10 Ways I Stay Relaxed and Chill While Traveling for Work

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Today I’m spilling the beans on my secret job!  In February I landed a really interesting job but didn't share too many details because to even describe my new position would have revealed how much I was traveling and I always worry about giving too much of that kind of info away.  However, I recently decided to leave that job, so now I can comfortably tell you about it!  I'm saving some fun stories - and more juicy details - for another day, but today I'll at least let you know the gist: I worked as a freelance educational workshop facilitator in First Nations Communities.  I spent two weeks each month traveling to communities and delivering week long workshops about anger management, youth engagement, and emotional health.  Although some communities were actually close to a town or city and I could stay in a hotel or motel, other communities were really remote, fly-in places and there I often stayed in someone's home or a lodge where I shared a bathroom with a bunch of guys.  A lot of times there was no internet and in many communities my cell phone didn't work, so it was, at times, a really isolating experience.  Plus I had severe baggage weight restrictions (many planes were so small I couldn't even pack a carry on) and sometimes I had to pack my own food within that weight restriction (I learned to travel light, that's for sure)!  But I always made room in my luggage for a few little luxuries, like AVEENO® products from Walmart, to help me stay happy and relaxed traveling so much for work.  

Here were my must-haves for treating myself!

1. Scented Candle

When I stayed in private homes, they were always pretty immaculate but some of the lodge-type accommodations and motels were pretty old.  One room in particular smelled so terribly bad that I was forced to sleep with the door to my hotel room open all night (so unsafe!) and so, after that, I started packing a small scented candle or room deodorizer which, as it turned out, also helped me de-stress after a long and draining day.   

2. Good Book

I know e-readers are all the rage but I like to decompress in the evenings without a screen, so I always brought along one good old fashioned paperback.  I buy cheap books at yard sales specifically for traveling so I can leave them behind for the next weary traveler.

3. Warm Drink

I learned this from a co-worker, who always traveled with his favorite instant coffee.  I was used to just hitting up a local Starbucks whenever I traveled but that definitely wasn't an option for this line of work!  The places I stayed often had communal everything: bathroom, kitchen, living room, so I did often have the means to at least boil water and bringing my own fancy loose leaf tea or instant coffee/hot chocolate was such a nice treat in the evening and made me feel more at home.

4. Healthy Snack

Many communities had really limited food choices so I made sure to always pack my own snacks because having something to nibble on in the evening that reminded me of home was always a treat.  Plus I definitely did feel stressed after some workshops and without a healthy snack to rely on, I was weak and would have said yes to every doughnut and chocolate bar that crossed my path...

5. AVEENO PURE RENEWAL® Shampoo and Conditioner

My hair already takes a beating thanks to bleaching and dyeing it bright hues like hot pink, shades of teal and mint, or, heck, four different vivid colors at once!  Plus the water was really harsh in some communities so I had to take special care to be gentle to my strands.  AVEENO PURE RENEWAL® Shampoo and Conditioner is creamy and gentle but effectively removes impurities while renewing my hair to a balanced state.  Plus it's clinically proven to be mild on sensitive skin and it's safe for color treated hair - which is a bonus, for sure.  I always decanted some of each in a travel sized bottle to take with me on the road.

6. Calling Card

It felt like the 1990s to have to track down a public phone.  When my cell service didn't cover in a particular area, it gave me peace of mind to know I could still connect with Hubby.  I still keep a calling card in my wallet just in case - you never know when a cell phone might give up the ghost.

7. Comfy Lounge Clothes

The first few trips I made I packed my (required) business casual attire and then some PJs for hanging out in my room - not realizing everyone would SEE them when I had to trek to the communal bathrooms.  I ended up buying PJs that weren't quite so thread bare but I also packed some comfy lounge clothes so I could hang out in common areas with ease.

8. Running Shoes

At first I was too nervous to wander around the communities (bears! blackflies!), but eventually I started to get cabin fever so I started packing running shoes and going for a walk or run every night.  I am not a runner, by any stretch of the imagination, but that daily exercise helped clear my mind and connect with people in the community so I always made room for my runners in my suitcase.  In my room I did some gentle stretching or yoga. 

