First time using my new bun ring

I quite like the results. It makes my hair look much thicker than it really is... I don't mind cheating sometimes lol.

I would never have thought that a doughnut shape made of weird looking brown mesh could have made such a difference. Shows what I know lol.

More haircare stuff

Make Your Own Homemade Hairspray and Hair DetanglerOne Good Thing by Jillee | One Good Thing by Jillee

It's probably wishful thinking...

... but my hair doesn't seem as thin. I also seem to have less coming out when I wash, since I've started taking the supplements. It has only been about ten days, but it bodes well for the future lol.

I got Mum to measure my hair again and she said is it twenty inches long now, it was just over seventeen last month. My hair has grown almost three inches in a month!!

While searching for a handbag in the cupboard, I discovered two old silk scarves that must have belonged to my late Nana (I don't buy silk and the patterns are bright florals). I read somewhere that sleeping on silk or satin is good for the hair, it doesn't get as damaged as it does when sleeping on cotton. I have a couple of small bolster-like pillows I sleep on (one pillow is too low, but two is too high... so I split the difference with one and a half haha) and I just tied a scarf round each pillow last night. I admit to finding it weird, the silk is cold to touch and really slippery... although my hair didn't look as "bad hair day" as usual when I woke up lol.

Hair pics (not the best).

Finally got some pics of my hair. The light in the bathroom isn't the greatest, and this camera also isn't brilliant either (I miss the great camera on my old Blackberry :0( ).

Anyway, they illustrate the wacky nightmare that is my hair... slightly frizzy (even with a drop of serum), straight at the top and wavy on the bottom. Then in places it just becomes ringlets (on the left). *sigh*

The problem with my hair

For as long as I can remember I've wanted long hair. Long, luxurious, beautiful hair would be even better. Right down to my waist. The kind of hair that turns heads and that some people just have to touch. Hair that causes envy.

Sadly I don't have beautiful hair. I have fine, greying hair that can't decide if it's curly, wavy or straight! In short it can be a nightmare. It is prone to frizz and if I put a hairbrush anywhere near it it looks like a fluffy, dry squirrel's tail!! I also have to wash it every other day (at least, depending on shampoo/conditioner) or my scalp starts to itch (psoriasis) and I look like a greasy tramp!

On the plus side my hair is quite healthy. It is fairly shiny and soft and I always condition it and use coconut oil weekly as a treatment. When it feels in need of extra love (like tonight) I use a leave-in deep conditioner spray, which really helps (especially in cold, windy weather like we have now). I've got no split ends and I have had only one trim in three years! I don't use any heat or harsh styling products and don't use metal clips or slides if I can help it. I do my best to take care of my hair.

The main problem is that my already fine hair is now also thinning... I have enough hair for one fairly scrawny plait. That's it. Mum said that I used to have double the volume when I was a kid. In short it's worrying and a bit discouraging, to be honest. Reality has killed my "hair dream".

There is no reason for the thinning that I can fathom. I even took my concerns to my GP and after having a blood test for thyroid problems and assorted other things (which was a massive deal that took a lot of courage on my part because of my syringe phobia) the results came back normal across the board. There is nothing medically wrong.

I had to stop dyeing my hair black because I noticed it was getting too thin... so I stopped and chopped it all off to rectify the problem. It didn't work apparently.

So the cause is still a mystery. All I can put down as a possible cause is my food intolerances. There are certain foods I just cannot eat without suffering agony, like eggs and onions. With my diet quite restricted I have taken the only action I can think of... a supplement designed for skin, nails and hair. I realise it won't work magic overnight, I know it could take at least three months (and that I will probably have to take it for life)... but my thinking is that it can't do any harm and it will at least replace some of the nutrients I'm not getting in my diet.

Fingers crossed it helps me to keep the hair I have. In a ideal world I'd love it to promote more growth... but we don't live in an ideal world lol.

Finally got rid of the last of my dyed hair...

... I feel so much cooler now (which is great as I was baking my arse off before). Since I started dying my hair black in May 2009 I have gone about 25% white... not even grey, but white! From my temples on both sides of my head to way back past my ears in two inch sections, the hair is pure white! No wonder I was having to colour my hair black every three weeks! I walked past a mirror after I got out of the shower and was shocked to not see myself with black hair, hahaha!

I've learned my lesson with hair dye, though... if I ever were to dye it again, it would either be lighter than my original colour or as near to my own shade as possible. Never am I going darker, 100% never going black... EVER!! I also hated the way it made my hair thin and perpertually greasy (I have greasy hair anyway, but it would no sooner dry after washing and start to look lank).

I'm thinking of never cutting my hair again and seeing just how long I can get it before I completely get sick of it or totally make myself out to be a liar and reach for the dye, LOL! I would like long hair, it's something I always say, yet never achieve because I always do something to it and then cut it all off to within an inch of my head (as I've just done, hehe).

If I'm going to be a true Hippy Goth, then I need Hippy hair... oh well, as long as I'm alive it'll grow. On thing I can do quickly is grow hair (in the summer it can be as much as almost two inches a month! No joke of a lie, and if take sea kelp it's even faster).

So bloody hot today, and having electric fans blowing constantly is really drying out my eyes and making them red and sore... I hate summer, I'm more of a Spring and Autumn person. I like it so that you can sleep at night without waking up drenched in sweat (which is imcredibly nasty) if you turn the fans off, or freezing cold if you leave them on. No pleasing me, is there? LOL!

I had to laugh when we lost 4-1 to Germany in the World Cup... as I was watching the motorway just afterwards I saw not one single England flag adorning a car... now, if Andy Murray would just lose at Wimbledon we can go back to being the cheerful underdog, rather than the cocky, "never-shut-the-hell-up-about-it" winner! (That and I just really dislike his poxy attitude, the fact he can never even crack a grin when he's welcomed on court to thunderous applause... oh, and the fact that he reminds me of a rat-faced chump *sorry for insulting the rats, there*)

Just had a haircut

... I got Mum to lop four inches off the bottom... it's sort of shoulder length now (it's still wet, so it will raise up a bit once dry). It feels so much nicer... I hate the feeling of having hair everywhere (especially the stray ones that seem get inside your clothes and tickle your bloody back!)... and I also want to to stop dying it as I've noticed that it's getting really thin lately (and I seem to lose an awful lot when I wash my hair, which I have to do every day). I can still get it in a pony tail, so it's all good :)

I feel so tired again today, and my eyes are itchy and stingy and I have a stuffy nose (sure sign of hayfever, though I've taken my antihistamine today, so I've no idea why I still feel like that :( )... I'm still in my pj's, but I have to get dressed soon, for some reason I seem to be more tired when I stay in them than when I get dressed (probably psychological, as I associate pj's with bed or feeling unwell).

My stomach seems to be ok, it feels very "heavy" though, probably the leftover from the other day (though it feels as if it wouldn't take too much for it to react again :( )

Anyway, I'm enjoying my "unofficial" time off (not expecting any calls about work until May)... money is tight, but sorted (which is a relief) and I'm amazed just how little you actually need to survive on when you really try... I've had a closer look at my book collection and re-discovered some that I'd forgotten about and my local library is (hopefully) re-opening (after a major refit) this weekend, so I might have a wander up there and see if they have anything new :). I love not having the boys in here, peace and quiet have returned, and when we told the little girl we have (E) that the boys had left, her exact words were "Oh good!" LOL. With just her here it now means that until Noo comes in (Friday afternoons sometime after 2) we have Friday mornings off, and also work a half day Wednesdays. I could get used to it, I have to say. The last time I drove the car was Monday when we took Sissy back to Brighton and I haven't missed it, not really... it's lovely to know there is a car there, but I don't miss having to second guess some of the idiots that are on the roads these days! Better for the environment, too (I'm certainly driving five miles less a week now, lol).

Now, if I could just get my eyes to stop stinging and find some energy (as my "get up and go" seems to have "got up and gone" without me!) it would be perfect.

That feels better

Dyed my hair again yesterday... it looks much better now without the over half an inch of light brown roots with the increasing amount of white! (getting old, Minty, getting old!)

I really need to get off my backside and get some exercise... I so wish that my bloody left achilles tendon wasn't so painful. I used to walk all over the place, but lately it always seems to be hurting no matter how far I walk (or don't). I was hoping that decreasing the distance I walked would make a difference and have it stop killing me, but I think I'm just going to have to get used to it hurting from now on... stupid ankle.

The weather isn't helping, either... if it weren't for the crocus that are blooming all over the place I wouldn't even know that spring was almost here... going to the shop earlier for some milk I could have sworn that it was approaching autumn... the smell of bonfires and that nip in the air that seems to signal the start of the end of the year.

HURRY UP ALREADY, SPRING!!!

My itchy scalp is driving me MAD!!!!

I've suffered with dermatitis on my scalp for years. I don't get it very often, but when I do it makes my life an itchy hell. My scalp from the crown to my hairline on the back of my head starts itching, then it makes itchy lumps (which I then scratch) and then it burns! That is normally how it is... today though, for some reason my whole head is one huge itch... it really is driving me insane and for some reason my whole body seems to feel itchy, too! This is what I have (though not as extreme as the top picture!) - Seborrhoeic Dermatitis

I have done nothing out of the ordinary, eaten nothing unusual, not changed washing powder/fabric softener or shampoo/conditioner (the ones I use do vary, but they are all brands I've used before without problems). I'm also not under any undue stress or strain (well, not that I can think of anyway), so why it's suddenly come on today I have no idea.

