Sometimes, we just need professional help

I can trim my own hair using feyes method. And I can sort of do bangs but you know what? Sometimes I just want to go to a salon and enjoy the experience.

So that's what I did last Friday.

Part of it was that I got fed up with my bangs. I don't know how I screwed them up (okay, I lie... it was all Patrick's fault! His sexy, debonair attitude distracted me while I was snip-snipping. Ugh. Freakin' Mentalist!) They came out blunt and too short. I had to give it about a month and a half before I could trim them again and I was angry. ANGRY at myself for messing up and quite frankly, scared of screwing it up.

See, I'm a classic 'no bang' face. I'm oval shaped but have a low forehead. I'm not supposed to wear bangs. However, I am known to do this thing called 'marching to the beat of a different drum' and doing whatever the hell I damned please anyway. I like having updos but I wear them so often, I started looking rather severe and grannyish. I had no form of bangs or short layers in the front. So I snipped away.

1) I didn't do them thick enough.

2) I didn't do the graduation properly.

3) They were too short.

4) They came out a bit uneven.

Compound wrong-shaped bangs that wouldn't stay put with layers that had not been trimmed in about two years I figured I'd go get professional help.

Let me tell you that a good head massage is something that I can't replicate and my husband, as much as he may try, can't come even close. But those women over at GJ know what the hell they're doing. I consistently fall asleep at the shampoo bowl. Mmmm..


I got my bangs fixed, my layers trimmed up and I didn't lose more than an inch. Success!

That and I confessed I'm a long hair nut. Instead of being laughed at she cheered me on in my quest. She even looked at some of my pictures and was amazed at the intricacy of some buns. HAH if she only knew how easy they are. :D

Ah.. love it.

Oh, and I was cleaning up my disaster area of my desk and I unearthed my Quecraft dragonfly. I can't use it in a cinnamon bun anymore, but I can definitely use it in a lazy wrap/ nautilus. Yes! I already lost ONE toy, I couldn't bear to loose another.

So, can y'all guess what I'll be wearing tomorrow?

I need to organize this horrible place too. I have hair stuff *everywhere* its like my computer and a comb got into some sweet, sweet loving action and in its wake, tons of little hair thingies were born. Clips. Pins. Sticks. Everywhere. GAH!

I think I'll make that my next project: an artsy storage area. WOoO!

I'm having a Blah day

I had a fantastic time at the Sounders soccer game on Saturday. 

And I hit the gym Sunday.

But today.. I don't want to do anything because I'm superbly sore and I just washed my hair last night. -facepalm-

Ugh, just when I'd gotten into a nice hair washing routine that didn't dry out my scalp to pieces and I start hitting the gym/being more active. I can't have it all! 

Its also hot and icky. The kids are outside screaming their little heads off in the pool and park. I'm getting a headache and I just realized I haven't eaten since I woke up. My trainer would be pulling my ears. I'm supposed to be changing my dietary habits into something more consistent. 

Food, just like coffee doesn't get consumed at home on my days off. Then I wonder why my metabolism is shot and I'm tired all the flippin' time. (oh. yeah. need to take my thyroid meds, that's why I haven't eaten yet. Do'h!)

off to go take my medication. Then I'll get something to eat. Yay! 

French Twist, I hate thee!

If there ever was another hair style that has driven me bonkers besides the French Braid it is the goddamned French Twist. (What is it about the fucking French by the way? Everything's so goddamned complicated despite the simple look. -shakesh of the fist.)

I've *never* managed a twist. Ever. Even when my hair was past shoulders. Its either a) much too thick to be properly twisted or b) much too long to be properly twisted.

I end up with some lopsided alien-look, the pins get spit out or if I finally achieve perfection it falls apart shortly after.

I don't know if I'm using the wrong pins or wrong technique. Either way, I've managed some pretty cool updos trying to figure it out.

I has to split the hair in to two sections. It came out lopsided but it did hold like a rock. Yay for a practice run! It hasn't made its way out of the house yet, though. My hair is considerably longer than it was in this picture and I have a hard time winding the twist and making it look *neat*.

I gave up on the twist and did something else. Sadly, I can't figure out what it was. Ps: I adore that rose. I think I left it in California when I visited a month ago. :(  Oh well. It was easy to make!

Totally not a french twist. I just gave up trying that day. Maybe I should make a tutorial on it? Bah. Doubt anyone really cares anyway. Its not like anyone reads this blog. :P

Tinting the brows at home

I love my gal. I adore her work and it breaks my heart that I can't get in to see her as easily as I did before. Instead of cheating on her, I had to learn to do crap myself.

And that included waxing as well as tinting my brows.

I have vitiligo, right smack dab center of my brow. No matter how perfectly arched, they always look off unless I powder in my brows. And I hate powdering in my brows because I am LAZY. I don't like make up that takes longer than five minutes. Its .. just.. mrergh.

