Andy's Idea Factory

View previous posts on Henna: 1- About Henna and my process 2- The first dying 3- Other products from Henna Sooq 4- Cleansing and Independence It's been almost a year since my last Henna post and I realized I have a few things to report that might be useful! If you've read the other posts, you'll know I'm a meticulous person. I like researching something until I know it fully, and then I like developing my own process and adapting it. I was made for an R&D department, unfortunately I'm not in that career, oh well. Accordingly, I've studied Henna until I'm blue in the face. I've found an awesome provider at Henna Sooq (my only complaint is that they run out of the good stuff so you have to plan ahead, a funny story on that to follow). And I've tried several new hair products now so that I'm proud to say there are no chemicals on my head any more. After two years, I feel I have this process honed. Here's what I continue to learn a...

Steamboat's regional population is around 18,000, and in the peak weeks of tourist season, the occupancy is doubled. For those 20-40 thousand people, there are seemingly as many photographers - as any gorgeous natural beauty attracts - who are gunning for your business. Personally, I don't advertise my services; I let word of mouth lead the right people to me. I have a full time job that I adore, and I let photography - a lifelong passion - remain a hobby so it remains a passion. Needless to say, people do find me.  When I search Steamboat Photographers on Google, I don't come up, so I'm not sure how clients do find me, but I'm thankful they do. Whether it's by referral or by synchronicity, it always seems the fun people find me. The quaint  weddings , the surprise engagements at Fish Creek , the happy newborn twins , the large Florida families with matching t-shirts; those are the calls I get, and I love it. I offer my services part time to one small realty ...

Reprinted from the Shift Network If you're a Gmail user, you may have noticed a new "tabbed inbox" system that is being phased in now and we wanted to give you a quick update about it so you can continue receiving all the exciting and transformative offerings you've come to the Shift Network for. Basically, Google has split your inbox into 5 separate inboxes and created tabs across the top labeling each "Primary, Social, Promotions, Updates and Forums. The problem is... they've also decided that THEY, not YOU, get to choose which emails go into which new inbox tab, unless you tell them otherwise. What does that mean? A lot of emails you've asked to receive will end up under the tab marked Promotions, even though they're valuable content and you've specifically asked to get them. Pretty much all emails from bloggers and other websites and people you subscribe to are being lumped into the "Promotions" inbox automatically, where you may...

(Continued from parts 3 , 2 , 1 ) Like clockwork, my hair grows about 1/2 an inch per month, as it has since I started paying attention 20 years ago. So that leaves me with an inch of increasingly gray roots every 2 months, and thus, a much needed regular schedule.  With each passing month since my switch to Henna in October, I must say I love the product more and more.  And I am pretty sure my key goal - matching momma's truly natural color - has finally been succeeded; something I simply wasn't able to do with chemical dyes. Proof: while down in Florida this past week my mom's college roommate pulls her aside and says, "Wow, Andrea got your red hair!", like she didn't remember that from 15 years ago when I'd seen her last.  My mom (and I) chuckled... "Nope, she uses Henna."  Personal victory, accomplished. So what's new in my experience? Cleansing success Well, I've honed in on the bar I like for my hair. I think if you switch to...

I am not exaggerating when I say I have been loving the switch to all natural Henna, and I have eagerly awaiting the next round with Teresa - the trooper that she is for going through this with me! Since October's posts [in case you missed Part 2 or Part 1 ], purchase, and treatment, I have had tons of comments on the color and health of my hair... Henna has - no question - improved the overall body and hydration of the hair strands and health of my scalp as well as giving it a more natural color tone than I've had since I started coloring it red 4 years ago. After the first dye, I went back to the girls at Mountain Hair Studio here in Steamboat and had them give me a once-over. While it didn't totally blend the full length of my hair (Teresa cut off about 3-4" of the dead ends, but the bottom 5-6" of my sternum-length hair still had darker, merlot colored ends), there were no "hot roots," and the tone looked more natural, continuing to settle f...

(Continued from Part 1) Henna Gods, I am truly impressed. Granted, my mantra has been, "the Indian women have such beautiful hair..." so the results had to be good.  But even so, my hair looks awesome. A more natural shade of red than the chem dye- slightly lighter than my natural brown tone (is that possible? is that from the chamomile?)- than I've ever had in the four years that my stylist and I have been tampering with tubes of colors like Michelangelo. Not wine red, not Redskins red, not Mahogany-Obsidian red.  I had been shooting for my mother's red. Scottish/Irish red, a dark Ginger. I think I'm finally there, or damn close. So how'd we get there? Here's the last 48 hours: 10pm Monday Large ceramic bowl Mixed 300g of fresh organic Rajasthani Indian Henna powder with 3.5c of warm chamomile tea from distilled water, steeped for 20 minutes and cooled with 6 cubes of ice Covered with plastic wrap, left on counter 9am Tuesday No "red...

Disclaimers A) The topic Henna is clouded by volumes of misinformation, and B) I'm no expert. Background I have been on a quest to go 100% "all natural" (in all aspects) for a decade, and hair color just happens to be my last chem standing. I have been DIYing bathroom and kitchen stuff for inside and outside the body for a very long time... but specifically within the last 4 years I have been doing so to manage- and hopefully remedy- two conditions I have developed, one recently, one a long time ago: psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. I have tried gluten free, grain free, vegetarian, sobriety, urban farming... I have made DIY lotions, washes, cleaners, salves...  and because I believe others could benefit from what I've studied, I have been writing along the way ( arthritis , DIY , gluten free , grain-free, psoriasis , see list on page's bottom left for more). Topic So after a month's worth of extensive research on Henna, here's what I've found...