Overdue Life Update / Rusk DeepShine Pure Pigments Review / SheaMoisture Reviews

It's been a while...

First semester of Nursing school - done. I managed to pass with a B+, which was pretty miraculous.

 I celebrated my final exam with this tasty treat as soon as the bar opened.

My boyfriend's mom lost her battle with metastatic breast cancer during my spring break. Her funeral was on St. Patrick's Day. The couple of months that followed were stressful. 

She was an amazing woman. Brown Family Medicine posted this photo of her on Facebook, adding: Our Family suffered a significant loss this week. Lorraine., our amazing Team C nurse, friend, advisor, colleague, and the person who just helped you through your day, passed away this week. Lorraine was a wonderful wife, mother, and caring nurse. She was a nurturer in all aspects of her life which extended to the providers and staff she worked with at the Family Care Center. She was always proud of the fact that she helped educate confident and caring family physicians.
She will be very missed

As soon as my classes ended, I started working 6 days/week. The paychecks are nicer, but it leaves little time for blogging, photographing, fishing, relaxing...or doing any of the shit I would actually like to do this summer.Currently, I have everyday Wednesday off and I spend most of it cleaning my apartment and doing my laundry. Enjoying weekends with friends and the endless barbeques that seem to pop up means going to work exhausted in the morning. Adult life is a bitch.


Some hair care changes have happened recently, which is actually what compelled me to blog tonight.

For starters, I have been using Rusk DeepShine Pure Pigments Conditioning Cream Color (color 666RR - coincedence? - probably not) the last few times my sister colored my hair. I have been dying my hair red for quite some time now and this is by far the best color I've used. Every other red I have tried fades to a color closer to brown. While this color does fade, it takes a lot longer and actually stays red. The results are true to the color swatch. (In hindsight, I should have snapped a photo of the color swatch.) Additionally, this color doesn't dry my hair out. My scalp, however, is not a fan - but, as I've mentioned, I do have eczema on my scalp, so the dry, itchy, flakiness that follows the week after coloring, regardless of the product, is more likely related to my skin condition. I am not sure if this color is available at Sally's, my sister always buys it at a local salon supply store because she's a licensed hair dresser.

Number of the beast!

Results!

My daily hair routine has changed some over the last few months, but not drastically.

Since my hair and scalp responded so well to tea tree oil, I started adding it to my shampoo and conditioner - which has consistently been SheaMoisture's Moisture Retention Shampoo and Restorative Conditioner. I've only been shampooing 1-2 times per week, co-washing with the Restorative Conditioner, or SheaMoisture's Extra-Moisture Detangler, which I also added tea tree oil to. I actually prefer the Extra-Moisture Detangler for co-washing and have stopped buying the Restorative Conditioner as a result. The detangler is lighter and has a nice slip. It moisturizes and cleans my hair without weighing it down. I also add some to a spray bottle of water for my second-day hair routine (which now consists of spray with detangler/water mixture until damp, scrunch, diffuse dry - takes 5 minutes, looks awesome).

While I was content with the results of my current hair routine, SheaMoisture products were buy-one-get-one free at Walgreen's yesterday. So, I jumped on the opportunity to try more of their products. I bought the African Black Soap Deep Cleansing Shampoo, African Black Soap Balancing Conditioner, Curling Gel Souffle, and Frizz-Free Curl Mousse for only $20. According to the labels, the African Black Soap shampoo and conditioner are specifically for "dry, itchy scalp" and "dandruff, eczema, and psoriasis," and both contain tea tree oil. I tried them both tonight. Firstly, I love how these products smell - it's a sweet, floral scent - after reading the ingredients, I assume that it's due to the honeysuckle in the products. The shampoo felt immediately drying and didn't lather as well as the Moisture Retention shampoo, so I was completely turned off by it. However, the conditioner was delightful. Same delicious smell as the shampoo, not too heavy, good slip, and moisturizing enough to completely counteracted the drying effects of the shampoo. I will definitely repurchase the conditioner. If by the time I empty the bottle, I see a significant improvement in my scalp's condition, I will repurchase the shampoo. For styling, I used a small amount of the Curling Gel Souffle distributed evenly throughout my hair. The heavy, almost oily consistency of the gel told me that my hair did not need much of it. At this rate, it will take me months to finish the product. I followed up with the Frizz-Free Curl Mousse with my hair sectioned in 4, 3 pumps per section. In contrast to the gel, the mousse is extremely light, so I will probably burn through this bottle. After diffusing dry, the results were awesome and the products are worthy of repurchasing. My hair was extremely curly without any crunch, shiny, soft, and smelling delicious.

