On Water

Today is World Water Day. This is a day to raise awareness of the fact that everyone should have access to clean water. Water for drinking. Water for cleaning. Water for cooking. One of the most vital things on Earth that the majority of us take for granted, but that some people do not have access to.

World Water Day is part of the UN's mission to make sure that everyone on Earth has access to safe drinking water. It isn't unknown that some of the world's poorest people have to trek for miles and miles per day just to get a bucketful of dirty water to live on. Water that then makes them ill and can even cause death. 

One in ten people do not have access to clean water, which in 2016 is still a shockingly high number. 

To help raise awareness of World Water Day, there are a few things that you can do to get involved. Some people have been painting their nails blue, wearing blue wigs to work, changing their Facebook profile pictures to have a blue filter. Not to mention sharing all of these, with the hashtag #Blue4Water. You can also donate to various causes to help raise money for plumbing and taps in small villages. 

In light of all the travesties currently occuring in the EU, by coming together and uniting for something, we can show that the world is in fact a safe and friendly place. 

xoxo

On Sulphate Free Hair

Haircare is generally one of those things where we find a particular set of products that we like and stick to them, without then ever questioning what is actually in them and what we are putting onto our hair.

I hadn't been having any particular problems with my hair other than it was slightly frizzy at the ends and just looking a bit lacklustre. Then one of my friends started looking into sulphate free shampoo and conditioner (she has curly hair so does have very different hair needs!). I started researching into why you should use sulphate free hair products in order to help her find some good ones, that were also not too expensive (and available in the UK!)

We came across OGX that have a fairly big range of products. Most of which are not only sulphate free, but also paraben free.
Essentially, sulphates are detergent like agents put into shampoos and conditioners in order to hlep the lathering process. However they can mean that your hair loses a lot of its natural moisture as it washes it away. By then removing the sulphates, your hair can far better retain moisture. This then also means that chances of having an irritated or inflamed scalp are far less! This is also helped by the fact that your scalp is not absorbing any nasty chemicals, meaning that your hair can in fact grow better. It can also retain its natural oils (that it needs!) far better. Leaving for much healthier hair.
If you also have coloured hair, then these can help your hair to retain the new colour much better.

I tried the Kukui Oil shampoo and conditioner. They are infused with Kukui nut oil (Hawaiian apparently) and smell so good. You need hardly any of either and despite not having standard lathering agents, it still lathers pretty well! I was at first concerned that my hair was not actually going to be clean, but in fact it feels soso clean.
Not only that but it smells great, is really shiny, not at all frizzy, feels really nice and no longer looks dull! I also find that it is then much easier to brush after having washed it, which with my hair is saying something! 

I never thought that considering something such as whether or not my hair care products have sulphates in or not would make such a difference, but I am definitely not going back now!
You can check out the OGX range here.

Would you try sulphate free?

xoxo

On Mashed Suedes

Sometimes it's nice to just get away from everything for a little bit. 

Especially when there's good food and good company involved. 

Mashed Suedes is a really cute little cafe in north Leamington that we discovered a few weeks back. Their Full English is soso good; and the fried bread. Oh the friend bread! The staff are all really lovely in there and it is so tiny that it is always completely full. It has local art works all over the walls and is just so cute.

The mlkshakes also are so good. And how nice do they look?! Just the milk bottle itself is enough to make me want one, but then they taste so good as well. 

The weather finally looked up this weekend, and it seemed asif Winter might actually be done. The sun was out and I didn't need to wear my big coat. There is only one week left of term, and both of us had been feeling the remnants of the flu/cold for the past week so this was definitely something that we needed. 

Sometimes it's nice to jsut get awat from everything for a little bit.

Leave the work until the afternoon. Leave the reading until later. Leave the laptops behind.

Take pleasure instead from those around you and what's around you.

Where do you like to escape to?

xoxo

On Row, Row, Row Your Boat

It was Thursday. Is it just me, or does anyone else find that Thursdays just have that kind of Thursday feeling? Like, it's not the mid-week. And it's not the end of the week. It's post-mid-week. But that sounds ridiculous. But it just feels heavier than Tuesday. You know?

Anyway, I digress.

I was having the Thursday feels.

I was in the Philosophy Common Room, in which there are sometimes some unusal to say the least, sights. (Two people playing Chess and relating it back to Philosophy. Existentially though, can we check mate?)

I was reading an article that had the words to Row, Row, Row Your Boat in it. It had the final line as Life's but a spiders dream.

Life's but a spiders dream.

