The henna project, day 14

I managed to keep the irritating drippy henna crap on my head for a full 5 hours. And I hated it!

Drippy, awful, horrible, tickling dripping!

I prepared a bucket we never use to dunk my henna’ed head into once I’m done letting it sit. I have a bit of the cone free Tresseme left plus another Tresseme conditioner with just a bit left. I figured a foamy watery conditioner dunk should be the best to dissolve the henna mud.

I’m not entirely sure it actually made rinsing easier, but I guess it doesn’t hurt to provide some “slip” when you manipulate hair that’s full of grainy cassia mud?

After rinsing, my hair had that sort of “cranky” feeling like always after cassia. I expected that too. So I handled it minimally and did a deep conditioning with Schwarzkopf Gliss Total Repair.

Another awesome point for the low henna-mix was that I didn’t get any staining at all. I didn’t use gloves and yet I had no staining on my hands. I even managed to get a spill up under the sink and didn’t discover it until a few hours later, yet it left no stains once I had rinsed it off.

Now I’m leaving my hair to the oxidation process.

The henna project, day 13

I set up a little henna-nest where I can be comfortable for the long hours ahead:

I took almost all our pillows and covers to make the couch more comfortable.

Then padded it with a black towel (Should show stains less, right?) and with a smaller, black towel within reach

• I set up entertainment: I’m a few pages away from finishing up Hellhole by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson and moving on to Hellhole: awakening. I do not entirely love the book, but I do like some aspects of the universe and want to see how it ends.
• My sweet new touch screen laptop: HP Pavilion x360
• Food: Delicious sushi from Zen sushi & Tea (I love their pickled red onions so much!) in Lund and lots of chocolaty goodness
• Drinks: Pepsi Max, Japanese green tea and a glass of Primitivo red wine (Was torn between this and a Carmenere. I love both!)
• Beauty stuff: I figured since I would be “stuck” here I should show my skin some love and do a facial mask too. Lying down like this should be good for keeping those Korean sheet masks on!
• Remote to the TV within reach as well.

Yep, I’m set! I just generally made sure I would only have to get up for bathroom breaks, haha.

The henna mix ready to go

Stirred: Way too dry and hard!

Did I miscalculate somewhere?

I added a bit of argan oil and more of the Tresseme. Unfortunately the conditioner was almost empty, so I was forced to add some water into it, shake it around and pour the foamy watery conditioner into the henna mix. I forgot to measure how much extra I added, so my notes on this are incomplete. I will have to go by feel next time, dammit.

I really wanted to avoid too much water in the mix… I have a fear it will begin to separate and run, which will drive me crazy with the dripping!

(Note to self: Add Tressemme ‘cone free to grocery list!)

Much better thickness now!

Well, the thickness turned out to be alright. But it was evident as soon as I had finished covering my scalp that I had way too little mix! Since I just added extra conditioner by eye-measure, I have no idea how much mix I need in total for the next time. I’m guessing at least 200 ml more, but how much did I have to begin with?

The mixture was still pretty thick, so I ended up having to be creative with how I stuck my hair up: Instead of a basic top knot, I ended up making something like Sansa wore a lot in Game of Thrones.

Two strands twisted around themselves, then pulled upwards and folded around themselves. (Minus the bit she has hanging loose of course)

I had an idea that I would give my eyebrows a layer too, but since I needed every single drop I could scrape up, that didn’t happen.

But the big problem?

The dripping. The horrible, horrible dripping. It started almost before I could wrap the cling wrap around my head. Awful. I had to reach for my “emergency” towel right way and kept it around my neck.

I had to give up on eating all my yummy snacks. You wouldn’t think the chewing motion would affect your scalp, but it does. And each chew sent a cascade of horrible, tickling little drops down my face and neck.

Argh!!!

The first glass of wine managed to dampen how irritating the dripping was though…

Luckily, it started to get better once the first hour had passed, but the hours still dragged by so slowly.

Note to next time: The only water allowed for the henna mix will be the bit needed to turn the dry henna into mud before freezing it. I will even try to use less water to turn the henna into mud than I did this time. I will just have to use oil and conditioner for the rest!

The dripping sucks!

The henna project, day 12

The indigo tests haven’t changed their colour. Not that I expected it, but I wanted to be sure.

I washed my hair using Syoss Silicone Free Repair & Fullness. I was pleasantly surprised at that one. Generally I haven’t had a lot of luck with Syoss, the conditioners are just too heavy for me. This one, however worked just fine.

Henna mud ready to freeze:

• 5 gram henna
• 50 ml water

I have an image in my head of my hair being slightly confused over the use of cone free conditioners lately: “So… Are we trying to go ‘cone free, or…?”

I’m pleasantly surprised at the cone free products in general though.

Granted, my experience with ‘cone free products are many years back, but I still think there are two options at play here:

Cone free products have become better

Or

I have become better at working with my hair and my CO-technique has become better

Maybe it’s a combination of both.

I remember my old tries of ‘cone free. It went so bad. Hah. Of course it was back when I was in total “Try all the things!”-mode and decided that since some people on LHC thought ‘cones were bad, of course they were plain poison for my hair too!

It didn’t go as bad as the coconut-incident, but that story will have to wait for another day.

