Conditioner only saga continues *Updated*

I did it!  I washed my hair with just conditioner!  And, I've gotta say: WOW!!

I am SO impressed! I don't know I wrote this method off when I first heard about it; it is absolutely wonderful!

I used both of the V05 conditioners that I bought; the Moisture milk for the scalp and the Silky experienced for the length; I about two big palm sized amount of the Moisture milk and massage it in really well and then about 1 big palmful of the Silky experiences for the length.  I gently squeezed it through my length and massaged throughout my shower, combed it at the end and then rinsed a whole bunch.  I took a 21 minute shower - to give you an idea of the time - and massaged my hair through that time.  I rinsed for about three to five minutes and wrapped in a towel; I did use my Giovanni anti frizz and then braided for overnight waves.   Something people mentioned noticing was an increase in hair shed when they did CO only, and I really didn't experience that at all, so that's heartening.

Here is my scalp:

It is very clean and has a lot of movement; there is no greasy feeling and I can run my fingers through it no problem.

Here is the length:



I wish I had better lighting because it is very shiny and soooooooooo soft!!

I will definitely keep you all updated on this new journey, but so far I give it two very enthusiastic thumbs up!

*UPDATED!*

Okidokies!
We are now another week into my conditioner only without WEN and using only the VO5 and I wanted to post some updated photos.  This is the morning after I washed my hair the night before.

Here is my scalp in the sunlight - it's very shiny and no clumping or grease buildup:

My hair from the side

And from the back 

Here is another shot of my scalp; the back is a little poofy on one side because of how I slept on it, but when I've been running my fingers through it, it feels cleans, but incredibly soft.

So far I haven't been able to see a bad side to all of this yet; I am so INCREDIBLY impressed with the CO method and how well it has worked for my hair; of course every scalp and head of hair is different, so you'll have to try things to see what works for you, but I think I have found my new favorite and hopefully permanent hair washing solution.



03/15/2013
Hey everyone!
So I will be clarifying tomorrow evening for the first time since I started this - which is roughly one month ago.  I wanted to see if I could wait longer, but certain circumstances have dictated that I be able to be in and out of the shower quickly - I'll explain later.  So I wanted to show you guys a picture of my hair how it is; one month into CO wash.

It's very soft and shiny right now - the scalp maybe is laying a little flatter, but honestly, after a month - I'm not complaining!!  Plus that, I've been working out pretty extensively the past three weeks, so my scalp will be changing a little.

I will send you all a picture of the results after I clarify; I'm just going to use the V05, Silky Experiences coconut methinks; it will hopefully have enough moisture, but enough to cleanse, and then we'll start again.

Laterz.

Coming soon: hairstyle tutorials!

I'm tired of no pictures in this blog.  It's boring.  Therefore! I shall change it.

I've decided that I'm going to start adding hair tutorials to my blog, I don't really do a lot of braids because of my layers, but I am a black belt in hairsticks. :) So, below I'm going to post a number of hairstyles I'm going to feature in the coming weeks, and if you have a request you are welcome to message me and ask.  I may not be able to do all of them, but I have a plethora of youtubers I follow that I can refer you too if I'm not up for the challenge.

I'd like to start off with my go-to hairstyles:

• Flipped half up Hairstyles  
• Buns for people with layered hair
• One stick only hairstyles

After that, I would like to start featuring some special styles from various movies that I love.  I'm going to start off with Memoirs of a Geisha: 

• Hatsumomo
• Half up 
• Alternate view 1
• Alternate view 2
• I might try to tackle one of Hatsumomo's updos, but I know they use a lot of product, teasing, extensions, and I'm just not up for that kind of torture.  If I can get a model to work on I'll try to figure out a hair-friendly version
• Sayuri
• Debut
• Alternate view
• Sumo match
• Alternate view 1
• Alternate view 2
• Odango bun
• Peasant worker 
• Last Scene
• Alternate view
• Mameha
• Mameha has basically one updo that has slight variations to it; we'll focus on one variation only
• Mameha casual
• Pumpkin
• Double odango
• Alternate view
• Half up
• Pin up girl 
• Alternate view
• Other 
• Dance recital

Other movies that will be included in my list will be:

• Vanity Fair 
• Sense and Sensibility 
• Duches (maybe) 
• Princess Bride
• A Knight's Tale 
• Ever After 
• Tenant of Wildfell hall
• Lord of the Rings 
• Star Wars (maybe) 

I'm sure there are others that I have spaced/forgotten at this moment, but this is a good start up list.  I will not be doing any crazy, wacky, costume-day hairstyle.  My goal is to take the hairstyles in these movies and to create a version that is easy to do at home, hair-friendly and applicable to everyday style and life. 

