Anita Grant 20% Off

Yes, she still ships worldwide.
Yes, I'm only telling you because I've already bought mine.

But at least I'm sharing now. Why must you focus only on the negatives...? Jeez! Pay attention! Discounts! Christmas in less than 8 weeks! Pressies!

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A Quick FYI

Is using acronyms in your blog title obnoxious? Sorry.

Anyway, the other day I was perusing my good old local supermarket, when I *ahem* accidentally found myself in the beauty aisle.

Look, it could happen to anyone.

While I was there, my eye fell upon something vaguely familiar...

These are the exact same conditioners I used in Paris! They were about £4 each (£3.89, if you want the exact details) for 400ml, and they're both silicone and paraben free conditioners, if you're into that kind of thing. The others in the Ultimate Blends range, not so much when it comes to silicones, but I think they're all paraben free.

I was so excited, I picked them up and added them to my trolley immediately (to the bemusement of the Wonder Thing, who I'd previously been desperately rushing to get out of the supermarket to get to his secret birthday surprise).

From what I've seen, the cranberry, coconut and lemon conditioners (not the 1 minute treatments) also seem to be silicone and paraben free (but please check, I just had a cursory glance whilst there).

If you're  someone who can't afford (or simply refuses) to spend £20+ on a conditioner, t have certain standards, you may want to check these out (the Vanilla milk and papaya one smells SO good). 

A full review will be out soon, but I'm trying to write it in French and English and my French is appalling, so....don't watch this space, haha!

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Weave Really got to Stretch it Out...

When packing in a slight rush to move to a foreign country, there are things you may leave behind.

Unimportant things, such as your sewing machine; those pair of jeans with the hole; toothpaste.

But today, I realized I'd left behind something mega important.

My CURLFORMERS.

It's winter! Rain, and thus tangles, will surely be upon me. How will I survive without stretching?

 What to do? 

Eotteoke?!

Ah, but look what I did remember to pack.

Weave thread somehow managed to find itself into my bag, despite the fact the first (and last) time I had a weave, I was not even legally old enough to do a paper round. Whatdaheck?!

Anyway, having stumbled across this very informative video by the lovely Nadia of GirlsLoveYourCurls, I may give African Threading a whirl this winter.

Granted, the last time I had this style done, I was too young to consent to the actions being taken upon my person, so my mum did it in looped arches over my head that had the other kids calling me spidey-head.

Nowadays, they'd be calling me innovative! 

I actually took my twists out on Friday. I'd started on Thursday night and hoped it would take me till Friday afternoon to take them all out, but nope, I didn't finish till 10pm on Friday night. So I just bunned it and left it like that.

On Saturday morning, I quickly mixed up some bentonite clay mixed with some ACV and water and slathered my head in it. I ended up leaving it in for an hour, because my housemate got to the bathroom before me >.<

When I finally got in the shower, I rinsed it all out quite easily and then conditioned. 

I tried my best to leave it on for longer than three minutes, but there's only so long a girl can scrub her elbows for.

Rinsed that out, put in my homemade moisturiser, and then decided to thread my hair to stretch it.

It took me nearly two hours to do my head, but that's because the technique takes a while to get down, and I was wrapping quite tightly. 

Also, on some of the sections, I would be nearly to the end, check the mirror and realise that I hadn't secured it tightly enough at the root and the thread had slipped, so I'd have to undo it and start again.

I used about 5- 6 foot (up to 180cm) of string for each section and on some of them, I ran out.

But the stretch was pretty awesome. Instant hairnorexia cure.

 

Taking them out was ridiculously easy. Seconds per section. Really. However, it was only a couple of house (6 hours, I think?) so my hair wasn't completely dry, but it was on it's way there.

The roots were still a bit big, because I didn't secure them all very well, so I just threw my hair into a bun. But then I remembered buns don't always work for me, so I split it into two buns. Then each bun I split into two sections and fat-twisted each sections. 

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Out with the Old

And in with the familiar!

So, after sitting down and whining and fretting about everything I wanted to do to my hair, what did I do?

Why, mini twists of course!

Putting them in:

I started it late on a Tuesday evening and finished it on Thursday afternoon.

Which means, technically, it took me less than two days and is officially fast than my last set.
Huh. Maybe I'm getting faster?
I think I changed my technique half way through, because one side was longer and straight than than the other.

Did it on dry hair, using only minute amounts of shea butter mixture on each twist section.

And then I got my hair trimmed by The Wonder Thing.

I simply pointed out the ends that weren't curling, gave him the hair scissors and let him do away with the wicked, whittled ends. I know that when it comes to cutting, I'm a bit stingy, whereas my better half was deliciously ruthless in following my instructions and snipping off up to 1.5-2 inches of rubbish ends.

After which I spent the next hour and a half stroking my hair.
Despite how much I despise cutting my hair, I love the way it feels after it's been cut. I definitely need to maintain this feeling throughout the year.

