Monday Mani Tip!

This entry is a bit of an after thought. I completely forgot to take pictures and the cam's out of batteries.

Anyhow, I was reminded of a tip I learned from Robin Moses the moment I smudged my nail with the elastic of my sleep braid.

The nail was almost dry and I wound up with a smudged divot. NEVER FEAR, H2O is here!!

I just dipped a fingertip in water and smudged the polish back in place. Unfortunately I forgot about this tip and tried to fix it in place without water and made a bigger mess... so when I DID add the water it wasn't such a seamless fix. That's okay. I get to change my mani come Friday, my true mani day. :P

Other uses for Shampoo

Well, so far, I've only found one. I don't go through shampoo very much (I do stock up on conditioner, six bottles at a time) and there are a LOT of shampoos who have magnificent scents that I just can't use very well.  -- Scalp itch and all that.

So what do I do when I'm absolutely dying for a new scent of yesteryear. (Yes, I do get nostalgic for things I once used... like Suave's Ocean Breeze or Strawberry shampoo.) I use them to wash my delicates.


And boy, do they do such a fantastic job of it too! Proof positive that there are just a ton of surfectants that irritate my scalp.

So far, the one that gets my delicate whites the whitest is Herbal Essence's -- I got it in the Rose Hip scent. Every time I put on my boulder holder the scent wafts up to my nostrils and I'm reminded of my good days of youth. Y'know, before the depression got the best of me and I went down my self-destructive, emolicious goth path where I spent most of my free time being a hikkikomori and living life through a computer. Perhaps this is why I never snatched the guy of my dreams--- I was too busy being a melancholic teen. (With due reason, by I digress.)

Then again, it turns out the guy of my dreams really only existed in my dreams... and this realization, along with my uploaded life, allowed me to meet the man who WOULD be all that I ever asked for and more.

I get to tease him with the delicious smell of my teenage years when I give him hugs. And to me, that is much better than perfume-- which I'm also prone to develop headaches with.

I've also used Suave's Ocean Breeze and VO5's clarifying kiwi shampoo to cleanse my delicate whites but they're not as effective. They work, just.. lets just say, Herbal Essences is the Tide of shampoos. I don't know if that's entirely a good thing for my scalp, but it sure is for my lingerie!

(Believe me, I need all the help I can keep those suckers clean without destroying them in the wash. At about $60 a pop, I need to conserve!!)

Heat = Lethargy

We had a huuuge heat wave last week. I believe we got to like, 95 degrees with 54% humidity. All I did was lay in front of a bunch of fans in an attempt to cool off. In the end, I only felt like a piece overly salted chicken in a convection oven. It. Did. Nothing.

Even night time sucked. I think I slept about twenty hours Maybe a little bit more. With the majority of it done this past weekend.

So I got lazy in terms of hair care and style.  It was just too hot to do anything OTHER than wash my hair.

Believe me, I was thrilled to wash my hair an extra day in an effort to cool off. Nothing feels nicer on a hot day like a bare back covered in cold, sopping wet hair. Sadly, my hair -- which can take about six to eight hours to dry on average in this lovely part of the world -- dried in two. It sucked. Mucho cool-j. I mean, seriously, the PCs shut down from it being so hot.

I think at one point I did a super high lazy bun on top of my head and stuck two pieces of ice in it. That worked for.. like.. half an hour.

I was so lazy, I haven't even given myself a mani OR a pedi. I always have at a pedicure done. ALWAYS. Not last week. Not today even. Maybe I'll go do that once I'm finished with this blog. I want to wear sandals, its so flippin' caliente!

Despite the humidity and the heat and the overall lazyness that has taken over this household, we've managed to do some very deep cleaning despite everything.

And yes, I do know how to use an ironing board. I may not press the perfect seams but I think I do pretty damn well. Besides, I don't know how many of my friends at my age can say they know how to iron. Let alone do it in on a super hot day. (Mom, if you're reading this -- and I doubt you are, but IF you happen to find my blog -- I am in sheer awe at the amount of work  you did for our family. In absolute awe. I don't know how you did it, but I love you and thank you for it.)

Bonus: Awesome hair day. I don't know how I achieved this. I do not know how to replicate it, but by the heavens, I sure am documenting it!

PS: Hey, Mom? I know I was in the pain in the ass teenager. I know I threw unreasonable shit fits (sorry about the language) about doing chores, or waking up at a certain hour in the friggin day, but I want you to know that despite my grumbling or dragging my feet about it, I learned something. If my washing machine crashes, I wash by hand. If Jouji's shirt is missing a button, I know how to put one back on. If either one of us has an interview and we need something ironed : I KNOW HOW TO DO IT. And by god, if all I have is flour, chicken bullion, a few potatoes, a carrot and meat -- I figure out how to get two complete different meals out of it. I mean, seriously, I've no idea how you managed to get this tomboy to achieve such domesticity.

