How the cars get in the buildings! (and glowing hair)

I know this has nothing to do with anything but I have ALWAYS wondered about this - inspected doorways and pontificated on this phenomenon. lol.  I'm a nerd, I know...


And for the sake of saying something, anything, about my hair... I was driving home from work the other day with the sunroof open and was getting the glowing hair phenomenon and took these shots.  This was a true wash and go using only some curl cream (didn't like- had some left) I had from Garnier I believe.  Not raked through- just scrunched in. Loving this color!

The Color is...

You've got to be seen green
To show that your stuff's layed
If you're not seen green
You better be wearing jade


Oh, you've got to be seen green
Don't tell them your cupboard's bare
That you gave up one week's feed
To pay for your colored hair
Oh, oh, oh


AN ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE GREAT POWERFUL OZ:


I thought it over and green is dead
'Till I change my mind, the color is red

 :-) You know where that's from?

So here are some picts of my color. It came out perfectly, finally, after all this time, the reddish orange I had been looking for is MINE! It was hard to get as I detailed here, but I think it will grow out nicely given the strategic placement I did lol

Here is how I have been wearing my hair over the past week and some color shots in the sun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you see in some of the pictures it still looks dark (not very noticeable) but in the right light it really glows with the orange color.  It's the perfect balance of light and dark if you ask me :-) I'm very happy with it.  I hope it grows out well because I have no idea how I will duplicate this color when I need to re-up, in say 6 months.  I didn't color all the way down to my roots, except in a few hidden places, so it already looks like I've had it in a while. I hope that buys me some time.

I have also been killing the high puff and bang, a deviation from the bun and bang. Its so easy to re-do in the morning because once the back and sides get stretched initially they go up in a snap each time after. I've been using some old Garnier Fructis Style Styling Glue, Survivor Tough it Out to keep the flyaways up in back- that stuff lasts ALL DAY!  It dries super hard and really controls the friz that tries to come down. I got it to try mixing in with aloe vera and/or flaxseed gel to give it some extra hold, but those experiments have failed. So here it is reincarnated.

Updates!

I have a few loose ends from things I was posting about that I kinda stopped posting about. lol. Let me tell you what's been going on!

The Flaxseed gel
 I last made a large batch, then forgot to refrigerate it and lost it.  I had run out of marshmallow root and went back to using commercial products. I decided to order more in a 1lb bag, rather than the "bulk by the scoop" purchase from Glut.  I also got some grapefruit seed extract, some aloe vera gel and some beeswax pellets to try making a super concoction of epic dopeness.  O_o We'll see how it goes. I got my Marshmallow root yesterday.

My PCOS
I stopped taking Metformin in November and had been pretty OK. But over the past months I have noted a resurgence of Acne, and my cycle has been shifting backwards and forwards by up to 5 days. Randomly. Back to the old way of life. So I am back on the attack with natural remedies.  I have been drinking green smoothies almost everyday, eliminating upwards of 80% of dairy and gluten, and made some drs appointments to get checked out again. I have been washing with raw honey and using grapeseed oil mixed with geranium and tea tree oils at night or in the morning, depending on how my skin looks. I have been on the hunt for a full coverage liquid or cream foundation to use under my mineral powder as well. I got a sample of Nars put on at Sephora.  NO GO!  breakout within the 4 hrs it took me to take it off.  But my hyper-pigmentation from the past few months is back bad enough to need daytime coverage. My Maybelline Mineral power foundation has been discontinued, and I had a few bottles left I found on Amazon, but my color, natural beige is getting harder to find.  I tried Revlon Color stay- which I found on the acne boards, but I have much more yellow in my skin than any of their colors.  I may try out Prescriptives.  Suggestions?  I am a yellow gal. Pinks and cools don't work for me :-/

Nars was a little warm for me but I was a Syracuse, med/deep shade in their line. I use Mode mineral powder in "honey amber" and it is like, dead on!  I'm hella yellow. lol But I don't get full coverage from it. Even when I stack it with a little water it's gone in a few hrs.

Coloring my hair
So I lied about coloring my hair again... lol. I have been obsessed with Orange makeup for about 6 months now.  I really like the fresh look I can create with it, but had been having trouble finding an orange I liked, that would not transfer onto my braces, that was not too red...

Then Sephora came out with their Pantone palate for the color of the year, tangerine tango. I saw swatches and fell in love.  Had to have it! Also... So there was a girl behind the counter of a fast food joint who had on pink eye makeup and hazel eyes close to my color.  And it looked DOPE lol. I was probably staring at her a little too hard lol. But it encouraged me to try makeup to enhance my eye color more.
Soooooo down the rabbit hole I went lol. I won't lie.  I did some crazy stuff to my hair over the past two weeks.  What had happened was I got the orange and was like yeahhhh... Love it.

Then I was like.. My hair shoooooo does look dark... I can tone it a little warmer with some selective permanent color. I choose Garnier Nutrisse Haircolor, 535 Medium Golden Mahogany Brown Chocolate Caramel and put it in about 8 places. But That sucker ONLY took on the roots!  So then I had light roots and dark ends in places.  The rinse I had used many moons ago did not budge at all and the color deposited on top of it, making my ends practically black. 

