hair apparent
Hello, ladies, I am back.
Why did I neglect this blog for many months? Well, I was going through some crappy stuff and then my life changed completely, and became super busy. Now I am settled in and able to devote a bit of time to it. I really enjoyed doing this blog and all your fabulous comments and questions.
Things like my fingernails, hair, and makeup, and fashion and my figure became non-important for many months. Then a month ago, I found myself with raggedy hair, shyte nails, bad skin, and so skinny, my skin hung from places in my body that were very undesirable. Like under my arms, on my sides, and on my inner thighs. I woke up and smelled the coffee (or rather the butter and the bread) and told myself, do something to make yourself look better, it will make you feel better. There I was a United States size 4, at 5' six and a half inches tall (I like to say I am five seven). No breasts, no bottom and sticks for legs. It was like being 16 again. I got to work eating cookies between meals and at night. Then I realized I needed to eat healthy food too (darnit) and ate fruit and found some lactose free milk in a country where dairy is probably the number one food group. (I found it, or rather, a caring friend did.) I plucked my furball eyebrows into a nice shape, painted my toenails a nice sparkly dark brown, and even last week painted my fingernails---something I am loathe to do. I cut what adds up to three inches off my dried up breaking off frizz-monster hair and colored the roots back to my true haircolor: light auburn. It blended in very well with the blonde streaks farther down and turned out very modern. I make myself drink glasses of water during the day and juices with seltzer water instead of the Diet Cokes I was living off of. I bought some skin stuff to clear up the rampant breakouts. (not working completely, help!) I bought some cool eye makeup and began wearing it again, even being a bit daring with it. I had pretty much been a slug in the eye makeup dept except for the occasional gold shadow for a fancy party.
The result: Today I look much better, have gained some of the weight back (since I walk everywhere here, probably I will remain a size 6 US, 8 UK, with my metabolism). My hair looks far better, still a bit dry and still breaking off some (it is really heartbreaking when you brush your hair and see one inch segments littering the sink; my hair has always been fine and fragile and it takes a year to grow it long from shoulder length, with pampering). My skin is still acting up (damnit, I'm 44!) and my old faithful Clarins STOP stick is not working. I have let my eyebrows grow in thicker (which is fashionable thank God nowadays) and they have a surprising result: I look younger for it (maybe it's just reminicense for my younger days of the 80s). My breasts have returned, I have been working with small weights and made my arms look much better, and situps have made my tummy look nicer. All the walking has fine tuned my legs to a pleasing firmness I missed with all that loose skin.
And fashion....now I live where women are more daring and on top of things. Individuality, at least if they are older than 22, is embraced. Role models are Kate Moss, Thandie Newton, Amy Winehouse, Kate Winslet, Victoria Beckham, Sienna Miller. Short hair, long hair, mini skirts, long skirts, boots, tights, over the knee socks, fake fur, knit scarves, funky hats, wild (electric blue, firetruck red) hair color on fifty year old women, bright blue mascara, wellies (rubber boots) with creative prints on them like kitty paws or leaves, racial ecclecticness, hip belts, rock chick, posh with a micro mini, hippie chic, all rule. There are the copycats who do show a lack of individuality, but there is more individuality here than where I moved from. There is such a blend of hippie-practical-chic, which is refreshing and invigorating for fashion. The thrift shops (known as charity shops) rock. Seven pounds for a faux fur coat with long shaggy edges. Wowee.
But the tapwater is murder on your hair. Welled up from thick limestone, it is full of Calcium Carbonate and it can turn your hair into straw in a week. That and nearly a year of life-altering stress (the illness and death of my mother, my new husband turning into an arsehole from hell, the leaving him and the incredible harrassment he rained down on me, the impending divorce, my sister being involved with the ex...)
The quest for the ultimate conditioner and other cures for suddenly shyte hair
is what I shall devote the rest of this post to.
What is in the water?
(a) Too much chlorine. Back in North Carolina, this was my issue. Chlorine can irritate your skin and dry out your hair (and wreak havoc on your haircolor).
Solution: Buy a water filter that screws onto the shower head (water filter first). You can get it for about $20 at Home Depot or Lowe's or other home repair stores. You will do yourself and your skin and hair a huge favor.
(b) Calcium Carbonate. This is known as "hard water". This stuff will build up in your hair follicales and cause it to dry out and break off. And feel yucky, even when wet. It also clogs your pores, I have been told. Super. Do they sell water filters for showers here? Not that I have found. They do sell this magic ball thing that takes chlorine out of bath water (set me back £25). Also the shower thing really doesn't look like you could put a filter on it.
Solution: Well, here we have fun.
