Pinless heart-shaped bun tutorial

Here's a simple, heart-shaped braided updo that requires no pins or tools at all.

Start with your hair in two braids. I like the Dutch braids, but French should work just as fine.

Find two spots where you have a "gap" where you have fed in more hair to the braids.
You can pick a spot higher up or lower down than I have. Higher up risks making the bun "collide" with your ears which I find really irritating, and lower down will get the finished updo more of a bun-shape than a hart-shape.

Cross the braids at your neck and "feed" the braid up and through at the gap under the braid.

Tighten both braids

Find the spot where the two braids go each their own way at the neck.

Feed both braids down and through the spot where the two braids go each their own way at the neck. Cross them again.

Pull both braids up and through the gap under the braids where you fed the braids through the first time.

Tighten again.

Feed both braids down and through the spot where the two braids go each their own way at the neck. Cross them again.

Keep repeating the process of feeding the braids up and through at the gap under the braid and down at the spot where the two braids go each their own way at the neck, crossing the braids each time. Repeat until you run out of braid length.

Tuck the ends under the bun-formation.

Wiggle/adjust everything a bit and...Done! 

The final result is a low and elegant heart-shaped bun held with no pins or tools at all.

The way the "bun"is spread out like this, gives a very good weight and strain-distribution.

And now we wait...

Based on the replies I got on my Head&Shoulders review, I have contacted the mother company Procter and Gamble. I have to admit I'm actually very, very curious to see what they have to say about this...

The scrunchie trend...?

I've been reading about how scrunchies are trending in 2019 since... The beginning of last year pretty much?? But I haven't actually seen them in real life anywhere around me since the last two weeks or so (Pinterest is not real life!). I guess scrunchies have a feeling of 80'es/90'es, but in the uncool kind of way so it took a while to pick up? But now it looks like it's actually picking up and it feels like a natural continuation of last years bandanna trend.

But of course now I have a nagging feeling I might have tossed the old (So very old) scrunchies I used to have the last time I cleaned some stuff out of my closet?

Time to go digging around and see if I can find any still... I remember having a seamstress making a scrunchie out of a pair of dresspants I spilled toner on when I changed the cartridge. I had accidentally bought two of the same pair along with some other pairs in the same model but different colours, so I had a very cool matching scrunchie to the pants. Of course back then, scrunchies were very much out so I never used it, but I should still have it around.

Time to start digging...

5 ways to wear the scrunchie trend
These 6 Hair Accessories Will Spike in 2019
The 90s Hair Trends Making A Huge Comeback This Year
Is the scrunchie trend basic or brilliant?
The scrunchie hair trend
Why throwback hair accessories are cool again
Etc. There are so many links to articles about this.

What do you all think about this?
Wearable? Practical? Just embarrassing? Pinterest-only? Clickbait-y for style sties? Nostalgia in a fun way? Or were scrunchies just never actually cool?

Sun protection products for hair

I made an order at Lookfantastic.se for some skin stuff. While I was there, I searched for "hair + uv" (Well, "hår + uv" in Swedish) to find some hair products with UV protection for the upcoming sunny season. To absolutely no ones surprise, running the ingredients through COSDNA's analyser showed no SPF ingredients at all in many of them. Most of them were just full of silicones to smooth and hide the damage. Even though I absolutely love silicones and my thick, coarse hair would be a mess without them, this pisses me off. But then again it shouldn't surprise me given how many people believe that heat protection products work.

I ordered three leave in products with actual UV protection.

Shu Uemura Art Of Hair Satin Design
This was the only leave in product in cream/lotion form I could find with actual SPF.

Aqua / Water, C13-16 Isoparaffin, Glycerin, Dimethicone, Butylene Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Polyacrylamide, Octyldodecanol, Peg-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Caprylyl Glycol, C13-14 Isoparaffin, Parfum / Fragrance, Hydroxypropyl Guar, Polyquaternium-11, Laureth-7, Maris Aqua / Sea Water, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Benzophenone-4, Limonene, Simmondsia Chinensis Seed Oil / Jojoba Seed, Oil, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Benzyl Benzoate, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Hydroxycitronellal, Linalool, Bambusa Vulgaris Extract, Citral, Sodium Hydroxide, Crithmum Maritimum Extract, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Triethanolamine.

The SPF ingredients are Ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate and Benzophenone-4.

KORRES Natural Red Vine Hair Protection
It's a sad proof on how hard it is so find leave in products with SPF that I'll resort to buying one that contains aloe vera! I'm very much allergic to aloe vera if it's pressed with the skin as opposed to being peeled before pressing, and there is no way to know how the aloe vera juice in this product was prepared. I will simply have to try it and see if my skin flips out on me or not.

