Today's hair

Okay, so here is a random advantage to the Royal bun: It's super comfortable to drive with.
Usually my buns get in the way of the headrest (Some times I have even taken a bun out for driving), but this one sits so high that I can keep my head back in a more normal angle.

Rapunzel

Product showdown

Up for a showdown this time is two Garnier Fructis products.

• Garnier Fructis Densify
• Garnier Fructis Goodbye Damage

Interesting fact

The US versions have different names and ingredient lists than the European counterparts. 

• Garnier Fructis Densify is called Garnier Fructis Full & Plush
• Garnier Fructis Goodbye Damage is called Garnier Fructis Damage Eraser

I found it funny that they re-translated the names when they were already in English. Why would they bother? 

The colour theme is the same though.And I mean European counterparts in plural, because I found several different ingredient lists for the European versions!

I brought the Goodbye Damage masque home from Tenerife, and that one was pretty good! 

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

First impressions
Garnier Fructis Densify

I asked Hubby to help me sniff the conditioners because I have a slight cold and my sense of smell isn't what it usually is right now. He says this smells like "Chemicals. Red chemicals." Mr. Igor does not like strong smells. Not much help with the nuances there.

I think this smells like that typical Fructis-smell: Green apples. I remember when the brand just came on the market back like 20 years ago. I was at a boarding school and this girl in the room next door had bought it, and it smelled so strongly we had to ask her to put the damn thing in a bag or something! It smelled all the way down the corridor. Glad they have toned the smell down since.

The front of this conditioner boasts of being "Enriched with fibra-cylane + pomegranate extract". I have absolutely no clue what "fibra-cylane" is. But I guess they want you to believe it does something with the hair fibres?

Also it says it has no parabens. Groan.

Garnier Fructis Goodbye Damage

Mr. Igor says this smells like "Chemicals. Apples."

I think this smells just like that typical Fructis-smell: Green apples. The Goodbye Damage smells slightly less than Densify to me.

The front of this conditioner boasts of being "Enriched with keraphyll + amla fruit extract". I guess this is supposed to make you think of keratines? Amla sounds interesting though, it's a common ingredient in a lot of (Indian) hair treatments. What I don't like is that it says "amla fruit extract" where you can easily found it as pure powder. Delivering amla in a hair product in the form of an extract is not necessary. "Extract" can mean just about anything, as it is pretty much up to the manufacturer what they feel they "need" to do to "extract" the product.

This one also says it has no parabens. 

Effect
Garnier Fructis Densify

I'm very pleased with the result from this. My hair felt smooth, soft and well moisturized. It also did good job of cleaning my scalp. If I were to be picky, it left my hair a little too slippery.

Garnier Fructis Goodbye Damage

I'm very pleased with the result from this. My hair felt smooth, soft and well moisturized. It also did good job of cleaning my scalp. If I were to be picky, it left my hair a little too slippery.

They both had about the same result, and I would not be able to tell them apart!

Ingredient analysis
Garnier Fructis Densify
Aqua/Water, Cetearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Parfum/Fragrance, Aminopropyl Triethoxysilane, Starch Acetate, Niacinamide, Lactic Acid, Saccharum Officinarum Extract/Sugar Cane Extract, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Hydroxypropyltrimonium lemon protein, Phenoxyethanol,  Chlorhexidine Digluconate, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Benzyl Alcohol, Linalool, Punica Granatum Extract, Isopropyl Alcohol, 2-Oleamido-1,3-Octadecanediol, Pyrus Malus Extract/Apple Fruit Extract, Pyridoxine HCI, Cetyl Esters, Citric Acid, Citrus Medica Limonum Peel Extract/Lemon Peel Extract, Hexyl Cinnamal, Amyl Cinnamal (FIL C163595/2).

Applying the Beauty Brains "First five ingredients rule"

Water, Cetearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Parfum/Fragrance, Aminopropyl Triethoxysilane

Based on the first five ingredients on the list, Garnier Fructis Densify is a good cleanser and smells really strongly!

