Hair inspiration

I can't clearly see how she fixated the braids at the sides, but I figured maybe I could do it with a pair of Flexies. That turned out to be a fail: I couldn't really get the Flexies to hold and the Flexies kinda looked stupid.

So then I tried to pull the braids through the Dutch braid part and that worked out pretty well. So I repeated it until I ran out of length and tucked the leftovers in.

It held really well. I didn't even need to use a tool to hold it up.

Would I do this style again?

I honestly don't know. I did like it, but I also think I could do better things with a double dutch braid-base, like this or this.

Second day-hair

Points for long hair: It's quite awesome when you can just whip your messy second day-braids into a bun and no one bats an eyelid at it. (Probably even assuming I just did my hair "trendily messy" on purpose. Hah.)

Hair inspiration

I thought this was a cute little detail.
And, well, I didn't hate it.

The good

• It is a cute little detail
• Splitting my hair up for the accent braid where they showed, proved to be fairly accurately one third of the volume, so it looked like a very nice and even braid to begin with 

The bad

• Lifting the front of my hair to make an accent braid, made the length thin out very fast. So I had to bring extra hair in from BSL-ish
• Which means that the accent braids detail disappeared very fast. Of course that's what the tutorial shows as well, but it's still sad to see a potentially nice detail disappear so easily. Why not do something else instead of this then?

My thoughts

• This will definitely work better for shorter hair
• Or maybe if you bring in a lot of extensions for the accent braid (Would be kind of cute in contrasting colours!) 
• Maybe bunning the braids would be nice: It would hide how the accent braid disappears and you would still have the crossing braids in the back

Would I do this style again?

Nope. Not unless I suddenly had some very long extensions at hand to do this with.

Today's hair

Figure 8 bun held with a hair sword

(And Hubby's first practice-picture with his new phone. I like his priorities!)

Igors scalp typing system

I'm seeing some flakes on my scalp again. It seems like seasonal changes really provokes it? 

It got me thinking: We have the Fia's hair typing system, but what about the scalp? 
Doesn't a lot of people treat their hair according to what their scalp needs, more than what the length needs?

So here are my thoughts on creating a scalp typing system...

First of all, it needs to split up the scalp issues in two: The waxy and oily sebum.
And of course here we can discuss on whether it really is two different kinds of sebum, or it just is that some heads of hair can re-absorb the oil and leave the wax behind. Let's ignore that discussion.

And people will need to be able to tell waxy scalp from seborrheic dermatitis of course. Typically, seborrheic dermatitis presents with scaly, flaky, itchy, and red skin. Symptoms occur most commonly anywhere on the skin of the face, behind the ears and in areas where the skin folds. Flakes may be yellow, white or grayish.

So maybe the scalp typing system also needs an option for medical scalp issues as well?

Also an option for seasonal changes, like a lot of people have!

Second, it needs some sort of "grading" for each kind, which makes me wonder where the "norm" is. Of course since this is aimed at the hair nerds, the bell curve for how often you need to wash is completely different from the mainstream.

I'm thinking a "grading" that goes something like this:

• Noticeably waxy or oily scalp less than 24 hours after washing: Very oily or waxy scalp
• Noticeably waxy or oily scalp more than 24 hours after, but less than 48 hours after washing: Oily or waxy scalp
• Noticeably waxy or oily scalp more than 2 days after, but less than 4 days after washing: Normal scalp
• Noticeably waxy or oily scalp more than 4 days after, but less than a week after washing: Dry scalp
• Noticeably waxy or oily scalp more than a week after washing: Very dry scalp

Not sure how accurate this is, hmm?
I'd say around 5 categories should cover most scalps?

But here's the thing: You would have to split the typing up in two, right?
You could have waxy, but dry scalp... 

So if one type, like waxiness gave a letter between A and E and the oiliness gave a number between 1 and 5?

And add a D for seborrheic Dermatitis? DD for severe seborrheic dermatitis?
And a M for other Medical scalp issue? MM for severe other medical scalp issue?
And a S for Seasonal Changes? SS for strongly affected by seasonal changes?

