Product smackdown

 

Okay, this one is a little amusing to me. One of my coworkers have recently started converting to the curly girl method, and has been asking me a lot of questions about hair products.

Most of them I simply can't answer, because my hair is so easy to deal with!

Most of questions I know I used to be able to answer, but since I haven't needed to know these things for years, the knowledge has slipped my mind. 

Especially when it comes to product ingredients, because outside of my allergies (Aloe vera being the biggest problem, but sea buckthorn and paprika have also proven to be annoying from time to time) and my hairs mild dislike for too much protein, I really have no real worries.

For a newly converted (and very enthusiastic) curly girl, I'm apparently a source of frustration. Sorry, coworker. 

Anyways. Curly-haired coworker was raving about some Matas products and asking my opinions on them, so I thought I would give them a shot. 

It's kind of funny how some products can just slip out of your rotation and consciousness. I practically grew up on their products! The Matas Stripes are pretty much iconic to Danes.

Matas is a Danish chain, which was founded in 1949. The name comes from MATerialisternes AktieSelskab, meaning "the Materialists' stock company". I had some trouble both understanding what exactly a "Materialist" was, and how to translate it. But my best explanation would be a sort of pre-pharmacy, pre-beauty store selling herbs, chemicals, over the counter medicine, personal care kind of items. Think like... 1800's. It's a very old word and I can't remember when I last encountered it. Probably in a fantasy book.

The house brand is "The Stripes" which also covers the iconic design of the products. That has been around since 1967, which is why so many Danes have grown up on the products. 

Anyways.

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, keratin, sunscreen

Granatæble balsam til normalt hår

Balsam uden parfume til tørt og beskadiget hår

Balsam uden parfume til krøllet hår

Mild balsam uden parfume til normalt hår

Balsam til farvet hår

Okay, let me translate...

Pomegranate conditioner for normal hair

Conditioner without parfume for dry and damaged hair

Conditioner without parfume for curly hair

Mild conditioner without parfume for normal hair

Conditioner for coloured hair

The line also has a conditioner for silver or grey hair, and one with sea buckthorn in the same size and price. Since I'm painfully allergic to sea buckthorn, I stayed clear of that one.

First impressions
My first impression for all the products is that I hate the opening. It took me a few seconds of fumbling to even get them open. It has a sort of screw open thing, but inside the lid. I'm not a fan. It got pretty messy. 

At one point, I think when I was testing the one for curly hair? I asked mr Igor for help because my hands were slippery with conditioner and the lid had screwed itself shut again. And mr Igor ended up just snapping the whole screw-lid off. Alrighty. Problem solved: The bottle was open. I ended up doing just that with the following bottles, because why bother? I use the full bottle for a wash anyways.

All the products have a pH of 4,3, which is good. The skin barrier functions best at slightly acidic level, and it will help close the little "scales" of the outer layer of hair.

All the Matas Stripes products are vegan.

And all the products are produced in Denmark, which I also like. 

Granatæble balsam til normalt hår (Pomegranate conditioner for normal hair)

Clean and creamy scent. Has a good thickness for working with it.

Balsam uden parfume til tørt og beskadiget hår (Conditioner without parfume for dry and damaged hair)

Smells like nothing. This one is slightly more runny and I had a few spills when working it into my hair.

Balsam uden parfume til krøllet hår (Conditioner without parfume for curly hair)

Smells like nothing. I had mr Igor smell these too and he suggests the perfume free ones smells vaguely like milk and soap. It had a really good thickness and consistency. Not too thick, but didn't spill a lot either. 

Mild balsam uden parfume til normalt hår (Mild conditioner without parfume for normal hair)

Smells like nothing really?

Balsam til farvet hår (Conditioner for coloured hair)

Soapy, fruity smell. Sort of clean too. Pleasant.

Effect

Granatæble balsam til normalt hår (Pomegranate conditioner for normal hair)

Made my hair really soft and slippery. Shiny and nice too. Good cleanser.

