For years, Pantene commericials have featured gorgeous women, with even more gorgeous hair casading all over my television set.  After a while I became immune to the images and hadn’t thought about trying anything new from Pantene until I saw Padma Lakshmi’s raven mane on my TV, and not in the usual Top Chef setting I was used to seeing her in.I heart Padma to bits and if I could get my hair to look like hers, I was sold.

For those of you who blow-dry and heat style your hair every day, you’ll know that daily routine takes a toll on your hair and can cause it to be brittle and strip your locks of its moisture.  I was certainly experiencing dryness, especially on my colored-treated hair so I opted to try new Pantene Pro-V Nature Fusion in their Moisture Balance collection.

The Moisture Balance formula promotes hydrating hair with ingredients like calendula, ginger and aloe vera extracts.

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There are LOTS of hair salons in New York City.  I looked up “hair salon” on YellowPages.com and found more than 3,000 entries.  According to the site, there are 2,633 listings for “Beauty Salon” and 463 for “Barber Shop” just on the island of Manhattan.

No wonder I was overwhelmed when looking for a salon for a new hair do.  I’ve tried to stay true one stylist but there is just too much temptation out there.  A few weeks ago, I found OC61 Salon and Spa.  The salon is located in Manhattan’s posh Upper East Side.  I might have found my hair’s soul mate and her name is Louise O’Connor, Artistic Director and owner.

Unlike the cavernous hair emporiums downtown, OC61 is located on a quiet street in a charming townhouse.  It’s hard to believe that the conservative building façade holds years of high-end styling experience.  O’Connor, a connoisseur of hair since 1989, has spent years beautifying the manes of celebrities and models for runway and editorial shoots.  If Louise’s expertise could satisfy personalities like Naomi Campbell, I was sure I’d be in good hands.

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For the first time, after reading Lilan’s post on hair extensions and seeing the beautiful results, I want to try clip-in hair extensions too.  As someone who has always wanted long hair but has never had the patience to grow it herself, Ted Gibson’s Clip-In Extension Systems ($149) might be the way to go.

Ted Gibson’s Clip-In Systems come in eight colors.  Each of the eight multi-level contoured clip-ins come with two one-inch clip-in accent pieces.  The extensions are Memory Style-able and Heat Style-able and suitable for use with hot rollers, curling irons and straighteners up to 320 degrees.

Unlike other clip-ins currently on the market, Ted Gibson’s line contains a sophisticated blend of many colors that make matching and blending easy for a more natural look.   The Clip-In Systems come in the following colors:

• Reese – Light Medium Golden Blonde
• Lindsey – Honey/Strawberry Blonde
• Jennifer – Light Blondish/Brown
• Julia – Warm Caramel/Medium Brown
• Marcia – Copper/Golden Red
• Angelina – Chocolate/Dark Brown
• Debra – Rich Red/Auburn
• Gabrielle – Darkest Espresso Brown

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Over the past few weeks I’ve been contemplating whether or not to grow out my hair.  Longtime readers of this blog will know that I underwent a major hair change, chopping off my long locks for the first time in over 7 years last March.  And while I liked the sassy, short ‘do, there’s not very much I can do with it to change it up when my fancy strikes.

Now, my hair is in that ugly, middle stage where it doesn’t know what to do with itself and I need to decide if I’m going to ride it out and grow it long, or give my mane that trim it so desperately needs.

During my dilemma, I was excited to be given the opportunity to try Hairdo Clip-In Extensions from Jessica Simpson and her hair guru, Ken Paves.  I thought this would a fun way for me to see myself with long hair again so I could truly decide if I wanted my flowing locks again.

Here I am with my regular hair as it looks like today.  It’s about shoulder length with longer sections around the front of my face.

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I’m kind of obsessed with shiny hair.  I want shiny, silky, luminous, mirror-like shine. I’m convinced that half of the reason I watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians is because I am hypnotized by Kim’s beautiful raven hair.

I’ve even ditched multi-colored highlights for a nice single-process in dark brown in the hopes that having one uniform hair color will make it look shinier.  I’m a sucker for any hair products with the words “glossy,” “shine” or “brilliance” on the packaging.

Faithful to my addiction, I had to try the Barex Italiana line whose tagline “weightless shine” is stamped onto every product in the lineup.

I became acquainted with the Italian line when I met hairstylist Yannick D’Is backstage during Fashion Week.  All the beautiful hair from the Tuleh’s 2009 Fall Fashion Week show was styled with Barex Italiana products.  Knowing that fashion designers only chose the crème de la crème for their big day, I knew there was something mighty in the adorable, chubby bottles.

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