Nautilus bun

The other day I realised that although the braided Nautilus is my absolutely most used and most loved updo, I have never, ever done a non-braided version before.

Weird, huh?

Feeling incredibly sorry for myself

I have overworked my Achilles tendon. Too much walking and standing for too many hours during the day and not allowing it to rest.

To precise, I have damaged it where it attaches to the bone.

I have had problems with my Achilles tendon before, back when I used to run a lot. I think something almost all runners go through at some point. But the issue has always been higher up, in the tendon itself.

The attachment pain has been one of the most painful injuries I’ve ever experienced.

Usually I factor in if you can relieve the pain too, for instance when I broke my tailbone it “rated” as more painful than my complicated ankle fractures (That ended my running “career”) because there isn’t a damn thing you can do to stabilise or relieve the pain from a broken tailbone. And the cystic acne breakout I got from a biotin overload felt more painful than when I impaled my hand on some broken glass because it was right there in my face, just like a papercut on a fingertip can be much more painful than a deeper cut some other place.

But yea, the attachment pain to the Achilles tendon? Brutal. I could feel how cold sweat broke out just from having to work the pedals in my car, despite having eaten the painkillers I had with me in my bag. I think it’s been like 3 years since last I had to take any…

The doctor prescribed me some seriously strong painkillers. They make everything feel a little soft to the touch.

To add insult to injury I have overworked the adductor longus in my thigh from limping so much. I’m actually kind of impressed I managed to do that!

Well, I take it as a hint that I need to relax a bit, so I took today and tomorrow off. Spent most of the day doing gloriously nothing. Watched too many silly videos, spent unhealthily much time on 4chan and generally saw way too many memes and funny images for one day.

After having done lots and lots of nothing, I started going through my pictures. I’ve taken a lot of pictures over the summer. Hair pictures intended for the blog too. “For when I have the time…”. Hah, who knew I had to wait almost until winter before I found the time for them?

Still alive

Hi everyone!

Been a while, haven’t it?

Nothing much has changed… Still crazy busy, still doing benign neglect. Although I’m beginning to wonder where the “benign” part ends.

That’s part of the reason I made a new page… Figured it would be interesting to see how my routine changes over time. If nothing else it could be interesting to compare routines later to my bordering on actual neglect-current one.

I can’t wait to get more time on my hands. My free time definitely isn’t free as I have about a hundred things on my “should do” list. (That list that is my list of things I theoretically would like to get through should I ever get done with my “to do” list) As things are now I find myself answering skype messages even from my Hubby just because it’s stressing me out and I’m desperate for the damn flashing to go away.

I was spending a bit of time on UTT today and found myself reading the Would you rather game, hair edition-thread. I found a clear pattern in it: The members of UTT would rather lose some length than take overall damage through the length. It made me pretty happy: These people know what’s up with haircare and they don’t believe in any of the weird crap you can find on other sites. Such a difference from other places like youtube where expensive, complicated and time consuming hair care ideas run rampant.

No particular reason for mentioning this, no deeper meaning… I just found it refreshing and awesome.

To make up for this lame post, here are a couple of links I stumbled upon today

16 life truths only bottle blondes will understand

Haha, I still remember some of this!

DIY headbands

Some of these are cute and could be done without too much trouble…

From one of my daily E-stops, B for Bel

Finally…

…I have found the time to re-upload all my pictures to a new (And functioning) site.

Now I just need to find the time to re-link all the pictures on my blog. Yea, that doesn’t sound like a massive amount of work, does it…?

Anyways. Here are my latest length shot back from August 15^th (Or so), re-uploaded so you can actually see them! 

Cute videos and a sad story

Unfortunately there was no happy ending for this…

A co-worker found this little swallow flapping around helplessly on the parking lot. Since I have experience taking care of (injured) birds, I took it in.

I think this is a big baby that just wasn’t ready to fly, or was exhausted and landed on the parking lot. Swallows cant take off from the ground, so it ended up flapping around helplessly and probably got further dehydrated.

It spent most of the first day in my care just sleeping, so I guess it was exhausted. I cut up a sock to put it in and carried it around inside my shirt. That always calms little birds down :)

A friend volunteered hunting insects with me and force-feeding the little guy or girl and I even bought mealworms for when I just couldn’t catch any other insects (Must have given the neighbours some good laughs at that!!)

