Today's hair

It's funny how a style can just slip out of your routine.

Other than when I last did a French braid for the Nautilus/Elling-hybrid, I really can't remember when I last made a French braid?

Well, this is the reason I started blogging in the first place (Like 14 years ago??): To keep track of what I can do, what I can't do, what works for me and what doesn't work for me.
I lost count of the times when I looked back over a blog and went "Oh yea, why don't I do that style again?". Photo documentation is great.

Best gift ever!

Mr. Igor gave me the best Christmas gift like... ever!

It's simultaneously the dumbest and yet most awesome gift I've ever received.

It is so soft and comfortable!

16 years!

Crazy that it has been so long, isn't it?

Picture didn't turn out so well. I came home late and it was completely dark by the time my hair had dried.

I put it in a braid while almost dry for just a few minutes to eat dinner, and yet it left wave-tracks. Arrrgh!

Ellingwoman/Nautilus hybrid bun

My comment about the Ellingwoman being more stable than the Nautilus bun the other day gave me an idea.

So, here goes...

Hair is in a French braid.

Create a loop like for a regular Nautilus bun.

Poke fingers in under the French braid part.

Pull braid in through, under the loop and under the French braid-part.

Adjust loop size and pull a little more of the braid through.

Keep wrapping around the base of the braid and pulling through the French braid in the same spot.

Pull outer loop over the inner parts.

Put tool in between outer loop and inner parts.

Push tool out again between outer loop and inner parts.

Done!
This was super comfortable and stable!
Also, having the inner braids "hidden" under the French part allows the braid to show better. The bun looks "cleaner".

Compare this to a regular Nautilus bun:

Here's my simplified paint-explanation to show what happened:

On a regular Nautilus bun, you have the outer loop (Orange) going around the inner loop (Red) when you finish the updo. But the inner loop (Red) is only actually secured by the outer loop (Orange) going around it and holding it in place. It is very secure as an updo, but it needs a tool to hold it up through too much activity. I usually pin the tool in between the outer and inner loops and out again on the other side.

By pulling the inner loops (Red) in through the French braid, like the Ellingwoman bun, the inner loops are held up on their own. The outer loops (Orange) are the only part of the updo that needs a tool to stay in place. By pinning a tool in between the outer and inner loops and out again on the other side, you create an extremely secure updo, because you anchor the outer loops to the already secure inner loops.

Simplified version of the Ellingwoman bun

The Elling woman was found in Denmark in 1938. She is one of the many well preserved bog bodies found in northern Europe. She died around 280 BCE and was around 25 years old.

What makes her famous in the longhair circuit is her long hair (90 cm), which was braided and knotted up in an elaborate bun.

The braid started in a regular three stranded braid using the crown hair. Then adding in the rest of the hair at neck-level into a six stranded braid, where the strands were braided in two and two. This must have required some sort of twisting to keep the strands separated. 

It probably had some sort of symbolic value, maybe magic numbers or something?

The braid was tied off using the hair itself. This is perhaps the thing that is the hardest to recreate, since this is incredibly hard to replicate on modern, sleek and clean hair. I think some sort of fat or oil must have been used to keep it in place?

The braid was then wrapped up under the initial braid and a knot/bun was formed.

The knot has a really good stability and is often praised for being comfortable.

Compared to some of the other historical hairstyles, this is also fairly easy to recreate.

However, there is a few "cheats" I like to do with it...

Start with a normal French or Dutch braid.
Optional: Skip a "step" when taking in hair, so you have a "gap" to easier wrap the braid through.
Mine is here in the right side at top of ear-level.

Poke fingers through the braid to find a place to pull the braid through.

Pull braid through the gap.

Depending on the length of your braid, you can stop here.
You can also wrap until you have the length of braid left that you want.

Or keep wrapping up into a complete bun with no loose braid.

Tuck ends in.

The bun is incredibly self stabilizing.
This is perhaps the only rival to the Nautilus bun when it comes to stability.

It doesn't even need a tool, but I like to add one anyways.

I think a bone hair stick is suitable!
This one is from WoodArtJewelry.

Seriously cool Christmas hair

Rainbow hair colour

This was created to show off the hair colour, but as cool as it is, my fascination is with the crown braid and decorations.

This seems to be a milkmaid-type crown braid, but how do you "thread" the silvery string through the hair without getting the little stars tangled in it?
And is the string what is holding the braid in place?

No matter what, it seems such a simple, yet stunning idea. The decorations attached are so nice!
I will have to play around with this for sure.

Product showdown

Continuing my product showdown:
I usually buy my conditioners following the rule "Whatever is on sale", and then just grab one of each line out of the brand. So now I have a lot of conditioners from the same brands, but different lines. So I was thinking that maybe I should do a comparison for all of those "doubles" so in the future, I will only get the best one at the next sale.

Up today are:

L'Oreal Elvital anti-breakage
L'Oreal Elvital color-vive

I'm going to compare them on a few different factors:

• First impressions 
• Effect: Shine and manageability 
• Ingredient analysis and interesting ingredients such as "actives": Oils, fruits, keratin, sunscreen

First impressions

L'Oreal Elvital anti-breakage

Has that sort of clean and "soapy" scent. Good, thick formulation. 

L'Oreal Elvital color-vive
Has that sort of clean and "soapy" scent. Really thick formulation, almost deep conditioner texture which makes it almost drip free. I like!

Effect

L'Oreal Elvital anti-breakage

This left my hair incredibly soft and slippery, so much that it was actually rather hard to handle for me!

L'Oreal Elvital color-vive
Soft and slippery, but not as hard to handle as the anti-breakage.

