Christmas hair accessories

Hmm. So yesterdays Throwback Thursday made me a little sad I don't have any more cool Christmas hair accessories. So I went out to look for some, but have to admit it was a little hard to find some that were adult enough for me, while still being fun and playful.

And I guess by being "adult" I mean something that looks like decent quality and doesn't just look like cheap plastic...?

Can't really say these were adult though?
Still kind of fun!

Throwback Thursday

Old pictures of Christmas themed hairstyles.

 

My old collection of Christmas-related hair stuff. Wrapping some tinsel around a braid tassel is always quick and easy!

Today's hair

The mane is slightly irritated but soft after yesterdays (totally not penis-shaped) deep conditioning, so it's in a simple, single braid.

Today's hair

Doing a deep conditioning over night.
Going to do a single braid tomorrow to let it rest and calm down again, since I'm not planning to leave the house all day.

Mr. Igor says it looks like a penis.
Is he right?

Is Mr. Igor right?

No! Obviously.

Yes! LOL

What?

I have no opinion, I just wanted to press the button.

pollcode.com free polls

Today's hair

Yep, even with slightly messy braid bases, this worked pretty well.
It got nice and flat.
Too bad I couldn't hide the bottom braid a little better.
Also, I definitely need some smaller U-pins...

Today's hair

Today's hair is four slightly messy braids that I'm going to try for double Royal buns with tomorrow.

Life in general

My seasonal dandruff really went crazy this year. Maybe because we returned home from Madeira and 31 C (The guides did say it was unusually hot) to about 5 C and a quick transition into winter.
Last year it was just a mild inconvenience, but this year I feel I actually have to put some effort into keeping it at bay. So far, the best solution has been to do a scritching and massage every time I WO.

It's perfect weather to stay indoors and game though!

The wild animals are getting braver when it's this cold: A rabbit now practically lives on our lawn. I guess the short and juicy grass is better than the unmaintained grass in the nearby forest.

The wild birds quickly got back in the habit of calling for food when they see us in the kitchen. Especially the blue tits are fearless and seems to look you directly in the eye and than scream for a peanut. Cute little jerks!

I'm trying to extend a little bit of that holiday-feeling by using the products I brought home from Madeira. Every time I reach for them, I'm reminded of warm weather, a dramatic landscape and seriously good seafood.

Too bad the feeling won't last. But soon it will be Christmas and that has its own charm too.

In other news, I switched jobs. It's a quite unusual niche, and highly specialized. I was immediately intrigued when I saw the opening, and really happy I got it.
It does have a very unusual work hour distribution though. Way longer, but fewer days. You're not even allowed to work past a certain number of days a month when the hours are this long. I don't mind though. My work days generally goes to sleeping, grabbing a cup of coffee and kissing Hubby goodbye, then coming back home and doing basically nothing before going back to bed again. So, now I just have to skip some of the "doing basically nothing" and go right to sleep instead.
I think this will actually allow me to put more hours into work #2, since I get a lot more free days.

This year, Hubby and I got really into stocks. That's seriously addictive! Like a (Now former) co-worker who is very much into stocks warned me: "The day you get hooked on stocks is the moment you will forever be on the hunt for more money to put on your stock account".
She wasn't exaggerating.
One of the things I'm most excited about with the new Job #1 is the possibility of having more time for, and thus making more money out of Job #2.

I have a few days off before I start on the new job, so I try to spend some time on my time wisely and get some Nice To Do items off my mental list.

Hairstyle planner

I continue to be short on time in my life. 

Maybe I'll go into a bit more details on this in my next post...

Anyways. Something I find really nice is to make solid braid-base in the evenings that I can "re-use" for two different styles the next two days.

It saves me some time and effort in the morning.

The crazy thing about this? No one has ever been able to tell. Even when I press my colleagues for their opinion, no one has spotted anything "off" about my hair.

It's like a dirty little, totally awesome secret.

As long as I cycle my styles into obviously different styles, I guess no one can tell and everyone thinks I look well put together and professional.

Base: Horizontally split double braids

This one causes me a little trouble because it's hard to find the exact place to split it to make both braids equally thick. It's always higher up than I think. This one also works well with five-stranded braids.

Option 1: Double vertically stacked buns.
I always thought this style would be considered "childish", but so far I only got comments on how crazy it is I have two, "normal sized" buns.

Option 2: The Royal Bun.

This is a seriously good option for day two. The style "lifts" some of the short, face framing hairs up so they fall out. So it makes for a good "messy on purpose" style. A little leave in-conditioner to tame the short hairs and it looks great.

Alternative option: Bottom braid turned into a braided Nautilus bun, and top braid wrapped down and around. I just don't think this one is particularly cute though!

Alternative option: Top braid turned into a braided Nautilus bun, and bottom braid wrapped up and around. It gets a bit of a "lump" instead of the nice, flatness of the royal bun.

Base: Vertically split double braids

I really like this one. It's very comfortable on its own and something that looks more complicated than it is.

Option 1: Braided Chinese bun. 

This is a really good style for day one, because it benefits from being smooth and flyaway-free, so the details show well.

Option 2: Horizontal double buns.

Option 3: Partially or completely tucked under braids.

This is a really good style for day one, because it benefits from being smooth and flyaway-free, so the details show well.

