News Flash – Climber on the Twin Towers

Some dude (or dudette) has decided to climb up the exterior of the Twin Towers, apparently free hand.

Huge crowd with cameras here, the police have cordoned off the area and the Ambulance and Fire Brigade are here.

Although don’t know what good the ambulance will be if he falls off. He’s so far up he’s a tiny Yellow T-shirted spec.

Mind you, the police chopper that just turned up will probably do a good job of blowing him off the side of the building. Wouldn’t want to be involved in that clean up.

Bed head Ego Boost Leave-In Conditioner – Rowr

I have a lot of long mid back black chinese hair and I spend a lot of time in air conditioning so my hair can tend to dry out quickly. However, I can still have an oily scalp depending on what products I use in my hair.

For the past year since I’ve been keeping it long, my brother used to see me at my desk at home with a pair of scissors clipping off split ends (don’t ask, I suspect I’m mildly OCD).

For some reason this really got on my brothers nerves – and coupled with his desire to buy absolutely everything (literally) in the world he an get his grubby paws on, he came back home one day with a bottle of this.

Personally I wouldn’t have bought it because there is no such product that will magically repair split ends other than a pair of hairdresser scissors. Still, I stuck it in my bathroom.

And since I hate wasting crap I ended up trying it.

Product Description

This is a well designed bottle – with the wider bottom tapering to the top it is unlikely to fall over any time soon like cylindrical bottles. Also, I found the pump very effective with a long enough spout/nozzle that I didn’t have to pick up the bottle to pump in order to avoid product smearing all over the bottle.

It’s also vaguely see through which means I can see how much I have left, but it’s not all-clear transparent which means the product won’t get affected by light as much.

The liquid itself is clear and does have a sticky texture, somewhat like watery hair gel. The smell straight out of the bottle is very strong, but it dissiptes fairly quickly once you put it on so it doesn’t bother me.

You will have to wash your hands after application because it is quite sticky – but on the other hand, I don’t know any hair care product I would not do that with (other than 100% Aloe Vera).

Use

The product can be used both wet and dry but I usually use it semi-wet. After I get out of the shower I will half dry my hair with the hair dryer, and then squirt 2 pumps, using two hands to distribute through my hair from top to bottom (but not on the scalp).

I do not use so much product that my hair is dripping with it. Usually my hair will look damper until the product starts drying, which is quite quick, less than a minute or so.

Then I’ll finish up blowdrying. Note that my hair doesn’t smell of this stuff after I’m done styling.

Effect

As I’ve said, this product does NOT repair split ends – no product can. However, it is an excellant ‘coating’ of the hair – not oily or heavy (like most hair gels, which I can’t use because they’re too heavy), protecting from drying effects of air conditioners etc.

Also unlike hair gels or spray this product will not make your hair ‘crackly’ or leave white residue behind.

Instead my hair is silkier and soft, still light, but with that little bit of hold which means I can style it gently so my hair is not ‘flat’, a common problem with heavy asian hair.

And I definitely do not have as many fly-aways as without the product.

Conclusion

I really like this product, but not for the purpose it was intended for. It’s great as a good leave-in conditioner and / or hair gel replacement.

La Mer Face Cream – Boo Hiss

La Mer is a name familiar to most girls who use more than Oil of Ulay for their skin.

It’s that hyper-expensive (at M$800 for a small pot) cream that’s supposed to perform ‘miracles’ on your skin. Invented by scientists after last century’s world wars, it’s supposed to be able to heal burn patient wounds.

How it is made is supposed to be some wildly crazy way that involves g-force gravity and ingredients from deep below the sea. I don’t even want to think about the difficulty and natural resources that went into making this cream.

Needless to say, I never even considered buying such an expensive cream. Until Amex gave my mother a small jar for free.

My skin tends to be on the dry side and I can be prone to break outs, I’m in terrible air conditioning for the majority of the day. I was anxious to see whether this La Mer would live up to the myth.

The cream is very thick and pungeant (in a perfume-y kind of way) – you only need to use a very little. The jar comes with a little scoop which you’re supposed to use to scoop out the cream from the jar, level it off and use whatever is left in the scoop. It’s really not much, so one small jar could theoretically last at least 6 months if you use it twice a day.

Then you’re supposed to heat up the cream in your hands by rubbing your hands together vigourously before patting it onto your face.

I have really dry hands (somewhat akin to washerwoman’s I’ve been told, despite my moisturizing like crazy they still insist on their dryness), so this seems really wasteful to me – you’re moisturizing your hands more than your face surely – but the heat is supposed to ‘activate’ the ingredients.

Initially I got pretty good results. Then, while travelling I dropped the jar when unpacking and the lid partially broke on one side. It still closed though and the pad between the lid and the jar seemed airtight so I thought it was ok.

It was not ok. Soon the cream separated and it looked like a jar of oily water and lumps the texture of lipo-sucked cellulite. Not pleasant.

I happened to be in New York at the time, so went to buy some more – since I was having such good results. My skin did seem to be glowing more. Incidentally, the guy at the counter said that this separation of La Mer did happen from time to time, and after it happens, you shouldn’t use the cream and there’s no way to get the ingredients to bind again.

Seems like when you’re spending so much money on pretty much the most expensive face cream on the market, you really wouldn’t have to deal with that kind of product inconsistency. At the very least surely La Mer should offer some sort of replacement when it does happen. We’re not talking about $10 cream from Watson’s here.

I bought a large jar on the assumption that it was cheaper in NY than in KL.

After diligent use, about a week later I started to notice that I was breaking out a lot. Also my face had become red and blotchy and it looked like it was hardening. Note tht La Mer had never been particularly moisturizing – you didn’t get that refreshing feel after applying it.

Final Verdict – Blech, don’t buy it
I had to stop using the cream after that because it just seemed to make my skin worse with every application. It’s expensive, fussy to use and does not give good long term results.
Later, I was speaking to a cousin who also had the same problems with La Mer.

Does anyone want half a large jar of La Mer?