The little swallow became quite tame as you can see!

I researched how to release swallows and tried releasing it twice each day I had it in my care, but it just fell helpless to the ground again.

“We” even did flying-exercises together (lol) and it “hopped” around on the floor like a bat, so it seemed like it really tried it’s best to gain strength and get to fly again.

I really thought he or she would make it and I could get to release it successfully some day, but on the third day I came home from work to it being cold and dead. It made me very sad… 

Progress. Or not.

The upload issue has cost me more time and energy than expected.

Step 1: Chose a new upload site.

After much research, I chose a place called Shutterfly. It had great reviews. Free, no upload limit and no size limit. Seemed perfect.

Step 2: Renaming pictures.

When I first started taking hair pictures and uploading them, I didn’t always know what styles would “stick”.For instance when I first saw a Celtic knot I thought it would be my most favourite style ever. 

But since it only looks like a slightly lumpy Chinese bun when I do them, that didn’t happen. I had a lot of braided Nautili buns stuck under “Updo xxxx” since I didn’t think that one bun would become my go-to.

In general, most of my pictures needed an extra “0” in the file name to keep them ordered or some renaming that made more sense.

Step 3: Sort in categories for easy upload.

Makes it easier when I have to find pictures again too.

Step 4: Upload everything to new site.

Phew, good thing I didn’t have to upload them one at the time!

Step 5: Insert new picture address in old broken images.

I decided to start with a brand new picture and take a length shot.

…Only to discover that Shutterfly doesn’t allow you to link a picture as easily as I expected. At least not in full size. And what’s the [bleep]ing point then? Sure I can make albums and invite people to see them, but why can’t I just stick my full sized picture in a simple [IMG]?

[Bleep] you, Fluttershy. [Bleep] you, [Bleep] you, [Bleep] you!

Anyways. Here are the largest pictures [bleep]ing Fluttershy allowed me to post.

(Including the weird white BS on the sides taking up room)

I think I’m actually getting close to terminal length. My growth appears to stall and the ends are getting pretty thin.

Oh well, another thing to take a look at when I have more time. 

Annoying stylist experience

Usually I try to get small trims every 3 months. It keeps my ends feeling smooth and happy.

But I haven’t had a trim since… May? Gosh, has it really been this long? Yikes. How strange that my ends still feel good.

I guess the benign neglect routine has been good for my hair: CO wash when needed, otherwise daily WO and putting it up with some leave in-conditioner. I’ve been good with spraying it with SPF products too.

But yesterday I had a bit of time and decided to go for a trim. I went to a drop in-place a work buddy mentioned.

I explained what I wanted: A trim of 3-4 cm. She nodded and seemed reasonable enough.

Then I took my bun down. I swear I saw stars in her eyes. She started eagerly talking about all the things she should do to my hair: Semi-permanent dye, bangs, layers, I think I even heard something about a perm in there in the mass of words.

Pretty much she wanted to change every single thing about my hair.

It’s not actually the first time I encountered someone who wanted to change everything about my hair, but this woman really got on my nerves.

Usually when people talk about what you “should” get done to your hair they hide under the intention of it being more flattering for you, or cut back for health. Of course with total disregard to how much time and product you feel like spending on a certain style.

(Funnily the maximum hair length you can carry “for healthy ends!” is always the longest the other person has ever had. Ever notice that? And what would “Be the most flattering for you!” is always closely resembling what the other person has, no matter your differences in figure, face shape or even colours. Odd, isn’t it?)

This woman just seemed like she wanted to change everything just because she could.

I left without letting her touch my hair.

Back to benign neglect it is. 

