Gray Hair & How To Take Care Of It?

So now that I've shown how to GET GRAY HAIR, I'd like to tell you how to maintain it. As I told in the first post, gray hair color is probably one of the most time, money and effort consuming color that there is. I've had black, pink, light brown, dark brown, orange, white and blond hair and as a naturally brown haired person, everything that has something to do with bleaching is very frustrating at times. However I was and am very obsessed with the color gray - I just love it, so it was only natural to try it out as a hair color.

First thing you need to know, is that you're gonna need to spend a lot more time in the shower after you've obtained the gray hair, because keeping it good looking is almost as hard as getting it. The gray colors only attach to blond/very blond hair. If there are any traces of brown or extreme yellowness, the gray color will say "NOPE" and run away. Sometimes I had to bleach my roots 2 times before the gray color actually stick. And as we know, bleaching is not good for your hair. SO keep that in mind before even thinking about dyeing your hair gray, because IF your hair is naturally very dark and/or it's not in good condition, the multiple bleaching can actually cause your hair to fall off and you're left with very damaged, dry and short hair. This happened to my sister ones when she recklessly bleach and dyed her hair over and over again - and did not listen to my warnings.

But now I'm going to show you the products that I use on my gray hair, that keeps the hair and also the color in a good shape! (You can also use some of these products on any hair color, because most of them are not meant for just gray hair).

STEP # 1 
A good silver shampoo is what you're gonna need! This is by far the best one that I've bumped into and the price is reasonable. I usually let it affect about 2 minutes before rinse. It might leave a touch of lilac in your hair if you're not careful. No gloves needed. Just wet your hair and take a good amount of the shampoo and leave it for a moment and rinse off. This actually washes your hair so you don't need to wash you hair with a normal shampoo before using this ( like you need to do with some other silver shampoos). I also like that fact that it comes in a pump bottle! So L´ORÈAL Professionnel Silver shampoo, expert series. You can find it from hair saloons and special hair stores.

L´oreal paris Silver Shampoo, expert series.

STEP # 1.5
You don't always have to use a silver shampoo, you can also use a regular one, but I would recommend to get one that treats your hair. I found this shampoo very lovely! It smells really nice and it immediately makes your hair more soft and silky. Because in order to keep your hair gray, it needs to be moisturized. No color will stick to dry and damaged hair. You can find this shampoo in basically any shop and it's very cheap. So no extra money spent there and I think it's a good value for money. (Pantene PRO-V, repair and protect shampoo)

Pantene Pro-V repair and protect shampoo

STEP # 2
To keep the color gray, you need to add it at least on every third wash. I usually add some color on every second wash. Sometimes I'm too lazy and add it only on every third wash, and it immediately shows on my hair! This is the best product to add in the shower for some extra color! I already talked about this in the first post, so I'm not gonna blabber about it too much now, so just go check out the older post from HERE. This gives a really cool and nice gray color and it's so easy to apply and use. Just leave it on after shampooing for about 5 minutes and rinse. Instead of using this, you can also use the WELLA color fresh 7/19 or other quick fix colors that do not contain ammonia. (Gray Color treatment - EVERY ANNADONNA).

Gray color treatment, EVERY annadonna

 STEP # 3
I basically don't use a conditioner too much, because I found this! It's a GARNIER Respons, Caring Mask. It's really cheap, around 4-6 euros and it's extremely durable! I've had mine for over two months and I use it on almost every wash. It has Avocado and Shea Butter and it smells amazing! I didn't see any difference in my hair for the first two weeks, but after that I noticed that my hair was in so much better condition! It was less course and electric and very soft and silky and more glossy. I recommend this to everyone! But especially for those who color their hair and use many heat tools like curlers and blow dryers. You can basically find it from bigger stores. Pppsssttt! This series also has a shampoo, that's also SO LOVELY! I recommend it. It's very similar to the Pantene's shampoo and they're both amazing.

Garnier Respons, Caring Mask with Avocado and Shea Butter.

