#this is my first actual attempt at digital art so i dont think its half bad

[the-s1lly-corner]

Howdy! May I request Caine and Jax with a reader that comes back from abstraction but doesn’t remember anything about them or themselves? I think it would make for some good angst material. Have a good day/night!

Back from the 'Dead' (Caine and Jax x Mended!reader)

i dont know if the fandom has made a term for unabstracted people for fic stuff but i like the way mended sounds anyways YES MORE ANGST!! yipee! gonna probably be flip flopping between answering requests and finishing my art wips tonight so!! listened to this song while writing this, feelings were made jack stauber // just take my wallet

You wake up on the floor, not knowing where you are. Everything before you opened your eyes is a quickly fading blur of darkness, far too fleeting for you to grasp and make sense of. Your body hurts, a dull ache seeping down into your core. As your sight clears, you can't make out where you are... you appear to be on a stage of sorts. You can't bring yourself to move, even after the pain becomes bearable. You feel so tired. Eventually, someone approaches you

CAINE:

youre torn back to reality as a loud chattering voice fill your ears, talking almost a mile a minute. looking up you see a short man with a set of teeth for a head. he keeps repeating something that, after a few seconds of processing, sounds like its meant to be your name

hes also throwing in names of endearment, namely "My Dear"

you cut him off mid sentence after he fails to pause between his words, asking who he was and where you were

in an instant he stopped speaking, jaw hanging open and hand paused mid gesture

he doesnt ask if youre joking, i dont think caine would be in that kind of denial

on one hand, i can see him trying to jog your memory, but on the other hand i cant help but feel that he would accept it. maybe its because he doesnt want to stress you out more when youre already in a murky space, fearing that he would accidentally undo your sudden mending

its so weird for him, you were his first love and first partner; and now hes grieving your loss. except youre still here. you still have your mannerisms, but none of your memories. he truly doesnt know how to go forward

gone, blanked, erased, deleted even

he has to stop himself from calling you the nicknames he once called you

he still tries to foster a new relationship with you, but whether or not you would fall in love with him again is up to you

bonus angst, imagine you do fall in love. just not with him. like can you imagine how much that would hurt

the longing looks, the way he would attempt to reach out to you only to stop with his arm half-outstretched, the stumbling of words as he tries to stop himself from spilling how much he loved you

even if you ever abstract again, or you somehow leave the digital world, he would still go on to love you just the same. in fact, i dont think he would ever move on from the heartache

theres a visible change in demeanor in him, too, he seems a little more. fake?

JAX:

he sprints towards you, he doesnt care at all if someone hears his footsteps pounding the ground, just as long as hes there to make sure its really you. and sure enough, it is

similar to caine hes asking you how you managed to come back, not even noticing youre confused and uncomfortable face as he placed his gloved hands on your shoulder firmly and pulled you up

similar to caine as well, you have to cut him off in order to get him to stop talking, having to assert your voice firmly in order to get him to back off

you ask him who he is, where you are, and what he meant by 'coming back'

denial

this man would be in denial i think

like deep down he knows theres something going on with you, but he doesnt want to acknowledge it

hes not really outright romantic with you, since he doesnt want to actually. screw his chance to reconnect with you up, you know. i mean he can kind of see it from your perspective, you just wake up and some guy is already trying to make out with you? yeah no, he would be put off too

i think jax would have more luck trying to rekindle something with you simply because unlike caine, he doesnt carry the same fear of you abstracting again

i think, as an added thing to think about it jax's feelings of hurt and grief coming to a head and he kind of. unintentionally snaps at you, telling you to stop messing around and drop the act

overall sad stuff

constantly trying to get your attention through being a nuisance, kind of like when you guys first met and he started catching feelings

#tadc x reader #the amazing digital circus x reader #digital circus x reader #caine x you #caine x reader #caine imagine #jax x you #jax x reader #jax imagine

[capaldiera]

i might like. make this better and colour it later but anyway, here's song lan and his daughter a-qing.

they're both alive and happy thanks for asking :)

#me.txt #cql #the untamed #song lan #a-qing #she's called song-guniang now :) #this is my first actual attempt at digital art so i dont think its half bad

[noodelak]

MY REALLY OLD ART A LONG ASS POST

So this first piece I found in a folder on my computer called “Old art organize later” within a folder called “ REALLY OLD ART” I drew this in 2006 and the jpeg was titled:

“My most awesome dragon evur”

Also noted was my attempt at signing my name in Japanesef saldkfjsdlf because i was 11 and anime was THEE coolest thing to me.