Igor's glorious day off

Today I came the closest to having a day off I've been in weeks: Didn't have to go to work #1 and I only needed to compose 4-5 emails for work #2.
So what did I do with all that time on my hands?
Did I go explore the city of Ringsted that I've been in since April and still haven't had the time and energy to check out?
Did I curl up with a good book to relax?
Did I just play computer games and waste my day on nothing?
No?
Maybe I did something useful?
Did I do something for work #1 that wasn't entirely necessary but could be useful?
Did I look ahead for work #2 to take on the next project?
Maybe get started on sorting my pictures for my upload?
Again, no.
So what did I do?
I cleaned.
Seriously.
When I first came to see the place where I'm renting a room for work, I did notice it wasn't very clean anywhere. But I figured it might even be a good thing because I wouldn't feel obligated to keep it clean.
As long as the bathroom and kitchen was clean enough to use, I only had to think about my own room. Good thing when you know you will be busy.
So with Hubby safely in the neighbour country, I could indulge in some serious foul bachelorette frog-behavior.
But it turns out I have been getting more and more irked by how dirty the common areas are. I like being able to walk around in bare feet at home...
Oh well. I tracked the two hour vacuuming-spree on Fitocracy. Haha.
Things are still pretty stressful, but at least I get more exercise than usual, eat fairly healthy and get enough sleep.
All things good for hair.

But I still should try to relax next time I have a day off.

My new Flexies are here!

I'm pleased to announce that my Flexies have arrived.
And I'm very pleased to announce that my choice of styles has good quality beads all of them!
I'm mildly displeased I still don't have a working upload so I can show them off, but the upload is literally item # 137 or so on my to do-list.
But I'm extremely displeased with the fact that I had to pay import! 
Seriously, Flexi? All the other places I've ordered from over the years have avoided causing me this extra expense, why can't you too? 
1067 Danish kroner for the Flexies and 390 kroner for the stupid import.
I could have bought almost 3 megaflexies for that. 

Pricey and pointless purchase averted

Hmmm. It seems like the only thing I really “do” with my hair at the moment is buying things for it?

Other than taking it down to wash it and feeding it some oil once in a while, it’s been stuck in a braided Nautilus bun.

Oh well. Benign neglect rules. And at some point I will have the time to really play around with my new goodies.

I ordered some new combs in hard rubber. Looking forward to get them!

 

Will be nice to finally get to replace those awful, awful, awful Hairsense combs.

Then I ordered a few SPF products for hair…

 

 

A “few”.

Hehe…

And finally I ordered a clip on bang-set.

I’ve wanted one for a while but I find it difficult to find the right colour or cut for one. Oh well, I’ll try this one and see how it goes.

This colour:

Unfortunately this one is made from real hair, not synthetic. Meh. Not very pleased with that. So it probably means I will wear some poor misguided Google-impaired LoL donator’s hair on my head. Ick.

To my surprise, Lyko.se carries Nexxus. 

So far that has been the only brand that has succeeded in making my hair feel really soft, so finding it ”here” was a pleasant surprise.

I may have to return at some point to purchase every single Nexxus conditioner product they have in stock!

They have this one product I’ve never heard of before: Nexxus Polymedic Emergency Reconstructor.

Some name!

At first glance it sounded like a serious reconstructor, even calling for shampoo to get the excess out and Google provided some very favourable reviews. I just couldn’t find an ingredient list anywhere and it kept me from ordering it.

(Well that and the fact that I could keep my hair happily and routinely conditioned with mid-price supermarket products like Schwarzkopf, ElVital and Tresseme for like 6 months for that price!)

Luckily I could get an intelligent opinion on UTT on this product.

Yea, not going to buy this one. Might get a few other products from Nexxus some time in the future, but not this one. Heh, they always had me there… 

Thursday 4/7

I am envious of your Quattro purchase! I think about buying some of his pins every so often. I hope you find a solution for uploading pictures.

Sounds like me! I’ve been eyeing them for years and only now gotten myself together to get some.

I even ended up adding a pair of sticks too:

But yea, the upload… Oh sigh, it’s so much work!

Hey Lady Igor! You can order from Lilla Rose, even though you are here in Europe. We discussed that topic on the German langhaarnetzwerk. If you want a certain Lilla Rose flexi, go to flexi8.com, chose another Flexi of same size and same prize and add a little massage that you would like this flexi to be replaced by the flexi XXX (insert articlenumber here) from Lilla Rose. That works: I even made a custom order like that, combining a centerpiece from Lilla Rose with standard beads from the normal flexi8-homepage. - Me too, I have problems with my imagehost. At the moment I am looking for a new host with an own domain and own webspace. Best wishes from Germany, Heike

Thank you for the information!

I just did that, so now I should have an order coming. I wonder if they will get all my comments right…

(Mega)

(Mega)

A set of these in XL, asking for one to be left-handed and one to be right-handed:

And from Lilla Rose, mega:

A set of these from Lilla Rose in XL with one left-handed and one right-handed:

What do you all think? 