A creamy, easy to apply texture.

 STEP # 4
After showering, when your hair is still damp, apply this dry oil to your hair! It also smells amazing, moisturizing your hair leaving it less frizzy and dry and also reduces electricity in your hair. It does not come off as oily and dirty, but shiny and extremely soft! This one has a Vitamin E in it. It does not have any heat protection aspects to it, so use a proper heat protection product before blow drying or using any curlers etc. I really recommend this if you live in a cold country and your hair tends to get really electric because of the cold and dry air. This is a durable and cheap and easy to find. I payed maybe 7 euros from it and i've had it for many months now, and there's still over half left. ( PANTENE PRO-V, Dry Oil).

PANTENE Pro-V, Vitamin E Dry Oil.

 STEP # 4.5
This is also a wonderful dry oil! It's a bit pricey, and you can only find it from hair saloons and stores. (at least in Finland) It's KMS California TAME FRIZZ dry oil. This smells also very good and it's durable. It gives an intense shine and moisturizes and this one has a heat and humidity protection in it. I add it to damp but also on dry hair to give some extra shine. I really recommend to use some sort of dry oil. This one was a bit more expensive, it was 22 euros. But I think it's worth it!

KMS California Tame Frizz dry oil.

 STEP # 5
Last step, is to use some gray hair colors to really volume up the grayness of your hair. I just found this new color from Finland and I'm not yet sure if it's sold in anywhere else? I think it's made in Poland, but it still could be a Finnish color. But I really liked it! I bought two of these from an exhibition, and it only costed 10€/2 packs. So really cheap! It has ammonia in it so I was quite cautious with it, but the color came out really nice! Like deep, ash gray. This is a permanent color so it should stay a bit longer than the other ones. The color is not as dark as it seems on the package, but it's really nice. One of the best ones I know. But once again, the hair needs to be quite blond before using this. (AROMA INTENSE, Permanent Silver Blond Color).

AROMA INTENSE, permanent Silver blond. 

A bad picture of the instructions. But as you can see, this does not affect
on dark hair - only on very blond hair. 

So this is my guide to good and healthy hair and color! You need to use a bit more time if you want a healthy hair. One good product is Virgin Coconut Oil. It's natural and does not contain ANY chemicals. You can use is as a conditioner in a shower and also as a mask. Just apply it to your hair in the evening, sleep on it and wash it off in the shower next morning. The coconut oil is very oily so use a plastic film or bag on your hair or cover your pillow with a towel - otherwise everything is oily. Also put your hair up on a bun, for preventing a huge mess - it's also better for you hair to sleep with a loose bun, because it prevents friction and tangles. (and it also adds some volume to yous hair!). Once I bleached my roots 2 times in one day at a saloon and my scalp was SO ITCHY and burning. I rubbed a whole lot of coconut oil on my scalp and slept on it and in the morning my scalp was completely healed! You cannot use coconut oil as a dry oil, because it leaves you hair so oily looking that it's almost disgusting. So you need to wash/rinse it.


I hope this helped you and leave a comment if you have any questions or critics!

XXX, 
TOKI

SMOOCH!! 

When I grow up I want to be a ZOMBIE. 

It seems that I always have this Marvel shirt on, when I take photos...
FYI it's not my only shirt. :D lol

Cold Finnish Summer = fighting against cancer

The summer is almost over, so I thought it would be a great time to tell you a bit about how my summer was and to be honest, I think this was the worst summer in my life.

First of all the so called ''summer'' that we have had here in Finland is probably the coldest one in a history. It's not usually very hot in here and that's fine ( I hate sweating and extreme heat ), but this year the temperature has got barely over 15 degrees Celsius - and that's cold even for a Finnish summer. And also we've had so much rain. So while the rest of the Europe is having super heat ( 28-37 degrees) I've been wearing my leather jacket and thick stockings the whole ''''''summer''''''.

