Straight Baal Lock Karo. Rock Karo!! - And I did Rock my hair - thanks to Sunsilk! :D

When your hair shines, so does your personality! - said the Sunsilk Hair Experts.

If only it were so easy - thought I. 

It took me years to love my hair the way it is. Pampering myself with shampoos & conditioners that suited my hair type, I learned to fall in love with my hair - no matter how frizzy or bushy or out of shape it got. I especially love that wet and wild look when I'm out of the shower and the hair is drying up ... yet not so dry for my usual bushiness to start showing up. That straight, shiny look.... Sigh! I would kill to have that look all day!

Tale of my mane...

I've spent so many hours on the internet trying to find fixes for my frizzy bushy Hermione Granger - like hair! Even thought I love the thickness, the dryness is something that totally kills any look I try. Oh, how I've envied those who have straight silky hair without even trying! I tried a bunch of different products... I tried eating healthy... I tried drinking gallons of water... and the effect - NADA! Still the same bushy old hair.

Turns out, the awesome guys at Sunsilk along with Miz Yuko Yamashita have created a new product called "Sunsilk Perfect Straight" - a combo of shampoo & conditioner - if used together, promises to reduce the frizz and give you that envious straight, silky hair! Yep - straight hair from just a shampoo & conditioner! No need of an iron!

Being hooked to TV, I've come across their AD soooo many times... the "Goa mein Salon khol rahi ho kya??....Straight Baal Lock Karo! Rock Karo!" dialogue had made such a lasting impact on my brain that the next time I went to the store to get my usual shampoo, I decided to try this much hyped product after all. (P.S: I received the IndiBlogger package quite late & I couldn't wait to try this out!) I mean, how can I possibly get straight hair from a shampoo, right? I wasn't a skeptic, but the claims were outrageous. But not only did they live up to their claims, they did better - they made me feel like a pretty woman for the first time without the use of any hair gel/spray/accessories! Well, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start by the product itself. 

The design, cost & ingredients...
It comes in pretty Purple bottles. - Point 10! I love purple. And the bottles are elegantly designed to get the most out of them! The shampoo itself is pearly pink in color (♥) and comes with a flip open cap. It has a wonderful fruity smell to it. It lathers well and gives a good clean. It removes easily too, leaving no soapy residues.

Have a look at the ingredients of this shampoo-

 

The bottle costs around Rs. 110/- for a 180 ml bottle shampoo & Rs. 64 for a 90 ml bottle. Pretty decent, according to market standards, if you ask me.

The conditioner is a white paste with the same sweet smell and very easy to use. Like the shampoo, it washes off easily. As I applied the conditioner through my hair, I could notice the hair getting softer & softer.. and I kept peeping into the mirror to see if I had sexy straight hair yet.. :D hehhe.. well, not yet. Couldn't tell much with a wet, gooey head. But I did notice the shininess.

Here are the ingredients of the conditioner -

The after effects...

Ten minutes out if shower, I could notice my hair drying up as usual. However, I looked into the mirror and - WOW! I could not find the customary frizziness starting to come out! Usually, as my hair dries, all my baby hairs start to stand up and it gives a totally dull look. But honestly, after using this product, I could see soft & shiny waves! This has never happened before despite using large amounts of conditioner! I loved how shiny & distinct those waves were!

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And then about 30-45 minutes later, the waves gave way to a MUCH straighter hair! Definitely not as straight as a straightening iron would give you. But I'm not complaining! My hair got a lot less bushier and a lot more shiner! I was so deliriously happy to find another answer to getting straight hair.

Truthfully, I'm a little scared of irons and hair dryers. I hate the damage they do to the hair. So even if I may NEVER have a completely straight hair, I'm willing to spend money on Sunsilk to give me the much safer way of getting beautifully shiny hair!

To sum up, here are the Pros & Cons of Sunsilk Perfect Straight

PROS

• Attractive packaging
• Pleasant Smell
• Lives up to its claims... (almost and I'm satisfied!)
• Goodbye FRIZZY hair!
• Affordable prices for such an amazing effect
• Makes hair softer and easier to manage
• If you use it regularly, you might just get that straight shiny hair for good!

CONS

• Will not give you the straightening iron effect, so I think they should keep trying to imprive that formula! :) But even this is pretty good.
• Nothing else that I can think off!

Finally... here's the video that got me so damn interested in the product!! Sunsilk people have nailed the marketing & advertising aspect of the product too! :-)

Thanks to Sunsilk and my recently washed and shiny hair, I'm so happy, I made a little timeline! Hope you like it :D

♪ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♪ 

Am I a princess Ma? - asked I.

Yes my dear - was the lie.

I grew up with unmanageably bushy hair

And all I thought was this wasn't fair!

Princesses are blessed with silky hair

At least that's what all the novels did share

But years of curly, frizzy, bushy hair

And I realized I was just supposed to "care"

And so started the numerous home remedies

My hair laughed back at me - like these were comedies

I tried bananas, olive oil, eggs and avocado

With every step, I was becoming a desperado

The hair still stayed frizzy & bushy like ever

But cry or pull it out - I would never

Temporary fixes did work well

But nothing I did make me feel swell.

Like a miracle from God, I got Sunsilk Perfect Straight

And just like that, it opened a new gate

A gate to the world of beautiful, soft, shiny hair

Hooray! I yelled as loud as I could dare.

Sunsilk lives upto its big claims

Of giving you the perfect straight, shiny hair

So if you're looking for miracle shampoo names

Forget the rest and buy Sunsilk - I swear!

It works its charm within thirty minutes

With no other shampoo can you obviously win it!

Whether you have curly, straight or wavy hair

Dandruff, lice and frizz - it will scare.

If you still have doubts about Sunsilk,

I assure you it does not at all bilk

Get it once; for it is really cheap

And only then the amazing benefits will you reap!

Oh well, I'm not big on words... but that poem just reflected my thoughts! :-) I am completely, 100% satisfied and very happy with the new product they've come up with!

{Disclaimer: This post has been written for Sunsilk Perfect Straight contest by Indiblogger. The opinions disclosed are my own}

Food for Thought

Feeling sorry for the poor...
There is a difference between feeling pity for the poor and feeling a sense of responsibility to empower them to come out of their current lifestyles. For a long time, I've always felt pity for the poor. The pity started when I was about 3 years old. My aunt had bought me an ice cream. Seeing 2 poor kids looming nearby, she felt sorry for them and bought them a couple of ice creams too. They went away... happily licking their ice creams. The joy and content I saw on their faces would drive me to buy stuff for the poor for the next 12 years.

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Good Ol' Braids! (Thanks to DOVE)

Then...
The year was 1994. I was just 4 years old and yet had long, thick beautifully shiny hair.

People complimented my mother for maintaining my hair so well! She fed me well and also spent half an hour every day oiling & combing my long tresses and braiding the hair into 2 cute plaits or french plaits or what not! :)

The Rujuta Diwekar Diet Plan

If you're an Indian, you most certainly would have heard of Rujuta Diwekar - the famous celebrity nutritionist. She has written two great books - Don't Lose Your Mind Lose Your Weight; AND Women & the Weight Loss Tamasha. What makes her and her books so popular is that she promotes healthy & wholesome eating. What she preaches not just makes sense, but works too. It may not be an overnight change. But her diets change the body for the better and equips it to fight diseases and indulge once in a while too!

According to her Mantra, at least for Indians, its good to start the day with a good carb rich hot breakfast as opposed to cereal. She advises us to eat every 2 hours. Her mid meal snack options include roasted peanuts, nuts, sprouts, salads, Coconut Water, sandwiches, cereal bars, etc. Although eating every 2 hours seems impossible, it just takes 1 week on consistent effort to remember to eat regularly for the habit to set.