Hmm. That would make my scalp type D5S.

But what to name the categories?

The opposite of oily is dry.
But the opposite of waxy is.... Also dry?
Or... slick? Smooth?
Kind of sounds awful, doesn't it?
Hmm!

Help?

New milestone

There was the cultural night in Lund yesterday. As the other years, lots of things I would have thought could be cool to see, but as the other years, I hate the £#¤%& crazy crowds it draws.
I'm not good with crowds.

So we ended up hanging out (and having too much beer) with some friends before heading in to see a band play. The band is called To Dust and we know one of the guitarists. They define their music as melodic death metal, but I'd say more of a trash metal *shrugs*
Although I like all forms of metal, this is probably less of a favorite for me.

But none the less, the music gets a million times better when you listen to it with friends, a beer in your hand and cheering for a friend. 

Metal.

I got so much into it that I took my figure 8 bun out and tried to headbang for the first time in years, only to find that my hair is now too long to get a proper swirl going. Damn.
Doctor-friend with her BSL hair and Designer-friend with her tailbone length hair got it going but I couldn't. 
Pout.
Sad milestone.

Also my neck hurts today. Ouchies.

New Testerkorea order

My Testerkorea order arrived!

I had my first beef with them: The Lombok Mastic Easyment Treatment couldn't be added to my order. It was a product that also should double as a leave in-conditioner, so I was quite eager to get it. It's 2015, so it shouldn't be possible for me to add something to my cart that the company cant deliver! Ugh. And then it took them over a week to get in contact with me about a replacement or refund. 

That aside, I was really happy.

Secretkey's Snail Repairing line: Cleanser, toner, emulsion, essence, eye cream and 3 sheet masks. 
I put this one up in the bathroom as current routine with a few other products.

Scinic's Snail Matrix line:Toner, emulsion, essence, eye cream, BB cream and cream. The BB cream is a really good match for my skintone! I put all of these in storage for now.

2 Benton Snail Bee high Content Essence: I really love this one. It goes into rotation right away.
The Yeon Jeju Canola Honey Essential Serum: What a huge bottle! It had leaked a bit during shipping so I tried it on my hands, liked it, and put it in rotation right away too.
Innisfree The Green Tea Seed Serum: I sorted and moved some products after taking the pictures and found I had a near-empty one already. Was it because I didn't tolerate it? Ugh. Why didn't I label the box I had stuck it in??

The very reason I placed the order to begin with: Etude House My Beauty Tool Lovely Ettie Hair Band
A'PIEU Clean Up Herb Source Cleansing Water Tissue: I wanted to see if these would be good for cleaning up eye-makeup before going into my nighttime skincare routine. I'd say it would be a good idea since I can't really use my Clarisonic on my eyelids!
INNISFREE Jeju Volcanic pore cleansing foam: It sounded so cool I had to try it.
BANILA CO Clay Patra Mineral Salt Clay Foam Cleanser: Good stuff. I have one in rotation already, but I needed a restock.

Free samples!
I know they had a sample-event going, but 6 packs? Cool.

A bit of different items in the packs, but still pretty cool.
I will try everything except the Tonymoly Banana Sleeping Pack. It will probably smell like "banana", that artificial "banana" flavor and scent based on that extinct banana, which doesn't taste or smell anything like modern bananas. I hate that! I need a friend who is interested in skincare, to give all these things to.

My awesome new headband!
They're very soft and hair friendly. Quite wide too.
Amazing how something so silly can make my skincare routine so much more fun!

Hubby thought it was really cute too and kept calling me "kitten" while petting my head.

Aaaand this is around here my camera decided to stop cooperating... 

My collection of storage boxes!
I sorted and organised my skin products and these 5 old Memebox-boxes are full of things that I have extra of, want to give another try because I'm not sure I tolerate it or not, or just haven't gotten around to try yet.
...No, I don't think I have too many products. Why?

A single box of things I know for sure I can't tolerate. Not sure what to do with these. They're obviously more or less used since I know I cant tolerate them, so I can't sell them. For now I just store them...

