Ⓥ Volatile Vegan Tips (Hair Dye)

The first in, what will hopefully be, a series of videos about some helpful things that I have figured out.  

The Downside to Cutting My Own Hair

Sometimes cutting my own hair doesn't work out quite right. 

Thoughts on Clothing (Video)

I've talked about this before....but I felt like talking about it again. Sorry. 

Convenient!

I discovered something pretty cool (at least in my opinion) recently. You know how I usually use henna on my hair? but that I get the best results by leaving it on overnight (which is kind of a pain in the ass)? Well, I have found the most convenient way to color my hair ever. It doesn't come out quite as bright as I would like, but it's totally worth it. I have been putting Manic Panic in my conditioner.....That's it, that's all. I started doing it because I hoped it would help keep it brighter between colorings. Then, at some point I realized that my roots should have grown out a long time ago, but that I didn't seem to have any showing. So yeah, not only does it save me the hassle of coloring my hair, but it also saves me from ever having to deal with my roots growing out, and looking stupid until I get around to coloring them.

If anyone wants to give it a try, I used the Vampire Red (but there are lots of colors I think would probably work well) and put a lot of it in my bottle of conditioner. I wash my hair first thing, when I get in the shower and let the conditioner soak in while I'm shaving and whatnot. Be forewarned, the stuff will also stain your hands but I have found that it washes back off by the time I get out of the shower (I take really long showers, so there is a chance that won't happen for everyone, but if you just wash your hands a couple of times you should be fine). Anyway, just thought I would share my little discovery with you guys.

Keep in mind that the colors olny come out like this ^ if you bleach your hair first. The conditioner method will only give you a slight tint, but mine comes out looking much closer to Vampire Red than to my natural color, Gray-ish Brown. 

Lazy-ish

I know I've talked about this before, but I don't have anything better to talk about, so I'll just reiterate. I'm so lazy, in the most ridiculous ways! I will put absurd amounts of effort into certain things, but other things (that require far less effort) get completely ignored. It seems like I'm really good at making myself do things as long as I do them everyday, but things that only need to be done occasionally get put off for-fucking-ever. I literally have to make myself do things every day, even if they don't need to be done every day, just to make sure they get done at all. For example, my nails haven't been painted for like two weeks now, simply because I haven't bothered with them. I hate the way my hands look without polish, but not enough to actually paint them. It's not even so much the painting that bugs me, as the waiting for them to dry. It's just so fucking inconvenient! I need to be able to use my hands! I don't have the patience to wait around for my damn nails to dry.

At this point, I'm actually starting to get used to the no polish look.

Ⓥ Tips and Tricks Part 2; Non-Food Products

As a follow-up to last week's post, I also wanted to share some of my favorite animal-friendly products and brands. I know how incredibly frustrating it can be to find good products that also fit with your beliefs, so I thought I would offer a few suggestions.

1- Naturally, the first step in buying cruelty-free products, is identifying them. I have found that a lot of people don't realize that unless something specifies right on the label that it isn't tested on animals it almost certainly is tested on animals. The easiest way I have found to identify companies as cruelty-free, or not, is with PETA's list. It's quite extensive and, as far as I know, they keep it pretty up-to-date.

2- As with vegan foods, cruelty-free body care, and beauty products can be expensive and hard to find. So again I will recommend Vitacost and iHerb. For things that can't be found at either of those places, Amazon is usually my go-to.

3- If you still can't afford to buy the fancy vegan products, it is possible get generic cruelty-free
products. Food Lion's store brands are not tested on animals. Though they are not necessarily vegan, this is still a huge step in the right direction, and they offer a wide selection of products, from health and beauty to cleaning supplies.

4- My all-time favorite brand of hair dye is Surya. It is certified vegan and cruelty-free, natural (henna based), and actually good for your hair. Plus it comes in some really beautiful shades. If you try it though, make sure you get the cream, not the powder. I haven't tried this particular brand in powder form, but all of the other henna powders I have used were a huge pain, and the cream is super convenient. Also, you should be aware that the box tells you to leave it on for up to an hour but, since it's actually beneficial for your hair and you get better results the longer you leave it on, I just put it on with a cap over it before I go to bed and leave it overnight. I have yet to find a color that didn't come out amazing with this technique.

5- If you want a more intense hair color, I recommend Manic Panic. They are cruelty-free and at least most of their products are vegan; supposedly there are some that aren't, but I can't seem to find out which ones. I will warn you though, their colors do fade a lot, and they really only work if you bleach your hair first. And, again, the longer you leave the colors on, the better (like overnight). If you want the white-blonde look though, you can't beat Manic Panic's Flash Lightening. I used the 40 volume, and it was much more effective and slightly less harsh than any other bleach I've tried. Also, I found that to keep the blonde white, instead of yellow, mixing a drop or two of Ultraviolet into my conditioner worked really well.