What usually happens is that my head gets hot (it is worse the longer my hair is) and I have to cut my hair off to about an inch from my scalp and then it eases and disappears. Maybe it has something to do with the air getting to my scalp, of maybe having longer hair just makes my head too hot. My hair gets greasy very quickly, and I have to wash my hair every day or it looks a total mess... and the longer it gets the more of a hassle everyday washing is (and sometimes if I put my hair up whilst it's still wet it doesn't even really have a chance to dry out before it needs washing again... drives me nuts!) - so I try and leave it longer, but I'm wondering if that it worse as the grease from my scalp just sits there and is probably making things worse.

One of the few things that always seemed to stop the itching was to colour my hair (permanent colour, something to do with the peroxide), but I only did that less than two weeks ago, plus I haven't been paid yet, so have no money for the dye.

The only thing I've done that I wouldn't normally do was get caught out in the rain yesterday. I was coming home from a school run and got caught with no hood or umbrella, and my head got soaked. In the past getting rain on my hair just made it greasy (I have no idea why) but I'm wondering if something in the rain water could have reacted badly to my scalp chemistry (or something like that?!). It's all I can think of.

I feel an extreme haircut coming on... if nothing else it will solve the problem of getting rid of the black hair and getting my natural colour back... I am loathe to do it, though, as I really hate having super-short hair, and I just know that everyone will laugh at me for it **sigh**

I could cry right about now, I really could, out of total frustration!

CRAP.. CRAP... CRAP!!! How very ANNOYING!

Dyed my hair with a blue/black colour just now... and I think they forgot to put in the black!! The inch and a half of brown roots (with some white) have gone BLUE!!! So much for the blue/black being a very intense black **sigh**

I just get the feeling that Feria by L'Oreal hair dyes just don't like me (or rather my hair). All of the Feria ones I've tried have been fairly rubbish. Fortunately I still have a Feria Blackest Black (or something like that) so once my hair has dried I may be using that one later this evening (yes, it's Feria, but beggars can't be choosers and I have no way of getting another dye at such short notice, plus I'd like to get rid of it)... I can't go out with blue roots - if I'd wanted it to look like that, fair enough, but I don't, so it has to go!!!

The best black dye I have used so far has been one by Perfect 10 by Clairol... it made my hair black, and also left it feeling lovely (plus it smelt nice, whilst on my head and also the conditioning treatment afterwards). Think I will be going back to that from now on... at least it does what it says it will.

Back to black

My hair is now black again... after a very sweaty day of having to wear a hat whenever I went out, I decided to just go back to having black hair... at least now I can leave the house and not worry about the wind blowing my hat away and having everyone laughing at my freakish hair, LOL!!

I have never been so relieved than when I removed the towel from my head and saw a whole head of hair the same colour staring back at me, hehe... looks like black is the new me from now on, LOL!

Whoops!!

Well that didn't work... in fact it failed on an epic scale!

The RUSK Elimin8 Colour Remover didn't do quite as I expected... it did remove the black from the roots, shame it left behind a garish bright orange colour instead! Not good as the roots were my natural colour!!!!! As for the black on the ends?? Well, that seems to be a very dark maroon -ish colour that is very nearly black! My hair looks dreadful and it also smells really bad, too! (even though I shampooed it twice and conditioned it, too).


Not sure what my next move is, to be honest... do I try and dye it light brown and see if the ends will lighten? Do I cut it all off and start again? Do I just leave it as it is and say I dyed it like that for Children in Need or a bet? Or do I dye it black again in order to cover over the mess that it now is, ending up right back at square one?

**sigh**

Think I'll try getting a good quality light-ish brown and see if it works... if not then it looks like I'll be getting a very short haircut after all, LOL!!!!

An example of how my brain works!

I currently have mid long (just past my shoulders) hair that is dyed black. Now black is the worst colour to remove from hair, which I didn't know when I did it. I've had the feeling, for a few weeks, that I'd like to go back to my original hair colour... in fact I grew to hate the black and just wanted it gone!!

Fast forward two weeks, and I got the stuff today that I ordered from Ebay that will remove the colour and probably (if all goes to plan) give me back my natural colour, white hair and all... and now I have it here I'm hesitating to use it.

Maybe it's because my own hair colour is fairly boring, or maybe it's something else entirely (with me, who can tell?! hehe) I do like the colour, but the thought of being stuck with black hair forever (or until I wrecked it with bleach or cut it off) was probably the biggest problem! Now that I have something to remove it, whenever I want to, all of the pressure seems to be gone and I'm happy for the colour to stay (at least for the moment  **sigh**). Maybe it was because I thought I had no choice, and now I do I don't have to stress it that much.