Feel free to comment or request more, and I'll see what I can do! Like I said before, I am no expert with braids and some of these will require a model instead of working on it with my own hair; I'm more than happy to refer you to someone who can execute a request if I can not.  

Project: How long can we make my curls last! Day 4

Yes, I washed my curls out...so they lasted three days.

I woke up in the morning with loose waves, but honestly my head was getting itchy and I wanted my straight hair back so I went ahead and got rid of them.  It was a fun project and I am extremely pleased with the curlformers.  So there we go, the end! 

Project: How long can we make my curls last! Day 3

Alrighty everyone, so I am becoming more and more impressed with my curlformers and the results of this week as each day passes.

For a little background on today; I went to bed feeling really not great at all so I didn't really care about how my hair was arranged on the pillow; I passed out around 9:30 and tossed and turned until some random person texted me at one in the morning saying they were the tall guy that I met at Old C's.  Yeah....wrong number.

So I woke up, took my shower, didn't my makeup and clothes and then brushed out my hair with my paddle brush, I didn't comb at all and here are my results:

I am seriously impressed.  These are nice soft waves that have no product in them, went through a hot shower so they got a little steamed even though I tried to keep them out of the water as much as possible, and were brushed out.  Very awesome.  Also, I'm not noticing extra grease buildup or anything on my scalp so I could easily another day with curls, I'm going to see what they look like tomorrow morning and keep you posted.

Project: How long can we make my curls last! Day 2

Alrighty, here we are on Day 2 of the curly hair Project.


So I slept with my curls on my satin pillow case and tried to make sure the curls were on top of the pillow instead of getting crushed, but I move around in my sleep so I did end up smooshing them a little bit.  Here is the result after I got dressed and just tossled the curls about a little bit.  Please keep in mind that this is with no product other than my Giovanni Anti-Frizz:

 Not bad!!  The very bottom of my hair near my neck had pretty much given up and let the curls falls so I had some wavy/straight locks, but for the most part they all held pretty well.  I was tempted to just leave my hair like it was, but the only problem is I tried running my fingers through my hair I noticed the dreaded rat's nest had started to form in several places.  I can't stand having tangled hair. I just can't....one of the reasons why I will never tease my hair apart from the fact that it's bad for your hair, it makes it tangling and I just don't like that feeling. So, I combed them out with my boxwood comb and then ran my brush through them.  This was the result: 

Honestly I don't think that's too bad.  It brushed out the ringlets, but it left some really nice waves and I still have a couple of ringlet face framing locks.  I like it and now it's tangle free.  So far I'm super impressed with the curformers...the last time I tried to make ringlets with a different product I gave myself an afro that fell into inconsistent spiral thingies. 

Another plus in this is that I'm starting to miss my straight hair, which is nice because I was getting bored.  I like being able to run my hands through my hair.  It will be nice to see how my hair fared through this whole experiment.  I might do a protein and honey masque afterwards, but since I used the WEN hair cleanser instead of shampooing two days in a row, I think it helped maintain the overall health.

I'll post third day hair tomorrow to see how it goes? 

Project: How long can we make my curls last! Day 1

Okay!  So we're going to conduct an experiment.  Yesterday you saw my awesome curlformer curls and I decided that I absolutely HATED the sugar water spray.  Not because of the bees; I actually don't mind critters flying around and smelling my hair, I just really didn't like how stiff and untouchable my hair was, and if you know me at all, you know that I like touching my hair. A lot. It's weird. So my experiment is to see how long I can make my curls last with just using my regular hair routine.

SO!  I went ahead and washed my hair with WEN last night and reapplied my curlformers, this time with smaller sections of hair; I ended up using 45 of them.  Before using the formers, I applied I used my Giovanni anti-frizz serum per usual, but didn't use any aloe vera.  I took them out this morning and this is how they look:

So you can see the curls are a little tighter individually because I used smaller sections, but they are also not as "sculpted" as they looked with the product in my hair, which is fine with me; I prefer the more natural, crazy look. I think next time I will mix in aloe with my serum because it made my hair really soft and shiny.

