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My brother’s stylist/barber/hair-cutter person told him about The Cutting Chair months ago and I’ve had a sticky note on my desk to check them out for awhile.

When I finally got around to it, I was pleasantly surprised.

The Internet is a little lacking on hair. You can find stay haircuts, but not many sites are dedicated to styling the everyday person.

The Cutting Chair takes hair photos of everyday people and models and stars and pretty much everyone. There are also tips and an inside look at popular salons.

Right now the site focuses on Southern California, but that’s not a terrible thing. LA and the surrounding areas have good hair and often lead the way.

The site is just starting out, but definitely keep an eye on it.

Help your hair make the cut (terrible, I know) over at The Cutting Chair

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I’m really no-fuss with my hair, my stylist will tell you. I don’t like a lot of product, I don’t want to style my hair.

I want to sleep in, and wake up to decent hair. Most of the time that happens.

But sometimes, I’m in a rush and I can’t wait for my hair to air dry. I have to blow dry. For a few years now I’ve been subsisting on this very sad travel dryer that I bought to save space. The power cord retracting button broke about 6 months in and it took forever to dry my hair. Thick Asian hair is not conducive to drying quickly.

So, some nice people took pity (or just noticed I write about green products a lot) and asked me to review the new Barbar ECO 8000 dryer.

Dryer details

It only has 1000 Watts of power, which made me think it was going to be weak, as you are supposed to look for 1800 watts. 1800 watts are not really energy saving though.

The heating element is also all ceramic, which is supposed to emit no toxins as compared to metal heating elements. The ceramic, as you can tell by the plethora of ceramic hair straighteners out there, is also safer for your hair. The engineering of this little sucker is supposed to also emits less EMFs (electro-magnetic fields) than other dryers. I had n idea I was supposed to be concerned about that.

So I was skeptical going into this. Just because I get sent an item for review doesn’t mean I’ll like it and I was ready to ream this thing.

How it works: really well, actually

I dried my hair a few times already. This is unusual for me, but I did it for the sake of ethical journalism or something.

I was impressed at how quickly my hair dried. For being nearly half the wattage of commercial dryers, the Barbar dryers packs a punch. My hair dries quickly and doesn’t look worse for wear.

I still don’t know how this ceramic element is different than any other ceramic dryer, but it seems to do the job. The dryer heated up quickly and stayed that way.

It’s not super noisy, but this isn’t meant to be a super quiet dryer either. I noticed that it doesn’t have the high pitched whine that you often hear in dryers. I’m not sure if that has something to do with the unique engineering or not. I hate that noise, though, so I was happy.

Just a few hang-ups

I didn’t like a couple of things.

It’s a tad heavy. That’s not really a huge deal, since you’re not holding it near as long as you would some other dryer.

I also got irritated at the placement of the buttons for heat and dryer intensity. They’re switches, and they’re placed right in the middle of the handle. They’re kind of clunky to get around, so it makes it kind of hard to hold the Barbar comfortably.

However, you won’t find yourself accidentally turning the thing off, which I suppose is a plus.

Overall: a good dryer option

This isn’t your bargain basement dryer at $150, but you would really aim to keep one for a few years anyway.

If you’re serious about greening your life, but can’t stand to get rid of your blow dryer, this is a great option.

You can get the Barbar eco 8000 here.

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These hair pins are so adorable. I know the skulls thing is technically over, but I don’t care. Love the bright aqua.

$11.

Get it at Plasticland.

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doing: driving all over the place. I had some work training this week and it was my brother’s birthday this past weekend. I am tired of my car.

loving: my new sonia kashuk hair brush. I have no idea what a Mason Pearson feels like, but this has got to be close.

wearing: a new french-style nautical stripe shirt from Zara. Why haven’t I owned one of these before?

lusting: something from rose la biche.  I’ve got to get something from here. Anyone got favorites? I can’t choose!

drinking: coffee. Officially addicted again.

watching: Masterpiece Theatre. The next half of Sense and Sensibility is on next week. So excited.

procrastinating:  I’ve got some new stuff from some etsy sellers that I want to review and get up here. Must do that this weekend.