PPS: I still hate waking up in the morning though. I am nocturnal... and I begrudgingly join the land of the living.

L'Oreal Professional Paris -- Age Supreme

First off, let me begin by stating that I have not spent a dime on the products I will be reviewing unless otherwise stated. Let it be known that I actually work for a salon chain and we often get freebies. Chiefly samples of stuff that we've been given as a company to see if it will pique our interest and sell them in our stores.

These have not made the cut. Either they did at one point and we no longer carry them, or for one reason or another our CEO has chosen not to use them. That is not to say that we don't use the brand in general, these are just products that we've chosen not to use.

Such as L'Oreal Professionals Paris. We use their color line in our salons but the shampoos, conditioners and other bits have not made them. I think, I may have figured out why. Sort of. I'll explain.

I absolutely *Adore* the Nature line. It is low in sulfates and absolutely paraben and silicone free. But, that's not the review (I'll do that one tomorrow.)

No, no, we're talking about the Age Supreme Integral line. More specifically, the shampoo.

First, let us go with the GOOD stuff.

• The line is meant for *aging* hair, so, for my Renegrays or ladies who color but find themselves suffering from gray-hair effect, such as porosity, dryness, kinkiness and stubborness, this shampoo (and conditioner, but more on that later) is for you.

 While my hair may not be porous nor kinky (and by kinky I mean a rather curly or uneven texture.) it is stubborn and prone to dryness. That is because it is naturally a 1b/c texture. Meaning, it is not quite straight but not quite wavy. I have some random places where I get some spiraling and well defined S waves but by no means, is it an even texture. (Gods, I feel another blog entry writing itself.) Anyhow, I digress. Because of my stubborn hair and dry nature, I figured "Its free. Why the hell not?"

So I grabbed a bottle, and two of my favorite.

• Because of its hydrating properties, it does promote amazing shine. Though I'm pretty sure the amodimethicone has something in it, as well as the glycerin. 

• After a single wash, I did notice my hair has amazing manageability. I can't tell a difference in the shine but that's because I take such good care of my hair to begin with, it is pretty damned shiny on it own. Hubby's hair did look significantly shinier. 

The bad stuff:

• High on Sulfates. 

 What does this mean to me? Scalp irritation. I've been low-sulfate to sulfate free for quite a while. I try to avoid these pesky things once I realized that upon my moving from SoCal to the PNW, my body went hay wire. The humidity and irritants in this area are horrendous. My already dry-prone skin just dries to the point of PAIN and flakyness. For the longest time I thought I had the most persistent case of dandruff. Turns out I just had really dry scalp. (Yeah, dandruff shampoos are pretty high up there on SLS. It just was a vicious cycle.)

As I was drying my hair, I saw flakes. They were a few, not terrible, but enough for me to see them stand out against my dark hair horribly. It was a kin to a single shake of a salt shaker on a black surface. Small, but white, and fucking irritating. -.-

Thankfully I didn't break into hives and persistent itching (Yes, I'm looking at you Kerastase. And no, we don't get that for free. This is just another entry on its own.)

•  It. Stinks. Holy Hell does it fucking stink. 

Again, back to my sudden Delicate Lily of the Valley constitution, I have been even more sensitive to smells than ever before. I think it has something to do with the humidity. Studies have shown that the 'rain smell' people love is not really a smell attributed to the water that falls from the sky itself, but to the fact that the moisture in the air makes the smell of the asphalt, grass -- the world, really -- more pungent. So the truth is your neighborhood smells the same way all year long rain or no rain, but the extra water in the air makes it easier for our 'blind' noses see the smells at long last.

So. Yea. I smell shit more keenly now. Figuratively and literally. Add this fact onto the fact that I also have more tastebuds than the average human being (yes, I am a mutant freak) and my olfactory nose is a double edge sword. In one hand, I am keenly aware of the scent that belongs to my husband and smelling his pillow or a shirt he's worn a day ago not only makes me feel like he's in the room with me, but make me feel all fuzzy inside. I can also crack recipes with the help of my nose. If I'm interested in a dish enough, I will make it a point to memorize the notes in both palate and nose then go home to replicate. I may not get it on the first, fourth or even seventh time at trying to prepare that dish, but by god, I'll figure it out. I have done so on many occasion and I shall continue to do so.