So here we are day 1.  I'm going to see how long I can make these babies last and will photograph my progress. The End! 

The pH of hair

Hello all, 


I know it's been a while since I've written so I decided I would get to actually writing something worth reading. Something that I think is important to understand when dealing with the hair is the actual science behind it, it's composition and what you're putting on your hair.  To start off, we'll begin with a brief explanation of hair structure: 


Hair is composed mainly of keratin, the same stuff you're nails are made out of, and has three basic parts: the medulla, the cortex and the cuticle. Your hair has a shaft, which is the part that projects out of the scalp or body, and the root is the part of the hair that is embedded within your skin.  When your hair is visible, it is already dead, you do not have "live" hair if you will, sticking out of your legs and head and face.  The cuticle is the shiny outside part that everyone sees and says "Oooo shiny hair!" or "yikes you need a haircut"  the cuticle is the main part of the hair that you can affect directly and immediately.  By that I mean, the cuticle is what is first altered by bleaches, or hair masques, or shampoo, etc. etc.  If you want to affect your hair's healthy from the inside out, that's when vitamins and water and healthy eating habits are useful.  They do affect the cuticle as well, but not on the immediate basis that other products affect. I'm not going to go into the medulla and the cortex because the cuticle is what I focus on mainly anyway. 

Hair needs to be pH balanced; it's neutral, meaning it has the same amount of acids and alkalis, which balance each other out.  I know it sounds weird to say that your hair needs to have acid, but interestingly enough, it's the acid in apple cider vinegar and lemon juice that makes your hair so healthy.  We'll get into that in a moment. 

Have you ever looked at the ingredients in your shampoo or conditioner?  You'll notice that Ceytl alcohol is often an ingredient, which is an vegetable (can be) derived acid that is meant to help keep you hair balanced.  You'll also notice, if you're familiar with the pH balances of other items a lot of alkaline materials in your shampoo, such as SLS.

So what happened when you expose your hair to alkaline or acidic products?  Well, when you wash your hair with shampoo, usually it feels a bit dry and rough, yes?  That's because the SLS or whatever alkaline based shampoo product you use actually opens the hair cuticle.  Now with soap based products, such as shampoo bars or SLS free shampoo, this helps your hair release the dirt buildup and rinse away with the soap product.  With SLS, because it is a detergent it will still open your hair cuticle due to its alkalinity, but it will actually rid your hair of the dirt instead of just releasing it.  Most shampoos that are SLS free will have more cleansing ingredients.  SLS doesn't need that because of its detergent properties.  

So now that you have put an alkaline product on your head and you have open hair cuticle, what next?  That's where the acid comes in.  When you apply a commercial conditioner, more often than not they use the cetyl alcohol as an acid base and when your hair is exposed to that acid, it closes up and creates that smooth and shiny surface. The first image shown is hair with closed cuticles, the second image is hair with open cuticles. 

 

So now that we have a very, very, very basic idea of why hair needs both alkaline and acidic products, this helps me to understand just exactly what my hair is missing and what it needs.  If I notice my hair is tangling a lot and looks dull, chances are rinsing a little bit of diluted acid based something or other through my hair will help it.  If my hair isn't getting clean or I'm finding a lot of buildup, I can probably use baking soda - an alkaline - to open up my hair cuticle and help release that buildup of product. 

If you want to know more about commonly used "hair" items and their pH balance please refer to this site.  Ida has compiled excellent information on pH balance.


Now that we know a little bit about pH and how it affects our hair, what about other issues we see like breakage, or hair loss?  You can administer several tests to help you understand your hair and it's needs a little better. 

1. take a strand of hair from your head and place it in a bowl of water.  If it sinks that means that there are "holes" or damaged ends in your hair and it's taking on water.  If it floats it means that your hair cuticle is intact.  

2. Gently pull on a single strand of your hair.  If it breaks immediately then you are in need of moisture.  Start running coconut oil through your hair the night before your wash it.  Adjust the amount of oil needed depending on the length on your hair.  If your hair strand stretches a lot and then when it breaks it curls up on itself that means your hair is lacking protein and is weaker than most.  An easy fix for this is to take a raw egg, mix it up with some honey and rub that through your hair and leave on for two hours.  Wash out like normal.  The protein in the honey and egg will help fortify your hair in it's weak condition, but the honey will also balance out the protein of the egg and leave your hair soft.  Do not apply egg to your hair too often as the protein if over applied can leave your hair feeling brittle.  