Balsam uden parfume til tørt og beskadiget hår (Conditioner without parfume for dry and damaged hair)

This one basically did nothing? I mean, it cleaned my scalp just fine, but my hair length didn't feel any different after. Not softer, not shiner, not more slippery, nothing. My scalp didn't feel particularly clean either. It honestly felt like second day hair as soon as it had dried. I guess that's not actually a bad thing because my hair can be a massive pain to handle if it gets too slippery.

Balsam uden parfume til krøllet hår (Conditioner without parfume for curly hair)

This one also did very little. It even left my scalp with a few little flakes, so it didn't really clean the scalp and it didn't really make my length... well, anything? Didn't feel more soft, didn't seem more shiny. Didn't get slippery and hard to handle like usually after I condition. I guess that would be a good thing normally, because extra slip is not really a good thing for my hair. But since it didn't really clean my scalp either... Meh. 

Mild balsam uden parfume til normalt hår (Mild conditioner without parfume for normal hair)

Pretty thin consistency for this one, but it did a decent job of cleaning up my scalp. Hair felt pretty nice and soft afterwards. 

Balsam til farvet hår (Conditioner for coloured hair)

For fucks sake. This thing was so damn runny. I think I spilled like half of it trying to get it into my hair! 

It was so runny, I'm unsure if maybe it wasn't closed properly with that weird screw lid and water had leaked into it. It just seems weird. Why would you formulate a product that is so runny that it basically escapes you when you try to apply it? I really hope it was because water had leaked into it, because that seems illogical. It would be a real trip hazard in the shower if you use this normally. I bent over the bathtub, so I could rinse the spills away without risking to break my neck, but still. 

I almost want to buy a new one just to check the consistency of the second bottle.

It didn't really did a lot for cleaning either. 

Ingredient analysis
The ingredient lists were freely available on the website, so plus for that. I hate when I have to type all the lists myself. And why would companies try to hide the ingredients anyways? It seems suspicious.

Granatæble balsam til normalt hår (Pomegranate conditioner for normal hair)

Aqua, Cetearyl Alcohol, Behenoyl PG-Trimonium Chloride, Glycerin, Cetyl Palmitate, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter, Quaternium-87, Punica Granatum Fruit Extract, Panthenol, Propylene Glycol, Butylene Glycol, Macadamia Integrifolia/Tetraphylla Seed Oil, Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Lactic Acid, Helianthus Annuus Seed Extract, Hexylene Glycol, Parfum, Sodium Gluconate, Citric Acid, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate, Sorbic Acid.

Balsam uden parfume til tørt og beskadiget hår (Conditioner without parfume for dry and damaged hair)

Aqua, Glycerin, Behenamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Distearoylethyl Dimonium Chloride, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter, Cetearyl Alcohol, Creatine, Glyceryl Stearate, Glyceryl Stearate Citrate, Panthenol, Caprylyl Glycol, Triticum Vulgare Protein, 12-Hexanediol, Sodium Gluconate, Citric Acid, Lactic Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Phenoxyethanol, Benzoic Acid.

Balsam uden parfume til krøllet hår (Conditioner without parfume for curly hair)

Aqua, Glycerin, Betaine, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter, Distearoylethyl Dimonium Chloride, Behenamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Cetearyl Alcohol, Triticum Vulgare Bran Extract, Triticum Vulgare Germ Extract, Camellia Oleifera Seed Oil, Triticum Vulgare Germ Oil, Linoleic Acid, Cetearyl Nonanoate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Tocopheryl Acetate, Tocopherol, Hydrolyzed Jojoba Esters, Jojoba Esters, Glyceryl Stearate Citrate, Sodium Gluconate, Citric Acid, Lactic Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Phenoxyethanol.

Mild balsam uden parfume til normalt hår (Mild conditioner without parfume for normal hair)

Aqua, Behenamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Betaine, Glyceryl Stearate
Lactic Acid, Distearoylethyl Dimonium Chloride, Allantoin, Sodium Gluconate, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Benzoate.

