Tammy H.'s Profile

Ciment Thermique is a must-have if you blow dry your hair - I bought Ciment Thermique because I'd read good reviews about it's ability to protect hair from heat damage. But I discovered the first time I used it that it does so much more than that. I have a digital perm and I like to use a blow-dryer with diffuser to help set the curl. Ciment Thermique does't just set my curl--it totally sets my whole hair style and I get exactly what I style. It also does a great job of moisturizing and detangling my hair. And it smells great. Truthfully, I can't really tell whether my hair is being better protected from heat since I desperately need a trim, but my hair looks and feels so much healthier I pretty much just assume it is.

Great gardening reference - I just started gardening a few months ago and a lot of people recommended the Sunset Western Garden Book as a reference, particularly since I live in the Bay Area. The Sunset offices are in Menlo Park, so their information is supposed to be particularly accurate for this area. I ordered the book from Amazon since it's much cheaper there, but before it arrived I got curious and checked out the Sunset site and was happy to see it also had a lot of reference information.

In general it's pretty easy to find some information online about whatever plants you are trying to grow, but every time I looked up my plants, I'd run into terminology issues because I pretty much knew nothing. The Sunset site (and the book of course) has a lot of nice articles that introduce basic gardening concepts, such as pruning, which I found really helpful. So if you're not willing to get the book, I'd still definitely recommend the site as a useful reference for beginners.

You'll never feel the same about your makeup after spending time on this site - Being very diligent about putting sunscreen on my face (my diligence stems from a fear of freckles, so it hasn't extended to the rest of my body yet), I was pretty horrified when my friend told me about this site. Apparently, most common sunscreens are either ineffective at actually protecting your skin from sun regardless of the listed SPF or are toxic to your skin in some other way.

The site does a good job of explaining how sunscreens work and what makes for an effective sunscreen. It's also been updated recently to include a lot of common drugstore and department store sunscreens. And it has a pretty helpful search filter for finding a sunscreen that works for you.

However, I question whether some of the dangers of these sunscreens have been exaggerated. For instance, I've had Neutrogena recommended to me by a dermatologist, yet on the site it's listed as having good sun protection but still being harmful to your skin. As a result, I've switched to UV Natural, which has good ratings for both. The problem is UV Natural is a lot oilier and if I don't want my makeup to melt off my face within an hour, I have to add on a layer of Smashbox Oil-Free Primer. And I have to wait at least 10 minutes or so for the oil to absorb before I can even do that (although given that you're supposed to put on sunscreen well before exposure, I guess it's a blessing in disguise). I will say, however, that my skin feels better and seems to look better with UV Natural than with Neutrogena, but I'd definitely run into problems if I had oily skin.

I think the site also includes other cosmetics, but I don't have the guts to look up the rest of my skincare regimen for fear I'll suddenly be compelled to replace it also.

AT&T/Starbucks Wi-Fi disappointingly unreliable! - I've been trying to use AT&T Wi-Fi at Starbucks for the last 4 days and most of the time I either can't connect to the hotspot at all or have issues accessing the login page. Although they have a customer service number you can call, it seems pretty silly that the only way to find this number is online, where they also have a long list of troubleshooting suggestions. But how am I supposed to test out these suggestions if I can't view this page without an internet connection? And given that the website appears more knowledgeable than the CS representative I talked to, it seems like my best bet is that I print out instructions/troubleshooting and carry it around with me, which is just silly.

I have free Wi-Fi access because I'm a DSL subscriber (which is supposed to be a selling point for DSL), but I don't think the service is reliable enough to be a worthwhile factor when deciding on an ISP service.

New brightening cleansing oil being sold in the US finally! - I'm really excited that they've brought the brightening cleansing oil to the US. I was in Asia in January and it had just been launched there. I held off getting it, because I figured it would be too heavy and annoying to bring back home, but I've been regretting that decision recently since summer is now underway and my skin is getting freckled.

I'm actually pretty (pleasantly) surprised that they are selling it here, as brightening/whitening skin regimens have never been particularly popular in the US and I've always had to go to Asia to get those products. Hopefully Shu Uemura will bring over the rest of the line (moisturizer, toner, essence)!

Yeah Craig! Your list rocks! - It's great to have a forum where you can sell/buy items, houses, etc with out having to walk around town posting fliers on every single tree. Not to mention I have successfully found a great home for all my furniture in record time and had 3 great roommate situations all in the name of Craig! Here Here.