3. If you wash your hair and your ends dry within an hour then chances are they are thirsty and you should apply oil or mayo to them before you wash.  

4. Are your nails brittle and cracking and your skin dry?  Chances are you have a deficiency in some way and need to start eating differently or drinking more water.  The first signs of unhealth comes from your hair, skin and nails.

Please keep in the mind, the above tests are simple ways to evaluate your and each person's head of hair is different.  If a person has really fine hair then their hair will dry faster than someone who had a lion somewhere in their ancient heritage.  

When making hair masques to aid your hair's health it is also good to keep in mind what makes a great masques.  Typically when I make mine, I have a 75/20/5 balance.  75% moisture 20%protein 5%acid.  This is a great generic formula, but always feel free to change it up depending on what you feel your hair needs. If it needs a ton of moisture, than skip the protein and add more oil, that type of thing.  

Here is a list of ingredients to help you start working towards making your own hair masque recipes: 

Moisture
Oil - coconut, vegetable, olive, argon 

Mayo - I only use the kind that's made with olive oil, but you can use the generic as well.  DON'T USE MIRACLE WHIP!! As yummy as it is on your sandwiches, the extra sugar isn't good for the locks. 

Honey - Honey is a humectant and will attract moisture, but please keep in mind that you need to rinse it all out because your hair will be sticky if you don't and it is also a natural peroxide, so over time and extended use it will lighten your hair 

Avocado

Protein

Eggs 

Mayo - I put mayo in here too because it technically has the protein in it, but I still prefer to keep it in the moisture group 

Avocado - same story with the avocado 

Acids, from least to most acidic

Coffee

Wine

Vinegar 

Lemon Juice 

Please keep in mind that this is a very basic list, but an excellent way to get started.  If you have darker hair and want to keep your hair darker, I would recommend using the coffee.  You can also use green tea, but I haven't tried this method.  

I know that sometimes our bodies just don't do what we want, regardless of whether or not we're putting the right stuff in them.  Things happen; sickness, stress, pregnancy, it can all affect you regardless of how well you're taking care of yourself.  Making yourself a homemade hair masque can not only be good for your physically, but sitting back for a while and just giving yourself a coconut oil head massage or sitting down and watching a chick flick while letting egg protein soak into your hair can be a great health benefit for you emotionally and mentally which will in turn help your hair to be at its best. 

I hope this was useful and not all just redundant information, and if you have questions feel free to ask!   




*I also want to take this moment to share two blogs with you.  The first is by a woman who has been struggling with health problems that have been affecting her hair's for a long time.  She has pushed through it with tons of grace and happy attitude and I love reading about her life and how now she is finally able to work on getting her body as healthy as possible:  Long Haired at Heart


The second blog is one that I found a few months ago and aside from the amazing hairstyles, this gal has experimented a lot with different hair treatments and masques. It's so awesome to see someone with beautiful healthy curly hair that is taking care of it all the way down.  Definitely check her out: Sarah's Place for Long Hair

.....I CUT MAH HAIR!!!!!

...okay, so I layered my hair, and the cool thing is; I did it all by myself!! Woo! Now, I have in the past tried to layer my hair and horrible, horrible things happened, but this time I did it right.  I bought myself a CreaClip!  Woo!  This super cool, albeit a little more expensive than it should be, product provides you with a level so you can cut layers into your hair without free-handing it. The best part about it was I didn't lose any length because my hair is already layered in a V-cut so it didn't need it, I just took two sections of my upper hair and layered it to add movement and body, which it absolutely has now so I'm really happy.  This is going to make my long hair journey worlds easier.

Here is the final result:

Not bad right?  Especially for doing it myself :) I did cut the shortest layer shorter than I expected it to turn out, but I think that in two weeks it will settle.  My hair has been gradually getting more and more wavy too and I'm hoping this will bring that out. But honestly I'm very please with it.

A couple more photos:

You can't see the layers so much as they are mingled into the length of my hair fairly well, but I still have waist length hair and now I have a bra strap length layer and a chin length layer.