Balsam til farvet hår (Conditioner for coloured hair)

Aqua, Glycerin, Betaine, Behenamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Dipalmitoylethyl Dimonium Chloride, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter, Distearoylethyl Dimonium Chloride, Lactic Acid, Triticum Vulgare Bran Extract, Triticum Vulgare Germ Extract, Camellia Oleifera Seed Oil, Panthenol, Propylene Glycol, Triticum Vulgare Germ Oil, Linoleic Acid, Cetearyl Nonanoate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Tocopheryl Acetate, Tocopherol, Ethylhexyl Triazone, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate Citrate, Parfum, Sodium Gluconate, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Phenoxyethanol.

I find it quite interesting how different the ingredient lists are. Often, it's basically just the "active"/selling point-ingredient that has been swapped out along with a few ingredients for stability or scent. But these have quite different ingredient lists and what purpose I would use them for.

Granatæble balsam til normalt hår (Pomegranate conditioner for normal hair)

Applying the Beauty Brains "First five ingredients rule"
    Cetearyl Alcohol, Behenoyl PG-Trimonium Chloride, Glycerin, Cetyl Palmitate, Butyrospermum         Parkii Butter

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.

Aqua, Cetearyl Alcohol, Behenoyl PG-Trimonium Chloride, Glycerin, Cetyl Palmitate, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter, Quaternium-87, Punica Granatum Fruit Extract, Panthenol, Propylene Glycol, Butylene Glycol, Macadamia Integrifolia/Tetraphylla Seed Oil, Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Lactic Acid, Helianthus Annuus Seed Extract, Hexylene Glycol, Parfum, Sodium Gluconate, Citric Acid, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate, Sorbic Acid.

Interesting ingredients:
Cetearyl Alcohol is an emulsifier which means it can dissolve oils and be used for cleansing.
Glycerin is a really good moisturizer.

Butyrospermum Parkii Butter is shea butter. I don't understand why this isn't used as the featured ingredient? 

Quaternium-87 is a quaternium ammonium compound and will bing to the damaged areas of hair.

Macadamia Integrifolia/Tetraphylla Seed Oil is macadamia oil.

Punica Granatum Fruit Extract is pomegranate and the token ingredient that gives the products its name. 

Panthenol does maybe-maybe not penetrate and strengthen hair.

Helianthus Annuus Seed Extract is sunflower. But why does it need to be an extract? Couldn't this just have been an oil?
Even though this one has parfume, it's pretty far down the list and only one single fragrance ingredient. See, this is how you fragrance a product: No reason to have 4-5 ingredients for that. Just one and done.

As nice as it is that Matas gets it with fragrance, this product has 5 preservative ingredients: Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate and Sorbic Acid. Hmm. I guess it doesn't give Good Brand Points (tm) to advertise less preservatives?

In conclusion: This is a pretty solid CO-cleanser and moisturizer. Good ingredient list too. 

Balsam uden parfume til tørt og beskadiget hår (Conditioner without parfume for dry and damaged hair)

Applying the Beauty Brains "First five ingredients rule"
    Glycerin, Behenamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Distearoylethyl Dimonium Chloride, Butyrospermum     Parkii Butter, Cetearyl Alcohol

When only looking at the top five ingredients, this is a emollient and moisturizing product. But in use it just didn't really do a whole lot of my hair?

Aqua, Glycerin, Behenamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Distearoylethyl Dimonium Chloride, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter, Cetearyl Alcohol, Creatine, Glyceryl Stearate, Glyceryl Stearate Citrate, Panthenol, Caprylyl Glycol, Triticum Vulgare Protein, 12-Hexanediol, Sodium Gluconate, Citric Acid, Lactic Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Phenoxyethanol, Benzoic Acid.

Interesting ingredients:

Glycerin is a really good moisturizer.

Butyrospermum Parkii Butter is shea butter.

Cetearyl Alcohol is an emulsifier which means it can dissolve oils and be used for cleansing.

Creatine. I can count on two fingers the times I have seen creatine in hair products. I know it from strength training purposes, but was unsure of its purpose in a hair product. Some Googling later, and I can't say I feel wiser, as some sources discuss that it might cause hair loss when taken as a supplement, but others say it may strengthen hair. Meh. Not sure what to think.