Wednesday 3/7

I’ve been putting off posting since I don’t have a working photo upload. And I’ve been putting off looking for a new upload since the thought alone makes me tired. First comparing options. Choosing one. Re-uploading the hundreds of pictures. Labeling and sorting them. Re-coding for all the pictures to show up again in my blog.

Bleah. Too much work.

And too much work already as it is.

I found a ridiculous longhair problem the other night…

When you have a headache and your first and only assumption is that your updo is crooked and causes the pain, so you take your bun down only to find it didn’t help. And then you spend the rest of the night being secretly pissed off you messed up your hair for nothing.

Not exactly meme-worthy but still…

I was going to place an order at Lilla Rose for some Flexi 8s.  But they don’t ship internationally. Booh!

I was seriously tempted by the badge clips they have too. The company-issued ID and security badge straps are seriously un-cute.

Not entirely feeling up for having to order directly from Flexi 8 even though they do ship internationally. They don’t carry all the designs of Lilla Rose and I still haven’t forgotten when they were rude to me.

(BTW "Lilla Rose" means "Purple rose" in Danish. I always find that mildly amusing) 

I made a Ron Quattro order instead…

Not sure I can wait 1-3 weeks, lol!

And now I really need to get an upload working so I can post pictures…  So looking forward to these!!

Quattro Hair Accessories 'StarLites' Combo Fork Set: 6”

Quattro Hair Accessories - 'Basics' Brass Hair Fork: 7”

Quattro Accessories 'Amish Style' Hair Pins: 4”

Quattro Hair Accessories ' StarLites' Helix Hair Fork: 6” 

Happy 11½ years to me!

It has now been 11½ years (and one day, it’s just past midnight here now) since I shaved my head. This is where I would usually provide you all with pictures, but at the moment I don’t have a functioning photo upload. And honestly I can’t be bothered to deal with it just at the moment.

But photos will be provided at a later time.

For now I will just have to say that I’m definitely in the top calf area and definitely out of the “Knee. Ish.” gray zone.

Perhaps it’s a good thing I am so busy, because I find myself worrying about my hemline a lot. I find it gets harder and harder to maintain anything even close to a hemline at this length and it’s messing with my love for the blunt straight ends.

Anyways: Happy 11½ years to my scalp!

Good job, scalp. *Pat pat* Good job. 

Still alive.

Heh, it warms my mean old cold heart that I’m missed so much!

Seriously people, I feel loved.

Things are pretty hectic at the moment. To say the least.

Those of you who read my sporadic UTT blog might remember I was offered a job some time ago, and how much trouble I had finding a place to live near it.

Well, I was hired for 37 hours a week but I have been doing a bunch of overtime. So far my record is 68 hours in one week. Pretty sure at some point I will manage to do twice the hours I was hired for…

On top of that I’m trying to lead a project for my uni. Needless to say, it isn’t going too well and I spend more time worrying about it than getting work done on it. Meh.

Oh, and I have an exam in two weeks’ time. Mostly a formality, but still…

Yea, my latest hobby is sleep.

Nah, that’s not entirely true: My latest hobby is visiting Hubby. Haha.

It sucks being stuck in another country and it sucks I only get to see him every other weekend. (At most. Last weekend off I was offered two evening shifts at emergency call-rate and I took it)

The good thing is, it’s good for our finances and good for Hubby making progress on his degree.

Still, I am counting (Backwards) to the day where I know for sure this whole thing will be over and I’m back with Hubby full time again.

It should be really good for my hair though.

I’ve been practicing benign neglect with my hair: CO wash when necessary, some Ankylosaurus when I can be bothered, a bit of oil here and there. Otherwise it goes up in a quick braided Nautilus bun and is ignored.

Work keeps me on my feet a lot, I bike to the office (5 minutes each way, but hey it all counts right?) and the place I live in have a rudimentary gym downstairs so I’m getting a lot more exercise than usually. But then again, I do have some serious basement dwelling nerd-tendencies so it doesn’t take a lot.

I try my best to get the best out of the situation as it is. I take advantage of the massage chair at work, I try to eat healthy, try to remember taking my vitamins and hope the exercise will be good for my hair growth.

