February in Review

How cool is today? The 29th of February. This is the 9th Leap Year I have lived through and the 8th 29th of February I have seen (I wasn’t born in February 1988 to officially see it). I cannot believe we have two months of 2020 under our belts already. Where has the time gone?

I think February has been a productive month in a sense. Looking back over my goals for February I wanted to:

Do 10,000 steps a day
Introduce Protein Shakes to my diet
Not calorie count
Up my Water consumption

The 10,000 steps a day was a fail. I started off so well and pushed myself to go out…but when Storms Ciara and Dennis developed, I did not want to go out walking in the at times 80mph winds and the impressive rains. So I did not do as many steps as I would have liked to. I think hopefully with the turning point in seasons, we are very much at the end of winter so hopefully with Spring the weather will improve to encourage outdoor activity.

I did write a first impressions of the Protein Shakes, why I choose them and I still want to post this, even though my first impressions were over a month ago now. I would like to give a more prolonged view of them. The thing that held me back was taking photos. I did introduce protein shakes to my diet and stuck to it really well until perhaps this past week. With a new month though I am going to remotivate myself to take them.

I was successful in not calorie counting. I did make some delicious meal preps that focused on putting a lot of vegetables and looking at healthier options. This past week I have slipped though so I would to jump back onto that. I have also been looking at promoting healthy hair, whilst I think the quality and condition of my hair is very good, I would like to continue looking after it. I think it is important to keep a certain amount of good oils and fats in your diet so I have been trying to eat cheese and butter regularly. I think with the addition of Protein Shakes I am going to start getting a lot more protein into my diet to help with healthy hair promotion.

Water. By far this month I am impressed with my water consumption. I posted that the Microcurrent Facial was instrumental in getting me to drink water, prue water, not mixed with squash. I have largely drank either 1,600 or 1,200ml of water everyday since the 10th February. However, for March I am thinking of dropping this down to a goal of 800ml to 1,200ml. If you are not used to drinking at lot of water or you are not sweating it out…you body in the beginning does not know what to do with all this water, particularly as it is winter – you are not losing it through sweat as much. So I find I am going to the toilet ALL the time. Well that is an exaggeration but it feels like I need to go a lot more than normal, so I am cutting down for the moment. If I find myself becoming thirsty I will drink more.

I am really impressed though. This month I am not as bloated as I have been previously and I am finding I am not conscious about my weight. My issue I have always had is my stomach. I am happy with my body apart from my stomach which I felt was were I was carrying my stomach. Whilst it is still not flat and beautiful it is not as bloated as it used to be and this makes me feel better. I think I need to look into core exercising. Something I’ve never really done before to see if I can tone my stomach. I think trying to boost a healthy diet and tone my problem area is more important than what the scales are telling me and that I need to count calories.

My Relationship With Water Has Completely Changed in 10 Days

I used to hate water and never drink it. I hated the taste. I know that may sound weird to some people. I mean water tastes of nothing right? How can you hate the taste of it? I don’t know. I think there was a little bit of a mineraly taste to it.

I live in an area which has hard water. So it makes sense that I could taste something additional in the water. Hard water contains calcium, iron, magnesium and manganese. This occurs when rain water falls into water supplies which have a bedrock with limestone and chalk deposits.

Now when I go to North Wales, where I have family. I loved the water there. The water from the tap didn’t taste as minerally and my hair felt so soft and nice when washing with the water. This is because the water is soft water which has a higher sodium content but is low in other minerals.

So as I didn’t particularly like the water taste I drink a lot of other things. My drink of choice for years has been Cola. Mostly either Coca-Cola or Pepsi. I used to drink full sugar Cola. Now thanks to the Sugar tax that was implemented in 2018. Soft drinks companies began to lower their use of sugar in drinks to avoid being charged more for sugary content. Places that served drinks such as Restaurants and Pubs also began switching to lower sugar content. I switched to Sugar Free Cola such as Pepsi Max and Coke Zero. That I did notice a transition period as I whined myself off so much sugar but I was still getting the caffeine I was addicted to.

