Friday, October 02, 2009

Of Honey and Bees

My hair seemed to be a bit dry, so I thought a SMT might be the ticket to add some moisture and shine. What is a SMT? Snowymoon's Moisture treatment--named by the creator on a long hair forum that I visit. The treatment involves taking 4 parts of a hair conditioner, preferably without silicone or protein, 1 part honey, 1 part clear aloe gel. Heat in the microwave about 30 seconds and mix well. Make sure it is just warm, not hot enough to burn. Put on dry or wet hair, cover with a plastic cap. Leave on for about an hour. Rinse well. I have to lightly shampoo or my hair seems coated. But the treatment seems to work.

The honey is a humectant and will draw in moisture. Everyone's hair is different and has different requirements. The great thing about the treatment is that it is easy to tweak to individual needs. It is also cheap as I use Suave brand Naturals conditioner.

I mix my SMT, glop it on my hair, cover with a plastic bag, and a bandanna. Now--what to do for an hour or so while the ingredients work their magic. The yard needs mowing---why not.

I head out to the back yard, pull out the mower, fill it up with gas and then look for my work gloves. Found them---sitting on the edge of the screened porch.

I grab a glove and it buzzes! I carefully look inside to find that a carpenter bee has turned my glove into a cozy bee-bungalow. Not cool. Carefully putting a stick into the glove thinking the bee will climb on the stick and I can pull him out. Nope. The bee retreats farther into the glove.

See the yellow speck far in the glove. It's the bee.

A little closer look...

And a bit closer. He is really hiding in there.


Here is a picture of a carpenter bee on some blossoms. Carpenter bees are huge--about 3/4 to 1 inch in length.


Want a closer look?


The bee was not leaving the glove. Perhaps the bee was hungry. I place the glove the bush with the blooms and wait for him to crawl out. Not going to happen. Admitting defeat, I mow the yard without gloves. The honey and conditioner mixture start dripping out from under the plastic and bandanna wrap. At one point I wondered if I should see if the bee would climb out of the glove for the honey in my hair. But the loudness of the buzz coming from my glove convinced me to leave the critter alone.

Carpenter bees are neat critters. They do not live in hives like other bees. They will drill into wood and make little tunnels where they lay their eggs. Here is a neat site explaining all about carpenter bees.

No comments: