Aveda Hair Update

I'm still torn on how I feel about Aveda's Madder Root shampoo/conditioner.

On one hand, I've been getting a million compliments about the color. Every day someone asks me if I've dyed my hair. (Nope! Just the shampoo/conditioner!) And the color has gotten less eggplant-y as I've been alternating conditioners (with Redken's All Soft Conditioner, which makes my hair a little heavier than the Heavy Cream does...)

So, my hair looks FANTASTIC.

But... on the other hand...

The staining has gotten worse. Usually, I just have to wash my hands a few times and my fingernails stop being pink (I do soap up my hands as soon as I've put the conditioner in...)

But... it's hard to do that on my scalp, which is sometimes pink (no one's commented, but I'll just tell them I sunburned it)

And finally... y'all know I shower and then go to bed. The neckline of my pajamas (right where my wet hair sits) is now pink. Grrrrrrr...

So, where I really like how it looks, when I'm done, I'll probably go back the All Soft Heavy Cream for conditioning. The dying seems to be more with the conditioner than the shampoo, so we'll see what my color does then!

This Lipgloss = Summer 2008

I usually pay very little attention to makeup trends. Trends in makeup generally strike me as a pretty stupid phenomenon, because it's not like your skin tone is going to change to accommodate whatever color lipstick or eye shadow it's cool to buy this week. Duh. Wear whatever flatters you, trendy or no. Damn the Man!

But I changed purses before flying to California recently, and discovered in the airport (stupid plastic bags!) that none of my lip things made it into the traveling purse. Which meant that I needed to make a stop at Sephora.

I, like Natasha, love the NARS products, particularly for lips. So that's where I beelined. And when I saw this gloss that is clear with zillions of itty-bitty gold glitter pieces, I knew that I at least had to try it. It's called Greek Holiday -- how could I resist? And I am happy to report that Greek Holiday totally looks hot on me. The bonus? Since it's clear gloss, it goes over any ol' lipstick and also looks amazing.

I don't even care that this lipgloss is the epitome of the summer 2008 makeup trend. One month, Lucky Magazine is hailing the complete-and-utter-now-ness of including copper/gold glitter in all sorts of makeup items, and the next month, I'm buying a gloss called Greek Holiday and applying it every chance I get. Before 9 a.m. While driving. I swear I don't know what happened.

Anyway, this stuff is genius. Clear gloss. So much glitter you can't tell that there's no actual color (the NARS website claims it's "sparkling pink sand," but I promise you that it's just gold glitter). Great for daytime when you wear it plain, awesome at night when you wear it over a matte lipcolor. I think I'm in love. Either that or I've been transported to Greece.

Victory Is Mine!

So, remember back when, fueled by childhood memories of my mother's post-shower winter ministrations, I went on that quest to find mineral oil and was completely stumped? Not in the Big Box Store. Not in the drugstore. Not in the lotion aisle. Not in the baby aisle. I even tried a couple of hardware stores, just in case. No dice.

Well, the other day I dropped into a Rite-Aid on my way from Meeting A to Meeting B to pick up some sunscreen, and I stumbled upon a new product from Nivea called Smooth Sensations Body Oil. Main ingredient? Mineral oil. Second ingredient? Some kind of triglyceride. Third ingredient? Avocado oil. And that's it. Victory! If I can't find just-plain mineral oil (and I apparently can't), a product that is approximately 99% mineral oil is the next-best option.

And, y'all, I completely love this stuff. It soaks in to my skin right away, and holds in all that shower moisture still on my skin after toweling. It smells like mineral oil (and maybe a hint of rancid avocado, but it goes away quickly), not like chemical fragrance. My skin is still soft the next day, even! I swear, I've been having fantasies that this must be what having normal skin feels like. My skin is pretty much as smooth and happy as it's going to get. Ever.

My one beef is with the cap on the product: there's a little too much packaging-spillage for my taste. After all, I spent all that time and effort and gasoline looking for mineral oil: now that I've found it, I don't want to waste a single precious drop!

Still, though. I'm thrilled. Now to figure out what the heck a tryglyceride is, and how exactly that's good for my skin.

New Shampoo and Conditioner...

Things I hate: Parking in Georgetown. Seriously. Georgetown, I hate you. Plus, you're to NIMBY to have a metro stop. Getting to Georgetown is a pain in the ass, which I'm sure helps it's whole up-scale snooty feeling.

Sadly, the only Lush in DC is in Georgetown. I went to go buy more shampoo, and a new pair of shoes, and got so frustrated I said "SCREW THIS!" and went to the Pentagon City mall. Where there's a ramp that costs a mere $1.50 NOT $10.50. DID YOU HEAR THAT GEORGETOWN?! I SHOPPED SOMEWHERE ELSE BECAUSE YOU SUCK SO MUCH!

But, that meant no Lush shampoo for me, so I'm currently using Aveda's Madder Root Shampoo and Conditioner. It's supposed to enhance the auburn and warm tones in my hair.

I've been using it for almost 2 weeks now. Comments:

I love the fact that this shampoo bottle is HUGE. It smells a little more chemically than I'm used to, but the smell doesn't linger in my hair. When the conditioner bottle says to "rinse surfaces immediately, as product may stain" they ain't kidding. Nothing some spray bleach can't get out but... also, one day my fingernails were dyed a pinkish tone. Sadly, sometimes my scalp is, too.

It is definetely enhancing my color. Multiple people have commented "did you dye your hair?" but I think I need to only use the condition every other time I condition, because it's starting to get a little "boy that's eggplant" as Diversery calls it.

I miss the weight of my hair from when I was using the Redken All Soft Heavy Cream, so I've been using more product. BUT without product, my hair is fairly frizz-free. Also, it's super-super shiny. It's still very soft and not tangly.