Now I have tried to do previous New Year’s Resolutions to drink more water. These often went hand in hand with drinking no Cola. The result previously was a major sugar and caffeine withdrawal. You feel crappy. You work Cola back into your diet. Cola intake goes back to normal. Water goes out the window.

So what has changed in the last 10 days? To break this cycle. Well on the 10th of February I got a Microcurrent facial, which I have documented in this blog post. The therapist said I may be thirsty more and need to drink more water when I got home. I did need to drink more water. In fact, I drank 1,600ml which has been my water target since getting a fitbit about three years ago. I rarely, if ever reach that target.

I was thirsty from the microcurrent facial and I craved water. But rather than mixing it with sugar free squash etc. I wanted the water immediately so just drank the water. I found the water easier to drink than squash and could gulp down a glass much more quickly then I could with squash.

The next day. I woke up and was still thirsty and again I drank 1,600ml of water.

The next two days I drank 1,200ml per day.

Then I have been drinking 1,600ml of water everyday until yesterday.

Yesterday I felt a bit meh. I woke up with a headache and a sore throat. I felt crappy. Yesterday was a Wednesday. For Monday and Tuesday I had been really good with drinking protein shakes and smoothies, eating yoghurt (topped with too much Granola which is a vice of mine) and eating a lot of rice and vegetables for meals. I wanted to eat these crisps (chips for an American audience) which I am completely in love with. The problem is they don’t come in the small 30g bag we are used to in the UK. They come in the bigger share pack sizes more similar to American crisps packages. I can’t seem to say no and will eat the whole bag. So I convinced myself and rationalised that I wasn’t hungry. I wanted to eat them. I didn’t need to eat them and I promised myself on the Wednesday I could eat what I wanted.

So my Wednesday what the hell day started with a can of Cola. I hadn’t opened a can of cola on the Tuesday (I did drink cola though…I have discovered that if you open a can of cola in the evening and don’t drink much of it it still retains it’s fizz overnight and you can drink it the next day). As I wasn’t feeling great by 11:30 I reached for some comfort food. Crisps and Peanut M&Ms. Currently addicted to them. I did drink some water. 800ml…but that is half of what I have been drinking recently. I went out for dinner and the cinema. At the restaurant I ordered a cola. They didn’t have Pepsi Max so I went for full sugar, which although full sugar, it has actually reduced in sugar quite a bit following the 2018 Sugar Tax.

Last night I struggled to sleep. That’s not unusual for me and I do have medication that can break my sleep pattern a little bit. But I was also thirsty. I craved water, but I didn’t drink more than 800ml because I didn’t want to spend the whole night waking up and going to the toilet because my body does not know what to do with all this sudden influx of water.

Today. Woke up. Had my protein shake…mixed with water. Measured out my 1,600ml of water for the day and I’m sipping my way through it. I think I am finally on the drinking water bandwagon, which is a good bandwagon to be on.

I will still maintain a steady intake of Cola. I do enjoy drinking Cola. I like the taste and I do think I am addicted to the caffeine. Not drinking tea and coffee my only other source of caffeine is chocolate. However, I am hopeful that maybe finally I have a better balance with my intake of water being higher than my intake of cola.

This might actually be a New Year’s Resolution I have completed and I might finally have made a permanent change in my life. I hope so.

Devacurl: What Should We Be Learning?

For the past two days I have been watching YouTube videos about a haircare product brand called Devacurl.