CreaClip is a really nice tool to have if you're interested in cutting your own hair.  I would recommend it.  I haven't been getting the results I've wanted from my stylist for a while and now I know I'm capable of cutting my own hair so I think I'll be doing that from now on.

I also posted the whole cutting process on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8qVVYH28Pc

My favorite hair resources!

My Favorite Hair Resources

Homemade hair masques:

1.      The Super Shiny and Happy Hair Recipe

o   Ingredients:

§  1/8 cup coconut or olive oil

§  A brush

§  Hair tie

o   Instructions

§  Brush out the tangles in your hair and take a handful of the oil, don’t worry, if you chose coconut oil, hold it in your palm until it softens.

§  Run the oil all over your hair, even your scalp

§  Massage the oil into your scalp; this will promote circulation and it feels really good too!

§  Tie your hair up so it’s out of your face; remember to not tie it too tightly!

§  Leave the oil on for as long as you can stand it, I like to leave it on all night!

§  Wash and condition the oil out.  Do this once a week and notice a big difference in your hair!

o   HINTS

§  You can do this with mayo too, but you will need to cover your head with a hair cap if you want to sleep with it on

§  Be patient, there is no such thing as an overnight cure for damaged hair; use this for at least a month once a week.

2.      Protein Boost Hair Recipe

o   Ingredients:

§  1 egg, beaten

§  Large spoonful of Honey

§  A small dash of olive oil or any oil that is liquid at room temperature

§  Brush

§  Towel

o   Instructions

§  In a bowl, mix the egg honey and oil together until it is nice and combined

§  Brush out the tangles in your hair and drape the towel over  your shoulders and let your hair hang over the towel

§  This part is messy, so be sure to do it over a sink or with a friends help. Start gently rubbing the egg and oil into all of your hair, including the scalp.  Try not to think of it as raw egg in your hair, instead think of it as a yummy golden, raw, goopy, snotty thing….Okay never mind…trust me it will be worth it!

§  When the egg mixture is completely mixed into your hair you can pull it up into a hair cap or let your hair rest on the towel, be aware that there might be a little bit of spillage, so don’t stand on the nice rug.

§  Watch a girlie movie – or read a book for a couple of hours

§  Watch and Condition the egg out and feel the effects of the protein working to strengthen your individual hairs!

o   HINTS

§  Do not rinse out the egg in hot water at first; this will…well…cook the egg basically, and we all know how we hate hair in our food.  Rinse with lukewarm water first, then when you know you have all the egg out you can heat up the water.

§  Do not use this recipe more than once a month, protein is good for your hair, but too much of a good thing can always turn sour, just think of that entire bag of potato chips you ate last week, yikes.  I would recommend this about once a month.

§  Don’t worry about the honey, as long as you rinse it out, it won’t be sticky.  Honey is a natural humectant, which means it attracts moisture so it will help retain softness while the egg helps maintain hair strength.  Be warned though, Honey is also a natural peroxide and while it won’t damage your hair, you might notice natural highlights beginning to form.  If you don’t want that you can up the oil in this ingredient and cut out the honey.

3.      Avocados on My Head, Avocados on My Head Recipe

o   Ingredients

§  One ripe avocado (the avocado must be mushy enough to mix into a paste

§  2 tablespoons mayo

§  Dash of olive oil

§  Brush

§  Towel

§  Hair cap

o   Instructions

§  Mash the avocado, mayo and olive oil all together in a bowl until it looks like something you would try to feed a baby….but don’t really try to feed a baby, maybe your little brother if he’s acting up, but seriously…this is hair food.

§  Brush out the tangles in your hair and apply towel if needed

§  Again, either over a sink and/or with a friend’s help mush the green goo of awesome in your head until it looks like that munchkin with the green hair in Wizard of Oz. 

§  Tie your hair up and let it sit for at least two hours.  Definitely sounds like a movie opportunity again.

§  Wash and Condition out, and you’ll feel the benefits of both the moisture from the avocado as well as the fats and proteins it provides, along with the moisturizing benefits of the oil.

4.      Super Clarifying Baking Soda Recipe

o   Ingredients

§  ½ cup of baking soda – DO NOT USE BAKING POWDER!!

