Maybe it’s a shopping addiction talking but I actually really enjoy picking things out for my boyfriend, and probably do it a little too often. But I’ve heard a lot of women complain about how hard guys are to shop for. Since Valentine’s Day is coming up, I thought I would make a little list of gift ideas for your guy in all different price ranges!

Bike Chain Frame $32
Handmade and recycled! Pop a meaningful photo in there before gifting and I think this would be charming in any room.

Bonsai Forest $50
Cute! Who wouldn’t want a tiny little forest on their desk? Too bad the trunks would be too small to carve your initials on.

Hand Embroidered State Pillows $149
I love these kitchy handmade throw pillows. This would be especially cute if your guy is originally from a different state than you currently live in.

Men’s Wooden Watch $84
Handsome and handmade! I think this might be my favorite watch I’ve ever seen. They have a women’s version too (which I totally want, by the way.) so you could do a “his & hers” theme with it.

Anim-all Taken Care Of Mug in Raccoon $16.99
Frickin’ adorable, right? I would do a set of two of these ceramic mugs along with some coffee, tea, cocoa, or whatever drink you favor.

Zombie Survival Guide $13.99
Don’t let someone you love get eaten by zombies! Get him this survival guide so he’ll have a fighting chance when the zombie apocalypse is upon us!

Opportunity Rocks Headphones $37.99
I guess I really have a thing for wood and woodgrain right now. But if you’re going to get headphones, they might as well be chic. Give along with a mix tape, mix cd, or a playlist that means something to you.

La Sardina Lomography Camera in Domino $69.99
Is he in to photography? Maybe a new hobby! Load it with a roll of film and take some pictures with it as a surprise when he gets it developed, and give it along with some blank rolls of film too.

What are some of your favorite gift ideas for guys? Please share!

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Well, it’s Thursday again, so it’s time for me to tell you about some things that made me happy this week!

♥ The snow cleared up so I was able to get to work (one day out of the week) and to the airport.

♥ Fred Armisen doing an impression of a time-lapse photography decomposing fox on Conan… this made me laugh harder than I have in a long time. He really looks like one, I don’t know how!

♥ I teamed up with LoveMode to giveaway a $25 gift certificate for their site! Tomorrow is the last day to get your entries in; check out this blog post with details on how to enter: Outfit Of The Day and Giveaway from Love Mode

♥ I got to see my family over the weekend. It wasn’t under the best of circumstances (my Grandpa’s memorial) but it was still nice to be able to fly down to California and see everyone. I’ll see if I can upload some photos later on.

♥ The hotel upgraded me to an executive suite because I checked in early and my room wasn’t available yet. Nice.

♥ I have been wearing my hair wavy and I kind of dig it. Since cutting it, I’ve only worn it naturally curly or flat ironed. This was so easy! I just washed it, put product in, then finger combed through to pull out a little bit of the curl, and then let it air dry.

♥ My little nephew wanted me to paint his toenails. What color did he pick out? Sparkly pink, of course!

♥ My sister gave me her DSLR, which she wasn’t using. I have been wanting one of these for a long time but couldn’t afford one, so I’m super stoked! When I go visit Rachael next week, she is going to help me figure out how to use it.

♥ This valentine that I just saw on ModCloth! Isn’t that cute?

♥ And Skyping with le boyfriend always makes me feel better. He made my tummy ache go away. He’s more magical than a unicorn. (If you read this one, babe, you should appreciate THAT!)

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This week’s instagrams from the January Photo A Day Challenge. Prompts are from Fat Mum Slim.

(water, something you bought, sweet, someone you love, reflection, your shoes)

Want to see more of my Instagrams?

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A little while ago I went back to my hometown in California to visit my darling friend, Rachael. We’ve been friends since 4th grade when we used to play in my treehouse and watch X-files in the dark together. Nowadays when we get together, we like to shop, eat, and get all bloggy. I thought this trip would be the perfect opportunity to do an outfit post featuring an adorable sweater dress that was sent to me by Love Mode, an online shop with trendy juniors clothing. Love Mode has also generously offered to host a giveaway of a $25 gift certificate to one of my readers! Read through to the end to find out how to enter!
I just adore this chunky knit dress and have been wearing it happily this fall and winter. The length and fit are perfect, and it’s short sleeved so I could wear it inside comfortably and didn’t feel like I was drowning in it. The only drawback was, like a lot of sweaters, it was fairly itchy and a little see through, but I got around that easily by wearing a slip dress underneath.

