Thursday the 8th of April

Boring post ahead…

I had a lot of work to do around the apartment but also wanted to wash my hair and deep condition. So I distributed two handfuls of Frank Provost expert repair from the shoulders down, rebraided, covered with a bag and a elastic bandage. Usually I wet my hair before doing the Ankylosaurus, but today I did it dry. Then I ignored it and went about my business for 3 hours or so.

Later I rinsed it out and did the Sexysmurf with Schwarzkopf Gliss for 2 hours while watching a movie with hubby. Rinsed that out and followed with an apple cider vinegar rinse.

As always, my hair gets slightly upset after a deep treatment, so its in a simple English braid now. Its probably because the little “scales” covering the hair strands gets disturbed by the conditioner penetrating.

Annoyances

I was taking a look on LHC today out of stupid curiosity. Like always in the last two years or so, I ended up regretting it and asking myself why I check in on a place I know end up irritating and offending me.

First thing that sprang to my eyes was a pretty negative thread on “hating” hair stylists.

But where were the attacks from the self-appointed Stylist’s Squad? No personal attacks? No name-calling? No telling OP how she made some stylist cry? No mentioning how another stylist emailed yet another stylist to tell her how she was permanently scarred by LHC now? Thread not being locked in a few hours?

How odd. When I made a thread about silly stylist advice, that was what happened to me.

(And some of the stylists who had flipped out on me later bragged how they never even had a friendly mod-warning ever)

I guess by now I really shouldn’t be surprised at how unfair LHC modding is, but some times it’s hard not to be.

Second thing that jumped at me, was that someone had linked to my biotin rant in a thread on biotin. And then someone else than attacked the first poster for having done that and obviously didn’t read a single word of my blog post.

Sad how some people are so busy being bitchy and making themselves sound better than everyone that they don’t even realise they just argued against someone who had said almost the same as themselves?

That is indeed ironic.

I’m still considering writing an entry for my blog on what went down on LHC lately.

On the “for” side is that I know the people I care about are curious, and that I know how frustrating it is to see something obviously has happened to someone I care about and whose advice and opinion I value stops posting.

On the “against” side is that I know bitchy people will project their own bitchiness into a post no matter how carefully I word it and how much I explain and how many disclaimers I make.

Rinsing

Learning to rinse your hair is one of the important skills when it comes to hair care and sadly underestimated. I think most people usually just rinse standing up and letting the water hitting the top of their head and washing down. It’s not a very efficient way to rinse though! The water pretty much bounces off the top layer of the hair and you’re not getting the product out. Even when the water in the drain stops bubbling, it’s not really rinsed clean.

Some people have no problems leaving conditioner and products in their hair, some even keep from rinsing conditioner completely out. I’m not one of them. Rinsing thoroughly clean can make a huge difference in shine and manageability of your hair.

One of the first things I had a real light bulb moment with when I started learning about proper hair care was to bend forwards and use the showerhead to rinse directly at the scalp and hair. You have much better control, you can spot the bubbles better and you can rinse much more concentrated. Use the pads of your fingertips to massage the scalp and comb gently to get all parts of the hair rinsed.

For loosening up lots of product like after henna or cassia, it can be a good idea to do a “mermaid soak” before rinsing. That’s where you get in the bath and let the water gently loosen up the bulk before rinsing and manipulating.

I like starting out my rinsing with bending over the tub and directing the showerhead upwards on the scalp and length. I prefer getting some focussed rinsing done on my hair before stepping in the water. Once I get wet, I get cold from focussing the water on my hair and not body.

Another thing I like to do is leaning forward and resting the top of my head on the wall. When I direct the water on my hair, I can get it nice and flattened against the wall and rinse it very efficiently.

Don’t forget that water can be a real help when it comes to detangling and shaping your hair. For my final rinse, I do it according to what I’m going to do with my hair next. If I’m getting my hair wet before a deep conditioning, I bend over and let the water help pulling my hair up and ready to be wrapped up with conditioner on top of my head. If I’m going to put it up and get on with my day, I make my parting, and then rinse it backwards behind my shoulders ready to towel dry and be put up. It saves me manipulation and pre-smoothes the hair.

For apple cider rinses, I prefer to actually dip it in a bowl in the shower. ACV has a normalising effect on the skin and scalp and this way I can get the entire scalp in the bowl.

I have always been sceptic of cold final rinses. The theory is that the cold blast will make the little “fish scales” on the hair strands surface clamp shut and increase shine. However, wouldn’t the cuticles return to normal as soon as the cold hair returns to room temperature? And wouldn’t that make a cold and uncomfortable rinse unnecessary? I’m not going to preach that my scepticism is right and cold blasts are wrong though. People whose opinion and experience on hair care I respect and value swear on a final, cold blast. I still want to put my theory down and leave it up to any reader to consider the thought.

Friday the 18th of March

Holy crap am I tired! Hubby has ruined my sleep the last two days. He has been having problems sleeping lately and his considerate attempts of “sneaking” around to not wake me are seriously louder than if he just stomped around.

It makes the image of my hands wrapped around his throat run through my mind a lot…

Anyways. Hair. I put some Frank Provost expert reparation in the bottom half of my hair dry, braided it, bagged it and wrapped a bandage around. I have a few things I need to do and it can steep in the conditioner while I work. My hair has gone seriously greasy so I’m going to do a CO wash later. Haven’t decided on the conditioner to use, but I’ll probably finish with an ACV rinse to use the bottle up.