6- I absolutely love Sarawen's perfumes! I have tried quite a few of them and have yet to find one that didn't smell wonderful! My favorite, at the moment is Chocolat Rose, though the Ambrosia Chocolat is a close second (I don't know, I guess I just like smelling like foods that I don't eat). The scents are all vegan and cruelty-free, and she donates some of the proceeds to animal charities. Plus, it's just fun to shop for her perfumes, because most of them are inspired by fictional characters.

7- Speaking of good smells, Crazy Rumors lip balm is absolutely amazing! It comes in tons of great scents, and it works better than any other lip balm I have tried (even before I went vegan). Plus, they are another completely vegan company.

8- I will admit, I'm not as good with makeup as some girls (like my sister) are, so my opinion here may not be worth as much as in other ares, but I really like e.l.f.. They are ridiculously affordable (like nearly everything is between $1 and $3) and, for as much as I can do with makeup, they work as well as any other brand I've tried. They are cruelty-free and, while they are not vegan certified, I did find this correspondence from e.l.f. in response to a question asked by Cruelty Free Kitty "All ingredients used in e.l.f. cosmetics are vegan friendly, safe and meet F.D.A requirements." 

9- As some of you may know, I have had issues with acne my entire life and I have finally gotten it (mostly) under control. I'm sure that a lot of that has to do with my overall lifestyle being so much healthier these days, but I also think that a big part of it has been due to Dr. Woods Shea Vision soap. I have been using it as hand soap, body wash, and face wash for months now and my skin has never been better. Dr. Woods products are all cruelty-free and, as far as I can tell, they are all vegan.

10- Along with my acne issues, I have also always had problems with dry skin (and dry hair). Coconut Oil has all but fixed this problem for me. I use it on my face, body, and hair, and it has made my skin incredibly soft. I have given up any ideas about my hair ever being soft (since it seems to be made of cactus needles) but the coconut oil definitely helps keep it more manageable.

So, there are my favorite products. I hope they make life a little easier for someone out there.

My new hair color, Surya in "mahogany". Also, lots of e.l.f. products. Also, almost everything else on this list.

Let's Get the Ball Rolling

Seeing as how I'm supposed to be getting all of these changes in my life, I might as well start with my hair. We all knew this was coming, right? Once I start getting the urge to change something, it's only a matter if time. I've decided I'm going back to my old standard; I've had red hair for most of my life, and I miss it. Honestly, I've been thinking of going back for months now. The biggest reason I haven't done it already is because I've been wearing a lot of green lately and I thought it would look weird with red hair, plus my sister told me I would "look like Christmas". Well, I did an image search for red hair green clothes, and you know what? I think it looks really fucking cool!

Plus, you remember when I said I wanted to look like Liv from iZombie? Well, I tried growing my hair out a little so it would look more like her's, and that looked horrible. So I've been trying the whole faux-hawk thing. Then I (accidentally) got a tan, and it suddenly hit me the other day that I look exactly like Blaine! (He's the bad zombie who runs the butcher shop) and I simply cannot let this continue. So yeah, back to red.....just as soon as my henna gets here.

^Not okay. 

Too Much?

After the, seemingly, endless search which resulted in the Mitchell glove fiasco I decided "Fuck it! I'll just make my own." So Yesterday, I cut the fingers off a pair of gloves I had, dismantled an old pair of boots and made my own damn Mitchell gloves. I can't decide if I actually like them or not though. They might be a little more goth than I intended. Thoughts? Opinions? Insults?

Of course, I'm sure the black nail polish doesn't help. But I like black nail polish, so whatever. 

Just What I Was Hoping For

For the past several weeks, I have been desperately searching for a new pair of Mitchell

Gloves (which is what I call those fingerless gloves). I had several pairs of the knitted ones, but they are all starting to wear out and I kind of wanted some that were vinyl or something, so that it wouldn't look quite as weird if I continued to wear them once the weather clears up. Anyway, once again, I ran into the problem of all the ones I like being leather, and/or super expensive, and/or from overseas. I finally found some that I liked in L.A. (still a little farther than I would like, but I was willing to deal with it) for, get this, $4.99! and free shipping! I was so happy that I bought two pairs, so I would have an extra. Well, they arrived a couple of days ago and I couldn't wait to try them on! When I took them out of the envelop, the first thing I noticed was a big WARNING stick which informed me that they contained chemicals which may cause cancer. I found that a bit disconcerting, but I was willing to overlook it. Them I tried them on and realized that, not only would they apparently give me hand cancer, but they made me look like I already had it. They were sown crooked so they had (obviously unintentional) holes everywhere, they were completely square, and they were several sizes too big (despite being "one size fits all"). Basically, they made it look like I had giant robot hands that had torn through my gloves in random places. Yeah, yeah, I know "you get what you pay for" fuck you.