Aqua/Water/Eau, Glycerin, Aloe Barbandensis Leaf Juice, PPG-26-Buteth-26, Alcohol, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Benzyl Benzoate, Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane, Butylene Glycol, Caprylyl Glycol, Citral, Citronellol, Coumarin, Geraniol, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Extract, Isoamyl p-Methoxycinnamate, Lecithin, Limonene, Linalool, Oleyl Oleate, Panthenol, Parfum (Fragrance), PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Phenoxyethanol, Polyquartenium-10, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Stearamine, Tocopherol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Extract.

The SPF ingredients are Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane and Isoamyl p-methoxycinnamate.

Bumble and bumble Hairdressers Invisible Oil UV Protective Dry Oil Finishing Spray
Why do some of these products have such ridiculously long names?
This is in a pressurized can, so I'm quite curious to see how different it is to distribute in my hair. I expect it to be a lot easier than the pump-type bottles.

Water/Aqua/Eau, Glycerin, Cetyl Alcohol, Petrolatum, Cetearyl Alcohol, Isopropyl Myristate, Ceteareth-20, Dimethicone, Phenyl Trimethicone, PVP, Squalane, Beeswax\Cera Alba\Cire D'Abeille, Microcrystalline Wax/Cera Microcristallina\Cire Microcristalline, Bertholletia Excelsa (Brazil Nut) Seed Oil, Orbignya Oleifera (Babassu) Seed Oil, Pentaclethra Macroloba Seed Oil, Theobroma Grandiflorum Seed Butter, Pantethine, Urea, PEG-8 Dimethicone, Sodium PCA, Cetrimonium Chloride, Panthenol, Polyquaternium-7, Polyacrylate Crosspolymer-7, Polyquaternium-51, Trehalose, Myristalkonium Chloride, Quaternium-14, Phytantriol, Panthenyl Ethyl Ether, Sodium Hyaluronate, Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane, Ethylhexyl Salicylate, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Fragrance (Parfum), Linalool, Citral, Limonene, Geraniol, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Chlorphenesin, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, Phenoxyethanol.

The SPF ingredients are Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane, Ethylhexyl salicylate and Ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate.

I'm considering doing another SPF experiment this year. First of all, I have a way better camera (Well, phone, but whatever) now and I should be able to actually show the difference. Second of all, I'm now (painfully) aware that some products doesn't contain the SPF they advertise they have, so I could do an experiment with products that actually contain SPF.

Today's hair

I managed to tame some of the flyaways with some water and a bit of leave in-conditioner and got an extra day out of it.

I should have picked some smaller pins for it, but didn't realize until I saw the pictures.

This... Heart-shaped, wrapped-under-bun-thing is one of those updos that I really like but for some reason it tends to fall out of rotation. Not even sure it has an actual name?

Today's hair

Felt like something a little more playful today, but I wasn't really that happy with the double buns. I couldn't place them far enough back because of the braid bases and it was mildly irritating that they touched my ears.

Today's hair

Classic braided Chinese bun for today.

Today's hair

Going to be lazy the next few days and see if I can squeeze three acceptable updos out of these braids...

Thoughts on the spa thing

I went to the spa like I talked about a while back and I have a few thoughts I wanted to share. I didn't hate it, but i didn't love it either. It had some good things and bad things.

The positive
It was a pretty relaxing experience. From the second I stepped inside, it had a calming atmosphere. Nice and clean without feeling sterile, and with a bubbly water thing making little noises.
The treatment itself made me feel like "Okay, so you paid for this and now you're stuck in this warm and pleasantly scented room with calming meditation music in the background while the nice lady works on your skin... You can't get to your phone or tablet and do anything useful anyways, so you might as well just relax and wait for it to be done with", so I just let my mind drift off. That was nice.
Like forced meditation, although that sounds negative. Only you get a spa treatment while you're at it.

The negative
I didn't like the spa package itself. I actually figured I wouldn't, but the treatment combinations seemed like a good choice to check out the place and the skin therapist.
I had also expected more usage of tools: Steam appliances, extractor tools, some sort of brush or pad or something. Anything. Instead she used her hands and a single spatula for the facial masks. Somehow that felt odd, but maybe it's because I have so many tools myself?
(Let's see: Extractor tools, LED light mask, steam appliance, three different electric brushes, manual brushes and more spatulas and brushes than I probably know of)

However, in general I liked it enough to book another time. First free day where I don't have anything else planned: The end of next month (Now I made myself feel sad) Going to try something else next time though...

Today's hair

I know I've been using the vertical-braids-to-braided-buns style a lot lately, but I want to show today's style off:
In my opinion they got absolutely perfect today.

Practice makes perfect, yay!
Smooth and round without that cannonball-effect, almost identical in size and just touching each other.