​*I received this product for free or at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased review*

This is the Apalus Straightener Brush I received off amazon from the seller/store Apalus. It's price is $29.99 plus shipping (around the usual hair appliance price) and let me tell you, it's totally worth it! I am absolutely in love with this product!

First things first, when opening it I was already really happy with the pink shade  of color it was. When warming it up the little screen showed the current temperature and when pressing the '+' or '-' buttons it would show what the temperature it was warming up to was. I thought it was a nice little touch I really appreciated. You could see how much longer was left before it was at the goal temperature. It can also switch between showing Fahrenheit and Celsius. It did heat up pretty quickly. You're suppose to comb through your hair before using the product, so I did that while it warmed up.

Now for my favorite part. It literally only took me no more than 10 minutes to straighten my hair! I believe it was about 6-7 minutes to be exact That's insane!! My hair is incredibly thick, on the longer side and curly so it usually takes me an hour or more to completely straighten my hair. I was so happy I could've cried.

My hair did get a bit frizzy (but it did that just from me brushing it) so I honestly couldn't tell you whether or not the brush would've caused any frizzy. My hair is extremely damaged from all the dying I do to it, so it just does that on a regular basis. Either way, it's easy to fix with an anti-frizz serum or straightening balm.

The brush is also on the heavier side. I was expecting it to weight about as much as a straightening/curling iron but it definitely weighs more. You quickly get use to the weight though and it doesn't affect how easy it is to use. That's another thing! It's incredibly easy to use and the directions are straight forward.

Overall, I'm super happy with this. It allows me to style my hair more often and cuts down on the time it takes by a huge amount!

​~Positive Outcomes Only~

I decided to do a hair time. Maybe I'll make it into a video later one as well. But after I color my hair more... because it will happen. I still plan to do a mint green color, half black and blue, and go back to a pastel pink. Oh and this really color black, blue, purple and turquoise pattern I saw, maybe a pastel mixture as well.

Anyways... So here's my hair timeline so far. Including different cuts I guess. I couldn't find any of my original hair photos. But basically before the first few photos my hair was down to almost my waist (when straight), very plain, always worn natural, kinda flat but while being big-curly and it's the color of the brown in the first few photos (before I dyed it red- you'll see). 

So like I said. My hair before this was super long and all one solid brown color. Unfortunately I was stupid and cut it all off ;-; -I regret it, I want my super long hair back now that I know how to style it. Anyways, it was about this length for a while and in high-school I went and had the underneath part bleached.

After that I dyed the underneath black/a super dark brown and it eventually faded to my natural color.

I went and put a red streak in my hair sometime in high-school as well. I only tried to mix it in my bangs for a day or two. 

The streak eventually faded to a brassy dark blonde. And I started wearing a middle part... Yuck (at least here it was xD).

I'm so awkward looking!

It faded a bit more to a bright blonde. I left the middle part for a fringe. I believe it started straight-cut and then just grew on into a side fringe -kinda. After that I got a s-waver and was obsessed with just having mermaid hair. 

Here's an absolutely awful picture during when I first bleached my hair. Red face and runny makeup, dark circles and all. I remember seeing the blonde and thinking, "Gawd it looks awful on me, I'll never do that." Truth is the blonde was fine, I just looked terribly awful back then (please discover makeup and hair styling techniques already ;-; ). 

I did red and black hair. Mostly red with black under my bangs and a few thin black streaks. This was early college I believe. I liked how it turned out, a friend did it for me, but I didn't like how I looked with it.
Like previously, I just didn't like how I looked! And I was still figuring out how to style my hair (and needed to fix my bangs already!).

This was probably a month later. I threw brown over the top. So it was a really red-ish brown. The black had faded a bit by now too. 

The red had faded out more and now it was a brown color with a red-ish tint but that faded quickly too. Oh and straight cut bangs.

I used a box color meant for dark hair to dye it to a natural red color. Since my hair had previous color it didn't lift or take the color like it would have on  virgin hair and turned a more reddish-brown instead. Looked more giner-y in the sunlight. The old black didn't take the color though.

That faded and the black only showed up more. It faded to a super light color because now ALL the dyes in my hair wear rinsing out and beginning to fade back, closer to the blonde that was underneath. So it was a light-ginger brown color.

