{numbers twenty & twenty one} {&& a first reaction}

{20.}
Plug in/Unplug.

How has technology affected your life (positively or negatively) in 2011? Do you want this to continue for 2012?

IIIIII bought an iPhone this year. And you know what they say about always having with with you and pulling it out for crazy reasons? All true. Need to know how to spell something? Let me get my iPhone. Need to know how much something costs at a different store? Oh, let me get my iPhone. It's crazy how useful that little phone is. And you know how they say that once you have an iPhone, you'll never go back to a regular one and wonder how you ever lived without it? Also true.

So much so that now my husband now wants one. He neverrr wanted one.. Always saying that he would never use it. Until I got mine. And he wants to know the score to a game. Or he wants to fill time playing a game. Yeah. So he's getting on in March with his upgrade. But he'll be getting the 4s, while I only have the 4. Whatever. As long as I can use it to make Suri crazy, I'm ok with it.



{21.}
Ripple.

The butterfly effect poses that a small change can ripple across whole ecosystems. Who do you credit for the small action that made all the difference in your life this year?


Eesh, what a question. A question that I'm not sure I have an answer for. So. Moving on.


To a first reaction..

I washed my hair with that Hair One stuff. Did I ever link to it? Go HERE to check it out. I was a little weirded out by the fact that there were no suds, but sulfate free stuff doesn't suds up. Suds are bad for your hair.

Anyway, it says to thoroughly wet your hair for a minute or two then put 5 to 7 pumps on the crown/nape of your neck and massage that into your scalp. I used 6 pumps. Let it sit for a few minutes then lightly rinse to get it down to the length of your hair. Then you'll add another 5 to 7 pumps. I only used 2 for this one. The longer you let it sit, the better. I washed my body and shaved my legs then rinsed it out. I was a little disappointed with the fact that I had to use a detangler, but whatever. I use the kid friendly kind so I'm hoping it's not full of bad stuff. And who knows, maybe the longer I use this stuff, I won't need to use detangler.

I know the leave in conditioner I use has parabens in it, but I don't care.. I used about half of what I normally do and focused on the ends. The Hair One stuff says you can use it as a leave in conditioner, but until I know exactly how this stuff will act with my hair, I'll stick to what I was already using, the Garnier Fructis stuff. Then I twisted my hair up into a turbi-twist thingy and ate dinner.

I will say, when I took my hair out to blow dry it, it was MUCH drier than I'm used to. I don't know if that's because I didn't have all the crap coating my hair or what, but I'm ok with it! And blow drying was a breeze. I have naturally curly hair so when I blow dry it, it tends to want to poof and go crazy. I've definitely learned how to control it, but I did see a difference in the texture after using this stuff. It was MUCH easier to dry with a big, round brush and I even think it dried faster. Overall, if I didn't have crazy fly aways around my face and along my part {thanks to broken strands] then I miiiight even get away with not straightening it. Granted, it won't be slick smooth, but it still looked presentable! I don't think I've ever said that.

And straightening went by really fast, too. It normally takes me about 10 to 15 minutes to straighten my hair and I think it took me no more than 8 to 10 minutes. I only has to pass the straightener over each section once. Yes, I know that's what you're supposed to do to begin with, but I'm not putting the iron on 400 degrees.. 350 is WAY high enough as it is.

I was so surprised that I called my mom when I was done. Ha! I knew that washing my hair at night, I would wake up with the greasies around my ears and on top of my head and I was right. It was no different than what I'm used to. But I do see a difference in how healthy my hair is without adding a shine serum, which is basically silicone= bad for hair.

I'm not sure if this stuff is meant to prolong the time between washes, but without all the yucky detergent in shampoo stripping your hair of it's natural oils, it might just do the trick. I know it'll take my hair some time to get used to it, though. But really, I only notice the greasies when my hair is straight. When I curl my hair, er, let my hair dry naturally, I pretty much have to wet it every day to get the curls to bounce back, so I was washing it, on average, every day. Maybe I'll find a moisturizing natural conditioner to use between washing with this stuff if I decide to continue using it.

At only $11, it is more than what I'm used to paying {maybe $3 or $4 per bottle} but not much more. Especially if you consider the costs for all the treatments I use. All the "deep conditioning" stuff I experiment with. But I'm not sure how long 12 ounces will last me. I typically go through a bottle of shampoo/conditioner every 2 months, so we shall see. If I really like this, though, $11 isn't a deal breaker. If it were WEN, then it would be a deal breaker! I don't know about $30 a month. I'm not one to really splurge on my hair, though. I get it highlighted once a year in May. And then I'll color it myself in October back to brown. Maybe color it again in January to get the vibrant color back. And to get rid of stupid pesky greys. So, that's what? Maybe $60 a YEAR on colorings? And $60ish on shampoo/conditioner {I only buy on sales, so I factored in the deep stuff here, too}. So $120 total a year on my hair. That's $10 a month. Doable.

I'm fully expecting to use dry shampoo tomorrow morning. I use THIS stuff if you're wondering. I've tried a bunch and this is the only one that works best with my hair. It doesn't leave my hair feeling weighed down and if I do a good job at letting it soak in then brushing it out, it doesn't leave a white/grey cast on my hair. The smell isn't the BEST but on the third day, anything smells better than oily hair. Haha. Anyway, tomorrow I know I'll have to use it. I'm hoping that maybe one day my hair will chill out with the oil production and I can go longer without using it. If not, well, then maybe I'll just have to lose this hair care battle.

The argan oil has sold me, though. I've heard tons of great stuff about it and I even picked up a bottle of it while at Sally's yesterday but then I realized that the conditioner had it in it. So I put it back. And I don't think that I'll be getting it, either. Not as long as I'm using this stuff, anyway.

Oh. The smell. They all smell differently and though I liked the cucumber one the best, this one certainly isn't bad. As soon as I put it in my hair, I knew it was a familiar scent, I just couldn't place it. It's a masculine scent, thats for sure. The more I smelled it and the more I thought about it, I realized that it's my dad's cologne. I'm not 100% sure, but I think it's Stetson. I'm going home this weekend and plan on doing a sniff test. I'll let you know what I find out. LOL! Anyway, it's not exactly the most feminine smell, but it's not terrible. I think it's actually growing on me. This isn't rose hips and goji berry, though, so be warned. Think outdoorsy, musky almost.

Annnnd I think this is enough. So far, I like it and I'm definitely going to use the rest of the bottle. I'll report back in a week and let you know what I think. I'm coloring my hair this weekend, too, and this stuff is supposed to be really good with hair color. Again, since it doesn't have the oil stripping ingredients, it doesn't have the color stripping ingredients= happy hair. I'll let you know.