Interesting ingredients

• Emulsifier to dissolve oils: Cetearyl Alcohol
• Emollients to soften hair and soothe the scalp: Starch Acetate and Cetyl Esters
• Surfactants to lower the surface tension between oil and water: Cetearyl Alcohol
• Extracts of questionable value: Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Punica Granatum Extract, Pyrus Malus Extract and Citrus Medica Limonum Peel Extract
• Niacinamide aka vitamin B3 is a very effective skin-restoring ingredient against ageing and environmental stress. Not entirely sure what good it would be for hair, but I can't protest against having it in a product that touches my scalp.
• Protein from a mildly strange source: Hydroxypropyltrimonium lemon protein?
• And, well, too much fragrance and preservative in this one for my taste.

25 ingredients in total
1 marked as a "2" for acne-trigger. 4 %

1 marked as a "2" for irritation-trigger. 4 %
1 marked as a "4" for irritation-trigger. 4 %

15 marked as "green" for safety. 60 %
5 marked as "yellow" for safety. 23 %
And one marked as "green-yellow" for safety. 4 %

Garnier Fructis Goodbye Damage

Aqua/Water, Cetearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Cetyl Esters, Niacinamide, Saccharum Officinarum Extract/Sugar Cane Extract, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein PG-Propyl Silanetriol, Sodium chloride, Hydroxypropyltrimonium lemon protein, Phenoxyethanol, Trideceth-6, Chlorhexidine Digluconate, Limonene, Camellia Sinesis Leaf Extract, Linalool, Benzyl Salicylate, Benzyl Alcohol, Amodimethicone, Isopropyl Alcohol, Pyrus Malus Extract/Apple Fruit Extract,  Pyridoxine HCI, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Citric Acid, Cetrimonium Chloride, Citronellol, Citrus Medica Limonum Peel Extract/Lemon Peel Extract, Potassium Sorbate, Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate, Hexyl Cinnamal, Phyllanthus Emblica Fruit Extract, Parfum/Fragrance.

Applying the Beauty Brains "First five ingredients rule"

Water, Cetearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Cetyl Esters, Niacinamide

Based on the first five ingredients on the list, Garnier Fructis Goodbye Damage is a good cleanser  and a nice treat for my scalp.

Interesting ingredients

• Emulsifier to dissolve oils: Cetearyl Alcohol
• Emollients to soften hair and soothe the scalp: Starch Acetate and Cetyl Esters
• Surfactants to lower the surface tension between oil and water: Cetearyl Alcohol
• Extracts of questionable value: Saccharum Officinarum Extract, Camellia Sinesis Leaf Extract, Pyrus Malus Extract, Citrus Medica Limonum Peel Extract, Radish Root Ferment Filtrate and Phyllanthus Emblica Fruit Extract 
• Niacinamide aka vitamin B3 is a very effective skin-restoring ingredient against ageing and environmental stress. Not entirely sure what good it would be for hair, but I can't protest against having it in a product that touches my scalp. Especially so high up on the list!
• Protein from a mildly strange source: Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein PG-Propyl Silanetriol and Hydroxypropyltrimonium lemon protein
• And, well, too much fragrance and preservative in this one for my taste.

These two products have more or less the same ingredient lists, just with some extracts swapped out and the niacinamide in different places on the ingredient list.

30 ingredients in total
1 marked as a "2" for acne-trigger. 3 %

1 marked as a "2" for irritation-trigger. 3 %
1 marked as a "4" for irritation-trigger. 3 %

17 marked as "green" for safety. 56 %
10 marked as "yellow" for safety. 33 %
1 marked as "red" for safety. 6 %
And one marked as "green-yellow" for safety. 3 %

Lady Igor says
These two products have more or less the same ingredient lists. Goodbye Damage has two ingredients in red for safety, but it also had niacinamide so wonderfully high up on the ingredient list. Densify however, has perfume really high up on the list.
So... Some minuses for both products there.
But since I honestly can't tell the difference in effect, I think I will have to award the victory to Goodbye Damage for the niacinamide.

