Project Paranda part 2

Continued from yesterday..

First of all, here is why the purple extensions don't really work for me.

Pros
Good colour for me
Even a good tone
The texture of the fibers aren't too far off from my natural hair

Cons
Well... This.Stupid lumpy, scrathy plastic lump to keep the fibers collected.
I'm guessing it's supposed to be one of those extension-types that are supposed to be welded onto your hair or something?

It makes a big "lump" in my hair and even though the plastic is curved so you would think it could fit perfectly around a strand of hair, it doesn't. It works itself out of my braid in a matter of hours and looks really stupid. Bleh.

My tools for the project
Comb
Scissor (Regular one, not my extensive S&D one!)
Glass of small silicone elastics
My idea-sketch
Improvised braid-holder
TonyMoly leave in conditioner (Offers too much hold and texture for my hair and ends up tangling it instead, so I figured it would be perfect for this)
And naturally the purple extensions

Setting up the structure. Using plenty of the leave in conditioner to keep it gathered.

The finished result. And... I'm not pleased with it.
No matter how much I messed around with the little extension-pieces, I would get some "chunks" coming out of the braids.
It looked worse in real life than the photo shows!
So I figured the only way to get out of that effect, would be to make a more linear "Paranda" where I add more and more pieces and cut it off before the first pieces pops out. So, more of a traditional Paranda where it ends up taking over the braid and the ends are Paranda only.

So wie man plant und denkt...

*Shrug*

Tried to braid one of the strands differently.
Decided I liked that better, even though it means a lot of wasted length....

All 3 strands done differently. It got so short!

Cleaned the ends up a bit. I'll try the "Paranda" tomorrow in a simple braid....

Project Paranda part 1

Aka. "Projects I start when I should do other projects, like work."

I've been thinking of making a paranda after Ohtawen commented on the Hair inspiration post.  

I can see why that style inspired you - it's really beautiful. Unfortunately I don't have enough hair for an additional bun, so I won't be attempting this one. I sometimes do just a coronet braid, but I have trouble with the taper... I dislike asymmetry probably as much as you :) 

That's why I usually cheat and do a Dutch braid at the nape of my neck - just several passes, from one ear to the other. Then I braid as usual and wind the braid around my head, tucking the thinnest ends in the braided base and thus making the braid more uniform. 

But I like your idea of a scarf to even out the thickness of the braid. It's totally worth a shot. Maybe even a paranda could help? 

Ohtawen

So I started looking Parandas up, but I keep getting stuck at the idea that Parandas join in the hair in one big bulk. Hmm. 

I'd like my "extensions" to offer some gradual bulk and maybe even taper down again in a more natural-looking way. You know what I mean?

Like, more of a fun little detail instead of taking over the entire braid.

But then in the middle of doing more important things like finishing up a project for work *cough*, I got an idea.

Shit I do when I should do more important things.

Ink on paper

Igor, October 24th 2015

So, let me explain the idea:

Instead of 3 parts, I make 4. The 4th one is the beginning part that is braided in first before being joined by the other 3 parts.

Instead of wool, I will be using the purple extensions (mentioned here) that I haven't had much success with. I will explain why tomorrow when I get home. The numbers are how many of the individual pieces I will use and how.

The "Paranda" will have taper in both ends.

I'm actually looking forward to play around with this tomorrow! 

New skincare routine

I suspect my skin isn't so happy with the Secret Key-centered routine (I found a zit on the way and since it's extremely rare I get those, something must be wrong. Naturally I absolutely destroyed the skin in the area to get to it, so now I have a huge red patch. Oh yes, much better!), so I stuck it in storage and took out the Scinic-products.

• A'PIEU Clean Up Herb Source Cleansing Water Tissue for makeup removal when needed
• BANILA CO Clay Patra Mineral Salt Clay Foam Cleanser for the first cleanser (I find that I dislike the oil-cleansers in general. And they often mess with my contacts) This is perhaps my most favourite cleanser ever
• SECRETKEY Snail Repairing Foam Cleanser for the second cleanser (Keeping this one despite putting the rest of the Secret Key-products in storage)

All Scinic-products came from this set

• SCINIC Snail Matrix Toner
• THE YEON Jeju Canola Honey Essential Serum This one is a surprise favourite. Especially for the price. It's good for the first step after toner
• SCINIC Snail Matrix Essence. This one smells like glue! Weird
• BENTON Snail Bee high Content Essence. Still liking this one
• SCINIC Snail Matrix Emulsion
• SCINIC Snail Matrix Eyecream
• SCINIC Snail Matrix Cream

Today's hair

Ah, the glamorous femininity of having long hair.

Hah.

Hair has been deep conditioning since yesterday evening in DAENGGIMEORI Honey Intensive Hair Mask with a Lador Perfect hair filler ampoule in. It's perfect for a long deep conditioning while I work.