I am based in the UK and I have straight, straight hair – like no curl or wave whatsoever. No joke, I onced curled my hair and it ended up straighter than when I started. Another time, I went out with curly hair and my friend walking behind me asked if I decided not to curl the back. I curled it – the curls just fell out before my night out had even begun. Naturally, coming from an Irish family though, I love Irish dancing and Irish dance music (it is literally music for my soul) and I dream of curly hair like the beautiful Gillian Norris and would have killed to have beautiful curly hair. So not only was it difficult for me to potentially get Devacurl products, as I think they have only just begun distribution to outside America (correct me if I am wrong)…but I would have zero need for them on my hair. That does not mean I cannot sympathise with people experiencing potential reactions to Devacurl. When I was 19 I developed Alopecia (hair loss). I don’t really know what caused my Alopecia. I remember sitting in a Doctor’s Office with the Doctor saying, that you are experiencing Alopecia. We do not know what causes it. We do not know what can be used to treat it. We cannot tell you how much hair you could lose. We cannot tell you if your hair will grow back. But there might be around an 80 percent chance that if your hair does regrow it could fall out again. We can do some blood tests and investigate a bit. My blood tests came back fine I had no underlying health issues. I do not know what caused my Alopecia. SO I know how devastating it is to be in a society that is so beauty conscious and experience hair loss.

However, just because you do not use a product on your hair, does not mean that you should ignore what people are potentially saying or experiencing from using a product. I once volunteered in a school and there was a class in which the teacher was going through the answers to a recent GCSE test paper. She was giving the class the model answers to the most popular set of questions answered. There was a girl sitting there chatting with her friend. I asked her why she was not listening to the teacher and not writing the information down. Her response was that was not the question she had answered. I said it does not matter. She is giving you a model answer, that is great for the information alone. You will firstly learn something. You will learn how to build and structure a model answer for a future exam you are taking next year. You could also be given a model answer for a question that could likely come up in an exam because there is a limited about of material covered in the syllabus and often examiners do repeat questions or word questions in similar ways; so you could very well have the same if not a very similar question on your paper. The girl did not care, she did not write down the answers. However, I think this potential Devacurl situation has a similar parallel. Just because you do not use Devacurl and just because you did not use Wen Haircare (I so wanted to use Wen Haircare products when I saw a glossy hair advertisement for them), does not mean you should not learn the lessons that are being taught from these two companies.

In brief, there may be people reading this that have no idea about Wen Haircare and Devacurl so let me explain.

Wen Haircase is a company that specialised in a cleansing conditioner type product. It was supposed to revolutionise the way people washed their hair. I first came across it when I was looking to move away from commercial haircare and follow the No Poo method (basically giving up using commercial foaming shampoo and looking to reduce how much oil is stripped from the hair whilst washing. I did document that journey on my old blog and I no longer follow a No Poo method). Wen’s Cleansing Conditioner was a thick conditioner like substance that was not cheap, and it required you to use a lot of product, from what I remember it could be up to 16 pumps, four pumps on each section of hair, with your head being divided into four sections. Wash off and get beautiful hair or so you thought. If you did get beautiful hair though it was temporary and a lot of people using the product reported hair loss. So much so that a lawsuit was filed and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began to look into the product. When I went to look for the product information just now I found I could not buy products directly from the Wen website and was directed to Amazon and the Cleansing Conditioner is not sold on there. The FDA reported that they had received 1,386 complaints up to the 15th November 2016. A subsequent investigation by the FDA into Wen Haircare found that the company had more than 21,000 complaints into the use of their product and the reporting of hair loss, hair breakage and hair balding.

However, what the Wen Haircare scandal highlighted was just how unregulated the hair and beauty industry is in America. The law in the US does not require companies to share a beauty company’s safety information nor the number or nature of complaints it’s products receive. The FDA said that although still in the process of conducting an investigation, it did not know what effect Wen Haircare was having to people to cause a hair loss reaction. It also stated that Wen Haircare could also not provide a correlation to their hair product and hair loss. More alarming is what really the FDA can do about a product. Firstly, it could tackle a product that did not comply with the law (if it is adulterated or misadvertised). It could work with law enforcement to seize a product to prevent it being sold on the market but it cannot recall a product off the market. It can only request that a company does recall it. Now, I live in the UK. I could not tell you how products are tested and what safety standards are in place. I know that all good imported into Mainland China have to be tested on Animals, which is why a lot of companies choose not to distribute their products in China, or even in Chinese Airports which can be subjected to random (not mandatory on all products) Animal testing.