Tonight's results.

Crochet / Snow Day / Tea Tree Oil & Scalp Issues

I spent all of yesterday morning and afternoon doing the things I figured I wouldn't have time to do once I started Nursing school. I did two loads of laundry, dishes, picked up the apartment, shaved my legs and armpits (which is always the first task to get neglected), and finished crocheting a scarf. 

Crocodile Stitch Video Here.

As it turns out, I had one more day to do all the those thing because my first day of Nursing school was canceled due to snow. Living in New England, I am sure that this happens almost every Spring semester. (It has happened to me more than once.) On the bright side, this gives me an extra day to keep reading the absurd amount of material for my first lecture, which was rescheduled for Friday morning. On-campus clinicals start tomorrow.

My town only ended up with about 5" instead of the anticipated 10-14".

_______________________________________________________________________

A few days ago, after coloring my hair again, my scalp completely rebelled. I've had scalp issues regularly for years, but this was so much worse. Not only was my scalp dry and flaking, it was itchy as sin and I had actually acquired a fair amount of scabs on my scalp from the combination of chemical processing and scratching. Since she's well versed in such things, I had my sister check it out. She parted and sectioned my hair to see more areas of my scalp and told me that I was right, I did have some scabs, it was, in fact, dry and flaking, and in addition, the areas that were less problematic appeared to be red, almost rashy. Great.  

I had suspected for a while that my on-going scalp issues probably weren't dandruff. After having my sister inspect my scalp, I realized that it was most likely eczema, which I had issues with most of my childhood, but never on my scalp.

So, after some brainstorming and research, we decided that tea tree oil was my best option. Regardless of the scalp condition, be it eczema, psoriasis, or dandruff, tea tree oil is used to treat it. So, I  bought a bottle of Jason Dandruff Relief Treatment Shampoo and a bottle of tea tree oil.

Here's what I did:

• Mixed 10-12 drops of tea tree oil with 30-40 drops of argan oil.
• Using a clean eye-dropper, I applied the mixed oil to my entire scalp and massaged it in.
• I threw my hair in a pony tail and let it sit for 20-30 minutes. 
• Shampooed with Jason Dandruff Relief Treatment Shampoo. 
• Skipped conditioner and used SheaMoisture Raw Shea Butter Extra Moisture Detangler.
• Applied a quarter-sized amount of DevaCurl Light Defining Gel to wet hair, avoiding the scalp.
• Air dried until 80% dry.
• Applied a dime-sized amount of Ganier Fructis Pure Clean Gel to the lower third of my hair.
• Diffused for 2-3 minutes until dry.

My scalp felt better as soon as I applied the tea tree oil. Luckily, it took almost two days before the itching returned, so I followed the same routine (minus the first three steps for pre-treating my scalp) this morning. The results are pretty awesome.

Quick Update

 My first semester of Nursing school starts this Wednesday. I'm both excited and scared out of my mind. My backpack now weighs 50lb, and that's only going to increase with the absurd amount of papers I have been printing for class. The good news: carrying around 50lb on my back is going to give me some sweet glutes.

Half of my books.

The stack so far...and I haven't even started printing the PowerPoints yet.

Just when I started to think that maybe I want to go lighter with my hair color, my sister masters the perfect shade of red. So, red it is. For now.

Don't brush curly hair, ever. Unless you are about to apply color to it.

Blow-dried straight, a rare occurrence. I don't think I'm a fan.

Same hair cut, curly. Much better, even if I lost some length.

The same day I dyed my hair, my sister let me try her Wen. Since, I've only tried the product that one time (because I am not about to spend $30-$40 on any hair product), I can only tell you that: 1.) It smells amazing. My sister had bought the Summer Mango Coconut scent and it smells delicious.2.) It made my hair feel amazingly soft and silky, so it was perfect for after the chemical assault my hair had just been through. 3.) However, I am pretty confident that I could not use the product regularly because it is so moisturizing. I've been having issues with SheaMoisture's Moisture Retention shampoo being too moisturizing for my fine hair lately, so I've had to stop using conditioner with that product. There's no way my hair could handle Wen on a regular basis, nor could I afford it.

In my free time, which hasn't been very often, I've been spending some time birding with my camera. Come May, at the end of the semester, I am going to miss that entirely too much.

