Today's hair

I didn't really feel like redoing the double Dutch braids from the other day, even though they are getting pretty fuzzy.

I figured maybe I could pull the braids up through their own base and make some small, cute buns a little further up.

Hmm. Maybe it would look cuter on "newer" braids?

Today's hair

Double Dutch.

Deep conditioning results

Washed the Elistraee out this morning and my hair felt great: Soft and smooth. Also it seemed to have a sort of "puffing" affect on my hair because it feels very thick today.

The orange eyebrows from the Rusalki treatment has calmed down a lot too. Almost matches my sun-bleached ends now!

Deep conditioning

It's been a while since last I spent a day just deep conditioning and messing around with my hair!

I had some Nightblooming products still left in my stash, so I decided to play around with that.

Eilistraee Colorless Herbal Hair Conditioner
Strawberry Blonde Rusalki Herbal Hair Color and Conditioner

At the time I purchased, the Rusalki samples had been sold out and the Eilistraee conditioner only came in sample-size. I figured I could mess around with the colour for my eyebrows, and do a length-only overnight conditioning of the length.

Directions were about the same:

1. In a bowl add the herbal powder. In a separate container heat distilled water until steaming but not boiling and add, mixing until you have a mud the consistency of pancake batter. Add a few drops of Essential Oil if you wish. Please research your EOs carefully. 

2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set someplace warm. Atop a warm electronic, such as a computer tower works well, or under a warm lamp. Mix occasionally, letting sit for at least 2-4 hours, and no more than 6. 

3. When ready to use, wash hair but do not condition (or condition very lightly). Section towel-dried hair and work the herbal mud into the hair, making sure not to miss spots. Carefully pile hair atop the head and cover with a shower cap or plastic wrap. Leave on for 2-6 hours, the longer you leave it on the deeper the conditioning benefits and the more colored tones that will be imparted.  

4. Rinse well with water. If you find rinsing difficult, try soaking your hair in the bathtub or a bucket first, or use a lots of a cheap silicone-free conditioner (like VO5) to aid rinsing

Mixed with water. The Eilistraee has such a beautiful green colour!
Both has a pleasant "fresh herb" kind of smell to them.

Covered and left to develop dye for a few hours.

Some regular conditioner to make sure I have enough product volume to cover the length of my hair.

...And then Hubby showed his silly side.

Now, why is there suddenly a cucumber near the cling wrap, plastic bag and bandage that I was about to use?

 

Because Hubby watches too many silly videos on the internet.

...And I usually run around in my cat ear-headband when I do something like this.

Hah hah. Funny Hubby is very funny.
(I didn't kill him in his sleep, but I will reserve the option for later)

Added a bit of regular conditioner to the Eilistraee treatment.

Checking the thickness of Rusalki to see if it can stick to my eyebrows.
So charming!

Eilistraee treatment ready for doing its magic overnight.
Hubby calls this "mummy hair", but you can't deny that this is a very convenient way to do overnight treatments.

Rusalki on the eyebrows and covered with cling wrap. I managed to leave this for two hours before I got annoyed with it and washed it off my face.

The eyebrows got bright orange! A lot more orange than I assumed it would, so it's good I'm not completely new to this or I would have been pretty sacred.
Still though: Looking forward tot he oxidation to begin.

Today's hair

Just a simple non-braided Nautilus bun.

My first white hair!

I found it yesterday at work. I had gone to the bathroom and while washing my hands I found something... glittering... in my hair.

It is completely and totally white. Not grey or any hint of my naturally brownish, blondish reddish thing.

I actually feel strangely proud of it. Also a little amused, because I guess this shows how much I really have of red tones in my hair (Redheads go directly to white, all other hair colours go through grey first)

Subscription boxes ordered

So, being super busy means I often forget about self care.
Being busy just seems to force self care way down my list of priorities. Sigh.

My priorities list right now goes:

1. Work #1
2. Sleep
3. Finding time to spend with hubby
4. Self care
5. Work #2 (Project based, so can be squeezed in whenever)
6. Social life and other things in that area 

So I figured it might be a really good idea to find some sort of subscription service for beauty stuff.

