I’ve been dying, double-processing, balayaging and highlighting my hair since middle school. Because of this, I’ve become used to my hairdressers not so subtly pointing out that my locks could use some major TLC whenever I sit in their chairs. Listen, ladies, I get it. But I need my bleach and my hot tools!

Because of my not-so-healthy hair practices, I’ve tried and tested out practically every conditioning treatment and repair serum out there. By this point, I basically have a graveyard for empty haircare bottles in my trashcan. But honestly, so many of these cult-favorite treatments have left my locks feeling weighed down and greasy. Most of the time, my hair feels good and soft the night I shower and use them, but by the next morning, it’s back to feeling brittle or looking messy. Then by the time I put heat on it, the strands feel rough once more. It’s an endless and frustrating cycle that I didn’t think was possible to break—until now.

I’ve finally found one bouncing treatment that works with—not against—my hair habits, and leaves my strands feeling silky smooth for days.

It should come as no surprise that my new favorite hero product comes from the Jennifer Aniston-approved brand, Living Proof. Known and loved for its wide selection of smoothing creams and dry shampoos, the brand takes hair science extremely seriously. Instead of whipping up new treatments as fast as possible to stick to the trends, its team of scientists spends whatever time is needed in order to achieve a treatment that’s up to their extremely high standards. So is the case for the latest and greatest product, the Triple Bond Complex serum.

Knowing that consumers like you and me what results fast, Living Proof wanted to do the impossible: create a treatment that treats damaged hair as fast as possible in as few steps as possible. And, in this case, treatment doesn’t just mean conditioning during use. When you use the Triple Bond Complex serum, you get results that last for a week—at least.

Here’s how it works:

Courtesy of Living Proof.

Triple Bond Complex Leave-in Hair Treatment

Living Proof’s Triple Bond Complex creates new bonds in hair follicles to strengthen and treat our locks. Not only does it help build back damaged tresses, but it also protects them. All you have to do is apply two to three pumps of the treatment into your damp and clean hair once a week, let it sit for 10 minutes and then apply heat—yes, heat!—to your locks.

When you add the heat into the equation, it essentially locks in the hair strengthener so that it stays put for good. Now, when you do your weekly blowout, you can do so knowing that the heat you’re using isn’t hurting your locks, but helping them. How’s that for innovation?

This treatment makes hair a whopping eight times stronger, according to the brand, and it doesn’t wash away the next time you shower. Its made with a patent-pending combination of lipids and peptides that protect your hair from heat and UV damage, a biomimetic blend that smooths hair fibers and makes your locks shinier and smoother, and a cuticle-sealing agent that helps hair behave when you style it.

What’s more, it helps hair color last longer. What can’t this treatment do?!

Courtesy of Living Proof.

I’ve been testing the Triple Bond Complex out for more than a month (so have used it once a week for a total of four times) and my hair has completely changed. It feels softer, stronger and smoother. Immediately after the first use, I felt the difference in my locks. I used my go-to Revlon styler and was shocked when the typical flyaways and frizzy pieces that I’m so used to were flattened and smooth.  I didn’t change anything about my routine other than adding this treatment into it.

The treatment retails for $45 for a 45 mL bottle and $20 for a 15mL bottle (so you’re saving money getting the bigger one) and will surely last you a year. After all, you’ll only be using a few pumps once a week. It’s worth every penny, in my opinion. My hair has completely changed in the way it looks and feels. Before trying out the bond complex, I thought my locks would always slightly resemble the look and feel of hay. But now, I feel like I’m one of those women in a shampoo commercial with my shiny gorgeous hair blowing in the wind.

In fact, I’m shocked I haven’t been cast for one yet.

Courtesy of Living Proof.

Triple Bond Complex Leave-in Hair Treatment Travel Size

According to Living Proof, stylists prefer this treatment compared to other popular ones, and I feel the same. It’s so much simpler to use and continues to work even after I wash my hair a few days later. With other popular treatments, I have to keep using them whenever I wash my locks in order to see and feel results, but with this one, I don’t have to worry about using it daily.

I like to use this treatment on Self-Care Sundays so that I start the week off looking and feeling great. Because let’s be honest, nothing makes you feel better than a head full of beautiful hair.

No matter your hair’s texture, color, or length, you’ll be able to use this treatment and feel the results take place. I mean, just look at the before and after photos.

Courtesy of Living Proof.

Do you remember a television ad that said, “You’ve come a long way, baby?” It was an ad in the 70s for Virginia Slim cigarettes, and the jingle continues, “You’ve got your own cigarette now, baby, you’ve come a long way.”

We certainly have come a long way since that ad. First, I hope we have moved beyond defining ourselves by smoking. Second, being called “baby” may work for some intimate partners but not for women as a whole. As for “slim,” it is still overplayed.

