Happy Daddie's Day once again!

It's that time of the year, when we think of the father figures in our lives and start to think of how to appreciate them.

So I've compiled a couple of videos specially for today. Even if you're not celebrating, they're worth a peek for pure comedic value!

For Daddies with that special dancing style.

For Daddies who always help you to keep going.

For Daddies who just love every aspect of being a Daddy

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Sweet Monday

I took the braids out on Sunday, which makes it nine days.

The cornrows were looking a little wild and I was getting tired of the half style in general, so I took it out, using only my weird experimental grapeseed/Vatika/castor oil mix, because I hate wetting my hair.
It took me about 6 -7 hours of One Piece watching before I was done.

BANG! And the fro is released.

Then I washed my head that same night (I started taking it out in the afternoon, since I'd been playing netball all morning), conditioned with Tresemmé Naturals and then added my beloved Giovanni's and some aloe vera gel and the weird oil mix. I took the opportunity to do a search and destroy method, cutting out knots and split ends wherever they did pop up, which meant cutting up to an inch in some aresa.

The next day, which was Monday, the Faerie had to go to for an interview and Lady V and I were her morale boosting, joke cracking, doughnut purchasing escorts.

So I decided to make an effort with my hair and did a cinnabun [video tutorial here].

I loosely tied the ribbon around my head, and pulled it back to a comfortable position on my head, to make a puff a la Mwedzi. When I was happy with the position of the ribbon on my head, I tied it a little tighter and made it into a bow.

 Then I grabbed sections of hair in the puff bit at the back, loosely twisted them around themselves from the base (to make a cleaner look. If not, random pieces of hair at the base start doing their own thing and trying to go their own way and it looks hilarious) and then pinned the end of the section near the base of the section with a bobby pin.

The closer to the base and the further from the center of the puff section I pinned it, the higher that section of the cinnabun would be. The close to the centre of the puff and the further from the base, the lower that section would be

I hope that makes sense.

I doubt it does.

This helped me create a semi-uniform look on my cinnabun buns, since my hair is differing thickness and length all over..

Lady V: The middle looks like a daisy!
Faerie: It looks so touchable! And squishy!

I think I managed to efficiently carry out my morale boosting duties.

See, using black bobby pins means you can't see them! Yay! And ignore any sign of 'shine' - that's purely the flash and my desk light conspiring together.

And then I took it down and resorted to Pajama hair - less pins and waaaay easier to sleep on.

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Grunking on your Scalp

Before I start, I'd like to remind you that I am not a doctor, nor a nurse, nor Doogie Howser. This is stuff I've gleaned from some journals I shouldn't have been looking at, since I still have another 75 episodes of One Piece to catch up on. 
Thus, if you have any medical issues, pleaseplease PLEASE go and have a chat with your doctor, who is actually qualified to dispense with medical advice.


If you read my breakdown of my braids here, then you may have noticed me use the word 'grunk'.


As usual, I was flippant about it, because it was something I assumed everyone had experienced before.


Not so, mes chéries! It looks like the 'Grunk', as I like to call it, is something else entirely.


Ever since I started relaxing, I remember the Grunk - loyal companion to my constantly itchy head who particularly enjoyed making its presence excessively known after 2 or 3 months in braid extensions; I thought it was something that I would just have to accept as a part of life.


Like meany older cousins.


However, I've realised that this is not true. Well, the Grunk, not the mean older cousins.


Mean older cousins are definitely a certainty of life.


If you go on forums or facebook pages or any communal hair pages, and someone describes something that sounds like The Grunk - flaking, itchy scalp that is soothed briefly after a wash, but comes back with a vengeance as soon as you look the other way, most people advise them to clarify with ACV or use a scalp scrub.


Uh, noo....build up is usually waxy product build up that leaves your hair dull(er) and lank.


The Grunk (in the context of hair) only occurs on your scalp, because your hair is dead - it cannot produce flakes. 


Though with people with straighter hair, the Grunk can travel down the hair strand and settle on your shoulders.


Sound familiar?

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Back to Braids

Back to Reality *breaks it down 90s old skool style*

Last week today I decided to try a cornrow and it resulted in my entire head getting put up. Because I'm obsessed.

Was this the day before my last exam on Friday? You bet it was!

The cornrows started out small, but as I moved further up my head, my arms got more tired and they got bigger and sloppier.

Random flash of colour from the ends of my hair muddled in the cornrow
Reminds me slightly of Rufio from Hook

 Because I like my cornrow the way I like my potatoes.

Mashed.

I got to the top of my head and my arms officially gave out.

The plaits/braids of the cornrows ended up being medium thickness 

So I threw in some braids for my fringe, since the very idea of being without my fringe to hide behind makes my heart do a funny dance of fear.

And then it just continued. Until half of my head was in cornrows and the rest was a river of braids. I think the braids are microscopically bigger than the last set, and it only took me just under 6 hours to do, so waaaaaaaaaaay less time than the other set.

Products? Uhhh.... Giovanni Direct Leave In, Aloe Vera Gel from Hollands and Barretts and a weird experimental mix of grapeseed oil (from Sainsburys), Vatika Oiland a drop of castor. I put about a drop of peppermint essential oil in to make sure I kept it fresh.

Minty Fresh *cheesy smile*

My hair had been washed the previous day and have been lovingly dried in my pajama hair style.

It's definitely not going to last more than two weeks, since I'm itching to take it out and I don't have anything to distract me from doing this.

Freedom is indeed a dangerous thing.

