Saturday, December 17, 2011

Wen Hair Care follow up

It's been way over a month since I've been using the Wen hair care system so it's time for my post mortem.

I didn't love it. The promises it made just didn't come to fruition for me.

Things I liked:

  • It was an all in one. I didn't have to shampoo and condition separately.
  • My hair was initially shinier and fuller.
  • The leave-in conditioner was wonderful. My hair was incredibly soft after one use and definitely made the cost of the starter kit worth it. 


Things I didn't like:

  • My hair was a oilier than I am used to.
  • I had to use a LOT of product. The instructions said 8 pumps or more for long hair and I usually ended up using more. The instructions made a point to say that you can't use too much product, which felt like a self serving instruction. It felt like they were saying "use as much as humanly possible so you can buy MORE!!!" which didn't sit too well with me. 
  • After a few uses, I didn't notice a difference in my hair. I expected softer, fuller hair, but although my hair was softer, it was flat.
  • Ordering the product online or over the phone meant being forced into an automatic shipment plan. Because I wasn't interested in having additional products shipped to me automatically every month, I called as soon as I received my package to cancel the automatic shipments. I had to repeat to the person on the phone over and over again that I had absolutely no interest in the automatic shipments. They were hellbent on keeping me on file. 

Between the intensive leave-in, the styling balm that I gave Steve, the wooden wide tooth comb that I still use daily, and the daily leave in conditioner, it was worth the initial trial. My biggest problems with the Wen Hair Care System were with the way the product was sold and how customer service is handled, not the product. I've heard that people with different hair types from me have had wonderful experiences with Wen, but I wouldn't buy it again.

On to the next product!

Monday, December 12, 2011

A love letter

Warning: sappiness and gooey love within. You have been warned. Read at your own peril.

I am in love. I never thought I would be. I hoped for love. I dreamt of love. I thought I knew what it would be like. I thought I knew what he would be like. I thought I knew what it would feel like. I was so wrong. It's even better than I thought it could be.

When I was younger, I thought that the man I would spend my life with would be my other half. He would be my knight in shining armor. He would sweep in on a white horse and solve all my problems and we would live happily ever after and life would be complete once he was in my life. Now that I'm older, I know that love doesn't solve your problems, but having someone who loves you makes your problems easier to bear.

The man I love brings me joy. He makes me stronger. He makes me laugh. He understands me. He has seen me at my best and my worst. He's my best friend. He's the first person I want to talk to in the morning and the last person I want to talk to at night. He knows me better than anyone else. He sees my weaknesses and doesn't judge me for them, but allows me the room to grow and become a better person.

Babe, I can't give you the world for Christmas. I wish I was rich. I would buy you iPads and mixers and cars and guitars. But I can't. You have been so amazing to me and I want you to know how much I love and appreciate you. I used to hate Christmas. Now I look forward to sharing this season with you. You've turned me into one of those sappy, lovey, gross, happy people! I love you. Merry Christmas.


Sunday, December 11, 2011

Nutella cookies

Tonight is the annual cookie party! This is my first year participating. I'm super excited! I'm making a cookie I've never attempted before. There was a toss up between my classic chocolate chip cookies, white chocolate red velvet cookies, or Nutella cookies. Nutella cookies won the popular vote. So Nutella cookies it is! I fricken LOVE Nutella. I could eat Nutella on everything.

Here's the (incredibly easy!) Nutella cookie recipe:

1 cup Nutella
½ cup Sugar
1 cup All-purpose Flour
1 Egg

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Blend all ingedients together.
Form into 1 inch balls.
Place on a cookie sheet.
Press down firmly with the bottom of a glass.
Bake 7-8 minutes or until set.
Cool.

The dough is very dry so I put on gloves and mixed it by hand. The heat from my hands melted the Nutella and helped it come together. The cookies came out a bit thinner than I wanted them to, so next time I'll flatten them less.

I doubled the recipe for the party. I'm also not posting this until 7 pm because the party is at 7:30 so no one can steal my recipe :)

UPDATE!!!

I totally won!!! My cookies took home the "Most Creative Cookie" prize!!! WOOHOO!!!!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Night terrors

The last few nights have been pretty dramatic in the Haydia household. I live on the first floor of an old Victorian house. In my bedroom, there is a fireplace that's been boarded over. I use the mantle as a backdrop for my vanity and I have a mirror propped up under it and my dressing table sits on the hearth. I used to love my fireplace. Not anymore.

Two nights ago, I woke up in the middle of the night and thought I heard scratching. I assumed we had a mouse. We occasionally get a field mouse stuck in the house and Maya usually chases it out. No big deal. She's a good hunter. So I tried to ignore it and go back to sleep, assuming Maya would deal with it and I made a mental note to walk carefully in the morning, just in case.