In 2020, I wrote a blog for Sixty and Me, breaking the glass ceiling. In that article, I focused on the internal messaging within myself and other women that hold us back. In this blog, I turn my gaze outward to ask how far we have come? The path to get here has not been easy, but we are only part way on the path.

It Is a Long Process

We have to remind ourselves that the changes were not handed to us. It took nearly 100 years of fighting for women’s suffrage in the United States. And women didn’t have the right to vote in national elections until about 100 years ago. Nevertheless, women, and many men who supported them, fought for this right – including some who were beaten, harassed, and tortured.

My entry into the fight for women’s rights started in college. After being raped at 15, it took five years before I joined a support group to work through the trauma. In that group, our healing led to starting Sonoma County Women Against Rape.

At that time, it was still legal for men to rape their wives because women were considered men’s possessions. We worked to have that changed; unfortunately, in some countries it is still legal. Our rape crisis efforts in the 70s and the Me-Too movement have impacted women’s lives worldwide.

We Make Our Own Path

I raised my daughters with the book, Our Bodies Ourselves. Yet, adolescent females continue to be exposed to messaging that links their social worth to body image, including beauty, weight, and other aspects of appearance. Unfortunately, that also impacts seniors (see my Sixty and Me blog, How Do We Maintain a Positive Body Image as We Age).

Since the 70s, more things have changed for women. More women are leaders in politics, corporations, and science than ever. I was a school superintendent, a field generally occupied by men, and I have friends who are scientists and filmmakers.

My daughter owns a business; one of my daughters-in-law is a lawyer, and the other is a crime scene investigator. Yet, many barriers and glass ceilings continue to exist today.

A global study on gender equality and women’s rights found that the Covid-19 pandemic disproportionately affected women. Females had higher job loss rates than men, with the burden of caring for families during school closures and other significant disruptions. That augmented the many inequitable conditions that women face.

The Facts

• According to 2018 Census data, women make about 80% of what men make nationwide. However, females receive less pay for the same work as their male counterparts. The average full-time female worker earned $42,295, while the average full-time male worker earned $52,144, and it is worse for women who are not white.
• Oppression is experienced by people who don’t conform to gender stereotypes (e.g., demeaning name-calling – tomboy, she-man).
• Under-representation of women in elected office, CEOs worldwide, and science fields.
• More than half (53%) of women in a new study from Synack said a “glass ceiling” prevents them from achieving specific roles in their organizations. For minority women, that number was 71%.
• One-third of the world’s girls lack access to education.

So, Where Does That Leave Us Today?

Many of our children grew up without realizing the struggle that brought women the vote and the many rights we have today. The battle for equal rights continues and is growing stronger as younger women (and men) realize they cannot take any of our rights for granted, nor can we sit by and let them erode.

We can make our voices heard with our friends, families, and the world. One way to do it is by exercising our right to vote. You may be surprised to consider that many elections are decided by tiny margins, so every vote counts.  

After reading Sixty and Me for over five years, I know many of you are leaders and care about equity for women. What have you witnessed over the decades? What priorities do you see for women today?

Grateful people are more fun! No one likes a complainer, and everyone loves an upbeat, optimistic person. Perhaps that’s why scientific studies have proven that people who practice gratitude in their daily lives are happier, healthier, and more successful in their relationships and at work.

According to a study reported in Fast Company magazine, “Gratitude can become a way of life, and by developing the simple habit of counting our blessings, we can enhance the degree to which we are truly blessed.”

I don’t think you can be truly happy without incorporating gratitude into your life. It’s the most important key to happiness that I know.

It’s Never Too Late to Become a Naturally Grateful Person

The wonderful thing about counting your blessings and practicing gratitude is that you don’t have to be born with that tendency; you can learn how to be a thankful person and enjoy all the emotional benefits of gratitude. It only takes a little practice to make it a regular part of your outlook – a daily habit.

There are lots of ways to cultivate a gratitude habit, but we find that the easiest and most productive method is to make a gratitude list every day. That is a winning strategy we’ve read about in hundreds of Chicken Soup for the Soul stories.

Eve Turek, for example, started writing a gratitude list after a friend got tired of hearing all her complaints about what was going on in her life. Eve’s family had been going through a difficult time and there had been tons of drama.

Her friend said, “You already know all that is going wrong in your family life right now. I promise you there is still beauty around you that you never notice. Doing a nightly gratitude list will help you find that beauty again.”

Eve’s friend told her to get a small notebook, the kind used for writing grocery lists or daily tasks. She told her to number each page from 1–10, and then write down 10 things she was grateful for each day. And she couldn’t write the same things every day – it had to be 10 new things that happened that day or things that Eve viewed as being good in her life.

