I think we can all agree on at least one thing, a good hair cut, color or style can boost ones self confidence. Each of these begins with a good foundation. You start with the shampoo and conditioner that suit your hair type best and then a product that works as a barrier between your wet hair and your blow dryer. Then the blow dry itself. This could make or break the final step of your hair style.

The truth is, I hate blow drying my hair. My hair is thick and it grows so fast that I have to keep it long. The longer it gets the longer it takes. Up until now there is a rarely a day during the work week that I actually take the time to go through the process unless I have something important to do,  you know, since my work week is usually spent at home anyway. My blow dryer was a nice, professional blow dryer, but it was 8 years old. It was built with a coil heating element. It dried my hair out, took forever, and there was something wrong with the fuse that required me to shake the cord a little to get it going each time I used it. My husband was sure I’d walk out of the bathroom completely fried one of these days.

I have known what needed to be done for a long time. I was just waiting for the right moment and was having a hard time saying good bye to my trusty blow dryer that went through Cosmetology with me. It is necessary for me to keep up with the times though if I want this mane of mine to remain healthy. I needed to start using a ceramic blow dryer. This is where Barbar steps in and saves the life of my soon to be split ends.

You can click on each of these to view them larger. The picture to the far left is my hair after blow drying with a blow dryer that uses a coil heating element. The picture in the center is using the Barbar Eco 8000 Ceramic Blow Dryer and the picture on the far right is using the flat iron for less than 2 minutes after using the ceramic blow dryer. Not only is the Barbar Eco 8000 Blow Dryer a healthier option for my hair but it is better for the environment.

A few reason why I love this blow dryer:

• After following the same steps as usual in my blow drying process: air drying for 10 minutes, applying a barrier (CHI Iron Guard) and using a paddle brush (Aveda wooden paddle brush); my hair dried 12 minutes faster using the Barbar Eco 8000.
• I’m using less energy.
• The heat from the blow dryer is not as hot, yet still dries quicker.
• My hair is about 20 times smoother after blow drying, before flat ironing or curling.
• The blow dryer itself is pretty.

From Barbar:

“The difference is use of electricity & output of radiation. The ECO 8000 has 5.0 mG (milligauss) output radiation. A standard 1,800 WATT dryer has over 200.0 mG! This amount of mG is comparable to the radiation output of a microwave. The ceramic heating element lasts 5x longer than a coil heating element. The ceramic heating element uses 90% electricity, turning it into heat. No energy is wasted, but saved. The coil heating element wastes electricity because it doesn’t use it, thus turning it into radiation. Unused electricity turns into radiation!”

To Buy:

You can find the Barbar Eco 8000 Ceramic blow dryer among many other necessary hair tools at Barbarhair.com.

The Giveaway:

Barbar has offered the opportunity for one Through Hazel Eyes reader to win their very own Barbar Eco 8000 Ceramic Blow Dryer at a value of $150.00.

To Enter:

Visit BarbarHair.com and tell me what you absolutely would love to own yourself or something new you have learned.

Additional Entries:

-Subscribe to Through Hazel Eyes via reader or email

-Follow me on Twitter and tweet about this (up to 2 times/day)

-Follow me on Google Friends Connect

Contest will end February 1st. I will draw a winner via random.org an announce here after.

Some or all of the material used in this post have been provided to me by the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the sole purpose of product testing. Opinions stated are my own and are not influenced by monetary compensation.

2. 130
   Damla says:

   January 23, 2010 at 11:29 am (Edit)

   Follow you on twitter and tweeted: http://twitter.com/sweepstakelover/status/8115513476

Congratulations!! Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter!

Skin in general can be very hard to maintain, especially the skin of your face. Some people have combination skin, some oily, some dry, mature and the list goes on.  This is a topic that we are going to have a lot to talk about in, because quite frankly I think this is something that many struggle with. Maintaining a healthy balance of moisture and dryness and minimizing pore size I believe is something that everyone is looking for.

Personally, I struggle with combination skin. My T-Zone is oily and the rest is dry. The worst time of year for me is now, during the winter when the climate in our house is incredibly dry from the furnace. My pores are too large for my liking and I still fight acne at 25 years old. I have to work extremely hard to maintain decent skin. My skin is very sensitive to certain cleansers and moisturizers and can break out over just about anything. I’m going to share a picture of my face, from today, zero make up, zero editing. I’m going to take  you on my journey to better skin.

You can see my large pores, uneven skin tone, acne, acne scars and last but not least very dark circles under my eyes. As you can all tell now, my make up does wonders.

I realize that my skin is less than ideal, but it has come a long way believe it or not. 5 steps that have gotten me this far include:

• Washing my face morning and night.
• Using a special night cream for fighting acne.
• Drinking at least 6 glasses of water/day.
• Using moisturizer. This is an important one, and there are plenty that work for combo skin.
• Wearing mineral based make up.

I’m going to try an assortment of products over time to share with you what works for me and what doesn’t. The pros and cons and more. As well as products that work for additional skin types.

I would love to hear your story, or if you have a certain issue with your skin you are trying to resolve. If there is a product you are hesitant to try, I would also love to hear about it. Please email me with any questions or concerns tara@throughhazeleyesblog.com.