I put my hair in three braids to use for buns for the next days. It's funny how difficult it is to split it accurately?
Ears and down adds up pretty precisely to one third of my total hair volume, so that was easy.
But splitting the rest in two of equal thickness was a lot harder! The very crown part of my scalp grows the thickest/coarsest and densest hair, so it took me a lot of tries to get it close enough for my liking.
I ended up "cutting" the back end of the parting short for the top braid, and then "combing over" the hair. Does that make sense?
The middle braid still got noticeably thinner though...
It's funny how big colour difference there is in my hair! I haven't done any cassia/henna in a very long time (I think like half a year?) and yet my hair looks unusually red. Today it showed up as being very ginger and the last conditioning/wash I did was with Shea Butter for Natural Hair Deep Treatment Masque that I got some weeks back, which shouldn't affect my colour in any way?
One thing I really find amusing is spotting my braid showing between my legs.
And yes, I just realized how much I need to clean the mirror!
I was impressed enough with the OGX conditioners I tried a while back to immediately order more of most of them. And since they also have leave in-conditioners, I had to try those as well.
I picked out three of them:
OGX Argan Oil Ex Strength Tame & Shine Cream
OGX Coconut Miracle Oil Air Dry Cream
OGX Bonding Plex Cream
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, keratin, sunscreen etc.
First impressions
OGX Argan Oil Ex Strength Tame & Shine Cream
My first reaction was to be mildly annoyed because this leave in-conditioner has another design than the other two. I missed that from the website when I ordered it. This has a sports bottle-opening instead of the pump bottle-opening. I would have liked to have three more identical products, so I'm not sure if this isn't the same line as the other two?
It's a pearly, slightly thin cream. It smells very sweet and a little fruity.
OGX Coconut Miracle Oil Air Dry Cream
This one is a bit thicker in texture. It's a little more matte, but still white and pearly. It smells very sweet and a little like coconut.
OGX Bonding Plex Cream
This one is also a bit thicker in texture. It's a matte white cream. It smells very sweet and with a hint of something I can't really place.
Why is this one called "Bonding plex"? Because of the polyquaterniums? The coconut one also contains a few of those, so why is it specified for this one? Because of the name, I expected it to contain Bis-Aminopropyl Diglycol Dimaleate like Olaplex does, but no. So it's the quads? Those aren't really special or exclusive enough that they should name the product though?
Effect
OGX Argan Oil Ex Strength Tame & Shine Cream
This one was surprisingly thicker to work with than it appeared from the first look at it. It was almost difficult to distribute evenly because of the texture. But once it was in, it felt pretty smooth and good to work with. The hold was pretty good for a leave in product. It didn't do a whole lot for shine though, despite being part of the name. It has a sweet smell that lingers in the hair once it's dry.
When I rinsed my hair out the next day, it felt a little... funny. Like, dunno, it's hard to describe. Like a little crispy, I guess? It was weird. Usually leave in products turn into a slippery goo and just slip off my hair and down the drain when exposed to water like this. But this was a little odd.
OGX Coconut Miracle Oil Air Dry Cream
I could write pretty much the same about this one: The leave in product has a weird texture that made it a little difficult to distribute, but once it was in, it had pretty good hold. It overall just felt a little "Neutral", as in that it didn't really impress me with anything. Hold was ok, shine was ok, manageability was ok. I liked the scent in this one a little better though. It has that artificial coconut smell that doesn't smell like real coconuts, but is pleasant enough as it is, so I don't really mind.
OGX Bonding Plex Cream
I was pleasantly surprised that the sweet smell of this one disappeared after a while. It wasn't unpleasant as such, I just prefer my hair to not really smell like anything.
This one was also sort of "Meh" to work with too, but it did leave my hair a little more shiny than the other too. It was way easier to distribute in my hair than the argan oil one though. The hold and manageability it offered was really nice too.
I'm... not sure I can really say something from the short ingredient list. Or even from the full one. This one has so many strange ingredients. It almost sounds more like some sort of weird fabric to me?
Interesting ingredients
Cetearyl Alcohol is an emulsifier which means it lowers the surface tension between oil and water so it can dissolve oils and be used for cleansing
PVP or Polyvinylpyrrolidone also commonly called polyvidone or povidone, is a water-soluble polymer that functions as an anti static
Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil is the feature ingredient of argan oil
I'm really confused at these ingredients. First we have a bunch of carbohydrates from the cassava plant, which is often used as a thickening agent in food. It's not even good for protein content or anything like that. Then a I-don't-even-know ingredient. A quaternium, completely normal and expected. The featured coconut oil ingredient. Then finally a pretty flower extract, which is advertised for on the front label.
Interesting ingredients
Polyquaternium-37 is a quaternium ammonium compound and will bind to the damaged areas of hair
Cocos Nucifera Oil is the feature ingredient coconut oil
Gardenia Tahitensis Flower Extract, Vanilla Planifolia Fruit Extract and Caryocar Brasiliense Fruit Oil. There are no explanation on what "extract" really means. There is an episode of The Snailcast where Shell of Holysnails talks about how a supplier to her webshop offered her ruby extract to add to her products. Which is completely nonsensical, but explains a lot of what extracts can be. It can be something good, but it can also be a root quickly dipped in a bucket of alcohol. What it takes to extract the extract is never specified.