If you’ve seen some of my other outfit posts and haul posts, you’ll know that lately I’ve been really gravitating toward neutral colors for the first time in my life. The rich dark brown color of this dress… and the majority of this outfit actually, are no exception. And if it had been up to Rachael, I would have been wearing brown head to toe, but I had to add the green bag and burgundy cardigan in.
The dress came with a matching knit belt, but I opted to wear one of my own belts for more interest. The cardigan used to be my absolute favorite, until I hastily threw it into the dryer as I was last-minute packing for my trip. Big dumb mistake. It shrank a LOT. It used to be more comfy and oversized. Now I feel like it’s not as long as I’d like, and I am constantly pulling at the sleeves to make them long enough for my orangutan arms.

The pinecone necklace, I call “my Rachael necklace” because it reminds me of her, and the forest town we grew up in. The acorn necklace I actually borrowed from Rachael.
I wish I could wear these boots every day. I do wear them almost every time I have a day off. I can’t wear them at work because I’d inevitably get hair color on them and ruin them, like everything I wear to work. Oh see Rachael’s little toes? Go check out her outfit post from this day too!

Outfit details: Dress c/o Love Mode / cardigan from Forever21, purse by Chaps via Khols / pinecone necklace from LoveCulture / acorn necklace borrowed from Rachael / belt from Forever21 / Tights by Worthington via JCPenny / boot socks from Target / Boots from Alloy

Want to enter the giveaway to win a $25 gift card to Love Mode? Visit their website and browse their juniors clothing then leave a comment on this post and tell me what you’d like to spend it on if you won! That’s it! Oh and make sure your comment has your name and a working email address! Otherwise I won’t be able to contact you if you win! This particular giveaway is only open to residents of the United States. Entries must be in by 12:00 midnight PST on the 28th.

Want extra entries? First you must enter as above. For each additional entry, please leave a separate comment for me to count. Make sure to include your email address in each entry! Here are 7 ways to get additional entries, feel free to enter using as many or as few of these methods as you’d like:
1. Go to Kelsi Does Hair’s Facebook fan page and “like” it. Include the full name you use on Facebook in your comment.
2. Follow @KelsiDoesHair on Twitter. Include your twitter handle in your comment.
3. Follow @ShopLoveMode on Twitter. Include your twitter handle in your comment.
4. Follow Kelsi Does Hair on Bloglovin’. Comment here and let me know.
5. Tweet the following: “I just entered to win a $25 gift certificate to @ShopLoveMode from @KelsiDoesHair at http://www.kelsidoeshair.com! #LoveModeKDHgiveaway” and comment here including your twitter handle.
6. Mention this giveaway on your blog. Comment here with the URL to your entry.
7. Talk about this giveaway on your Facebook status update and tag Kelsi Does Hair. Comment here including your facebook name.

Any entries which do not follow the specifications above will not be counted, so be sure to read over them. Winner will be announced on January 28th. Good luck!

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It’s really been a while since I’ve done a Things I Love Thursday list! I really got out of the habit, but I’m going to try to get back in to it. So here’s some things I hearted this past week.

♥ Baby sloth bathtime! Have you seen Animal Planet’s show “Too Cute! Baby Sloths”? Here’s a clip from it that I saw going around the internet last week. I love the little squeaks they make

♥ I noticed that I have over 1,500 followers on one of my tumblr accounts, Fuck Yeah, Fantasy Hair! It’s really grown quickly!

♥ PETA came out with a sheet of postage stamps featuring famous vegetarians. Unfortunately, there is only one Morrissey stamp per sheet. If they were all Morrissey, I’d buy stacks!

♥ I discovered the some people have been pinning images from my blog onto Pinterest! That’s kind of exciting, but it is a weird feeling, having four people pin the back side of my ear. Hmm..

♥ My boyfriend leaving nerdy comments on my blog ;)

♥ I finally got around to shaping my eyebrows, so I can take pictures now. I barely have any pictures of my new hair.

♥ It snowed and I don’t even mind because it’s my weekend!

♥ My pretty new Crosley Audiophile Shelf System iPod/iPad dock & CD player/radio! Love the woodgrain, I’ve been eyeing this for a while. My roommate thinks it’s the ugliest one she’s ever seen haha. I think it’s sooo beautiful!

♥ I gave my blog a facelift, did you notice?! I’m pretty excited about it. I was totally inspired by Pugly Pixel! Here’s a screen cap of what my blog looked like before.

♥ And lastly, Modcloth is having a 70% off sale! I wasn’t going to spend any more money until I go visit Rachael in February, but I can’t resist a 70% off sale! Check out the cute stuff I got! This is the second time I’ve bought that yellow/green BB Dakota dress… the first time I bought it on ideeli and someone stole it off my doorstep while I was at work. Boo! And I have had my eye on those shoes for a while but was waiting for them to go on sale! (Love them? Click the pictures be to taken to their pages on ModCloth)

Tweed Dreams Dress / Storybook Club Jacket / Nouveau Flora Dress / Have a Gold Day Jacket / Minding My Business Casual Heel

What did you love this week?

