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Sunday, October 20, 2013

Late Nights and Poor Diet

My skin feels stress better than my brain does.  Where my brain just tells me that everything will be okay and completed on time, my skin decides to throw an acne party on my skin, and all of its hormonal cystic friends are invited.

This diagram upsets me.  Source: https://zenmed.com/skincare/acne/forms-of-acne/Cyst.jpg


So what does one do when one can't get enough sleep and has no time to cook proper food?  When exercise hasn't happened due to time constraints and caffeine is being consumed multiple times more than water?

As I write this, I realize that maybe I should go to sleep instead, so my body sort of has time to repair (although I'm given to understand that the body does most of its repair work between 11 PM and 1 AM, so maybe I'll just finish this since I'm past the point of no return anyway, for tonight).

Does my brain being tired also have anything to do with my shopping spree today?  Because my wallet is very upset with me...  I'll have to give my spoils of war a good few blog posts tomorrow.  For now, as my roommate tells me every night, it's "time to hit the hay".

Monday, October 7, 2013

Review: LUSH No Drought Dry Shampoo

I've recently discovered that I can survive a day without washing my hair.  I had always put it out of question, since puberty made my hair turn into a sopping mess of oils and flat hair, and from then on, the improvements were far and few.  Eventually the excessive oil phased out, and I was just left with hair that can't be slept on, or else will lose all the volume I put so much work into.

But with all the magazine articles insisting that we should not be washing our hair everyday, and the detriments to hair health that comes along with the habit... I had to give dry shampoo a chance.

Enter LUSH Cosmetics' No Drought dry shampoo, the first I ever tried (partially due to circumstance -- working there meant I got to try it gratis).  It took a lot of convincing for me to finally try it, because it is a white powder with a lemon scent -- I don't care for citrus scents, and white powder didn't seem like a good idea with dark hair.  There was a small bottle kicking around in my bathroom though, so after a while I caved to curiousity.

Source:  http://www.lush.ca/No-Drought/9999903589,en_CA,pd.html?start=5&cgid=liquid-shampoos
The talc in the formula works to mop up oil, while the grapefruit and lime oils clarify the scalp and leave it smelling fresh with a hint of citrus.  I have to admit, the scent doesn't bother me at all now that I've used up a bottle of it.  Also, speaking of essential oils, no it does not make your hair more greasy with its oil content.  In fact, compared to the dry shampoo I'm now using (I will review when I am finished with it, or when I can no longer stand it), I quite like that the oils were there to make the scalp smell like you just washed your hair.  Soaking up oil is fantastic and all, but if people can catch a telltale whiff that you skipped your shampoo today... well, what's the point, then?

The only downside I have had from friends and others is the usage.  I admit, it's a weird product to use, but once you get a hang of it the routine becomes fairly easy.  I think on the website and catalogue they suggest shaking it directly onto the scalp and massaging it in from there, but I personally find it easier to use when I shook a small quantity onto my palm (size of a quarter perhaps).  From there, I massage it into my scalp against the direction of gravity, i.e. if I am trying to get the front/crown, I flip my head upside down and carry the powder in my palm to make contact with the scalp, thereby creating no mess.  I found that this way, I used the product more efficiently -- it's not expensive, but it's money nevertheless -- and had less random white flecks on my clothing or on the floor.  My usage also did not leave me with a white scalp, which is a common complaint from users.  Lastly, because I have long hair (but really everyone should just do this), I brush my hair with a bristle brush to get any white residue off the strands so I don't look like I have aged overnight.

With No Drought, I did not find the effect long-lasting.  It was sufficient if I wanted to amp up my day-two ponytail or if I wanted to degrease and didn't mind the lack of lasting volume.  It's definitely not for if you need it to make your hair seem like you did wash it -- if anyone knows of such a miracle product, please tell me about it!  Overall, I would purchase it again.  I think it is still under $20 for the large bottle, and the small bottle lasted me a good couple of years of irregular use.  I think if I were to have used it every day the small bottle would have lasted half a year or less, suggesting that a full bottle would be a good run for your money.  It's better than most other dry shampoos for their value.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Fitness Block

I'm a bit frustrated with my fitness level at the moment, except I'm not really sure what to do about it.

When January of this year rolled around, my work at the time started a self-ran CrossFit group.  It wasn't intense in the way I hear about most CrossFit workouts are, which was just fine by me and the rest of the attendees.  It was a group effort performed at each individual's own pace, and if you chose to push, you knew your own limit.