10 Things She Was Thankful for

Every night Eve wrote down 10 things she was thankful for. Sometimes it was hard to come up with that number of items. But Eve took her friend’s advice on that, too. She didn’t have to write down big momentous items; she could write down little things like finding a pretty bird feather on the ground or getting a nice hug from her grandson.

According to her, this new gratitude practice was life changing. It refocused her, as soon as she started each day, on what was good in her life. Eve says, “Looking for gratitude-list items became a quest that took me through the hours of each day as I wondered, What will I find to give thanks for tonight?”

She says that more than 17 years have passed since her first gratitude list. And her daily gratitude habit is still working for her.

You don’t even have to work as hard as Eve did. You can write down three things each day on your gratitude list, or even one thing! One of our other writers, Jennifer Quasha, turned herself from a self-described pessimist into an optimist by writing one single thing for which she was grateful each day.

Just one thing!

Some days it was something like, “My husband came home from work early,” or, “I got a parking space right in front when I was running late.”

You can count the big things – family, friends, financial security, health insurance… or the little things – a sunny day, birdsong, milk for your coffee… What matters is that you change your perspective: from what you lack to what you have.

Do you have a minute to write a gratitude list each night? What do you think about focusing on what you have instead of what you lack? Do you have a friend or family member who could benefit from a gratitude practice?

Venita Aspen’s Gucci Phone Case on Southern Charm

Southern Charm Season 8 Episode 6 Fashion

On this week’s episode of Southern Charm Venita Aspen receives some harsh news that she’s not invited to a party. Howeverrr at least it was received through this chic Gucci phone case, which for any fashionista would most definitely soften the blow. 

Fashionably,

Faryn

Click Here to Shop Her Gucci Phone Case For iPhone 11 Pro

Click Here to Shop it For iPhone 12

Originally posted at: Venita Aspen’s Gucci Phone Case

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, STYLECASTER may receive an affiliate commission.

Mascara is perhaps one of the most trusty makeup products in your lineup. When you wake up late and are rushing out the door, defining your eyes with a swipe of mascara makes all the difference. When you’re transitioning your look from day to night, applying another coat adds a nice little pick-me-up. Mascara seriously can do no wrong and neither can Kjaer Weis’ Im-Possible Mascara.

It’s high-impact, long-lasting, volumizing and also backed by nourishing ingredients that ensure a clump-free look. If you’ve been dying to find a mascara that actually creates lift, volume and hold with just a few swipes, stop your search because the Im-Possible Mascara is here.

Even better, the bright red case is made from 50 percent recycled plastic and recyclable aluminum and is entirely refillable. Once you run out of the mascara (and we know you will), order a refill for $26 on Kjaer Weis’ site and slip it into its original case. Simple as that!

“Definitely the best mascara in the market. Incredible volume and length. Long-lasting result. Won’t need fake lashes at all,” raved one five-star reviewer.

To dub this product “the best mascara” and one that will replace your falsies is one major claim. To see what they’re talking about, try out Kjaer Weis’ formula for yourself. It’ll be impossible (pun intended) for you to not fall in love with it.

RELATED: This Mascara Is So Volumizing, Reviewers Warn: ‘Don’t Get Lash Extensions Before You Try This’—Snag It on Sale

Photo: Kjaer Weis.

We first have to shout out the ingredients that make the Im-Possible Macara so effective at adding volume and definition. Sunflower seed oil is known to promote lash growth and prevent hair breakage and marula oil moisturizes. Meanwhile, anti-inflammatory raspberry water repairs and conditions brittle lashes. This trio of ingredients blends together to create the perfect formula for your lashes, whether you have curly, unruly or stubbornly straight ones.

Plus, the mascara contains certified organic and sustainably sourced beeswax, carnauba wax and acacia gum to make the formula creamy rather than one that easily clumps up on your lashes. Many shoppers can confirm that you won’t have flaky clumps taking over your under-eye area when you’re wearing this mascara.

“Honestly this is the best mascara I’ve ever used,” wrote one shopper. “No clumps, smooth, great lashes. No eye irritation! THE BEST!” 

On top of all that, the brush is uniquely-shaped with two different sides for the ultimate dramatic effect. There’s the curved side to create buildable volume and the flat side to create defined length. In the words of Hannah Montana, you get the best of both worlds with this mascara.

And don’t worry about packing it on in layers, resulting in raccoon eyes; the formula won’t smudge everywhere.

“Easy to apply and has good coverage and only one coat gave me good daytime length. The quality is great, doesn’t flake, didn’t travel down my face, washes off easily. Win, win, win!”

Put away your stash of falsies and get nourished, volumized, lengthened lashes with Kjaer Weis’ Im-Possible Mascara.