I read it over and over. Singing it to myself in my head. (Although it wouldn't have been that out of place to just start singing it). 

I always thought it was Life is but a dream. 

I messaged my friend, source of all reason, and the 'Mother' of our group.

Me: What's the last line of Row, Row, Row Your boat?

Her: If you see a crocodile don't forget to scream.

Me: Nono, the merrily merrily merrily one.

Her: Life is but a dream

I heaved an actual sigh of relief. For about five minutes I had begun to question everything I had known since I was a child, thinking that I had based everything solely on my mishearing.

Are the primary colours actually red, blue and yellow?

Is this actually my left hand? 

I was having an existential crisis (in the Philosophy Common Room, how apt). 

I re-read the article.

Life's but a spiders dream.

Life is but a dream.

They aren't really all that different.

And all it shows is that sometimes people do things a little differently. It doesn't make it, or them, or you wrong. It just makes us different. 

And why would we all want to be the same?

Life is but a dream. 

xoxo

On Blogging

After reading this post on Hannah Gale's website, and this blog in general, I really came to terms with the fact that blogging has really changed since I first started.

When I first started, blogging as a whole, Youtube as well, was still pretty much a hobby for most people. All of my favourites blogs had not yet become the worldwide successes that they now are. And don't get me wrong, I'm really happy for those people. But things like that kind of have a dampening effect on the blogging world for those who are still just doing it for fun and as some sort of creative outlet.

So I had become very disillusioned with the whole of the blogging world. (Which let's face it, loads of people have said and probably more than once).

But since finding blogs such as Design For Mankind, I have really started to appreciate the art of writing again, and blogging. And I don't just mean blogging to review something, or to share a new beauty deal. But blogging to share something a bit, heavier. 

I have for a long time aspired to write semi-autobiographical essays/books and I think that is the kind of route that I wish to take with The Kazlight Anthem. At the end of the day, it has Anthem in its name, and so really it should be a Anthem to me and what I'm doing and everything I want to share.

I think that I have started to find more the kind of style and just, way, of doing things that I want to do. I wanted to write about myself, but in a way that not only engaged readers, but also was kind of cathartic for me. I wanted to write in a way that not only covers the kind of things I always wrote about anyway, but things as well that maybe weren't just about going somewhere new, or buying a new lipstick.

Maybe it was just that suddenly I wanted to be a bit more selfish with what I was actually sharing, and wanted my blog to become a kind of place for me to work through a lot of things.

Essentially, I didn't want to get stuck in the world of blogging as how I'd seen it become, so much that I couldn't break free from that and blog in my own way.

Hopefully that's what will be happening here more. But don't worry, it will still be me, just probably a bit more me than maybe you'd be used to.

xoxo

Lent

It was pancake day. We went to my friend's flat for pancakes (savoury pork and mango ones which, were AMAZING, and I don't even like mango). On their notice board they had a list of what everyone had given up for lent and the weeks. As well as cute little drawings to move themselves along the timeline.
I thought this was a great idea and then realised that I hadn't planned to give anything up this year. Then the boyf said, 'You should give up Pepsi Max'

...

For anyone that knows me, then they will know of my love of Pepsi Max. If I get a meal deal, my beverage of choice will be Pepsi Max. If I have a beverage craving, it will be for Pepsi Max. If I'm re-using a bottle, it will be a Pepsi Max bottle.

To be fair, he had a point.

So I said, 'You should give up biscuits.'

To which he had the same response.

So together we have embarked on the struggle that is giving up something you indulge in maybe a bit too much for 40 days and 40 nights.

There have been the withdrawel symptons 10 days in. 

There was the relapse weekend following being up for 26 hours as a result of having to take the boyf to A&E. Only Pepsi Diet was available, which had to do. But it is NOT the same,

Some McDonald's diet coke also ended up in the mix.

Normally I give up everything sweet for lent, but seeing as I rarely eat sweet things now anyway, the Pepsi Max is definitely proving a greater struggle. (It also includes all fizzy drinks except for tonic; I was not giving up G&Ts, no sir). 

With 16 more days to go, we are over halfway!

If you've given up anything for Lent, we are in the struggle together!

(And maybe keep in mind the actual meaning as well, whether you're religious or not, it's about testing yourself and proving to yourself that maybe you don't actually need all these things. The test is even more real when the boyf writes on Pepsi Max bottle on your desk (see above) a line around the remaining liquid with the caption 'You better not go under the line'.)
Never has water tasted so good.

Have you given anything up for Lent?

xoxo