Saturday 7 May 2016

Matas Argan leave-in hårkur

Strange. After all my worries about not being able to find a leave in product I'm willing to pay for after the orange Sunsilk one has been discontinued (?), suddenly I find leave in conditioners everywhere I look!
Maybe it's because people are beginning to see them as "BB creams for hair"? 
No matter what, I'm not complaining!

I bought this in Matas, which is a Danish beauty chain (I think it might have a few stores in Sweden too?) on a 3 for 2 sale.
The "striped" products are their own brand and are usually quite cheap. I paid 100 DKK (Around 13 Euro and 15 USD) for all three and got 450 ml in total. Good price for this.

Danish language lesson of the day: "Hårkur" translates into "hair treatment". 


The product has a "clean", inoffensive smell. Sort of soapy, I think?

The pump dispenses a good amount of product. It's white and fairly thick, like a good cream consistency.
It offers pretty good hold but just a bit too much slip for my taste.

Ingredients
Water, cetearyl alcohol, butyrosperum parkii butter, argania spinosa kernel oil, behenoyl PG-trimonium chloride, dimethisone, cetyl palmitate, glycerin, quaternium-87, bis-cetearyl amodimethicone, cetrimonium chloride, panthenol, propylene glycol, butylene glycol, tocopheryl acetate, behentrimonium methosulfate, helianthus anuus seed extract, hexylene glycol, parfum, sodium gluconate, citric acid, lactic acid, phenoxyethanol, sodium benzoate.

Before I start commenting on COSDNA's analysis, I have to say how thrilled I am to see my old friend shea butter as ingredient #3! Very nice.
(Gosh, this takes me back some 10+ years when shea butter was all the rage in the longhair circuit!)
And argan oil comes in as #4. Really, very nice indeed.
Near the end of the list, it also contains panthenol and sunflower oil.


  • Two two's and two one's for acne.
  • One two and one one for irritant.
  • Nothing scored above a four for safety.

Not too bad.
I will definitely buy this again.

Thursday 5 May 2016

Today's hair

I wasn't really pleased with my last attempt to make a single bun out of three braids.
So I figured, maybe if I used one of the braids to make a headband...?


Looks good from the front.


But in the back? Not so much.
I guess it doesn't help that three braids instead of one creates my surface, which creates more options for hairs to escape from the braid.
That fuzzy pipe cleaner look just isn't a good look.

Tuesday 3 May 2016

Trim

When it comes to hair care tips, I tend to mentally separate them into three categories: "The good", "the bad" and the "Meh, I guess it can't hurt". 
The Morocco Method's lunar trimming schedule falls under the  "Meh, I guess it can't hurt" for me. Meaning that I don't really believe my hair could in any way care about when I cut it, but hey, why not?
I can't explain why it would it work, but I cannot explain why it would hurt either. 

Also, I have a "Holy f***ing shit, what the f***ing hell is wrong with you to give out such shit advice, motherf***er??!? Are you actively trying to kill people?!11!"-category, but luckily that one is very rare. Last case of that category I remember was a nutcase on a hair forum, who claimed that as long as you took your supplements "With a good attitude" you would never encounter side effects. 
Uh. Wut.
So there you have it: Anyone who ever encountered side effects from medication, interactions from medication, allergies and other problems: It's your own damn fault for having a bad attitude.
Great advice.

Anyways. The Morocco Method. 


Back when I went "Try all the things!!" to get my hair to grow faster I would S&D after days like thicken, lengthen and strengthen. 


Of course it never seemed to do anything for my hair growth, but still... Can't hurt, can it?


It felt a bit nostalgic to check the lunar chart before trimming.


Pre-trim: Dripping wet hair.
We're experimenting with how wet my hair should be to make it easiest for Hubby.


Trim. Hubby took off exactly 3 cm.
I think I would have preferred a bit more, but he was so proud of how exact he was I didn't want to complain.


After trim.
Didn't make a lot of difference, did it?


Side by side comparisons...
I'd say the only difference is in that the "post trim" was combed out a little smoother?
Oh well. Still good to get rid of some of the old ends.


As always, afterwards I put my hair in a low ponytail and snipped a tiny bit (Like, less than ½ cm) of the ends.
I think when you make a trim with loose hair, you can get a "wrong" hemline for your updos: I'd like my braids to be as long as possible with as little tassel as possible, so I should trim for that effect.

Sunday 1 May 2016

Awesome (And scary) new tool

I've been wanting a silicone mask cover for a while.
Since watching this episode of Beauty Bible actually.

(Starts at 32:32 if the embedding doesn't work 100%)

I do love my sheet masks, but it is very irritating that you're stuck laying down while wearing them. It's not always so comfortable when you try to watch TV or be on a laptop at the same time.
Testerkorea did have some stuff, but those are more "belt" types for depuffing your V-zone (The V your chin and neck forms) and not for holding a sheet mask onto your face.

Like this.

I had some problems finding one, but ended up finding them on Amazon.
However, not all of the listings will send to Europe!
I got mine here.


So I ordered two, one for using and one for backup if the first should eventually break.
It arrived with an "assorted" Amazon order.
Hubby instantly stole the book, so I had peace to play with the silicone mask.


Oh boy, this looks creepy.


Like, really creepy.


When I showed hubby, he made a squeaky noise. He then informed me it was in fact a very manly squeaky noise. Then he compared me to Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky, before parking himself in front of a desktop to play Warthunder with great intensity so he didn't have to look at me any more. Hmpf.


It didn't get any less creepy-looking with a real sheet mask underneath.

It has it's issues: The fit is just odd. It's quite tight on my Caucasian face especially the nose, while still being too big at the forehead and too loose at the chin. But then again, all sheet masks have odd fits too and never seem to fit anyone's face, ever. Also, it got pretty uncomfortable behind my ears from the loops after a while

However, it serves the exact purpose I bought it for: It holds a sheet mask to my face while I sit upright.
I don't think I could use this while working though. It manages to both push and pull at the tissue and muscles around my eyes, so reading or writing a work text might be headache-inducing in the long run.
But it is absolutely perfect for using in front of the TV or just browsing the internet for fun.

I like it. This is what I wanted.
Also it might be useful for when I want hubby to leave me alone.