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I made this video as a test before the covid issues exploded. I never really intended to use this, but since so many things are different now, I'll show it anyways. This is for my preparation work for phase 1.

Hair and surgery

Yes, I made a video on this.

And here is a little "behind the scenes" of the updo for the video

Product showdown

Up today are

• Garnier Fructis Coconut water
• Garnier Fructis Strength and shine

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

Ah, the smell of Fructis always takes me back. When I did my year of boarding school (It's a tradition in Denmark to take a year "off" for boarding school between finishing the compulsory education of 9 school years and entering secondary school. The focus is more on personal growth and experiences, and many of the boarding schools specialize in things like sports, music or travelling. There are also schools with different languages, like for the German-speaking minority in southern Denmark) there was a girl in my corridor who bought a Fructis product because it was the hot, new thing. It completely stunk up the corridor until she had used it up and it sort of became a running joke for us. Good thing "Atomic ultra sour super green glow-in-the-dark-neon-green apples" is a fairly pleasant smell. And a very good thing that Fructis has since toned the scent level way, way down for their products!

Garnier Fructis Coconut water

Smells like Fructis. Sour green apples.
Good formulation that isn't too thick or too runny. Was easy to distribute in my hair, but did cause some dripping.

Funnily, this seems to be a mostly Australian/New Zealand product line? When Googling, this is where I get my hits from. Strange to find it in Sweden.

Garnier Fructis Strength and shine
Smells like Fructis. Sour green apples.
Good formulation that isn't too thick or too runny. Was easy to distribute in my hair, but did cause some dripping.

Effect

Garnier Fructis Coconut water
This left my hair nicely soft and shiny. It was reasonably easy to rinse out and my hair felt clean and good afterwards.

Garnier Fructis Strength and shine
This also left my hair nicely soft and shiny. It was also reasonably easy to rinse out and my hair felt clean and good afterwards. It was pretty hard to tell these apart, but I think this one left my hair slightly more shiny?

Ingredient analysis

Garnier Fructis Coconut water

Aqua / Water, Cetearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Glycine Soja Oil / Soybean Oil, Cetyl Esters, Niacinamide, Saccharum Officinarum Extract / Sugar Cane Extract, Cocos Nucifera Fruit Juice / Coconut Fruit Juice, Cucumis Sativus Fruit Extract / Cucumber Fruit Extract, Hydroxycitronellal, Hydroxypropyltrimonium Lemon Protein, Sodium Benzoate, Phenoxyethanol, Chlorhexidine Digluconate, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Linalool, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-T-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate, Benzyl Alcohol, Isopropyl Alcohol, Propylene Glycol, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Capryloyl Glycine, Pyrus Malus Fruit Extract / Apple Fruit Extract, Pyridoxine Hcl, Geraniol, Citric Acid, Citronellol, Citrus Limon Peel Extract / Lemon Peel Extract, Potassium Sorbate, Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate, Hexyl Cinnamal, Glycerin, Parfum / Fragrance. (F.I.L C194970/1)

Applying the Beauty Brains "First five ingredients rule"
Aqua, Cetearyl alcohol, Glycerin, Distearoylethyl hydroxyethylmonium methosulfate, Isopropyl palmitate

When only looking at the top five ingredients, this is a emollient and moisturizing product.
Which means I would want to use this as a CO cleanser for the surfactant to dissolve scalp oils.

Interesting ingredients
Cetearyl Alcohol is an emulsifier which means it can dissolve oils and be used for cleansing
Glycerin is a really good moisturizer and an humectant.
Panthenol does maybe-maybe not penetrate and strengthen hair.
Mel is honey. Almost at the bottom of the list!

This conditioner is cone free.

One thing really confuse me though: "Hydroxypropyltrimonium Lemon Protein".
Lemon... Protein?
Nutritional value of lemons

Uhm, yea. Okay. Lemon protein.
Doesn't sound like the most logical place to find protein, but what do I know?

Questionable extracts
Saccharum Officinarum Extract / Sugar Cane Extract
Cucumis Sativus Fruit Extract / Cucumber Fruit Extract
Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract
Pyrus Malus Fruit Extract / Apple Fruit Extract
Citrus Limon Peel Extract / Lemon Peel Extract

Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate

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

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

18 marked as "green" for safety. 54 %
11 marked as "yellow" for safety. 33%
2 marked as "red" for safety. 6 %

Hydroxypropyltrimonium Lemon Protein and F.I.L C194970/1 are not listed on COSDNA, so there are missing ingredients for the statistic.