Now, fast forward to Devacurl. Stephanie Mero, who has the instagram tag of @thecurlninja started reporting her hair issues and concerns that it was linked to Devacurl six months ago. Over the past two weeks to a month this issue has exploded with more people reporting similar issues and a lawsuit has been filed against Devacurl. Now Stephanie Mero, reported that her hair reacted very badly when she attempted to dye her blonde and ended up with dark purple hair. That should not happen. She noticed on herself and her clients (she’s a hair stylist) that their hair was being damaged. Issues being reported include suffering dryness, hair breakage, loss of density, scalp irritation, burning sensations, dandruff and baldness. Stephanie has also developed Raynaud’s phenomenon which has been also reported by others in the Facebook support group. Now Mero was alarmed when she read that Vinyl Chloride exposure could cause Raynaud’s phenomenon. Why is that important?

Well, Devacurl retains samples from their batches and they had released statements saying they have tested them and the product is fine. Yet Mero does not necessarily think it is the formulation of the product that is the issue. It could be what the product is packaged in or how it is distributed or a combination of the two. So Devacurl makes the product and retains a sample of that product. The product is then packaged and shipped off. So if the issue is not in the formulation of the product, but the packaging and the distribution then Devacurl’s sample would not show any issue. So the FDA is relying on Company’s doing their own tests to maintain the product is safe, they are only testing the batch product. Not the product on the shelf, not the product in your home.

From making the product and taking the sample. There are then multiple more steps from adding it to the packaging, to transporting it from the origin of manufacture to the place of sale, to the consumer. There can be a lot of additional steps. Mero believes that perhaps something in the distribution phase or the packaging is causing a problem. Now if Devacurl has not reformulated their products it would not be the formula that is the problem. Yet, over the past year or so that Mero has been noticing changes to her hair, and doing some subsequent digging there is a report that suggests this may coincide with Devacurl potentially began changing the way they package and distribute their products.

Now, why is this important? Mero was concerned that Reynaud’s phenomenon could be caused by Vinyl Chloride, which is used to make Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), a plastic. Now, Mero is not saying Devacurl has caused her Reynaud’s phenomenon. She is merely stating that she has Reynaud’s phenomenon and that a potential component of plastic can cause Reynaud’s phenomenon. This highlights that perhaps how a product is stored before it reaches the consumer and what it is stored in is just as important as the formulation of the product itself.

Now the lesson I was beginning to learn by watching skincare videos and I began to learn when I started No Poo is: What am I putting onto my skin and my hair? Do I know? Honestly, I sometimes use Honey, Lemon and Bananas in my hair and skincare routine. I know what I am putting on my face and hair then. I make my own soap, sometimes I use it on my face and hair, but mostly on my body. I know all the ingredients that go into the soap I make, but I don’t really understand the chemical reaction of saponification (the process of turning oils into soap) and how that alters chemicals. I also heard about the hype and wonderful benefits of Coconut Oil, one of the oils I use in my soap, but there has been a bit of a backlash questioning if Coconut Oil is actually that great for your hair and face.

One of the things that drew me to No Poo in the beginning was that prior to the 1930s, when commercial shampoo as we know it came into being. Women did not really wash their hair anywhere near the amount we are used to today. The Victorians were very particularly about how often they washed their hair, about once a month. We see from photos that their hair was beautiful. Personally for me I would LOVE to go a month without needing to wash my hair and it look great. Who wouldn’t? It may also seem that because we now wash are hair more regularly because of commercial haircare products that potentially we are stepping away from remedies in the past that were better for your hair? BUT, the old methods don’t necessarily mean they were any good. Queen Elizabeth I, suffered from the Pox, had awful scars on her face and used to cover it with a thick white paste/powder…that contained Arsenic. Arsenic was a very popular method of poisoning because it was so readily available.

