I haz sick skills

With a little help from some hairspray I managed a very nice Dutch braid on a friend's layered hair

Braiding video

I just uploaded a video of myself braiding my hair. Like I wrote in my comment:

Over the years I’ve received a lot of questions about my braiding technique. Well, I have now tried to do a braiding tutorial and I had planned to do a description too, but I only managed to confused myself. “Right index finger holds strand number 2 while thumb…” Yea. It was no good.
Either you will find this video useful and answering questions or giving yourself inspiration on how to hold your braid… Or you will find it intensely boring. Anyways. Enjoy.

On an experimental basis I have let the option to comment on the video stay open. It will be interesting to see how many perverts or idiots write stupid things. Either that, or people are actually smart (Doubt it though. Youtube comments seems to be where all intelligence goes to die) 

  

Sunsilk surprise

I went to H&M today and found that they had my beloved orange Sunsilk leave in again. Yay!

I had to suppress my urge to sink to my knees, hug the shelf and gently rock back and forth while sobbing to myself.

Instead I bought 4 bottles which I felt was an acceptable, non-freaky number. The supply should last me about 2 months.

But when I came home I discovered I had two different editions of the product.

One looked like it always did and says “Damage reconstruction program” on the label where the other kind says “Advanced damage reconstruction” and is slightly brighter orange with a smaller silver patch where it says “nutrikeratin” on. Both editions have a lot of the same text, including “Thomas Taw, expert on damaged hair”.

The “Damage reconstruction program” (Left)

Looks and image

Both bottles have that mildly cheap look. Orange plastic, sports bottle opening, no pictures, just some graphics and quite a lot of text. Both are very busy boasting of being created by “Thomas Taw” because apparently that guy is so famous that you should know him and be impressed by his name?

Scent

The “Damage reconstruction program” smells a lot fruitier than the other kind.

Touch

Smooth, creamy formula. Some leave in products are too slippery in themselves and actually makes it harder to handle my hair (!) but this one adds slip to my hair and not to my hands.

Rinse ability

Easy to rinse. I felt no residue even without using soap.

Usability

I love this leave in-conditioner. It has that nice creamy texture and makes my hair so much easier to detangle and manage. It also adds nice hold to my updos and keeps unruly hairs down.

Price and value

39,90 kronor for 250 ml. That is 0,15 kronor per ml. Sometimes I find it at half the price at H&M.

Ingredients

Aqua, cetearyl alcohol, isopropyl palmitate, glycerin, stearamidopropyl dimethylamine, dimethiconol, dimethicone, amodimethicone, parfum, cetyl hydroxyethylcellulose, dimethiconol/silsesquioxane copolymer, sodium C14-16 olelin suffonate, trideceth-12, TEA dodecylbenzenesulfonate, ceramide 2,

helianthus annuus seed oil. This is simply sunflower seed oil.

oleic acid, PEG-7 propylheptyl ether, PEG-7 glyceryl coconate, lysine HCI, disodium EDTA, DMDM hydantoin , methylparaben, phenoxyethanol,

cetrimonium chloride. “Safe for use in rinse-off products and were safe for use at concentrations of up to 0.25% in leave-on products.” Hm. This one isn’t in the alphabetised section in the end that indicates less than 1% in the finished product, so I’m not very pleased with this!

methylchloroisothiazolimone,

methylisothiazolinone. “Safe for use as a cosmetic ingredient at concentrations up to 100 ppm.” Hmm?? We’re still not in the alphabetised section…

PEG-60 hydrogenated castor oil, lactic acid, silica, polysorbate 60, benzyl alcohol, benzyl benzoate, benzyl salicylate,

Citronellol. Has a comment on cosmeticsinfo.org if used in a fragrance but none as a non-fragrance ingredient.

hexyl cinnamal. Has a comment on cosmeticsinfo.org if used in a fragrance but none as a non-fragrance ingredient.

limomene,

linalool. Has a comment on cosmeticsinfo.org if used in a fragrance but none as a non-fragrance ingredient.

Two of the ingredients have restrictions tied to concentrations but are fairly high up the ingredient list. Three of the ingredients have restrictions when the ingredients are used in a fragrance. A few of them I couldn’t find. The rest “…were safe for use in cosmetic products.”

Conclusion

I must admit I wasn’t too pleased to see some ingredients with restrictions on the list. But compared to some of the other leave in-conditioners I’ve looked at, it’s not that scary. I know I’m really new at this thorough analysis, but I guess I have to get used to having at least some questionable ingredients on any ingredient-list. differences. But even with this, I haven’t been able to spot the differences.

