Hi friends!

Does everyone here know how old I am? I am TEN YEARS OLD, plus five. Which kind of makes me just a baby. I mean, as far as responsibility goes, it’s a good week if I get all my homework done and stay under my allotted number of text messages.

What I’m trying to say is, sorry if my Teen Corner entries are kind of pathetic now and then. You don’t need to send me any more emails reinforcing my pathetic-ness—I totally get it. (It’s actually kind of funny to get emails from readers because 1) I really have readers! and 2) you people are just like my history teacher—he takes one look at my assignment and knows I spent exactly 3 minutes on it, no matter how hard I try to trick him into believing otherwise.)

So this weekend, I’m devoting all my free time to this column. I’m already on my fourth draft and I only have three paragraphs. (Does "Hi Friends!" count as a paragraph?) See how devoted I am?! (It has NOTHING to do with the fact that I’m grounded, I swear.)

And please don’t make me tell you why I’m grounded—because then you’d know that I’m not only pathetic, but I have a bad attitude to go right along with it. But that’s enough about me and my problems—let’s talk about my sister Bailey’s problems.

Bailey gets her hair highlighted and uses a straightening iron every day. Every day. If you don’t already know this, Highlights + Flat Iron= Damaged Goods .

Bailey with our cousin Rachel.

Wait, let me re-phrase that: Highlights + daily use of the Flat Iron at 425 degrees = Stupid sister with FRIED hair .

Thank goodness she has me in her life, because once we noticed the breakage (right where the arrow is pointing in the above photo—it’s kind of hard to see here, but the entire top layer of her highlighted hair has broken off, leaving her with "bangs" on the side of her head!) we got serious about fixing it. (Although, it would be kind of funny to see my sister with no hair—but I’m not that mean.)

Even if your hair is healthy and gorgeous, using a flat iron every day is going to cause damage. If you have highlights or damaged hair, you might as well be engaged to Spencer Pratt because your life is doomed.

Here’s a few tips to keep your hair healthy while maintaining that sleek, straight hair we all desire:

• Damaged hair is dry hair—keep shampooing to a minimum of every-other day. (Unless, like Bailey, you’re an athlete and break a serious sweat every day—please wash the hair. Ew!)
• Give hair an extra moisture treatment like Nexxus Humectress Ultimate Moisturizing Conditioner every time you shampoo. Comb it into towel-dried hair and leave on for at least three minutes.
• Use a heat protecting serum/spray before blow drying or straightening. I like to use Matrix Vavoom Gold Heat Protective Lotion and Protective Dry Mist .
• Set your flat iron on the lowest possible heat setting (that’s still effective, of course), and try to avoid the damaged areas. (Also, be sure hair is completely dry before straightening.)
• A few times a week, try some alternate styles that don’t require heat appliances—a headband with a loose side braid is super cute and so is a messy, high ponytail. (Be sure to use a non-damaging ponytail holder.)

Taking a little extra time and care will ensure your hair doesn’t end up like Bailey’s. We all want to look hot, but the line has to be drawn somewhere!

Hope you have a super fun week! (OMG did you notice it’s December already?! I LOVE this month.)

A while back we told you about Matrix Vavoom’s incredibly volumizing Bust Out Body Shampoo & Conditioner and how they give us the extra volume our hair craves.

While we still look to these black and red bottles in the shower each morning, we have found yet another Vavoom product to give our hair fabulous volume: Vavoom Freezing Spray.

This super strong hairspray adds texture and lift to our fine hair and keeps the volume lasting all day long.

In fact this is such a hot commodity in the Makeup Bag household, we have to hide it from the clutches of Thing One and Thing Two. These girls have super-magic powers that can sense a good beauty product from miles away. If there is even a remote chance that a product will be a hit, they are all over it. And because they are teenagers, and care about nothing more than how they look, this means we will find the product without a cap, half-empty on their bathroom floor. If we’re lucky.

For this reason, we must hide the Vavoom Freezing Spray and keep it all to ourself. It’s THAT good.