My requirements:

• A focus on full sized products: If I get a sample and use it maybe 1-3 times, it doesn't tell me if I actually, truly tolerate the product. As you know, my list of sensitivity-issues is ridiculous, and I need to try a product for a while to see if it works or not. I can't read that from the description, ingredient list or reviews, no matter how thorough. I will probably not buy the full sized product based on how I like the sample. However, if it turns out I empty a full sized product and still tolerate and like it, chances are very high I will order it again. Samples are nice of course, but I don't want them to be the focus for the subscription box.
• Being able to pay the main bulk of the subscription in one go instead of a recurring monthly subscription, no matter how easy you can cancel it. I'd like to see it more as a one-time expense than a continuous subscription. Having to pay for the shipping on a monthly basis is acceptable though, that's not the main expense.
• Low level of customization. Weird, I know! But I don't want to have to pick my stuff every time: It spoils the surprise aspect. I will place my own orders at my own time for the specific products I want. A subscription box like this should be so I "have to" try new stuff and explore other products than I would normally order. See # 1: I have to try a product to tell if it works for me or not and often the description puts me off from trying it.
• And of course there is the issue that not all subscription boxes ships internationally.

I thought those four requirements were simple enough, but it left me with only one option!

Weird, I was fairly sure Mishibox would be like that (Which is why I bookmarked them, I guess?) but no. You have to pay every month there.

So I have signed up for Beauteque which has both a mask and a mixed beauty bag month subscription.

The BB bag promises 6-8 full sized products in each bag.

The Mask Maven bag has 9 nine masks in each bag.

Holy crap has it been this long?

Wow.
Funny how "Meh, tomorrow..." turns into "And four months later..."

Long story short: Been busy. Also kind of ended up having a lot of energy/enthusiasm for blogging.

Now I think I'd like to get back to blogging, just maybe at a lower frequency?
I do think I set my desired update-rate too high for my current workload. Hmm.

Anyways, I'm fine: Just busy. And my hair is fine too, been maintaining at fingertip length, so it's happy and healthy.

Funny thing about hair: It really does grow when you're busy making other plans. And it really loves low maintenance, benign neglect routines.

Nightblooming haul

Edited because Blogger ate most of the post?

Rusalki Herbal Hair Color and Conditioner 
Eilistraee Colorless Herbal Hair Conditioner 
Genasi Herbal Hair Color and Conditioner 
Devas Fairy Herbal Hair Color and Conditioner

These should be good for boosting my red tones!

I did however ask Nightblooming if I could add extra conditioner afterwards (Both to get enough treatment volume to cover my hair and to make sure I got a weak enough watercolour effect and not actually a dye). Nightblooming says I can add my chosen conditioner to the mix after I have finished mixing the treatment according to instructions, yay!

Sunlit Meadow Herbal Rinse for Light Hair
Forest Glade Herbal Rinse for Dark Hair
Miruvor Long Hair Herbal Tea
I'm really looking forward to trying a good final dip/rinse! They can work wonders for adjusting acidity and adding shine.

This cassia smells so yummy! It has a completely different smell from any other cassia I've ever tried: More like peas than that sort of "dusty" smell I've had so far.

Ostara's Hair Salve
Freya's Hair Salve
Panacea's Hair Salve
And at the bottom Thriae Scalp Scrub
I could not manage to open the scalp scrub for the photos, lol!
Neither Hubby or I could get it open, but luckily Nightblooming is awesome at answering questions and said "Sounds like some of the sugar and honey gummed it up a bit. you could try running warm water over where the lid meets the container or give it a soak in warm water (the labels are waterproof, but I'm not sure how well they take to soaking)".
It's now open and it smells heavenly!

Ostara's Hair Salve This one has a sort of herbal smell. I guess it's the horsetail and thyme?
Freya's Hair Salve Lavender yum!
Panacea's Hair Salve I can't really place the smell. I guess it's the Rooibos infusion that is unfamiliar to me?

I'm really picky with my teas, so I only got the sample size of the Miruvor long hair tea.
But I will definitely get more: This thing is great!
It has a herbal flavour with some sweetness to it. Really good, just the kind I like.

Life and such

Autumn is becoming winter up here in the north, so now my scalp and skin is upset over the changing temperature and humidity.

Winter season also means a lot of (bullshit) social obligations. I don't know why winter/Christmas approaching means that every single person you barely saw the rest of the year suddenly wants to see you.
This little introvert does not approve.

One cool thing I've found though: The Royal bun actually goes well for both work and parties.

I simply add some leave in conditioner to the loose strands to give them more structure and make them look deliberate, and some false lashes and I'm fairly good to go.
Saves me lots of time!

Just to demonstrate: False eyelashes on my left side (Viewers right)