dcscover 021 | Hair
I visited the Bay Area and Boston during the first two weeks of this month (scenic highlights in the finds below). A tiny thing that kept surprising me over that period of travel was how much I enjoyed the few minutes I spent blow-drying my hair at night. Those certainly were not quiet moments, which made the mindfulness I felt during the process all the more remarkable.
I used to default to air-drying because that’s just the most convenient. But at some point early in the pandemic, I decided to start blow-drying sometimes because it felt like “self-care”. A few months ago, I went to get my hair cut professionally for the first time in over two years (eep!). The hair stylist shared little tips and tricks throughout the session and one thing she mentioned was that you should always blow-dry from root to tip to get more volume and avoid damage.
Since hearing that, I’ve become more aware of how I actually go about blow-drying. Instead of just generally drying one side then the other (while still trying to sneak in some Twitter scrolling), I’m now focused on going through my hair in rough sections, each time blow-drying the roots first. I get the roots relatively dry then leave the rest to air-dry, which saves time. It’s just one of those little life adjustments that took hitting the road for me to really notice.
Projects, projects
I published a few new Ode posts recently, including my skincare routine / list of all-time favorite products and an introduction to what I hope to be a slow but fruitful wardrobe rebuild journey. I also dipped my toes into video-making by pulling together some footage from a June trip to Chicago.
This month’s finds
A trio of visual delights spotted on Twitter: blackberry life cycle | ethereal gooseberries | dreamcolorscheme-y pigeon (more info on the pigeon).
A chill playlist for working during those hot humid days, when a nice-smelling, abundantly air-conditioned hotel lounge would feel like a pleasant escape (another one I liked).
A lovely meditation on being intentional about taking family photos and photos in general1.
An utterly sublime Napa Valley winery experience.
A new-to-me view of Boston that I couldn’t get enough of.
One more thing
Going to the library was a huge part of my child/young-adulthood and I’m so so so happy that I finally got to swing by the local library this month and check out some books. I’m still in the middle of both of these but they’re both really fascinating. I find myself drawn to history these days. Maybe because there’s just been so many historic events in the last few years that are all really difficult to process. By reading history, I feel like I can “zoom out” of our current timeline and just recognize and accept how much drastic change there has always been across various decades and centuries.
Opening scene: When the airline decides to cancel your flight from SF back to the east coast so you had to choose another option with a pointless layover in LA… except the extra one-hour flight there actually turned out to be a magical golden hour ride down the California coast… 🌅
A quote I loved — “Family pictures are modest, they’re not often slick and polished, and their specialness to us can be opaque to strangers. But there’s no reason not to take them seriously. The only thing wrong with them is that their audience is small. They’re a record of our passage through our lives, a visual diary. And, within their narrow range, they make up in depth what they lack in broad appeal. They’re a way of honoring these lives we get to lead on this earth, an attempt at fixing in time, and holding on to, people we loved and who loved us. Collectively, over time, they express feelings that no other kinds of photograph can. They express our gratitude.”