So, today is actually a Thursday, so I’m going to do it right and post one today (since the one below was actually written yesterday, and the whole sha-bang).
Other than that, not much. Spring Break starts tomorrow *woohoo* When I get back home, I can’t wait to go shopping for fabric for my cosplays, and I can’t wait to sleep. I’ll be back in the city from Saturday – Wednesday, and that coming weekend, I have a conference (NEACURH Mini No-Frills), while is like a collection of hall councils in the North East Area. It’s going to be interesting.
I get to totally screw around with my hair *is excited about screwing around with hair* I want to do one of the crazy ones (like mohawk), since the theme of the Mini No-Frills is Rock Band.
Because I spent a whole day yesterday complaining about JRPGs versus WRPGs, I decided to lay off the complaining (woah, omg, Jo’s going to not rant our ears off), and write something about hair (woah, omg, Jo is actually a girl behind that manly complexion). It’s not tips, or anything, it’s just simply about hair. Actually, at the moment, I’m not sure what it’s going to be on (since, you know, I write all of these completely on the fly).
Also, I’ve been showing everyone the video of Osaka Bang, which is about a TV crew who walks around Osaka and pretends to shoot people with an invisible gun. Most (all) of the reactions are of people falling down, pretending to die, or reflecting the bullet. In other words, all of them pretend to be aware of some invisible bullet that kills them. I think it’s hilarious as all fuck.
There’s a United States version that attempts to do the same thing in Universal Studios (you can see it here), but it’s not as funny. You learn that United States, unlike Japan, does not react to a gun. However, they do react to ninja/karate moves, which is equally odd, although not as entertaining.
It just reminds me of how funny I think Japanese TV shows are, and how not-entertaining American reality TV shows are. Like “The Survivor” is not interesting, but Human Tetris (or Ninja Warriors) is indescribably entertaining.
Currently Listening: Vi sitter i ventrilo och spelar DotA (Basshunter)
Currently Watching: Soul Eater, Dollhouse
Currently Playing: The World Ends With You, Trauma Center
Current Mood: Excited (for Spring Break!)
So. Hair.
When I went to Walmart (man, I need one whole post just about Walmart and my first-time experience in a Walmart Super Center), I decided to switch it up and change my shampoo and conditioner.
I know this doesn’t sound like much to most people (since you all just buy the cheapest whatever you can get your hands on), but this is a really big deal to me, since I haven’t changed what conditioner I used for about a year and a half now, and I only one of two shampoos. When I go to conferences/conventions/out, I always end up bring my own shampoo and conditioner because I’m a freak of nature and I only use one product.
So yea. I bought entirely new shampoo and conditioner. The shampoo/conditioner I used to use was John Frieda – Frizz Ease and now, I recently bought Herbal Essences, which I used to be all over. Herbal Essences is about 1/2 the price of John Frieda (it’s $3.00 a bottle compared to $6.00), and I find my hair feeling silkier after I come out of the shower as opposed to when I used John Frieda. John Frieda leaves your hair feeling soft, while Herbal Essences leaves it feeling strong. It’s like, holding a knitted dress compared to holding a silk gown.
Also, yesterday and today have been particularly windy days. I’m still not used to the chilly Geneseo weather, so the wind always surprises me. I was really glad that my hair didn’t stay completely freaked out, like it normally does. Prior to my switch, I always had to pull out a brush and brush my hair down, but I haven’t had to worry about that since using Herbal Essences.
I think it’s very impressive. You all must think I’m crazy.
Also, less hair falls out when I shower as opposed to when I used John Frieda. And, my scalp seems less dry (both very important things to keep in mind when taking care of hair).
From Experience, this is what I’ve gathered from various shampoos & conditioners:
Pantene Provine – With short hair, Pantene Provine leaves a decent shine for a cheaper price. With longer hair, Pantene Provine conditioner leaves your hair feeling oily, while using the shampoo alone leaves your hair feeling dry. Also, if you take bad care of your hair already (perms, straightening, curling, color treatment, ect), you’ll have an increased chance of getting split ends.
Overall, I would only suggest this with short, choppy, natural hair. And only if you have no other options.
Head and Shoulders – Head and Shoulders advertises itself as a dandruff-killing shampoo and conditioner. I personally don’t think Head and Shoulders smells really good (whenever I smell people’s hair, which is not often, I can tell which one is clearly using Head and Shoulders because it has a distinct, grimy smell). But damn is it a good dandruff preventer. I used it for the span of about a month when, during the prior month, I had loads of dandruff (coincidentally, it was when I used Pantene Provine).
I would suggest it to people who scratch their hair a lot (aka, have a lot of dandruff). I would really recommend it to them.
Suave – For it’s price and marketing strategy (use this cause it’s cheap as all fuck), it’s actually a good product. There’s a large variety of scents/smells, and I would not be afraid to use this product if I had to. If you’re expecting professional-grade shine, don’t. And their “professional grade,” products are just slightly altered natural products. In other words, don’t expect it to really treat the texture of your hair (this mostly applies to the conditioner products). It’s simply a basic shampoo, tried and true.
