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This is a sponsored post in partnership with Ulta Beauty and Her Campus Media. All words and opinions are my own.
If you’re a longtime reader, you probably know that I have a love/hate relationship with my hair. I love the thickness and texture for when it comes time to style it— my favorites being big, bouncy curls or voluminous and straight. But I’ve never really been comfortable with my natural texture.
My hair has actually changed a lot over the years. It’s gone from completely straight as a kid, to frizzy curls, to loose waves. The past few times I’ve been to the salon, I’ve just told them to give me layers and walked out without really giving much thought to what will give my natural texture the potential to shine. That was my goal stepping into The Salon at Ulta Beauty.
It can be easy to forget the there is a full service salon at your local Ulta Beauty— it’s usually tucked away into the corner, but has so much to offer! You can indulge in hair, skin and brow services, making the store the best retailer for exploring everything beauty in one place. It’s been years since I’ve had a go-to hairstylist that I love and trust… so if I found one at the store I frequent most, that’d be a major win. I had gotten a simple blowout at The Salon at Ulta Beauty before in Los Angeles, but was ready to find my hairstylist soulmate at my local store.
Here’s where I was before my appointment: I hadn’t had a cut since November, and was happy with my length, but my hair just looked like a mess when left natural. I knew it was healthy to give my hair a break from heat styling, but I just didn’t feel confident leaving it alone. When I met with my hairstylist, Morgan, I told her I was trying to keep my hair long but needed a cut that would cater to my natural waves. At this point, other hairstylists I had gone to in the past would just suggest long layers as always. But Morgan took a moment to really go through my hair and assess the situation.
First of all, she noticed a lot of unevenness in my existing layers due to breakage. This was contributing to the messy and frizzy look. My ends were also thinning out and breaking, which you can see at the bottom of the before photo— the last inch is much more sparse than the rest of my hair. So, our plan of action was to cut about an inch off the ends just to get the damage, and then Morgan would create layers to match the lengths of the breakage to even out the style and make everything look like it was on purpose. We were going for a piecey and wavy vibe that looked intentional.
Morgan also suggested a PH Bonding treatment to help revive my hair back to health. It was just an extra step while getting my hair washed, where we let it sink in for about 10 minutes. After that, she worked away at my cut. Since I was going out that night, I asked her to style it straight. She used a straightening tool called the Steam Infusion and my hair was super straight and oh-so-touchable. It literally felt like a new head of hair, and the feeling lasted through second day hair. But, I was really excited to see how my hair would act after my first wash and air-dry.
Well, I was not disappointed. As you can see in the photo, my waves look intentional and not like a case of bed-head. In fact, my whole mane looks more full now that the breakage has been cut off and layers are evened out. I feel like I actually have shape to my hair instead of just limp frizz. And this is completely air-dried! I did run a bit of the Maui Moisture Curl Quench + Coconut Oil Curl Smoothie through it and gave it a little scrunch, but other than that it is all me, baby!
Overall, I’m now a loyal client of The Salon at Ulta Beauty. It was way more than just the haircut I’m used to— it was working with a stylist to really customize a look that’s right for my hair. That’s invaluable, making my routine so much easier, since I’m not fighting against my hair. I now have so much more confidence to #gonatural.
If you’ve been looking for a new regular salon, do me a favor and check out your local Ulta Beauty. You just might thank me, and find your new soulmate stylist.
Have you ever visited The Salon at Ulta Beauty?
