Hair fall drama

I recently got nostalgic and started looking at photos from the past, going through my teenage years to young adult...and well...whatever I am now. Being self absorbed as always I said to my self "not a lot has changed: my face looks pretty good, I didn't really gain a lot more weight and I am just as mean and prickly as I've always been". But there's one thing that keeps getting back to me...MY HAIR.

Looking at the photos from one year to another I could see my hair...gone.

I went from big, fluffy, wavy hair that any glam 80s rock star would envy...to...soft, frizzly, shitty hair. And to top it all, last year I started getting grey hairs.

My hair started falling at 25 and that's when it also started being less wavy and more shitty. I obviously investigated the issue and it looks like women hair fall is a major problem with 1 gazillion solutions and treatments that don't necessarily work....trust me I tried most of them.

1. went to the dermatologist to get a follicle analysis which implies the doctor looking through your hair with a magnifying glass to see if roots are weakening and maybe suffer from alopecia - nope...not that...still I was prescribed this expensive pill treatment (Anacaps) for three months, topped with a hair solution (Alopexy 2%)...yeah...nothing happened.

2. checked my thyroid cause it could be a hormone imbalance...nothing there either...the doctor was even kind enough to tell me how she calculated all the results of my blood analysis to prove that I am fine...must have had a desperate look on my face.

3. obviously ran all my blood tests for anemia, or lack of certain vitamins and minerals...I am as healthy as they get...

4. even gave up on birth control pills for almost a year and took estrogen (under a doctor's recommendation) because I thought that might be the problem...but no.

5. the most interesting one was when a GP prescribed me Xanax cause she was sure it was stress..I enjoyed the good night sleep, but the hair was still on my pillow in the morning.

When I ran out of medical options (maybe I should have also tried a psychiatrist) I turned to cosmetics and tried special shampoos with caffeine, with honey...with whatever natural things you can imagine. I tried professional shampoos, I also tried hair masks and conditioners. Spent a fortune there...

I moved to natural stuff and this was the painful part. I tried home made soap like my great-grandma used...and following the same path I also tried gas....like the one you put in your car. I smelled like an engine for a week. I tried egg mask...and rinsed it off with hot water and ended up with a boiled egg in my hair...I tried honey and olive oil and lost half of my hair in that greasy thing...I tried castor oil...coconut oil...argan oil...I tried rinsing with vinegar and smelled like a salad for a week.

I tried cutting my hair to have it regenerate. I donated my hair to cancer survivors to make wigs hoping that karma would help me...joking :) I tried coloring my hair with ammonia free color to make it stronger (seems to work for some of my fiends), I tried not to blow dry it for a while and looked like a mop. 

My most extreme experiments was "no poo"- no shampoo or any hair products diet for your precious. It was planned for 6 weeks, but it ended abruptly in week 3 when I just couldn't stand looking like a bum anymore.

My latest experiment was henna. I never used henna and heard wonders about it, so I had to do it. My friend recommended the best henna brand....got it! Henna is a hair treatment more than a hair color, so it sounded like a win-win for my hairloss problem and my greys.

Before going on this adventure I should have read the instructions...but who does that?! Well, putting on henna means that you need 2 days without any interaction with society. You need to keep the color - which looks like cow shit by the way - in your hair for 8 hours with your head wrapped in cling foil. This is a mixture of the henna powder with hot water, olive oil, coffee to make it darker and I added some castor oil. I must say that I was very generous with the oil, but that was before reading that after these 8 hours you're only allowed to rinse it and not wash with shampoo. You can only use shampoo after 48 hours.

I didn't resist 3 days without social interaction, smelly hair and looking like a bum so I washed with shampoo after around 20 hours....and what a relief that was! I felt like I lost half of he little hair I had left while washing, and kept telling myself "never again, never again" But then when all the pain ended and I had my hair washed and dried I changed my mind to "maybe...twice a year?!"

