Annabelle Blue's Faves

Fave Hair Product: Seriously, I can't live without my Phyto Phytodefrisant Anti-Frizz Botanical Hair Relaxing Balm . It makes my hair NOTICEABLY shinier, more manageable and kills my frizz. I had been using it for so long that I forgot how my hair functioned without it . . . until recently when I went a few weeks without it. My hair is SUPER curly and WAY frizzy and even hair stylists complain about blow-drying it out (not to mention they routinely charge me extra, which is another story altogether!), but when I use Phytodefrisant as a part of my normal blow-dry routine, no one would know.

Here's how I straighten my hair with Phytodefrisant:

1.) Wash your hair with a creamy, hydrating shampoo. (I switch shampoos all the time, so I can't really recommend one right now. But, as a general rule, if you have ultra dry hair like me, you should stick to creamy shampoo rather than a gel-based one.)
2.) Towel dry hair. (No need for conditioner with this stuff, but sometimes I will use a deep, nutrient-rich conditioner. Again, I switch all the time, so I'm hesitant to recommend one.)
3.) Apply a quarter size of Phytodefrisant throughout hair and then comb through.
4.) Separate hair into four sections.
5.) Blow dry my hair with a comb attachment. (This cuts the drying time in half.)
6.) Use a flat iron to make is nice and smoooooooooth.

I can't stress enough how amazing this product is. I buy mine at Sephora, as it's the only retail place that sells the stuff around here. It's a little pricey ($32 for 5.9 fl.oz.), but oh so worth it, I promise.


Fave Prescription Painkiller: I really can't stand Tylenol because it makes me nauseous. I don't like codeine. Ibuprofen is for punks. I've never had morphine. I fell in love with vicodin . . .until last month.

I was prescribed vicodin after some oral surgery at the beginning of June. It made me relaxed, calm and . . . painless. It was a God-send, really. No side effects, which I routinely encounter with other medicine. I could feel my heart rate slow, which might be a little freaky, but I liked it. By my birthday in mid-June, I was almost a full-fledged addict, singing the praises about the drug to everyone I encountered, resorting to taking only half a pill every couple of nights, when the mood was right, just because I couldn't bare the thought of one day running out of my prescription.

The love affair ended this time last month when I was, like today, suffering from hideous menstrual cramps. I drunkenly mixed vicodin with ample red wine, vegetarian Mexican cuisine and asprin. Needless to say, I nearly died. I was convinced I was going to die of heart failure (or have to get my right leg amputated, at the very least), but alas, I survived with a minor hangover and a craving for cinnamon toast bagels the next morning. I bartered the remaining pills with a co-worker in exchange for lunch at my favorite Thai restaurant a few days later and thus ended my vicodin affair.

So as I sit here in front of this computer, whining and crying about how it sucks to be a woman, I am nostalgic for my ex-lover who is no good for me, but damn, it was so good while it lasted.