Surgery

So, first of: Yes, I'm having surgery. No, it's nothing major.
It won't be until march or so though. January and February is impossible for me.
It will probably take me six weeks in a cast first and then a boot for more weeks.

For the past 25 years or so (Holy shit, has it been this long?) I've been having problems on and off with my right tibialis posterior tendon. It has come and gone depending on how much I ask of it, and is always worse in the winter. I feel the effect of my weight on it, and any extra kilo provokes it. But the last 3 years it has become a lot worse, to the point where I feel a minimum of discomfort at all times.
Training, physical therapy, rest, insoles and bandages, nothing has helped. The only thing I ever felt helped any, was my massage therapist, but she "only" helps with the muscle pain from tensing, not by actually helping with the tendon issue.

I've tried injuring myself in a lot of (stupid) ways over the years, including more broken bones than I'd like to think of. But when this shitty little tendon has been at its worst, it has been the most painful thing I've ever experienced. I've felt sweat rhythmically spring from my forehead when walking on it.
But I'm stubborn and stupid and have been putting this off for too long.

My old coworkers had this emphatic reaction to my periodic limping:

Yes, that was my office chair equipped with a printed handicap-sign, where someone lovingly drew on long hair. My old coworkers were unapologetic assholes and I miss them. My new coworkers are too nice for this kind of loving mocking. 

I hate the idea of surgery. Especially after being so stupid that I tried to look up what they actually do during a tibialis posterior surgery. Pro tip: Don't do it. Just don't. Don't ever look up a video of a surgery up if you're the one going in for it. Settle for nice static pictures instead at the most. Seriously. Don't. Just trust that the nice medical professionals know what they're doing and leave it to them. Nothing good comes out of knowing exactly what they are going to do.
But, this is becoming unsustainable for me, so I will have to get over my dislike of the idea. It's too painful.

At this point they are not sure how bad it really is. I've had X-rays, MRI and ultrasound done and it looks pretty bad. But they simply need to open it up to see what's going on with the tendon, how inflamed the surrounding tissue is and how much scar tissue there is. The minimum procedure is stitching the damaged areas up, removing inflamed tissue and old scar tissue that presses on the tendon. The maximum involves a tendon transfer and realigning the heelbone. Yikes.

I will keep you informed as I know more.

Hello 2020!

Goals in no particular order

• Keep working full time like I have the previous years
• Pass two exams towards my next degree
• Save money in stocks and pension
• Renovate some things in our home
• Self care with plenty of sleep
• Be a good wifey. Even though I'm pretty busy, we prioritize to have date nights from time to time
• Blog

Simple goals. I should be able to stick to this.

I also have a way less fun thing coming up in 2020, but I'll get into that in a few days....

Mildly interesting

The little Bed & Breakfast I'm staying at for work has again provided a "Mildly interesting" entry.

One of the "leftovers" from previous visitors is this little shampoo tube.

This is the angle I first saw it from:

The first thing I noticed was "Shampoo" and "Den skaldede frisør". Which means "The bald hairdresser".

And I thought "Huh. That's a pretty bold gimmick to go with for a haircare line".

But when I took it down to take a second look, it revealed an extra line on the tube.
"En ny musical af Susanne Bier & Thomas Helmig", which means "A new musical by Susanne Bier & Thomas Helmig".

And it finally clicked that this was a rather clever promotion for the musical based on a movie which was titled Love Is All You Need for the international market, but in Danish was titled The bald hairdresser. Hah.

Today's hair

I used my "new" hair sticks to hold a figure 8 bun. I learned a good lesson though: Danglies needs to, well, dangle. Danglies like this are better in a bun where they don't risk getting caught in the hair all the time. The little swords spent more time being trapped in my hair than actually dangling like they were supposed to.