Here's an overview of what I'll be doing these 45 days -

5 am	Wake Up; Brush;  ||  ANY FAVORITE FRUIT
5.30 am	1 hour Workout
7 am	Protein Powder + 1 glass Milk // Fresh Fruit Juice
8.15 am	Breakfast (usually a Rice based dish) + VITAMIN Supplement
11 am	LUNCH (Roti / Chapati with Stir Fry Veggies)
1pm	Salads (Fruit or veggie or bean)
3 pm	Lassi / Raita (Yogurt
5 pm	Peanuts / Almonds / Walnuts / Dates / Coconut Water
5.30 pm	1 hour Workout
7 pm	Dinner (soup & salads)
9 pm	1 glass Milk + Turmeric
11 pm	Calcium Tablet before sleep

As you can see, I am taking a couple of supplements. If you are following my diet plan, please consult your doctor before taking supplements. Also, in every meal, portion control is important. Do not stuff till your oesophagus is full. Just eat enough to fill your stomach (that is around 2 palmful of food).

Protein Powder is a supplement that gives best value for the food you consume. Its a really good source for protein, especially for Vegetarians. I mix around 2 tablespoons of Protein powder in warm milk & drink it after my morning workout.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS ONLY FOR REFERENCE PURPOSES. I AM NOT A DIETITIAN AND I AM CERTAINLY NOT PREACHING THAT YOU DO IT THIS WAY.
THIS JUST WORKS FOR ME.

---- 2014 UPDATE ----

Apologies to everyone who had tried to contact me! Sorry for providing the wrong web link. I'm contributing articles to another blog now. www.agirlsmusings01.blogspot.in . I had followed and lost a bit of weight, but I went right back to eating wrongly. If you're interested, please follow the other blog where I'm startong my workout & diets again!

Low Fat Sabudana Vada ~ with Fortune Rice Bran Oil

There. Another recipe. I'm addicted to cooking. And with the BlogAdda's contest promising some amazing prizes, I couldn't stop myself from posting another recipe. This is a healthier version of the traditional Sabudana Vada which is deep fried. Since the idea is to make a healthy & tasty treat, nothing fits the theme better than this Vada.

Thinking about my health...

I'm going to lose weight & get fit.

There. I said it. Its out in the open. Even if noone I know is reading this, I feel good about making my intentions public!

Its high time I respect the body that I've been given and stop feeding junk to it. Although my tongue loves the junk, I'm sure my poor stomach is crying out loud for help! And so, I've decided to get rid of all the junk in my closet. (Yes, I hide junk food in my closet & eat at night after everyone's asleep! And yes, I'm creepy that way.)

I know getting that hot bod is way easier that we all think. Its simple. get rid of refined food, eat wholesome food & workout at least 3 times a week. Simple? Yea pretty much. Its just that the mind and a little something called 'laziness' creeps in and flops all my plans! In fact, I'm a trained classical dancer who just hasn't danced in over a year. SO I do have all that muscle memory from 18 years of dancing and once I start, its going to be easy. The problem is  to START! Why won't I move my ass!!! :P

Well, I am going to. I have been seriously thinking about how crazy I have been to let go of myself in this past 2 years.. I had a good body. Good health. And then I got so busy with exams that I stopped playing, dancing or going out... which then led to me taking food for granted.. which, now 2 years later has resulted in me gaining 40lbs! :( Yes, the gain has been astronomical. But I also know that the journey to lose those pounds will be easy and quick too. Thanks to my metabolic system! ;)

Starting 15th March, I'm doing a 45 day detox and then regularizing my lifestyle to include more healthy options! Stay tuned for the next few posts where I talk about what I'm planning to do in the detox period!

Learning "SAP ERP"

I told you I like getting degrees for fun. So far, I have 3 degrees in Commerce, 1 in Food & Nutrition and I'm in the process of getting a couple of more degrees by the end of this year. One that I'll be certified by March is SAP ERP. I probably didn't realize the 'weight' of this certificate on my CV when I decided to get certified. But now that I'm looking at job opportunities actively, I'm so glad i decided to go for it!

For those of you who don't know, SAP ERP is an integrated software solution that incorporates the key business functions of the organization. And currently, it is a hot career move to make. All I hope is that with a CA (Chartered Accountancy) degree AND a certificate in SAP (Financial Accounting), I'll have an edge over my competition and get the DREAM JOB that I've always wanted. Of course, I'll need an additional MBA to reach my goal of becoming a managing consultant one day. But for now, I'd like to join a SAP consulting firm and would love to travel across the world helping companies with their ERP needs! And hopefully by the end of this year or by the beginning of 2014, I'd have taken my GMAT, CAT and a few other MBA exams and gotten into a good MBA college of my choice! :-)

SAP is that career ladder that I've chosen to get me closer to my dream!

