Drear: I'm pretty sure that the job difficulty right now is contributing to the problem I'm having at work right now. Hopefully, things will ease up in 2010.

Thanks, Drear and la diosa for the holiday wishes!

Life: The holidays have come and gone! I had my parents over for the first time since hubby and I have been married. What with work being so harried, I put off doing decorations until about a week before Xmas. So! I rushed out to get a little Charlie Brown tree, put mini ornaments on it, and stuck a glowy Snowman on top. Hubby, who's sorta Jewish, mostly watched in bemusement. Holiday fooding was a bizarre mix of Chinese and English feast-fusion that involved hotpot and duck. Nobody in the family seemed to mind though. 

I gave mom some gift cards to iTunes and Barnes and Noble, and Dad gone some accessories for his model train hobby. Hubby received a docking station for his phone and a soft and hard cheese rotary grater (it's hard to tell which he likes better). Parents got the two of us a KitchenAid stand mixer, and hubby got me a lovely cocobolo and mother-of-pearl Graydog hairstick. Was a good holiday all said and done, but not relaxing in any way (parents are not the relaxing sort of people).

I have finally hit the bad dosage for allergy shots. The allergy shot I got at my last appointment made a big half-dollar coin patch of EXCRUCIATING itchiness on my arm. It's still itching a day later. I will have to tell them about my reaction at my next appointment and begin the tedious "dancing and backing off around the reactions" procedure. Allergies are no fun.

Hair:
I've been trying out a shea and coconut butter concoction for my hair. It's being kinda tricksy so far. The first time I tried it, my hair love love LOVED it. It was shiny and soft and you could almost hear it purring. Since then, however, I seem to be getting the proportions incorrect, and it's been making my hair kind of ... well ... weird. Shiny, but stiff and unmanageable. Dry but kind of oily, too. Maybe I'm using too much.  I also ordered some neem and tea tree oil shampoo to try on my itchy scalp. I tried rubbing camellia oil directly on my scalp the night before washing my hair, and it seemed to really help with flakiness, but my scalp was still itching most of today.

Tomorrow, I'm planning on doing a deep conditioning treatment. Sort of a start the new year off on the right foot kinda movement.

Hope everybody is having a great start to the new year! 

Sakina wrote on Jan 1^st, 2010 at 2:41pm:
Oh, I didn't. I try not to use any sort of medication if I can help it. But out of curiosity, why shouldn't I have used cortisone cream?

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Hehe! Can't say I'm familiar with what bawang goreng-deep fried shallots smell like. However, I will say that the neem oil smells.... unique? 
I use tea tree oil to treat my fish tanks on occasion, so I'm familiar with that smell. The neem oil took me completely by surprise. I hope that the neem oil shampoo doesn't leave too strong a scent on my head. 

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I'll give alternating a try. Thanks, and I hope you have a great New Years, too!

Ahh. Well, I left the itchy spot alone. Last night I tried (failed at) putting a little bit of Benadryl on it, but I checked the ingredients and it's just a topical analgesic. It's one of those liquid-in-a-stick type dispensers, and I couldn't get it to dispense. 

The shampoo I got is actually a neem and tea tree oil  shampoo bar. CV uses mostly essential oils to add fragrance, and I think they use stuff like peppermint, rosemary, and thyme in this particular bar. Since I'm testing for any allergic reactions to it right now, I've been letting the bar sit out to breathe a bit. Today, it's smelling a little bit more like peppermint, and less like the pharmaceutical section of an ethnic grocery store. Not too bad. 

Checked my deep conditioner. Unless avocado oil is particularly protein filled, it looks protein-free to my amateur's eye. 

I recommend that you only do your deep conditioner for an hour and then wash it out.  Keeping your scalp wet all that time could be very irritating not to mention you can over-condition your hair.  Keeping oil on your hair overnight is a different story, however.

I only do an acv rinse after shampooing and before conditioning.  I leave the acv on for about a minute and rinse it out completely before using the conditioner.

Perhaps hubby could use some oil or deep treatment himself.  Does he condition after he washes?

Any chance you could put a piece of silk fabric on the back of his chair?  Something like one of these: http://www.riverjunction.com/catalog/mensfurn/bandanas.html

I'm so glad your itchy spot went away on its own!!!

I love kale with soy sauce, sugar and toasted sesame seeds!!!

Life: I went to the gym yesterday morning. It was the first time in quite a while. I blame holidays, overwork, and not enough time! Anyway, apparently my body did not know that I had scheduled a workout, and was a bit in shock when I started asking it to do stuff. My arms are a bit pouty right now, but my legs are definitely not on speaking terms with me. Coworkers were snickering at my painful shambling about the office today. 

Allergist decided to try the same dosage of trees in my other arm at my latest checkup. Reacted again, but thankfully the reaction was less severe. The reaction this time was about the size of a quarter instead of half-dollar, and less itchy. Hopefully, the next round will get me to the no-reaction stage and I can start moving on again. Those sexy sexy trees cause me so much angst!

Hair: I think the neem and tea tree oil is beginning to work! Hair is much less itchy, still oily, but blessedly less itchy and flaky. What a relief! It's too soon to really tell, though, so I'll be keeping an eye on the situation.

I wore my hair up in this tutorial today. I used a hairstick instead of a hairfork, and it worked decently well. The only bad part is now I'm wanting a hair fork. Must Resist Buying More Hairtoys! 

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  Good luck!

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Not silly at all.  My dad brought me Burt's Bees (sp?) chapstick and lotion and I'd have had him bring more products if he would've been allowed to take them in his carry-on.  I've just requested Fiesta plates.