Bald Eagle, New Years Eve on the pond at my dad's house.

Northern Cardinal, Trustom Pond, 1/07/14

Cedar waxwing at a cemetery in Exeter, RI 1/09/14

Whitetail Deer, Trustom Pond, 1/07/14

Red shouldered hawk, Johnson's Pond, 1/07/14

Whitebreasted Nuthatch, Trustom Pond, 1/07/14

Red shouldered hawk in my back yard, 1/17/14

Other than that, I've been knitting hats, crocheting scarfs, and generally acting like an old lady.

Life Update / L'Oreal HiColor HiLights Review / DevaCurl Light Defining Gel Review

With one more week left to the semester, the work load has finally lightened enough for me to find some time to blog again... At least for another month or so. 

On October 3, I received the email from CCRI's Nursing program that I was "conditionally accepted" into the program. (It's conditional because you need to pass a background check, which I did.) A month later, I received the official letter in the mail.

Since then, my feelings about being accepted into the program regularly swing between complete fear and total elation. While I'm excited about it, I'm terrified that I'm going to be overworked and insane for the next two years. The mandatory orientation for the program was a solid two hours of the entire department telling you all about how much life is going to blow until graduation. So, I pretty much prepared myself to give up just about everything for a while - my social life, my hobbies, sleep, sanity. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best - right?

As per usual, my anxiety is mostly focused around money. This coming semester alone is going to run me $807 just for books. I keep asking myself, "How the fuck are you going to make this work?" But, I'll find a way. I usually do.

________

As far as this current semester goes - everything is done and I'm just coasting through the next week until finals. My portfolio for Digital Photography II turned out rather nicely, but much different than my original intention. 

Paula Frenette © 2013 You do not have my permission to use any of the images posted on this blog.

Just when I thought that Children's Lit might possibly be my most hated class so far and there was no way I was going to enjoy anything that came out of it, I read The Invention of Hugo Cabret. I loved it. I loved it so much, it has become one of my favorite books of all time. I know, I know, it's a children's book, but the story is interesting and adorable. The illustrations are amazing and have a cinematic quality, without them the story would be half as great as it is. I still haven't watched the movie, but it's on my to-do list. According to my professor, the movie came out decently. However, the characters in the books are French and the actors have British accents... Who does that? (Americans, apparently.)

________

So, I've tried some new hair products recently.

Almost three weeks ago, I dyed my hair red again. I have been searching for the perfect red for years. Red that doesn't fade to brown, or worse, pink in a few washes. I had read some good things about L'Oreal Excellence HiColor HiLights, so I tried it. Originally, I was going to go with "Red," but after a trip to Sally's Beauty Supply and actually looking at the hair color swatches, I worried that my hair would be cherry-lollipop red. So, I decided on "Red Hot," which was a bit darker and a little more brown. The color happened to be buy-two-get-one-free at the time, so I bought three. (I only used two.) I called my sister for advice on which level developer to buy, but as expected, when I actually need to ask her something, she didn't answer. The girl at the counter suggested level 30, so I went with it.

The dye is crayon-red upon application. I happened to get some on my fingernail.

The results. It was actually a lot more red than the photo suggests. My fingernail is still, as of right now, discolored from the dye.

Coincidentally, my sister dyed her hair the same color (using different products and methods) the following day. This is the most alike we have looked in our entire lives. We also realized that we make the same impending-doom face.

Today. Not as dark. Still quite red. The lighting in my kitchen sucks.

What I Did:

1. Mixed two tubes of color with an equal amount of level 30 developer.
2. Applied to dry, dirty hair. Roots to end.
3. "Cooked" for 35 minutes under a shower cap.
4. Rinsed in the shower. Shampooed, conditioned, and styled as usual. 

Product Review:
As far as the hair color goes, it's very true to the swatches shown in the store, which is impressive.  My hair is pretty porous, so it tends to grab a lot of color right away and fade out rather quickly. (Which is probably why I've been hunting to the "perfect" red for so long now.)  But, after almost three weeks, the color still looks really good. A few of the reviews I had checked out prior to trying L'Oreal HiColor Hilights had mentioned that there is nothing about the product that helps to moisturize hair while the color is processing. This turned out to be true. It is only intended for highlights after all. Since I used a level 30 developer, I only exasperated that problem.