Panthenol does maybe-maybe not penetrate and strengthen hair.

Triticum Vulgare Protein is wheat protein.

This product is fragrance free as advertised, but has three preservative ingredients: Sodium Benzoate, Phenoxyethanol and Benzoic Acid

In conclusion: It actually did clean my scalp pretty well, but I didn't really feel the moisturizing effect it should have had from the ingredient list. I did however like that it didn't make my hair overly slippery after use.

Balsam uden parfume til krøllet hår (Conditioner without parfume for curly hair)

Applying the Beauty Brains "First five ingredients rule"
    Glycerin, Betaine, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter, Distearoylethyl Dimonium Chloride,                           Behenamidopropyl Dimethylamine

When only looking at the top five ingredients, this is a moisturizing product.

Aqua, Glycerin, Betaine, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter, Distearoylethyl Dimonium Chloride, Behenamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Cetearyl Alcohol, Triticum Vulgare Bran Extract, Triticum Vulgare Germ Extract, Camellia Oleifera Seed Oil, Triticum Vulgare Germ Oil, Linoleic Acid, Cetearyl Nonanoate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Tocopheryl Acetate, Tocopherol, Hydrolyzed Jojoba Esters, Jojoba Esters, Glyceryl Stearate Citrate, Sodium Gluconate, Citric Acid, Lactic Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Phenoxyethanol.

Interesting ingredients:
Glycerin is a really good moisturizer.

Betaine is an amino acid with humectant properties. 

Butyrospermum Parkii Butter is shea butter.

Cetearyl Alcohol is an emulsifier which means it can dissolve oils and be used for cleansing.
It has two extracts coming from wheat: Triticum Vulgare Bran Extract andTriticum Vulgare Germ Extract.

Camellia Oleifera Seed Oil is camellia oil, which is an oil my hair likes a lot.

Triticum Vulgare Germ Oil is wheat oil. Lots of wheta in this product?

This product has no fragrance, just as advertised. 

In conclusion: It did very little for my hair. Didn't really clean, didn't really make my hair shinier or anything. Maybe it's a super specific curls-only conditioner? It  actually made me a little confused, because the ingredient list is definitely not bad, so it should have done more for my hair than it did.

Mild balsam uden parfume til normalt hår (Mild conditioner without parfume for normal hair)

Applying the Beauty Brains "First five ingredients rule"
    Behenamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Betaine, Glyceryl Stearate
    Lactic Acid

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.

Aqua, Behenamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Betaine, Glyceryl Stearate,
Lactic Acid, Distearoylethyl Dimonium Chloride, Allantoin, Sodium Gluconate, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Benzoate.

What a short ingredient list. Just 12 ingredients, 11 if we don't count water.

Interesting ingredients:
Cetearyl Alcohol is an emulsifier which means it can dissolve oils and be used for cleansing.

Glycerin is a really good moisturizer.

Betaine is an amino acid with humectant properties. 

Allantoin has a soothing effect on dry and itchy skin.

No fragrance and only two preservative ingredients: Phenoxyethanol and Sodium Benzoate

In conclusion: 

Balsam til farvet hår (Conditioner for coloured hair)

Applying the Beauty Brains "First five ingredients rule"
    Glycerin, Betaine, Behenamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Dipalmitoylethyl Dimonium Chloride,                Butyrospermum Parkii Butter

When only looking at the top five ingredients, this is a moisturizer with extra moisture. Best use would probably be for deep conditioning.

Aqua, Glycerin, Betaine, Behenamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Dipalmitoylethyl Dimonium Chloride, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter, Distearoylethyl Dimonium Chloride, Lactic Acid, Triticum Vulgare Bran Extract, Triticum Vulgare Germ Extract, Camellia Oleifera Seed Oil, Panthenol, Propylene Glycol, Triticum Vulgare Germ Oil, Linoleic Acid, Cetearyl Nonanoate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Tocopheryl Acetate, Tocopherol, Ethylhexyl Triazone, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate Citrate, Parfum, Sodium Gluconate, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Phenoxyethanol.