Second thing, at the beginning of the summer my Mother was diagnosed with cancer. She's only 53 and very skinny and doesn't smoke or drink, so it was a bit of a surprise. A few years ago my Mother's father had a cancer and thankfully it was healed. My Mother has now had the surgery and she's currently at a sick leave from work and I've been staying at home taking care of Nemo and Mom. Thank goodness I haven't been sick in these couple of moths. I went to see my Mom at the hospital after the surgery and me and my brother went to get her home the next day. We cooked her a three-course meal and I bought her flowers and a card. She was so happy and thankful. I've also been with her in every hospital visit and hugged her when she's been feeling hopeless. So I have to stay strong for her. If I crumble, she might as well. I'm very proud of her tough.... Only once she has started to cry when she was in a lot of pain. And I don't mean that she shouldn't cry, but I just feel like she's dealing with this whole thing very well. We all are and that's mostly because we're quite open about this whole matter and we have a loving family and friends who really support us.

 Also my/our oldest dog (Mokka) was almost about to die for a couple of times this summer. She's already 12½ years and very sick, taking about 5 drugs in a day, but she's very lively and happy when she has a better period, so we're not giving up on her just yet. We've been talking about putting her to rest, if she gets any worse or is in serious pain. But just the thought of that is almost too much for me.

So yeah, a very, very shitty summer for me, eh?

But we did also do some fun things! We could not travel far because of my mother's condition, so we only did day trips to beautiful Finnish cities.

First was Hanko! It's actually the most southern place of Finnish mainland. We do have many islands that are more in the south, but this is the most southern city. It's about 1½-2 hours car ride from our capital, Helsinki. Hanko is a very beautiful small city that has long and beautiful beaches and absolutely gorgeous old villas. So we took Nemo with and went off to experience some beach life.

But of course, since we're geographically in the zone of  ''fu*k you Northern people'', the day turned out to be cold and windy.... No need to think about getting burned in the sun.

Nemo was more interested showing his butt that posing for a picture.

A very typical Finnish sea view. The house on the rock is an old restaurant and cafe. 

I have to say, that even though I love the vasts forests of Thailand and Asia and the green Mountains of Germany
I still think this is very beautiful. Just plain sea and rocks. I don't know if it's just a Scandinavian thing?

Cold and windy.

The restaurants. They are about 20 meters from the sea. 

This is a face of true happiness! We went to a restaurant called
Makaronitehdas (Macaroni factory) and they had SO amazing
pasta dishes! 

I had hand made pasta, red wine sauce with herbs, lamb fillet and
Parmesan cheese. It was absolutely divine!

Nemo went to take a swim in the sea and after a great deal of running
and exploring he got tired and wanted some patting.

Dark clouds over a beautiful beach. On the background a huge villa.

I did, of course, have a bottle of water for Nemo in my zombie backpack and also his towel and some treats. In Finland you can't always take your dog inside a restaurant - usually the terrace is OK, but not always. So we always have to make sure and ask beforehand if dogs are allowed. This is quite annoying since at least in Germany it was a exception if dogs were not allowed inside some restaurants or cafes. But Finland is a bit 'stiff' when it comes to things like these.

We also went into a few shops and drove around and admired the beautiful villas - and took only 1 picture of them. Poor me.


On out next trip we went to Porvoo. It's also a very small but very old and beautiful city. This time my brother joined us. Unfortunately I don't have lots of pictures from the city itself, and that's mainly because we've been there many times, so I didn't even think about taking pictures. lol. But we did take some... Porvoo is about 45 minutes drive from Helsinki and it's a very iconic Scandinavian city that is very popular tourist sight during the summer. There are a lot of little iconic and cute shops that sell antiques and hand made products. There is also Brunberg's factory shop, a big Finnish chocolate factory, that has been making sweets for almost 150 years. Porvoo is also known for it's great food and restaurants and also it's idyllic small cafes.