9. Music

After I started traveling for work, I spent a good chunk of money and bought some music.  To save a penny, I usually listened to a lot of free music apps on my phone but they all required internet and I didn't have internet or data many places so I finally bought some songs which was definitely a sanity saver for me.  It was nice to block out the noise through paper thin walls and decompress.  Had I kept traveling for work, noise cancelling headphones was next on my list because those small planes are so LOUD. 

10. AVEENO® POSITIVELY RADIANT® 60 SECOND IN-SHOWER FACIAL

Did I mention the shared bathrooms?  It was, surprisingly, not as terrible as I imagined but there were some terrifying moments.  Sometimes I only had to share with women, but it was the unisex showers that still give me nightmares.  It definitely didn't leave time for much primping, but my skin was really taking a beating so the AVEENO® POSITIVELY RADIANT® 60 SECOND IN-SHOWER FACIAL is something I started using.  It works with the steam of a shower to deeply but gently exfoliate dirt, oil, and dead skin.  After piling on makeup every day (something I was not used to, working from home in my jammies as a blogger), spending a day in a sweaty meeting room, and trudging back to my room on a dirt road, only to wash my skin with harsh well water (treatment facilities really varied), my skin started to feel really awful.  This facial in a bottle worked like magic to make my skin feel velvety soft and naturally radiant.  I always showered at night, so taking 60 seconds to treat my skin at the end of a day felt like a luxury in my work environment and I'd shuffle back to my room feeling so content.  It's now a permanent staple in my shower at home, too, because I love that it only takes a minute and it exfoliates without leaving my skin feeling dry or stripped.

Those were my 10 must-haves for staying chill while traveling for work.  My job was such an unusual experience and, in some ways, I'm sad to have to have to search for something new but at least I can add "savvy traveler" to my list of skills!  I'll be back another day to share more about the actual job - and why I left... 

Do you travel at all for work?  What are your must-haves when you're on the road?  

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Two Years of Turquoise Dip Dyed Hair, Rainbow Hair FAQ, Plus My Short New Haircut (!)

I get a lot of questions about my teal hair:

Is your hair real?
How did you get your hair this colour?
Do you have to bleach hair to dye it bright blue?
Does the bleach and dye fry your hair?
Why did you dye it teal? 
How long does the bright hair colour last?
Will you try another colour? 
What shade and brand of hair dye do you use?
Does bright hair dye rub off on clothes and bedding?



The question I'm not asked is: "can I touch it?" - instead, people just reach over and pick up a lock of my hair, suddenly realize what they're doing, and stumble away, wide eyed and muttering apologies.  My hair draws people to me like a moth to a flame.

It's been exactly two years since I first dyed my hair teal and I just recently chopped it all off (!) - see photos of my new 'do at the end of this post - so I thought it would be fun to look back at how it's changed over the years and answer some of the teal hair dyeing FAQs I field.

In April of 2014 (on April Fool's Day, actually), I marched into a salon with a crazy idea: bleach the bottom half of my hair and dye it aqua.  I had actually planned on a peachy-pink colour but, at the last minute, decided that aqua was more me (no surprise there).  The stylist was really excited and went to town creating an ombre look that faded from blue to teal, with some purple tossed in.  It was her idea to create the ombre look, and I loved it.

How Do You Dye Hair a Bright Colour?

Getting teal hair took a long time: first the stylist back combed my hair a bit (to avoid a harsh bleached line) and then applied bleach to the ends, lightening my brunette hair to a very pale, yellow blond.  Then she applied the colours, layering in the different hues.  It was an expensive, butt-numbing experience (three hours!) and she was so flustered when the dye didn't take perfectly that she actually forgot to cut my hair (she had chopped it haphazardly before the dye job, but hadn't gone back in to fix it up).  When it was over, I decided that my turquoise hair would be short-lived.

(Rebecca, from A Clothes Horse, has a great post about how she changed her dyed hair from bright red to bright blue and she also wrote a thorough post for A Beautiful Mess about how to get the perfect rainbow hair.)

Hair needs to be bleached very light for bright colour to take, otherwise it can look sort of muddied - which you can see where the blue hair dye was overlapped with my naturally brown hair.
  
How Long Does Bright Hair Dye Last?