On the other hand, my shnoz is so sensitive that I can tell when milk is getting close to spoil, I taste 'weird stuff' -- particularly the sweet notes. Some of them are so strong in my palate that all I can taste is rubber cement. (No, I haven't actually licked it, but I've been around the stuff plenty of times to recognize the smell. Some smells are so pungent that it coats one's tongue and it is possible to 'taste' a substance. Rubber cement is one of these things.) This last bit is NOT fun to discover when I bring home a good bottle of dessert wine that cost a pretty penny. While *everyone else* gets to taste the delicious notes of apple, peach and honey all I taste is dirty socks and rubber cement.

Smells, particularly sweet smells make me sick. In various ways. One of those problems are migraines. The others is the urge to vomit. Usually the two come hand in hand. Something about Misery and Company...

Anyhow, hubby thought the stuff stunk. I thought he was exaggerating. I mean, the boy has the nose of a plant. I should've known better. While his olfactory senses are dull, he has his peculiar scents.

Yeah. I got a migraine. And as I was rinsing it out, I kept gagging. It has this horrid 'musty old lady' smell. Which is kind of sad, especially considering that this shampoo is geared for an elder demographic. You would think that out of sensitivity to their brand, L'Oreal would make sure their shampoos would not smell like rancid, musty perfume.  -- Now, I am willing to give them the benefit of the chance and believe that the shampoo could've been badly stored/stored so long the perfume went rancid. If anyone from L'Oreal would like to provide me a free bottle to contest this theory, go on right ahead. I don't shy away from free hair stuff.

The smell was so strong that it is still present two days after wash day. It is not as pungent, but pungent enough to bother me. While not enough to make me go wash my hair earlier than I should, it was enough for me to grab some perfume and spritz it into my hair.

• Texture. While my hair is soft and silky, perhaps moreso than usual, it is also heavier.

 Back to my usual low SLS or SLS free washes, my hair has a very floaty movement. While it is heavy in nature, it does have volume, bounce and depending on humidity, I'll have some super loose wave to a more pronounced S. I consistently loose and gain weight due to the level of wavyness. This is something I discovered during my length journey and have come to *love*.

Not with this shampoo. I blame the glycerin and amodimethicone. I could be wrong, but I have noticed that silicones tend to weigh my hair down more. Now, to me this is a negative. But if you have similar texture to my hair and you *like* the pin straight look, then by all means, this shampoo will give it to you!  This shampoo has made it more difficult for my hair to hold a curl.

I've worn my hair in a cinnabun for two days now, the first night, damp. It hardly held a wave. This is a bun that gives me lots of volume and uniform, deep waves when done on a damp set!


All in all, this shampoo is not for me.

The scalp irritation and the migraine/nausea combo just rules this out the window. The fact that the same size bottle I got for free retails for $16.19 on sale  in Amazon (Regular price $24.99), you bet your average-nosed, not so sensitive ass that I will not be buying this thing again.

In fact, the cheap bastard in me is thinking about keeping the bottle in the bottom of my bathroom cabinet for the day that I run out of shampoo (It happens. We go through a family  sized bottle of shampoo in six months. I can't say the same about conditioner. I stock one more than the other and next thing I know, we got no shampoo.) but the practical side of me hates this stuff so much I am willing to waste an expensive bottle of high end shampoo into the land fill before I use any more of this again.

Smell : -----
Consistency : ***-- (It lathered nicely, but it felt filmy afterwards)
Next day texture: **---
Price: *----
Over all score: YUCK

Ps: I just took my hair down from its bun. I got a headache again. I'm really, really, really tempted to break my schedule and wash my hair two days early and right before bed. Seriously. -.-

Of Buns and Honey

So far, I've seen results on the honey mask. At least on my face, where the spots are lighter. The texture of the bumps has gotten smoother. The only downside is that I end up *hungry* when doing this mask, as it smells oh-so- good.

I also discovered a new bun of sorts. It happened when I learned to crochet a braid with my hair, except I don't keep going to the tail end. I basically chain one and stop. I insert the toy of my choice in the loop formed by wrapping the tail end about the chain, and the loop by the first chain. Tuck in the tail and done. Here's what it looks like :

Onward to the masks and scrub! Honey Regimen day 3. 

I started with a dirty face. 

Note the darkness on my right cheek (left to you).
The darkness is only made darker with blush.

I cleansed my face with baby wipes. I was far too lazy to get up and wash my face with my MK cream cleanser. I'm so low I'm having to run a butter knife along the body to squeeze some out. I should be getting a new cleanser by tomorrow. (Thank you, Darlene! I miss you!! I hope you're having fun in Cali.)

I didn't realize my nose was still chapped from
the two week long snot fest. 

I then mixed my honey and lemon juice. Excuse the extra cinnamon. I didn't wash the dish from last night. LAZY DEMISE!!  Anyhow, note how it is much too drippy. You want to have a thicker consistency.