Okay the rest is going under a read more because this is gonna be LONG

here are some gems from 2007

yes this is a kk slider gijinka faksdjfalsdjf

next up we have my attempt to make super paper mario characters into handsome anime men

it was a this point i was a young baby on deviant art longing to do “digital” art because thats what all the really cool artists did, i didnt have a tablet and the photoshop-esque thing i had was a pirated copy of JASC Paintshop 7 (or maybe it was 8), so what did I make with newly unlocked DIGITAL ART POWERS??

and this charming thing which was my intepretation of what the The Thing Behind the Wall in Johnny the Homicidal Maniac looked like:

but these were only the beginning of my long and arduous journey as an artist, 2009 came and I entered highschool 13 years old and with nothing but the power of deviant art and being an outcast with 2 friends on my side so here are some of my favorites from that era of Noo art:

^^^ this is in fact EXACTLY what i looked like at 13

its kind of funny bc looking back you can absolutely tell id been drawing dragons/wolves since i was like able to hold a pencil but didnt start drawing humanoid characters until i was 12 afjlakfjs

ANYWAYS CARRYING ON BC THERES PLENTY MORE!! For example my Invader Zim/Naruto OCs

yes one of those aliens was kisame

every day knowing that I get to claim ownership over this is truly exhilarating the girl with the pigtails was my OC that was definitely not just me. Her name was Delainbow, she was Sasuke’s daughter and she is truly the epitome of everything that was good about my childhood

WHAT A LEGEND

this is genuinely what I wanted to be when i was 13 god I love it

oh fuck i missed this one from 2008

god  GOd i love these all so much I WAS SO FREE I JUST DREW WHATEVER AND DIDNT CARE

ok just gonna put a few more without comment but these are all 2009 again

Moving on to 2010-2012 era art

shout out to teenage me for still being not the worst at drawing animals

the  freaking EDGE

so there was some point here where i started trying to stop drawing “anime”  bc i was tired of ppl making fun of me so I figured if I didnt draw anime ppl would take me more seriously when in reality those ppl just sucked and so did my highschool art teacher

like... YUCK???? what the fuck was i was I even accomplishing here aksdjfaskjfkasldjf

my wolves still were still way cooler then the rest of my art lol

alright carrying onto late highschool early college, its summer of 2012 im on tumblr, im a homestuck, and ive gotten a laptop and tablet as a gift for getting into art school (yeah I drew like aformentioned above and still got into art school) sadly i dont have any scans of the stuff i drew for that portfolio, it was mostly still lifes i drew like a boot and a skull haha

okay so here are the gems i made upon finally getting a computer of my own, photoshop and bamboo wacom tablet,

here she is my first attempt to paint in photoshop....s fjaskdjfaskljfklasd

the rest of these are all from like my first fall/winter semester of college when i actually started getting a real art education and not just shitty no budget rural hometown highschool art class

So that picture of zachary which is honestly NOT thaaaaaat bad was one of the first things I ever posted to break 500 notes, i think a fewwww of my homestuck drawings had come close after like months of being on the site but like that zachary was one of the first times id genuinely been a little succesful with sharing my art online and im still very grateful to everyone who liked and reblogged it ^u^

After that well, i do have a lot more bad art but its not quite as funny as my pre-college stuff from that point on you mostly just see me struggling to improve anatomy and struggling to get through school (which ultimately took me 8 years to get through bc art school is terrible on your mental health and i had to do the last 4 years as a half time student)

but thats kind of a sad note to end on so heres just a few more gems i think you all should see if you’ve taken the time to read this haha

Thank you if you took the time to scroll through all of this i hope you had a laugh and that if you’re ever feeling down about your art to remember that we all start at the bottom and you can only go up from there no matter how long it takes you! Don’t give up and honestly just draw your truth <3