Afterward, the salon colour faded really quickly (it was pretty pale and splotchy after a week) and, although the stylist offered to touch it up for free, I just couldn't fathom spending another minute in a salon chair.  I wasn't ready to let it go, though, so I ordered a bottle of Manic Panic Amplified Turquoise and painted some aqua on the ends myself.  I used tinfoil and a soft artist's paint brush - it was so easy! 



I couldn't achieve the same ombre look on my own, but it turned out that I loved the solid teal.  Dyeing my hair blue at home was a thriftier alternative to going back to the salon and I found that the Manic Panic dye didn't fade very quickly, either; I only needed to touch it up every month or two, so aqua dye for me really wasn't a lot of maintenance (although it might help that I only wash my hair every two or three days).  Plus I didn't mind if it faded to a more pastel hue - I loved every shade of aqua my hair became! 

Whenever it came time for a trim, I'd whimper because each snip meant a little less aqua.  At some point, though, I grew to love just having the very bottom ends bright aqua - like I'd dipped my hair in paint.

The colour varied a lot, starting out a deeper, more muted teal:

But then the Manic Panic Turquoise hair dye would fade to a lighter, brighter aqua.  My hair naturally created a sort of gradient where the dye overlapped the bleached and natural strands of my hair. 

With each hair cut (my Mom was trimming my hair for awhile to save money), I decided the days of my aqua ends were numbered because I'd have to endure the time and cost of having the ends bleached again - something I was way too scared to try at home.  

But I couldn't go back to being a boring brunette!

On impulse, I ended up at a salon on April 1st 2015 - exactly one year after I first dyed it aqua.  I didn't even plan it, I just phoned a Chatters Salon because it seemed like an affordable place, and that's the appointment date they gave me (clearly the Universe has a sense of humor).  The stylist I got was new there (fresh out of beauty school) and she was so thrilled about my aqua-loving ways.  She gave me a trim and bleached the ends again.  When she applied the teal-green hair dye (Joico Peacock), she also painted some colour onto my brown hair, which I didn't love, but it faded and washed out pretty quickly, anyway (dye just doesn't grab unbleached hair with the same vim and vigor):

My new stylist recommended Joico's Peacock and although I loved the original hue (which was a bit more green than my old turquoise), it faded to a really bright green so I once again turned to my Manic Panic Turquoise when I needed a touch up.  She was cool with me doing my own colour in between salon visits (although she would have preferred I used Joico - but I just found it more difficult to apply and it faded more quickly).

Does Bright Dye Harm Hair?

My hair is so thin and weak and I do notice that from the bleaching, my hair gets a bit drier on the ends.  I have been trying to be generous with the conditioner and have started using a leave-in conditioner, but I really should be doing more regular treatments to condition the bleached ends.  Otherwise, I can't say the hair is that much different in texture on the ends than where my natural brown hair is.  But because I dye my hair on the ends, once it's bleached I just keep adding colour until it grows out and we start again - I don't have to re-bleach it regularly to hide roots, which I think is much harsher on hair and scalp.  So if you're looking for low commitment brightly coloured hair, just bleaching and dyeing the ends is an easy way to try rainbow hair!  It's very difficult to go back from bright hair, so being able to get rid of the aqua with a single haircut was a major plus for me - even though I love the look of a whole head of bright colour (like Rachel's awesome, allover hot pink hair!)

While I was in Toronto dealing with my family emergency, I stayed on a rural property for several months and the well water there did a number on my bleached hair.  All of my hair felt gross, but the bleached part fared the worst.  It just felt like straw, so I started wearing it in a bun all the time and gave up on touching up the dye, so it faded to a mint green:

When I finally came home, I had to chop a lot of length to get it feeling healthy again and I lost all of the colour, so I asked my hair stylist to bleach a fresh chunk and go nuts.  My hair ended up two thirds Joico Peacock - the colour started a few inches from my roots.  This snapshot from Instagram is the only photo I have of the colour from that salon visit:

It was beautiful when fresh but, again, the Joico Peacock dye faded to a really bright, yellowy green.  Here's another Instagram photo once it had grown out - one thing about my hair is that although it's thin and lifeless, it sure does grow quickly (thank you, hair)! 