Ingredient analysis

L'Oreal Elvital anti-breakage

Aqua / Water, Cetyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Amodimethicone, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Stearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Trideceth-6, Chlorhexidine Dihydrochloride, Limonene, Isopropyl Alcohol, 2-Oleamido -1, 3-Octadecanediol, Dipalmitoylethyl Hydroxyethylmonium Methosulfate, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Myristyl Alcohol, Cetyl Esters, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetrimonium Chloride, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Citric Acid, Citronellol, Hexyl Cinnamal, Glyceryl Linoleate, Glyceryl Oleate, Glyceryl Linolenate, Parfum / Fragrance. (F.I.L. C42783/1).

Applying the Beauty Brains "First five ingredients rule"

Water, Cetyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Amodimethicone, Hydroxyethylcellulose

When only looking at the top five ingredients, this is a emollient and moisturizing product.
Which means I would want to use this as a CO cleanser for the surfactant to dissolve scalp oils. I would also use this as a deep conditioner for a moisture booster.

Interesting ingredients
Cetearyl Alcohol is an emulsifier which means it can dissolve oils and be used for cleansing.
Glycerin is a really good moisturizer.
Amodimethicone is a cone particularly prone to build up.
Myristyl Alcohol, Cetyl Esters, Glyceryl Linoleate, Glyceryl Oleate and Glyceryl Linolenate are emollients.

I would expect this conditioner to result in some very soft hair from the ingredient list.

26 ingredients in total

3 marked as a "2" for acne-trigger.  12%

3 marked as a "2" for irritation-trigger. 12%

1 marked as a "4" for irritation-trigger. 4%

13 marked as "green" for safety. 50%

8 marked as "yellow" for safety. 31%

1 marked as "red" for safety. 4%

And two marked as "green-yellow" for safety.  8%

L'Oreal Elvital color-vive
Aqua/Water/Eau, Cetearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Cetyl Esters, Tocopherol, cocos nucifera oil/coconut oil, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Trideceth-6, Chlorhexidine Digluconate, poly (linseed oil), benzyl alcohol, benzyl salicylate, linalool, Benzophenone 4, Amodimethicone, isoprpyl alcohol, alpha-isomethyl ionone, geraniol, citric acid, potassium hydroxide, butylphenyl methylpropional,citronellol, cetrinonium chloride, BHT, hexyl cinnamal, parfum/fragrance.

Applying the Beauty Brains "First five ingredients rule"

Water, Cetearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Cetyl Esters, Tocopherol

When only looking at the top five ingredients, this is a emollient and surfactant product.
Which means I would want to use this as a CO cleanser for the surfactant to dissolve scalp oils. I would also use this as a conditioner for a moisture booster.

Interesting ingredients
Cetearyl Alcohol is an emulsifier which means it can dissolve oils and be used for cleansing.
Cetyl Esters is an emolient and should result in soft hair.
Tocopherol is an antioxidant. Questions is if it will rinse out or leave on.
Cocos nucifera oil. Coconut oil. Love it or hate it. For me, it results in closed comedones and irritation. This means I would avoid using this as a cleansing conditioner and getting it on my scalp!
Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate is a sunscreen ingredient. Nice!
Linseed oil. Does this penetrate?
Benzyl Alcohol. Another sunscreen ingredient. Very nice indeed!
Benzophenone 4. Three sunscreen ingredients in one conditioner. Very nice!

Since this conditioner contains coconut oil, I would not want it on my scalp. This is a protein-free moisturizer and I would use it as such.

26 ingredients in total

2 marked as a "2" for acne-trigger. 8%

1 marked as a "4" for acne-trigger.  4%

1 marked as a "1" for irritation-trigger.  4%

2 marked as a "2" for irritation-trigger.  8%

1 marked as a "4" for irritation-trigger. 4%

And one marked as a "0-2" for irritation-trigger.  4%

10 marked as "green" for safety. 38%

12 marked as "yellow" for safety.  46%

3 marked as "red" for safety.  12%

And one marked as "green-yellow" for safety. 4 %

Lady Igor says

I actually like both in each their own way, but... The L'Oreal Elvital color-vive is awesome for the SPF, but since it contains coconut oil I would limit using it to the ends. The L'Oreal Elvital anti-breakage is a good deep conditioner all around and I would use this on my scalp to CO too. 

So I guess L'Oreal Elvital anti-breakage wins. But reluctantly, since I really do love SPF in my hair products. The risk of irritating my skin isn't worth it though.

Christmas hair accessories

Hmm. So yesterdays Throwback Thursday made me a little sad I don't have any more cool Christmas hair accessories. So I went out to look for some, but have to admit it was a little hard to find some that were adult enough for me, while still being fun and playful.

And I guess by being "adult" I mean something that looks like decent quality and doesn't just look like cheap plastic...?

Can't really say these were adult though?
Still kind of fun!

Throwback Thursday

Old pictures of Christmas themed hairstyles.

 

My old collection of Christmas-related hair stuff. Wrapping some tinsel around a braid tassel is always quick and easy!

Today's hair

The mane is slightly irritated but soft after yesterdays (totally not penis-shaped) deep conditioning, so it's in a simple, single braid.

Today's hair

Doing a deep conditioning over night.
Going to do a single braid tomorrow to let it rest and calm down again, since I'm not planning to leave the house all day.

Mr. Igor says it looks like a penis.
Is he right?

Is Mr. Igor right?

No! Obviously.

Yes! LOL

What?

I have no opinion, I just wanted to press the button.

pollcode.com free polls

Today's hair

Yep, even with slightly messy braid bases, this worked pretty well.
It got nice and flat.
Too bad I couldn't hide the bottom braid a little better.
Also, I definitely need some smaller U-pins...