I am no hair stylist or hair dresser but I've repeatedly been told that I should be but it's something I strictly want to keep as a hobby. I wouldn't want to charge obscene amounts of money to do something people can do them selves and I'd also be bored of doing it for someone else, especially if it's something boring. Over the many years I've learnt a lot of things and in this review I'm going to share how to cut your own fringes, put extensions in right along with bleaching, hair dying and even dying hair extensions including styling.

To cut a fringe:
There are some hair dressers that do free fringe cuts such as Tony and guy but it will only be free if it's a trim and not a re styling of the fringe to get a re styled fringe cut you're looking at around £10 in most places when it's really easy and cheap to do it yourself, it doesn't even take that long to do. The most common at the moment are full fringes which is what I have. These are really easy to cut in yourself. The full fringe is in the middle of the back of your head and forehead. In the centre part horizontally roughly two inches and bring this forward at an angle getting wider as you come further towards your face. This is optional how big or small you actually do it, once you have all that hair put the rest of your hair in a bobble or grip it away from the piece you've just separated which will be your fringe. This will stop any hair getting in the way. Then separate the fringe part into sections across your head, this will allow you to cut the hair in layers so you can dope with it. comb the first section and cut in line with your eyebrows until you come to the points of your eyebrows, here you start to angle the scissors downward and this creates a curved fringe. Basically you are just following the same shape as what your eyebrows are. In layers trim your hair to the same length as the previous hair using it as a guide line. once you've done all this if it isn't short enough for you just snip little bits away until it is short enough for you.

I have mine above my eyebrows and I find that mine is longer on one side so I just sit there and snip it away until it looks normal. I sued normal big kitchen scissors which aren't even sharp and it worked fine. Once it was in the shape I wanted it I got the little silver manicure scissors which were more precise for getting every hair the same length because of the smaller blade.When doing this yourself, do not expect it to be completely straight unless you sit there and put in a lot of effort to get it straight, I don't I just do it quick and have done with it. When it comes to straightening this if you curly the straighteners at the ends of your hair this will make your hair go to the shape of your face, make it look more rounded and hide that little wonky line if you have one, the perfect thing is if you do it slightly too high on one side, high fringes are in and they look a lot better than you might think.

Hair extensions, trial and error:
I amount I have to say please please please do not get micro rings or glue in hair extension, more often than not the wrong length is put in for your length of hair and this will make your hair thin and go bald in areas and I'm sure that wasn't the desired look. I sued to look down on girls wearing hair extensions and said I would never wear fakery. i had short hair(was trying to grow it) a sleeve tattoo and was getting a bit weighty, what a bad look that was! my friend said look let me just put these hair extensions in your hair see how you feel and look. The transformation was astonishing at the time, It made me look a lot thinner and more feminine. A lot people think they are pricey and are a lot of effort and time consuming but they don't have to be if you know what you're are doing. So, there are two types of hair extensions. Synthetic and human hair. DO NOT go for synthetic, you'll get one wear out of them and that is it. Human hair extensions have a percentage of synthetic in them, usually the cheaper they are the less human hair are in them and there is a way of telling how much is in them. The more synthetic hair in them the shinier they look and feel rough. It doesn't make them any worse but it doesn't mean they don't look as natural, but don't be mistaken a lot of cheaper hair extensions are amazing quality. They can range from 4 inches to 24 inches,maybe even more. Depending on the length of your hair depends on the length of the hair extensions you can put in, this is because you don't want the extensions to be too heavy on your hair and start to thin and pull it out. My hair was just below my ear and I wore 16 inch ones which came to bust length and this was ideal. I buy the Remy human hair extensions, full head from Ebay the blonde ones that I'm buying at the moment retail at £15 with postage. These are brilliant quality long lasting and are mainly human hair not synthetic. Every time I change my hair colour I buy new blonde extensions so now I have lots of different coloured ones.

These take literally a couple of extra minutes on top of already doing your hair so there isn't any excuse and you can't say they take too long, full heads of hair contain eight pieces - 2 lengths with 3 clips, 1 length with 4 clips, 3 lengths with 2 clips and 2 lengths with 1 clips. Start by putting your hair in a bobble and have a small piece left out at the back, you then straighten your own hair and then first 3 clip length, once both straightened slid the clips one by one in to your hair and clip them shut. Keep layering your hair and straightening in putting in next the 3 piece, then the 4 piece. Then closer to the top of your hair put in the 2 clip pieces and then the 1 clip pieces in the sides of your hair close to your face. You simply clip these in as you're straightening your hair, this does take some practise so what I did one night is I sat there and kept putting them in finding the best arrangement for me and to make sure they were in properly, it's annoying seeing girls with their hair sticking up all over the place because they haven't put them in properly, it isn't a hard thing to do it just takes practice.

Bleaching and dying hair extensions:
Wear hair extensions and you're changing your hair colour? Extensions come in the basic colours of black medium-dark brown medium-white blonde and often one shade of red. If you are dying your hair red the chances are that the red hair extensions won't match your hair. When changing my hair colour I have tried bleaching my black hair extensions - it doesn't work. You need to buy a blonde set that you think your hair will match after you've bleached it. For example when I bleached mine from black it was a medium ginger/orange so I bought medium dirty blonde coloured hair extensions. You can dye hair extensions any colour you want to but they just don't bleach. To do this make sure you have a towel that you don't mind having dye all over and get the dye on your hands and run it through the extensions piece by piece and lay them on the towel to soak, after half an hour rinse and condition them like you would do your own hair and towel dry or hair dryer them to dry.