Apply to areas of concern. I went on to slather this stuff on my legs, my left elbow (I keep resting it on my desk at work and the constant rubbing of clothes and skin, or bare skin on desk edge has darkened my elbow horribly.) and face.

I AM A DRIP MONSTER!!

Let it sit for an hour and THEN, clean off with a warm towel. Or baby wipes. I'd stick to the warm towel. The baby wipes got super sticky really quick and I went through four. -.- (Learn from me, use them as a last cleansing effort to get rid of sticky residue.)

Mix fresh honey (or what is left from the mask) with ground cinnamon.

Apply to previously honeyed-body parts.

My honey mustache and beard are tasty!

Let it sit for five minutes. Rub it in for about a minute, then wipe off with a trusty warm towel.

Its 2 am. I want sleep!

And follow with your favorite moisturizer. Again, I'm too lazy to stand up and go to my bathroom and use my night cream so I'll just use my organic, home made body butter.

mmm.. ylang ylang coconutty goodness!! 

I rub it in, get distracted by another documentary and finally go to bed once I realize the damned thing has already been absorbed like.. an hour ago.


Next up: L'oreal Professional Paris review for the Age Supreme shampoo! 

Cinnamon, Lemon and Honey

Last May, I was eaten alive by flying/jumping leeches. I'm allergic to both mosquitos and fleas. I also have terribly sensitive skin and I scar easily. While my arms are easy to deal with and scars fade quickly there, they are an exception. A picked pimple on my cheek leaves a scar. A scratched itch virtually *anywhere* leaves a scar.


I've become so self conscious I'm having a hard time wearing short skirts or dresses. I asked for help at LHC and as always, someone had an answer.

Spook Sister (WE NEED TO HANG OUT DAMNIT!) advised me that a mixture of honey and lemon help fade scars and lessen inflammation. I knew about the honey, as I've used it on break outs and have had friends with acne use honey masks per my instruction and the cystic pain has gone away quickly, along with redness and swelling. I somehow forgot all about this over the last month.

Anyhow, here I'll show you my worst leg. The left one isn't that much better.

There are so many scars, not all of them are pictured.
Behind the knee, on the side of the calf, my foot, MY TOES. >.<

And my fugly face. As you can see I have a rather uneven skin tone (okay, perhaps not that well in this picture.) I have vitiligo on my brow and cheek, as well as hyper pigmentation right above the white spot on my cheek. I also have a few fresh break outs and a few pox marks.

I did not over tweeze/wax. Its a spot that
would frustrate Lady McBeth!

Use more honey and less lemon, so it'll be less drippy! I kept eating the drips that oozed onto my lips.

I didn't picture it, but after wearing this mixture for an hour, I slathered a bit of honey and cinnamon over the mask and rubbed it in. It smelled fantstic and while this one wasn't drippy at all, I couldn't help but lick some of it off as I washed the stuff off.

It looked rather tasty and brown!

Once I rinsed off the mask and scrub, I could feel a huge difference in the texture of my skin. The worst bites   are almost flush to my skin. The best ones are already flush and all that is left behind is the color of the scars.

I'm to keep this up for 30 days. We'll see how it goes. I'm rather hopeful.

Tools of the trade update 1

This long hair journey thing is an evolutionary tale. Things change along the way based on knowledge, trials and errors.

So here's my updated bunch of tools (rather, very few now) that I use every day in one shape or another.

L to R: Tangle Teezer, dye brush, hair stick (any), rat tail com, TT2 and Hair Bean.

The original TT was bought last year when I saw Torrin's YT review on it. I had been pretty anti TT just because of the *sound*. She explained that it was simply because it was hollow. Still, I avoided it like the plague until the day my carpal tunnel became so severe I could no longer hold a comb. Turns out a) Torrin was right, the sound is horrible but the damned thing is GENTLE. I have more snags and more tearing from combing my hair in the most delicate of fashion than I ever had from a Tangle Teezer. 

The pink one got absconded by the cats. The dark purple one is my current one and the hair bean is what goes in my purse for travel. 

I use the brush, comb or stick for sectioning. 

Onward to the travel kit!! (and more tools)

The work horses of my regime should I not be wearing a stick or a fork.

 Here I have U pins, large bobby pins and small bobby pins as well as an O ring full of elastics. The ring keeps the elastics nice and tidy so I don't have to struggle with pins sticking to them. I also take a single small pin and thread the other pins to it. I'll show this in detail later.

An empty Altoids can holds it all in place. 

Bobby pin threaded through other pins for security.
It keeps everything tidy in the box.

Simply unhook and slip a band out to use!

The assembled kit, complete with the mirror that was inside the
Hair Bean lid. Also pictured, fingers. Most accessible tools of all!

This kit lives in my purse. So should a stick break or a fork be misplaced I *always* have something to use to secure my hair up and away.