I made a Chinese Bun

This is called a Chinese Bun. And I'm wearing my Chinese dress.

Last night I finally decided to put some almond oil on my ends right before bedtime; a generous but not heavy application. I was surprised that my hair had absorbed most of it by morning. My head seemed so content that I decided to do a scalp wash so the ends could just be themselves today. Went to Bible study wearing my hair in a bun with my new Buddha hair stick and my husband's overalls. I used bobby pins to secure my bun to ensure I wouldn't have to touch it or adjust it at all during the study. Perish the thought that anyone might know that I fuss over my hair as much as I do.

I learned how to make a Chinese Bun from instructions at The Styling Station.

Poor quality photo, but shows length

Terrible picture, bad flash, but it's all I have tonight.

I'll delete this pic after I get something better. It's not desirable when the front door looks better than your hair.

Awhile back I sewed a satin pillowcase and I thought it might get ruined in the laundry but it came out perfectly fine. My hair likes satin. I like satin! On the nights I oil I just use a cotton pillow case, but other nights I use the satin. What I like about the satin too is that it doesn't make my cowlick stick straight up in the mornings. Cowlicks are so dorky when they stand straight up. I guess some things you never grow out of.

I was impressed by the nicest quote today at the Long Hair Community. A lady named Wholeheart Mom commented on MemSahib's lovely new silver hair sig pic and, referring to the generous grey distributed throughout Carla's long hair, she said it appeared as though the Master of the Universe (God) highlighted her hair, and did a marvelous job. Is that a unique sentiment or what. I thought Wholeheart Mom must be a poetess to express herself with such eloquence. Her statement reverberated through my mind all day. I asked her if I could use her words and she said sure. Next time my old dad starts telling me I would look so much better if I'd tint my hair, I'll enlighten him with this delightful repartee.

January measure-in coming up

My official measurer, my little boy, says I am three lines away from number 30 on the measuring tape. I'm debating using 29 and 5/8 or rounding down to an even 29.5 for my official measure-in measurement on Saturday, January 1st.

My husband tried to take 3 month photos of my hair tonight but my doggone camera takes awful indoor pics. The flash is far too harsh and washes everything out. We took a photo with me standing in the foyer at the front door and the oak doors came out simply fabulous. My hair on the other hand was blindingly stark, drab, and lacked all detail due to the flash. Pooh. Now I have to wait to take photos outside in the lame old backyard.

Washed my hair tonight especially for picture taking. Now the wash routine is completely out the window for the week, and I have not even one single good photo to use.

It looks like my ends are in need of a little clean up. I might use Feye's trim method.

Pondering hair and head coverings

I really liked Girl With a Pearl Earring. Based on the book authored by Tracy Chevalier, this film and the painting by Johannes Vermeer captivate my imagination.

The author of the book names the girl Griet (pronounced 'Greet') and Griet keeps her hair covered at all times. The very act of covering her hair causes it to become a forbidden fruit of sorts. (Thus, my interest in ordering a scarf and learning to create the Jerusalem Twist.) I have no intention of keeping my own hair covered at all times, but I am intrigued by the idea, the effect, and the significance of the covering of a woman's head.

The Bible addresses the practice of veiling in 1Corinthians 11:1-16. These verses are among the most controversial in the Bible. No where else in the Bible are head coverings discussed in detail.

Two separate issues come to the fore. One is the issue of authority and the other is the issue of modesty. In 1Cor 11:3 we read that man is the head of woman, just as Christ is the head of man and God is the head of Christ. This (exceedingly briefly) sums up the matter of authority. The time that Apostle Paul is addressing the Christians in the city of Corinth is around 55 A.D., a time when all respectable Hebrew women wore veils over their heads when they went out in public. What Paul was saying is that women should wear such veils when they worship. (The Adventure Bible, Zondervon, 1985 p. 1267.) This (exceedingly briefly) sheds light upon the modesty issue.

The one and only verse I have memorized is Thessalonians 5:17, "Pray without ceasing." For me, I couldn't really wear a head covering because I'd need to be able to put it on often or wear it all day. And when Paul referred to head coverings did he mean a full covering like entire head as well as the face, or all of the hair but the face can show, or most of the hair with some hair peeking out in front, or would a cap do? It's open to interpretation. And it depends on local custom. Even among the Amish the size and style of the head covering varies.