Hair inspiration

My thought was that my hair is long enough to wrap around my head as a crown braid and make a little bun out of at the neck.
I think my braid is too thick to look as elegant as this, so I tried a 5-stranded braid to flatten it.
Crown braids needs to be pretty flat or they end up looking weird...

I made a 5-stranded braid, wrapped it around my head and used the leftover braid to create a tiny "nautilus bun" to secure the ends.

My issue with this style was that
A) It felt a little wobbly and
B) It's not symmetrical
I think I can fix the majority of the "wobbly"-effect with a set of hair sticks instead of a clip. I'll do that next time.

You don't notice the asymmetry when you see it from the side, but from the front you can really see the taper affecting how thick the braid is.
Maybe I could braid in the end of a scarf next time? That would help fatten up the braid and give me something to help secure the little bun-part.

Would I do this style again?

Yes.

Hair inspiration

I liked this idea. The reason the ordinary cinnamon bun doesn't work for me, is that the beginning is too slippery. I need something to "anchor" it and twist the tail around. Maybe a simple knot like this would do the trick.

The initial "knot" caused me a bit of problems. It was difficult to get it smooth and firm. I also had some escaping hairs I had to tuck into the bun later.

Hubby's reaction was "It looks just like some normal bun?".
Yes. Exactly.
It looks like some plain, discrete, anonymous bun. I like that.
I haven't been able to do a regular cinnamon bun for many years because it slips and fails within minutes. This thing is the closest to a regular cinnamon bun I can do with my length.

I wonder how it would look if I partially braided (Like, after making the knot) this or fully braided (Braid first, then loop around) this?

Would I do this style again?
Yes.

I'm going to need a bit of training to get the initial "knot" smooth and stable, but this has great potential.

Partial product storage

Here's the full-sized picture from yesterday. On this cupboard shelf I keep (Left to right):

• Scents and deodorants
• Backup Clarisonic heads
• Couple of bodylotions that are not in use
• Hair tools that are not currently in rotation
• Leave in conditioners
• Hair oils

Mane 'n Tail Conditioner: Moisturizer-Texturizer

I found this one randomly at Matas and it was cheap! (Hint-hint for my fellow Danes!) 

Conditioners that can be both rinsed out and left in makes me suspicious since they usually leave a greasy residue behind, but I had to give it a shot since I'm always looking for leave ins.

First impression were positive: Big bottle for a great price.

Second impression: The scent reminds me of a mix of old school Fructis and this conditioner that was the biggest hype in the longhair circuit some 10 years ago... Damn, what was the name? L'Oreal something-something? Big yellow tub? Anyone?

Ingredients

Water/Aqua/Eau, Distearyldimonium Chloride, Stearyl Alcohol, Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine Lactate, Cetyl Alcohol, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Glycerin, Cetearyl Alcohol, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance (Parfum), Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil, Polysorbate 60, Steareth-20, Methylparaben, Sodium Chloride, PEG-150 Stearate, Hydrolyzed Collagen, Propylparaben, Lanolin, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Yellow #5 (Cl 19140), Benzyl Benzoate, Citronellol, Geraniol, Hexyl Cinnamal, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Limonene, Linalool, Alpha-isomethyl Ionone

I'm worried about the coconut oil. It's extremely irritating and comedogenic for my skin. My hair likes it, but for my skin it's an instant disaster that results in itchiness and breakouts. It's very high up the ingredient list too. Cosdna marks coconut oil down as a 4 for acne and 1 for irritant.

Also I wonder why I see hydrolyzed collagen in hair products popping up more and more. Anyone else noticed this trend? 

Cosdna gives it a lot of points for acne and irritants in the ingredients. Almost the entire bottom half of ingredients is in yellow for safety. Hmm!

5 marked as a "2" on acne

1 marked as a "3" on acne

1 marked as a "4" on acne

2 marked as a "1" on irritant

3 marked as a "2" on irritant

That... Doesn't really look so good when you list it up like that, does it?  Some ingredients "overlap" but still. 