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I realized the other day how utterly impersonal I can be on this blog sometimes. So I decided to take a new picture of my hair. I had been rockin’ the Victoria Beckham bob, but it was too….flat for my head. So now I’ve got a little geisha look or something like that. Apologies for thelow-quality cam pic, I was too lazy to get my actual camera.

My stylist, Maggie, is awesome, doncha think?

Sidenote: that unicorn in the background is so not mine.

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My hair is pretty shiny, so I’m not sure I was the best person to review this item, but I wanted to see anyway. Plus, I had an hour to kill at the store while my oil was getting changed and I had to buy something.

Paul Mitchell also makes a shine booster that can be used once a week in the shower. I was more tempted by 10 minutes once every six weeks, as is the case of Herbal Essences All That Shine Clear Shine Booster.

Easy to use

This was just like dying your hair at home. You take some stuff, put it in another bottle, shake it up and put it on your damp hair. Wait. It burns a little. Rinse it off.

To tell you the truth, I found it weird that this was like dying my hair. I always imagined deep conditioning/shine stuff to be more like leaving conditioner on for a really long time.

I have pretty short hair, so I only used about half the bottle (the stuff was colored, oddly).

So before my hair looked like this (forgive my goofy look and the slight fuzziness)

And after ( I also styled it like I usually do) my hair looked like this:

Big difference? I don’t really see it. The Boy said that my hair was marginally shinier, but it really just cast a uniform glow to my hair. Not that my hair wasn’t uniformly shiny all over before, but it had some damaged patches, etc.

Let’s look up close.

I don’t know. It looks….about the same to me. Perhaps this is because my hair is already pretty healthy and shiny to begin with.

Overall

Was it worth the $8? Maybe. My hair does has a more even tone to it now than it did before. We’ll see how long it lasts.

I would probably say that this product is more worth it to someone with extremely damaged, dull hair. I think the difference might be pretty noticeable then.

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Sunny has extolled the benefits and wonderousness of Oyin Handmade for a while now. I’ve yet to try it, but she swears by it and she’s a gorgeous mama, so I can’t really deny her.

The deets: From Oyin’s site: “Oyin Body Butter Bars are great for all-over lotion application, and serve as luxurious ’spot treatments’ for scars, dry spots, or stretch marks. The 3oz bars are packaged in a handy deodorant container for convenient, hands-free application.”

I’ve heard about body butter bars and these suckers are rich and your skin will thank you a million times. The best part of Oyin to me is it’s handmade and that means a little love is mixed in too.

Cost: $12. For that you can get the other Oyin things Sunny has requested, including the after-bath blended body oil, honey sticks, honey hemp conditioner and honey wash.

Get it.

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reading: Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow. I’m on a mission to read all of the books on the Modern Library’s Top 100 novels (The board’s list, the reader’s is next)

watching: K-Ville (love Anthony Anderson) and everything else that is new for fall. I’ve got Cane, Journeyman, and Chuck to watch and it’s only Thursday.

wearing: My Levi’s 501s. Comfortable defined.

wanting: a flat iron, perhaps a Solia. I have cute short hair and it’s now required.

drinking: a lot of bloody marys and Chai Chargers from West End.

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The Boy tells me this all the time. He’s apalled at how hot the water is when I shower. It is pretty hot. But it’s so comforting to step into a hot, steamy shower. Well, I guess, says the Beauty Brains, he’s right.

Hot water only makes your skin more dry. Boo.

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On the top: OK, so it’s a covetable. But what guy wouldn’t want a belt with a gold cassette? ($210, from Vanessarap)

On the bottom: It’s for a good cause! A fantastic red bead necklace for a UK charity that helps everything from HIV/AIDS to domestic abuse. ($38, from seaurchin. Can you tell I love this store?)

On the top: Anchors away! I like these little hairpins, from autumnomatopoeia ($9)

On the bottom: A simple little blue glass birdie. They’re hand-sculpted in a Italian technique and come in a variety of colors. $18, from matthewstewart.

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