Q&A

Maybe to help you get into the swing of blogging, you can tell us what you've been doing--just basic stuff? What your life was like away from home/what your job entailed (be as vague as you want), and how your hair was treated (or not ;) ).
Darkhorse

That’s a good idea, thanks Darkhorse!

I can go in detail with the hair stuff, not that it’s been very interesting! 

Work was a mostly-office job with a lot of hours. So my day was pretty much to get up early, whip my sleep braid up in a Nautilus bun and then sit in front of a computer until late in the afternoon. Then I would go train (Still managed to gain some weight since mostly-boring office environments seems to make people bring in lots of sugary snacks!) WO-rinse my hair and braid it, do a Korean skincare routine and go to bed early.

Exciting stuff!

I did CO washes and my Ankylosaurus in the weekends, where I still had to go to the office, but with fewer hours.

Pretty much an awesome benign neglect routine for my hair and a high maintenance routine for my skin.

That's absolutely gorgeous! I wonder if you could post a video showing how to do this bun, please as I find the diagrams confusing...??? Thanks :)AnonymousOn the Suebian knot

Hi Anon.

I actually promised myself never to make videos ever again. Too many “How the hell did you even manage to survive until you were old enough to operate a computer, if you’re really, truly that stupid??”-type people and too many pathetic losers with nothing better to do with their life than to look up stuff they know would offend their claustrophobic world view, just so they can bitch and whine about it on Youtube.

Bu-ut I’ve also been thinking of giving it one last shot where I upload as a private link (Or whatever it’s called: That thing where you can only find and see the video if you have the link already)

So, I’ll think about it.

So now what?

The trouble with not blogging for so long is that I have way too much stuff on my mental “Want to do”-list.

• I need to get Hubby to help me with some length shots this weekend. Seems like the summer weather is finally coming, so good timing for that!
• I had an idea of running through all the styles I can do for a “style library” kind of thing. Minus the ridiculous amount of variations possible of course. That would take forever.
• I have a folder with 39 (!) pictures of styles and variations I want to try at some point. Hmm. Start from one and start working??
• I want to write more about the Korean skincare routine. I seriously love it. And I find it seriously amusing that what works the best for my skin is the high maintenance, time consuming Korean skincare routine, which is the exact opposite of the benign neglect that works the best for my hair. 

I’m probably forgetting something.

Hmm.

It’s probably going to take a while to get used to blogging again. Just yesterday I felt all lost and confused looking for a specific picture in my upload. Hah. 

Back.

And damn, am I feeling disorientated.

It must be one of those “getting older” things: Ten years ago there was nothing a single, good night of sleep couldn’t fix. Wild party the night before? Just flew from halfway around the world? Finals? Everything could be fixed with sleep. Now I just feel slightly confused and disorientated.

Going from a super structured schedule to having a whole month off really messes with my head.

Doesn’t really help that Hubby has signed up for work this summer and is working nights, so I have to turn my day around too. Meh.

I guess I have to make a list of the things I want to fix and try to maintain some discipline about that, or the next month will end up with me on the couch or playing games.

Since my contract for work #2 ends in January, I have a lot of things I want to finish up and write down so my replacement can take over exactly where I left. I also have quite a few ideas for stuff I want to do for my blog.

My 13½ years hair anniversary was a week ago, so I need to take some progress pictures too. I’m quite curious to see if 6 months of total benign neglect has done something good for my hair too…

Radio silence

Yea, it's pretty much all there in the title.

Seems I underestimated how busy I will be until I leave early February. I have a lot of stuff to take care of before that and it's quite a bother.

I absolutely blog for fun, because I  like it and use it as my own tool to not fall into a rut with my hair. That other people find it inspiring too is just a bonus. A very nice one that I appreciate the hell out of, but still a bonus.

But as things are right now, it just makes me stressed to try to keep up with my blog as well.
And come early February, my opportunities to blog will be very different.

So, I think I will have to put my blog on temporary hold for my own sanity's sake.

Fail?

I was so not awake this morning when I put my hair up.

So totally not awake.

I did something wrong with my Chinese bun, I guess I didn't do the sides completely symmetrically, but took turns with the wraps?

Even though it was a fail, I think maybe I could make something of it: The "wrap" adds a certain quality to it, so maybe if I did it on purpose...?

Opportunities

I have been given the opportunity to get stationed (For the lack of better word!) at an awesome workplace again. I absolutely loved it there the last time and it looked so awesome on my CV!

I’m 99% sure I will accept it.

Pros

• Free gym (and a good one!), literally a stones throw from my living quarters
• Good options for doing some yoga in the evening
• It was surprisingly easy work compared to how difficult it’s regarded to be. Of course I will be in a different department this time should I accept, so it might live up to its reputation there
• Living quarters are a stones throw the other direction from my living quarters
• Looks good on my CV
• Nice little village a bit away
• Will give me plenty of time to work on other projects

Not really a pro or a con, but still funny: My family has strong ties to the area. The local museum basically has a wing about my great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather and their family business.

I’m thinking I will go visit them and ask if I can help dig up some stuff from my late grandfather that will make the exhibits a little more fun for visitors.

Cons

• I can’t bring Hubby with me, so we will probably only see each other every other weekend or even less
• It’s 20 weeks this time
• The #%&@ signal issue

Seriously, the signal issue is a huge pain in the ass. The living quarters don’t have wired connections and the last time I was there, I couldn’t keep my wireless internet going at all. To make a phone call I can to stand in one specific corner of the top floor or the call would be dropped.

Either that or go in one of the office buildings and use one of the cabled connections.

Nothing wireless works there.

