Humidity-Heathen!

Humidity-Heathen: How I Knew ...

With one glance at my freshly rinsed mane, I just knew. I'd not yet peered outside. I'd not yet glimpsed the falling snow. I'd only watched the frizzy, stringy, stubborn strands as they unraveled from T-shirt to shoulder. Last Friday, February 4, after I awoke, after I showered, after I conditioned, after I did everything just right, I logged onto weather.com. I wanted proof that the barometer-called-my-hair measured "it" accurately. Well whatdaya know: Rochester, NY; humidity - 50%. Hah! The hair don't lie. (Hm, why don't we add that to last post's list. The Hors D'Oeuvres of Hair: If it's going to act-up, at least it tells us how to dress ... )

This photo-series, snapped the morning of said discovery, traverses my phases of styling as I prep the hair for a busy and adventuresome work-day turned work-evening turned night-out. Of course, as I snapped these photos, I had no idea any of those turns lay ahead. Just goes to show, thorough prep--preventative prep--allows you the freedom to adjust to any change in plans.


DISCLAIMER - This photo-shoot does NOT show hair as it looked in its post-rinsed, wet state. Error on my part! Also, it does not show hair as it holds-up throughout the day. (Zero time for follow-up shots.) But you can take my extremely honest word for it when I say that this hair, despite the 50% humidity, held-up through everything spontaneity could heave: even into the after-party when Old Toad finally gave us the post-2am boot. (Cute and extreeemely authentic British Pub in Rochester's East End. Gotta' say, I'm more an Ire-phile--as opposed to Anglophile, for sure!--and this place is still pretty cool.)

Humidity-Heathen: How I Handled

 1. Diffusion-Fusion: This pictures shows how my hair looks down, no clips or bobbies, post-product and diffusing. Not bad, huh? Well first of all, the camera loves my hair. Always, my strands look glossier and therefore healthier (or better moisturized) than they do in real-time. (Maybe it's the flash?) I mean, don't get me wrong: Photogenic hair??? Yes please! I'm just saying that in real-time, my curls looked a lot more frazzled and frayed--a lot drier--than they do here.

From Behind

 Frizz & Frazz

For instance, look at the front-shot <-- and notice the upper-right corner where my bangs lie atop my crown. (You can also see from behind, if you look to the top-left --> in the back-shot.) This is a major point of frizz and frazz. You will see the same signs-of-humidity-damage flanking the left side of my strands in both pictures. (Time-Out: This is how photoshop inept I am ... I couldn't even figure out how to draw circles around said areas and use arrows to point them out, eek!!!) Here, humidity has already damaged the top layer of my hair. As I prep for the day, these blatant signs of humidity-damage are telling. If already, some of the most pampered (because both areas receive tons of styling attention) and public (what people see first) areas of my hair have fallen asunder, it's a omen that the rest of my hair will also fall to the Humidity-Heathen.

Triangle!!!

2. Slay-it-with-Style: In these pictures, you can see how my curls fare post-styling. In the front-shot, while curls look coherent (they have a definite shape and outline), they lack overall shape and generate needless frizz. Exhibit A: The "triangle effect." (Again, photoshop drawings on this pic would be nice!) The number one way to fight Christmas-Tree-Look is to pull hair back at the ears, thereby creating volume on top and a sleek profile along the sides. Here, I've done just that. But the Humidity-Heathen, with all of his his hair-ruining prowess, undid even that.

Hair, There, and Everywhair!

This back-shot shows, again, well-defined curls. (It's the diffusing!!! And the cut. ... Mostly, the cut.) But uugggghhhhh! Check out that lack of symmetry. Seriously, what is going on at the left-top and bottom-center??? If I haaaad to wear my hair this way, because someone forced me to wear it down, I could. I would. It'd be O.K. But .... I know hair. And I know me. And I know that even during a simply scheduled day, these curls could not hold-up to the Heathen. Uh-uh.

3. Up-do Him! 

Cutesy Bun

Bye-Bye Humidity-Heathen!

Okay, there's still some frizz. Granted. (<-- See above ears!) But I have to tell you, my first line of defense on a busy, humid day, is always an up-do. That doesn't mean that if you are going-out, maybe for an evening, and it's summertime and it's hot and you're sweaty, that you can't pull-off a down look. You can. But ya need time. ... And Oribe Impermeable. Here, I had neither. For the sake of longevity, I did the up-do. And I liked it! Look at the cuteness bubbling-out of that back-bun. J'adore!

Results: Hair Won. Humidity Lost. 

And I had a lot of fun, while feeling beautiful (despite a seriously long, unforeseen, 8-10:30 work day). Humph! Take that Humidity-Heathen!!! (Picture me with crinkled nose and tongue sticking-out.)

Thanks for reading!!!