*groan*

Some days I'd happily trade some of my hairs thickness or length for skin that would behave.
This is one of those days. Sigh.

Today´s hair

I haven't done the infinity bun in a while.
Maybe I need to re-train on this one, because it didn't get as smooth and nice as the last time...

Story time

The stories of the guy I dated who had long hair, and how I almost, but eventually didn´t, date another guy with long hair.

Chef-friend asked me a question the other day: "Hey Igor, have you ever dated a guy with long hair?"
And after thinking about it for 1½ second, I replied that I hadn´t.
Chef-friend thought that was a funny for some reason.
Not entirely sure why and I didn´t ask.
Then told her the story of the guy with long hair that I almost, but eventually didn´t, date.

But today I remembered: I actually did date a guy with long hair once. Hah!

I hope everyone will find this at least just a little bit amusing...

The guy with long hair
I feel this relationship is a simple "What´s in it for me?" analysis waiting to happen.

• What was in it for Igor: He was 25, I was 17 (Yes, this is legal in Denmark as long as you´re not in a sort of teacher/student relationship or something similar, where the older part has power or influence over the younger partner). Was studying music at university. Played guitar in a band and actually made decent money playing different instruments too.
• What was in it for the guy with the long hair: I was an unapologetic nerd and into comic books. Nerd culture just wasn´t what it is today, so I guess that was all it required for him. 

So what happened, since the guy with the long hair is not Mr. Igor? 

I honestly think we just forgot to break up? I started dating him the year before I went off to university and I cannot for the life of me remember being in contact with him after I moved out of my parents´place.

Whoops?
And double whoops on forgetting this guy ever existed!

The guy with long hair that I almost, but eventually didn´t, date

At university, I pretty much immediately settled in with the IT-engineer crowd and was part of a squad before #squadgoals was a thing. I had a lot of fun dating around. It´s amazing how many guys find it a turn on that you can drink beer and kick their asses in Counterstrike. 

(Of course this is back in the day before they removed the bunnyhop, so it was pretty much the best game around)

Anyways. There was a lot of "Tall, blonde and nerdy" guys around. Like, a lot. 

There was this guy that was part of the crowd. Tall, long blonde hair, nerdy and really, really pretty. His hair actually helped set him apart from the rest. I figured he was at least mildly interested, but... Really pretty guys make me nervous (Look up Ironicallyscreaming on Youtube for a guy that could be a carbon copy, if you want a visual). So we never really talked. 

Instead I started dating this other IT-engineer, who turned out to be too uninteresting for me. Just when I was wondering how to get rid of uninteresting guy without drama, "Really pretty, longhaired guy" cut his hair.

Strangely, it removed a lot of my attraction to him. Maybe it was that his hair made him stand out from the rest of the IT guys, since they tend to prefer short and low maintenance hair. Maybe I´m actually that shallow. Maybe I´m just suppressing a fetish for long hair on guys. Who knows?

I never did end up dating the guy who used to have long hair. Instead, I almost started dating a guy who owned a motorcycle store and turned out to be the clingiest, most annoying guy ever. But that´s a story for another time...

Today's hair

My beloved old workhorse, the Nautilus bun.

Throwback Thursday

I guess this isn't your typical Throwback Thursday...

This picture is from circa 1896. The woman is Marie, my great-great grandmother. The man is Kristen, my great-great grandfather. The boy on the right is my great grandfather Lars Peter. There is a street named after him to this day in the city where this picture was taken. We know he was born in 1893, so we think this picture is some years older than 1896 since he looks about 8.

It's funny how dominant those heavy upper eyelids are in my family!

(The link seems to be a bit fussy, so here is to the article containing the picture)

Today's hair

Double Dutch braids into double buns.

I loved how shiny the light in this bathroom made my hair look, so I played around with the angles a bit.

Today's hair

I feel like doing something with it I haven't done in a while...Maybe a crown wrap for tomorrow?