The not-so-dreaded "If you weren't so pretty I would murder you in your sleep!"-look.

After scowling at Hubby some more, I saw the humor in it and decided to post his pictures.

Today's toes

I have a bunch of stuff on my have to do-list. And a bunch of stuff on my nice to do-list.

So what do I do?

I decide it's time to tramp up my toes.

Or rather, tartan up my toes I guess?

On a happy note, I finally "tamed" that cool nail decal transfer kit I bought ages ago.

Step 1: Throw away that awful, cheap white polish that came with the kit and was supposed to go under the design to make the pattern stand out. Why didn't I figure this out sooner? That awful thing never seemed to harden no matter how long I left it to dry.

Step 2: Allow each layer a lot of time to dry. I fitted an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force in between each layer, so like 12 minutes between each.

Favorite episode.

Ugh. Even this post turned into procrastination.

L'oreal extraordinary oil oil-in-cream

Matas had these for a really good price, so I grabbed three of them.

First impression: Pretty tube (And hard to get the details of. So shiny)

Second impression: Smells good. Vaguely fruity.

Ingredients

Aqua/water, cetearyl alcohol, Cocos Nucifera Oil / Coconut Oil, Cetyl Alcohol, Cetyl Esters, CI 15985 / Yellow 6,CI 19140 / Yellow 5,Chamomilla Recutita Extract / Matricaria Flower Extract, lactic acid, phenoxyethanol, Behentrimonium methosulfate, trideceth-6, chlorhexidine digluconate, Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil / Sunflower Seed Oil, Nelumbium Speciosum Flower Extract, benzyl alcohol, cinnamal, linalool, Linum Usitatissimum Flower Extract, amodimeticone, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, caramel, Gardenia Tahitensis Flower Extract, Rosa Canina Flower Extract, bisabolol, bht, Cetrimonium Chloride, Glycine Soja Oil / Soybean Oil, parfum/fragrance

(And WTF. It's so cringe-worthy that L'Oreal doesn't have the ingredients listed on anything on their website! Seriously, seriously unprofessional!)

COSDNA spits out this analysis of the ingredients:

Hm! Kind of a mixed bag here: Even parts green, yellow and red? Not so good.

2 marked as a "2" on acne

1 marked as a "3" on acne

1 marked as a "4" on acne

1 marked as a "1" on irritant

2 marked as a "2" on irritant

23 ingredients are marked with colours for safety:

13 marked as "green" which is 56%

6 marked as "yellow" which is 26% (And a cluster of four of them are fairly high up the list)

4 marked as "red" which is 17%

Statistics-wise, this is perhaps the least impressive product I have analysed.

Also, I took a double-take at that it contains "Chlorhexidine Digluconate". Hm.

I'm a little confused about the "6 precious oils", so I took a look at what they were.

I found exactly 3. That's half of what it was supposed to be.

Cocos Nucifera Oil

Coconut oil. 

Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil

Sunflower seed oil.

Glycine Soja Oil

Soybean oil.

Had a bunch of flower extracts though. I wonder if those were supposed to count as oils?

Matricaria Flower Extract

Chamomile

Nelumbium Speciosum Flower Extract

Lotus

Linum Usitatissimum Flower Extract 

Flax

Gardenia Tahitensis Flower Extract

Gardenia

Rosa Canina Flower Extract

Dog rose

So: 3 oils + 5 flower extracts = 6 precious oils.

That's some advanced math right there! 

Anyways. The product itself though turned out to be pretty nice. Good hold, pretty glossy effect. The scent is barely noticeable once it in my hair, but Hubby still approves.

Fairly easy to rinse off my hands too.

The verdict
I'm honestly a little put off by the COSDNA analysis, but the product is pretty much exactly what I look for in a leave in product. Sooooo...
I guess I will figure out if I will repurchase or not when I have run out... If I can still get it by then. Leave in products seems to pop up and disappear randomly on the Scandinavian market.
For now, I will enjoy the product, but be on the lookout for any skin reactions.

Today's hair

It's been so windy lately. Not particularly cold, just the wind and windchill. Brr.
So since I had some errands to run, I figured I would try to use one of my fake bangs as a forehead-warmer (lol)

Those long pieces at the sides have a tendency to curl up. I guess the whole piece could use some professional styling and trimming too. Maybe I could get the long pieces flat ironed?

Hubby was being funny so I smiled.
Arrrrrrrrrrgh I hate that stupid smile with the stupid fat cheeks I get when I smile

Oink.

Hair inspiration

This is one of those styles that just looks so nice and simple. A slightly squished cinnamon bun? Should be easy, right?
This woman even look like she has more hair than me, so if she can do it, so can I.
Right?

Yea, perhaps not so much.

