Christmas calendar

Look what Hubby gave me!

Bodyshops Christmas calendar!

Length shot

Post trim length shots. The light was kind of tricky (Stupid rainy weather kept any natural light useless), so we tried both my camera and my camera phone.

None of them got really very clear though.

Maybe I should maintain around here for a while?
It doesn't look like my hair really wants to leave the top calf region anyways.

Trim using the Etude House Hair Tools Bangs Cut Kit

My part of this was mostly to stand still and let Hubby do his thing.

Hubby says:
It was tricky to get it right. The length of the hair made it difficult to get it horizontal because it kind of "sways" down there, not like a solid, unmoving shelf.
The trick was to close it first, then pull it downwards until it was at the right length, then tug it slightly on the sides until it was right. Trying to close it around the intended length made you have to adjust too much and then you miss the spot.

Hubby concluded that he wasn't entirely sure this thing was actually a help for him.

He felt it was a bit in the way of the scissor. If he cut right up under the clip, the scissor collided with the clip a bit. But if you cut a bit underneath the clip, what is really the point then?

Maybe it feels different if you use it for your bangs, like it was actually intended for?

Length shot

Because I'm a big, mean tease I have split the posts on the trim up!

Pre-trim with wet hair.
It feels like I've been at top of the calves forever now. It's like I can't really get over that "hump".
Of course this is around the length where my terminal length should be according to my calculations...

I have a strange love for being able to see my hair like this. Some times it really confuses me that my hair is really this long.

I have a tail

We were getting ready to leave for a movie, when Hubby snapped a photo of my butt.

I laughed and suggested he might try that at a time when I'm not wearing my winter jacket.

He then showed me why: My hair is now so long that the thinnest little tail pokes out underneath my thigh long jacket!

Etude House Hair Tools Bangs Cut Kit

Time to take a closer look at this thing...

First impression: I like the package. Pink and pretty, but not annoyingly so.

The back has instructions in Korean and picture instructions: Put clip in, make sure it's level, adjust clip and cut.

The scissor has a funny, patterned edge. I assume this is for specialized bangs-trimming? I guess bangs shouldn't be 100% straight or they will be flat, maybe?
So this is some sort of fancy bangs-scissor?
I'll stick with my beautiful Jaguar Heart-breaker though!
Maybe Etude Houses scissor will be good for trimming my fake bangs some day? (Totally overdue on the project of adjusting those!)

The clip itself is a little over 16 cm long.
The spirit level is the classic tubular kind with what looks like a fairly good accuracy.

It has little teeth inside.The teeth seems to be fairly hairfriendly and smooth, but there are some ugly edges in some places.

Side view of it. It looks pretty cheaply done where the two parts are put together. But since this doesn't come into contact with my hair, maybe I shouldn't really care?

Now, here's the problem.
The clasp-part isn't easy to close. It actually takes some strength and was difficult to do with one hand.
I think this could actually be a problem, because you would want the closing-mechanism that fixates it to your hair to be fairly easy to work, right? You would want to hold it in the approximate place with one hand, and close it with the other, right?
It's not like the clip is so heavy that it requires force to keep it on the hair...

My VM Korea order arrived

My Creaclip copy arrived!

(Well, not really sure if it's a copy or not, since it's from Etude House which I wouldn't really say is a cheap knockoff kind of brand? Wonder which one came first.)

I ordered it at VM Korea along with some sheet masks and was very, very happy with it!

Why so happy?

Well...  

Awesome!
This is not just a lot of samples. They included 6 fullsized sheet masks and a full pack of Skinfood's Black Sugar cotton pads! Nice. Really nice cotton pads is one of those little things I just love for my skincare. It has a way of making skincare feel so much more luxurious.
Google informs me that the pads were part of a package deal with Skinfood's Black Sugar serum, but I appreciate the pads just the same.

A walk in the park

When it comes to cheering me up, Hubby is the king!

But then again, I don't think I'm very difficult: A bag of bread each and off to the park.

So many hungry birds!

I guess people prefer to go to the park when it's warm and nice and there are cute babies to feed. Now it's cold outside and they are hungry. It made me feel really bad.

The heron on the right have been here since this summer. I got some awesome pictures some months ago where it used the bread to lure fish in and eating them! Clever boy or girl for sure!

We had both pigeons and ducks when I lived with my parents (And chickens, and a love bird) so I'm always happy to be around them.

I just melt inside when those little jerks try to make eye contact to get me to feed them.

How can you not love that pretty face?