December 24th

Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates on the 24th! The rest of you will have to wait until tomorrow :)
The Ciaté calendar had a pretty sparkly polish, full size this time.
The Schwarzkopf calendar was a disappointment though: 10 gram of some styling powder. What a sad product to end the calendar on.

Schwarzkopf Professional OSiS+ Soft Dust - Soft Volumizing Powder
Aqua, Glycerin, Silica Silylate, Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Propylene Glycol, Sodium Benzoate, Silica, Maris Sal, Parfum, Citric Acid, Isoceteth-10, Cocos Nucifera Fruit Extract, Sorbitol, Coumarin, Hexyl Cinnamal, Butylphenyl Methylpropional

I was curious about how much value I got out of this calendar...

Here are the things I will keep and try:

• 3 conditioning masks of 30 ml each
• 4 hair oils of 5 ml each
• One leave in conditioner spray of 50 ml
• One leave in conditioner creme of 30 ml

So in total there are 9 products and a total of 190 ml product that I will definitely try.

Here are the things I will probably, maybe try at some point, or hubby will use:

• 5 shampoos of 50 ml each
• One shampoo of 30 ml
• One sea salt texturising spray of 50 ml
• One colour neutral toning treatment of 60 ml

So in total there are 8 products and a total of 390 ml product that I will probably, maybe try.

Here are things I will definitely try to give away:

• 2 styling powder products of 10 gram each
• 3 styling sprays of 100 ml each
• One styling mousse of 100 ml
• One styling wax of 85 ml

So in total there are 7 products and a total of 485 ml product and 20 gram of powder that I will definitely not try.

This is not really a good ratio!
I'm actually surprised at this. I would think winter/Christmas would be more about treatments and moisture for dry, unhappy winter hair. I mean, lots of styling products would probably fit more with all the parties for New Years? Meh, not impressed with Schwarzkopf for this calendar.

Anyways. Hubby and I are at my parents for Christmas.

Here is Mr Igor taking a much deserved nap on the comfiest couch in the world (It's seriously awesome: It belongs to a set with three chairs that my great grandparents bought in 1945. The wooden frame has carvings of knights and queens and I love the details on them) with a view of a Christmas three we had to take an extra branch off to make room for all the gifts under.

December 23rd

Today is an anniversary of sorts: If I hadn't trimmed at all since I started regrowing my hair, my ends would now be a legal adult. How weird!

I'm not sure how much "age" is in the length I have after all the trims I've done over the years, but it's not 18 years old at the ends.

But still, crazy to think that I started from nothing and now I'm at... knee-ish? I'm honestly not entirely sure how long it is at this point since it's hard to see accurately (And I honestly stopped caring about how long it is exactly)
I really need a good length shot, but that will have to wait for a day where I can be bothered to wash and airdry it completely without restraining it at all.

It's on my to do-list.

Today's Schwarzkopf Christmas calendar holds another tiny little 5 ml bottle of "oil" that would have rattled around the drawer if it wasn't for the shredded paper filling.

Ingredient list for Schwarzkopf Ultime Marula finishing oil
Cyclomethicone, Dimethiconol, Alcohol denat (18,79%), Phenyl Trimethicone, Sclerocarya Birrea Seed Oil, Parfum (Fragrance), Linalool, Helianthus Anuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Anise Alcohol, CI 40800 (Beta Carotene)

So: Cone, cone, alcohol, cone, oil, fragrance, fragrance, oil, fragrance and pigment (In a colourless product. Uhh...?)

December 22nd

The Schwarzkopf Christmas calendar has another 50 ml shampoo, this time with a slightly sweet, but very neutral scent.

The Rituals calendar had another awesome scented candle.