White Collar & the "Matt Bomer" crush!

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Do not judge me. I am not a homophobic. I love gay people. But I hate that Matt Bomer is gay! :-/ Sigh!

*snort* Like I'm ever gonna land Matt Bomer.

Still, a girl can dream, can't she?

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I've been obsessed with White Collar these past few days. I got all  the 4 series from a friend and have been watching it at every given opportunity. And with every episode I see, my "innocent like" for Matt Bomer is turning into a full blown crush! I grin now for no good reason. Apparently, the female hormones are there. :P And Neal Caffrey, the charming con man stole my heart! :D

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Oh, and Peter Burke.... the FBI guy handling Neal - how adorable is he?! Very. I love him too. He and the woman who plays his wife Elizabeth are one cute couple! And Mozzie.... Oh dear Mozzie! He's so amazing! (I believe I'm starting to sound like a broken record. But I just don't know any fancy words to express how much I love these characters!)

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Yes. I'm hooked. I have exams and I've found an amazing distraction. One that's keeping me away from books! And a hardcore crush on a Gay guy, whom I would have NEVER had a chance with even if he were straight! Sigh!!! Problems of a young girl Don't bother!
Have a nice day! :-)

{P.S: One last thing - Look how cute Matt is! He & his partner have 3 kids too! :D)

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I made 24 Rupees today!

What would 24 Indian Rupees buy me you ask?

- Well, it would buy me 2 bars of chocolate and 4 tiny toffees.
- Or it would buy me some unnecessary junk food that I'll love while eating but feel guilty for lack of self control later!
- Or it would let buy me a to & fro ticket to the closest railway station from where I have to ride the local train everyday.

So, as you see - not a lot.

And yet, here I am - excitedly writing a BLOG POST about the 24 Rupees I made today. Why? Coz Mama's learning the stock market baby! Yep! After 4 insignificant years studying Finance and finding my passion in something totally different, I'm finally understanding the joys of investing.

Not that I invested a lot. But the 1st day in & I was smart enough to buy 8 shares at Rs. 368 each and sell them off at 371... Which is good coz 1 hour later, the closing rate dipped down to 365! Beginner's luck I say! ;-)

Anyhoo... It'll be fun to learn the nuances of Stock Market on the odd days that I'm home. And even more fun to share them with the (non-existent) readers! :-D Are you a speculator? Do you make money off the Stock Market? I'd love some tips! :-)

{{{P.S:- This is the first time I'm sharing how much money I made on a public platform. Never mind it isn't enough to even buy peanuts! Maybe as I go on, I'll be able to share what all I do to make some extra bucks and I do hope for my sake (and yours) I'll have lots to learn & share! ;-) }}}

The start of "Lulu's Topics"

Hola amigos! :)

I have always thought it would be real fun to start a personal blog just to record the fun things that happen in my life (as well as the ridiculous ones, I mean, who am I if I'm not a chatterbox?) And so, here I am with what I do best - writing a BLOG!

If you ask me what I do, I could not give you a one line answer. I am anything but conventional; and I take pride in being eccentric. :-D I crack a lot of lame jokes and people pretend to like it. I am plump but people say I'm chubby & cute. I have a major chocolate & junk food addiction that needs serious help but I keep postponing until "tomorrow". I do care about people but I hate to show it off. I don't hug or kiss or say "I love you" to the people I love, but I believe they know. :-) Oh, and I like love to cook. Big time. I've been learning Music & Dance for the past 18 years. Started when I was 4 :) I think I'm pretty good at both. I like getting academic degrees for fun. :D I believe the career I spent 4 long years studying & working for is my hobby and my hobby I spent 2 years nurturing is my career. Told  you, I'm an oddball.

If you like what I write & read the blog - wow, I'm delighted! :D But honestly, since I don't have the patience to actually maintain a diary, I think a blog is a really good idea! :)