So cold....and bored

So in my little town, it looks like Santa sneezed everywhere.  We've lost a ton of trees because they all had their leaves, and the snow weighed them down big time and split them in two.  It was quite the trip through town trying to get to work!  A lot of people are still without power too; this is day 2 for them with no heat, electricity or anything.  I don't know how we managed, but we are one of the few lucky people in town that haven't lost electricity both at my work place and at home.  Thank you, God!

So on another note, because I'm bored and really don't want to do anything I'm going to write more about my hair adventures.  I tried washing yesterday, and was low on shampoo bar so it didn't get all of the oils I put on my hair so my hair didn't get as clean as I wanted, so I decided to try baking soda today and I'm actually pretty impressed.  I'm not sure if I got everything massaged in well enough, but it got rid of the extra oils.  I'm thinking I might try the baking soda for a while to see how that works, and I have to wait until the rest of my shampoo and soap samples come in anyway, so it's perfect timing.

I'm still using the conditioner, which I think is a permanent thing: I don't like how my hair tangles without it; it's too course and thick to not use it, and I'm using a hair friendly conditioner so I'm not too worried.  I also used a vinegar rinse, which I might switch to lemon juice again, we'll see.

Other than that, not a whole lot happening; we're getting ready to move to a new place, which is really exciting, so I'm hoping that goes off smoothly.  I can't wait to move.  No one will know where I am, it will be a better place, the heat will work, I won't have to clean two bathrooms :P

Well, I better get going!

Guess what? Guess what?

Exciting news! I got rid of the staticky hair! Woot!!

Okay, I will admit that I did break down and I bought "Giovanni"'s hair treatment for critically damaged hair.  And to start off with, no I don't have damaged hair, I actually have very healthy hair, but I'm just taking about a tablespoon in an empty shampoo bottle and filling the rest with water and running that over my head.  So far, today I haven't had the tangling problem or the static problem which is such a relief, because it was driving me up the wall.

To be honest, I'm rethinking the whole shampoo bar thing.  I used to use Giovanni a long time ago and really liked, but I just didn't like paying the price for it, especially the conditioner.  I'm hoping that once I get through this bar, right now I'm using the "Butter Bar Conditioner" I'm can try Chagrin Valley's "Mud and Clay" bar, because I've heard great things about it and I'm looking for a bar that I can use as my body and shampoo bar that will last longer.  So far I don't think I'm going to get more than three weeks out of the Butter Bar because it's make with so many soft oils that it just melts out of your hand.  I love it, but I can't pay that much money on a regular basis. I might also just email the Chagrin Valley company up and ask them which bar lasts the longest based off the ingredients and we'll go with that.

I want to keep trying the shampoo bars because I know when I use a standard liquid shampoo I have to use up so much conditioner it's ridiculous.  So we'll see; I'll definitely keep you updated.  Thus far, I'm very pleased with the semi-routine I seem to have going for myself, hopefully I'll continue to fine-tune it as I go.  I also think I'm going to drop the Aloe Vera Gel (I wanted to run it through my hair after the vinegar rinse), but I just don't see it doing anything and the Giovanni conditioner already has the aloe in it along with some other great oils. I could just feel my hair going from staticky and dry to nice and soft.  And, no cones in this conditioner which is another BIG plus.

Okay, well I'm not on my home computer; I'm borrowing my mum's, so I will get off for now and keep you updated and I figure stuff out; thanks for reading and I hope  you're doing well :)

Just an Update

Well hello everybody!

I'm trying to find decent light in my very light-absent apartment and I just don't think it's going to happen at night.  But on the plus side we do move in a little bit, so I will hopefully be able to work with the lighting there so you aren't subjected to crappy vids.

I'm also fast realizing that I think for right now I'm going to be focusing on talking about my hair journey as I am still in transition with the shampoo bars.  Right now I'm using Chagrin Valley Natural Soaps "Butter Bar Conditioner" because it is super moisturizing and living in the dry climate that I do, the more moisture the better.  I'm also trying to not use as much coconut oil in my "oilings" because the whole point of this is to cut down on cut and work up efficiency.

So far I'm really pleased with the soap...my biggest problem however, and it is a big one to me because it drives me up the wall, is static.  I can't get rid of the blooming static!  I'm sure there are a number of things it could be causing, i.e. the fact I forgot to throw a downy sheet in my dryer last wash, or that it went from a really wet summer to a really dry fall, but I also have a hunch that it might be the acidic rinse that I use.  I was going with lemon juice and that's when I noticed the issues, but that's also when I was getting into a routine, so I swapped back to white vinegar (I went with lemon juice because I can't stand the smell of the vinegar, but diluted more it's okay, and I can get away with about 6 capfuls of vinegar to an empty shampoo bottle filled with tap water.)

I don't know if it's helping or not.  I forgot to oil my hair when I got out of the shower this morning, so there was definite static, but even after I'm still dealing with it a little.  I used to love brushing my hair because it felt so good, but to be honest right now I'm avoiding it...which sucks.  I'm still trying to figure out what's causing the static and what I can do to prevent it.  Seriously static is the most nasty thing in my opinion; I'll be brushing my hair and as soon as my brush leaves me head, my hair goes "WOOSH" and it smells like static (I don't know if I'm weird and am the only one who can smell static, but there is a definite metallic smell), so we'll see.

