Ariana Richardson 🥉

Good call on a gentle sulfate-free pick with ceramides. To stretch your budget and protect color, shampoo only your scalp and let the suds pass over the ends, then use a rich conditioner on the lengths - look for dimethicone or amodimethicone for slip and less breakage. If you have to wash daily, alternate with a conditioner-only wash or add a tiny pre-shampoo oil on your ends, and rinse with lukewarm water. That combo often makes hair feel soft again faster than swapping shampoos alone.

I work on these and a harsh grinding sound on a nearly new unit is usually seating or vibration. Make sure the jar collar is tightened evenly and that the jar actually drops onto the drive. Set it down and twist slightly until it engages, then start at the lowest speed. If it only screams under heavier loads, add more liquid and ramp speed instead of mashing the high button from a stop. Air pockets around the blades can make a horrible chatter that sounds mechanical. A quick water test tells you a lot. Try two isolation checks. With the jar empty spin the blade by hand to feel for any gravelly spots. Then power the base for a very short blip with no jar if it runs that way, to listen for motor noise. If the base growls on its own, stop using it and get warranty help, since that points to a coupler or fan rubbing. If the base is quiet and the blade feels rough or wobbly, the jar assembly needs replacement. One more thing that fools people is resonance from the counter. Move it a foot to the side or set it on a thin dish towel for a test. If the sound drops way down you were hearing vibration rather than grinding. Solved.

I had a budget dryer that started going nuclear after a minute and shutting off mid routine and so I get the worry. Brushing the vents did nothing, but what finally worked was popping off the rear grill, washing the mesh lint screen with warm soapy water, letting it dry overnight, then blasting compressed air through the intake and nozzle to clear baked-on dust from the heating coil; I also cleaned the diffuser holes and made sure my hand was not covering the intake. If it still overheats or smells hot after a deep clean, the internal thermostat is probably failing and repair is not worth it. I replaced mine with Revlon Infrared Hair Dryer which fixed the issue because the infrared heat runs more evenly and it is 1875W, so I stopped getting those sudden temperature spikes while diffusing curls.

For light use the easiest life is a cartridge based inkjet where the head is part of the cartridge but then it is much easier to recover from a clog because replacing the cartridge refreshes the head. If you can, set a calendar reminder and print a quick black test every few weeks. Works great. Coupons look and feed better on 24 lb bright white plain inkjet. It is stiff enough to track straight through the rollers, and it does not jam the way cheap 20 lb sometimes does when humidity swings.