Interesting ingredients:

Glycerin is a really good moisturizer.

Betaine is an amino acid with humectant properties. 

Butyrospermum Parkii Butter is shea butter.

It has two extracts coming from wheat: Triticum Vulgare Bran Extract and Triticum Vulgare Germ Extract.

Camellia Oleifera Seed Oil is camellia oil, which is an oil my hair likes a lot.

Panthenol does maybe-maybe not penetrate and strengthen hair.

Triticum Vulgare Germ Oil is wheat oil. Lots of wheat in this product?

Ethylhexyl Triazone is a sunscreen protecting against UVB radiation.

Cetearyl Alcohol is an emulsifier which means it can dissolve oils and be used for cleansing.

In conclusion:

Lady Igor says

Granatæble balsam til normalt hår (Pomegranate conditioner for normal hair) This is a pretty solid CO-cleanser and moisturizer. Good ingredient list too. This one was by far my favourite for the effect on my hair. I will buy this one again.

Balsam uden parfume til tørt og beskadiget hår (Conditioner without parfume for dry and damaged hair) Strangely I liked how this one didn't really seem to do anything for my length? My hair didn't get annoyingly slippery, but it did a good job of cleaning my scalp.

Balsam uden parfume til krøllet hår (Conditioner without parfume for curly hair) This one left me a little confused, because it had a pretty solid ingredient list. But it basically did nothing for my hair.

Mild balsam uden parfume til normalt hår (Mild conditioner without parfume for normal hair) was a decent enough cleanser, but not much else.

Balsam til farvet hår (Conditioner for coloured hair) sucked and pissed me off. But it might have been from water seeping into the weird opening.

Some thoughts on keto

I thought it might be interesting to talk a little bit about keto. Both me and mr Igor had some success with it. 

I didn't have any desire to try keto to begin with, but ended up backing mr Igor up because he wanted to try it. Mr Igor wanted to try keto for weight loss purposes, and I was shocked because he really loves bread. I followed because it was too much trouble to cook and eat separately, and I wanted to support him. It turned out I really liked it!

I'm currently back on keto again, but mr Igor had too much of a struggle without bread, rice and pasta, so he is just going for a general "low carb but not keto" diet. 

I even think this is pretty hair related, since keto must be a pretty good diet for growing your hair! 

Well, obviously you absolutely need to take a vitamin with it, but still... The amount of protein I've eaten on this diet is amazing. My hair doesn't fluctuate in growth rate unfortunately (Only for 2-3 months during summers) which is too bad, because it would have been fun to see if the keto diet could speed up hair growth. It would have been interesting to see if someone whose hair is sensitive to such things could actually gain more length during diet changes. 

What we liked
I loved how easy this was! The keto diet in a nutshell is basically this:

1) Memorize these approximately 50 foods/food groups 

(I have made a list in the bottom of this post for those curious)

2) Get creative

3) Eat!

It was honestly pretty easy. No calorie counting, no macro counting, as long as you stick to the allowed ingredient list or the rule of maximum 5% carbohydrates in any and all ingredients. 

Obviously you have the option of making things more difficult (And accurate) for yourself if you want to, by using a macro calculator. I used this one. But I found that just sticking to the allowed food list and keeping under 5% carbohydrates worked just fine. Besides, we both really struggled with the fat intake, but I'll get into that in about 20 sentences. 

The restrictions also made it pretty fun to cook, because it requires you to be more creative if you want to eat something more interesting than just eggs, meat and avocado at every meal. And on days where you don't have the energy to be creative... Well, that's pretty easy to know what you can eat.

I personally really enjoy cooking and wish I had more time for it, so I had a lot of fun playing around with recipes. The rather strict list of ingredients you can use somehow made it more fun.

Here is my favorite recipe so far:

Chicken crust pizza

I had expected it to be a problem when eating out, but it turned out it was pretty manageable. There were keto options to be found, but then again we didn't eat out a lot because 2020. 