Oh, and some of the money I make will definitely be spent on some shiny new hair tools.

Yea, not exactly enjoying things as they are, but I try to make the best possible out of it. 

Public service announcement

Since late January this year, I have kept a “buffer” of posts queued up and ready to post. It has allowed me to keep a steady output of posts while in reality my urge to blog and what I have found to blog about have come and gone.

However, at this time I may be without a private internet connection for a while. I don’t know when my new one will be working. I may go to the public library to post, but it is not the same.

So if you’re reading this, it means my internet connection is late and I haven’t been to the library to cancel this scheduled announcement.

So please stand by. I will be back to blogging sooner or later.

Facepalm

There is this stylist in the edge of my social circles that has continued to give me crap for putting my hair up while wet.

Because according to her old wives tales-style logic, it makes my hair rot.

Which of course is stupid, because there is nothing for mould to feed on unless your hair is dirty. Or it is trapped for extended lengths of time under something like a tight weave.

I mean, if water made hair rot, why would we have those fantastic bog bodies?

They spent up to 10 thousand years under water and yet we can still tell how they wore their hair.

Of course all my arguments fall on deaf ears and I will most definitely end up bald!

M-hm. Whatever.

Today I saw her talking to another woman in the edge of my social circles. This one was brushing her wet hair. And the stylist said nothing.

So putting damp hair up will make it rot, but brushing wet hair is completely fine?

Stylist’s logic. 

My gift to myself

After trying in various ways to motivate and reward myself for going to the gym, I have come to the conclusion that I simply don’t like going.

Hmm.

Part of the issue is that amount of transportation it requires. Not very motivating when I spend almost as much time on getting there than on a lifting-session.

Then I tried running again, thinking it would work when I just have to change clothes and shoes and get out the door. Also didn’t work: My ankle is still pretty shot.

I would really like to exercise, but I need to find something I enjoy and don’t get irritated with.

(Funnily I find it a lot better as motivation to know that “It’s good for your hair and skin!!” than “It will lover your blood pressure and boost your immune system and statistically it will lover your risk of diabetes, osteoporosis, cancer, apoplexy…”)

So, now I’m trying with this thing:

I haven’t even owned a bike for a couple of years, but I used to love mountain biking. 

Scarf style attempt

I tried copying the first style here, only with the intention of wrapping the scarf around my bun a couple of times:

It worked sort of okay, except that it would have looked a lot better if I had more scarf around the bun.

The purple scarf is 190 cm long, so holy crap, how long a scarf would I really need to get a good amount around the bun? 

Conditioner only wash

When I first started getting serious about my hairs health, I tried the CO wash method. Transitioning from 3 shampoos per week to 2 CO washes a week took me around a year. My patience was so worth it!

My scalp is happier, my hair feels wonderful and the winter static electricity issues have decreased a lot.

Why shampoo sucks

Shampoo strips the oils out of hair and then conditioner replaces them. No matter what clever and flashy commercials tell you, shampoo is damaging to hair.

The harsh surfactacts present in shampoo like sodium lauryl sulfate/sodium laureth sulfate and ammonium lauryl sulfate tend to overcleanse the scalp. These detergents also dry out the hair.

To compensate for the drying out, the scalp produces more sebum to protect itself and restore the natural state. Skin and scalp needs both a certain pH and natural oils to stay healthy.

This tends to put you in a cycle where you overcleanse to get rid of the greasy hair and your scalp produces more grease to compensate. Some link the overcleansing to dandruff and scalp issues.

For those who are familiar with the oil cleansing method for skin, using CO washing is a lot like that: Instead of using harsh products for cleansing and the putting the back moisture on, you can clean with a product that adds moisture.

Going conditioner only

If you are interested in going conditioner only, you should know it isn’t suitable if you use styling products (Not counting leave in conditioner or natural products like aloe vera and oils)

Of course you can always use the CO method as a supplement to shampoo or other cleansing methods. If you can substitute one shampoo for one CO wash a week, you are still doing something good for your hair and scalp.

Conditioners contain cleansing agents, surfactants and ingredients such as glycerin or glycerol, which are able to dissolve sebum, grease and dirt on your scalp. Cetyl and cetearyl alcohol are thickening and emulsifying agents are used to make a conditioner rich and creamy. Because they’re oil soluble help lift some of the sebum of your hair and scalp.
Conditioner will admittedly take longer to cleanse the scalp than shampoo does, so you need leave it on your scalp for a while before rinsing it off. Of course if you follow shampoo with conditioner, this adds up to about the same time spent.