After processing, all of the moisture in my hair and scalp was gone. GONE. My hair felt like hay and scalp was so dry that it ended up peeling and flaking the next morning. According to my sister, who is a licensed hair stylist and has been doing my hair since forever, I should have used level 20 developer. I guess that's what she has always used to color my hair and it has always worked out. The first week after coloring, I babied the hell out of it. I tried to wash it as little as possible and when I did, I only used conditioner. Reluctantly, I blow-dried as little as possible and used cool and low settings to diffuse my hair when I had to. Luckily, my hair is finally bouncing back.

________

On a random, girly shopping trip with my sister and shortly after a newly acquired red heads, we found ourselves at a hair product store. I decided to splurge on DevaCurl Light Defining Gel. Even though it was on sale (I paid $10, instead of $18),  I bought the 12oz bottle. I've made the mistake, more than once, in the past of trying to save money on a new product and buying the biggest bottle I could find. Only to discover that I was not in love with the products and occupies valuable bathroom space for-fucking-ever. (DevaCurl Low-Poo is actually one of these aforementioned products.) I'm glad I caught myself this time around before I bought a gallon of the stuff. I don't hate it, it's just not exactly what I'm looking for.

Product Review:

When you first pour the gel into your hands, it is thick. The consistency, gives the impression that it is going to make your hair feel like cement. However, once it is applied to wet hair, the gel becomes watery. While this makes it a whole lot easier to evenly distribute, I found that I have to use a lot of it. After diffusing dry, which doesn't take long because the gel dries very fast, the result is a very soft, "touchable" hold. (When DevaCurl says "light defining," they mean it.) 

 I can get one day of wear out of the product, by the end of the day my hair is looking a little rough around the edges. By second-day-hair, I might as well start all over. Normally, when a product doesn't have enough hold, my hair starts to fall straight. With this gel, my hair starts to frizz.

If the product wasn't so expensive, I wouldn't care so much about the amount of it I need to use with each application, but I can't start spending $20, or more, on hair gel every month. I also can't live with bad second-day-hair. My curls require a lot of work to make them look good. Typically, the bonus is that I get to slack off for a day or so after all the work is done. I'm not about to spend 20-30 minutes a day styling my hair - I don't have time for that. Even if I did, I'd spend that time doing something else.

While I will most likely end up finishing the bottle, I don't think I will buy another. For the price, the result isn't awesome enough for me. But, I am willing to bet that this product works better for tighter curls. If that applies to you and you like a softer hold, give it a shot.

Added Note:
Last night after applying copious amounts of DevaCurl Light Defining Gel to my hair, I started to diffuse dry. After a minute, I could already tell the hold was going to suck and I was well on my way to frizz-town. So, I decided to add little Garnier Fructis Pure Clean Gel (which has become my favorite styling product to date). I'm a huge fan of the results. (See above photo for the second-day-hair results.) I will probably continue to combine the two products until I run out of the DevaCurl.

Life Lately / New Hair & Products

So, last night I worked until 5pm. I came home, ate a sandwich, attempted to catch up on the tv shows I've been recording for weeks. I ended up falling asleep before 6:30pm, in the middle of a show. Matt woke me up at 9:30pm and I was wide awake, so I played Candy Crush Saga and other stupid games until 2am. Happy Saturday. This about sums up how exciting my life has been lately. I'm getting way too old.

At least, I got to spend some time with Crystal the night before drinking wine around a fire and talking about girly shit.

School and work has been eating up too much of time. I had forgotten how time consuming art and literature classes can be, but it's nice to be reminded why I chose not to major in Fine Art. Every week I'm handed another photo assignment that's due in a week or two, so I'm crapping out 50+ photographs/week for Digital Photography II. Some of them are pretty good, most of them are crap. Children's Literature might be my least favorite class of all time. I have to write a story-based childrens' book by the end of the semester and the proposal for the book is due in just over a week. So far, I have some vague idea regarding a story about a pickle traveling the digestive system, but I'm pretty sure the whole concept sucks. I do not have children, I do not read childrens' books, and I have no idea how to talk to children. Needless to say, I am dreading this assignment. After a solid year of biology classes, my brain keeps trying to integrate science with art and literature. As far as photography goes, it's working out. Children's Lit can pretty much suck it.

Portfolio idea - Anatomical Nudes

Last week, for a lighting assignment, I got to use a strobe set-up for the first time (aside from a shitty part-time job I had at a portrait studio two years ago) and I gave still life work a go.

Based on my work lately, my professor told me to check out Joel Peter Witkin. She pretty much hit the nail on its head. If only I had access to cadavers...


