As I keep my hair always up, and need to have a ponytail start, this might be a reason for some splits. But my splits are really everywhere...there's no "damage concentration" in my crown area.  The situation has improved a lot lately, though. I have oiled my ends a lot, treated my hair gently for since November and trimmed regularly splits. There are still some, but the situation is far from the worst. But I'll definitely start to think of how could I prevent ponytail damage. Wearing my hair down is definitely not an option- death for the ends- and in most days my hair is so slippery that braided styles won't stay. Still, there's got to be something that can be done...

Yesterday my ends felt dry- I guess that since I've trimmed in December, they are entitled to be a bit dry. But for first aid, I threw them into a scarf bun with a load of jojoba oil for the day. In the evening I washed -again with LV shampoo- and vinegar rinsed it. It seems that overconditioning is impossible for me in the winter. Today, cold weather continues, so I'm going to dry oil my ends again, mist with rosewater and do a scarf bun.

So, I started to ponder the problem, how could I make ponytails to different places and ended up doing a sort of classic braiding: I did a middle part, french braided both sides as long as the "french" part went. Then I combined the ends to one ponytail, twisted it to bun at the nape of my neck, put on a net and secured with my Spring Forsythia hairsticks. T was still at home when I was doing my braiding (didn't see the final result though) and commented, that he loves my fancy updos. Now, he compliments me of my hair, but this particular compliment was new  . I'm also very happy with this style, it's so beautiful. The only downside is, that the braids take a bit time to make, especially as it's a bit difficult to make two braids that are exactly alike on self. Neverthless, I should have patience for this more often!

I washed my hair last night, the "usual treatment", CWC, amlika leave-in and dry oiling plus wet bunning. So, today's only option was to bun. Recently washed hair just is not good material for experimenting. I tried my FuturiStix, and guess what! They work surprisingly well in slippery hair. They're a bit thicker than my other hairsticks, and I think that the carved surface might have something to do with the matter...but this is very good!

I'm ready to call my LV shampoo experiment a success- all there is to it seems to be, that it is a simple, gentle cleanser, and as such a good addition to my shampoos. I still feel like continuing shampoo experiments- next I plan to go to a health food store and see, if I can find a good natural shampoo (though my Body Shop shampoo is excellent, it's ingredient list is far from natural).

I've been diligently trimming away some splits every day. There aren't overwhelmingly many, but it is visible, that time has really passed since my last trim. But, as winter's growth was so minimal, I really want to postpone my next trim until beginning of April.

On fun side, I thought to list things that I've learned about my hair since starting to treat it well.

1. My hair is fragile and needs to be pampered and treated super gently.

2. Brushing regularly is a major mistake.

3. So is sleeping without a French braid.

4. My hair does not require washing every other day.

5. It loves to be bunned, especially inside a scarf. I don't think it would tolerate being down often very well.

6. It needs to be dusted often.

7. When in good health, it is super slippery. However, slipperiness can be overcome without resorting to tons of hairspray. Bun nets, hairsticks and aloe vera gel can tame my hair in normal situations.

8. French Twist just doesn't work.

9. I better stay away from hairstylists. New LL hairsticks are far better investment.

10. Shine spray is totally useless if the hair is healthy.

EDIT: 11. How could I forget this? Though it doesn't look like growing, it grows. Not equally much every month, but the average seems to be quite normal amount of growth.

I bought the rug...feel much safer now. 

I went to Helsinki, and among other things searched for a satin pillowcase. I was really surprised to discover, that even in the city's best warehouse there weren't anything that appeared to be a quality product. People really don't use those things here! I guess that I need to resort to internet shopping again... I also looked a bit natural shampoos available, and found a couple of brands that had natural ingredient lists. I couldn't make up my mind with those, so all I bought from that shop was a bottle of rosewater. I've become such a heavy user! But I guess that I'm allowed to be like that after managing of stopping using hairspray. To be truthful, I would have never believed that I can do that, and now that it seems to have happened, I'm very happy with myself.

Today is third day from hairwashing...and I'm so tired that I'm going to leave that until tomorrow. In any case, my hair looks quite ok in classic braid and I'm sure that a scarf bun doesn't look too bad tomorrow. My scalp has been itching a bit- maybe I'm in a need of a nice oil treatment to my roots and all.

I received my new hairsticks: Romantic Interlude Bridalstix and Zircon d'Or D'Or Stix. 

Romantic Interlude hairsticks are now my second hairsticks that I bought Chinese buns in mind. The crystals are very interesting and subtle coloring matches with everything. I'm sure I'm going to wear these a lot.

Zircon d'Or sticks are simply a knockout. My little collection has only beauties in it (can't afford to buy those pairs I find only mildly interesting ), but I think that this pair is most beautiful of all. Twisted ribbon beads are amazing...I NEED to have more of hairsticks with these!...and the design and color are  just spectacular. I love these! In fact, I love these so much that I think I'll drop Susan a special little thank you email.

My hair is doing pretty well. I'm dreaming of warming sauna on this weekend if my stuffy nose clears. I'd love to make an oil treatment...

I've made a decision.



It's then been 6 months since my last trim. I don't really think that a trim is necessary every 8 weeks as my stylist has taught me- when I thought about, why I think I need a trim, that was the only real reason that came up to my mind. My ends aren't in such a bad shape- thanks for regular dusting and moisturizing. A bit dry, but mostly the dry hairs are split or broken hairs that can be dusted away. I've just assumed that they must be since it's so long since my last trim. Doesn't sound very convincing, now does it? And, in case some damage develops, I can still trim that away when I stop for a while in BSL. So, until June, it's just dusting, dusting, dusting and hopefully lots of growth!

Inspired, I had a little longer dusting session right away, and I got rid of quite a few splits. Much better! For finishing touch, I added a drop of jojoba oil to very ends, misted ponytail part with rosewater and put everything inside a scarf bun. Nice!

The oil treatment really made my hair happier. Scalp itching is gone again- I guess that in my case, it's sign of the scalp getting too dry. It's just like the rest of my skin, then, needs moisturizing and starts to itch if I don't take good care.

Did a small dusting. The splits aren't so easy to find at the moment, but I prefer the situation to stay that way, so I keep dusting a couple of times a week, checking a random section of hair every time.

I can't believe this. It should be spring here, but it's colder than ever during the "real" winter months.
Not too many styling options available: scarf bun is the only comfortable style that stays neat for the whole day and isn't disturbed when I get in and out of my hoods and scarves. I'm happy that I bought those pretty bandanas (I'm going to Helsinki again today and am hoping to find one or two more). I hope that my scarf collection will keep me entertained until the weather gets warmer and I can wear all my beautiful hairsticks again.