I got my first wig a while later and wore that for a bit since I didn't know how to use extensions nor could afford it - I had yet to learn of eBay and minihouse8888.

Continued to put a ginger-y color on my hair and the black faded more. Began cutting my own bangs and actually liked them. Actually I began cutting my own bangs a bit before this, back when I went to straight-cut bangs after dying brown over that red hair.

I took a hair dye (luministia or something from loreal or some brand like that -box dye) meant to dye dark hair to a bright dark/deep red and so this was the result. Much more red than other colors.

That faded to a red/ginger-brown. 

To even out all the different tones and colors in my hair I dyed it black.

This is probably the middle of college (my community college experience at least). I dyed the under part of my bangs pink (using manic panic cotton candy pink I believe) shortly after dying it black. 

That faded to blonde.

And then with the help of my lovely friend (the same one who's been helping me dye it before - at least all the bright colors) I bleached my whole head (a couple times) and went pink! It faded quickly though.

And here's the brassy, kind of pink-tinted blonde color that faded to. This was still it the middle of college - over a summer break.

And the beginning of that next fall semester I dyed my hair blue. This was probably my last year at that college. The beginning of the last year.

I forget my reason for dying it black, but in order to do something I dyed it black and cut my bangs straight-across. This was mid-late fall, before/around Halloween.

This is when I discovered extensions as well. So yay for long hair. I had black for a while. All throughout winter!

Cut a grow-out undercut into my hair.

Got rid of that undercut.

Towards the spring time, I believe, I bleached all my hair (a few times) then dyed it a "milk tea brown" - basically a dirty blonde. That would end up lightening up a bit.

Dip-dye my hair pink.

Mixed in black extensions.

I can't remember which of these two I did first but either way the pink faded out and I returned to blonde.

Don't remember if these where after that (the black & pink coloring above) but my hair did return to just plain blonde. And the pink faded out. Blonde lasted all summer, into maybe September?

A month or two into cosmetology school I dyed my hair a pastel purple. 

That faded back to blonde.

I went and touched up the blonde and bought new, longer extensions.

Used old extensions to make fake dreads and wore that for a bit.

Took those out.

Dyed my hair with la riche carnation pink mixed with conditioner. 

As a demo for the school, dyed my hair half pink, half purple/magenta (pastels) in a checkered print almost. No extensions.

Dyed my hair a 3RV (dark red-violet). Was more purple-y at first.  

That faded and became more red-violet (this was towards the end of my cosmetology schooling now).

That faded to a brown color.

Bleached half my head so that I had half brown, half blonde coloring. No extensions. This was right at the very end.

Bleached out the brown and dyed my hair a ginger-red color with a lighter orangey-blonde ombre. New extensions. This is currently.

So thanks for watching my hair journey so far. Will it ever end? Nope! :P Because I like coloring my hair.

~Positive outcomes only! :)

So my hair started out like the picture above, on the left. Brown on one side. Blonde on the other. Split down the middle. The blonde was originally the same color as the brown side. None of this is virgin hair nor my natural color -although I did have regrowth (aka roots that have grown out), so there was a couple inches of virgin hair. 

So if you're curious as to how I got it all one even color (besides the ombre added later), a ginger-y red, keep reading!

But first, a disclaimer! Please note I have been to and complete cosmetology school and am in the processes of being a licensed cosmetologist. I am not new to the hair dying processes either. I'm also incredibly familiar with my hair (obviously) and know that it is uncannily strong (hence why usually was the first go-to when wanting to do some fun, bright color that required a lot of bleaching, in school)-my hair can take a beating and have very minimal damage, will repair itself fairly easily and won't break or fall out. Also note, whenever using bleach please look up some tips and advice for care afterwards and be careful. I personally recommend it's best to see a stylist, but I know that's not possible for everyone due to a variety of different reasons, so if you do plan to dye or lighten your hair yourself please read up on it as much as it can, follow directions and be careful! You are messing with chemicals and they can be very dangerous.  

Moving on. So as I said before. My hair was half brown, half blonde and had a couple inches of a darker brown regrowth.