My hair does have a vibrant very natural color, and my greys have been covered. It also feels nice and to my surprise although it fell a lot when I was washing, it wasn't that bad when I combed it. So...let's see how this goes.

Oh yeah...forgot to mention that I use a wooden comb and a boar bristles brush.... 

My quest has not ended...so in case anyone has any suggestions...help! As you can see I'm willing to try anything.

Avocado bread recipe

This happens so rarely that I decided to create a section on the blog for my delicious creative cooking.

I am an awful cook because I don't have patient and if I'm not inspired to do something I'm better off eating take away. I'm also conscious about my food and would like to eat more healthy, so take away is not always the best option. But then...I usually "spend my days at the end of my money" and end up with a lot of random leftovers that I am bored of just before payday.

This time I had some avocados, red pesto, green olives, eggs and some pumpkin seeds, I mixed all this with butter, flour, a bit of pepper and oregano and voila! A delicious, healthy, very nourishing bread that's perfect to start your day.

Time:

1 hour (including oven baking)

Ingredients:

creative: 2 avocados, 4 tea spoons of red pesto, a jar of olives (black or green), some pumpkin seeds, pepper and oregano

basics: 2 eggs, 200 gr. of butter, 250 gr. of flour, a tea spoon of baking soda

How it's done:

Turn the avocados into a paste as much as you can squish them and then mix them with the pesto. Add the two eggs (whites and yolks) and make sure you mix them as if you were preparing an omelette. When everything is homogeneous add the butter (make sure it's a bit melted) and make sure it's blended well into the composition.

Now add the flour and the baking soda. It will seem as if the compositions breaks, but don't worry. Keep steering until everything is really well mixed. Start adding the pumpkin seeds, the sliced olives, the pepper and the oregano. 

Heat the oven before for 10 minutes at 170 degrees (mine is electric). Put everything in a bread tray, or you can use a muffin tray if you want. Keep the oven at 170 degrees. They should be ready in about 45 minutes, but make sure you check on them because not all ovens are the same.

Tip!

Test if it's ready by sticking a toothpick right in the middle of the bread....if you pull it out and nothing sticks...it is ready for you to enjoy!

          

The great Irish confusion

I'm starting to believe that Irish are very confused about their...hm...I don't even know how to define it...gender definitions. While they seem this very religious state with strong laws that have a religious background - like abortion, or the fact that all schools here still belong to the church and are built around churches - there are these small details that make you wonder. These small details are actually very strong contradictions that definitely reflect confusion.

To give a bit of background, in Ireland there is an ancestral fight between protestants and catholics. This fight started because each of these religions identified with the status of the people - conquerer (English) or conquered (Irish). This means that the poor Irish (the actual inhabitants of this land) are catholics, while the rich English (the ones who just thought they can claim any land) are protestants. These poor - rich gaps are still visible today - a colleague from Romania was telling me about her two kids (orthodox) who she had to enroll in different schools - one is in a catholic school while the other in a protestant one. The schools are across the street one from the other. While it was obviously very easy to enroll one of them to the Catholic school, she had to be put on a waiting list for the protestant school. Her luck is that she belongs to neither of these religions, so other selection criteria were considered...because otherwise it is really difficult to go to a school that doesn't have your religion....almost impossible. The other thing is related to the richness of the protestants - their clothes, the cars the kids are being brought it etc.

Anyway, now here are the contradictions that have me totally confused:

gay marriage is legal;

they are among the states that recognize trans-gender as an official gender;

they are very open about homosexuality - celebrating with pride and not hiding it in public;

they are considering the legalization of marijuana.

...very open right?! But then...

abortion is illegal;

at the gym there is a special "room" for girls who want to do fitness - you can also do it in the general room, but in case you don't want to, you can go in your ladies' corner;

high school is usually gender defined - there are few mixed schools with both boys and girls;

my friend mentioned above was asked if she is worried about that her sons reached the age when he should go alone to the toilet in public places and other men might look at him :))

This weird transition period when it comes to religion and gender roles is very confusing, and this is not really a place to raise children right now.