Recommendations from you all

So, the crazy itch has mostly died down. I've still been stuck in major "feeling bad for myself"-mode though.

Well, an order based on recommendations from all of you have arrived and it kicked me out of my self pity.

Left to right

Decubal Anti-Itch Gel

ACO Zinkpasta

Cicaplast Baume B5

A-Derma Exomega Cream

Xylocain

I have started with the zinc salve. It's good and thick and feels calming for my skin.

Still itchy and miserable

Ugh, so everything still sucks.
I've spend the last days just laying on the couch. I'm honestly just too depressed to do a whole lot.
I can't even really be angry of how the visit to the healthcare center. I'm just too... bleh about it.
(It wasn't even until yesterday that I realized they couldn't even be bothered to take a test to send off to a lab or anything. Apparently poking at skin does the same as a real test?)

Ever since my dermotillomania developed, I've had a simple little wish for every year: "Maybe this year will be the year where I can feel comfortable to wear shorts for summer."
I've been doing so good with not picking this year and it really got my hopes up, but now I'm father away from that simple little dream than I've ever been.

Sigh.

So anyways. I took some pictures of my legs.
I don't really recommend anyone to look at them though.
So yea, I don't think I need to plaster a lot of labels on this, do I?

Not safe for work?
Not safe for anything?

As bad as it looks, I guarantee it feels a lot worse.

Link: Outside of right leg.
(Some of the dark spots are from old picking-scars)
Link: Inside of my left knee.
(The left knee is a lot worse than the right)
Link: Inside right ankle.
(You can see some of those little "volcanoes" really clearly on top of that ankle-bone)
Link: Inside left leg.
(Tried to catch that weird, bumpy texture of the skin)
Link: Inside left ankle.
(Closeup trying to show the bumps, redness and craters where I've scratched)

I need a hug

Sorry guys, not really feeling like blogging or replying to comments.
I'm really just in the mood to wallow in self pity.

Long story short: Much rash, very self pity, such wow.

Long story slightly longer:
Four days ago I had some sort of... thing... around my ankles. Looked like tiny little mosquito bites, maybe?
Like a tiny little volcano almost. No redness, just itchy little bumps.
They itched some, so we assumed it just was some annoying mosquito that managed to survive long enough to get me. I usually kick my feet outside the covers during the night, so it seemed a logical conclusion.
They seemed to spread upwards, but since we were still under the mosquito-assumption, we thought nothing of it.
I spent all of Monday in a seminar in Denmark, so I was too busy to really pay attention to it. I did notice the itching though. When I came home, it has spread all the way up to my knees.
Next morning, Tuesday I  woke up to horrible itchiness. It had spread up to the back of my things.
Did I mention how much it itched? Like, painfully itchy.
It itched so much I would involuntarily twitch from it.

Now, I have absolutely zero trust in doctors anymore. (Same with dentists actually) What little contact I've had with those people as a patient, I have learned that they are completely useless, totally incompetent and yet have their head so far up their own asses, they can see out their ears.
Just to mention another example of what I have experienced: I had 11 hairline fractures in my ankle and the doctor told me it was a sprain and I should just suck it up. Classy. It healed really badly. Duh.

The relevant example is that some 8 years ago I had a violent allergic reaction (Maybe?) and I had a wonderfully awesome medical malpractice-case (Sarcasm) where they ruined the skin on my legs with a steroid cream I couldn't tolerate, and made me break out everywhere that wasn't broken out already with an antihistamine I couldn't tolerate either.
Every single visit to the hospital then, I had to tell yet another new doctor to try reading past the first page in my case because, no, it was not food allergy, no, we have already tested for that.
I have never in my life had a positive experience with a doctor. Ever.

Anyways, the itching was so bad we went to the nearly healthcare center: Linero Östra Torn Vårdcentral.
We looked up their website and it said we could pretty much drop in. That of course, turned out to be a lie.
So we go there and there is a receptionist.
She looks like a dead ringer for my Filipino-american ex boyfriends aunt, so I assume she is of Filipino descent. Of course, this wouldn't matter, if it wasn't because she was almost impossible to understand!
We understand her words, but her sentences makes no sense.But we finally gather that no, there is no drop in there.
With no actual answers, we return home again. Look up the website again and call them.
I don't know who we actually get in contact with, but this one is so impossible to understand that we have to switch to English!
We get a time later that day. I have absolutely zero trust in this person already, but since the itching is driving me crazy, I accept the appointment.