Herbal Essences – I’ve already mentioned that I’m using Herbal Essences (this is the first time since they changed their new look, but the product is strong as ever. Herbal Essences uses all natural products, or the majority of it is natural products. This means that your hair is mostly not as risk of getting “chemically altered” like in Pantene Provine (which prides itself in it’s chemical manipulation) and it won’t get the chemical smell of Head & Shoulders, or the fake-flower smell of Suave. It keeps your hair life-strong, but don’t expect to have it magically fix your hair.
Also, their products for color treated hair uses acai berry, which is touted to keep your hair very healthy. In fact, acai berry is used in shampoo that people make by hand and is high suggested for use.
I would suggest Herbal Essences for people who have normal hair and untreated hair, especially if it is thin, because Herbal Essences is a good way to naturally strengthen your hair.
Bath and Body Works – Bath and Body Works sells shampoo and, to some extent, conditioner, of a whole variety. I personally used the Bath and Body Works Temptation collection, which was a three in one that acted as a body wash, a shower wash and a shampoo. I would not suggest this unless you’re a moron like me who happens to like the smell of cinnamon buns on your skin and on your hair. Bath and Body works is also more expensive than it should be, and I would suggest you not use it, again, unless you must. I’ve never used their conditioner, so I can’t say, but I had to use the shampoo twice, every time, because my hair didn’t actually feel clean (and so dried out) after the first wash.
John Frida Collection – Also, as I had mentioned above, I used the John Frida collection for quite some time now. I found this collection when they were having a sample give-away in Rite Aid and I decided to try it out. They’re a very good and reliable product, and their frizz ease really does take the frizz out of your hair. On top of that, they have a very good line of products for post-shower treatment.
The one major drawback of John Frida is its price. John Frida is more expensive, even though it’s still a commercial product. It’s probably at least 1.5x the price, if not 2x the price.
I would recommend John Frida if you had damaged or mismanaged hair and want some way to treat it over time (remember, you can’t insta-fix your hair).
L’Oréal – I used L’Oréal most as a child, becase it’s one of the few shampoos with a chemical mix that won’t burn your eyes to death if your shampoo goes into your eye often, Plus, it had the cutest bottle of a fish. I also use it after coming out of pools and stuff cause, well, that’s just what I do. Now-a-days, L’Oréal touts itself as very high class professional care (What happened to the days of bright red shampoo bottles?). Their professional care is, as they claim, professional, although I don’t see many people use it outside the consumer market. Like John Frida, these products are particularly expensive and work well, but are consumer-professional at best.
I would suggest L’Oréal for kids or parents who have to care for kids. Or if you want to make bubble baths.
Garnier Frutis – Garnier is one of the more popular L’Oréal brands, and it’s particularly cheap and easy to find. I would say their after-shower products are better and stronger than their shampoo and conditioner products. They also tout themselves for using a lot of chemicals, so you have to be careful with deciding to use Garnier. I know they take care of treated hair well, so if your hair is dyed, permed or relaxed, I would suggest Garnier to keep your hair managably strong while still treated.
Matrix Biolage – Biolage first caught my eye in a salon when they were using one of the big jugs to clean my hair. Since then, they’ve been advertising themselves (slowly) into the commercial market. Most to all of their products are a blend of chemicals to alter the texture of the hair (mostly in the conditioner) and natural products, to pull out the dirt and grime in the hair (shampoo). Needless to say, Biolage is still indescribably expensive (the last time I saw a bottle, it was around $10), but it is really good for dry hair and mismanaged hair. The hydrotherapy and Fortetheraphy would be the one I suggest for people with mistreated hair. There is also a collection of after-shower products that do multiple things (decrease the amount of oil your scalp makes, strengthen your hair), and Biolage is one of the few companies that use bamboo in their hair products.
I would suggest Biolage for anyone with some money in their cash and feel like treating themselves to something nice (like nice shampoo, cause I’m a loser).
Overall, most shampoos are good for certain things. Most shampoo/conditioner brands that tout themselves as professional care, are actually not. The ones that are professional care usually came out as professional-level brands, and then started to sell commercially, and are still significantly more expensive.
If you really want to take care of your hair, you should love it. It’s your hair, and it may not be the same color, strength or amount in the years to come. Love it while you have it. And no, I’m not asking you to keep it natural (I, for one, have henna-treated, permed, multi-dyed hair that is often subject to straighteners and curling irons), but to love it, both in and out of the shower. Don’t scratch your scalp too much (dandruff, and it makes your scalp ooze more oil), don’t brush it too much (and pull your hair out), don’t wash it every day if you don’t have to.
Seriously. Some people think it’s disgusting, but you have to use significantly softer-treating shampoo to treat your hair every day. If muck builds on it slowly, and it gets oily slowly, washing it every day will probably just pull out all the natural oil you have (which is equally as terrible as making it too oily).
Long story short (I know, tl;dr), love your hair.
Mint Cafe 