This is still my favourite leave in product.

The “Advanced damage reconstruction” (Right)

Looks and image

Both bottles have that mildly cheap look. Orange plastic, sports bottle opening, no pictures, just some graphics and quite a lot of text. Both are very busy boasting of being created by “Thomas Taw” because apparently that guy is so famous that you should know him and be impressed by his name? This one also boasts of “New nutrikeratin technology”.

Scent

It has a mildly “creamy”, soapy scent.

Touch

Smooth, creamy formula. Slightly “glassier” than the other one. Some leave in products are too slippery in themselves and actually makes it harder to handle my hair (!) but this one adds slip to my hair and not to my hands.

Rinse ability

Easy to rinse. I felt no residue even without using soap.

Usability

I love this leave in-conditioner. It has that nice creamy texture and makes my hair so much easier to detangle and manage. It also adds nice hold to my updos and keeps unruly hairs down.

Price and value

39,90 kronor for 250 ml. That is 0,15 kronor per ml. Sometimes I find it at half the price at H&M.

Ingredients

Aqua, cetearyl alcohol, glycerin, paraffinum liquidum, hydrolyzed keratin, trehalose, gluconolactone, adipic acid, sodium sulphate,

annuus seed oil. Also sunflower seed oil?

lysine HCI, oleic acid, dimethiconol, stereadmidopropyl dimethylamine, trimethylsiloxysilicate, cyclopentasiloxane, dimethicone, sodium chloride, carbomer,

trideceth-5. “Safe as used in cosmetic products when formulated to be non-irritating.” Kind of a weird way of putting it: Would any product be formulated to be deliberately irritating?

cetyl hydroxyehylcellulose, butylene glycol, disodium EDTA, lactic acid, parfum, DMDM hydantoin,

iodopropyl butylcarbamate. “Safe as a cosmetic ingredient at concentrations less than or equal to 0.1%.” Hm. This isn’t in the alphabetised section so it could easily be in a concentration higher than 1%. Hm?

potassium sorbate, phenoxyethanol, benzyl alcohol, benzyl benzoate,

benzyl salicylate. Has a comment on cosmeticsinfo.org if used in a fragrance but none as a non-fragrance ingredient.

Citronellol. Has a comment on cosmeticsinfo.org if used in a fragrance but none as a non-fragrance ingredient.

hexyl cinnamal. Has a comment on cosmeticsinfo.org if used in a fragrance but none as a non-fragrance ingredient.

linalool. Has a comment on cosmeticsinfo.org if used in a fragrance but none as a non-fragrance ingredient.

One of the ingredients has restrictions tied to concentrations but is fairly high up the ingredient list. Four of the ingredients have restrictions when the ingredients are used in a fragrance. A few of them I couldn’t find. The rest “…were safe for use in cosmetic products.”

It boasts of “New nutrikeratin technology” and actually has hydrolyzed keratin as the 5^th listed ingredient. One point for that! Its very rare to actually see the ingredient they brag about being listed so high.

Conclusion

I must admit I wasn’t too pleased to see some ingredients with restrictions on the list. But compared to some of the other leave in-conditioners I’ve looked at, it’s not that scary. I know I’m really new at this thorough analysis, but I guess I have to get used to having at least some questionable ingredients on any ingredient-list. This is still my favourite leave in product.

Crown wrap tutorial variation

Actually this is perhaps my favourite hairstyle but the double Dutch braids takes a long time and I’m lazy!

Start with your hair in two Dutch braids. Dutch braids have that nice “bump” that is great for holding back braids.

Wrap one braid around your head. I wrap it in front of the braid bases, but depending on your scalp shape it may work better to wrap behind.

Now “nail” the tassel to the other braid using a hair stick.

Tuck the tassel under and wrap the second braid around the stick in an infinity shape. Pull the braid in under the infinity shape.

Keep wrapping the braid around in an infinity shape, each time pulling the tassel in under itself until you run out of length.

The first braid may feel like its close to slipping here, but it will be fixed soon.

Take the second hair stick and push it through the infinity-shape.

I like putting the sticks in like this for this updo:

(Slightly exaggerated for understanding)

It looks like this from the front: Nice, flat bun with decorative hair sticks and a braided headband. 

Pardon the absence

I have recently returned to uni and it’s been cutting into my time and energy to blog (Especially when group work has been a total nightmare. That aspect should be fixed now since our group size has been reduced by one) It’s been taking its toll on my funding for hair stuff too.

But I will figure things out with a little time.

It’s been a surprise that my blog has been missed though!

I love you too, readers!