Transition period

If you cut the shampoo out of daily use, initially your hair will feel very oily and dirty. This is because your hair is used to produce an excessive amount of oils as a defense against the daily oil stripping from shampoo. In some time, this balances out and the scalp adjusts to the new regime, resulting in less oil being produced in the first place.

You shouldn’t attempt going conditioner only if you’re not able to accept that you have a transitioning period where your hair won’t look so good!

Disguise greasy hair with a variety of braids, or hide it under a hat or bandana. It could be a good idea to look ahead in your schedule and avoid trying around major events where there will be pictures involved.

Warning

For those who suffer from dandruff, this might not work for you. Since the CO method doesn’t fully have the same cleansing properties as shampoo and dandruff thrives on excess sebum and oil, the method can make you itchy or uncomfortable.

Cool water rinses and ACV may however reduce the itching.

Method

• It may be a good idea to brush or scritch to loosen the sebum a bit first. It makes it easier to dissolve and wash out.
• Rinse your hair thoroughly. You can pre-scrub your scalp gently with your fingertips to dislodge dirt and oil from the scalp.
• Apply a generous amount of conditioner to hair. Take a big handful of conditioner so everything is covered and feels “slimy”. Ignore what the bottle recommends.
• I find the best way is to bend at the waist and let your hair hang down when you apply conditioner so you don’t get conditioner all over your skin. I have sensitive skin and my skin doesn’t appreciate too much contact with conditioner.
• Massage the conditioner into your scalp.
• Comb conditioner through your hair from the root to the tip using a wide-tooth comb.
• Leave the conditioner on your hair for some minutes.
• Rinse your hair thoroughly. Comb while rinsing and use your fingertips to scrub your scalp.
• I find the best way is to bend at the waist and let your hair hang down when you rinse. If you stand up and rinse downwards, the water seems to “bounce off”, where when you bend and rinse up, the water can penetrate the mass of hair better and you can direct and focus the water.
• Make sure all conditioner is rinsed from your scalp and roots.

Tips and tricks

• Some people find using cone free conditioners better than those that contain cones. It doesn’t include me, but now I have passed the advice on.
• Personally I find that conditioners containing protein are good for washing. There might be some scientific reason for this, but I haven’t found one yet.
• Be prepared to stick with this for a long time. Change comes slow and gradually. Try replacing one shampooing per week with one CO wash, and then some months later replace yet another shampooing with CO etc.
• Related to this is of course that you should ease into the CO wash method. You can’t go straight from shampoo to CO washes. Alternating them is a good plan.
• Try finishing with an ACV dip or rinse after CO washing. It normalizes the scalps pH, closes the hair scales and makes your hair feel great.
• Pick the right conditioners for trying: Sauve Naturals, VO5 (Alberto Balsam in Canada), White Rain and Tresemme Naturals are famous for being good for CO washes.

Of course then there are all the hybrid methods like low-poo and baking powder and various herbs for washing, but I will leave it to the reader to look these up if you’re interested.

I’m aware of, but not familiar with these methods. Since CO washing works for me, I haven’t experimented with them. 

Fabulous fruit!

Finding this product delighted me like crazy. Seriously. I was cracking up in the middle of the hair product isle. Unfortunately I wasn’t out with any of my girl friends, but with Hubby. He definitely didn’t get it. Instead he gave me that look where I suspect he is weighing my good sides against the most recent outburst of the crazies.

But seriously. Look at it:

It is so blatantly copying Fructis.

• The name: Fabulous fruit! I mean, not only does it lean against the Fructis name, but I just can’t help but imagining it being said with overly excited jazz-hands: Fabulous! Fruit!!
• The colour: That migraine inducing glow-in-the-dark green.
• The claim: “With fruit extract”. (Which I feel requires an exclamation point and some gesturing as well)
• The scent… Wow, the scent took gave me an honest to goddess flashback to the mid 90s. I remember being off at boarding school and this girl in my class told me her new shampoo smelled delicious and I stuck my nose in it and felt the explosion of sour green apple bubblegum up my sinuses. It was so absolutely over the top. Fructis really toned that scent down since then. Maybe they had too many allergic reactions to the ridiculous over-perfuming on their hands?