Polyquaternium-28 is a quaternium ammonium compound and will bind to the damaged areas of hair
Polymethylsilsesquioxane this is some sort of silicone judging from the -xane suffix?
Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate. This is a preservative made by fermenting radish root. My best guess is that it simply sounds "better" than the names of normal preservative ingredients
I thought this would be the product I would find the strangest ingredient list in, since it advertises itself as "Bonding plex" and what have you. But nope, this is the most normal and plain ingredient list. It almost sounds like a regular conditioner, actually.
Interesting ingredients
Cetyl Alcohol is an emulsifier which means it lowers the surface tension between oil and water so it can dissolve oils and be used for cleansing. Strange to see that in a leave in-product.
Glycerin is a really good moisturizer and an humectant.
Polyquaternium-37 and Polyquaternium-47 are quaternium ammonium compounds and will bind to the damaged areas of hair
Amodimethicone is a silicone
In conclusion..
Lady Igor says
It's funny: With such different ingredient lists, they products were still more or less the same. Same more or less "Meh" effect.
The one I liked the best was OGX Bonding Plex Cream, based on the ingredient list, that it felt pretty good to work with and that it made my hair slightly more shiny.
Not really a massive difference though. I was generally not impressed with any of them. Strange and disappointing since the conditioners were so impressive!
About two weeks ago I tried to write something about the perfect hair diet. It was really difficult!
Human nutrition in itself is really complicated, and I have never really studied it.
I had the required level of chemistry and high level biology in Gymnasiet but there were little focus on this. So I really feel like I lack some background knowledge on this. And now when I try to read up on it, I just feel confused at how complicated it all is.
Anyways. As I tried to compile a list of food sources for the amino acids, I was struck by how many times egg whites were mentioned. And sea weed. And cheese (Maybe that's why cheese is such a running joke in the longhair circuit?)
I then remembered that I had a bag of seaweed I bought ages ago because it claimed to taste like bacon. So I thought "Hey, why not try to put some perfect hair food together?"
I decided to try to make egg white muffins with sea weed, bacon, spinach and parmesan. That should almost cover all the amino acids from the attempted list I made. Which is pretty cool!
I knew sea weed was a "super food" that should be especially good for minerals, so it was as surprise for me that it would be good for amino acids too. I mean, it's not that high on protein content, but if all the protein it has is from essential amino acids, that's good!
This kind of seaweed was supposed to taste like bacon, which is why I bought it.
It didn't look too appetizing though!
And it just smelled really old and dusty. Like, not unpleasant, just really dusty.
It didn't get any better once I chopped it up and mixed it with defrosted spinach, parmesan and a little bit of leftover shredded cheese.
Mixing in egg whites and fried bacon only made the whole thing look comically disgusting!
I used 250 grams of bacon, 85 grams of parmesan, 40 grams of the leftover shredded cheese, 200 grams of spinach, 25 grams of the bacon seaweed and 500 grams of egg white.
Mr Igor took one look at this and went "Yea, you're on your own". He usually loves my cooking so I felt a little insulted. Only a little though, since it does looks like chunky toxic sludge.
Once cooked, it was pretty good though!
The bacon taste was really, really strong from regular bacon and the bacon sea weed. Next time, I would make it with less of the strange seaweed, or maybe less regular bacon.
I had lots of sauces ready in case I needed to dampen some weird taste, but it was good enough that I will try to make it again.
If we calculate that half the fat content of the bacon is melted off and drained (I think it was more, but let's keep it simple) each of the "muffins" lands at 155 calories and 16 grams of protein.
That's really good! When I try to cook high protein, low calorie foods, a 1:10 ratio of protein to calories is considered good.
This was tasty, easy and probably covers most of the amino acids I need. I could see myself make this again! It still looks nasty though.
My massage therapist who has spent the last many years moving the big, heavy snakes of my braids out of the way, asked how long my hair really is the last time I went.
So since I have a massage time today, I have put my hair in a ponytail and then turned it into an unbraided Nautilus bun that I can take down to show her.
I used one of the new leather-based Flexi 8's for it.
I'm now less happy with those!
The end of the stick turned out to be pretty sharp and it nicked my hand when I pushed the stick through my hair. Only a shallow cut that didn't bleed, but still.
Last year I did The 29 hairstyles in February challenge which was was hard, but also a lot of fun! It was a good method to make myself check on what variation I still have with my updos at my current length.
So why not try a new challenge? I'm joining the Blogging from A to Z challenge to work through some of my hair knowledge and maybe inspire someone else too.
I wore my hair in an orchid bun today with the hairstick with the little bee-dangle. It's so very close to being too short for me! Half a centimeter less and I would have been unable to use the stick because it would slip entirely into the loop from the figure 8.
Well, wow. Just when I thought the Swedish mail couldn't disappoint me more than it already has... It did.
I bought these Flexies in two orders, one back on the black Friday sale (!!) and that one didn't show up until two weeks ago! That is how incompetent, awful and deliberately useless the Swedish mail is.