Despite the cons, I can see myself having a good stay there:

• I would go home for an extended weekend every other week or so.
• I would be closer to work #2 from the location than from home, so I could put more time and effort into it.
• I could put in some serious me-time: Get a good routine going with proper bedtime, gym, healthy eating, fresh air and putting an effort into my skin and hair.

It would be like a project healthy hair 2012.

My routine would be something like:

• Getting up, getting dressed. Glass of water with supplements.
• Drinking my morning coffee and having a drinking-yoghurt at the morning meeting.
• Work. Having a sports bottle with water at my table. Try to empty it during the day.
• Healthy lunch consisting of salad. Supplements.
• Work. Having a sports bottle with water at my table.
• Going to the gym.
• Protein shake or protein drink.
• Post gym shower. Wash hair/deep condition hair.
• Doing the Korean skincare routine if I’m just going to be in my quarters for the rest of the evening.
• Work #2 from my own desk, studying or working on stuff I want to write for the blog.
• Going to bed at a decent hour and getting plenty of sleep

It would actually be really good for me. Hmm.

I probably wouldn’t be able to actually blog a lot, but I could gather up some good material for it. 

Pro You Scalp Nutrition Calming Moisture Fluid

So I took a hint from my own last blog post and went digging in the hair stuff closet. I had this bottle stuffed in the back and had totally forgotten about it.

It’s a sort of moisturiser for the scalp I guess.

Smells absolutely delightful: Like slightly spicy, but still fresh and delicious green apples. Yummy!

It has a very thin and runny consistency.

There’s an ingredient list in English on the front of the label, but it’s kind of hard to read. A huge list of botanical extracts in this one!

I considered typing it out, but, uh, it’s not like I can tell the significance of it containing liquorish root extracts anyways… If anyone is really interested in seeing the ingredient list and find it actually useful, I will type it up, but the information isn’t really useful for me.

I found this on the brands website:

I tried it on my scalp and it was actually very nice and calming on my winter dry and slightly cranky scalp.

It left some greasy residue at my roots, but the skin itself absorbed it.

So I’m thinking this might be a good idea to use the day before wash day?

Massage some of this in, leave it on overnight and wash it out the next day?

Hmm. 

Memebox Global # 18

I ordered this quite a long time ago, but it's the last in a very, very long line of boxes coming my way. I have stuck with the themed boxes so far and this is the only "random" (global) box for me yet. 

This box just seemed to cement that I don't need any more boxes. I just have too much Meme-stuff.

Left to right

• Purederm Shower Jelly in Cooling Mint

In the description, Memebox goes out of their way to write about how awesome and trendy jelly-textured products are. It makes me think this thing might show up in the next OMG box. That would be right up their ally.
I don't understand the point of a cooling shower product though. I mean, even in the hottest of climate and summer, I still want a warm shower. Is that just me?
It comes with some little bubbling net thingie.

• Dr. MJ Bee Tox Control Cream

Another cream. I have re-used my old Memebox boxes to store products that I will use as a later time (They are very good for storage! Looks cute in the closet too!) and by now I already have a box completely stuffed full with facial creams. No eyecreams, no essences, no serums, nothing that needs rinsing off, no creams designed for the body: Just plain last-step-of-the-skincare facial creams.
There is no way yet another cream can excite me.
I don't get why Memebox doesn't aim for a more even distributing of product types. It seems like all boxes comes with at least one facial cream, but stuff like essences and especially toners are rare.

• echoice Hand Therapy in Cherry blossom

It's another nice and delightfully scented hand cream. I have two in storage waiting for me to use up the one in my shoulder bag and the one on my work desk already, so, yea. Memebox overload even for a cute product I would otherwise look forward to.

Left to right

• Puresmile Animal Point Pad in Guava

I know some bloggers dislike Puresmile, but I don't mind them. Another little sheet mask thing. I can always use those.

• Derma Lift Derma Lift Intensiderm Aqua Rich Cream

Something about these 3 little products rubbed me the wrong way right away. And sure enough: On the back of them it says "Free sample- Not for sale".
Honestly?
What the [beep!], Memebox?
They try to pass of 3 [beep]ing samples as 3 real, actual products?
And they have the balls to write "Full size product: 50 ml ($ 42)" on the pamphlet?

• Touch by Lee Kyung Min Extreme Shield Master

This left me mildly confused: I'ts a $ 46 ampoule-essence in a little pen thing for dabbing on dry spots on the face. Uhh. Yea, okay. I stuck it in my shoulder bag and figured I could maybe use it as a cuticle treatment or something.

Sally’s Box Friendly Argan Hair Mask

What a name, huh? 

Unlike the Glam Up Brilliant Steam Hair Pack (Here and here), which only contained the wrap itself with some conditioner smeared on the inside, this has a separate packet of conditioner.

Only like 30 ml or so, but still. Little more hair-friendly in my opinion.

Taking a lesson from before, I wrapped my hair up in some extra conditioner and slipped the cap on.

It didn’t hold as well as my clingwrap and my “Gibson girl” type bun with the conditioner started to slip after a while.

Oh well. I really should try to get to the bottom of my “Hair stuff” closet: Use what I can and get rid of the rest.

Benton value set

This was a value set that Memebox had up for a special offer. Shipping was free and everything!

Unfortunately Memebox has been a little too fast lately with removing sold out boxes from their website, so I can’t link to it.

It contains 10 sheet masks, a cream and an essence.

I picked it because I received the cream in a box once and it was perhaps the most moisturising product I’ve ever tried. I was too heavy for my face, but on my dry shins it kept the skin soft and moisturised until I showered the next day.

In addition to free shipping and generally being a good deal, it was supposed to come with a free, random item. Some bloggers received full sized, awesome items.

Me? I got a one-use skin exfoliator. Meh.