Fast forward to the next night. The scratching was louder. Much louder. Still, I ignored it. Maya was on the prowl, all good. I figured I would set a mouse trap or something the next day and I tried to go to sleep, but I was starting to worry.

Ok. Last night. The scratching? INTENSE! Like loud, constant, awful scratching. And Maya knew exactly where it was coming from. She sat under my vanity and stared intensely at the wall, Blair Witch style. So I freaked out because I saw teeny wood chips coming out from under the wall which meant that IT WAS ACTUALLY MAKING PROGRESS GETTING THROUGH and called my sister, who sent over my brother in law. And when he came over he told me to look in my yard. And I saw two large deer standing under my kitchen window. And that's when I broke.

I had to go sit down. Maya was running in circles. My brother in law was shining a light under the wall and then a little black hand reached out and tried to grab the light.

Want to know what I was dealing with?

Here you go.

And this is no where near as loud as it was in person. It was LOUDER.

My brother in law got some rat poison and shoved it under the wall and taped it over and put a mirror and a box in front of it so Maya wouldn't get too close to it and told me we had to wait for it to die or else it might escape into the house and wreak havoc on me and my cat. So yeah. I had to stay in the house and wait for the poor thing to die. So now I have a vengeful ghost raccoon living in my walls.


UPDATE: (as of a few seconds ago) 

Maya and I were chilling in the living room as I have been avoiding the death chamber that is my bedroom and I swear we both heard scratching. I know she heard it because she had been sleeping like this:
and then we both heard it and I looked at her and she was sitting straight up staring at me. So now we have a zombie raccoon situation.

Oh! And the deer eventually found the driveway and wandered off.

UPDATE 2:
I love animals. I love all animals. And I wrote this with a tilt to the funny, but I feel really bad for the little stuck raccoon. But it had to go. And I guess it was better to die quickly than to remain trapped and die of hunger? Either way, my brother in law wasn't going to open up the wall to get him out. I'm pretty sure it fell in from the roof and was stuck for a few days. And that's probably why I'm feeling so awful about it and don't want to go into my room. I feel like its tiny ghost is going to exact revenge on me for not being kinder to it while it was alive. I'm sorry, little raccoon guy! I don't have tools! My sister would have killed me if I cut into her walls! I'M SO SORRY RACCOON!!!!!

This is exhausting. I never want to sleep in that room again.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Product review: Wen Hair Care

I was watching television with Steve late one night recently, and I saw a commercial for a hair care product called Wen. I was intrigued.

It claimed to replace traditional shampoo and leave your hair soft and healthy. Well, that sounds great! I'll try it! Steve, being awesome, said he'd get it for me if I wanted to try it, as he's a proponent of me looking good.

It arrived today. I opened it up, and unpacked the box. It contained:
Wen conditioner
Intensive Hair Treatment
Styling Creme
Texture Balm
Wide tooth comb

I gave Maya the box, and took the comb and conditioner out.

Here's me before my shower:

And here's me after my shower and several hours later at Steve's house:
Sorry it's so dark. My face is being lit by the light of his PlayStation. 
I used the styling creme on my wet hair before I blow dried. First impressions? I had to use A LOT of the conditioner. Like, way more than I thought I would have to use. Twice as much as I would normally use if it were a regular conditioner. It cut down on my shower time since I didn't have to shampoo separately. I put the conditioner on first, before body washing and face scrubbing, then washed it off last. That was a plus. My hair wasn't as soft as it promised it would be. I'm hoping after continued use it will do as promised. I'm not completely sold on it yet. We'll see.

I haven't used the intensive treatment or the texturizing balm yet. I will use the intensive treatment this weekend and report back. I had intended to use it today, but my primping time had to be cut short because Steve and I are meeting up with some friends at the Corner of Chaos haunted hayride and corn maze. That's why before and after are in two different locations. I'm so excited!

In case I don't blog before Monday, Happy Halloween everyone! Be safe!

UPDATE:

I was asked some questions, so I thought I'd give some more information.

I definitely think it's worth checking out. For $30, you get a lot of product. A friend recommended the Fekkai Shea Hair mask, but at $30 for 7 oz, I think I will stick to the Wen system for a little longer. If the intensive treatment lets me down, I may splurge on Fekkai.

Also, Wen claims to be a natural hair product which is definitely a plus. Modern shampoos are very harsh on your hair, so I've been on the lookout for alternatives for a long time. I had tried solid shampoos and conditioners before but they left my hair dry. This is only day of this system, so I am still optimistic.