§  ¼ cup of lemon juice mixed with honey

o   Instructions

§  Okay, we’ve all been there, where we have buildup from product in our hair, but we’re just not willing to put the bad ingredients from the clarifying shampoos – like charcoal – in our hair.  This is a great, natural and easy-to-make recipe that will help get rid of those nasty buildups without sacrificing our hair’s health.

§  First, you’re going to take your cup of baking soda and separate cup of lemon juice into the shower with you – don’t mix them together; you don’t want a 2^nd grade volcano project manifesting itself in your tub

§  Wet down your hair and then add just enough water to your baking soda to make it look like a thick paste

§  Add this paste to your scalp and start massaging it in.  It’s okay for it to feel grainy, just massage and then gently squeeze the rest into your length.  Massage for at least five minutes

§  Let the baking soda sit in your hair while your washing the rest of your body or for at least another five minutes and then rinse thoroughly

§  Wash and Condition your hair normally

§  Then, at the very end of your shower, mix the lemon juice and honey with some warm water from your shower head and mix together until it’s combined.  Pour this mixture over your head and let sit for a few minutes or until it’s completely saturated your hair.  Rinse as normal

There is actually a bit of science to this clarifying recipe.  Our hair is happiest when its pH is balanced. The baking soda is alkaline, which forces our hair follicles to open a release all the gunk that has been holding on to it.  It’s a great way to cleanse your hair from months of buildup.  The acid in the lemon juice is what close those follicles after you’ve finished cleaning it and because your follicles are all closed up it makes your hair look really shiny.  The honey will help add moisture to your hair keeping it nice and soft. Tada! Clean, happy and pH balanced hair.

Hair Gurus to check out YouTube:

·         4ypn0tica – excellent hair tutorials for updos, from the simple to the elaborate

·         ArrowOdenn– a very nice girl who posts unique hair styles on a regular basis

·         CinthiaTruong– Easy, elegant updos for the various awesome times in your life

·         FieryPha– Pha is a hair buff with lots of knowledge and experience with long hair

·         Habioku– I love these hairstyles, they are so easy, also, check out her self-trimming video!

·         JLovesMac1– Apart from being silly and hilarious and a general beauty guru, this YouTuber is awesome because she is honest about her hair experiences, including the bad.  If you want information on extensions and the pros and cons of them this is the place to visit

·         Loepsie– one of my absolute favorite people to watch, Loepsie is so sweet and very honest about her journey, including recent hair loss caused by natural soap bars.  She gives you in the insider on whether or not natural is the way to go for your body

·         Luvableviet– This girl generally does it all, including cutting her hair and showing you exactly how

·         Torrinpaige – Another favorite, she has knee length long, THICK hair and TONS of awesome hairstyles

·         Wendyslookbook– easy and very pretty hairstyles

·         YayaLifestyle – Yaya is one of favorites because she documented her journey of growing long hair and then cut it for donation

·        PhylsGyrl – ME! Okay, well I don’t consider myself a beauty guru, but I am a hair buff and would love recommendations for what to post of my YouTube.  Also check out my blog at www.thecontagiousintrovert.blogspot.com

Favorite places to buy hair accessories:

·         www.crystalmood.com – This place has so many awesome things!! ‘Nuff said

·         http://www.giovannicosmetics.com/ - My personal favorite hair and shampoo ever.

·         http://www.wenhaircare.com/ - My mom’s personal favorite!

·         http://www.aubrey-organics.com/ - If you’re looking for some natural alternatives, this is a great place to go

·         http://www.60thstreet.net/ - This company hand carves hair combs, it’s well worth the investment

·         http://www.floandpercy.com/collections.html - Okay, these are wedding, prom, quinceanera, etc. etc. level hair accessories, but I can’t get over how pretty they are

·         http://www.etsy.com/ - I’m sure every single one of you are familiar with Etsy, but there is so much here that is so awesome!