I might run to the store and grab a silicone free leave-in conditioner.  Right now I'll take the bottle of vinegar, squirt that all through my hair and then run diluted aloe vera through my hair and rinse at the end of my shower.  I'm hoping it will adjust, but until then I might grab nexxus.  I also haven't done a moisture treatment in a LONG while, so that could definitely be the culprit as well.  I guess I just feel that if I'm using an all natural hair care regime I shouldn't have to use those other things as well since I'm not stripping my hair of it's natural components anymore.

We'll continue to try this out and if financially it makes sense and if I like my hair then we'll stick with it. Otherwise I might have to break down and go with my original hair care routine.

Other than that, nothing too big to report! I hope you are all doing well, and if you have any suggestions, like how to minimize the static, then by all means, give me a shout!

Well...put everything on hold for the sickie

So much for a great start to me new blog.  Haha, someone spent the last two hours of her shift at work running back and forth from doctor to pharmacy to drug store and back.  I ended up crashing at home and Husband was sweet enough to make me dinner and keep me company while we watched "Top Shot" season 2 the finale...which, by the way, is AWESOME!  I used to think that George was a total jerk-wad, but it was pretty awesome when he missed his last shot and Chris won the competition - booyah for cool people.

I suppose we'll give the whole video and review thing a shot later on tonight or tomorrow depending on how my body is feeling.  I'm high on pain killers and antibiotics and will be for the next or so (joy); needless to say I'm going to take it one day at a time.

Bye for now, have a great day, y'all!

While I have a moment - Hair care routine

Hello all,

Something that is an obsession for me is hair care - I really enjoy finding new ways to maintain my locks without the use of chemicals, heating, and unfriendly hair-styling techniques.

A little bit of background: I have fairly easy-going hair that's almost to my waist (Which isn't saying much because I have the shortest torso on the planet), it's not prone to tangles or to split ends, is insanely thick and has just about every hair thickness you can think, from really fine to really course.  My old routine was:

Monday: condition ends in shower, rinse with cold water
Tuesday: condition ends in shower, rinse with cold water
Wednesday: condition ends in shower, rinse with cold water, oil down my hair with coconut oil at night and sleep
Thursday: Wash with shampoo twice, condition, rinse with cold water
Friday: condition ends in shower, rinse with cold water
Saturday: condition ends in shower, rinse with cold water, oil down my hair with coconut oil at night and sleep
Sunday: Wash with shampoo twice, condition, rinse with cold water


So yeah...pretty set schedule, everyone in a while I would throw an egg and honey protein treatment in their or add apple cider vinegar and honey water to my hair and let it soak and then rinse, and my hair has been really happy with this.

EXCEPT: I go through a lot of conditioner, and even though I use the cheap stuff - Suave almond and Shea butter shampoo and conditioner - it still adds up after a while.  Also, I hennaed my hair for the first time ever about a month ago - HOLY CRAP IT WAS SO RED! - and it seems to have made my hair more prone to not needing as much conditioner.  After the shower I always used Organix Anti-breakage serum and it worked wonderfully, until after the henna.  I noticed that my hair was more oily and didn't need the serum or the conditioner near as often.

All of this happened the same time I began to deal with a horrible eczema breakout; which I've dealt with in the past, but this time was different; nothing was helping and it was just getting worse.  (I've since learned it was because my el-cheapo lotion had SLS in it and I was soaking that into my skin -eek!)

So that, and the hair acting differently I decided to try something else.  I've been a faithful follower of Long Hair Community and learned about Chagrin Valley Natural Soap.  I figured that instead of going back to the doctor's the get another nasty cream to fix the eczema I was going to make the swap from liquid soaps to solids.

I'm still transitioning right now and getting used to the shampoo for my hair, and because of the hard water I definitely need an acid rinse afterwards, and I've also been putting a tiny amount of aloe vera gel on my ends while shaving and then I rinse it out.  It's interesting, because I'm not used to my hair feeling squeaky, but then again I do run so much conditioner through it, that I've probably been coating my natural hair for so long that I'm just used to it feeling artificial - oh! and a side note: my hair is starting to get way more wavy now that I'm using the natural soap, another interesting side effect of heavy conditioning must have been weighing down my hair.

Other than that it's far so good with the skin side of things - eczema is almost completely gone too!

I'll try to do a video and review all the soaps I've tried so far and I will definitely let you know when I find a good wash and condition routine; the soaps are really gentle so I can use them everyday and plan to, but I'm just concerned about over doing it with the acid rinse; I'm using white vinegar, and so far no bad side effects, but I'm thinking washing every other day and just using the aloe vera in between will be a good balance.  We'll see.

Okay, that's all for now, but I will post more interesting things including pictures soon!

Brand spanking new blog...again.

Okay...so....this is a new blog...again.  I've started several blogs in the past and manage to, every single time, stop writing because I get bored with myself or just don't have anything to write about.  You'd think that I would be smart enough to actually write about things that I know about, but I try to be this deep, person with all these profound thoughts and it just fails horribly and I look back at all the dumb posts I put up and laugh.

SO.  This time, I'm going to try my hardest to actually "blog" and be a "blogger" that will write about prevalent things to myself, because that's who this is about.  Me.  :D

This is just going to be a quick entry and I don't have my computer so I can't take pictures and add cool things to my page yet, but stay tuned!