The ingredient list is simple:

Aqua. Water. H2O.

Cetyl alcohol. It keep an emulsion from separating into its oil and liquid components, are also used to alter the thickness of liquid products, to increase foaming capacity or to stabilize foams.

Cetrimonium chloride.  Helps to form emulsions by reducing the surface tension of the substances. www.cosmeticsinfo.org says “… safe for use in rinse-off products and were safe for use at concentrations of up to 0.25% in leave-on products.”

Vaccinium myrtillius extract. This is the Latin name for bilberry.

Saccharum officinarum extract. This is the Latin name for sugar cane. Also something found a lot in Fructis products (Never got why it was supposed to be good for hair)

Acer saccharum extract. This is the Latin name for sugar maple. Hah, this could easily have been in a Fructis product too.

Citrus aurantium dulcis fruit extract. This is the Latin name for oranges. Oranges have many uses in cosmetics, but the fruit extract in particular seems to be used for fragrance only.

Citrus medica limonum fruit extract. This is the Latin name for lemons. Lemons have many uses in cosmetics, but the fruit extract in particular seems to be used for fragrance only.

Parfym. Hah, I would have thought this one would be higher up with such a dominating scent!

Phenoxyethanol. Prevents microbial growth and prevents product from spoiling.

DMDM hydantoin. Is a formaldehyde-donor preservative that prevents or retards microbial growth.

Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate. Prevents or retards bacterial growth. www.cosmeticsinfo.org says “…safe as a cosmetic ingredient at concentrations less than or equal to 0.1%.”

Except for the Cetrimonium chloride so high up the list, this seems to be a nice product. Of course this leaves me with a dilemma: I really want to try this happily green product but then it wouldn’t sit there on my shelf anymore and make me crack a smile every time I look at it… 

Word of the day

Found here: Link

"Tangled hair, as if matted by elves." 

Origin: 1590s 

As in: Jeez, dude, look at the state of those elflocks — have you not heard of a comb?

Funny how this seems to be related to fairyknots (Those tiny unexplained and severely difficult to untangle knots)

32 tomorrow

I never really understood the big deal about birthdays.

I mean, really, it’s not like I have some condition or sickness that would lover my chances of surviving another year and there are no big sabre tooth tigers lurking around here.

So, really, we’re celebrating that I didn’t step out in front of a big truck for a grand total of 365 days?

Couldn’t people celebrate me when I accomplish something real instead?

I mean, honestly, I spent more energy on paying my bills this month than on turning 32. And I sure felt like I deserved cake and alcohol more after that!

Anyways: I turn 32 tomorrow. Yay! 

Que the poo-jokes

I’m exactly so immature that I find myself snickering at the low-poo and no poo-methods so this one amused me….

How about it? 

Overkill

Hm, really feels like overkill to use a pin to keep up the 20 or so hairs I’m trying to grow out. But if I don’t, they make this irritating curl and flap around all over the place. I need some serious shopping for some smaller pins or tiny claw clips.

Sunscreen for hair

Sunscreen is one of those things where I start to feel stupid. It seems like when I learn one thing, the next thing I learn is that the first thing I learned wasn’t really carved in stone and depends on a whole lot of other things. Meh.

I get confused at all the UV’s: UVA1, UVA2, UVB and UV…C?

Anyways. Sunscreen is good. Even the worst sunscreen is better than no sunscreen.

Sunscreen is also good for hair. The UV rays will break down the structure and strength of your hair, much like it does to old fabrics or paintings.

Covering your hair is a great thing, especially in the summer: It protects hair and scalp from sun and drying out. Not to mention salt or chlorine or whatever you can expose it to.

But sunscreen is a good thing to invest in when it comes to hair.

The active ingredients in sunscreen come in two versions: Physical and chemical. 

Physical sunscreen

Physical ingredients sit on your skin’s surface forming a protective barrier and don’t have the ability to be absorbed into your skin. Physical sunscreens protect your skin from the sun by deflecting or blocking the sun's rays. They start protecting immediately upon application and don’t degrade with exposure to sunlight.