I think the bleached part wasn't bleached white enough and the yellowy, brassy blond beneath the colour was turning any shade yellower.  I decided to counteract the yellowy green by dyeing the ends with Manic Panic Amplified Voodoo Blue, which is supposedly more of a dark teal but over my original dye and bleach, it just ended up a richer turquoise with more blue and less green - which was fine by me!  I loved the aqua shade!  And you can see that although you should bleach hair to dye it a bright colour, the Manic Panic brand of dye definitely did stick a bit to my brown hair a little (better than the salon brands, which turned muddy over brunette hair). There's an inch of dye on my natural hair where the brown and turquoise meet:

This is the colour I had been rocking lately: Manic Panic Voodoo Blue layered over the original Joico Peacock.

Recently I wanted a change, though: something shorter for summer so I can spend less time blow drying and styling my hair, and more time on the lake (or not doing anything)!  So I asked my stylist to chop it all off into a layered, angled bob with a twist: my hair stylist bleach the bottom half and dyed the lower layers Joico Cobalt Blue mixed with a little Joico Titanium, and the top layers Joico Mermaid Blue.  She was ecstatic throughout the whole process because I'm so laid back with my hair - I just let her do her thing and default to her advice when it comes to the cut and colour.  I have never before trusted a hair stylist as much as I trust her, and it's making salon visits fun!   After a series of terrible stylists and hair blunders, I had become a bundle of nerves but now I've relaxed.

Here's a peak at the bright turquoise and cobalt layers that peak out.  It was the first time I'd ever had bleach applied right to my roots (whoa, that was itchy!):

I'm in love with my new hair!  It feels so light and it's easy to get some volume in my flat hair now.  Even my bedhead looks good - my hair stylist is amazing at understanding fine hair.

Why Do I Dye My Hair Teal?

I really didn't think I would ever end up this smitten with aqua hair.  It was a lark: something fun and frivolous to mark the end of my twenties and the completion of my PhD.  I had spent so long trying to be taken seriously as an academic and I felt liberated when I finally got my doctorate.

But darn it, this aqua hair makes me smile!  I've always hated my hair because it's fine and flat and mousy brown.  I've used hot rollers, crimped it, slept in a damp french braid for some waves, flat ironed, and back combed the life out of my poor (stubborn) hair.  Over the years I've dyed it jet black, red, and streaked it blond.  I've used henna, home dyes, and spent hours in salon chairs.  I've had a pixie cut, short retro bangs, an angled bob, long sweeping bangs, I've grown it down to my waist and have spent a good chunk of time sporting only Mad Men-inspired updos.  I've wasted a lot of my life trying to make peace with my hair, but I've never been happy with my hair until now.  Even on my worst hair days, I still love my hair.  It's aqua, how could I not love it?!?

So I'm not sure how much longer I'll keep the aqua.  I guess until it stops making me smile...

Does the Bright Hair Dye Rub Off on Things?

Yes and no.  When it's freshly dyed, it will rub off on my hair towel after a wash and also on my pillow if my hair is slightly damp at night after my bath or shower (I've only just started using a shower cap and it's made such a difference).  It has never rubbed off on clothes or scarves once it's dry.

Will I Ever Try Another Bright Colour?

I would say yes!  Now that I've started to experiment with the colour a little, I am tempted to try new hues.  I'd love to first get my hair to a greyed out shade of teal or steel blue hair (as opposed to such a bright, bold hue), but then maybe try an icy pale blue or something similar to this gorgeous lavender hued bob!  I have a whole Pinterest board devoted to hair and fashion where I've been pinning haircuts for fine hair and colourful hairdos.  Baby steps out of the blues!

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I Have Teal Hair Now

Yup, that's me, with teal hair.  I actually went to the salon on Tuesday (April 1st!), but I didn't think you'd believe it was permanent if I showed off my ombré locks on April Fool's Day.  

You might by wondering . . . why?

I'm turning 30 in June.  30!!  My twenties were awesome, so I figure thirty can only be better.  But there's something about leaving my twenties that has me feeling really bold - like there's no time to waste.  I want to do everything I've always wanted to do, before I run out of time.  This is just one of those things.

