Busyhsmom
22/23.5/First goal--bra strap length!

Bangs have reached the tip of my nose
type 2cM-Cii

"Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised." -- Proverbs 31:30

Wow! 2005! It seems like yesterday and it was Y2K. Time flies when you are getting old!

This past month has been extremely busy and stressful...my 92 year old grandmother had surgery for cancer--that was scary. My mother's health has been declining with her breathing difficulties (COPD). Christmas, bad weather, life, etc. My hair and my health have suffered for it all. I have missed my "walkies" with my husband. I haven't been eating right or taking my vitamins.

Thank goodness for fresh starts. I always like the New Year for that reason. So, here are a few of my hair-resolutions: Start eating healthy again, get back on track taking my vitamins and supplements, and post more in my hair journal that has been very sadly neglected! Also to do a deep conditioning treatment more often. I would also like to get back in the habit of scalp massages.

My un-hair-related resolution is to commit more time to God and His Word. That is the most important one of all!!

Busyhsmom
22/23.5/First goal--bra strap length!

Bangs have reached the tip of my nose
type 2cM-Cii

"Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised." -- Proverbs 31:30

That is about an inch of growth. Go figure! My best growth in my worst month! Maybe it was the residual effect from the previous two months of caring for my hair and taking my vitamins.

I just found the Long Hair Loom in October. At that point I was barely 22". That is a total growth of 1 1/2 inches in less than 3 months -- not fabulous, but I guess pretty "average." At that rate, I will have 6 more inches NEXT January. Maybe that will be a wish for me...to hit 30" by 2006. I just used my measuring tape to see how long that would be on me. WOW! I get excited thinking about it! Of course, I will probably need to trim sometime. <<<sigh>>> I want to get rid of my layers. Oh well, I will cross that bridge when I get to it. Maybe a few microtrims on the bottom layer every 2-3 months, or I will let it hit a certain length and then stay there, trimming regularly, until the layers are gone.

My bangs are getting really long and annoying--past my nose now. I am trying to keep away from the scissors!!

Busyhsmom
22/23.5/First goal--bra strap length!

Bangs have reached the tip of my nose
type 2cM-Cii

"Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised." -- Proverbs 31:30

That Aubrey Organics sample bottle of GPB has been sitting on my shelf. The first time I used it, the smell was just too strong! I did not like it AT ALL! Okay, because everyone just raves about Aubrey, I gave it a second chance a few weeks later. Eh. The fragrance I could tolerate, but did not enjoy. It is like really strong baby powder. And it lingers and lingers! Isn't that just the way things work? Find something I love the smell of, and it will disappear in 5 minutes. Find a fragrance I don't care for, and it doesn't even want to wash away!

On the other hand, it has the knack of activating body and curl. Soooo, since I have been suffering from dull, limp, lifeless hair lately, I pulled it out and did a deep conditioning treatment Saturday night. About a half hour with the heat cap and...Yowsah! My volume tripled!! I am not lying. It is now more than 48 hours later and I still have more body and volume than I had before. I don't know what it is in this stuff that does this to my hair, but I truly look like I have gone out and gotten a body wave after I use it! On the other hand, I also loose some shine factor and gain a little on the frizz scale.

The conclusion? I still am not too fond of the fragrance, but I will keep this on the shelf for the occasional pick-me-up when I want my hair to be more wavey.

Meanwhile, the search for the perfect product continues on...

Busyhsmom
22/23.5/First goal--bra strap length!

Bangs have reached the tip of my nose
type 2cM-Cii

"Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised." -- Proverbs 31:30

Woo! Hoo! It is truly divine! It is a whipped up creamy consistency and oh so moisturizing. It has a "warm" fragrance like cocoa butter or vanilla. It is nice and lingering, but not overpowering. But what really makes it wonderful is what it does to my skin! It looks dewey and moist. And a little bit goes a looong way, so I think it will last me a while (although my daughter has already borrowed it twice!)

Well worth the money. I highly recommend it. Skeeter was easy to deal with and the package came really fast.

Oh, and the lip balm is great too!!

Yesterday was a great time for it to arrive too! I had a busy day. I went to evil WalMart but somehow managed to leave one bag of merchandise sitting at check out. Of course, I did not realize that until I was home, so I was going to have to go BACK later to retrieve my stuff. To top it off, I went to a friend's house with one of my daughter's for a lovely "relaxing" afternoon tea. When I got there and stepped out of my van, I found the inside of the doorway covered in antifreeze and it was pouring out from underneath the van as well as leaking inside the van in the back from the auxillary heater on the floor on the driver's side. ACK!!! My friend lives about 15-20 minutes away, so it wasn't as if I was right around the corner from home. Thank the Lord for "Mobile Mechanic." He came out and did a temporary fix so that I could drive home. I got home and hurriedly put dinner (which thankfully was simmering in the crockpot) on the table. It was a new dish made with beans...but I didn't like it all!!! Neither did most of the kids. Shucks! I hate it when that happens. Somewhere in all the madness, I remembered that I was supposed to be the main speaker at our home school support group's meeting at 7:00. So I rushed out to get my stuff I had left at WalMart at check out and I was greeted with the service-desk-line-of-doom and only one employee taking care of the customers!!! I waited for a considerable time, looking at my watch repeatedly because I was going to be late! I even hinted to one of the girls behind the desk (who was doing absolutely nothing because she didn't have a register open) that I just needed to pick something up. I didn't dare ask outright because I did not want to start a riot or get fussed at by all the other customers waiting in line. I told her my situation and asked if I was in the right line. I thought she would say "Sure honey, let me look around and get that for you!" But noooooooo! She tells me I am in the right line and then proceeds to sit up on the counter and start chatting with the one employee who is actually working!!!! I barely made it in time to the meeting.