I managed to close my eyes just when the picture was taken. My brother still browsing the Menu. We were in a restaurant near the river bank called Fryysarinranta. Don't really know what it means... lol.

Waiting for the food. Dunno where my brother is looking at... We both had cross checked shirts on. Mine was just
dark green and you can only see the collar of it.

I really did you a favor when censoring my face... I had a VERY
stupid look because my Mom forced me to pose in front of
the restaurant. Nemo didn't like it either. Look at his face!

At a cafe. Drinking my oh-so-good latte while my brother stares at a small bug that's on my hair. Can you see
the tiny little white spot on my bangs? Yep, that's the bug!

The cafe's backyard terrace. 

We all agreed that in this pic I look like one Finnish woman comedian,
 Pirjo Heikkilä. And Nemo looks so small. My tiny little Casanova. 

I also have to tell you that I HATE MOSQUITOES!!!!!! This happened at the beginning of the summer. We were actually in Helsinki and I got bitten by a mosquito 10 ( I mean really, TEN?) times on my legs. Mostly on my left knee. And as I am allergic to many things I think I'm also a little allergic to mosquito bites, because look at my legs!!

You can't see all the 10 bites, and the picture somehow doesn't show the most brutal aspect of these bites - they were so itchy and swollen! I couldn't wear thin stockings 'cos my legs were so ugly, red and malformed. I even tried to apply some makeup on them, but nothing worked. This was about 2½ months ago and I still have a tiny bruise on some of the biggest bites. Thank you, you little pieces of jhdhgligvnpu*!="?) !!!!!

Now I have to go and take Nemo out. I just gave him a bath this morning, and now our whole apartment smells so good! Every time he runs past or a wind blows from his direction, you can smell a sweet scent of lilies. So to the ones who say that dogs smell:  it only depends on the owner. Nemo never smells bad. We even brush his teeth so his breath is also very scentless. And he's almost 5 years old already.

Goodbye for now and I hope you liked reading. Sorry for the very long post... heh heh.

XXX
TOKI

Veni, Vidi, Vici = Journey to Rome. (Lots of pictures)

Hello my Pumpkins! It's been a long time again. I've had way too many things on my mind in the past few months and only now I find myself able to actually update my blog. This post is going to be mostly about our trip to Rome, Italy. I went there with my mother and older brother. I've been to Italy quite many times before, but never in Rome. I've been to Garda, Riccione, Venice... but I've never been to the actual capital of Italy? I've noticed that I have this sort of habit that I don't visit the country's capital - I've been to Germany maybe over 15 times, but only once in Berlin ( and even that was just for one day), Thailand two times, not in Bangkok, France 3 times never in Paris.. And the list goes on.

We all had BIG and I mean HUGE hopes for Rome. I mean it's one of the most famous capitals in the world and every year somewhere between 7-10 million tourists go to see and to fall in love with Rome. I was waiting for the whole ''falling in love'' -experience, but somehow I did not get it.. Let me tell you why.

Okay so first of all I've traveled quite a lot. I've been to maybe 15 different countries and most of them more than once so I can say that I have some sort of experience about the matter, but never have I encountered such an unwelcome feeling while traveling. Most of the local people in Rome where SO RUDE, and for the record I'm from Finland for gods sake and we're not famous for our warmth, but still I can tell you that most Finns have much better manners than what I received from the people in Rome. And I'm not talking about the tourists here..  It was rare if the salesclerk actually looked you in the eye or smiled. Most of the time these women (yes, most of them were women) didn't even say anything although I tried to be nice and say ''Buongiorno!'' with a smile and an eye contact. After a while I stopped it since I did not receive any response.

But I have to say that the actual city of Rome was SO beautiful! All the architecture and scenery... I loved it. And as a person interested in art I found the Vatican one of the most beautiful places that I've ever been to.

Saint Peter's Church/Basilika in Vatican.

The famous square in front of the church. 

Inside of Saint Peter's. 

You can't possibly understand the amount of people that
was in there or the vastness of the place itself.