First I tried putting salt in the bathwater and washing my hair in that. The salt did help initially, but then it built up and dried my hair out more.
Then I started on the conditioner quest. Problem is, if you use too much conditioner, your hair gets greasy and weighed down. Of course, I was overenthusiastic and ended up looking like I han't washed my hair in a month. Lovely.
As of this week, I finally got my hair looking somewhat of its former self. Three inches lopped off did help, even though it sucked to lose that much. But there is nothing attractive about long hair that looks like broomstraw. (Why am I so stubborn and want long hair? My mom used to say I had bad hair and it should be kept short but my sisters had wonderful thick hair and should grow theirs long. That is why.) I made many trips to Boots and also a pharmacy shop (aka drug store) the equivalent of CVS.
There is a wonderful store here called Boots. If you love hiar and skin porducts and makeup, you died and went to Heaven when you walk into a Boots. It is huge and they carry everything from Maybelline to Lancome. You get points for shopping there and have a pink card all for you to rack up savings on. They have huge try it on counters and loads of friendly happy women working there eager to assist you. Even the Max Factor line has a try it on counter, lined with eyeshadows, lipsticks, and more. Aisle after aisle of Rimmel, L'Oreal, Revlon, Bourgeoius Paris (very hip stuff, that one, even gold mascara--in the US you can get it online). Thousands of eye shadows, thousands of body lotions, thousands of lipsticks, hundreds of haircolors. Boots also has its own line which is not tested on animals, has many organic ingredients, and is top quality (I am addicted to their hand cream).
Also we have The Body Shop, which began over here. They are in the states too now in more locations than they used to be, and you can even shop them online, which they resisted for years.
I would like to add that getting sleep and eating well also shows in your hair.
Products that work:
An old favorite of mine for a standard everyday type of conditioner (not that I wash my hair every day)
£1.79 at Boot's (www.boots.co.uk)
$7.19 on sale at drugstore.com
If you have stuff in your water, you need to wash your hair with a clarifying shampoo (swimmers do this too). Also if you use hair products you should do it. Probably once a week is good. I am doing it every time for now until \I get this crap out of my hair.
Pantene Clarifying Shampoo £1.79 at Boots
Neutragena Clean Shampoo $4.79 drugstore.com
Super-conditioning treatment:
This is the most wonderful stuff ever. It does not weigh hair down. You leave it on for one minute and rinse out. It rinses out clean.
L'Oreal Elvive Vital Serum £4.99
Boots 3 minute hair mask £4.99, for those deep conditioning needs when you can leave it on for like an hour, and wrap in a warm towel. If you use it too often your hair wll get greasy. You might can find this at Target, I got Boots hand cream there before I ever left the country.
Leave-in treatments for everyday use:
John Frieda Frizz Ease Leave In Spray (use sparingly on ends)
Frizz-Ease hair serum: probably the number one hair product in the UK. Think about it. It is always humid and it rains 3 out of 4 days (in a good week). An entire country of women with humidity hair ailments. It has silk protein too, which is good for your hair. USE ONLY ON ENDS AND USE SPARINGLY. The best method is put a pea size drop on your palm and rub it in, then rub against hair ends lightly.
For you States Girls, CHI is what I bought from a salon there, and it works just like the above. It is more expensive, at around $12 a bottle (but $10.99 at drugstore.com). USE SPARINGLY or you will have a very oily head of hair. One bottle will last a couple of years.
Tips:
Refrain from blowing hair dry.
Do not use a straightener or other heat appliances.
Do not brush your hair when it is wet.
Use a natural hair bristle brush and a wooden hair brush.
Get a wide tooth comb for when it is wet.
Rub a little olive oil through hair before bedtime the night before you wash it.
Peace out.
(Did I mention I moved to the UK?)
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Comments
ProActiv works great. Allow at least two weeks though for any skin regimine to start working...
You have your breasts back!!!!??! Lucky Lucky girl. :-)
Welcome back to the 'hood
Merci, mon ami. Got the comb, was not using it properly. I need to turn my straightener into a garden ornament. I only blow dry my hair once or twice a week. Well, I only wash it three times a week.
I have cut more hair off; it is inevitable and long hair that is ratty is simply ugly. The breakage has slowed down.
I got my hands on some 2.5% benzyl peroxide lotion that was relatively inexpensive. Holy crap. It works. The zits still appear but they get dried up quickly with that wonderful stuff. I suppose if I laid off the chocolate it would help. Like THAT will happen.
If anybody can work a essy head of hair, it is you.
I got another inch cut off yesterday. Soon it will be up to my shoulders. And why not, with red lips and some hairspray? Gotta make some good of all this humidity. You know my hair, rain = volume.