The message I am taking from this is to really begin to think about what products I am putting onto my face, how they are packaged and how far along in the distribution phase (in terms of time since manufacture and location and methods of transport) am I from the product. Just because a product has a big chemically important name does not mean it is necessarily bad for you. Just because something is natural doesn’t mean it is going to be great for you (I used to wash my hair with Baking Soda, and with Rye Flour, my hair wasn’t happy with the results. I wasn’t happy with the results and I am now using commercial shampoo).

I think for me, it is time to look at the ingredient lists, question what is contained within them. Question is this safe to put on me? In producing the product, is it causing a negative impact on the environment? Is the packaging having a negative effect on the product? Is the packaging having a negative effect on the planet? How could the distribution of the product affect the product? Does the company have full control over that? Does it store the product in it’s own warehouses? Does it rely on another company to do that? Does that company store the product according to the manufacturer’s guidelines? Does the store/supplier I buy it from store it safely? How old is the product when I get it?

I currently rely on the fact that I pay for products and the amount I pay equals quality and efficacy. Yet, companies may not always be passionate about their product being the best quality it can be or be kind to the environment. They might just be driven by profit and as a result people might be being hurt by that. In writing this I am beginning to internalise what I am thinking by watching this products and it has helped me to question what I am putting on my face and hair – and if it is good for me. I hope in voicing this, you may also begin to consider these things and I hope that it has a positive impact on you.

Microcurrent Facial

Yesterday I went to try a Mircocurrent Facial. I went to my local beauty college who had a deal to try a Microcurrent Facial for £10. This treatment was part of the student’s exam. I thought it would involve having an examiner in the cubicle/room with the student and watching over them but it was more relaxed as the examiner observed over a couple of students doing exams and so rotated. I never noticed an examiner at all.

I do watch a lot of YouTube videos about various people going off and trying a range of Celebrity facial treatments at ridiculous price tags (seriously jealous and would love that job…who wouldn’t?). I was aware of the Mircocurrent Facial and I really wanted to try it.

It started with a Dermalogica precleanse and then followed by a second cleanse with Dermalogica’s Special Cleansing Gel. Next she applied SBC’s Collagen Skincare Moisturising Gel and began with the Mircocurrent machine.

The Mircocurrent tools she used on my face reminded me of a shaving or toothbrush plug with the two prongs. She had two tools, so four prongs in total.

She began by placing the Mircocurrent tool above my top lip and asked if I could feel the Mircocurrent. I couldn’t feel it at all so she kept adjusting it and I still couldn’t feel anything. She said she would adjust it lower because it was a bit high and asked me to let her know if I felt it when she started the massage. I could feel it once she started.

The Mircocurrent has a tingling sensation, reminds me of when you stand near something who is using a pneumatic drill or similar to a acid peel, but not painful at all. When she past by the teeth, either on the chin or upper lip it did feel a little weird, like your teeth were vibrating a little, again not uncomfortable. When the prongs moved near the eyes there were strobes of light. It reminded me as when you pass in and out of tunnels on a train with your eyes closed. There were times as well that the Mircocurrent did feel like a train, that little thumb, thumb, as you pass along the track, it was rhythmic. When she passed on the forehead, it felt like someone was stroking, combing your hair, a gentle tug although she never touched my hair.

The therapist applied four layers of the collagen gel in total. I did not feel the Mircocurrent after the second or third application of the gel but I did on the fourth. Even though I couldn’t feel the current I enjoyed the facial. The prongs were cool on the skin and it was like massaging with slightly warmer ice cube on my skin. I found the massage with the prongs very soothing, they didn’t dig at all into the skin, with very gentle and extremely relaxing.

Towards the end of the facial I felt a slight sensation on my temples, like when you are tired, dehydrated or have been staring at a screen a little too long. It wasn’t unpleasant.

When she finished the Mircocurrent she gave me the option of keeping the Collagen gel on or taking it off and applying a toner and a moisturiser. I opted for the toner and moisturiser. She used Dermalogica again but I couldn’t tell you which toner or moisturiser she used.