Working on a few more pages for the blog.

Getting back on the hairy horse

Well, the good news is my thumb has healed. The bad news is that it completely threw me off the blogging habit.

Time to get back on the hairy horse and get some work done on the blog. I still have a lot of semi-articles I want to write…

Quick check-in

Just wanted to point out I haven’t forgotten about my blog and I have a lot I have planned to write for it, but I’m currently missing a pretty big chunk of my right thumb so it’s painful to type and use the mouse.

I was grating some chocolate for those cute chocolate shavings and got my thumb in the grater, just exactly missing the nail. It’s been bleeding and seeping a lot and I’ve been annoying hubby with my whininess XD

It derailed my hair-routine too. I’ve been wearing the same increasingly messy braid for two days now and there is no way I can do anything fancy to it being dominant right-handed or even wash it properly.

I will try a simple shower later and rinse my hair, then make a plain braid. I might have to ask hubby for help lol….

Hybrid bun

This bun is a combination of a Chinese and a braided bun and ends up looking more like a braided beehive.

A Chinese bun is very comfortable because it’s packed so flat to the scalp and it has a nice way of securing itself because of the many loops. But it’s not as stabile because the individual strands are not as compacted as with a braid. Also, the initial carrying hairstick tends to migrate and it throws the entire hairstyle off because it calls for symmetry

Directions

Make a ponytail and split the tail in two. Braid both parts separately. Poke a hairstick through the elastic to get a good load carrying and securing effect. Wind the two braids around the stick one at the time, going in the same direction. Allow the hairstick to migrate naturally. Tuck both braid ends under themselves. Press a flat palm on the centre of the bun and catch the inner parts of the braids with the second stick to make the entire bun very flat.

I name this bun “Igor’s hybrid bun” for not really being a braided bun, not really being a Chinese bun and not really being a braided beehive

It is incredibly comfortable! 

Todays hair

Saturday the 19th of February

Coconut oil today. I did my combo deep treatment + CO wash with El vital protein + pearl. It seems like if my hair gets some protein before a moisture treatment, my hair becomes more conditioned than the two treatments separated.

I wanted to do a combination braid: Dual Dutch braids into one Dutch braid at the nape. Something that would last for a couple of days and could protect the hairs while the oil did its thing.

Now for a slight rant:

Men have a 6^th sense for being in the way. They mean no harm with it, but OMFG it’s annoying!

I had put my jar of coconut oil on the radiator in the kitchen to slowly melt it. I put it in a small bowl and added a teaspoon of olive and walnut oil to it, then went for the bathroom. Just then, hubby decides he needs to pee. I wait impatiently while he finishes and washes his hands. I know well enough that A) I can’t concentrate well with him in there and B) he will manage to run into my elbow one way or another. I eyeball the oil. Should I microwave it quickly to buy myself a little more time before it cools and hardens? I decide against it: I just have to be quick. So I distribute the oil and start parting the hair for the Dutch braids. I get half one side done before hubby comes back into the bathroom and absolutely has to tell me about some dumb battle in Ikariam. I try to maintain a general do-not-disturb policy in the bathroom when I’m working on my hair, not that it’s always necessary, but because he can’t seem to spot the difference. With the damn oil quickly cooling and solidifying, this is one of the times where I really can’t multitask. I lose my focus, my grip and my idea of how far I was with the braiding. I yell at him to leave. He pouts and stomps off with an insulted little puppy dog face. It’s too late though: I have lost track and the braid unravels. I have to start over. I try again. The oil is stating to go solid and the colder ends have the distinct “sticky” feeling. The braid starts braiding itself in the bottom as I work, I can’t separate the sections correctly, I have lost my grip and my focus. Crap, crap and more crap!

I try once more and have to give up. Alright, back in a stupid, boring old English braid to get it out of my way. I start combing it back. It tangles like hell. I can’t detangle it without a new part spontaneously tangles up from the oily stickiness. I pull in frustration. Hair snaps. I get even more frustrated. More hair breaks. I’m pissed. Stupid oil, stupid hair, stupid hubby!

Finally, with a comb full of broken hairs I finish the stupid braid. Ugh!

Thursday the 16th of February

Seems I’ve had a run-in with some pesky little virus. Since Monday-ish I’ve felt absolutely drained for energy, not to mention freaking freezing all the time. I haven’t been to the gym since and that annoys me more than anything.

It was protein conditioner-day but I felt really drained and did an Ankylosaurus instead of a full conditioning wash. It probably wasn’t a bad idea though since the top is still “questionable” and I feel over-conditioning lurking.

I struck out 3 eggs, separated the yolks from the whites and mixed the yolks with a squirt of El vital protein + pearl. It’s the heaviest egg-ing I’ve ever done and I was surprised at how liquid the mix became. I slept with it overnight and rinsed it out the next morning. The mane (ends) really liked it!

As for what to do with the egg whites?

My favourite is adding another whole egg to it, and then cooking it up as low yolk-scrambled eggs. Serve with toast, crumbled goat cheese on top and some pickled chillies on the side. Yum!

One egg white contains approximately 20 calories and 4 gram of protein