I think all the people living in Espoo could be fitted
inside the church. (Espoo = 2nd largest city in Finland)

Yep, the Catholic church sure has money, money, money...

Some dead wax-dude inside of a glass coffin. I sure do hope it's wax....

My mom and me. I was getting a bit tired here...
My mother was not... lol

The famous statue Pietà - Mary holding the dead Jesus.

I'm not a religious person... I actually resigned from church as soon as I was able to, but I was still very swayed by the magnitude of everything there. All the art and all the hours of labor that has gone into making the whole place. It's something unbelievable that you just have to experience yourself to understand.

And even though this was not something that I personally believe in, I still respect the people who does and I respect their rules. And one of them was to cover your knees and shoulders when entering the holy places like the churches. This was somewhat problematic to me since it was hot (for me at least) and I did not want to put black jeans on... So I decided to put a maxi dress and take a leather jacket with me so that I can cover my shoulders. Unless you had a proper outfit, you're not allowed to enter the church.

Now I'll post some pictures from the Museums of the Vatican.

Hercules. You could recognize him from the lion skin
and from the wooden club. He had the biggest club
of them all.................. lol

A very posh and ancient statue of Nemo. 

This fella could really have some use for moisturizing creams.

A Finnish chimp and a Vatican Baboon.
Or the other way around. 

My brother also wanted to join the Baboon club.
Taking these pictures with all the other tourists around us...
Yeah our mother was very proud at that moment.

Alright that's enough of the Vatican. Since we actually did go to other places too... JUST one thing I have to say as a woman to another woman - prepare to hold your liquids in. I mean I'm actually quite sure that the Pope does not have to pee since there were almost no toilets at all. It took us about 4 hours to quickly go through the Museums and the Sistine Chapel and the Saint Peter's Basilika and the only toilets after the Museums were at the square in front of the church. And ofc the queue was as long as Finnish winter. But it was all because of two Italian toilet Nazis, who let only 3 women in 5 minutes  inside these HUGE toilets. They were totally controlling the queue and smoking like chimneys and talking bullshit at the same time. Made me really angry.....

So we also visited the Colosseum and the Palatine Hills. Unfortunately my Mother's phone was stolen in the queue of Colosseum and it did not help the growing hatred against the local people. The queue to the Colosseum was a total madness! We had bought the tickets beforehand from the internet and we had to chance the printed tickets into a ''real'' tickets at the Colosseum. We had to wait 3 different times to actually get inside the whole place. And meanwhile trying to survive with all the madness my mother had left her purse open for a few minutes and PUFF the phone was gone. Immediately we called from my phone to Finland to close my mother's phone, but it did leave a nasty feeling inside to be hoaxed like that and ofc my mother blamed herself because she was not careful for one minute. We have never had anything stolen from us before - except in Spain where there was a break in to our apartment and some clothes were stolen.

I felt like Russell Crowe in there.
''I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next''.

Inside and lower levels of the Colosseum. 

My overwhelmed face.

The floor of the Colosseum had actually collapsed so we could see the
2 lower levels of the stadium. That is where I think the Gladiators
and the wild animals and beasts were kept. 

After my mother's phone was stolen there were only
my brother's phone's camera that we could use.
And a video camera. Btw I did have shorts on...

a view from the Palatine hills. The oldest place in the Rome
and the place where the whole Rome got started from.

A picture from the Colosseum to the Palatine hills.

People lived here over 1000 years BC. Just think about it... 

It was a very hot day and there were no wind so whenever I could
find a shade I went there like a bear to honey. I also had sunscreen
and my brother did not so he had red face and shoulders at the
end of the day - i did not. yay!

Then some random pictures with explanations:

Trying to find Capuchin Crypt. Google it..
It's absolutely amazing, but photos were not allowed
inside the Crypt. 

A park next to Borghese Art Gallery. 

Borghese Gallery. Hades tries to steal a bitch with his
doggy, Cerberus. 

Villa Borghese.