After the facial the therapist advised me not to wear makeup for eight hours and to drink plenty of water. By the time I got home I was very thirsty and did drink about 800ml relatively quickly afterwards. In addition, I had the feeling that my jaw was a little sore, like when you have done too much talking. My temples still felt a little headachey, I’m not sure if that is because I was still thirsty or whether it is like my jaw and the muscles being worked.

24 hours on I don’t see a big change to my face but then again I didn’t expect to. I think Mircocurrent is a treatment that needs several treatments and ultimately it is about exercising and toning the muscles. However, from the relaxing element and the encouraging me to drink more water (I drink 1,600ml yesterday which is practically unheard of for me, especially as I didn’t add squash to it to make it more bearable), I think this is a treatment I will continue.

Below are some before and after pictures.

The Ordinary

As detailed in my last post I made the decision to challenge myself in 2020 to look after my skin. Since the New Year I have started a ritual of looking after my skin. I am finding it great to have improved skin, that is brighter and shines (not from oil of the teen years). I feel more confident with my skin and I am enjoying taking the time to give myself a little bit of a pamper and to look after my skin.

Like for so many people, I am confused about skincare products. There are tons of products out there that all claim to offer you the world but you are not really sure if they will, or if they will work for you. I was watching a couple of YouTube videos on different people’s skincare regimes and I discovered a company that appealed to me. They are called The Ordinary and they claim to be an abnormal company, offering great skincare without the heavy price tag. I was intrigued and watched people’s skincare videos using The Ordinary. I decided to give them a try.

Now the website is a minefield of different products and I was left perplexed about what to get. So I searched their website and read some reviews and watched even more YouTube videos. I also looked at availability in the UK and where I could buy it. I discovered that the high street chain Boots offered it. Great. So I went to Boots and looked for it in store and could not find it. Not Great. Ordered online and picked it up the next day. Back to being great again. Boots were limited on what selection of products they carried but that was ideal for me as a beginner as I could narrow my search down and try a skincare regime.

I went for:

The Ordinary: The Daily Set.

Price: £15 for three Products:
Squalane Cleanser
Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5
Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA

The Ordinary: Lactic Acid 10% + HA 2%

The Ordinary: Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%

The Ordinary: Vitamin C Suspension 23% + HA Spheres 2%

The Ordinary: 100% Organic Cold Pressed Rose Hip Seed Oil

The first use was in the morning so I kept it simple and used the Squalane Cleanser, the Hyaluronic Acid and the Natural Moisturizing factors. My first impressions of the Squalane Cleanser were not great, I hadn’t seen anyone use it on YouTube video hunt and I expected it to do a foam cleanser. I expected some kind of bubbles. It’s a cream cleanser that goes on and you take off which warm water. I have always preferred soapy cleansers over cream. So I mixed it with water in the beginning expecting a reaction of soap that didn’t come. I was more impressed with the Hyaluronic Acid and I was intrigued by the gel like consistency. My skin instantly felt moisturised and hydrated and I really enjoyed it. Next I used the Niacinamide, this is supposed to be very good for those with acne prone skin. When i first applied it I got a tingling sensation. It wasn’t painful or uncomfortable, I could just feel it tingling on my skin. I let it soak in a little bit before moving onto the next step, which was the moisturiser. The Natural moisturizing factors was like standard moisturisers in consistency and it went on smoothly and absorbed well. I was impressed with the results of my first attempt, my skin felt clean, brighter and moisturised. However, I started to notice after a couple of minutes that product was rubbing off and going into little globs of product…is globs a word? It looked like my skin was flaking, it was not skin, it was product. So I took a towel and gentle exfoliated the excess product off. I eventually learnt I was using too much Hyaluronic Acid and have cut down and I don’t have this effect anymore.

Now before I continue. My first impressions of Squalane Cleanser were a disappointment but we have actually become good friends. I think I will be introducing a foam cleanser into my routine but will be doing a double cleanse, Squalane first, foam cleanser second.