And women have a natural inclination to want to be attractive. We're hard wired that way. I lost the page but I read a testimony about head covering where a woman noted that it was not uncommon for young women to primp and ask how their tails looked, meaning they wanted to be sure their scarves were arranged to look pretty. The chick factor is inescapable.

I do like head coverings on women. When I see a woman with a head covering, I know it's an outward sign of an inward attitude and I have a lot of respect and admiration for that. At the market I see women who wear traditional hijabs. They look so pretty. When we were traveling in Montana last year we saw a very large family, must have been ten children, sit down in a restaurant and every single girl wore a small white cap and they were dressed very plainly. They were friendly too.

So I'm thinking about keeping my hair up, though uncovered, all the time.

I'm just pondering hair and head coverings tonight.

Missed my hair slide on Ebay

I waited three days to bid on the hair slide I wanted then completely forgot to bid. (I always like to bid at the last minute.) Now I have to wait another six days. I missed my item all because I was wrapped up in watching the Lakers play the Miami Heat. Lakers lost in overtime.

I'd post a link to my desired hair slide but I dare not lest some long hair grrrl tries to outbid me on it. I'll show it when I buy it. It's unusual.

I made a pair of hair sticks.

Compliment on my hair from a Goth Girl!

I came home from Sav-On all atwitter. I'm a mess but I had to get a couple money holders for my nephews so I left the house after only finger combing my hair and pinning it in a loose bun. I didn't even brush my teeth. I'm wearing jeans, workboots, and my ugliest black fleece top with pills all over it.

At the register while I was trying to get my debit card to work the cashier said "I like your hair." I was surprised, first just at getting a compliment and second, that it was from such a young girl. She had long jet black hair, white skin, and heavy but pretty eye make-up. I told her lots of people don't like grey hair at all and she was so sweet. She said she liked how the grey shined like highlights and she liked the streak. I hadn't noticed the way it was pulled back accentuated a streak near my temple. She went on and on. It's wasn't just a single sentence and the end. I could feel my face go blushing.

I asked her if she visited the long hair boards and she said no. So that means this is a bonifide compliment from someone entirely unschooled, unaffected, by the great grey hair debate.

Maybe the Lord looked down and said "Send old Liliana a compliment today because she looks like she needs it."

Anywho, I feel like getting fixed up and doing something now. I'm absolutely certain that the only reason I've gotten any compliments on this hair is due to deep conditioning with oils and my new hair care routine that I learned from The Loom and The Mane Board. And I believe the compliment came from the Goth Girl because she is the type of individual who doesn't buy in to commonly held conceptions regarding commonly accepted standards of beauty.

Tomorrow is family visit day. When I need it, I will think of that girl, her face, and her words.

Billowing silk and stunning hair

We rented a DVD called Hero. It's Chinese (Mandarin) with subtitles in English. At first I saw sword fighting and thought, ugh, martial arts (a guy movie). Then I caught sight of Maggie Cheung. Her beauty in the film is positively intoxicating.

If you like silk, and you like hair, and you like to see them both blowing in the wind, rent this movie. The cinematography is exquisite.

All desire for Pantene evaporated

I now embark upon my fourth week of two hair washes per week. Things are copacetic. My ends are doing quite well. Yesterday I ventured out and about to do errands with my hair freshly washed, blow dried very straight and down, and I got a couple corner-of-the-eye second looks at the market and at a restaurant. This is a good sign.

I just couldn't wait till January 1st and I measured. I'm at 29 inches now. Soon I'll be in a whole new set of tens! Wow. I'd be thrilled if I got a whole inch of growth this month but it's unlikely. It happened once that I know of though.

After an entire month I can honestly say my desire for Pantene conditioner has evaporated. I'm still Pantene free and sulfate free. In place of the Pantene I'm using Paves conditioner and strictly oils. I use a smidgen of jojoba during the week and then heavy olive oil conditioning twice per week (overnight before I wash).