Garnier Fructis Strength and shine
Aqua / Water, Cetearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Starch Acetate, Niacinamide, Saccharum Officinarum Extract / Sugar Cane Extract, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Chlorhexidine Digluconate, Camellia Sinensis Extract / Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Benzyl Alcohol, Isopropyl Alcohol, Pyrus Malus Extract / Apple Fruit Extract, Pyridoxine Hcl, Cetyl Esters, Citric Acid, Citrus Grandis Oil / Grapefruit Peel Oil, Citrus Medica Limonum Peel Extract / Lemon Peel Extract, Hexyl Cinnamal, Parfum / Fragrance

Applying the Beauty Brains "First five ingredients rule"
Aqua, Cetearyl alcohol, Isopropyl palmitate, Glycerin, Distearoylethyl hydroxyethylmonium methosulfate

When only looking at the top five ingredients, this is a emollient and moisturizing product.
Which means I would want to use this as a CO cleanser for the surfactant to dissolve scalp oils.

Interesting ingredients
Cetearyl Alcohol is an emulsifier which means it can dissolve oils and be used for cleansing
Glycerin is a really good moisturizer and an humectant.
Panthenol does maybe-maybe not penetrate and strengthen hair.
Olea europaea fruit oil is olive oil and pretty far down the list.

This conditioner is protein free and cone free.

Questionable extracts
Saccharum Officinarum Extract / Sugar Cane Extract
Camellia Sinensis Extract / Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract
Pyrus Malus Extract / Apple Fruit Extract
Citrus Grandis Oil / Grapefruit Peel Oil
Citrus Medica Limonum Peel Extract / Lemon Peel Extract

19 ingredients in total

1 marked as a "2" for acne-trigger. 5%

1 marked as a "2" for irritation-trigger. 5%
1 marked as a "4" for irritation-trigger. 5%

11 marked as "green" for safety. 57 %
4 marked as "yellow" for safety. 21 %
And one marked as "green-yellow" for safety. 5 %

Camellia Sinensis Extract / Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Pyrus Malus Extract / Apple Fruit Extract and Citrus Grandis Oil / Grapefruit Peel Oil are not listed on COSDNA, so there are missing ingredients for the statistic.

Lady Igor says
This is pretty hard to conclude on because the ingredient lists are so long and pointlessly complicated. But I think the Garnier Fructis Strength and shine has the least annoying ingredient list. This one also seemed to leave my hair a little shinier, so I like this one better than the Garnier Fructis Coconut water.

Another shot at the braided log roll

So I got the idea of trying the braided log roll with a five stranded braid base instead.

This braid was super hard to do! I really need practice in keeping five strand separate and feeding more strands into it.

Although I think the five stranded braid base helped make this updo flatter and more comfortable, I found another thing I need to do different next time: I need to make sure to take the braid base more down. I tend to pull my braid bases up a little to have more freedom around the neck, but this particular updo could really use a braid that it followed all the way down.

Here is for comparison a regular old braided Nautilus bun on the same five stranded braid base.
Not actually a big difference in looks?
I will give it another shot at some point though.

Hair inspiration

So I tried to copy this:

And although it's pretty simple and pretty comfortable, I had a strange thought with it...

...I honestly think this would work better with more length??

The Buffs are here :)

I have considered getting a Buff before, since they keep circulating in the longhair circuit. But then, Buchfreundin recommended me one and I decided to go for it!

They have lots of products, but the famous one is the long, multifunctional tube. This is also the one I kept seeing in the longhair circuit for protecting hair against sun and wind.

For sizing, they have an XL option. I know back from my horseback riding days that my helmet size is exactly 58 cm. But since I would probably wear the Buff at an angle, or it would need to stretch over a bun in one way or the other, I have gone with XL for all the choices.

There are options for warmth, but since I live up in the frozen north, I'll stick to regular hats with additional under-layers for that.
Instead, I was interested in sunprotection and cooling.

I have ordered five off the Swedish website:
Crook military
Because I liked the camouflage pattern and colour
Embers black
Because you can't go wrong with a mostly solid black one
Cashmere black
Because I liked the pattern
R spiral yellow fluor
Because it was reflective and it seemed fun and flashy
Shading blue
Because this seemed like a good colour choice for my skintone

For a second I entertained the thought of ordering one of their chef's hats to see how that would work with my buns, but I decided against it.

So, a little fun with styling options for them:

Tied one in a simple little pouch with a bow around my bun. Looked a little weird, but fun.

"The pirate" that Buff suggests for styling just doesn't work when you have a big bun on the back of your head. But it was good for a laugh.

A little hard to tell from the pictures, but: Black and white Buff is covering the head and bun, blue Buff is put on sideways across my head and tied in a knot underneath the bun.
This was very stable and comfortable actually!

Building on the previous idea I tucked the yellow/green Buff up above the bun and then wrapped the black Buff around at the base of the bun. This was also very comfortable!

Look what my dad made for me! Part II

Dad sent me an updated picture of his hairstick project!

These will be the most unique hairsticks in my collection: Hand carved deer antlers made from a deer he shot himself!

Look how cool the second one looks! And that awesome skull-friendly curve on the first! I really love it. 

He isn't going to take more off until I come and test them so we can see how much more he needs to take off the thickness.

How are you all doing with the covid-issues?

I hope everyone are well, and not going crazy from being locked up at home?