I thought of composing the timeline of exactly how bad this has been, including multiple rude and useless customer "service" reps contacts and a customs website that plain didn't work in any way whatsoever, but I think I have made my point. 3 months to get my order. 3!
So that was one thing that has sucked really, really badly.
The next thing is Lilla Rose.
They suck too.
They sucked as Flexi 8, and they suck as Lilla Rose.
All the way back in 2011, I wrote this to Flexi 8:
A fairly reasonable thought from a super-longhair, right? Like, a big part of their market... Right?
And... Basically what has turned into their Flexi Flip today... Right?
So, a really good idea from a customer, right?
Nope.
I received the following reply:
Basically: "LOL, are you sure you're not just too stupid to work our product correctly?!"
So condescending. They can hide behind nice words, but that's their message.
I especially liked the part where I'm being informed that the stick curves like it does because it "provides more comfort" despite me contacting them because it doesn't.
Basically:
Me: "Hey, your product hurts me, but here is an idea to make it better"
Flexi 8: "No, you're wrong. Also, you're probably too stupid to use the product right. Here's how to use it correctly."
I refused to buy another Flexi for almost 10 years after this.
Anyways. I was dumb enough to order more Flexies through their new website (New owner?) and using an affiliate link from someone I thought was a nice person, someone I had even talked to through Instagram before. Someone who even took the time to thank me directly for the order using her link.
The first order I received was actually the last one I ordered:
Two Flexi Flips, a hairstick and an XXL Flexi.
Notice how neatly all the products have been hand-crossed out on the order form. Check, check, check and check.
The flips are super tiny, even thought I bought the largest they had.
"EX compares to MD, LG, XL"
Meh. More like large maybe, definitely not the XL.
In fact, it was so small that it hurt my hand trying to push it into my hair. Look at the bruising in my palm! Ouch.
They work for two smaller buns, not for a single one for me.
Begrudgingly I have to admit that the Flexi flip has amazing hold once it's forced in place.
I tried my best to get some good photos of the Flip-construction.
Part of why it can "flip" is that it doesn't have a decorative centerpiece like the regular Flexies.
I would however be a little worried that the "semi-open" construction of the center piece would be really good at catching on hair. It would have been nice if it had been closed, but I can see how it's impossible to construct the Flexi without having an open centerpiece. I would want to turn the open part away from my hair.
Second part of why it can "flip" is that they have little indents to secure the "8" into on both sides of the stick-part.
It's nice to have the option of doing this.
But as I wrote in my original mail to Flexi almost a decade ago, this is something more needed for the extra large Flexies. As in: Not this size. More and heavier hair needs a larger and studier tool to hold it, and then you really need to distribute the weight a lot better. You especially need to stay clear of having a single contact point for the tool on your scalp. That's a lot of pressure on your scalp and hair.
Still though. The "flip" is good for hold and stability.
A "true" XL and XXL Flexi flip would be very welcome though.
The hairstick I got for free was actually the prettiest part of the order, and the one I was most excited about. Simple with a nice choice of wood and a cute little bee-dangle.
Anyways. Back to things that suck.
Remember how someone had neatly crossed out the products on the order form?
Yep.
Someone put this abomination of a Flexi together without noticing how badly they had screwed the construction up.
Someone packed it in a little plastic bag.
Someone put it in my package.
Someone crossed it out on the order form.
And no one noticed the problem?
The stick can barely reach the decoration in the middle! How could they not have noticed it? It can't even close on itself, much less with any hair inside it.
And worst of all: When I contacted Flexi about this obvious production error, they ignored me.
I contacted the person with the affiliate link. She ignored me. Repeatedly.
I contacted Lilla Rose by the email on their website. They ignored me. Repeatedly.
I contacted them on Instagram. They ignored me. Repeatedly.
And just to clarify: I went something like a week between each attempt to contact them.
Lilla Rose has a return policy with a time span for how long you can return your items, and since the Swedish mail was so useless and awful, I was over that time. Hence, why I needed to talk to them before returning the production error Flexi.
Not until I contacted them on Facebook, did they react. And then only to first "defend" themselves by saying they had nothing to do with my lack of replies the other places. After that, magically I got a reply by email from the website.
Whatever.
I was obviously right to judge them for being awful back in 2011 and I should not have given them a second chance.
I will not ever give Lilla Rose/Flexi 8/whatever any of my money ever again. They have taken too much of my time, effort and money already.
The order I placed first was the order that I received last thanks to the Swedish mail:
The size difference in the Flexies is pretty fascinating to me.
Regular XXL (Gingerbread man design)
Flip EX (Green and blue beads)
Regular medium (Fly Agaric design)
Regular Small (Seahorse)
The medium and small are almost identical in sizes!
And look at the size difference between the XXL and the Flip EX, which "compares to MD, LG, XL" according to Lilla Rose.
According to Lady Igor, the Flexi Flip compares to a large regular Flexi. No more, no less.
The ones I was most interested in were the leather or fabric based Flexies, and they turned out to be pretty nice. The wooden sticks actually match the colours really well.
I really like that this one doesn't have any weird bling or details that can get caught in your hair!