Belly dance student in a belly dance troupe

I was quite afraid to go to troupe practice because it's far and I have trouble with driving directions and because the world is so full of danger I never venture out at night. My husband said he'd take me and asked where the class will be and I told him. But he wanted an exact specific address. Men. So I found the address. It turns out they rehearse at the Senior Citizen's Community Center. My husband said, "Honey I don't think there will be much mayhem at the senior center." Okay, that's probably true.

There was a different teacher, new dances and I was overwhelmed. They did about three dances: Hadouni (the one my teacher choreographed), lead and follow, and a cane dance. I was out of step, off count, and graceful as a three-legged camel. I'm going back for more.

What I especially like about this dance and these classes is that there were women of all ages and sizes and all are welcomed into the fold equally. Of the ten dancers present about three are very, very good. The rest are about like me. Well, like me except they know the steps. With persistence and practice I will learn them too. My teacher says, "The dance reveals the dancer." I like that.

I have yet to decide how to assimilate my belly dancing with my Christianity. Notice, I did not say I'm deciding how to assimilate my belly dancing with my faith. It's just that I haven't yet met a professed Christian belly dancer. Is saying you're a Christian belly dancer like a saying you're a bartender for Jesus? If so, then Houston I've got a problem.

I know I will choose modest attire but that's not due to any measure of religiosity but mere personal preference. Though many of the older women show their bellies, that's not for me. I have a fair tummy but I already had my day in the sun so to speak. I will prefer to be lovely, modest, and attempt to be an example of mature semi-beauty. That's my plan anyway.

Thinking about hiking and driving hair

This morning we went to The Desert Museum and hiked up a mountain in Palm Springs. Well, maybe it was a very big hill. There were lots of switchbacks and it was rated as a strenuous hike. Above is a photo of the view part ways up. First we ate breakfast at the best breakfast restaurant in P.S. which is Elmer's. (Don't go there on a Sunday morning though. Long lines.)

The drive and the hike made me realize I must soon decide what to do with this hair on long trips. We'll be putting in some long driving days to get to Alaska and the leather seat is not kind on my hair. I didn't used to much care, but now I do. Maybe I should try making a satin bun cover. Maybe a snood. A driving snood! Even an hour drive messed up my bun today.

For belly dance class I had to wash my bangs. My hair got very sweaty and dusty dirty today so I made a part and brought a small amount of hair around my face forward (knotted the rest in a bun and covered with a plastic baggie) to wash it. I felt and looked much better. I have a pretty new sparkly silver barrette that I put in just for looks above my braided bun tonight.

We danced an actual choreographed dance tonight. Thank heaven for epinephines! Once they kicked in I had a great time, but I nearly went home because I thought I just didn't have in in me, and why shame myself in front of others. I didn't go to troupe practice last week because, well, I chickened out. But tonight I am renewed. Aziza said I did well picking up the routine and she gave me a complete music CD with the song on it (our song is 3 minutes and 50 seconds in length). I acted calm on the outside, but I was delighted on the inside that she decided to give me the music her dancers are dancing to. I am encouraged.

Tomorrow night is a fresh chance for me to attend troupe rehearsal and to not chicken out.

I sewed a satin pillowcase for myself

I finally cut and sewed my white satin fabric. It made a pretty pillowcase and I'm happy to baby my hair, but I'm sorry to say it's not especially photogenic. I also realized I didn't check the bolt of fabric before I bought it to ensure it's washable. Hope I don't end up with a ten inch ball of wrinkled pillowcase after it goes through the washer and dryer.

Ordered a scarf today

I ordered a head scarf! I've really been wanting one and the selection at the mall wasn't very attractive or unique, so I settled on this one at Headcovers Unlimited. The site is geared toward people with illnesses that cause them to lose their hair but they have such a pretty inventory. If I like it and it works for me, I will also get this one at Tzinus.com.

My husband wondered why I'd want a scarf and I told him it might be good for days when I don't like my hair. My big hoop earrings will go perfectly too. And when we begin our travels through North America in May 2005 in our 24' trailer it may be ideal for dusty, dirty camping hair. Our first stop is Alaska. We tried to get there last summer, but at Mile Zero of the Alaskan Highway our money ran out. Had to come home.