Effect

The greasiness I worried about was there. But not a lot. Still noticeable though.

It had a good hold, good shine and a nice scent left behind.

I think I want to mix it into another conditioner though, see if I can get rid of some of the greasiness.
I washed my hands thoroughly after using it and didn't have any issues with the coconut, but I'm still slightly worried about it causing issues anyways. Maybe my skin will react to it when I roll over my braid in my sleep... 

The verdict
Well, I don't hate it. But I'm not particularly impressed either. It's just kind of... Inoffensive. 
I think the big point for this one comes from the price and the fact that it was available at all. Leave in conditioners can be such an enormous pain in the ass to find here, so I'm not picky anymore.
So yea, will use, will buy again.

Trim

As usual when I visit my parents I have my mother trim my hair.
I asked for 5 cm or so, but I think she took off 7. I don't really mind though.
It's funny when your hair reach a certain length: I couldn't tell I had lost any length by feel, but I can see how the end of the braid has thickened up and the tassel got shorter.

I think I've reached a length where my hair can't keep any sort of hemline or thickness at the ends for much longer. I'm tempted to get a creaclip and maintain here for the rest of the year or so. Either that or just give in to the fairy tale ends, lol.

Sharing a picture

I was back in Denmark visiting my parents for a bit and of course I had to go out hunting with dad. I snapped this quick picture of him in the sunset and I liked it so much I wanted to share it with my readers :)

Another TK order

As the title says, I just placed another order at testerkorea.com.

Why?

Because I wanted this:

ETUDE HOUSE My Beauty Tool Lovely Ettie Hair Band

I spotted it at another K-blogger and just had to have it!
(Plus a bunch of other stuff as usual when I order from testerkorea. Hehe)

It should turn evening skin-time/mud mask time from this

Into this

I ordered two: One for washing and one for wearing for masks after washing. So uncomfortable to wear a wet headband when you have a mask on...

I also ordered a bunch of skin stuff and a single hair product: LOMBOK Mastic Easyment Treatment which should be a leave in conditioner. Huge tub, that one! It will be interesting to see if it's useful to me.

The next time someone tells me they envy me my hair, I will show them this picture...

This is what happens when you have iii-hair in unrelenting summer heat.
Especially if you have sensitive skin, I guess.
Since about after a week into the summer heat I've had a line of irritating little breakouts along/inside the hairline at my neck.
No matter what I did with mud masks, serums, exfoliators and toners, it had no effect.
I guess when you get a slightly sweaty neck in your sleep from the heat, you just cant make up for it with anything you apply to your skin.
It seems like the heat is finally going away now, so maybe, finally, it will heal.

AOA: Short hair

I wish I could understand what they're singing!

At first I was a little offended at the hint that cutting their hair short would solve all their problems. But then I thought of how many people I've met in the longhair circuit who seems to believe that growing their hair long will solve all their problems!

Sailor Moon manga act 9

Anyone else seen the new Sailor Moon remake: Crystal?

My opinion can be summed up with this: 

I really hated it. Like, flat out no ifs and buts, hated it.

I really liked the old Sailor Moon series. It was such a classic. Usagi was scared, girly, clumsy, lazy and in so many ways the weakest link out of all the sailor senshi, but she did her best and saved the world in her own way.

I even liked the live action version (Once I got past the intense cringey feeling) because it managed to balance the seriousness and silliness.

Basically this. So much this.

The new Usagi is aloof and vacant 95% of the time and when she finally shows the "old" Usagi clumsiness it feels shoehorned in. It feels like they just wanted to a produce a show with "mature" and "elegant" girls. And it doesn't work. I miss the old crazy reaction faces and silliness. Both the original manga and anime had that and it really worked.
I have to give the reboot a single point for making Usagi+Mamoru work. In the old anime he was such a dull character until late in the series and it felt like they had to be together because they just had to be together.

Anyways.
In the remake, they include this scene from the manga:
It was a cute little detail.

Her hair grew like crazy overnight but the bangs stayed the same...?
Guess no one cared for George Micheal's opinion on this!