Maintenance:

Wetting my hair in the shower every morning and adding aloe vera gel and some sort of oil (usually this one) on top has kept the twists feeling great. I prefer to do this in the morning because then I'll definitely do it - at night, it feels like far too much hassle to do!
 I've got to admit, I haven't always worn my satin scarf at night - at first I thought I forgot it at home. However, I managed to find it, only to have it continuously falling off my head during the night.
Can't. Win.
I do tie the twists up at night though, to prevent too much movement and overheating of my face during the night.
I co-wash every week or so and go over my scalp partings with an old, soft toothbrush and some witch hazel every week. Also, because the water in Paris is notoriously hard (the pipes in my apartment are a mess), I've started adding Apple Cider Vinegar rinses in to my weekly co-washes.
Every now and then, I re-do the twists around the parameter and some with the loosest roots..
That's it!

It was also semi-perfect timing that I put these in, because then I could join Loo's Challenge with ease, because I was already there.

At the time of this being published, they've been in for 5 weeks (finished them on September the 13th) and I originally thought I may actually be pushing for 8 weeks (until November the 16th). I might even put them back in - who knows?

I just really appreciate the convenience of having my hair like this when I'm so busy settling in and running around. And not having to stretch on a weekly basis! (At least) What joy!

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Back to Basics

For some reason, the hectic nature of the past couple of months life wise seem to have meant that I've completely forgotten everything I started researching when I decided to have my hair the way it is.

For some reason, the one week of summer we had back in May or sometime prompted me to leave behind my beloved Tresemmé Naturals conditioner in favour of Giovanni's Direct Leave In and a protein conditioner without much slip that smells like cherries [yes, I'm that easy to sway].

Last week Tuesday, having to cope with a more tangling than usual, I decided to de-tangle before rinsing my hair, since I was trying to minimise shrinking. To aid me in this task, I pulled out the old Tresemme Naturals and saturated my hair and welcomed the slip.

Y'know, slip, that element of conditioners that allows combs and fingers and shed hairs to easily pass past each other?

It's one of the first things newbies seem to be told by people on the boards when it comes to de-tangling as well as never to de-tangle hair with a comb/brush when dry.

It's something that's so basic that...I'd just forgotten about it completely in the past couple of months.

Slip, oh, how I've missed you.

My hair couldn't tangle if it had wanted to. My hands slipped through my hair like it used to, back in the day when I cared about this stuff. I could've cried with joy, except I had places to go and things to do, you know. I left it in for a while, before rinsing it out well, and sealing with a shea butter mix, another thing that I hadn't done in aaaaaaages.

My hair felt delicious.

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Bye Bye Bobby Pins!

I decided that the facade was no longer as shiny as it once was and that it was time to get rid of them once and for all...

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Don't be Tardy to the Party!

As always, I'm later than the White Rabbit when it comes to news (I genuinely need to check my -mails more regularly). Everybody left, right and centre seems to have been attending hair events.

Maybe next time.

I'll be lucky.

Maybe next time....I'll gooooo.
(Glee reference, not Cabaret).

Moping will do me no good.

It's far too late to attend the Manestream Beauty Accessory event, but I'm putting the poster up because I simply adore the picture.

Yes, I will wear massive hair, a headscarf and 1000 rings.
Because I'm worth it.

However, it's not too late to attend the Manestream Beauty's Mixtress Summer Event later this month! In addition, it's only a tenner if you get an early bird ticket ^_^

I will not be able to go, because I'll be in Edinburgh at that time, but if you do manage to go, let's see some awesome pictures!

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May Non-haul

I don't really tend to do 'hauls' of stuff. Even if there's a sale, I tend to stick to stocking up on the necessities and pondering too deeply about everything else [because me + panic buying = not pretty].

I picked up some Goody hair bands of 17 from Bodycare because they were £1 a packet (as opposed to the usual £1.50). Just over 5p per band.

And then I strode into Boots and grabbed three shower caps for £1.07.

Their purposes will soon be revealed....

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Aloe Vera Juice or No?

So Hollands and Barretts are having their Penny Sale once again - which basically means, you buy one of certain things, then you get another one for 1p.

I know, I know, it's basically buy one get one free, but they're charging you a penny for the free bit.

As usual, I picked up the necessities.

Two for £15

Whilst there I  noticed that the large aloe vera juice was also on offer.

At first, I was going to buy two of them (for a total of £10) but then I realised, I've never used aloe vera juice before. So I had a massive internal debate between just going for it and buying the two massive bottles, or going for the smaller £6 bottle. Not as great value, unless I hate it, in which case I would've saved money.
In the end, I left without buying anything, because I can always go back if I change my mind.

But should I change my mind?

Has anybody used aloe vera juice before?
Does anybody know the difference between aloe vera juice and aloe vera gel?
Does anyone have any details - the good, the bad and especially the ugly?

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Bargain Accessories

The other day, I was in Home Bargains, probably picking up pitta breads or something.
That's what I usually enjoy doing on a lukewarm Saturday afternoon. As usual, I wasn't paying attention to my own business but was instead paying far too much attention to the people around me. In this instance, it was the woman in front of me in the cue. She'd tipped out her basket and dozens of hair accessories clattered onto the conveyor belt. I raised an eyebrow in mild surprise at the amount and tried to guess why the lady had decided it was necessary to buy so many - maybe she had the birthday of triplet nieces coming up? Why else would someone need so many hair accessories?

The next time I went in and something caught my eye that solved the mystery.

39p! 

screamed the sign. I looked closer. Whoa, Babyliss accessories? For only 39p?! Sign me up!

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