Option 4: Crown wrap.

At times where "messy on purpose" is in style, this is a good option for day two. 

So maybe the perfectly planned updo cycle for a week of work would be:

• Sunday evening: Wash followed with making vertically split double braids
• Monday morning: Braided Chinese bun
• Tuesday morning: Horizontal double buns
• Tuesday evening: Wash followed with making horizontally split double braids
• Wednesday morning: Double vertically stacked buns. 
• Thursday morning: The Royal Bun
• Thursday evening: Wash followed with making vertically split double braids
• Friday morning: Partially or completely tucked under braids
• Saturday morning: Crown wrap if needed

Troubleshooting your hair

Some times hair can just have that... feeling.

Like there is something wrong. It doesn't appreciate what it usually likes, the texture feels off or it just tangles more than usual. You have more bad hairdays than usual.
Does it needs to be cleansed deeper? Or does it need a deep conditioning? Was it cone overload? Oil buildup? Maybe it needs more moisture? Protein? Hard water build up? Chlorine?
It can be really hard to tell, since hair products are literally made to mask problems and make your hair look and  feel good.

You can get some answers by washing with a clarifying shampoo.
These might also be found under titles such as "purifying", "detox" and deep-cleansing".

Clarifying shampoos will remove all the potential problems and leave your hair squeaky clean, ready to be diagnosed.

The difference between regular shampoos and clarifying shampoos is that clarifying shampoo contains none of those nice ingredients that will make your hair and scalp feel better after use. A clarifying shampoo is a cleanser, nothing more. It doesn't deposit anything back on your hair. It will remove the leftovers of whatever it was you were using to tame it.

But it also means that they strip away the natural oils and product leftovers that keep your hair shiny and your scalp well-moisturized. Your hair might feel really awful afterwards, but that can be fixed after the diagnosis.

As awful as this sounds, this is actually the effect you want if you reach for a clarifying shampoo!

Since there are no laws about printing "clarifying", "purifying", "detox" and deep-cleansing" on a shampoo bottle, take a look at the ingredient list to make sure you actually have a clarifying shampoo on your hands.

• It should contain no silicones. Those help "coat" hair. Silicones can be identified by the ending "one" or "xane". Especially amodimethicone is prone to build up.
• It should contain no quaterniums. Those help binding to damaged areas of the hair. Quaterniums can be identified by the ending "ium". Especially polyquaternium 10 and 11 are prone to build up.
• Avoid guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride and anything that ends with "methosulfate”

The ingredient list should generally be as short and simple as possible. You just want cleansing agents in this. No occlusives like oils or cones. No humectants like glycerin or sorbitol.

In this case, where you need an absolutely stripping product, the best-avoided sodium laurel sulfate is an okay choice on your ingredient list. (Yes, even though it's so potentially irritating it can be used to trigger a positive reaction in patch testing because it will cause irritation in half an hour when applied undiluted) Think about it like this: You would rather only have to use a clarifying shampoo once and get the answers you need, than having to repeat the process.

Make sure to ingredient-check so you only have to clarify once and can return to your usual haircare routine again!

The process for troubleshooting your hair is simple

1. Wash your hair with the clarifying shampoo. Be thorough, but don't let it sit for longer than normal. If you have picked an actual, clarifying shampoo, it shouldn't be necessary to repeat it either.
2. Rinse thoroughly.
3. Wrap your hair gently in a towel and let it air dry naturally. 
4. Observe how your hair looks and feels

Important notices

• Do not condition after using the clarifying shampoo! No matter how awful your hair feels like after the shampoo, don't add anything else to it.
• Do not blow dry to speed up the drying process! Not with cool air either, as the air stream can help make the hair scales lie flat and keep hiding what your hair needs.
• Do not comb your hair during the drying process, as this can also help smoothing down the hair scales.

Afterwards
It can be difficult to accurately describe how hair feels, but if your hair feels...
Brittle: You probably overloaded on protein. Give your hair some regular moisture.
Crunchy and dry: You probably overloaded on protein. Give your hair some regular moisture.
Fragile: Your hair could probably use some protein to rebuild it's strength.
Halo of flyaways: Your hair could probably use some moisture.
Lost all body: Your hair could probably use some moisture.
Tangly: You probably overloaded on protein. Give your hair some regular moisture.
Wirey and rough: Your hair could probably use some protein to rebuild it's strength.

If your hair now seems happier than it was before, it was probably just too many good things at once in your haircare routine. It happens to everyone sooner or later. You get carried away with wanting all the best for your hair, and it has resulted in build up.

If none of these descriptions helped, or your hair feels like a combination of all, your best guess is the best treatment. Maybe you should reach for a beloved old favorite now that you have removed the problem-causing build up.

• Recognizing a conditioner with protein in it: It sometimes says on the front, but is written out on the ingredient list and not hidden under numbers or Latin names. 
• Recognizing a conditioner with moisturizing ingredients in it: Look in the ingredient list for cetearyl alcohol, glycerin, hyaluronic acid, panthenol, propylene glycol, sodium PCA, sodium lactate and sorbitol. There are many more moisturizing ingredients though!

Today's hair

Ah, my trusty Double Dutch braids to braided Chinese bun.

I really like that one. It has a good "lift"effect to get my hair away from my face.

It makes me feel cute!