Art :)

Check out what Little Orca did!



She painted it after this picture of me:



I have to admit its one of my least favourite pictures of me. Ever. I attempted to copy the pose of La Naissance de Venus by Eugène-Emmanuel Amaury-Duval but instead ended up looking like one giant chin, ick!



I took the pictures for my 9½ years hair anniversary. Link to the original thread back on LHC.

Maybe I should have hubby take some new pictures of me, some that will actually look good! Some that has me posing, not just for the hair and not looking like an idiot?
  

Trim

I finally talked hubby into giving me a trim. I’ve been trying to bring it up with him before and every time it has resulted in him angsting over the risk of screwing it up. Every time I have said that I feel a lot safer with his cautious trimming than in the hands of some scissor-happy stylist who would prefer to add layers and highlights and…

It’s not like my ends were very even before anyways: I still have that reverse U shape from my bad habit of snipping my braid tassel. I just wanted it evened up a tiny little bit.

                                       

                               

10 minutes and lots of whining and worrying later and my ends looked like this.

Hubby did a great job!

           

                                   

I thought with all his worried complaints and his assumptions that I would be upset with the result that he had snipped a lot of hairs, but no. A sweep of the floor didn’t exactly reveal a lot of hairs!

                                    

                                        

Now I just have to keep from snipping the few longest hairs in my braid tassel so I don’t maintain the reverse U shape.

             

                          

Ridiculously long full length shot! I’m back above knee length I think. 
                            

You know you’re a longhaired weirdo when…

...You have an almost empty tub of protein tablets and find yourself thinking “Hey, that dust in the bottom… Can I use it in my hair somehow?”

I asked on UTT but the answers were pretty inconclusive. I guess I just have to try a test strand!

                                     

                                           

I know a lot of people put their shed hairs out for the wild birds, but I have never done it myself. I’m guessing I need to cut my up to 1½ meter long strands up in much smaller bits, but how small is enough? I’d hate to see “our” fluffy little morons get tangled up. I know how strong my hairs are!

Today hubby trimmed his beard and I found myself wondering if maybe his beard trimmings would be of interest to the little birds. They are pretty short and feel wiry, yet soft. Should definitely keep some little bird babies warm!

I gathered up what I could and will put it out tomorrow and see what happens.

It’s funny how hubby’s beard turns from being blonde with some red, grey and brown patches on him to just dark brown when it’s been cut. Angles and light really shifts the colour of natural hair.

It looks like a warm little nest already!

                       

Hair dream

I dreamt about my hair last night.
   
First I bleached my hair bimbo blonde. Bimbo blonde is what I always call it in my head when I see one of those girls who just want to be “really, really blonde” with no regard to how healthy their hair is or if the colour looks natural at all. It always ends up with that distinct, flat yellow colour.   
          
It turned out I (Surprise) didn’t like it at all.
    
For some reason I decided the logical step would be to colour my hair black.
     
But my ends didn’t take the colour like the rest and it turned out to be spotted and patchy in yellow and black. Like a leopard.
      

                     

Imagine if I could actually get my hair like that?  

               

Laundry XD

I had booked a laundry time for today only to find that we didn’t actually have a lot of laundry. So, hm? What’s a clever girl to do?         
                                

                       

I decided to do something I’ve never done before: I rounded up all my fabric hair stuff. Bandannas, headbands, scrunchies, scarves, everything.

I ran the more fragile stuff through the “hand wash” cycle and the rest through 40 degrees washes.

I have to admit I was worried how my new silky goodies would react but it seemed to be fine. Everything is drying now.

                    

                      

Got a little creative with the angle, hehe!

                         

The only thing that didn’t like the wash was a wide pre-tied headband from coveryourhair.com. Even though it looked exactly like so many other bandannas, the white print partially fell off. Booh!

Braid

Lately I’ve been feeling I’ve been stuck in a rut: Simple English braid to braided Nautilus bun when I need to get the mane out of the way.

Maybe it’s time to challenge myself to do more cool things with my hair?

                    

Seriously disappointed in Hairsense, part II

After not having emailed me a confirmation (And then hinted to that it was my own email that was at fault when pressed for information) and basically written lolcat to me (By the owner!) I thought I was done being disappointed in Hairsense.    
          

Well, I honestly wasn’t completely thrilled with the combs either. They have traces of teeth marks from sawing (?) between the teeth and they have obviously been sanded down, but only on the surface, not between the teeth.

But 15 minutes ago, after having put my freshly WO-washed hair up in a braid with some leave in-conditioner and using my dedicated “After detangling, use for distribution of leave in-conditioner and putting hair up”-comb, I tried to remove the few shed strands that are always caught in the comb.

Only to find that one little clump of hair was somehow stuck in the teeth.

I have owned this comb for a grand total of a week and used it five times in total.

I could not be more disappointed in Hairsense than I am right now.

Never, ever going to let them have any of my money again.

         

Who knows how much of my hair has been ripped to shreds by this nasty split??

                             

                                               

                                                          

Fish oil and vanity

I’m not really sure what to think of fish oil/omega 3 supplements. It has been on pretty much permanent trial with me ever since I first started taking supplements. It seems to be one of those “super foods” that always gets praised for being good for…Well, just about everything?