I lost 4 kg in 6 weeks without even trying. I went in just wanting to keep mr Igor company, and had lots of fun with cooking, and yet the weight just fell off. Granted, I gained 2 kg back in water weight from day to day after we broke the keto right before Christmas, but still. Maybe if I had gone into the keto diet with the intention of losing weight, I would have felt different about it.

We also loved how full this kept us. Several times, we asked ourselves "Wait, when did we last eat?" some time in the evening, just to find we hadn't eaten since breakfast. The high protein content really, really keeps you full. I liked freeing my mind from thinking about food.

So I'm obviously not a nutritionist, but I think the keto diet might be good for healthy hair, skin and nails. Hair, skin and nails seems to like both protein and oils. You get a whole lot of that, and from so many sources. But I think you should definitely add a multivitamin to make up for how few vegetables you can eat. 

What we disliked
We both really struggled with the fat intake. The vast majority of your calories are supposed to come from fat (Like 75%), and neither of us could do it. Neither of us particularly like the taste of fat, or the feeling in your mouth. Yuck. 

You're actually supposed to pick the fattier meats when you can. But I have a really strong aversion to lumps in food (And strangely my older brother has identical triggers to me, so we suspect our parents have traumatized us with something we can't remember any more) It's a little hard to explain, but I guess more like... Unexpected texture changes? I can't eat yoghurt or marmalade with fruit lumps of a certain size in it. It needs to be smooth or have lumps of a specific, small size. For instance, blueberries in blueberry yoghurt is fine, but whole strawberries in strawberry yoghurt makes my stomach flip. The same goes for fatty parts in meat. Like fat in salami and other meat products like that. The fat parts need to be a certain size for me to tolerate them. For instance, fat in bacon I can usually accept, but fat in the  thicker cuts of pork belly triggers me. It's weird. I know. 

Mr Igor missed bread so much. And pasta. And rice. And potatoes. Like, so, so much.

For me, the hardest part was at a certain time of the month, when there were just no sugary treats available for me. I set out to try making keto cookies and cakes, but kept running into problems with the fat content. So many keto treats are basically coconut oil and something nutty, rolled up into the appetizingly named (Not) fat bombs. Hell no. I just can't eat it. Nuts, oils and peanut butter can only get you so far on desserts...

My search for a keto friendly treat got me into another problem: The weird Frankenfood ingredients. I draw the line at artificial sweetener. Everything else just won't be let into my kitchen. All those weird, meatfree "sausages" and carb free "chocolate" and artificial flavorings and what have you are simply banned from my kitchen.

I only found one single recipe for cakes/treats/cookies that I honestly thought was good:

However, I use a liquid sweetener and half protein powder with vanilla flavour and half almond flour instead of all almond flour for mine. Still a good cake. You can also add some nuts to it.

Igor's attempted list of keto approved foods

As a general rule: Under 5% carbohydrates is good. You can of course always do the math, but I found that I generally couldn't be bothered. A single exception is protein powder, which I learned to cook with and appreciate, but often needs to be mixed with another "flour" to keep the carbohydrates down.

Meat and seafood
Beef, chicken, duck, pork, wild boar, turkey, shellfish, salmon, pollock, shrimp, tuna...
So far I haven't found a non keto meat.

Meats, processed
Bacon
Beef jerky, chicken jerky, turkey jerky, pork jerky, fish jerky, Biltong (Check label though)
Pork rinds
Prosciutto, coppa, chorizo, pepperoni, salami... (Check label)
Some meatballs and sausages (Check label)

Dairy
Burrata
Butter
Cheddar
Cheese pops (Cheese pops in the Gouda flavour is seriously yum!)
Cottage cheese
Cream cheese
Goat cheese
Greek yoghurt
Heavy cream
Mascarpone
Mozzarella
Parmesan 
Sour cream

Eggs, any kind

Oils
Animal fats (Save your bacon fat for cooking)
Avocado oil
Coconut oil
Extra virgin olive oil
Macadamia Oil
Sesame oil