So we go there again and talk to a nurse who looks Indian. She is really hard to understand and we have to switch to English several times.
She asks some questions: Have I been bitten by a bug, have I been in contact with a pet, am I on any medication, have I eaten anything new, have I tried any new cosmetics, have we used any new laundry detergent, is it on any other part of my body, etc.
The answer to everything is no.
So she goes to get another nurse. This one is actually a native Swede, so the communication is a lot easier, but he asks the exact same questions as nurse #1.He then talks about possible medications and he suggests a steroid cream. I explain I'm violently allergic to that.
They also direct their attention to the skin on my face. Like, a lot. They start going on and on and on about the possible rash on my face. I have to explain that I have sensitive skin and my skin is never 100% perfect (Like most people on this planet. This is not abnormal, people!). Not satisfied with a completely rational explanation, they rudely look for more "rashes" around my neck and shoulders.
I would hate to see how they would react to a patient with something like hormonal acne!  I imagine something like:"Oh yea, broken leg, whatever. Let's have a look at your face because that is obviously diseased and weird and abnormal and totally the problem instead of the intense pain in the broken leg!"
They then go to get a doctor. She looks Chinese. Her Swedish is absolute crap, like, impossible to communicate with. She asks the exact same questions with some (translation) help from the nurses.
They go away for a while. Nurse #1 comes back to say they jut got an emergency case in and asks us to wait. Sure, no problem.
We wait like 15 minutes.
Then nurse #1, nurse #2 and doctor #1 comes back with a doctor #2.
I can't pinpoint her accent, but Hubby later says she is eastern European. She is also very hard to understand.
This one starts asking the very same questions again. I'm losing my patience here: I'm feeling like a circus freak by now "Hey everyone, come look at this!!" and I can't help but focus on how freakishly rude it is to assume your coworkers are idiots like she does.
So I explain to her that no, I haven't been bitten by a bug, no, I haven't been in contact with a pet, no, I'm not on any medication, no I haven't eaten anything new, no, I haven't tried any new cosmetics, no, I haven't used any new laundry detergent and no, it's not anywhere else on my body.
She looks positively pissed off and tells the nurses to give me a prescription for steroid cream. Nurse #2 explains I'm allergic to it. Doctor #2 makes no attempt at all to hide that she is rolling her eyes at me.
Doctor #2 tells me to stop scratching it. Right, because, you know, you just do that, right? Just like that: Wow, I hadn't thought of not scratching the horrible, painful itch. Such medical advice, very professional, doctor wow. At this point I'm desperate enough to want to take a cheese grater to my skin, so this is about as helpful as telling someone with pollen allergy to just stop sneezing.
She marches out of the room and hisses over her shoulder that they need to make a notice that "the patient is refusing medication".
Because, you know, refusing a medication I'm violently allergic to is completely unreasonable and a personal offense to her, right? Right.
Doctor #1 and the nurses makes me a prescription for an antibiotic cream.
Nurse #1 tries to make some smalltalk, but by now I'm beyond pissed at everything in the situation.
She tells me to call back in a week if it doesn't get better.

We go to the reception to get the bill.
Now, I know I have a lot of international readers and you probably think medical care in Sweden would be free, right? Yea, no, it isn't. You have to pay to see a nurse or doctor. It doesn't cost as much as other places, but no, it isn't free.
(For comparison, in Denmark it's free. Its free to see a doctor or a nurse, being referred to any other specialist through your doctor is also free. It's free to have most procedures done. For instance: Having scar tissue removed after a burn accident would be free, but having your nose done for cosmetic purposes isn't. You have to pay for your own medication, but it's drastically reduced in price on a sliding scale if you need a lot of medication. Oh, and a lot of places in Denmark they have now started an experimental thing where you have to pay a small fine if you don't show up for your appointment and waste the "systems" time and resources on not showing up. But that's pretty cool actually. People like that suck.)
Anyways. We have to hunt the receptionist down because she isn't at the reception.
Then, she cant figure out how much I have to pay.
I booked a time to see a nurse, but she called in a doctor. And apparently you have to pay extra to get a prescription as well.
What.
Receptionist spends like 5 minutes messing around on the computer, then gives up and says they will bill me.

So yea, this is the reality of going to a health center in Sweden 2015:

• You cannot trust information on the website.
• Only 1 in 5 staff members were able to hold a normal conversation in Swedish.
• Doctor #2 turned teenager-bitchy because she was informed of an allergy.
• Free medical care is not free at all.
• You cannot trust the staff to be able to figure out their own rules.