This time we're selling the house and getting rid of a lot of stuff before we go. We'll store our money in a tin can.

Deep conditioning with olive oil

I bought olive oil at the market on sale, half off the regular price. I've heard it's heavier than sweet almond oil. From earlobes to ends, I loaded my hair up with a very generous application on Saturday night, pinned it into a sloppy, knotted, braided bun and went to sleep looking forward to leisurely washing it out in the morning before church. Duh. Husband wakes me up at 9:00am with 30 minutes to get ready to go.

Anyway, the conditioning quality of the olive oil is good. The odor, while it is mild, is stronger than the almond oil in my opinion. This week I inadvertently over oiled my ends, and in doing so caused it to look greasier between washings than if I had used the jojoba more sparingly. I still stuck to my Wednesday and Sunday hair washing regimen though! I'm so glad I found the whole long hair care microcosm on the WWW. My hair is doing well because of it and so is my psyche.

So now I'm experienced with jojoba, sweet almond, coconut, and olive oils. I think that might be all for me. I don't see that I need very many oils.

Lord, how will you use me today?

Saturday morning I opened my eyes and wished the day would go away. Closed my eyes and opened them again and the day was still there. So I did what I do every single morning and asked the Lord how He would use me this day.

I was basically a blob most of the day. I messed around with my hair. On Saturdays I'm fairly looking forward to washing on Sunday morning but I did get it to look nice in another low bun. I'm into low buns lately. That was my whole morning. By 1:00pm I fixed myself some toast and coffee. Got on my computer and noodled around. Looked out the window and there's my husband and son on their hands and knees working in the front yard pulling up weeds after they had spent the morning putting up Christmas lights. Pass me a big plate of guilt. I knew had to do something with lazy self but not housework which I have plenty of to do.

Instead I went to the bookshelf and dug out the cookbook and wrote down all the ingredients for pasta primavera, a dish I just learned to make and one my husband likes a lot. It has many good veggies in it like broccoli, snow peas, carrots. I went to the market and bought all the ingredients and totally lucked out because for some reason hardly anyone was at the grocery store so I was in and out quickly and got front row parking to boot. And that's not all. Our little boy was with me and I took him to the fabric shop and he selected three different flannels for me to sew him three more pairs of pajamas. So, tada, I had accomplished two things for other people by days end. That's worth something. At the fabric store I did slip in one yard of white satin at $4.99 a yard to make myself a pillowcase. Satin is supposed to be gentle on hair. The satin has been lying in the middle of the living room floor for 36 hours now. All I have to do is get over there and cut it out.

Lord, how will you use me today?

I asked the Lord how he would use me this morning and His reply went beyond cooking a favorite meal or making pajamas.

My husband and his children from his first marriage have been estranged for many years. All communication stopped long ago for reasons which are ultimately between them and I don't fully understand. There was much history before I met my husband since I'm a third wife. But despite whatever transpired, as a child of divorce myself I well know that divorce is unpleasant business and the children get shortchanged.

After dinner at about 6:30pm I was washing dishes and there was a knock at the door. I heard talking and figured it was a solicitor that my husband would send away. I went back to the dirty dishes and then my husband says, "Look who's here."

In the middle of our family room stood a tall, attractive, well manicured woman in a tan, tailored, sleeveless dress, short brown hair, and high heels. She was smiling at me expectantly. Considering we practically never have guests of any size or shape in our house I didn't recognize her, but her smile was so broad, and my husband's so wide, that I got a sense that something was expected of me. But what? Who was it? Suddenly it dawned on me. It was Juli! She's my husband's eldest daughter; age 38 now. The last time we laid eyes on her was 20 years ago.

We, or rather they, talked for hours. It's an utter shame how years are lost due of misunderstandings and anger. Juli poured out her heart. My husband cried, and she cried, and I cried too. I think everyone has a new perspective now.