Nude Hercules slaying some beasts. 

Amazing ceiling art. 

Having a picnic at a park of Domitilla Catacombs. 

Walking down on Via Appia Antica. 

This was a tomb of an unknown soldier(s). It-was-huge!!
And no disrespectful behavior was tolerated. The guards would
instantly scold you from making too much noise, stupid poses and sitting
on the stairs. 

The Spanish steps. 

A View from the Spanish steps.

Some awkward posing... 

A street near our apartment.

The Pantheon Temple. A very old and massive building very close
to our apartment. We found a really good restaurant right next to it.

Inside the Pantheon.

This is one of the reasons I loved Rome....

The first day. I was so tired for having about 2-3 hours
of sleep that night. I woke up at 3 o'clock. 

the view from our apartment's window. 

Piazza Navona. 

Unfortunately the Fountain di Trevi was under construct so this was
the only bit that we saw from it. But if you Google it, it's very, very
pretty. 

I also have to add that we were so excited about the food in Rome. I was waiting it like a madman and had a great hopes for it, but like the people the food was also a big disappointment. I've had so much better Italian food in Finland and also in elsewhere in Italy that it felt like we were being deceived. The food was a bit cheaper than in Finland but the quality of the food and the service was nothing like in Finland. Of course there were some amazing restaurants that we visited more than once, and where the service was very kind and excellent, but there were absolutely too many bad places. There were so many restaurants that it was hard to choose which one to go to and we tried to find the places where the locals go to, but still we found ourselves disappointed after the meal. My brother's friend who's an Italian also said that the food and the people are not as good in Rome as they are in elsewhere in Italy. Yep, I noticed that.

We also did some shopping on Via del Corso and there were some really good shops there. I also wanted to go to the Disney store and I bought some cute things and one Star Wars mug from there. We also did some shopping on Via Cola di Rienzo, near the Vatican. But no pictures were taken from these days. So it looks like I had the same clothes all the time, but I did not. haha.

In the end we all where somewhat baffled by this trip. We maybe had too big expectations and when the reality did not match them, we found ourselves a bit sad. Everyone else who has been to Rome said they'd go back there and that they absolutely loved it, but I must say, that I'm not sure if I want to go back. It was a brilliant experience and I enjoyed spending time with my family, but maybe I'll go to somewhere else next time? I would like to see the Tuscany and Sorrento someday...

If you're ever going to see the magnificent Rome I must give you an advice: Prepare everything beforehand. And I mean EVERYTHING. Get all the tickets from the internet because it's not only cheaper it's also efficient since most of the time you can skip a huge queue if you have already purchased the tickets. Maintain calm. If you want to go to the big sights you have to wait in all sorts of different lines while there're  hundreds and maybe thousands of people around you. Be careful and do not trust everyone. Keep your bags tightly closed at all times and do not leave your phone/wallet out of your sight. The Mob is controlling many criminal organizations and there are people who try to sell you all sorts of things including a VIP passport to the Vatican and also all sorts of little gadgets and gizmos. Do NOT fall for these tricks. Also be aware of the Taxis - they can also hoax you. Do not get a picture taken with/by a man dressed in a Gladiator suite - he's most likely with the mob. Make sure you have small bills, since it's common that they give you less money back than what they should.

We were lucky that it was only my mother's phone that got stolen, since it was a work phone she got a new one right away from her workplace. Also do not expect the people to be kind to you. There are also kind and warmhearted people in Rome, but they're a minority. I think the people in there are just a bit cocky about being a Roman and they're also tired of the tourists. The same thing that's going on in Paris, i think.

This post came out Reeeeeaaallly long. And I didn't even say everything that I would have wanted to, but I hope you enjoyed it and if you want to go to Rome, then go for it! It's a beautiful and amazing city and maybe you fall in love with it more than I did. I hope you do...

Next time I'll post some random pictures. Mostly about our trips to Finland's beautiful little cities.

Arrivederci!!