Anyhow, I waxed my brows a few days ago, it came out gorgeous and I have the right arch for once. I realized I needed a tint but didn't know how to go about it.

I went down to Sally's, got myself a box of tint and went to town.

1) I made sure to only treat the spot that needed to be treated.

2) I had to find the right shade..or I'd have issues.

There was only brown and black. I went with black because vitiligo is caused by *lack of pigment*. White hair (yes, its white, not even grey) just absorbs the color superbly easy. If I don't have the right tint, I'm screwed.  One gal put too much brown and not enough black; I still had to pencil in my brows because instead of a white spot (that people thought I overtweezed) I had a brown spot in the middle of the black.

Because I was working with black, I didn't want to swipe the tint over the already natural black hair. If I did, it'd be superbly black. I'd still have the stripe effect. Blue-black, black, blue-black. ack!

Thankfully, this tint was super easy to use. I used a cotton swab to put in the activator on the spot. Let it dry per directions. Put in the color. Let it dry and washed it off.

I did have to get creative and not let the final color process for the full minute. Otherwise  I would've ended up with 'black, BLUE black, black.'.

It looks a tiny bit weird right now but that's because the skin got stained under it. A bit of mineral oil removed the excess pretty well. I'll be fine by tomorrow evening. :D

 So, I'm pleased with the results. Although the kit cost me a whopping $37 bucks, It was still cheaper than *one* visit to my Brow Lady. And the little bottles will last me-- easily-- a year.

Ps: I still am going to visit Brow Lady, except for other forms of waxing where I dare not go with my epilator.

50 Shades of Dirty part Deux

So I was standing there, last night, letting the warm water spill onto my body, fingertips wiggling away at my scalp to work it into a semi-lather (I do use low sulfates so not much sudsing goes on.) and it dawned on me; it took me almost 26 and a half  years to figure out HOW to properly wash my goddamned hair.

I almost got shampoo in my eyes.

Idiot.

Anyhow, I couldn't believe it. Twenty six and a half years to get this shit right? WHY!?

Because mother didn't know how to properly wash hair (Don't get me wrong, but mom's so OG she shampoos and conditions her hair EVERY day. Dad's even more hard core... mom has to hide the soap bars because he'll wash his hair with Irish Spring!). She couldn't really teach me and I learned most of what I knew from Herbal Essences commercials and Psycho(s) movies (Haven't you noticed how in 99% of horror movies the damsel in distress winds up in the shower and is washing her hair when some random haunt happens? Ever since Psycho, I swear...)

I'd glob the shampoo, slap into my scalp, scoop up the length and SCRUNCH. I'd also dig my nails into my scalp to 'get rid of the dandruff'.

Eventually I got smart and realized that the shampoo was drying the fuck out of my scalp, hence the scruffies.  So went on a no sulfate/low sulfate diet. That did wonders for the condition of my scalp. I got a talking to by a hair dresser two years ago and she told me I needed to condition more. So there was another lesson.

I watched a few youtube videos on styling and I came across this video from the beautiful Torrin :

This video covers the gist of what I do. But, it wasn't until I saw THIS video :

that it really sank home. 

Compared to the child's hair, mine is very, very, perhaps evenly pin-straight. But I do the same thing. I stick my fingers on the underside and gently rub. I give myself a good massage at the crown of the head, then slip my fingers to the area along the nape of my neck and continue. I then rinse off a bit, squish it along the length and rinse off before adding my glops of conditioner. 

Because I use TONS of conditioner. I pre condition, shampoo, then condition one last time. 

Man, I wish I had stumbled across these two videos a lot sooner. I love the idea of loose braids to keep the hair from tangling, especially when the child is old enough to do this herself. Its like... training wheels on a bike. 

Ah. Youtube. I adore your pain in the butt availability. 

Search & Destroy, among other things

I just trimmed my hair a few days ago (right when the moon was fullest, yay!) and I was an idiot. I know how to self trim, using Feye's Self Trim method and the first two times it was *amazing* and perfect. This time? Not so much... because, once again, I was an idiot.

One of the ways to control the depthness of one's U-shaped hemline is by the angle upon which one looks when pulling down the bands; I always look up but this time, since I was sitting down and looking down, I wound up with a much deeper U than I wanted.

AND I idiotically tried saving it therefore cutting off more than I anticipated.

I'm trying to look on the brighter side, though. That means I have less growth to trim in the long run (I am growing out layers) and most of the damage was taken care of. So. There. Positivity is thine middle name.

Anyhow, I decided to freshen up the layers a wee-bit since, well, those haven't been trimmed since I got them in the first place, over a year ago and its where most of the damage is. I figured I might as well make a quick 'tutorial' or how to on the way I do this.  ps: this is also the way I S&D for split ends at the hemline anyway. -shrug-