See what I mean about being indecisive?!

This is why I piss myself off... all the time!! Not to mention the poor people that have to live with me, LOL.

Such a great display this year

That was worth going out for... even though the fireworks started 15 minutes late and I forgot to take my asthma pump with me (so my chest was really tight on the walk up). We (Mum and I) stood in a different place this year as a friend of ours said that the let-off site had been moved from last year... turned out that we were standing virtually underneath the fireworks, and a couple of times we got hit with little pieces of dead firework... and I have some sort of grey stuff all over my black top that wasn't there when I left the house (do hope it washes off, this top is new, hehe).


I'm now really sleepy as I had a massive jacket potato when I came home, and now I can't stop yawning, LOL!


I re-dyed my hair tonight, even though I said to myself I wasn't going to... the thing with dying your hair black, though, is that once you do it, you can't change the colour unless you go to a salon and have it bleached to within an inch of it's life... so I am going to have to have black hair for the foreseeable future... either that or I have to cut it all off and start again from about an inch long! I really wish I'd never dyed it with that semi-permanent in the first place... it was a total liar and that first semi-perm black left a dreadful red colour behind and didn't wash out at all so I was forced to dye it permanently black to get rid of it, lol! Oh well, as long as my hair stays soft enough for my liking it will be ok... at least I don't have the nasty grey/white hair anymore, although I do still think that having one stripe of white in the front, a la Lily Munster, would look very cool, but then I'm fairly weird that way HAHAHA!!

Finally re-dyed my hair

I got Mum to do it today (my unwilling helper, LOL!) It looks so much better then before... it didn't seem black enough the first time, and it developed an annoying red tinge to it after a while, and I really didn't like that! Fingers crossed that this brand does as it says and doesn't fade (the colour is supposed to be "waterproofed" so it should be ok). Just as long as it stays relatively black and doesn't go reddish, I'll be a happy camper.

As the temperature is dropping I seem to be getting happier! I always seem to as it means that I can wear the clothes I like and not sweat my arse off the whole time. This summer was quite kind to me... very few really hot days, and the ones that were occured on days when I could stay indoors, hahaha... which is great. I still, somehow, managed to get a tan on my arms, but hopefully it will fade in time.

Have found some more music to hopefully invest in soon, lol... Type O Negative, for starters... I've been listening to some of their songs, and I really like them (thanks Wolfmammy for pointing me in their direction).

**wanders off to have a look and see what she can see at amazon**

Their best of album is downloading from amazon as I type (the one that the band released and not the one that their record label did without their consent! The Least Worst of...) Will have to burn a couple of cd's and blast it out in the car, as well as put it onto my mp3... Minty is happy (and very glad of the early payday that I forgot all about, hehe!). I also got the Dracula sequel written by Dacre Stoker, Dracula: The Undead... I do hope that it lives up to its predecessor (not going to be happy if Dacre drops the ball there, LOL!!)

It's my birthday...

... and I'm freezing, LOL! That shouldn't be allowed... people should be warm on their birthday, hehe. I'm typing this wearing chenille gloves my hands are so cold!

I've had a good day so far (except for the school run where the youngest boy started crying and saying that he thought his Dad was going to collect him... that was fun (not). He calmed down when we got home, and at one stage I had to pick him up, and he started that squirmy-kicking thing that little kids do, so I put him down and he was walking along with his hands over his face, moaning at the same time LOL!)

I got some nice presents... I got a couple of cd's that I've been after for ages, a replica A-Z from 1939 (which the history buff in me loves, as it shows my area before the motorway at the end of my garden was here and before all of the Blitz damage, which is facsinating), I got a black leather-look notebook, with silver edged pages and a silver skull and crossbones on the front (that I'm thinking of using for either a new diary, though it may be a little small for that, or better still as a book for writing my candle blessings and stuff in, as the book I currently use is getting a bit tatty now) and I also got a new red parasol-style umbrella (the ones that look like a mini Japanese pagoda roof) and I love it! It's a proper umbrella, but looks like a parasol. I also got some vegetarian sushi and a large box of chocolates (yummy).

I got loads of birthday greetings, too (online anyway) and I even got some from forums that I don't even remember joining, hahaha!


The sea kelp really seems to be making my hair grow... since I coloured it black last week (permanently, too, must be getting daring in my old age, lol) it seems to have grown about a centimetre! That's bonkers! But then my hair has always grown quickly, but a centimetre in a week?! Oh well... I'll have the long hair I want all that much sooner, won't I... LOL!!

Now... if I could just get rid of this damn cold...