Today's hair

Today's hair is an Elling woman bun

I had some trouble keeping the bun flat and it ended up sticking more than I wanted

Today's hair

Today's hair is a Nautilus bun that did not turn out well. I think my hair is getting too long for it. The lengthy inner coils push the entire updo out of symmetry and balance.

Today's hair

Today's updo is an Ellingwoman/Nautilus hybrid

I was pretty happy with it: It got nicely flat and balanced. I guess this updo works better for my current length than the Nautilus I did yesterday?

Today's hair

Today's hair is a French braid

I think I did a pretty good job on getting it started

Herbal hair treatment day

Muahahha!

Nightblooming have put my pictures up and it made me feel inspired to do a herbal hair treatment day. Link here

I used an Eilistraee colourless conditioner and some leftovers in the form of a Mane n' Tail conditioner sample I got back in an advent calendar, a Philip Kingsley sample I got with a skincare order, and an almost-empty Matrix Biolage conditioner.

Seriously, the funniest part of doing herbal haircare is looking at the crazy greenish mud on your head!

Some time and heat for the mud to work

As usual, my hair felt miserable after the herbal treatment, so I followed with a quick regular conditioner. I actually reviewed this Cien product a while back.

And just because I felt up for it, I finished it with a herbal rinse as well.

Hair felt pretty good!

Product showdown

Up today are a Bodyshop haul

• Banana Truly Nourishing Conditioner
• Fuji Green Tea™ Refreshingly Hydrating Conditioner
• Ginger Scalp Care Conditioner
• Shea Butter Richly Replenishing Conditioner
• Strawberry Clearly Glossing Conditioner

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

Banana Truly Nourishing Conditioner

First impressions
Gross. This ting stinks. As soon as I took the lid off, that horrible, synthetic stink of bananas spread in the room. Just to make sure it wasn't my banana-bias, I asked mr Igor: "Banana? That's supposed to smell like bananas?! Nasty." was his comment. The stink calmed down after a few minutes, but still. This was gross. 

Ingredient analysis
Aqua/Water/Eau, Musa Sapientium Fruit Extract/Musa Sapientum (Banana) Fruit Extract, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetrimonium Chloride, Phenoxyethanol, Parfum/Fragrance, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Lecithin, Mel/Honey/Miel, Panthenol, Propylene Glycol, Linalool, Ascorbic Acid, Sodium Hydroxide, CI 19140/Yellow 5, CI 15985/Yellow 6.

Fuji Green Tea™ Refreshingly Hydrating Conditioner

First impressions
This smells really nice. Clean and soapy, but with the smell of green tea on top of it. This scent was my favourite.

Ingredient analysis
Aqua/Water/Eau, Cetearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Cetyl Esters, Glycine Soja Oil/Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil, Parfum/Fragrance, Isopropyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Phenoxyethanol, Linalool, Limonene, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-t-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate, Chlorhexidine Digluconate, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Citric Acid, Geraniol, Mel/Honey/Miel, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate.

Ginger Scalp Care Conditioner

First impressions
Mr Igor has a weird thing about liking ginger, so I thought he would like this one. But nope, he thought it was too strong and that it smelled more like some sort of wood. It smells like ginger to me? I'm not a fan of ginger though. This is the only vegan product, I think? The rest of Bodyshops conditioners are vegetarian, I think?

Ingredient analysis
Aqua/Water/Eau, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetrimonium Chloride, Phenoxyethanol, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Panthenol, Lecithin, Propylene Glycol, Parfum/Fragrance, Salix Alba Bark Extract/Willow Bark Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice Powder, Linalool, Limonene, Betula Alba Bark Extract, Zingiber Officinale Root Oil/Ginger Root Oil, Citronellol, Citral

Shea Butter Richly Replenishing Conditioner

First impressions
All the other body shop conditioners brags about being silicone free. Just not this one. But I can't see the silicone on the ingredient list?
This smells light and nice. Sort of milky and vanilla, with something clean and soapy in there. This is mr Igors favourite. 

Ingredient analysis
Aqua/Water/Eau, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetrimonium Chloride, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter/Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Lecithin, Cocos Nucifera Oil/Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Panthenol, Phenoxyethanol, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Propanediol, Parfum/Fragrance, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Linalool, Coumarin, Sodium Hydroxide, Citric Acid, Caramel, CI 19140/Yellow 5.

Strawberry Clearly Glossing Conditioner

First impressions
Smells sweet and tangy. It's not so strong, and surprisngly pleasant. Some times "strawberry" can be a really artificial scent, so this is very nice.

Ingredient analysis
Aqua/Water/Eau, Cetearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Cetyl Esters, Glycine Soja Oil/Soybean Oil, Parfum/Fragrance, Glycerin, Isopropyl Alcohol, Phenoxyethanol, Fragaria Vesca Juice/Strawberry Juice, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice Powder, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-T-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate, Chlorhexidine Digluconate, Citric Acid, Salicylic Acid, CI 14700/Red 4, CI 19140/Yellow 5.

Today's hair

I really like the look of that messy, high bun that was all over social media some years back (Still is?). It's super cute and creates an elegant shape of the neck.

But you all know me: I'm lazy and prefer braid-based updos so I can just take the tool out and have a decent braid for sleeping on it. 

So I had the thought of making a super high braid, turning it into a bun, and being able to sleep with the braid as it was.

Meh. I liked the look, but the braid was super annoying to sleep on. Was worth a try though.

Today's hair

Meh. If I had posted this as "Romantic messy braid updo" or something, I'm sure people would have nodded and thought it looked just like that, and not as a super lazy second day fail...

Meh, close enough?

I honestly couldn't be bothered to redo the failed five stranded braid from yesterday, but once I wrapped it up in a cinnamon bun, I didn't even notice it.

It had a bit that was sticking out, but otherwise it only displayed the good parts. So meh, good enough.

What The Fail

I was watching Mr Igor game while I braided my hair, and apparently it was more distracting than I thought? I didn't even notice the fail until I got the mirror out to take the pictures.

Five stranded braids are something I still need to practice a lot on, but still...

The length looks good, but what the fail have I managed to do to the beginning?

I did do the three-into-five beginning to make it easier for myself, but somehow I managed to make an almost ropebraid-ish start to it?

The fail seems to be limited to just two strands that I "overused" in the beginning.

Especially one strand that I seem to have used for every other motion in the beginning?
Weird.