For the evening routine, I must start by saying I watched a YouTube video in which someone showed their The Ordinary skincare routine for a month, and there was about 15 products, maybe more. She would put the lot on her face and her skin did look amazing. I did the first night and quickly decided for me, less would be more, so I use all the products, but not every night and I do alternate what I use.

For my first night routine, I cleansed with Squalane cleanser (this time I applied it correctly, not with water and not expeting it to foam) washed it off and then applied the Lactic Acid to my face. I did really want to try the Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution, but Boots did not have it. I also wanted to try the AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution. However, I had never used a chemical peel or a chemical exfoliate before. Advice from the Ordinary’s website was to start with a gentle chemical exfoliate and work up to the AHA peel. So I selected the Lactic Acid. I did get a burning sensation from it when I first used it. It wasn’t painful, but then having had a lot of kittens over my life, who love to use humans as a climbing frame I have a high awareness of pain and I have grown a tolerance to it (my current kitten used to like to eat on top of the work surface but couldn’t climb their herself, so up my leg, hip and waist she went). I didn’t find the sensation unbearable, I imagine those without the built up pain barrier would. I washed it off and applied the Hyaluronic Acid, Niacinamide then the moisturiser. That was pretty much the same as my morning routine with the introduction of the Lactic Acid. I then went on to add the Vitamin C Suspension. I was impressed with the silicone consistency, it was super smooth almost like primer. By then I was feeling very oiled up. I let that soak in and about 90 minutes later applied the Rose Hip Oil to my face. I then felt very oily but enjoyed massaging it in and taking the time to relax and enjoy the experience. I did however have flash backs to being a teenager and the horrible greased up skin feeling. It was too much for me and my skin and I do not think I’ll ever apply the whole lot at the same time again.

The only product out of the evening routine I do not particularly enjoy is the Vitamin C Suspension. I like the product, but I have used a Vitamin C cream in the past and what I do not enjoy it the smell when you have had it on your skin for a period of time. Especially when you wake up in the morning. My kitten also didn’t enjoy the smell so she avoided me for a little bit. I know use it during the day if I am not going out and I wash it off as soon as I start to notice the unpleasant to me smell.

The Rose Hip Oil I do enjoy but I was more interested in trying The Ordinary’s B Oil. I was placing an order for something else and picked up a new bottle of Hyaluronic Acid (I was using too much and thought I’d run out, cut back on it now so not using it up as much) and I ordered the B oil to try. I will went until I have used up the Rose Hip Oil.

Harper Lee – To Kill a Mockingbird

Part of The Book Challenge

The Book Challenge number: 1

Start date: 1st January 2020

End date: 9th February 2020

Time taken to read: 40 days

Thoughts:

I really struggled to get into this book. I think I did not bond well with the protagonist. At first I thought Jean Louise or Scout as she is known as a teenage male to part way through the book realise she was a four year old girl did throw me a little.

I also found the book a little boring. I knew Atticus Finch was a character that is celebrated for his challenging prejudice, championing equal rights and morality…but I did not really know the story prior to reading it. I found it very slow to get to the court case and to begin to show the story that made Atticus to be a strong, moral character. I found those chapters very readable and I did not put it down. Yet then it faded again, but it carried you on willing to find Tom’s justice…to fizzle out again. Then as the last few chapters unfold you, again, get the build up on the walk back home from school, the tension building for the story to almost drop flat, as if in the middle of it. The book that relied so much on the gossip and reactions of the town, falling silent on the last dramatic evening of the book.

Not really knowing all that much about the American south and the culture of slave-owners and the lingering legacy of that in the south. I did enjoy reading about small town America and how society was structured and reading about some of the views. As someone who has studied history and in particular the Holocaust and understanding concepts of Race and Ethnicity. I liked the drawing a criticism of how it was seen as madness for Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany to terrorise Jews, persecute and arrest them and eventually find ‘the final solution for the Jewish question’ through extermination. Yet, similarly naively think that those in Maycomb were more civil, despite treating their fellow Americans, fellow human beings, as second class (or even fourth class citizens as the book implied) simply because of the colour of their skin.