Getting these ombré locks was a neat process.  It was also a lot more labor-intensive than I imagined and my derriere was totally numb from sitting in the salon chair for so long (at least they had Elle Decor).  My stylist mussed up my hair a little and bleached the bottom.  By messing it up (back combing a little), the bleached section didn't become a hard line but was more feathered.  After bleaching the bottom half, she applied blue to both the bottom section of my naturally brown hair and the beginning of the bleached area, and then applied a more green-tinged turquoise toward the bottom.  There's a lot of variation in the colour, but my stylist says blue has a hard time sticking so who knows how vibrant it will stay. 

It's a running joke between Hubby and I that anyone can get me to agree to anything if turquoise is involved.  If he's trying to convince me of something he gets this glint in his eye and sort of screeches the word "turquoise!!".  Jokes on you, Hubs.

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Starting a Hungarian Embroidery Project

My Mom has all of her supplies for a bit of crafting during our time in Hungary (I'm here for four months, she's here for three) but, despite your awesome suggestions, I never found time to get together a portable craft for myself.  Not that I would have had room, anyway.  I was jettisoning things from my suitcase minutes before we left for the airport.

I shouldn't have really worried about bringing a craft to do, though, because we found a Hungarian craft store in our neighbourhood.  Seeing as I'll be spending the fall in Hungary, the land of embroidery, I figured that should be my craft!  I bought a pillow-sized piece of fabric with a pattern already drawn on (I'm a cheater) and some gorgeous Hungarian-made embroidery thread in turquoise.

I'm hoping my turquoise embroidery pillow will look as chic as this tote:

Meilinger Bags

The embroidery thread I bought doesn't pull apart into threads like the stuff we used to use for friendship bracelets (although they sell that, too, for cross stitch and other crafts).  This stuff is smooth and silky.

 

I figured I'd better snap a  photo and share so I've got a proper "before" of my project, plus an honest timeline.  I'll keep you posted on how this goes.  I felt pumped at the store, but feel a little overwhelmed now.

P.S. You might have noticed I finally fixed my hair.  After my DIY dye debacle, I got used to wearing my hair up (you might have noticed in this post, this post and this post) so I barely noticed the overgrown cut and splotchy dye.  Before the trip, though, I got a cut and colour I was happy with, until I noticed a bit of the weird blond patch coming through.  I feel better knowing my dye job wasn't the problem - my professionally done highlights were just extra bleached there - but I'm annoyed that I might have the splotchy look again.  In any case, the cut, although nothing special, is fresher.  Even after a long, sweaty, wind blown day, my hair looks okay:

I used to be really experimental with my hair, I have had super short and super long hair with every cut in between.  Maybe in the new year I'll have to chop a lot off to deal with the splotches once and for all . . . maybe even dye it a fun colour.  Maybe chicken out.  We'll see!

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Help: DIY Dye Job Gone Wrong

Sugar.  I made my hair ugly.

Years & years ago, I used to colour my own hair.  I used henna, every brand of semi-permanent dye, plus I coloured over other dye, highlights - you name it.  Hubs (my then boyfriend) even cut my hair for awhile, which I mentioned here, so I am no stranger to the DIY hair-do.  But a few years back I turned to a hair dresser to help grow out a black, DIY dye job gracefully.  She suggested a chic, ombre colour that I loved.  Over the years, she created a fabulous angled bob, then a lovely crisp layered cut and then some glittery highlights for me.  But somewhere along the way she lost her magic.  My last set of highlights were too brassy, but the cut was sharp.  Then the next cut was crooked and wonky.  I panicked, because I hate finding a new stylist and have a fear of spas and salons.  So I avoided getting my hair cut, or coloured, for about a year.

My highlights got worse and worse.  See how drab and faded my highlights were on our trip to Boston (I snagged this photo from my telephone museum post)?  They were also getting really grown out.



I finally had enough and bought a box of hair dye, deciding to return to my DIY ways.  I'd coloured over highlights before and I picked a colour close to my natural shade, thinking things would go smoothly.

But somehow this happened (and, yes, I badly need a trim, too.  Ugh, so shaggy):

SUGAR!

The weird, splotchiness disappears if I pin my hair up, so I've been rocking some Joan Holloway updos but that's hardly a permanent solution.

I called customer service and was sent a coupon for a free box of dye, but I'm scared I might make it worse.

Help.

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