DIY : Wave/Beach Spray

I  don't know about you but I have wavey/unruly/kind of crazy hair sometimes and sticking it up in a ponytail just isn't cutting it for me anymore. I've previously talked about how I read the posts from The Beauty Department quite often and when I saw that they made a wave spray I decided to give it a try. Now TBD is great and has tons of great tips for the 'every-girl' but they're stuff can lean towards the pricey side. Often they cite a great makeup tool, or special ingredient that they 'just can't live without' and I'll tell you straight up: you can. But it'll take some compromise and a little thrifty-ness. So here's the spray I made using TBD's measurements and ingredients, but with a twist.

For the most part you can google, or check pinterest, on how to make a beach spray and they're all very similar with different people claiming a certain ingredient is great for them, but might not be so great for you. The basic formula is Leave-In Conditioner+Sea Salt+Coconut Oil+Gel. You'll see that basically anywhere. My hair is already a mix of wavey/spirally (thanks for the Irish heritage Dad) and the hair is fine, so I wanted to even out the texture with a spray. If you're hair is similar or you're just looking for a fast/cheap/easy way to get a wave then keep reading.

The Beauty Department's Spray:

Ingredients for the DIYkendra Wave Spray:

1 cup hot water

1 tsp coconut oil

1 tsp sea alt

2 tbsp leave-in conditioner 

I ended up skipping the water based pomade (which would act as the gel in the aforementioned formula) when I realized how expensive it was and how little of it I needed. If you have any lying around by all means use it.

Here goes!

Step 1: Have everything ready to go.

Step 2: Fill the measuring cup up with 1 cup of hot water. Enough to dissolve everything that's about to go into it.

Step 3: Add the seal salt and mix thoroughly until its dissolved. Some may fall to the bottom depsite your attempts and that's ok. 

Step 4: Add the leave-in conditioner. My sister has some serious extensions in her hair and has this special conditioner and it was the only one I had. But any one will work. 

Step 5: Add the coconut oil. This stuff is hard to dissolve so I would suggest running your tsp under hot water to help with the process. And of course give it a good stir to dissolve. 

Step 6: Mix it all up! Now pour into your spray bottle. Here I used a teal bottle from Dollarama.  

I ended up doubleing the amount in order to fill the bottle. No biggie just multiply everything by 2. 

Step 7: Spray lightly onto hair either dry or towel-dry. 

Now here is the before-during-and after photos!

Before: Dry har brushed out. 

During: A little damp now. 

 

Aaaaaaand after! I am very pleased with the result :) The leave-in conditioner makes the hair super soft. 

Hope you enjoyed the post and feel free the comment if you have any suggestions or questions!

-DIYkendra 

DIY : Homemade Lemon Cranberry Scones/Biscuits

Late at night I like to bake...or feng shui...or clean. But it's mostly baking. I'm not completely sure why but something about the house being quiet, and everyone is (assumingly) asleep. I presume for the most part that it's because nobody is bothering me and therefore I get to try new things without interruption. It's kind of therapeutic and I highly recommend it. But I'm not a doctor or anything. 

When 1am rolls around I'm probably laying in bed looking at pictures on the internet of cats doing hilariously stupid things, or over-analyzing a situation which occured during the day that didn't quite go as planned. Don't you just hate that? I'd rather take cats any day. Yet, I had scones on the mind. So I guess that's ok. 

Here's the recipe I followed for basic scones, for which I later added the cranberries and lemon without instruction. I know ... I'm a little risque. If any of you recognize this recipe from the Good Housekeeping cookbook circa way-before-my-time don't get rid of it. I repeat: do not get rid of it. It's probably torn and tattered like mine but this is hands down the best cookbook for e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. Trust me, I'm a doctor (seriously I'm not). 

DIY : Lemon Cranberry Scones 

2 cups all-purpose flour (the white stuff)

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt (Note: I skipped this. I never add extra salt in my food)

1/4 cup of shortening (Crisco)

3/4 up of milk

2 cups-ish of cranberries

2 tbsp of lemon concentrate 

Step 1: Preheat the over so you don't have to wait when you're ready to bake. Then pre-grease a cookie sheet so those bad boys don't get stuck. 

Step 2.: Mix everything with a fork EXCEPT THE MILK. Apparently there's a funny littl trick to making the shortening easier to mix, but honestly I just put it in and went to town on it. Good ol' elbow grease. 

Step 3: Finally add the milk and with the fork give it a good thorough mix. 

Note: I added enough cranberries until I could see them everytime I mixed. It was about 2 cups. For the lemn juice I added 2 tbsp because then I could smell the lemon from the batter. If you're looking for a little extra citrus punch add some orange zest. 

Step 4: Use a spoon with the fork and place them onto the cookie sheet. The batter should be gooey. About 1 inch apart on the sheet. 

Step 5: Place them in the oven approx 12-15 minutes depending on your oven. They don't take long and they should look cripsy and well risen from the outside. You could also -carefully- touch the tops while they're in the oven and if they bounce-back then they're ready. Or stick a fork in them and if they come out dry then you're good to go. 

Step 6: Take them out of the oven and eat those bad boys. I almost want to make more just by typing this out. 

Enjoy and bon appetit! 

-DIYkendra