Ugh. This got long.

I'm itchy and miserable.

Updo library

I still have some pictures left in my "Inspiration"-folder, but a lot of them are more sort of a variation-thing than an unique updo.
However, trying new things made me think I should go through the updos I do do on a more or less regular basis. Like, my workhorse-do's, not the fancy crown braids and stuff I rarely do.
I should have an updo library like that, maybe including instructions.
Maybe also making a library with more "fancy" stuff I don't do so often...
Of course there is the issue with separating the basic updo from what is more or less a variation, like does two French braids really count as a separate entry from one, or the twist detail that I grew quite fond of, or this, which is two Dutch braids into one.

Braids
Double Dutch braids Link
Double five stranded braids Link
Double French braids
Double tree stranded braids
Dutch braid
Five stranded braid
French braid Link
Knotted braids Link
Multibraid combination Link
Tree stranded braid

Buns
2nd day 'do Link
Braided Nautilus bun Link
Chinese bun Link
Cinnaknot bun Link (I have hereby officially named it that)
Crown wrap Link
Crown wrap thingie that I need a name for Link
Double braided Nautilus buns Link
Double figure 8 buns
Ellingwoman bun
Figure 8 bun Link
Nautilus bun Link
Rosebun Link
Suebian knot Link

Links grabbed more or less randomly from the newer end of my blog.
I do need newer pictures of a lot of these, I had to go over a year back for some of these!

Subscription box recommendations?

I could use some input here...

I'm thinking of getting (Hubby to get) myself a subscription for a (beauty) box as a Christmas gift.
I do miss receiving the Memeboxes, so a monthly subscription would be fun!
But I'm not sure which one to pick.

There are a lot of clothing and accessorizes options, but that's something I prefer to get myself, so that's out of the question.

The obvious choice would be the Swedish Glossybox, but that one fails to impress me.
The Glossybox
And since the plan is to move back to my native Denmark this summer, it would probably have to limit me to a 6 month subscription.

• But to compare to the other boxes, 12 months subscription: 1299 SEK with no additional shipping (Yay!) That is 152 USD or 138 Euro.

I would want a box with some full sized products in it. Rather find I cant use something, than get an annoying little sample I find I do like and then having to hunt it down full sized somewhere. I just wont get that done unless I can find it on one of the webstores I already go to.
So the more sample-based beauty boxes are out.
Also I don't mind a few non-beauty items, but not so much it takes over in the box.
So for the beauty boxes, it limits me to
The Beautequebox
and
The Mishibox

• The Beauteque box is 264 USD for a 12 month subscription with a shipping fee that I cannot seem to find listed anywhere. Severely fail on that! I immediately distrust a company with such a lack of transparency! (And ugh, I would also want to have Beauteque's Mask Maven box. 156 USD with a shipping fee. They probably ship them separately too, so 2 x an unknown shipping fee for that) That is 2254 SEK or 239 Euro with an unknown shipping and handling fee for the "regular" box alone.

• The Mishibox is 239,40 USD for a 12 month subscription with 5,95 USD for a monthly shipping fee. That is 310,8 USD in total for a year, which is 2646 SEK or 218 Euro.

Then of course there are the nerd-boxes with geeky stuff. Maybe that would be a good idea for me/us?
I tend to be too minimalist to buy figurines and "fun" stuff because I always reason "Ugh, it will just be another annoying decoration collecting dust", so our nerdiness only shows in the book and DVD-collections. Maybe it will be fun because it appeals to the nerd in me, but it will still be stuff I wouldn't have picked on my own.
The Lootcrate

• The Lootcrate is 312 USD for a 12 month subscription with no additional shipping and handling (Yay!) 2663 SEK or 283 Euro.

Throwback Thursday

Look at that tiny little braid!! It's so teeny-tiny! Almost wider than it's long!!

Hair inspiration

This was supposed to be one of the hairstyles I've seen, been inspired by and then tried.
But I just can't figure out how to make this one!

How would you guys make this one?

Four braids with two for the buns and two to wrap around?
Two braids, start with the buns and wrap the rest around?
Is the braid wrapped around maybe a fake? It looks a little too uniform in thickness all the way around...

Today's hair

Today's hair is a gigantic pain in my ass. It's freshly washed, slippery and completely uncontrollable.

I tried to make a Nautilus bun, but it started to slip and fail within a minute.

So I tried to tighten it by twisting it and it turned into... Something else. Now it looks a bit like a mangled figure 8 bun. I don't hate it, it's just... strange.