I let a day go by and then went and got Clairol's instant whip 5 shade lifter.  I had to leave that in for the full 30 min to even get some of the black out. I was left with slightly lighter hair, and still darker ends in most places.

I let 3 days go by lol. THEN I used some powder packet of color remover mixed with level 20 developer and attacked the dark ends once and for all.  In the process I lost some of the red hue I was going for- but I got that dark black off the ends!  And now I like it. It's not even a huge change but I think the orangeness will be fun for the summer.  It's not all over, maybe 50% of my hair, and so far it feels fine.  No texture change, not feeling dry... But I will make sure I pay close attention to my ends.

In other news I am gardening this year again.  So far I have gotten materials to prepare 5 small beds, and I am already growing onion, collards and parsley.  carrots are going in this weekend, and I have a few pepper plants and herbs for pots. It's been so warm I think it's safe for them to go outside now.

I am also going to start dating again this spring lol.  Maybe TMI for here, but hey. I plan to have fun and get back out there with some intent. Meaning I'll "try" to meet people and network rather than this happenstance state I've been in.

I'll have a braces update for you after my next appt on April 11.  Not going so well, I'm ending month 7 and still no bottom braces.  AND I will not be getting them next week either.

Ya'll Ready for spring/Summer?  What else are you up to?

The red rinse hangs on for dear life

Happy Friday!

I just wanted to share these pictures real quick.  I got some good sunny shots of the color that remains in my hair after the red rinse I put in it quite some time ago.  Because the hair I applied it to was so light where the highlights were it seems this rinse is not going to fade all the way out.  Which I am HAPPY about!  lol.  I did not want the demi-blond any more and I rather like the red tone.  I plan to hang onto it while I can and maybe even refresh it some kinda way as the warm weather progresses.

This is day 2 or 3 wash and go hair from using In-Kind leave in with KMF gel and grapeseed oil over it. 

You can see how much it has grown out and how noticeable it is on my previously highlighted ends.

The Right Color

I put a rinse over my hair again and this time the entire experience was MUCH better.  I never knew there could be such a huge difference between brands! The clear winner is:

Natural Instincts by Clairol
22 Medium Auburn Brown
Cinnaberry

Last time I did the exact same color, medium auburn brown but by Garnier Fructise and it was a total fail!  It was absolutely to blame on the brand of the rinse.  Even the smell was different.

This time the color, even on the first day, was much more natural and orange/brown red as opposed to bright cherry koolaid red. I really do like the red tone in my hair and think it works much better with my skin than the light highlights I got.  Well, everything is worth trying once.  I look better with darker hair :-)

The advice I read about hair color that really sunk in was that when you have the right color you should find yourself wearing less makeup, and not more.  The light brown highlights had me pulling out a bag of tricks everyday and that was just not my style nor the point of getting the highlights.  I thought the lighter color would bring my eyes out more.  But instead they washed me out and make my eye color take a backseat to what was going on up top.  I think I will stick with the pale skin/dark hair contrast.  Now I have to decide how to make this darker/redder color permanent.  The rinses begin to fade after about 2 months.  I could switch to henna, but I kinda want to just undo the whole situation with the color entirely.  I am still deciding on what to do.

Here is the updated color a week after application:

My Red Hair

Soooooo.... I put the color in my hair a few weeks ago and am just now happy to share it :-/
I have been waiting for it to fade down to something like I wanted.  Alas, it came out RED and not red-head-orange like I wanted.  I got a semi permanent rinse that is supposed to wash out in 28 washes- Garnier HerbaShine Haircolor Kit - Medium Auburn Brown.

BUT first - let me share with you the true color and growth of my highlighted hair (originally colored on June 3rd).  I finally caught some shots to show  you what I was seeing in vanity lights, but could never capture in all the other shots I took for the blog.

THIS  is how bright my highlights had gotten, and how much my hair had grown:

Yikes right?  Especially if I combed it out or was wearing it stretched. 

So something had to be done, right?  In came the herbashine.  I picked a med/dark color, knowing it would fade.  Followed the directions, (got dye all over my bathroom lol.) Ladies, that mess came out soooooo red.  Like RED:

This is 2 days later. It was still hard to capture the color on camera, but this is a good representation.  I think I/it looked horrid! lol

So the days have passed and it has faded into something I rather like and much more what the box looked like.  It looks WAYYY better than before. It's actually growing on me more and more as it lightens and plays up my hazel eyes :-) 

And I think I am done with dramatic color from now on. Bordum be damned.

New Highlights

Check out the new highlights for the summer!

I did them using Clairol's Instant Whip, which is a gentle, 5 shade color lightener. I just applied it to dry curly hair, strategically selecting curls that I wanted to be a tad lighter. I really liked the way it came out. This is the 3rd time I have done them in about 5 years.

With Kinky Curly, at a window

No Gel- In bright sun
With Gel, In bright sun