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This week I joined the January Photo A Day Challenge from Fat Mum Slim. I know I’m starting late, but I decided just to finish out the month instead of playing catch up. Here are my #janphotoaday Instagrams from the week.

(Where you sleep, close-up, in your bag, something you’re reading, happiness, morning)

Want to se more of my Instagrams?

Here are some questions I’ve answered on tumblr recently, relating mostly to coloring and/or lightening hair. If you have any questions about hair (or makeup, me, my style, vegan food, whatever you feel like asking me about) you can email me at hairbykelsi at gmail.com, contact me on twitter @KelsiDoesHair or submit a question on either of my tumblr accounts at kelsidoeshair or fuckyeahfantasyhair.

Q: Hi(: So right now my hair is black with purple highlights running throughout it and would would like to bleach it but i don’t know any good tips. Do you have any tips? Any ways so it doesn’t feel like shit or straw after its bleached? Good product names? And what are good hair color brands? Mine always fade wicked fast.

A: Semi-permanent colors (purple, pink, green etc.)will always fade fairly quickly. Aside from Paul Mitchell Inkworks, which I use in the salon, I like Fudge, Special Effects and Raw. Here is a blog post I did a while back with some tips on making your color last longer: 5 Tips To Make Your Hair Color Last

As far as the actual bleaching goes, if you’re planning on bleaching it all over (like to blonde), I would highly recommend getting it done by a professional. Even in the salon it can take upwards of 5 hours and multiple sessions to get it as light as you’d like, and to get it even. I’ve often had people come in who had attempted to lighten their own hair and need to get it fixed, and it ends up being more complicated, damaging and costly to try and “fix” it than it would have been to get it done right the first time. If you’re determined to do it yourself, go over the black first, staying off the scalp and go back in and do the hair at your scalp last. it will process more quickly and end up getting lighter ad staying on longer than it needs to if you do it all at once. Also, don’t use any higher than 20 volume developer on your scalp.

As for taking care of it after lightening, check out this post that I did l about a year ago: Best Tools And Products For Lightened Hair.

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I figure it was time for another This & That. Just two snapshots of things currently happening in my life.

This: A little peek at my new tattoo. We just started the color on it this week, there’s still a lot more to do! More pics when I can get someone else to take them so that I don’t have to stand on my head trying.

That: Ordered some dresses from ModCloth (they fit this time!). I noticed when I was about to take this picture… everything I ordered is the same color as the box it came in. Time to expand my color palate? (The dresses I got were the City Birds dress and the Seam and Sugar dress. So cute!)

Credits:
Photo layout and banners from Pugly Pixel
Lullaby font from dafont

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Ok, I know I’m a little late in the game for this; the end of 2011 was really busy for me and the beginning of 2012 is proving to be just the same so far. But here is a little roundup of the top 11 posts from Kelsi Does Hair from 2011, in case you missed some. It’s a mixture of my favorites as well as the most popular. Enjoy and happy 2012!

Which posts were your favorite?

Credits:
Scalloped photo borders by Pugly Pixel
Arrow shapes by Pugly Pixel
Claire Hand font from dafont
Photo credits (if not mine) can be found on original posts :)

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A few of you know that I recently got rid of my pink hair (which I have become kind of known for) in favor of my natural color. So many people are asking me “WHYYYYYYYY?????”, so I decided to write up a little blog post about it. Most of you don’t even know that I did this, so read this before chiming in with a “WHYYYYYYY????” of your own! ;)

1. I have an allergy to bleach. The effects are very mild, if there are any at all when I am working on a client, but when I have it on my own head for an hour the palms of my hands itch so badly that I want to tear the skin off of them. Allergies tend to get worse every time you are exposed, so more recently, the soles of my feet started itching as well, and I got welts on my wrist. Mind you, those parts of my body never touched the bleach, it was purely systemic. I thought it was better to stop doing it than to end up covered in hives and unable to even bleach clients’ hair.

2. I was getting bored. I’ve had pink in my hair for 10 years. Even pink hair can get boring after that long.

3. I was tired of everything I own turning pink. Okay, mostly everything I own is already pink, but the stuff that wasn’t ended up pink. I’m talking shirt collars, pillow cases, the keyboard on my laptop, my fingernails, my bath tub, towels, the cat… you name it.

4. I was tired of people talking to me. I know that sounds weird. But it gets old when all you want to do is go to the grocery store, or sit at a coffee shop and have a conversation with a friend and random strangers keep coming up to you saying “I like your hair. How do you get your hair like that? Is that a wig? What’s your natural color? How long does it last?” etc. etc. etc. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the sentiment of the compliments, but a lot of them were very intrusive. People would yell at me from across the street, or from behind me in a crowd and then get ANGRY if I didn’t hear them, didn’t know they were talking to me, or just chose to ignore it because I was in the middle of something. It also felt like that was the ONLY thing people noticed. Like I was my hair.

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