Maybe I should add just a bit of the Syoss to the henna-treatment instead of water?

The henna project, day 11

Yesterday I rinsed the control and scrunched it up a bit so it was more compact like the colour treated tests. Should make it easier to judge!

The indo test strands are both ever so slightly darker. It’s perfect: You would have to know it’s supposed to be darker, otherwise you probably can’t tell.

I can safely “layer” the indigo until I get the result I want. I figure I will have to repeat this a couple of times to even out the lighter ends. Maybe even set up a schedule, like: Do waist and down first, then classic and down and finally mid thigh and down. Or something like that. I think I will start with waist and down. 

The henna project, day 10

Alright. Time to proceed with the indigo!

My idea is to have the indigo mix a little simpler and a little thicker since it will be used on the length only and will be easier to apply.

Getting stuff ready…

Indigo mix: Indigo, cassia, Tressemme Naturals Nourishing Moisture conditioner and water if needed.

It turned out that 5 gram of indigo add up to 20 ml, so it’s less dense then henna.

For a 1/10th test batch I will need 2 ml then.

Indigo test batch

• 2 ml indigo
• 10 gram cassia
• 40 ml Tressemme Naturals Nourishing Moisture conditioner

Indigo cement!

The mixture turned out quite hard and dense so I added water: 6 ml in all.

It was still quite dense and hard, so I had to “massage” it around to get it into the test hairballs. The thick texture will be okay once I get to actually use it on my hair: I will use it for the length only so I should be able to distribute it well anyways.

“A” is for the strand test that was henna’ed with the argan oil mix.

I left the baggies for 3 hours before rinsing.

The reflection of the kitchen counter is quite irritating, but it feels good knowing I shouldn’t be able to stain the metal!

The indigo mix and hair turned into a little hard lump and it felt rather funny to rinse out. Loosening the cassia-indigo mix out with a conditioner before rinsing for real will definitely be the way to go! 

The henna project, day 9

7 days after henna mix application and the oxidation should definitely be done by now.

Hmm. The argan batch has lost the slightly glossier quality. Both tests have the same amount of shine to them, but I still think the argan one is a little more red.

I think the colour is perfect: It’s so barely there, that even if you do know that it’s there, you still have to look closely. Absolutely perfect! I can “layer” this and I will have no worries about ugly roots or intense staining of various bathroom and kitchen surfaces.

Memebox Special #53 My Honey Box

This box was packed! Didn’t even have the usual papery stuffing to keep the items from sliding around. It makes me really happy when I receive boxes like this.

Top

Pure Smile Snail Lip Treatment in Honey

Cool! I got one like this in “Mixed fruits” in the vitamin box a while back and I really like it.

Excellent, now I have a replacement once I have used the first one up.

It doesn’t have the same strong tingly effect as the Mixed fruits-one and it’s a good thing.

Middle row, left to right

Estheenique DayCell Essential Honey Lift Massage Cream

Items like this that can barely fit into the box, makes me really happy.

I’m a little confused at the description of this thing though: It really emphasises that this cream needs to be massaged in, but it seems to be a regular sleep pack otherwise? Should I maybe try to “massage” it in with my Clarisonic?

BTW, here’s a question I haven’t been able to answer myself: What is the difference between a sleeping pack and a night cream? Is there any?

So far, my observation is that Korean sleeping packs are lighter and more gel-like than Western night creams, but it can’t be just that, right? 

Migabee Antipollution Re-peeling Facial Pack

Hubby snorted at the “anti pollution” thing. I hadn’t even picked up on that. I guess I’m so used to the more or less random terms plastered on beauty products. It’s been ages since last I used a peel off mask, but they always amuse me. Even though they never ever do that cool thing where you can peel them off in one go and always gets tangled in my eyebrows.

From Nature Multi Effect Collagen Mask

Sweet! A sheet mask. You really can’t have too many of those. They are just so simple, effective and generally awesome.

Bottom row, left to right

Enesti Apple and Honey Shea Butter Hand Cream

This is pretty cute! It will go in my shoulder bag. Smells great! Sweet, and like green apples. I always have a hand cream with me and of course it is a plus if it looks cute.

Mi Click Manuka Honey Treatment

Hair treatment? Cool! I didn’t expect a hair treatment in this box, so it’s a pleasant surprise. Using honey on your hair is practically the norm in the longhair circuit, so this is right up my ally.

Edmong Honeybee Water Cream

Aloe vera, ugh.

Everything about this cream sounds awesome though. Great ingredient list with lots of current buzz-worthy ingredients, no nasty chemicals and it smells and looks wonderful too.

My aloe vera issue is with stuff in the skin and not the pulp, so I only have issues with aloe vera if it’s pressed without peeling it first. Unfortunately they never write how they press it, so maybe I will chance it and give it a shot.

Verdict

First of all, I’m impressed at how they got all the way around your beauty needs and kept the honey theme: Sheet mask, creams, hair treatment, hand cream, peel off mask and lip balm. Nice!

Second, it has an impressive ratio of products I’m excited about. Since I’m considering trying the Edmong Honeybee Water Cream, it will mean I can put every single product to use and that’s unfortunately not always that happens.