Then sometime mid-February, I picked up running.  At first it was the most disheartening run ever, because a half-marathon-running friend asked me to go explore the nearby urban forest with her.  I agreed thinking it would be good for me to try running.  I felt bad the entire time because I was just so slow, so I ended up telling her to go ahead without me and we caught each other before heading back to work from our tiresome lunch break.  It was the beginning of something good though.  From that day on, I tried to go for runs every lunch hour that we didn't have CrossFit, and pretty soon I had a good routine of both going, with at least three days a week of lunch breaks spent working out.

                              The urban forest that started all my running                                               Source: http://vancouverisawesome.com/2011/10/31/nicholson-road-week-65-green-timbers-urban-forest-park-surrey/

As an aside, I never really liked gyms.  I'm not sure why -- the people looking at you if you're doing an exercise that required you to splay your legs apart, the smell of rubber mats and sweaty bodies, or the way it makes me think of mice or hamsters in a cage running on a wheel instead of running freely... uhh, I'll stop.

The summer passed by beautifully, with so many opportunities for outdoor activities, it was probably the most fit I have ever been.  CrossFit died down, but running picked up, and so did other random activities.  I tried a beginner's lesson on Tae Kwon Do, climbed the Grouse Grind after an eight-hour work day with keen colleagues, and attended a couple of (fairly competitive) badminton sessions.  Then September rolled around, work ended, school started, and all of those good habits seemed to roll down the drain.

I still try to keep running at least once a week, if not more.  The cold weather makes my respiratory system feel like it is threatening me to fail, but I've been fortunate with a few nice days a week here and there to keep a relatively decent running routine. 
Why does it always look like this in this city?
               Why does it always look like this in this city?                        Source: http://www.cbc.ca/vancouverweather/mt/2013/09/fall-weather-here-to-staysept-16th.html
My problem, then, is that although running helps keep my heart healthy, my body seems really reluctant to let go of blubber.  My midsection, to be exact.  I'm trying (days on, days off) to eat healthy, but it just gets so difficult when your brain is on hyper-drive every day for lectures, labs, tutorials, exams...  The studying makes me so hungry!  I keep granola and fruit at my desk at work, which I go to every day between classes, in effort to save myself from caving to the call of fries and cookies and delicious but terrible foods.  Something just doesn't seem right.

Now, for those who know me personally and think I'm being ridiculous, I have to say: I don't dress to show off blubber, and I know what I see in the mirror each day before I jump in the shower.  I'm not complaining in a delusion that I am fat, but I do think that I would like to give my fitness level a jump start.  Or my eating habits a kick in the rear.  I don't know.  Keeping healthy brings up my mood, and perhaps that is ultimately what I am looking for by writing this.  What do you do to keep fit and feel good?

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Review: AVON Advance Techniques Volume Root-Boosting Tonic

I am missing my AVON Advance Techniques Volume Root-Boosting Tonic so badly it's not even funny.


But a bit of background to my bottle of this product is in order:

A friend of mine, who believes that she needs volume when really she has beautiful hair as it is (strictly my opinion, because she doesn't believe me), purchased this in addition to some AVON products that she uses regularly.  Her hair is naturally wavy, with a medium thickness and in general good condition.  She gave the bottle to me after trying it, because it didn't do anything to her hair -- neither volumized nor flattened.  I, of course, am endlessly complaining about my search for volume, so she decided I needed to try it.

I have never really been tempted to use AVON products, simply because they are usually sold by people you know who are sales representatives of the company.  My mother used to be one for another skincare company, and I always found the concept strange.  I also have an irrational distrust for drugstore or cheaper brands, since bad encounters are quite frequent in my own experience.  Not sure how much this was, the website says $8 but I can't decide if that's USD or CAD -- I had mine for free because my friend didn't want it

But because she is a friend for whom I value the opinion of... I tried it.  Hence this review.


The product comes in a spray bottle that offers a fine to medium mist.  You spray it onto the roots, wherever you need volume (in my case I sprayed a good amount on my entire head), before blow-drying and styling as usual.  It was very easy to use and smelled of floral-fruity freshness (I may blog about my thoughts on "fresh"-smelling in the future...).  I didn't think much of it at the time, but my hair enjoyed the benefits of having a boost in volume that lasted the day at work.  It wasn't dramatic, but it was a notable difference versus lying plastered onto the scalp.  The only downside I may include is that it does leave the roots feeling a bit gritty if you spray too concentrated, but it doesn't look gritty at all, and if you don't touch it you won't even be affected!

Source:  http://shop.avon.com/product.aspx?level2_id=341&pdept_id=432&cat_type=C&pf_id=40316


My hair does not suffer any (detectable) effects of humidity, so for those who do, I'm not sure if that will make a difference in how the product works for you.  I'll update this if I ever get a friend to experiment on.

Overall, it is the better volumizing spray for the roots I have used to date.  I am currently running with a couple of other products, and they make me miss this one all the more!