Beauty: Hair RX

My hair is just coming out of a "recovery crisis." I put my hair through a lethal injection of peroxide, products, and hair extensions. I'm not stylist; and before my hair OD I new almost nothing about hair care. Now, Thanks To Stephanie Kocielski, and Paul Mitchell Systems, I'm learning to take better care of my hair through preventative action, and gentle styling agents. 

I'm a huge fan of Paul Mitchell, because the vast majority of their products are vegan, and environmentally progressive. Paul Mitchell uses a lot of natural oils, like tea tree, to enhance their products. I miss having super long (fake) hair. I want my hair to grow. Ideally I would like my hair  to be Marcia Brady steezey long. I asked Stephanie Kocielski, (VP of education for Paul Mitchell), if there was a way to make your hair grow faster, and here is her advice:

Hair growth, starts with health. To promote healthy hair use  natural based product. Stephanie recommends: the Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Shampoo. The Tea Tree oil invigorates the scalp; and will tingle pleasantly like a  low-cal peppermint patty. Then condition. For optimal hair revival: Give your self a break from  the daily shampoo routine. Try washing your hair every other day, or once every three days.

Healthy hair, is a reflection of overall health. For luscious locks, it important to eat a diet rich in proteins, b vitamins, and omega oils. Some of the best vegan proteins include: Arborio rice, tempeh, tofu, quinoa and mushrooms. 

To really get the "Marcia Brady" look, you have to do the Marsha Brady OCD hair brush routine. When you really brush your hair, you increase the circulation in you sculpt. Most hair oils gets stuck at the roots. Which is why, often hair will look greasy at our roots and crocodile dry at our ends. (Yes, ombre is in style, and is sticking around for spring but Ombre is about shades not effed up textures.) A good hair brush, along with a good brushing, helps pull down the natural oils from our scalp to our ends to help quench their dehydration. 

You can still get great style out of your hair, even when the wash isn't fresh. Stephanie shared with me this amazing cheat to amp up style after: a day on the slopes,  a workout,  house work, etc. This trick provides  easy volume, at no effort. 

SWEAT: Odorless

I'm back at school, and just starting my last semester. Crazy, I can't believe how fast my degree has gone by. I drove down for Banff Canada, to Spokane Washington on Tuesday. The drive wasn't horrific, but the snow did follow me down. Usually when it snows I am so eager to get out of the house and go up to the mountain. The responsibility of being a professional student blocked me from ditching class and heading for the slopes. So for the past few days, I have some what hibernated in my apartment. Terrified of loosing my prime, covered parking spot.

With my car parked cozy, I have had the TV on a bit more than usual. Yesterday I was watching The Revolution on ABC. The episode had a theme of sweat. I learned, from Dr. Jennifer Ashton: that sweat itself is usually odorless. What gives sweat it's odor is the bacteria living on our skin, and the toxins needing to be sweated out. Most people sweat in more places than just under their armpits. We all have sweat glands, everywhere on our bodies. Sweat Glads are one of the main distinguishing features of humans from canines and other fur covered animals. Canines need to pant to release body heat; while we just need to sweat. If you are embarrassed of your over-active sweat system you can use deodorant or anti-persperant in any problem areas. (Anti-perperant is also really helpful at preventing ingrown hairs.)

My gym clothes don't always smell fantastically fresh, like a bouquet of freshly picked roses. On the contrary my gym bag can smell pretty barf-tastic. A super easy way to rid odors from fabrics as adapted by Dr. Ashton, is to mix equal parts unflavoured vodka, and water in a spray bottle. Then spritz. The alcohol in the vodka kills the bacteria and the water dilutes the vodka enough to slow down the rate in which the alcohol in the vodka evaporates allowing the bacteria to attacked more forcefully.

Any brand of Vodka works, use whatever you have at home. 

The vodka and water odor fighter is incredible. It works like a charm, and is a natural easy to make at home alternative to chemical heavy commercial fabric odor fighters.