I'm sort of, kind of, okay.

My classes are now all online, but I continue having to go into work. So that's really weird.

And yes, I'm one of the weirdos in the masks on the trains. People can be nasty and gross even under normal circumstances, so I'm not taking any chances. Although I don't worry about me, I have people around me who have compromised immune systems.

The Danish lockdown isn't a problem because of my citizenship and being essential personnel.The ID check in Kastrup is really smooth and problem free, but for some bizarre lack of reason and logic, Skånetrafiken decided to stop all trains in Malmö, so now I have to change trains there. It's massively annoying because there seems to be no logic and no reasoning behind it. Leave it to Skånetrafiken to make a mildly annoying situation worse!

My surgery was cancelled. It was supposed to have been this Monday, as in tomorrow.
We kind of saw it coming, but I kept hoping that Sweden would continue its singular, stubborn refusal to take the same measures as pretty much the rest of the world.
When they called about the cancellation, I spent the rest of that day on the couch being insufferably pouty and feeling sorry for myself.

It would have been perfect: I could have squeezed in an obligatory 5 ECTS point class (Which is half the work load of the regular classes) in the work free sick leave period. I would then only need the final project, and I could have finished half a year early. But no such luck.

Booh.

So I should just "Hold onto the descutan" until I get another date.
I'm supposed to wash my hair once and my body three times with these, 12 hours apart. I don't even need to analyse the ingredient list to know that my scalp and skin will be absolutely miserable and crackly dry after this. Sigh. You know you're a skincare nut when this is something you worry about and it doesn't pale in comparison to the surgery itself!

Mr Igor only managed the first few lines of the description of the surgery before declaring he didn't want to know. Welcome to the club, Mr Igor! 

I had done really well up to then too: Been on a workout and diet routine to build strength and lose weight. Having to carry all your weight on one leg and a set of crutches is seriously hard, so more strength and less weight would make everything easier.
Especially for the recovery process where I'll get back to putting some weight on a foot that haven't carried any for 6 weeks.

I've gone up 10 kg in pretty much all my lifts. I lost 5½ kg and 3½ % body fat in two months.

But with the surgery cancelled, all I could think was "Screw this! I will eat everything!"

It took a lot of willpower to not just ruing everything I have done the last two months. After having done so well for so long with workouts and calorie counting!

Awesome, filling, protein rich breakfast.
(This is so filling it keeps me from snacking before lunch)
80 g avocado: 128 kcal and 2 grams of protein
50 g chicken bacon: 55 kcal and 6 gram of protein
20 g chorizo: 85 kcal and 5 gram of protein
50 g egg: 75 kcal and 6 gram of protein
45 g meatballs: 117 kcal and 6 gram of protein
20 g tomatoes: 5 kcal
110 g turkey bacon: 143 kcal and 19 gram of protein
Small amount of oil for frying
Total: 608 kcal and 44 grams of protein

Awesome work lunch: Mozzarella and tomato salad, blueberries and strawberries.
200 g tomatoes: 50 kcal and 1 gram of protein
125 g mozzarella: 260 kcal and 23 grams of protein
Small amounts of red onion, spring onions and basil
50 g blueberries: 30 kcal and 1 gram of protein
50 g strawberries: 15 kcal and 1 gram of protein
Total: 355 kcal and 26 grams of protein

Pink is body weight, grey is body fat.
I'm 173 cm or 5´8" tall.

February 4th: 65,7 kg and 23,2 % BF (That is 143 lbs for those who use pounds)
March 28th: 60,1 kg and 19,7 % BF (That is 132 lbs for those who use pounds)

I've never weighed myself this often before, so I actually found myself being very fascinated by this. Of course I always assumed I would have some period bloat, but seeing it in the graph is pretty interesting. And seeing the graph going crazy around the last weeks before I turned my semester project in was... Thought provoking. LOL. Snacking in frustration versus forgetting to eat regularly because I was on a roll, really made my weight jump all over the place!

My pity party over the cancelled surgery isn't entirely over yet, but I'm trying to work through it.

Well. At least I haven't cut my hair in boredom!

Look what my dad made for me!

This is so cool!

Last time I visited my parents, my dad noticed my Woodartjewelry bone hair stick. And later he started carving a pair of hair sticks for me out of a set of antlers.

I'm going to try them on next time I visit, and see what more he needs to take off them. I think I would like them to be a little thinner, but I'm not sure how much strain the bone can take. Dad an I discussed making them more "oval", but I will have to try them on. I also suggested making the other one "opposite" and having leave the two or three spikes on the antlers as the decoration part.

Today's hair

Meh, braids got pretty messy over night. They held up very nice for a while though!
I used the massive L'Anza Trauma treatment and that one has fairly good hold.

I basically did a repeat bun style, but instead of wrapping the outer braids down, I wrapped them up and above the middle bun.

Didn't make much difference. But it's good to experiment with these things.

Still held with the same Ron Quattro from the day before yesterday.