So I get home after 9:30 and I am thinking of how nice a long, hot bath will be, or maybe a shower so that I can try out the sample of skin polisher that Skeeter included in my package...but my poor hubby asks me if I am going to spend any time with him! Bless his heart, he hasn't seen me all day, and he misses me. I didn't have the heart to be selfish and tell him that I was really planning on locking myself in the bathroom and never coming out again!

What does this all have to do with hair?? Well, I suppose that if I have many more days like that, I won't have any hair left, or atleast it will all be gray!! It also demonstrates the goodness of God in that He knew I was going to have a tough day and so I got my package and was able to use the cream before bed--just something a little nice at the end of a not-so-nice day.

Not only is Skeeter's Shea Skin Souffle wonderful, but she also sent me a sample of her dead sea salts scrub. Yesterday, I took a shower and rubbed myself down with it. Then, when I got out of the shower, I spread the souffle all over. My poor, dry, flakey skin was glowing and dewey. This a.m., before I got out of bed, my dear hubby asked me "What have you done to your skin?! You feel sooo soft! And you smell good too!" It is nice to feel irresistable after 17 years of marriage.

I also tried the Creme of Nature shampoo (the red bottle) this week. It lathered well. The fragrance was mild, but pleasant, and it was so conditioning. After I rinsed, I barely felt the need to use conditioner. Plus, it is inexpensive. A good deal.

Tonight, compliments of Skeeter, who sent me some samples in a little baggy, I tried Lush's Big shampoo and American Cream conditioner. The shampoo was strange because it is gritty, like a scrub, but it lathered very nicely and the grit seemed to dissolve. I wasn't too keen on the fragrance of the conditioner, although it worked okay. Now that my hair is drying, however, I really like the way it smells. I think that is the shampoo shining through. I will have to check in the catalog about the Big. I do not live near a Lush store, so I would have to order on line. Shipping is expensive and the products usually are too! I just don't know if I could afford it. But it is worth investigating.

It is always fun to try out new things!

Busyhsmom
Visit my hair journal at http://www.network54.com/Forum/362199
22/23.5/First goal--bra strap length!
Bangs have reached the tip of my nose
type 2cM-Cii

"Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised." -- Proverbs 31:30

I am IN LOVE with the way this stuff smells!!!! When I sniff it, it does nothing at all for me. When I used it in the shower, same reaction. Once my hair has dried--WOW! I couldn't stop smelling my hair. Sometimes I would just be going along my merry way, and suddenly I would think "What smells so good?!" Then I would realize that it was my hair! A day or two later, and my hair STILL smelled fantastic!!

There are 3 drawbacks: 1. I only got a small sample of this stuff from dear Skeeter who was kind enough to send me some to try. 2. The second time I used it, my scalp had the itchy-flakies. I don't know if that was coincidence, or if there is something in the product (like SLS) which annoys my scalp. 3. It costs a fortune!!!!! By the time I paid shipping, it would cost me over $40 for just some shampoo and conditioner! WAAAH!

Busyhsmom
Visit my hair journal at http://www.network54.com/Forum/362199
22/23.5/First goal--bra strap length!
Bangs have reached the tip of my nose
type 2cM-Cii

"Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised." -- Proverbs 31:30

Such a touchy topic for me lately! I am so thankful that my hair has not started turning gray yet. I just don't think I could take it right now. It just seems that women always have to have something to complain about! It used to be that I always felt fat...well, I have slimmed down, and although I would like to be firmer, in general, I am content with my size. I think if I got too much smaller at this point in life, it would just age me (sagging skin, etc..)

I never liked my hair and was always searching for the perfect cut. Now that I am letting it grow, I have pretty much come to peace with my hair. It is healthy and growing and I guess I pretty much am happy with it.

So the problem? My face! I look in the mirror, but someone else is looking back at me! I just feel like my face has really aged a lot in the last few years. The skin is not tight anymore and the coloring does not seem as smooth. Sometimes I feel like I am going through adolescence again with blotches popping out here and there. And maybe it is the exposure to the sun when I was younger, but I feel like I am getting age spots. And truly, I have to admit, I sometimes wonder if the coffee and not-so-healthy eating is showing up on my face. I know that if I go really strict (i.e. no dairy, no sugar, no chemicals, no red meat, no caffeine) that I will feel and look better. It is just SO HARD to eat that way when everyone in the world, including my family wants hamburgers and soda. When I did it before, I was cooking two meals for dinner almost everyday--one for them and one for me. That does get old!

Anyway, I discussed the gray hair thing with my dear hubby. I want to decide now what I will do when it happens. I don't want to go into a panic and act impulsively. He says to bear them proudly, that I will have earned them. What a sweetie! So the deal is, if they come, let them...unless he or I decide at that time that we really hate the way they look . I really don't want to get on the coloring merry-go-round. Once you start, you have to keep on doing it. I hope that I will bear it as well as Lilliana and some of the other ladies on the Loom have.

As for the face...well, I will moisturize and drink more water. I am trying to work up the motivation to go back to the superclean, ultra-healthy eating plan, but Starbucks and Krispy Kreme are hard to fight!!

Busyhsmom
Visit my hair journal at http://www.network54.com/Forum/362199
22/23.5/First goal--bra strap length!
Bangs have reached the tip of my nose
type 2cM-Cii

"Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised." -- Proverbs 31:30