages your hair. After rinsing out the first round of conditioner, I then turn off the water and apply a very very tiny amount of conditioner to the very tips of my hair. I find this creates a kind of coating over the ends of my hair and keeps them from becoming damaged as easily, plus my hair is a lot easier to brush.

Normally, if I was leaving my hair curly, I would use Pantene Curl Defining Mousse. However, since it was colder out I decided I wanted to straighten my hair the next day, so I didn't use the mousse.

Instead, I went ahead and put my heat protector in. This is the Tresemme Thermal Creations Heat Tamer Leave-In Spray. I've come to like this one the best because it does really well with protecting my hair and it also smells really nice.

And, because it's winter and quite dry outside, I made sure to moisturize. I used Bath and Body Works Sweet Pea Body Lotion, which is part of their Signature Collection.