Before being able to dye anything even near the color I wanted it I had to first remove the brown colors. For the following reasons: My hair is darker my desired color, both my natural and colored. I needed to get my hair one even color and tone or else the dye would come out two different shades or even colors! While the hair dye I purchased does offer lift, I've never had good experience with it alone lifting it enough, so I still needed to lighten it beforehand. And lastly, about the dye offering lifting (meaning it'll lift previous color) it only works with virgin hair (un-dyed, no previous chemicals), color over color -even that with lift- only goes darker -color doesn't lift color very well. 

So I used 40 volume developer, the strongest, and mixed it -equal parts- with powder bleach. I applied that only to the middle (mid-shaft) of my hair to start. I also started in the back since that's where hair (and mine) is usually more resistant. You want to try to work as fast as possible and use a brush, applying the bleach evenly to thin sections. It's best if you have someone helping you. After that was applied and I could see that it lightened up some, I went back through and applied it to my regrowth, avoiding getting it on the scalp as best as possible, and pulling it all the way down, through my ends. The ends and regrowth are the most, I guess you could say, fragile parts of your hair and quick to take color/lightener, so you don't want to apply it there first! Even if you don't have regrowth it's best to stay an inch away from the scalp due to the risk of "hot roots" and chemical burns. Note: When I went back through and touched up my regrowth, I did so for both sides, so the regrowth was being lightened on the blonde half as well - I was careful to avoid overlapping it with the previous blonde.

I waited until I saw my hair was about the same color all over and rinsed it out. I'd say I left it on for about 20 minutes, maybe 30. When rinsing it, I only washed with shampoo, no conditioner. Why didn't I use conditioner? Because I still had one more bleaching session to do and then had to dye it. 

So this was the result after the first bleaching. The underneath, bottom half was still a bit dark though. My goal was to get it to match the extensions I ordered. So I went ahead and dried my hair (letting it air dry for a bit first, applying some heat protection spray, then blow drying it). I pinned up the top half of my hair and just went from just off the scalp to the ends when applying the bleach to the lower half. I know I recommend against that but I did so to get through it as fast as possible and because I was only leaving it on for about 5 minutes. 

I waited until I saw it lighten up then rinsed it out. Using only shampoo again. This time I did do something different. I took some purple hair dye I had lying around and mixed a small little bit (literally the dipped the tip of my nail) with shampoo and rubbed that all over my hair. If you do this watch carefully! Unless you want your hair to turn purple! The shampoo will help stop it from dying some but that doesn't mean it won't still happen. What the purple mixed with shampoo did is take out the brassy color. So that's what I was watching for. I was watching my hair go from this brassy tone to a nicer, cool/neutral tone. Now all of my hair matched my extensions. After that I let it dry (repeating the same process I used last time).

Time to mix my color! But first! So after all that my hair ended up lighter than I thought. Which means, I bought a developer that was stronger than needed. I would've been just fine using a 10 developer, probably even 20. 

The best option would've been to use a demi-permanent color since those only deposit color and has no lift -my hair was now lighter than my desired color and didn't need the lifting. I personally didn't want a demi-permanent color because red fades fast already, and with my experiences demi-permanents fade fairly fast as well -I wanted something more permanent. So I 10 developer probably would've been best.

To make sure it was all fine I first took a strand in the back of my hair and applied a little dye to it, leaving it on for the recommended time then rinsing it. Everything went well! No damage, hair felt fine. I just came to the conclusion my hair was still on the darker side of blonde so it was probably the same level of the hair color I was going, which means the dye lightened it a bit then brought it back up to that level. May have helped even in evening the tone. 

So I mixed the rest of my dye, equal parts, mixing 4 oz at a time -meaning I would go back and mix more as needed. Left it on for 25-30 minutes, as the time recommended.

As I waited for the dye to set I applied dye to my extensions, laying them on newspaper and basically painting each strip with the brush. I left out the ends though due to my plans to ombre it. Left it on the extensions for the same amount of time.

This time when I rinsed it, it was with both shampoo and conditioner, except for the extensions -that was shampoo only.

The hair color it came out. It's a bit more red-red hair then in person. In person it's more of a natural ginger color.

So as for the ombre. I bought a lighter color of orange and applied that to the ends. Teasing the hair a bit before hand and then applying it in almost zig zags to avoid a straight line across that hair. 

Sadly, it didn't show up very well, it was still to close to the color of the original. So, after rinsing that and drying it I went back through and applied lightener to the ends, only leaving it on for about 3-5 minutes, watching it carefully. 