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Pajama Hair

After having taken down the braids, I was at a bit of a loss as to what I should do to my hair. After three days of having my hair out, I was done and wanted something a little bit less conspicuous, a little bit less effort and a heck of a lot more casual.

Something that matched the comfy clothes, like the tracksuit or pair of shorts you lounge around in when you're at home by yourself with nowhere to go, or when you've woken up and just relax in your pajamas, because there's nothing else to do.

I know for majority of people, these days don't happen very often. But while I was at home by myself, revising for another two weeks, I didn't really want to have fabulous hair because...well, it was a waste.

I know for a fact that my duvet does not appreciate the effort one may try and put into a twist out.

So this is my 'pajama' hair style.

Two massive French plaits, one on each side side.

Like Pippi Longstocking. But not as red.

It's simple and easy and quick and protective, both on the ends and manipulation side of things.

If it doesn't look right, because your cornrow game isn't up to par, like mine, then you can just cover it in a scarf and be done with it.

And then two smaller plaits (or twists, I was just trying to practise  plaiting a bit more) at the front to use my my fringe hair.

The nice thing about this style is that it's easy to 'pretty' up if you've got 10 minutes to throw on some underwear, non loungey clothes and have to run out of the house somewhere. Like so:

The ends were simply pinned over each other in a criss cross style using two hair pins.
Why I decided to use brown ones, I know not.

I've worn the French braids in two loops, and then used a hair band on each loop to keep it them in place. Easy to decorate with clips or  flowers or skulls and crossbones - whatever cute you're into.

You can use Scunci ouchless bands to create the loops, because they don't have the metal bits that cause excessive sagging. However, I find that continual daily use of them may still result in hair being pulled out since tighter coiling hair will find it a joy to wrap around them and then be ripped out. You have been warned.

They can be found in Sainsburys, Boots and the like. The band I'm using in the above picture isn't Scunci, it's just a hair bobble I got from some random hair shop.

Or you could let it all hang out. This was fine for me for a couple of hours, but constant shoulder shaking (because I'm so funny I can't help it) means that the ends of my plaits/braids end up pointing in various directions.

The pajama style usually lasts me 3 or 4 days, if I wear a satin scarf at night to lay the fluff down, before I take it down, remoisturise and then put them back up.

Viva la comfort!

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The Very Picture of Folly?

Since I've finished, I think updating slightly more regularly should be a given.

That, and I've been struck down by some sort of malevolent plague since Saturday evening so I can't really leave my room, lest I unleash it upon the rest of the student population. 

The Cold Fairy has a wicked sense of irony. 

Back to the actual subject of this post. The story goes like this:

Girl is wandering about town centre by herself (no adult supervision, tut tut). Decides to pop into TK Maxx (known as TJ Maxx in the States) to ogle at the shoes that will not fit her.

As usual, she drifts past the hair section, as she does in Every Single Shop she enters. 

But something is different. There is...wait, does that bottle say Giovanni? By gum, it does! TK Maxx is stocking the entire Giovanni shampoo and conditioner range (though sadly, not the direct leave-in. *sniff*)

However, the price tag is £14.99. Yep, that's right, 15 squid for 1 litre of product. 

The girl tries to talk herself out of it. After all, she's never tried any of them. What if she hates it? What if she goes bald?! And it's £15! That's a lot of food!

Knowing that cosmetic products are non - refundable, she fights with herself a little longer.

Bed's not made because I plan on getting right back in there  *cough, hawwwwk*

And then caves in the biggest way possible. Someone obviously forgot their Willpower for breakfast that morning.

I've used it a couple of times on my scalp, and I like it (THANK GOD), though it does dry the hair out, so it's NOT a moisturising shampoo. It clearly reads on the description it's purpose:

Shampoo should clean hair. Really good shampoo should make you tingle from head to toe. With tea tree triple threat shampoo, invigorating ingredients wash in rejuvenation while washing away the previous day. 

You're left with something rich, something clean. Something incredibly stimulating...for hair and mind. Think about it.

No mention of hydrating, because that's not what it does folks. 

The Wonder Thing's thoughts on it: "It's....minty.'

The Faerie has used some too, and although she agrees that it's slightly drying too, she likes it because it helped her get the newly earned sweat out of her hair.

Yes, I'm sharing product with other people - may I remind you that it's 1 litre. Of shampoo.

And even though I'm happy with it, and even though it's more cost efficient that buying 3 of the shampoo for the same price and getting less product.... I still feel that I will forever think of myself as the girl who spent £15 on shampoo. It has a pump, for goodness sake! Which makes using it in the shower a breeze but still...it unsettles me slightly.

It kind of says "Hey! Look at me! I have a pump! Someone's obviously crazy obsessed here!"

Me? Crazy? Whaddya mean?

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Finished!

It's officially over! I had my last exam this morning, and I am (hopefully) finally a graduand - that strange state of being student who has completed their course requirements, and not yet undergone the graduation ceremony.

In short. I'm excited, I'm ecstatic and I am terribly alone, since The Wonder Thing, The Faerie and Lady V all have a couple more assignments and other stuff to do. Thus, I'm going to watch 100 episodes of One Piece, catch up with my K-Drama series (Oh, have I've missed y'all) and live out 80% of the lyrics of this song:



Well, minus the hands in the pants bit.

Does he mean pants in the American way, or the British way?

Doesn't matter, either way, I won't.

I'll think I'll be mainly focusing on the staying in bed and ignoring my phone.

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