Mitchell^.....................Gloves^                 

It's Sort of a Niche Market

So you know the weird little belt/purse thing I made? Well, I'm thinking about making some other ones and trying to sell them in my Etsy shop, which will hopefully be up and running again sometime in the near future. You see, before I broke down and made one for myself, I looked everywhere; Etsy, Ebay, Amazon, etc. trying to buy one. Every one I could find was; ridiculously overpriced and/or leather and/or in another country and/or goofy looking. So it seems to me that this country has a serious shortage of cute, affordable, vegan, belt-bag things. Also, apparently these things go by many names, one of which is "utility belt" which is definitely what I am going to call them if I start selling them because.........

I Did It! Kind of....

I kind of, sort of, made one of those things I was talking about yesterday! It really doesn't look much like the one I wanted to buy, but I'm still kind of pleased with the way it turned out. I wore it today, and it felt pretty badass. Although perhaps I am just delusional and it actually looks super pathetic. But, at least for now, I like it. Plus, I think it will be highly convenient because now I can carry the really important stuff with me and leave all the less important stuff, in my giant purse, in the car when I go places. I mean, you never know when you are going to be drawn into an epic battle of some sort and not want to deal with a big bulky purse, right?

Well, We'll See What Happens

I found this thing online that I desperately want! There are three reasons why I have been forcing myself not to buy it. 1- It is kind of expensive. Really it's not all that expensive, but it's from that shop I found a while back that makes me wish I lived in Lithuania, which means that the shipping would cost me as much as the thing itself. 2- I always feel kind of guilty having things shipped from really far away, you know like from Lithuania, because of the environmental impact. 3- I think there is a good chance that everyone I know will think this thing is stupid, and give me a hard time about it, and I just can't justify dealing with #1 and #2 just so I can be harassed.

So you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to make one myself, from stuff I already had or bought at Goodwill. That way when everyone makes fun of me for it, I can be like "Fuck you. It's environmentally-friendly and it was practically free." Now if I can just make it look halfway decent, I'll be all set.

^This is the thing. Apparently, it's called a "waistbag" and I want it! 

In Conclusion

Seriously, just this one last thing and then I'll move on, at least for a while. There is this idea that seems to be fairly common, that things like wearing makeup and shaving your legs are inherently somewhat oppressive to women. I disagree. To be honest, I can't really decide who got the short end of the stick on the whole makeup thing. I mean, yeah it kind of sucks that women are expected to look all perfect all the time. When I think about it though, I'm pretty glad that I get to wear makeup. I feel so much better about myself with it and, if I were a guy, I wouldn't be able to get away with wearing it. As girls, we get to basically paint ourselves to look however we want. Guys are pretty much stuck with what they've got. Unless, of course, they're actors.  

Okay, so Supernatural is not exactly the most feminist show on TV. Holy fuck do I love it though!  

Also, I think instead of women not shaving their legs, guys should have to start shaving theirs. I mean come one guys, body hair is pretty gross; and I, for one, don't want to touch anybody who is all furry anymore than you do. Just saying. 

And Another Thing....

To continuing the discussion from last night, another thing that I don't really agree with about our society's current idea about feminism is this whole "body acceptance" movement. I mean, the idea behind it is great and all, but I think we're going about it in entirely the wrong way.

It seems to me that telling women to accept their bodies just as they are is sort of the opposite of empowering. Let me explain. The problem with our ideas about our bodies (at least in my humble opinion) is not that we want to change them; changing our bodies requires will-power, hard work, dedication, commitment, all of these are good things. The problem is that we want to change our bodies into what society tells us they should be. I see absolutely no problem with people wanting to be the best they can in every way. We should not be telling women to accept their bodies as they are, we should be telling them to make their bodies what they want them to be. I think there is a great sense of empowerment that comes from watching your body change and become better due to your hard work. That is something that we should be cultivating, not discouraging.

I, personally, don't believe that I will ever stop trying to improve my body; I'm just not the type of person who is ever really completely satisfied with anything. That in no way means that I don't appreciate the progress I have made though. I feel good about all the work that I have done, and all the benefits I have gained from it. This is not because I look the way society tells me I should (because I don't look the way society tells me I should) but because I look more and more the way I want to everyday. I feel that, instead of telling each other to accept our bodies the way they are, we should be telling each other to decide who we want to be, and do whatever it takes to be that. Myself, I'm sort of going for the "warrior woman" look.

"Have you ever been with a warrior woman?" 

You May Be Right. I May Be Crazy.

In fact, I'm quite certain of it.