It did lighten up but not to my liking. I wanted it a bit lighter and up higher. So the next day I went through and re-bleached it. Once again leaving it on for about 5 minutes and watching it closely, using the same techniques. 

This was the result. Much happier with it. For the bleach I used the same as I had used earlier -40 developer, equal parts. 

As for the products I used. I used 6r, dark red blonde from the brand Ion, for the majority of my hair. Originally I applied a 7r, bright red (I believe was the name) from Ion. Note: The hair color level systems works like this; a scale from 1 to 10 with 10 being the lightest (a platinum/whitish blonde) and 1 being the darkest (black). Mixed both hair colors with 30 developer for sensitive scalp -bought that knowing I'd be pre-lightening, wanted to be nice to my head. The powder bleach was BW or something like that and the developer was 40 developer from Salon Care (maybe Sally's brand?). I purchased this all from a hair and beauty store called Sally's.

Some little side notes and tips. 

If you have something like Vaseline apply that around your hairline to keep the dye from staining your skin. Conditioner can work as well. Make sure to keep it off your actual hair though or else the dye won't take!

Wear gloves! Bleach can and will burn after it's exposed to your skin for a longer period of time. And it'll hurt, for a few days even. Be safe and keep yourself protected. It'll also keep the dye from staining your hands. Red dye is one of the dyes that suck the most when trying to get off and staining everything so easily. 

Wash bleach off your skin asap. It'll more than likely get on your neck and sides of face, even your arms -try to wash it off as soon as possible, chemical burns suck! Trust me, I just did it. I didn't rinse it off soon enough when it sat on my neck and kept getting on it due to my hair touching it -chemical capes/those plastic-y hair cutting capes and a towel can protect you from this). So now I have a slight burn and it hurts to touch ;-; It'll go away soon enough tho. Nothing severe or major. Just the pain of hair color that happens every now and then. 

When you're dying you hair red, keep in mind, that it'll never go away! Not until you grow it out and cut it off. While it does fade and fast and requires a lot of constant upkeep, it won't ever truly leave. You'll see brassy tones keep popping back up once you dye your hair a different color, especially with blonde and brown. It'll be so hard to get rid of that brass blonde and your brown will seem to always turn ever so slightly reddish/have a subtle red tint. 

After I do any thing chemical-wise with my hair I won't wash it for a week. I want natural oils to come back in and repair it so I'll wait till it gets a bit oily (which takes about 5 days for me, it's different for everyone tho) and then leave it to set for a day or two depending on how damage it feels or what all I did. I'll keep repeating this too. Waiting a week in between washes for a few months (this number will lower to like 3 or 4 days though -after the first two weeks or so I'll do down to this). Also use different repairing treatments (mostly focused on breakage and restoring proteins), take vitamins focused at strong and fast hair growth, and heat protection spray before styling. Also when washing my hair, I'll let the conditioner set for at least 5 minutes or the entire duration of my shower (so shampoo first, conditioner and rinse it towards the end). 

I'm really excited for my new hair color. I'm going a ginger-y color and making it into an ombre! It'll fade to a super light ginger-y color towards the ends, kind of like in all these photos (by the way, these photos where all found through searching "ginger ombre hair" and "ginger ombre hair tumblr"). 
It's going to be an all day.. or two.. process. I'll have to bleach the brown part of my hair first, leaving out the re-growth (or roots), then going back and doing those. Then go and touch up my roots on the blonde side and re-bleach the blonde as well. And then I'll probably have to bleach the brown again. I think I'll do the brown and the roots/regrowth of the blonde part first to even it all out, then wait a day or two and re-bleach the whole thing (leaving out the roots/regrowth because it'll get super light from the first bleach anyways).
If I'm lucky the blonde I have now will match the extensions I ordered -since I ordered it in a golden blonde anyways- and I won't need to bleach it a second time. 

Yes this is super damaging but I'm super lucky and my hair can take it! (I love you hair <3 ). I've lightened it multiple times in one day in the past and it's been fine. Luckily I have super strong hair. 

Either way I'll trim it up a bit afterwards to make sure it says on the healthier side and cut my bangs either all "scene" like again or straight across. My extensions are super long too, 26 inches. I can't wait to have mermaid hair again. Hopefully my extensions say all nice because once I get bored of this color I'll be going either pastel pink or mint green/blue.