I’ve been taking it half for my hair “Because everyone else are doing it!” and half for my really crappy ankle that hurts in the winter cold (Multiple fractures that haven’t been set right because the arrogant and uninterested doctor in the ER decided it was “just a sprain” and I was just being a baby and wanted attention. No, I don’t like doctors, why do you ask?)

But in the time I’ve been taking fish oil I never really felt it actually made a difference at anything. I kept taking it on a “trial basis” for years though.

Gosh, that makes me sound dimwitted and sheep-like, doesn’t it?

But to defend myself, omega 3 supplements do seem to be good for a lot in the body. It seems to be one of those supplements you “should” take if you decide to take supplements.

I was supposed to bring a new bottle of fish oil home with me from Denmark, but it turned out to contain vitamin E so I didn’t want it.

I’ve been out of fish oil since then and haven’t gotten myself around to restock.

Can’t say I’ve noticed any difference though.

But yesterday I was reading a magazine at the gym (On the treadmill) and there was an article about fatty acid imbalance causing skin problems and omega 3 supplements relieving trouble skin. My skin has been acting up lately, but since its standard setting seems to be somewhere between “Troublesome” and “Total-bitch-freakout” it wasn’t something I was thinking about. Could it be because I haven’t taken my supplement for weeks?

Could I finally have found a real reason to take omega 3 supplement?

I’m going to place an order for some soon and we will see. Hmm…

Protein and vanity

I’ve been trying to get serious with the fitness for a while. I got an invitation to fitocracy from Gwen in the UTT fitocracry thread and it’s been seriously motivating to me. Funny how tools and toys like this always helps you stay focused. Like it isn’t good enough just to go because it makes you happy and healthy?

I’d like to get fitter and lose some fat. I’m really tired of being too big for my clothes and feeling out of shape.

Anyways. I was thinking about making a “set” diet to lose the fat, but I’m a little weird when it comes to that. I’ve tried the calorie counting thing and it Does. Not. Work. For. Me. It’s like a mental blockage or something. I just can’t do it.

But what does work for me it having a “set” premade diet I just need to follow: As in “Eat A and drink B for breakfast. Eat C and drink D for lunch.” Etc.

That kind of discipline works for me. No clue why I can’t just count “on the go”.

Maybe it’s a related blockage I have when it comes to the hair care schedule? I guess my mind just rebels at having to put so much effort into something that is supposed to come naturally and effortless?

Anyways. I do have a point with this, I swear.

So I was calculating on some “pre-set” diets and I keep getting a bit worried about my protein intake. Why is that? Because I’m shallow and worry about my hair, that’s why.

I have already experienced one very sneaky shed in my life and I’m not willing to sacrifice any hair for fat loss. I love my mane more than I hate my lovehandles. I still get my thumb thick regrowth poking out of my updos or braids from time to time and it makes me cringe.

From some research I think I should aim for 1,5 gram of protein per 1 kg of body weight per day if I want to work out and diet at the same time. Just to be safe.

I find it difficult to get there on food alone and still stay at a safe calorie deficiency. So naturally I started looking at protein drinks. Since I would like to get as much protein for as little calories as possible (Hey, I prefer eating my calories, not drinking them!) I divided the calorie content with the protein content for each drink.

The results were pretty surprising.

The lowest had just 3,9 calories per 1 gram of protein. That’s near the “raw” calorie content for 1 gram of protein, if I’m not mistaken? The highest had 8,1 calories per 1 gram of protein. That’s over twice as much!

A little math to compare the results and one protein drink per day of the calorie heavy one would “translate” into over 5 kg of pure fat more than the calorie low one in a year. Yikes.

I guess this is really how I ended up feeling fat: Those “few” extra, unnoticed calories per day. A piece of chocolate, a few chips, a second serving “just a tiny portion” even though I’m already full.

Still, I’m shocked at the difference between the protein drinks.

So, boring rant aside I’m just extending my discovery to those that may care: Run calories/protein through your calculator if you are looking to buy protein drinks.

New goodies!

                                                                       
Pretty Antoinette’s goodies!
Such pretty packaging and cute little notes with it
                                                           

                                                                            

Silky scarves

My webcam doesn’t so their vibrant colours justice
                                                             

                                   

                                                                                            
Bonnets
Both feel a bit too big for me. I’m really not sure if they can work even if I get a hole in the back for my braid. I think these will work better if you wear a bun for sleeping.
Maybe I would be getting some good use for them wearing them under a woolen hat and over a bun on cold days?
                                                                               

                                                                                       
Silky pillow cases
So pretty and glossy
                                                                                 

                                                                                     
And so soft!
                                                                                    

                                                       
Came with their own individual super cute drawstring cases
                                     

                                                
And little lavender packs to insert into the pillow. They smell divine and so calming
                                                            

                                                                                  

I got two beanies too but forgot to take a picture of the second one

They’re wonderfully snug and comfortable. I just need to get Chemist friend to make a hole in the back for my sleep braid and they will be perfect
                                               

                                                                                                                                   
Loc cover
I fell in love with this one right away. It’s so awesome and I can’t wait for more colour options to come up in the webshop. I must have more of these! I need to play with more styling options for this one…