In other, amazing news, I was accepted into the Nursing program. I start mid-January. I think I'm busy now...by next Spring, I will probably want to curl into the fetal position and cry while I fantasize about having a social life.

My sister cut my hair a few weeks back and gave me the hair cut I've been wanting for a couple years now. I hadn't gone for it because Matt just about pulled a toddler-style fit about be having "short" hair. I finally decided to say, "fuck it," and went for it anyway. Matt was able to get over the fact that my hair was a few inches shorter.

Shorter hair = Happier curls

My sister also scored a huge bottle of  blended argan oil (I don't remember which oils it is blended with) for cheap at T.J. Maxx. She was awesome enough to put some in a glass bottle with an eye dropper for me, so I've been using it every time I wash my hair. I usually mix 3-4 drops with Curl Keeper, then apply it to my hair. She suggested rubbing small amounts into my scalp because I am still having problems with flakes. It seems to be helping. This is the first time I have ever used oil in my hair. I've always had some reservations about it because my hair is so fine that I imagined it would make it look like a dirty, greasy mess and my curls would turn to shit. I was wrong. Once I get the brand name from my sister, I'll try to remember to write a review.

Product Review

Because of the general chaos that is my life lately and the laziness it caused, I haven't made flax seed gel since I ran out my last batch about 2 or 3 weeks ago. I did a little research on Naturally Curly and, after reading some reviews, I decided to buy Garnier Fructis Pure Clean Gel. It's silicone free, but it does contain alcohol. So, it's almost Curly Girl Method-friendly. Since I've never been able to give up hairspray (and therefor alcohol), I figured for $5, I might as well check it out. I have to say that it is definitely five-dollar-good. I used it for the first time this morning after my usual routine of SheaMoisture shampoo and conditioner, argan oil blend & Curl Keeper mixture, and plopped with a Turbie Twist. Since it was the first time I've used this gel, I applied in smallish amounts, in sections, until it felt like there was enough. I used 2-3 quarter sized amounts, but I am pretty sure I could have used less. The gel is pretty thick and sticky and it dried very fast when I diffused my hair, which is a great thing when you have fine hair. Like most gels, this product does make your hair crunchy. So, once it was completely dry, I scrunched some of the crunchiness out and was left with a much nicer, softer hold and was happy with the result.

Garnier Fructis Pure Clean Gel: Worth every penny.

Herbal Essences' Clever Advertising

A few days ago, I was browsing the hair care products at CVS while waiting for a prescription to be filled. I happened to come across the same ol' bottles of Herbal Essences shampoo and conditioner, but they were sporting new labels that piqued my interest.

Herbal Essences Smooth & Shine Collections: "0% Silicone" and "0% Sulfate."

So, I picked up the bottles, started reading, and a few ingredients caught my eye.

Herbal Essences Shine Collection Conditioner

Herbal Essences Smooth Collection Shampoo

Interestingly, the Smooth & Shine collections do, in fact, contain sulfates and silicones. However, the advertisements on the front of the bottles are not lying to you. The labels indicate that the collection's shampoos are silicone free and the conditioners are sulfate free. Both are true, but these products are not curl-friendly.

Go On, Dust Your Camera Off

As far as my photography, the method and subject matter have been nearly the same since forever. I find my subject matter, I don't create it. Shoot 'em in digital. I only use tripods when it's absolutely necessary. Most shots are of landscapes and wildlife and are nearly always in color. I favor shallow depth of field and natural day-time lighting. I feel like it's time to cut that shit out. No one learns anything from doing the same ol' shit over and over.

Early this morning, around 5:30am, I decided to play around with long exposures.

30 second exposure

15 second exposure - I love this stump.

5 second exposure of some ducks. Interesting...

After the sun came up, I headed to a field near my dad's house to look for deer.

The morning fog was awesome...Appropriate for Friday the 13th.

I saw a doe and fawn along the far edge of the field watching me. So, I watched them for a while, but they spooked when I tried taking some shots of them. I went about my business trying to capture the misty morning fog and a few minutes later, turned around to see the doe creeping up behind me with her head close to the ground. She was standing only 25 feet or so away. I nearly crapped myself, which is probably why she skittered away behind some trees. Evidently, she had circled through the woods behind me to come check me out. Her and the fawn reappeared in front of me, about 35-40 feet away in the field. I watched them for at least 15 minutes while they grazed, slowly moving back toward the edge of the field, where I had first spotted them. It was pretty awesome - definitely a great way to start the day.