Schwarzkopf Professional Oil Ultime Marula and Rose Light oil in shampoo ingredient list
Aqua (Water, Eau), Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate, Sunflower Seed Oil PEG-8 Esters, Sodium Chloride, Sclerocarya Birrea Seed Oil, Rosa Canina Fruit Oil, Hydrolyzed Keratin, Panthenol, Cocamide MEA, Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate, Sodium Benzoate, Citric Acid, Parfum (Fragrance), Polyquaternium-10, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, PEG-120 Methyl Glucose Dioleate, Benzyl Salicylate, Linalool, Hexyl Cinnamal, Limonene, Citronellol, Propylene Glycol

Hubby and I have ordered Indian food in, and will spend the day inside with good books. Hubby always have the chicken vindaloo and I have beef achar gosht. Yummy!

December 21st

Another 100 ml styling product today: Schwarzkopf Osis+ Session Label Super Dry Fix strong hold hairspray. I will of course not be using this.

Schwarzkopf Osis+ Session Label Super Dry Fix strong hold hairspray ingredient list
Dimethyl Ether, Alcohol denat., Aqua (Water, Eau), Octylacrylamide/Acrylates/Butylaminoethyl Methacrylate Copolymer, Aminomethyl Propanol, Parfum (fragrance), Linalool, Hexyl Cinnamal, Benzyl Salicylate, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Citronellol, Benzyl Alcohol

December 20th

The Schwarzkopf Christmas calendar had something that looked really fancy today.

But.. Can anyone tell me exactly what this is?

As far as I can tell, this product is a tinting, glossing colour product from a tinting, glossing colour product line.
Except that this one is the colourless version.

So it's fancy conditioner?

Schwarzkopf Igora Vibrance Clear 0-00 ingredient list

Aqua, Propylene Glycol, PEG 12 Dimethicone, Sodium Sulfite, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Crosspolymer, Ethanolamine, Potassium Phosphate, PPG-1 PEG-9 Lauryl Glycol ether, Sodium Methylparaben, Xylitylglucoside, Niacinamide, Panthenol, Parfum, Anhydroxylitol, PEG 12 Allyl Ether, Xantham Gum, PEG 12, Etidronic Acid, Xylitol

COSDNA gave it this analysis:

I mean, it pretty much looks like a conditioner, right? It even has niacinamide and panthenol.
And there are no acne and irritants-warnings, and all ingredients are in green or yellow.
So that's good, but I'm still unsure of what this product is.
Can I mix it with a regular conditioner?

Anyone?

Body shop had a nice facial mist. But, aloe vera. Groan.

I'm feeling mildly crappy today, so we're spending the weekend indoors being warm and comfortable. I hope none of us gets sick. That would suck right up to Christmas!

December 19th

Huh. Yesterday I commented on how nice it was that the Schwarzkopf calendar would give the products in the same line close together. Today I got a BC Bonacure Peptide Repair leave in conditioner, which is from the same line where I got a shampoo and a treatment from back on December 9th and 10th.
I mean, I'm obviously happy with getting a leave in conditioner! But why not give this on the 11th so it would go with the rest of the Peptide Repair line?

Schwarzkopf Peptide Repair Rescue Sealed Ends ingredient list
Water, Cyclomethicone, Dimethiconol, Behenoyl PG-Trimonium Chloride, Laureth-4, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Amodimethicone/Morpholinomethyl Silsesquioxane Copolymer, Steardimonium Hydroxypropyl, Hydrolyzed Keratin, Hexylene Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance, Panthenol, Methylparaben, Linalool, Citric Acid, Limonene, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Benzyl Salicylate, Trideceth-5, Geraniol, Benzyl Alcohol, Coumarin, Citronellol

Today's hair is the pinless wrapunder bun.

It's very comfortable and has a really nice structure and silhouette to it.

I think I have found the historical copy of this updo.

Although I can't find the excact name for it, it was featured in Godey's Lady's Book in 1860, so a Victorian hairstyle. The principle looks to be the same of tucking the braids up under themselves, with the only difference is in the historical version being French braid-based.

While trying to find more information on this, I stumbled upon a really cool blog with plenty of historical hair care and historical hairstyles, so I'm sharing the links.