Since the Lord works in us and through us, my usefulness to my husband will be to encourage continued contact. I don't know if things will be fixed or if things will be renewed, but I am optimistic for them. We plan to invite Juli and her family over for a meal. She's married now and has a little boy. I'm not a good cook. I'm a bad cook and guests make me anxious. But it's not about the food, and it's not about me.

Blogosphere

I told my husband I actually have a tiny number of return visitors coming to my new journal. I told him I suspected my readers are a very few, very devoted, yet very deeply disturbed group of people.

He gazed up towards the kitchen ceiling and said, "Yes, there's a symmetry to that."

The frailties of the humans

Riding up the escalator I could hear but not see, someone was coughing or choking, and a woman's voice obviously in a state of alarm was saying, "Shall I call someone, shall I call 911?" I made my turn and quickly moved past the two rationalizing to myself that the woman seemed to be recovering now. Then, she distinctly looked up and made eye contact with me. It was not to be a clean escape for me. I quickly diverted my eyes and walked on. Did she suffer from asthma, have a panic attack, was she choking? Why didn't I take two minutes out of my time to simply go over, offer a word of comfort, put my arm around her for a second, exhibit any tiny bit of emotion? I don't know. I just walked by. She was probably embarrassed about choking in front of everyone and I should have stopped to inquire as to her well-being. If my husband had seen this happening he would have stopped. That's the way he is. If I had walked by the man lying on the road would I be like the Good Samaritan? (Luke 10:29-37) Doesn't look like it. I had a bad feeling at the very instant that I did it. Is there a pounding my head against the wall emoticon?

Then in Macy's dressing room I overhead a young woman, a retail clerk who I'd guess to be about 19 or 20, talking to a customer who was very frail and sitting down. The elderly lady had health issues, I forget what they were, but I was struck when I overhead the young lady tell the elderly woman that she had had colon cancer and she proudly announced that she was now a survivor. She said she got a check-up every six months to ensure her body was cancer free. By looking at her you would never have guessed that she'd fought, and won, against a life threatening illness.

At my Sunday night fellowship meeting there's a woman, a mother of two, whose 5 1/2 year old son was born with cancer. How does a child get born with cancer? He's healthy and well now but when she shared her heart wrenching account of what they had gone through at the hospital and in their family, there was not a dry eye in the room. She looks like a regular mom. I'd never have guessed by looking at her that she'd gone through such a trial.

Life is so tenuous. Everyone has a story. People I see, people I pass by every single day, people I'm too busy to talk to, embody wonderful and fearful stories that I don't even know about. I walk by, completely unaware.

A compliment on my hair!

I received a compliment on my hair last night. In real life. In real time.

A gal in my dance class, a very smart lawyer to boot, said my hair was pretty. A compliment like this is a rarity for me. And that's not all. She went on to say it gave me grace. What? Me? Grace? I'm still on cloud nine. She has no idea what a sweetheart she is in my book now and forever or that my blog is alittlegrace.blogspot.com. How weird is that. It's like, cosmic.

My hair was in a braided bun. I always wear it up to my belly dance class. It was sprinkled throughout with five miniature sparkly claw clips that I found on my recent shopping trip - the shopping trip of torture.

I have prevailed. Infinity bun done.

Insurgent attacks threaten to delay upcoming elections in Iraq, U.S. students fare badly in international survey of math skills, and worst of all Karl Malone isn't coming back to the Lakers. It wasn't a great news day.

But here's a pic of my first 'Infinity Bun.' It could be called a 'Lazy Eight' too, but infinity sounds classier. The infinity sign was first used by John Wallis, an English mathematician (he lived from 1616-1703) who was friends with Isaac Newton. There seems to be some supposition regarding whether he borrowed it from the Romans or the Greeks.

I tried and tried to get my hair to do this a couple months ago but my ends were too thick so it required way too many bobby pins to hold it in place, then it would self destruct anyway. Determination, plus 50 attempts in 90 minutes, have paid off.

Two washes per week routine - good start

Last week I did indeed follow through on my two washes per week plan. I went all the way from Wednesday to Sunday morning with the same hair.