Colour stripping and hair lightning:
Trying to change your hair colour can be a nightmare, especially if you are bleaching it so here some tips which are basically pre bleaching. What a lot of people won't know and hair dressers are not allowed to tell you (because they want you to pay for them to do it) is that washing up liquid strips excess hair dye from your hair, including permanent dyes. The liquid brand isn't an issue you can be the cheapest,nastiest and it will work and that's all that matters, Instead of going to the hair dressers and paying £30+ for your hair to be stripped you can do it with household products you already have. To do this just treat the washing up liquid as if it was shampoo. repeat as many times as you want and this bring out a lot of the colour, I've recently dyed my hair red and I'm bored of it, I did this before starting this review and my hair was bright red, after doing this several times (until I couldn't be bothered to any more) my hair went a copper ginger colour, so quite a few shades lighter! You don't need to sit and let this soak in your hair, rinse it straight away and the colour comes right out. Do expect your hair to feel terrible so if you are finished this stage for the night shampoo and condition it to try and get some normal feeling back to it.

Pre lightning or hair colour stripping is a common thing to do before bleaching your hair to change the colour. This means that the lighter your hair before bleaching, the lighter your hair will be after bleaching making your new hair colour more vibrant. More often than not my hair is completely black when I decide to switch to a bright colour, so if this all works for me with black it will work on everything. You can buy hair lightning kits from everywhere that stocks hair dyes. This is similar to a bleach but it isn't as strong,if you are just changing your hair from a dark colour such as black to red or brown I suggest that this is the only thing you need to do so skip the bleaching, your hair will be light enough to change colour now. These have everything you need in them from gloves, the peroxide to full instructions and you usually leave this on for an hour.

Bleaching hair:
If I had saved all the money I've spent on bleach I[d be rich, but not as rich as someone if they saved the money they wasted at the hair dressers. A lot of people don't know how to bleach hair or what brands are even bleach. So to start with most white blonde dyes in most brands are bleaching kits too. The best one yet which is the only one I will recommend here is the live platinum box dye. This retails at around £5 and one box will cover hair from root to tip at a length near the shoulders, so it goes really far. If you are bleaching make sure you go for the lightest blonde for the best effects. In this you get your conditioner, gloves, instructions, peroxide, blonde powder and the dye. Mix the powder and peroxide into the bottle of dye and shake, usually you're told to start with the roots but that is just too much hassle. Literally just squirt all over your hair and rub in with the gloves until everywhere is covered. done. Leave for however long you want recommended time is 40 minutes. If your hair is black, I used 3 boxes of this each for 40 minutes each one after another in one night, my roots were white, my hair was light orange at the top and a darker ginger at the bottom. if your hair is brown expect this to be the same but a lighter ginger and for lighter colours your hair should be more blonde than ginger, maybe a little bit yellow.

Expect your hair to be dry and brittle, don't go out and buy expensive hair treatments and conditioners that "repair broken hair" I literally go out and buy the asda smart price conditioner for 24p a bottle, I lather my hair in this leave it until I've finished my bath or shower and then rinse it, after all the bleaching and dying due to doing this my hair is so soft it's as if it's never been done. Just because conditioners are more expensive does not mean they will work. If you are going to do this grab some cheapo conditioner lather it up and then put your usual one on after for a nice fragrance.

Outrageously dying:
There are many brands that do semi impermanent outrageous hair colours and the main ones are manic panic, directions and stargazer. The one that I would recommend the more is manic panic, their pots are really big, can pick up for about £8 on the internet and if you have some left you can put the lid on and save it, same for directions, the pots are a lot smaller but so is the price but the colour range isn't as impressive but the pots are just £3.99. With stargazer these are in bottles so if you don't' use it all you can't save it. To get the best from these colours you will need to bleach your hair unless you are already blonde/ginger. These don't' come with gloves,if I have none around I actually use my hand because although hair dye this does come off with hand wash and a bit of a scrub. Apply the same way as everything else, slap it on your hair and just rub it in making sure everywhere is covered. Leave for as long as you want because this doesn't irritate the scalp like bleach does, I leave mine on for about half an hour and this does the job great.

When rinsing a lot of this dye will run but don't worry it's all just excess. The water will be the same colour for example hot pink, so when showering off over the bath the water is running down your face, look in the mirror you now have a pink face, no worries this comes off with hand wash, conditioner, shower gel, any of this and with a bit of a scrub. A lot when you shower and the water runs down you, you'll have streaks of what ever colour your hair is down you,I try to wash my hair separably after I've just re dyed it to stop this from happening. Also beware some times when laying on your boyfriends chest after just doing it if you haven't rinsed it properly, his chest will be the same colour! this has happened so many times to me it's funny. After a few nights you'll get this on your pillow case too but it washes straight out. Because these are semi permanent a way to make them last a lot longer is by dry shampooing your hair every few days rather than washing it normally, that way your hair isn't getting wet so it can't run.

Creating new hair dye colours:
Ever wondered how some people get their hair pastel colours or a shade you've never been able to find? here's how. In hair dyes such as manic panic and directions you can mix the colours together, just get an old bowl and put the dyes you want in and stir it around, beware you'll never be able to mix the same colour twice so make sure you make enough up at once. To get pastel hair dyes, put your desired colour into a bowl and slowly add conditioner to it and mix it around until the dye is a light enough colour. My hair is currently pastel blue and this is how I got this colour. You can go it with any shade, the conditioner makes it lighter.

Always make sure:
I hope this review has helped a lot of people get some knowledge and if there's anything else you wish to know just drop it in a message or comment and I'll add it in here. When doing any of these always make sure you have hair dying clothing/ I always do this in pj bottoms and a large oversized top, because I'm comfy in those and don't care about them being stained. Also make sure you have a towel, mums aren't best pleased when they find bit orange/red stains on black towels on bleaching hair.