To make this style hold, I think I would need to start off with a ponytail. That would give this bun a total of three anchorpoints to hold up the bun.

So I did that, formed a cinnamon bun (Took some work to keep it from beebutting) and squished it to make the megaflexi fit.
To my surprise, it actually held.
Didn't feel secure, didn't feel very stable, but it held.
The Flexi slid down a bit in one side, but that was all.

Would I do this style again?

No. Although it was an unexpected, pleasant surprise that it held up, I will not do it again.

It "just" looks like a cinnamon bun and I already have one fantastically stable and simple cinnamon bun I can do. Why do something lesser good when it looks about the same?

This week in hair (Or something)

Thursday the 1st

Started off the BFRB-week with not having to go into work. Awesome.

I can do work like this: On the couch, in my pajamas, with a sheet mask on.

What’s your super power?

Hair: Messy braid

Friday the 2nd

I have to go to a meeting in Denmark.

Funny cloud formation outside Malmö.
(Kelvin-Helmholtz cloud formation)

I grab a pumpkin spice latte in Copenhagen central station. Never had one before. Didn’t hate it, but didn’t really like it either. I don’t understand why these things are so amazingly popular.

Meh.

Boring meeting. I go to my parents after the meeting for the weekend.

Hair: Figure 8 held with one of my new Elk&irons.

Saturday the 3rd

It’s funny: When I’m home with Hubby, I enjoy the “city life”. But as soon as I’m at my parents, I thoroughly enjoy the “country life”. I love having dirt under my nails, picking wild berries as I go and interacting with all the animals.

We go to check in on the pheasants: They’re semi-wild and getting wilder by the day. They’re set out in a safe enclosure with access to food and water, and can wander out into the forest when they feel like it. They have two white roosters protecting them as well. They’re the perfect amount of protecting and motherly, yet fiercely protecting of “their” chickens.

The roosters eyeballing me.

My parents and some of their friends have Galloway-cattle out on unused land. It’s an old race of cows (Like 400 BC-ish) that are friendly, but tough and require very little human help to function in the wild. Despite their small size, they’re getting really popular here because they can take care of themselves and are so great at keeping an area from becoming a total wilderness.

Dad and I.

So cute and fluffy!

Lots of frogs everywhere. A sign of a healthy eco system.

Tiny little baby salamander. It’s amazing how this tiny little guy has two perfect lungs, a perfect little heart, a perfect little liver, two kidneys… Everything I do too.

Hair: Braided Nautilus bun held with a soaring butterfly Flexi.

Sunday the 4th

My parents had a big anniversary party a while back and we look through all the pictures and video. To my huge disappointment, I can’t find a single good picture of me all dressed up.

For the first time in my life I had found a dress I wanted to have, not a dress I had to go buy because I had an upcoming event. And yet, no good picture of it.

We had one person who was supposed to be the dedicated photographer, but yet, even when my brother and I did our (Hilarious!) skit, she apparently couldn’t remember to take any pictures. She even announced she wanted to take lots of pictures, so my parents decided against hiring a photographer! Disappointing.

Meeting her again was actually hugely disappointing. I used to idolize her, but now she just seemed confused, dependent on others to the point of being irritating and, well, stupid. She said some things that left me completely baffled too.

Sigh.

Not sure if it’s one of those “You can’t go back” things, or that her mind is starting to give. Weird.

Anyways. Long story short, no good picture of me in a dress and makeup and fancy hair.

The outfit test I did months ago to see if it worked.

Dress: Hunkydory

Tights: Spanx

Shoes: Helly Hansen

Also I had some purple extensions in my hair that matched the shoes. 

I looked good!

Hair: Same braid as yesterday, now in an even messier Nautilus bun in the same Flexi.

Monday the 5th

Go from my parents to another meeting in Denmark. Then head back to Sweden.

As usual when I’ve been in Denmark, I bring home steak and beer. I just can’t find the quality of meat I want in Sweden. At least not what I am willing to pay for!

Dinner. Yum. My favourite wheat beer. Double yum!

Hair: Cinnamon bun variation with a Ron Quattro fork.

Tuesday the 6th

Another long visit to the dentist today. Poor Hubby broke off a big piece of tooth a while back and it required a lot of visits to fix. 

Poor hubby!

I’m terrified of the dentist and I think I’m more freaked out than him though.

I swear, everything is made to freak you out there.

Like, what the hell is this creepy thing? Is it supposed to be cute? Funny? Some sort of icon/logo thing? 

Creepy is what it is.

Hair: Figure 8 held with one of my new Elk&irons.

Wednesday the 7th

Hubby and I go to Öob. They have an amazing price for V05. Now I have 4 liter of it. 

Awesome!

I make another adjustment to Snickers cupcakes and I’m finally pleased with them.

Yum!

Hair: Braided Nautilus bun held with a Ron Qauttro fork.