I've been raised up to believe that I should shampoo daily and if I don't I'm not exercising proper hygiene, so I thought I'd feel grimy but go figure. I didn't really. I was fully anticipating that my scalp would get itchy in which case I would immediately cease and desist and run for a hot shower but, no itch. By Saturday it was necessary to keep it in a bun tight to my head to disguise the oiliness but that's to be expected.

Something did up though. On Saturday I noticed...odor. Yikes. Definitely objectionable.

I'm somewhat unique in that about the only place I sweat is on my head. Weird I know. In 5th grade the kids in El Centro called me La Red Mamasota during recess. In college I used to be envious of girls in dance class who sweat under their arms, on their back, or between their breasts. Me, I sweat on my head and face, and that's the sum of it. To offset the lack of sweat (which other people are amazed by) I get a really bright red face. Real attractive. I couldn't avoid sweating on my head at belly dance class on Thursday, then during my own at-home work-out on Friday. This made my scalp smell. Anybody close to me would be able to detect it.

So I applied some grapefruit essential oil to my fingertips and rubbed it into my scalp for about five minutes. It helped immensely. It was not overpowering in the least and it eradicated the odor. Five gold stars go to grapefruit essential oil, $4.95 for .5 ounces.

I have a pic of day three unwashed hair. You'll see it wasn't that bad. This photo is also noteworthy because finally, finally I can make an attractive everyday low bun. I realized that if I don't wind so tightly and if I hold it in place just right while I put in bobby pins, it looks nice. In the past I simply could not bear to wear a low bun because it gave me that school marm look.

My bangs did require washing every day, but those are a cinch to do in the sink.

The Madora comb is IN!

What's so big about combs? Not much...to the untrained eye. But there exists a whole 'nother realm of combs in the comb world that you may not be aware of.

If you want real long hair, real healthy hair, why then you need to baby it. I've always used combs from the market that cost me, hmmm, maybe $1.99. They did the job just fine. But you see, if you look closely you will see seams. Check it out. Each and every tooth on your comb may show a seam from the plastic molding. If these seams are present they can tear your hair, or at the very least scrape every individual hair the whole way down. You want to avoid this. As Heidi says, you must treat your hair like fine lace. It is a fiber. Heidi would know on account of she has hair almost to the floor.

This new Madora comb is seamless. It seems to be made of plastic and I wish I knew what kind, but it has a solid feel to it. It's handmade in Switzerland. It's a pretty ivory color and I can see striations in it - added purely for looks. I need to get that Hello! software so I can upload a really big photo of it so you can view the striations. Okay, enough with the text, on to photos...

It was made in Switzerland, I ordered it from New York.  It shipped via ground transport.

The UPS man left it at my door. I love packages.



New and old comb comparison.




The back of the Madora has an indentation for your hand hold.


The Madora has a bit more space between the teeth. The bottoms of the teeth are larger than my old comb.



A hardworking comb.



Madora and the babies.

Happy December!

I now own ... an archive.

Three gifts

We give our son three gifts from us for Christmas. We decided on three because Jesus received gifts from three Wise Men. It's worked out well. It helps us stay focused and avoid the chaos and materialism that is rampant in the U.S. this time of year.

We spent Christmas in Tahiti once and it changed our attitude toward Christmas and the whole holiday season. We used to spend, spend, spend, and rush, rush, rush just like everybody. But in Tahiti they don't do that. It's much more simple. It gave us pause to examine and reflect upon what we were doing and why.

I intend to wash two days a week

It's been decided. I will wash my hair two times a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays, just like Avrilon! She has such pretty hair. I'll never look like an Avrilon, I have no chance, but I still have aspirations. She's 53 and still very cool as her photos clearly show. I think she has the face of a model though she's never mentioned modeling. It seems like everybody who is anybody who has long, long hair, washes only once or twice a week, not daily.  I want to get with the program.

My DSL went on the fritz for a day and a half. That was horrible. Couldn't access lessons, couldn't access email, couldn't access the blog. They had to fix the line out on the main street.

I had worn my hair in the same French braid for two solid days (must have been because I had no DSL) so this morning I popped awake and did a scalp wash, blow dried, mixed some jojoba and grapefruit EO, brushed through, put my hair in a tight bun, went to Bible study. It looks nice and I feel better.