Having read the book I champion the court case and the challenging an aspect of prejudice and injustice in society. I also praise the story for writing a fictionalised account that was inspired by real events. I just feel there was not enough of it in the book. I am glad to have read about Atticus Finch, but I can’t help but think I would have liked to have read about Amasa Coleman Lee (Harper Lee’s lawyer father) and some of his court cases more.

Uping my Skincare rountine for 2020

Since turning 30 and then 31…I am beginning to be more concerned about my skin. Whilst I have been lucky with it, I am beginning to feel I should take better care of it. Honestly before the New Year I didn’t really do anything with it. I had no set beauty routine. I had some products but they were just cheap basics, they were nice and I enjoyed the scent but I wasn’t concerned about targeting specific concerns or anything.

My skin is combination-oily but it is also dehydrated. I also don’t always sleep well throughout the night so I can look tired. At the start of January, I had a couple of spots around my mouth. I have incredibly pale patches on skin on my neck and other parts of my body which I suspect maybe Vitiligo but I have never had it checked out and diagnosed by a Doctor. I have some acne scarring, not too deep but it has lead to some pigmentation on my checks. In an attempt to wax part of my face I also got some skin irritation on my chin which you can see in the last photo.

Another big problem I have is…I have a kitten. She likes to suck my ear and pad my neck and the side of my face. I shouldn’t let her do it really but it is her wanting comfort from her Mother-figure. She didn’t have a relationship with her Mum as her Mum didn’t know how to look after her. She used to urinate and defecate on her kitten. She was incredibly underweight for her age and did not know how to groom herself. So to her I am her Mum as I taught her a lot of things. I feel bad trying to stop her seeking comfort before she goes to sleep, as she mainly does it when she is tired. Hopefully she’ll grow out of it when she gets a bit bigger. I am stopping her trying to pad my face though and try to get her to pad my hand that is covering my face instead.

Below are some pictures of my face before I started my journey so you can see my starting point. I will detail in subsequent posts some of the different things I have been trying and reviewing.

The Weight Loss Journey Continues

So it is the 1st of February. The start of the last month of winter, my Dad has the belief that this is the hardest month of the year, but once you push through this month you get to Spring and with it longer, brighter and warmer days that make life a little bit easier. I do feel that January is perhaps a hard month to start a new year, in the middle of winter. It is cold and trying to break old habits, particularly if they involve diets that strip away comfort foods away and encouraging you to go out to get more fresh air and exercise…when it is cold and wet is not the best way to encourage these new steps. Perhaps it is better to start them in the spring or summer when it is a more pleasant experience to be outside or to switch warm, stodgy foods in favour of salad and uncooked fruit and vegetables.

Reflecting back on January…was it a success? I didn’t gain any weight, well that’s not strictly true I did gain 0.1lb of weight. This lack of weight gain however was more due to good fortune than me directly trying to improve it. I could have been a lot worse, but equally it could have been a lot better.

So what is the plan for February? Well I’m going to challenge myself to:

10,000 steps a day. It doesn’t have to be running, although I would like to try and get running in there. Simply being outside and trying to get 10,000 steps in one or two bursts of activity a day would be good and sometimes going out for a walk in less daunting than going for a run.
Introducing shakes to my diet. Now the shakes I have chosen are NOT meal replacement shakes but shakes designed for women to introduce vitamins that are particularly lacking in a vegetarian or vegan diet. I follow a vegetarian diet and have done since I was 7. I think lacking in essential B vitamins does impact on one’s energy levels and in January I was feeling particularly tired all the time which impacted on my mood and my enthusiasm to do anything.
Zero calorie counting! This month is about trying to pick healthier options, including more fruits and vegetables into meals but realistically I am not going to restrict what I want to eat, especially not when I am feeling low and craving foods I like to eat.
Water. Lots of water and drinking more water over cola.

I’ll check back in at the end of February beginning of March to let you know what successful this month’s plan of action has been.