My Fair Hair and Nails

Well now.  A woman's hair.  Speaking from my own experience, I have always had a love/hate relationship with my hair.  Some days I LOVE it, some days I absolutely HATE it so much that I threaten to shave it all off.  Yes I have threatened it, no, I have never pulled a Brittany Spears.

OK, so now on to what I have been doing with it lately.

As many of you may have realized, I am starting "the Change".  For those readers who have no flippin' idea what the heck that means, I have started down the road to menopause.  The official term right now for my 'condition' is perimenopause.  Which could probably supply enough material for a whole other blog.  Or two or three.

Anyway... Menopause, hormones, and all the crap that goes along with it really messes up things.  Mainly - everything.

One of the more obvious things is the damn hot flashes.  They have been going on for over a year now and seem to intensify as the months roll on.  It has NOT been fun.

The other obvious thing is my poor hair.  First of all, I color my hair. That alone stresses out the tresses.  I use an ammonia-free hair color  that comes with an awesome after-color conditioner to minimize the stress as much as I can and I love it.  My grey hairs turn a bit reddish in the sunlight - it is a cool effect.  The brown is just a shade lighter than my natural color and the grey is gone, what more could I ask.  And yes, I do it myself.  It is not easy lately, but Honey promises to help once he moves over here.  Just one of the many reasons I love that man.  (Hi Honey!)

The thing MOST stressing out my hair is the hormonal fluctuations and the hot flashes.  My hair has run circuit of dried out to straw-like strands,  then not held color, then frizzed out, then gone stick straight (my hair is naturally curly), then been uber greasy.  My poor defenseless hairs have been there, done it all.

It got so bad at the beginning of last summer that I stopped coloring my hair and got a super short cut.  My hair needed a break.   I also started taking a supplement specifically for hair, skin, and nails.  I suffered through way-too-grey hair for a few months until I couldn't take it any more.  I was terrified to color it again, but I eventually did.  I also kept it short for a while longer to give my hair a chance to absorb all the stuff in the supplement and get strong again. The short cut really helped during the hot mess that was my summer.  Hot flashes and hot summer temperatures do NOT equal a fun time.

The supplement works great for me.  Not only did my hair grow faster, it seemed 'stronger', I stopped losing so much of it, the small bare spots that were starting to form filled in, my nails grew faster and got stronger and my skin sort of evened itself out.  My nails had always been healthy, but when all this meno crap started, they got weaker and split.  I also never had issues with dry skin all that much, just in winter.  Now I was having very nasty dry patches in the middle of summer - in random areas all over my body.

Anyway, it took a long time (months even) to notice most of the changes that resulted from adding the supplement to my daily vitamins, but change things it did.  Some people don't see any changes at all, others see changes immediately, some people it takes a while.

I am just happy it is helping.

OK, stop blabbering and bottom line it already.

Hair Bottom Line:  I am growing it out again.  I get regular trims so it keeps as good a shape as it can and I color it regularly followed by that great conditioning treatment after.

Nails Bottom Line: I occasionally trim, shape, and buff them.  I like keeping them natural, they are a very healthy pink with rather whitish tips.  When they are buffed, they have a natural "french" manicured look.  I have some cuticle specific cream I occasionally put on when I remember, but my nails really don't take much work.  It's the same with my toenails.  Easy as pie, and I've always treated both this way all of my adult life.

But what is going to be happening with the hair and the nails for the wedding?!?

Nails:  Want to keep the hands natural.  I have problems keeping a manicure looking good more than an hour, so going to keep it simple with a clear coat or two and let their naturalness shine through.  Toes will be done in a neutral polish.  I love to have a bright color on my toes most of the year, but will do something simple for the wedding.

Hair:  Not quite sure what I'm going to do with it style-wise yet.  I do know that it will be colored Medium Golden Brown. hahaha  I'm just going to keep letting it grow and once we get closer to actually knowing when things will happen, then I will start my PANIC about what to do with it for the wedding.

Next up, things I have been learning and looking at as far as dresses and accessories go.  And that is all we'll do is talk.  Or rather I will talk.  Honey can't see any of it so I will talk you all to tears. :) 

Bet you can't wait to get into my head and see what is going on in there concerning dresses and stuff.  Don't say I didn't warn you, but it can be a scattered, chaotic, dillusional place.