Nuts
Almonds
Brazil nuts
Macadamia
Peanuts
Pecan
Walnuts

Vegetables
Asparagus
Avocado
Broccoli
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Cucumber
Eggplant
Fennel
Iceberg lettuce
Kale
Mushroom
Olives
Scallions
Spinach
Tomato

Fruits
Blackberries
Raspberries
Strawberries

"Flours"
I found a few protein powders that are keto approved. But even if they aren't, mixing it with another "flour" 50/50 or so bumps the carbs down enough to work, and it's really good for using as flour substitute. We bought unflavoured, with vanilla flavour and with chocolate flavour and have used all three.

Almond flour
Coconut flour
Peanut flour
Psyllium husk (My undisputed favourite. The fiber content is awesome and it has no taste)

Canned and pickles goods etc
Please check the nutrition labels, but here are some I have found:
Guacamole 

Hot sauce of various kinds

Kimchi (Check label) 
Mayonnaise
Peanut butter
Peppadews stuffed with cream cheese
Pickled artichokes
Pickled cucumbers (Check label! There is a shocking difference here)
Tzatziki

Hair and genetics

Hah. I swear this wasn't on purpose, but to this day, it's almost exactly a year ago since I mentioned mine and Mr Igor's 23andme results. I kept getting mails from them, so I figured I would check in and see. And they have updated and overhauled a lot, so that was kind of cool. 

The dandruff prediction is new, and I'm not really sure what to think? I have a bit of seasonal dandruff when the weather gets cold and wet and the indoors become hot and dry in the autumn. Although I'm not entirely sure that it really is dandruff, because it might just be my dry scalp being slightly drier around that time. So I guess pretty accurate? Maybe?

Ugh. That blasted photobleaching. It bothers me.

Now, here are three hair related in a row, and they have updated most of these with far more details. Which is pretty cool actually!

I actually thought your hair structure was pretty simple? A result of less genes in the work? Seeing it represented like this was really interesting. And how weird that I have so many genes for curly hair?

I could say the exact same with my hair colour! I didn't know it had so many genes involved? I thought it was a Mendel's second law thing where dark hair was dominant and light hair recessive? Or am I thinking of eye colour? But my individual hairs come in all colours from light blonde to dark brown with an overall result of dark blonde/light brown, so I guess that explains it. It's actually kind of funny because mr Igor is very "patchy" in comparison to me: He has areas with blonde, areas with brown and areas with black hair (And grey and white, but don't tell him I told you guys) where all my different hair strand colours are all mixed together in one big mess.

My parents strongly disagree. Heh.

I am still incredibly butthurt over this. Still. I love my copper tones. Which I apparently don't have.

They included an explanation of the widows peak in the update, and it turned out I had gotten it wrong? I thought a widows peak was that rounded hairline that some people have? But it's the other way around, a widows peak is the triangular/V hairline. Whoops.

So I personally think I do have a widows peak? What do you guys think?

23andme also updated the ancestor composition, and this was really interesting! Now their results have put me a lot closer to my original predictions. Back in November 2018 I said:

As for the genealogy, I expect a lot of Danish. Like, a lot.
My great grandfather was from an area that was disputed territory between Denmark and Germany, so he experienced being both German and danish in his lifetime. His family name was Langholz, so that fits with the area too. So I expect about 12 % German there.
Supposedly I also have a sailor from the Spanish armada in my lineage, but my grandfather found a hint that he might have been a french mercenary instead? So maybe he was a French mercenary in Spanish service?
I strongly suspect this is where I get my hair from. Scandinavian hair just doesn't grow as thick and strong as mine.

And... Yea. Got a lot closer to this now!

No more of the British, which confused everyone in my family when it showed up last year.

A lot of Danish and some German, with an especially strong hit for the north where Langholz is located. But not in the area of my sister from 200 years ago: Caroline von Holnstein. Would have been a little freaky if that had matched!

...And holy crap: French. Right there, at the Spanish border too. How cool would that be if grandpa was right?