Physical sunscreen ingredients

Zinc oxide (TiO2) protects you from UVB and most of UVA providing more UVA protection than titanium dioxide. Listed at the top of the FDA monograph as effective sun protection and considered the best broad spectrum protection. Zinc oxide is also known for its mild antimicrobial and wound healing properties. Zinc oxide is generally safe. It can be used on delicate skin and is a main ingredient in diaper rash cream.

Titanium dioxide (ZnO) protects you from UVB and short UVA radiation but not long UVA known to cause sun damage and aging in humans. Derived from the highly reflective chalky, white mineral, titanium, it's non-irritating, non-comedogenic, and for cosmetic use micronized by forming many small micro particles allowing your own skin tone to show. Titanium dioxide can be problematic for some people. (If you break out from mineral make up and physical sunscreen, titanium dioxide could be the culprit.)

Chemical sunscreen

Chemical ingredients work by absorbing the sun's rays. Some chemical filters can scatter sun rays, but still mostly just absorb them. Chemical filters tend to be more irritating to skin. If it gets in your eyes, it can make your eyes sting and water. Some can also cause allergic reactions. Chemical filters offer more coverage against UVA and UVB rays than physical sunscreens, but the range of protection will depend on the particular active and its stability. You must wait 20 minutes after application for effective sun protection.

Chemical sunscreen ingredients

Aminobenzoic Acid (PABA) PABA protects against UVB but not UVA. It was discovered to have harmful health effects and so its use is highly discouraged.

Avobenzone, Extensive UVA and limited UVB

Cinnamates (octyl methoxycinnamate (OMC), UVB

Cinoxate, Extensive UVB and limited UVA.

Dioxybenzone (UVB, UVAII), Extensive UVB and considerable UVA.

Ecamsule (Mexoryl SX)Extensive UVA and limited UVB.

Ensulizole(Phenylbenzimiazole Sulfonic Acid), UVB

Ethylhexyl p-Methoxycinnamate, high incident of contact irritation, non comedogenic, widely used), UVB

Homosalate, Minimal UVA and extensive UVB.

Menthyl Anthranilate, Considerable UVA and extensive UVB.

Meradimate(Menthyl Anthranilate), UVA

Octinoxate(Octyl Methoxycinnamate), UVB

Octisalate( Octyl Salicylate), UVB

Octocrylene, Limited UVA and extensive UVB.

Octyl dimethyl paba, UVB

Octyl Methoxycinnamate (OMC) Limited UVA and extensive UVB.UVB

Octyl Salicylate, Minimal UVA and extensive UVB.

Oxybenzone (benzophenone, benzophenone-3), Considerable UVA and extensive UVB.

Padimate O, Minimal UVA and extensive UVB.

Para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA), UVB

Parsol 1789, UVA

Phenylbenzimidazole, Minimal UVA and extensive UVB.

Salicylates (octyl salicytate (OCS), high incident of contact irritation, widely used), UVB

Sulisobenzone (UVB, UVAII). Considerable UVA and extensive UVB.

Trolamine salicylate, Minimal UVA and extensive UVB.

With this in mind, I took a look at my own usual SPF and was pleasantly surprised: My Garnier Ambre Solaire contains titanium dioxide and some chemical sunscreen ingredients and the Elvital Colour-vive spray that boasts of “UV nutri-filter” I had my serious doubts about, actually does contain chemical sunscreen ingredients. Pleasant surprise, I had my doubt if it actually contained any actual SPF or not, especially since there is no regulation when it comes to slapping “SPF” or “UV” on a hair product.

Adding your own sunscreen

I recommend people getting a good, expensive hair spray with SPF. Seriously, this is one of the few instances where I will recommend salon products or a good splurge. Use it to mist over all exposed parts of your hair and scalp, especially in the summer.

Of course you can always add sunscreen on your own. I find I can add a good tablespoon of heavy sunscreen to my 200 ml of Sunsilk leave in-conditioner without it messes with the texture or end result. It may not add up to a lot of active SPF, but any protection is better than none.

You can also add a little bit of a SPF spray to a normal leave in-conditioner spray, but I haven’t experimented with how much it can “take”. 

Loop-do

This was pretty simple and kind of cute.

I did it like this: Ponytail and then tied it off again a little further down. Split the tail in two braids that I wrapped around the base and put a hair stick through.