I probably won't continue to use this in the future, but I probably will try out the Aveda Clove combo, which is supposed to enhance the brown and alternate it with my All Soft.

Or, one day I will once again brave Georgetown and pick up some Ultimate Shine.

Skin Milk Body Polish: too much milk, not enough polish

Skin Milk's slick packaging caught my eye immediately. I like the spare coloring, the sans-serif font, the homey blue-and-white, the subtle shape of old fashioned milk bottles (on some items -- not this one)(sorry the photo's so terrible; that's all I could find on Google Images). I would have tried any of their products just because the packaging was pretty, but I was specifically looking to test out a new facial scrub. The price also was rather appealing: the Body Polish was $2.59 on clearance.

Maybe that should have told me something.

On first squirt, I noticed the pearly-white sheen of the scrub and thought "hm, that reminds me of something. But what?" Turns out, that "something" was yeast infection cream. This scrub has the exact same appearance and viscosity as Monistat -- and yet, I'm supposed to slather it all over my body? Ew! But I did it, in the interest of science (and blogging). Well, okay. I tried it on my legs. And boy am I glad I went the leg route, because...

The next thing I noticed was the fragrance. Vanilla. Really sugary-sweet cloying vanilla, that smacks you upside the head. I double-checked the packaging -- y'all know how much I hate the smelly products, and vanilla in particular -- and sure enough, the front label doesn't say anything about being vanilla-scented (turns out it's all over the website -- but that's not particularly helpful when you're standing in the bath products aisle). The ingredients list "fragrance," but there is no mention of what kind. I was glad I'd only put it on my legs, because they're the farthest from my nose.

So now I'm grossed out and also vaguely annoyed at the company.

The scrubby texture of the product itself isn't bad. But there's something about the slippery feeling of the base -- it's probably the milk itself, what with all those proteins and whatnot -- that made me feel like I was counteracting the scrubbiness itself. Like the proteins made a barrier that didn't let the scrubby-bits get all the way to my skin. It just didn't feel like it was as effective as it should be. Kind of like putting on lotion but then immediately washing it off. What's the point? I didn't feel "polished." I didn't even feel "mildly buffed." I just felt like I'd wasted a minute of my life.

I really want to be able to recommend this product, because it looks pretty on the shelf and is widely available in grocery and drug stores all over the country, but is also affordable and isn't produced by a big "family products" conglomerate. And milk is good for your skin. Hell, 5% of their gross proceeds goes to Heifer International, which is a program I've been supporting since I can remember. I like all of that.

But I can't say that using the actual product was an enjoyable experience. I cannot tell you that I felt adequately "polished." And really, who wants to be reminded of yeast infection cream when you're supposed to be getting clean? And vanilla... yuck.

So I guess in the end, all I got was something pretty to send to the landfill. Good thing it was on clearance. I'd rather just send Heifer International a direct contribution.

Bath Time

It's the end of the school year, so the kids at work are stressed, and I'm a part time grad student, so I'm stressed.

This Sunday, after spending all day working on my research paper, it was time for a bath to relax a bit.

Now, I long for a full soaking tub. Preferably with feet. But I have the standard tub/shower duo that most people have that I can stretch my legs out in if I'm sitting up straight. Now, one thing I do to make the water a little deeper is to duct-tape the over-flow drain, so I can get a few extra inches of bath water.

Then, I dropped in an All That Jas bath bomb.

It smelled really nice (jasmine with a hint of vanilla-- nice for spring) and turned my bathwater a lovely shade of green. Also, it made my skin really soft and the smell lingered lightly for the rest of the evening. It was also blissfully free of glitter, flower petals, tea, confetti, or anything else that floats around and later clogs the drain.

This is going into rotation with Sex Bomb for my bath time standard.

Stupid Solutions that Totally Work

So, one of the problems with solid shampoo is the same problem you get with a bar of soap-- when you get down to the end you have that little chunk that is too small to be useful but is still GOOD SOAP.

Through a long, yet boring, series of events, I had several pieces of the now-discontinued Retread, several too-small-to-use pieces. I was seriously wondering if melting them down to form 1 big piece would cause lasting damage to one of my pots when I got a different idea.

On the Lush forums, people often suggest putting a bath bomb in the toe of an old nylon to keep flower petals or glitter or something from getting all over your tub.

So, I took an old trouser sock (those ugly little nylons that only go up to your knee that I hate, but I'll be damned if I'm wearing a full set of panty hose just so I can wear most of my shoes with trousers) ANYWAY! I took one, stuck all the little bits of shampoo in it, and tied of the end and cut off the excess, so it's like a shampoo bag that I now rub all over my head. YES, IT WAS CLEAN BEFORE I DID THIS!

It looks really funky and I hope my house guests (and you, dear reader) don't judge me, because HOLY COW IT WORKS. And now I probably have a few more months of Retread-y goodness. Well, maybe just a few more weeks, but I did this over a month ago, so I have gotten a lot of use out of the little bits I was about to throw away.

Other random hair news:

This morning, I woke up and realized I had forgotten to take a shower last night. How does one forget to do that? I have no idea, but, I did. But I was on my way to physical therapy, so I was going to get a little manky and have to reshower tonight anyway, so I didn't wash my hair. I just got it wet and combed it out.

I didn't even style it, because as soon as I was done seeing the doctor, I was just throwing it into a ponytail to do my therapeutic workout. (Don't you love it when you have a prescription for deep squats? Yeah, me too.)

So, I get there, I look in the mirror, and my un-styled, fake-washed air-dried hair? LOOKED ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! Perfectly lightly tousled with some curl at the ends, it looked salon-perfect. And it did it all on it's own.

And then I put it in a ponytail and got all sweaty. Ergh.