You know how yesterday I said that, when I know I don't have to do anything, I come up with all these crazy ideas? and how I have mentioned before that when I get too much sleep I get all spastic? Well, when you combine the two you get a fairly dangerous combination of insane creativity and unmanageable energy. Which is what happened yesterday, and again today. I did manage to actually do some productive things yesterday, but I also did some kind of nutty things. For example, cut my hair. It's not so much that I cut my hair, it did need cut, it's how I did it. I recently bought one of those straight razors they sometimes use in salons, and I've used it the last several times I cut my hair. It works really well actually, but it's not something that one should necessarily use when she is in a strange, manic, obsessive state. The results were a decent looking, if messy, haircut and multiple cuts on my hands from all the aimless slashing. I also decided that I want to draw some of my own images for this blog (I give this idea about a week, due to the fact that I will eventually remember that I absolutely cannot draw). So yesterday I did several really poor drawings, and this morning I drew this weird little pole dancing blob creature.

She won't let her complete lack of a form stand in the way of her dream of being a stripper (apparently). 

It's a Good Look

You know what's really stupid? Some days, I wake up in the morning and my makeup looks better than it did when I put it on the previous day. How is that possible? I spend all this time and effort trying to get it to look just right, and it ends up looking sort of meh. Then I sleep in it, and wake up looking better than when I went to bed. It actually looks a lot like that "smokey eye" look that everyone is always talking about. I have actually tried smearing it when I first put it on to get it to look that way, and sometimes it kind of works, but it never comes out quite right. I have actually considered just planning for this and putting my makeup on before I go to bed at night but then, of course, there are the days like today when I wake up looking like The Joker.

In Bad Taste

I think, for the most part, people tend to think that they have good taste. The average person looks at him or herself and thinks " Yeah, I like cool things." I'm fairly pleased with my taste in most things; my fashion sense, taste in music/movies/TV/etc. One thing that I believe I have very bad taste in though is humor. My sense of humor is god-awful. 90% of the things I think are hilariously funny, no one else thinks are the least bit amusing. Everything I laugh at is either dark, and morbid, and disturbing, and makes people look at me like I might be a serial killer; or is just completely, totally, utterly stupid.

^This. I have been laughing at this for three days. THREE DAYS! Every time I think about it, I can't help but laugh. This is a problem. 

Happy Anniversary!

I almost had to write a post about the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, didn't I? I mean how could I not? How often does one get to experience an event like this in a society where everything is designed to become obsolete after a short amount of time? I watched The Day of the Doctor during the global simulcast and it was such a strange and wonderful  feeling to know that at that very instant there were millions of people all over the world watching, and feeling, the same thing I was.

Anyway, I am going to attempt to pay homage to the show and the episode while avoiding spoilers as much as possible, for anyone who didn't get a chance to see it. I have found that the writers of the show always come up with new and exciting ways to confuse the fuck out of their audience while making the experience so much fun that the audience doesn't mind being confused. This episode was no exception. It was a great episode and just as fun and crazy as always.  I was so happy to see Ten again! I had almost forgotten how much I loved him. Almost. I thoroughly enjoyed the interaction between the three doctors in the episode as well as all of the references to all of the past doctors. I think the John Hurt character showed us a new side to the doctor that we had never seen before, and I loved his complete bewilderment at seeing his future selves. Overall, it was an excellent episode and a fantastic way to celebrate 50 years of other excellent episodes. I can't wait to see what sort of changes we will witness in the Doctor's personality in the future now that he has a bit less reason for self-loathing (see there was almost a spoiler there, but I reined myself in).

Also, I absolutely loved Billie Piper's wild, post-apocalyptic look! 

The Real Me

Well everyone, I did it. I cut my hair off. For a few minutes I kind of thought "Oh my god! What have I done?" and then "Holy shit! Look how small my head is!" but, after a while, I started to feel like ME again. I look more like a guy, but I feel more like myself. You wouldn't think it would be possible for someone to just not be cut out for having hair, but apparently I'm not. Whatever, girl hair is overrated anyway.

"You wanna meet the real me now?"

Also, we finally got my punching bag filled up yesterday. So far I am really enjoying it.

Fuck This Shit!

I am just so fucking fed up with everything right now. It's taking every ounce of my self-control to not quit my job and run away to a place where no one can find me and make me do things that I hate. I think the worst part about doing things that I hate is having to pretend that I don't hate them. If I ever dare to walk into work and not act like I'm thrilled as all fuck to be there, everyone stares at me like I've grown a second head or something. Alas, I can't quit my job because I need the money, and I can't run away because no one would feed my animals. So instead I'm just going to cut my hair off, because if I'm going to be miserable, I'm at least going to be miserable without a giant fuzz ball stuck to my head shedding on me all day.