A word on hair:

Okay, I know I’ve talked your ear off already, but I just want to share my thoughts and opinions on this subject.  I am a total hair buff.  I love hair, be it short, long, blue, orange, brown, neon green, layered, not layered, whatever.  I love it.  I think that hair is so awesome how it works scientifically and how people have used it to express themselves and to show who they are.  I’ve had super short hair and super long hair and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it because it helped show people who I am, and I encourage you to do the same.  It doesn’t matter if people think that your hair looks silly, or old fashioned or too short, too long, if you like it, if it makes you feel beautiful and confident then you are on the right track.  If you have damaged hair or you don’t like it, just be patient and take it one day at a time.  Treat your hair like old lace, delicately, and it will reward you by being healthy.  Listen to your hair too.  If your hair is unhappy, chances are it’s trying to tell you something, sometimes it means that there is an imbalance in your body or that you’re not feeding yourself right.  Your hair is a great way to tell if you are healthy on the inside both emotionally and physically.  Hair falls out when we’re stressed, when we’re not eating right or missing something nutritionally.  If you notice your hair changing, take a moment to think about what’s changed in your life.  And remember that everyone’s hair is differently, and that’s great! Experiment, and have fun!  

In a slump

Hello lovely people,

Well...I'm SO tired...and frustrated! I've been trying to upload a video onto youtube because I really want to start doing video tutorials for hairstyles, hair care and organic beauty "stuff", but my camera keeps cutting my videos off near the end.  I guess the number of photos I have stored up in a particular program affects the number of minutes I can record.  I'm hoping this will be a very short and temporary setback because I really, really want to get going on this.  I have lots of ideas I want to share with you all!

Other than that, not a whole lot is happening.  I've decided to start a semi-different wash routine because I want to save money on the shampoo bars, and because I want to see if my new routine will allow me to wash with shampoo less, but still keep in control of the greasies.  Last week was my first try and so far it seems to be working well.  I'll let you know more as I experiment more.

I just figured I would write you a quick post so that I stay on top of writing and I'm kinda tired of looking at my last post :P,  I also want to post a video showing you some decent pictures of my hair how it is now.  Honestly I'm a little disheartened because last time I took a photo of my hair wet I could really see extra layers on the left side of my hair; it looked like someone started to cut a "v" point but forgot to do the right side.  I had my husband look at it and he said when he combed it out it looked fine and he could only see a little bit of uneveness, which is fine for me, but he did notice that my spine doesn't sit straight either so he thinks that is playing a part as well.  I think several things are to blame:

1. My spine was very crooked and out of whack the last several times (seriously it looks like, when I'm standing straight, that my right hip is three inches higher than my left, or rather it did.  It's starting to mellow out.) and when my hairdresser trimmed my hair, she had me sit down on a stool, so I'm wondering if I was sitting crookedly then she might have cut accordingly without realizing it.  (I'm not blaming her, I LOVE my hairdresser)
2. When I freaking SINGED my hair it was on the left side and I'm thinking it definitely put in some more layers :P lovely
3. I did shape up the bottom most layer of my hair and put more of a "V" into it...I'm not sure if this caused the extra layers on the left side, I tried to keep it as even as possible and the extra "layers" so to speak are higher up where I didn't dare tread with scissors...so I think it may have played a small part.  I think all three of these things played a small part which just all added up.  I look through all my photos and noticed that my left side has always had more layers than my right side, so it might just be a growth thing too.

Who knows!  I'm just going to keep growing and I might go my hair stylist to trim it, but I'm really hoping to start doing that myself because I don't want to go in and have them use the shampoos that I've worked so hard to get off of.  I also think that it would be easier because I can better maintain it myself that way.

Okidokies, I'll stop blabbering and hopefully I'll be able to post a video on youtube tomorrow; I will try my best to record before I go to work in the morning.

Bye!

Blurgh, I need a routine

Hello everyone I hope you all had a wonderful and blessed Christmas and holiday season! May the food angels watch over you as you create new and unique recipes from leftovers :D

I had my first Christmas dinner at my house this year; my in-laws came over, and my mummy and brother and sisters and step-dad, and my Grandma stopped by with a friend and it was all over a lovely time, but I have. So. Much. Ham. Leftover. Lol!  Luckily I'll be able to pull out all the ham recipes I never use, because this is the only time of year that my husband and I eat it. so we'll see how that goes :)

