Wow, bottom of the 3rd page, not good!!!  Time to come back to page 1!

It feels so good to be back, I hope everyone is doing well and growing tons of hair!    I have no idea what length my hair is right now, I haven't measured in months.... so why not do it right now??  What a novel idea!  Here goes...

Looks like 27 inches, not much different from a few months ago  , oh well.

As for the hair-care routine, pretty much the same also.  Only noteable change would be that I've been using Herbal Essences in place of Pantene lately, the Hello Hydration line.  I'm about half way through my first set of bottles and am pleased so far, we'll see how it works out in the long run though, that's the real test.  I haven't given up on my Pantene, just wanted a change of pace, that's all.

Life's been a little crazy the past few months.  I've been busy as ever with work, leaving me little time for anything else...as usual.  I've had a bit of a health issue and underwent a little surgery, it's a wait & see type of thing and hopefully all will be well from this point on.  It's already better so far.  Intermingled with that, my husband and I lost a friend of ours at the young age of 42.  It was very shocking and unexpected, as death usually is, and I know that I still need some time to let it sink in.  And you can throw the flu on top of all of that too, I'm finally starting to get back on my feet again though.  And through it all I've barely missed a beat... maybe one or two, but that's about it.  Life goes on.

Back to the hair....

I'm still faithful with ACV rinses, and also with using Kimberlily's leave in spray.  That stuff is just great.  When I don't want the heaviness of the oil, sometimes I will just spritz my hair with pure aloe juice, it's nice & light and moisturizing.    I also still wash my hair each and every day, it's just a must for me, the greasy look's just not for me!

This winter's been just brutal thus far, wreaks havoc on the hair, so I try to keep it safely tucked up as much as possible.  We've been blasted with snow starting in early november and has been going strong since.  Seems every week we're having a major snow or ice storm, bundles with sub-zero temps.  Not only is it horrible on the hair, but the oil bill.......oyyy!  Today we finally broke above 30 degrees, and I think we may see the 40's this week, so maybe some of this blasted snow will finally begin to melt away!

Well, that's a brief update for now, and hopefully I'll be back to the boards much more often now!

New products!!! 

I finally finished up my bottles of Herbal Essences Hello Hydration, well acutally I finished the conditioner before the shampoo, this always seems to happen anymore.  My ratio is 2:1, so I think I need to start doubling up on the conditioners from now on.  So, this is the first time in a LONG time that I've used the same product through from start to finish without doing any product switching in between.  Cool!     I never felt the need to switch, it worked consistently well from the first use to the last, with weekly ACV rinses of course.

So if I liked it so much, why didn't I buy them again?  Because I'm me, that's why.  Because I'm constantly hunting and scanning for new & different stuff, I can't ever just be satisfied when it comes to my hair or skin.  It's just me, what can I say?  So I head to the drug store after work with the sole purpose of returning home with a new set of either Pantene or Herbal Essences s&c, this was my goal.  Did I stick to it?  Kind of.  I did indeed pick out some new HE, unmatching and not the same as last time.  I chose Drama Clean shampoo and Long Term Relationship conditioner, which is supposed to be formulated just for long hair and those growing their hair long.  On my way up to the counter what catches my eye but something new, something organic, and something with a totally enticing name and aroma?  Organix Vanilla Silk shampoo and conditioner!  At $6.99 a bottle I should really pass it by and keep moving, since I've already picked out what I was there for.  But....... what is that little tag hanging off the cap, "Try me free", full rebate by mail.  Free?  Shiny and new and good-smelling?  Yup, no way I'm leaving without that in my bag too, so to the counter it went.

Now, which one to try first?  Well, I've already dabbled in the world of HE, so I decided on the Organix for my next-morning shower.  I seated them neatly in the shower caddy and they awaited me until morning.  I was actually excited to waked up early and give them a whirl.     I started off with a nice ACV rinse of course, so I had a clean slate to judge from, I did this before shampooing.  The texture of the shampoo was very nice, and the smell was out of this world, I am a huge fan of vanilla so this was a treat for me!  It washed nicely and rinsed out clean without my hair feeling stripped.  I left the conditioner in for several minutes, rinsing out as my last duty in the shower, and it, too, rinsed out nicely, so far so good.

After towel drying, I combed my hair out and allowed it to air dry, only using the hair dryer along with a large barreled  round brush on my bangs for a few seconds.  Just enough to keep them from laying too flat.  After that I was off to work (after getting dressed too), and I contemplated leaving my hair down for the day because it felt so nice, but decided that it was probably best to keep it safely tucked away in a bun while I work, so up it went.  At the end of the day it pulled the pins out and let my hair flow loose for the ride home, and I noticed how silky it felt, when I got home I was even greeted with a comment from my husband about how long and shiny my hair looked that day.    I'm hoping it was a sincere comment, being that I recently confessed to him how obsessed I've been with my hair the past few years, and how I'd love nothing more than to have my hair sweeping around at waist length.  He was a little bewildered looking, like "I had no idea"  , but he was cool about it, being that he's a long hair, too. 

So, it's only been two uses on the Organix, but I'm liking so far.  As usual, I don't want to get too excited about it, because it still needs to pass the test of time and repetition.

This morning I tried out my new HE for the first time.  Results aren't as good as with the former, I'm not doing back flips over them, but I'll use them both a few more times before forming a solid opinion on them.  The Drama Clean shampoo left my hair feeling a bit dry, maybe that's only good for occasional use, like when I want to clarify.  The conditioner's not too bad, though.  Maybe I'll try coupling that up with what's left of my Hello Hydration shampoo, see how that works out.

Oh, and I think I've decided on growing my bangs back out.  They are just about past the tip of my nose, and annoying as sin!  If I can stick it out to chin length I think I'll be ok.

That's it for today, peace my friends! 

Thanks, Sakina!  It's good to know that I'm not the only one who can't leave well enough alone.    We're curious souls, I guess.  hehehe

Hair:  Well, I jumped back to the Organix this morning to see how use #3 would be.  And it was awesome.  You know, I almost hate to say that, I'm sure that I'm putting a hex on it by doing so, I just know it!  Anyway, hair is lurvely again today, soft, supple, well conditioned and shiny..... and smelling wonderfully vanilla.    Although, upon closer inspection of the ingredients it's not exactly what I'd call an "all natural" product.  Yes, it does contain some organic and natural ingredients, but the rest of the list is all chemical sounding stuff..... including alcohol.    Hopefully the vanilla bean oil and shea butter (the good) out-perform the rest of the ingredients (the bad).  I will continue to use it even still.  For now.

Other stuff & things:  I am sooooooo longing for spring to start acting like spring.  After nearly six months of snow, slush, ice & sub-zero or hardly above zero temps.....not to mention bulky clothes, coats and boots...... I want a nice day already!!!  I'm sick of filling my oil tank every two bloody weeks, which is costing an arm and a leg right now, which I'm sure everyone else is aware of.  It's breaking my bank, man!    I want to wear sleeveless or even short sleeved shirts once again, and I miss my flip flops, socks be gone with!  Although I do love socks, wild, weird and crazy socks of all kinds, not the point though.  I also miss the wonderful smell of fresh air blowing in through open windows and doors, the smell of rain on a hot day, and the sight of, well, color.  Trees & leaves, flowers, grass...... the sound of crickets at night and birds in the morning....... when will it finally come?  At this point, not soon enough.

End rant.

Well, I fell better now so back to work for me.  Have a good day, all! 

Oh, the Organix sounds nIIIIce...I'll be interested to know how it performs in the long term.  --And you can't beat free!  Sakina, that's a COOL sock site!