Hi. Remember me? I’m the woman in a perpetual state of pony-tail. Pony-tail is not a state? Says you.

Last night I went to a gala fundraiser for a local special needs school and I wore something sparkly. Do you know what doesn’t go with sparkly? Pony-tails. Actually, since Pinterest came along and made hair-dos the next DIY craze, I don’t feel comfortable going anywhere with a rubberband in my hair.

So, once again, I turned to a tutorial. Some people use online tutorials to create their own wine racks from discarded wood pallets; I take bobby-pins and make a bun. Here’s the video I used:

And, here’s how mine turned out. This was only the first try, so I’m pretty happy with it. It was hard to pin the left side of my hair, but with a little practice I think I could do a better job. Clearly, the skill I really need to work on is taking a photo of the back of my head in a mirror.

Other bloggers are choosing their favorite hairstyle tutorial videos and asking for your opinions on which you love most. Each week, BlogHer is giving away prizes to 3 lucky winners: one grand prize viewer will receive a $250 Visa gift card and two more folks will each receive a $100 Visa gift card! Visit the Prizes and Promotions page on BlogHer.com for more info!

Hair Sweepstakes Official Rules.

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One of my new work duties is hosting Twitter chats every couple of weeks. Mom, Twitter is where you talk back and forth to other people in 140 characters or less. Next week’s lesson will be on hashtags.

Yesterday’s #BlogHerTalks chat was about hair. We talked about natural hair, colored hair, over-treated hair, shrimp gumbo, shrimp scampi, and cocktail shrimp. Wait…

Although I’m a woman, and I have hair, I didn’t have much to offer style-wise to the conversation, because my hair mostly looks like this:

Don’t be jealous.

The fact is, I have very fine, thin hair, so I don’t like to over-treat it. Plus, I work from home so I don’t have a need to impress people with my locks. Thank goodness.

But, occasionally I like to put some effort into it. With summer coming, I know my hair will be in a pony-tail more than ever. Can you say hot-flashes? So I searched for a way to make my plain-Jane-pony a little less boring and I found this.

I followed the advice and styled my hair in about three minutes (see aforementioned fine, thin description…I can practically fit all of my tresses in a curling iron at one time).

What do you think? I mean, besides the fact that I need a dye job.

Other bloggers are choosing their favorite hairstyle tutorial videos and asking for your opinions on which you love most. Each week, BlogHer is giving away prizes to 3 lucky winners: one grand prize viewer will receive a $250 Visa gift card and two more folks will each receive a $100 Visa gift card! Visit the Prizes and Promotions page on BlogHer.com for more info!

Hair Sweepstakes Official Rules.

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I use body wash instead of soap. There, I said it.

After 40 years of lathering up, I have finally realized that soap isn’t the best thing for my skin. Maybe it is for you, but not for me, especially during the winter months. Increased water intake and constant slathering with lotion just wasn’t enough to compete with the cold, dry Midwestern air I battle with from October to May.

Not long ago, I realized that while my arms, legs and hands were always very dry, my face wasn’t. I figured out that the difference was the amount of moisturizer in the products I was using to wash my skin and the fact that my face cleanser didn’t contain soap.

That’s when I had a soap epiphany.

If I could clean my face without soap and have soft hydrated skin, why couldn’t I do the same thing with my body? Guess what? I could. And I could actually make my arms and legs feel softer and more moisturized than my face.

When Olay® recently sent me their Ultra Moisture Body Wash with shea butter, I became a permanent body wash convert. Before I even tried the product I liked the subtle scent. I can’t stand overly sweet smelling soaps and lotions and this was like Mama Bear’s body wash, which is to say it smelled just right.

Olay has been making moisturizer since the 50’s and they’re still going strong. They know what they’re doing. When I saw a sticker on the bottle that said, “Over a jar of Olay moisturizers inside” I knew it was going to do a decent job of making my skin feel better. I just didn’t know how much better. It did a great job of cleaning my skin and after a few days of using it I didn’t even have to put on lotion after my shower! This is coming from the person who used to slather on oil before getting out of the shower and apply lotion and STILL had dry skin.

After 40 years of lathering up it’s great to know that I finally have my skin figured out. And I love that I’ve found a product that simplifies my routine. It’s so great!

Now BlogHer wants to do something great for you by giving one lucky reader a $50 Visa gift card! For a chance to win, just tell me what you to do simplify your routine.

Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post

b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post

d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry

This giveaway is open to U.S. Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 3/20 – 4/17

Be sure to visit the Olay Body Wash page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win! While we’re on the subject of looking good, you might want to check out the “Looking Your Best” posts in the Life Well Lived section of BlogHer.com. There are some great tips and expert posts!

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