I've noticed something horrible.  I'm so upset...DANDRUFF!! ARRRGGGGHHH.  I haven't dealt with dandruff in like...ten years.  So I'm really frustrated, but I think I know what's causing it.  I've been using the Wen cleansing conditioner a little more than usual because it's easy and I've been short on time and also my hair has been up for two weeks in a row basically because it's been really cold at work - they are working on our heater, and I don't like wearing my hair down over my six layers of clothing so the combing of the hair back all the time, and the Wen I think are the culprits.  I'm going to try and get back into a routine here now that it's slowing down a little and honestly it's not too bad, just disheartening.  I hadn't changed up my routine in years so when I made the switch to solid shampoo bars, it really messed with my hair ecosystem, but I'm still very happy I did it.  I am going to try a different, cheaper conditioner because I'm going through the giovanni stuff really fast.  I might keep it around to use it on days that I wash and then maybe use their regular conditioner for other days.  We'll see. I've also stopped oiling regularly because I'm not using a shampoo that can get it all out, but I might lightly oil my scalp and length tonight before washing or at least do a honey, egg, and avocado treatment to see if that helps.   It's interesting, I honestly don't do near as much for my hair as I used to when I using a detergent based shampoo, but now that I'm using the chagrin bars, I haven't really felt that urgent desire to either.  And my hair is happy, so I must be doing something right.

I've also decided that I've officially made "long hair" stage.  I hit waist length a month ago and now I'm starting to get past it with the ends of my layers, but even though I've been with waist length hair, it's now starting to feel really long because I'm finding that it's getting caught in things more, I have to start learning to move with long hair again, and I almost freaking burned it all off the other day over the stove when I was making popcorn.  It was HORRIBLE.  I leaned over to pour my popcorn in a measuring cup and was like, "what's that smell"? I looked down and saw my hair against the burner and oh my goodness my stomach dropped to the floor I was so scared.  I ran into the bathroom going, "no no no no no no no no no no no" (Poor husband, he went in to make sure I was okay and held me when I almost started crying), but so far I can't really tell where I singed it; I could when it first happened, but nothing too bad or noticeable to anyone who wasn't there, and I've conditioned it since and I can't tell now.  I'm angry at myself for having been so careless, but I guess it was God's way of telling me to be extra careful from here on out.

I've also started sleeping with my hair down at night, which I know longhairs out there are probably gasping and going "NO!!!" hearing that, but interestingly enough, I've experienced less in the way of tangling in the mornings, and my hair is easier to manage in the shower, which is nice.  I'm not noticing an increase in splits, and maybe just a few breaks here and there, but I'm getting more of those, because my hair as been up for so long - it needs a break.  I'm going to wait until February or March of next year and then I'll trim my hair and shape it up, but until then I don't feel like losing any of the length.

Well...is that enough silly, shallow, hair stuff to make you urp yet?

Okay, so I'm realizing that this blog is so girly it's insane...oh well.

For all of you out there, I'm not really this obsessed with all things girly and hair and makeup and nails and stuff; I just happen to have some free time on my hands in the morning before I go to work so I've been experimenting. (Okay, I really am obsessed with healthy hair).

My nails are really icky; they have lines in them and they crack and they look dry and they turn blue, so I've been covering them with a clear top coat of late, but then decided to get experimental (It all started when I saw a coworker with the glue on tips and I decided I wanted my nails to look like that), so I'm going to post my attempts at having awesome nails.  I don't have the colors that I used handy; I'm a Walmart kinda person when it comes to this type of thing.  These are all done freehand, and it's very obvious especially since I've never done anything with my nails other than a straight color.

Okay, so this was my first attempt EVER.  I tipped the nails with a teal color and then one coat of clear top coat.

I was not as pleased with this attempt; the red flaked off the tips way too easily and it just looked a little messy.  You can't really see here, but I used a gold coat, then red tips with a clear top coat.

I'm pretty happy with the results of this one - which I did this morning - yikes my nails are long!! Don't like.  (A little bit of background: I never did my nails, because I'm a pianist, so cut our nails really short to prevent them catching in between the keys, clacking, and it slows you down too.  Same with typing.  And I type about 90-100wpm, so yeah.  I've since learned that I can get away with about 3mm of length, but obviously these are longer than that.  I enjoy really long nails for about two days...and then they start snagging and ripping and catching and all sorts of icky, so I chomp them off.)  AT ANY RATE; I painted "chevron" like tips with a gold color and then applied two coats of clear coat.  And that's it.  I'm pretty happy with these because I didn't have to be as exact with the tips and it was easier to work with when I used my left hand. 

Well there we go, I will post more as I experiment more.  I haven't bought any more soap bars, but I'm almost out of my current stash, so I will probably make a purchase here in the next week or so. 

Bye!