The wonderful world of magazine hair..long post!

Everytime I read a Japanese magazine (Vivi being my favourite) I always get so jealous of the model's pretty hair and makeup. Of course it's all for show but still, I'd love to wake up with hair like that, wouldn't you?
I have fine hair and it's very difficult to get the volume I want and to make it stay. The only hairspray that'll hold my hair is Schwarzkopf's Osis in #3 hold and it doesn't come cheap for $18CAD. Curlers and hairspray can only do so much and if it's windy outside, I have to say goodbye to all my hard work.
Maybe a new brush will help. I don't have those big round brushes, nor do I have huge velcro rollers, only the 1.5inch ones. I've also switched from using D:Fi moulding creme #8 to Gatsby Wild Shake and I think it likes to weigh my hair down, I don't have this problem with D:Fi. *shakes fist*
Having bangs also means alot more work. I gotta make sure my bangs have enough volume so it doesn't touch my forehead. I hate when it does, you know after a long day your face (well mine at least) gets oily on the forehead and makes the bangs look weird?! Yah, that's me alright! So at the end of the day, I'm at the brink of pms-ing because my hair is all messed up by my oily forehead. Why don't I grow out my bangs? Well I do, but if I let it get too long and don't split it properly, I look bald on one side. I'm so picky...
Have any of you seen the Pantene commercial for the Sheer Volume Collection? I went on the website to get the steps to get crazy volume. It's the exact things I do, minus using the Sheer Volume stuff, to get more body, but sadly it doesn't last. Maybe I should try the Pantene stuff, but my stylist tells me Pantene is garbage and they spend more time to create the commercials than to perfect the products. He thinks L'oreal is the way to go. I'm actually a sucker for the commercials, so I think I'm gonna end up with part of the collection when I visit Walmart later in the week.
If you can read (or even see) the Chinese/Japanese in the magazines then you can probably see how to achieve some of these looks. These are some of my favs that I took from magazines in BBT places with my cell *hides in shame* The magazines are not worth the money to buy here so I just go and read it there while I have my yummy drinks.
The first and second picture is how I want my hair to be with/without bangs. Since I have bangs right now, it's probably easier for me to go for the second look. But my bangs haven't reached long enough past my brows to sweep it to the side, so it'll look funny.
The first picture is how I want my hair to be if I grew out my bangs. I think it's alot easier to manage cuz I don't have to keep visiting the salon every 2-3 months for a snip. However, I haven't really mastered how to do the split like the picture so it doesn't look like I have a straight pale line along my scalp. If I don't do it right, then I look bald on one side =p

Here's what my hair looked like back in May 2008 when I went to Hong Kong, then I cut my bangs when I got my extensions during the trip. Notice how my hair flips/curls out at the ends? It annoys the shit outta me! I blow dry it straight, then slowly but surely as the day goes on, it flips back out.

Here's a more recent picture from this month at Toronto Botanical Gardens. I took out my extensions after 2 months because they weren't holding up well anymore, damn cheap stuff. It was fun having long hair for a while though. I dunno what was up with my eyes and undereyes haha, it was either too sunny, or my bf just likes to make me look like I have smaller eyes than I really do and accentuate the puffiness of my eyebags! LOL

So after this long post, I've come to the conclusion that I should grow out my bangs for now, then cut it again. Mr T likes my bangs, but too bad for him, it's too much work and I'm feeling lazy right now. At the moment, I wish my hair was how it is in my profile pic.