#long post #talk tag #art retrospective #this was really fun to make hahah

[nako-doodles]

✨💌 self promo time: reply with five of your favorite creations and pass this on to some of your favorite creators! Thank you for making such lovely things 💌

hello i love you have my entire heart 🥺🥺🥺

1. this bts run pixel art bc it took me forever and a half re: 2 ish months? to get their movements and all the details to look right. im pretty sure all my friends are tired of me texting them at midnight asking if this one movement looked weird. this was also the first major pixel art project ive tried making. i think the thing came out to almost 30 frames? and i wanted to make sure it looped right? i have so much respect for animators wow. 

2. this seokjin pixel art bc im very fond of this photoshoot and this look and the whole butterfly motif from hyyh. i really enjoyed drawing all the flora and decorations, to mention his feather top and those gucci shoes. this was a lot of fun and i feel like really shown how much ive grown using this medium.

3. this daechwita yoongi pixel art bc ive never actually drawn a “realistic” face in form of pixel art (bc the uncanny valley is a steep slope and i spook easily). i spent the majority of the almost 2 months working on it trying to make yoongi actually look like yoongi and not like some homunculus ready to herald the end of days or sthing. i didnt add that smirk at the end until literally 20 minutes before i uploaded the entire thing bc it kept looking weird. 🤣🤣🤣

4. the colouring on this edit. idk man. colouring is hard as fuck how do the creators make such pretty gifs i dont get it. #respekt

5. this experimental digital art thingy i tried one time. ive rarely done really abstract pieces and i was fresh off a klimt/floges/abstract expressionism kick, so this was a new style to play with. this was also my first attempt with digital art so i think for what its worth, it came out well.  

#im working on another pixel art that really proud of so far but I havent posted it yet so rip #youre one of my ult creators here I love you 🥺🥺 #this was hard bc I havent really made a lot of stuff to warrant this #ans #muwutuals

[low-budget-korra]

The legend Of Korra : Book 02-Philosophy Everywhere

I'm going to divide this one into two parts, talking about the episodes before the episodes 07 and 08 and after them. Due to this first half, I consider the 02 book the weakest of all and here are some of the why.

Beginning 6 months after the events of Book 01, after all that dark shit that happened, everything is great. Right away we had a significant change that was the change with respect to animation, previously made by Studio Mir and that in book 2 began to be made by the studios Pierrot. Nothing against the work of the studios Pierrot , after I started studying digital art I saw that it is something way more laborious than I already thought it would be, but Studio Mir's work was so good in Book 1 that this change is a "down" for the season.

We are presented with the danger of this season, evil spirits and the reality of our dear Fire Ferrets. Bolin is the only one who continues in Pro's Bending while Mako became a cop and Korra is just being the Avatar, and Asami is trying to deal with the CEO’s stuff of the Future Industries.

Now something that bothered me a lot in the first half of season. I felt that everything that Korra went through in Book 01 was for nothing, as there is no development in the character. She remains the same spoiled, arrogant from Book 1

The relationship between Mako and Korra is appalling, especially because of Korra's unbearable and inexplicable behavior earlier this season.

We are also introduced to Unalaq, uncle of Korra and soon we see that his relation with Tonraq is, at least ,troubled. Also we met Tony Stark .... cof sorry, Varrick and what a good surprise this character was.

Returning to Korra, this second season she is even more childish than the first. It's inexplicable, I dont know what happened. Like, I can understand her sense of frustration of still being treated as someone who is incapable of making choices, but what does she do? She goes there and shows that she is incapable of making choices.

Like all the building of partnership and trust that was made in book 01 between Tenzin and Korra, something that I unfortunately forgot to mention in my review of book 01, was thrown in the trash because in the first "fight" she exchanged the Tenzin that literally hugged her in the worst moments of her life until then, by an uncle she barely know

I think that when, soon in the first episode Korra dispenses the Tenzin, Unalaq must have thought : "Man, that was easy"

Then we have Korra with unnecessary anger for her father for him not  told he was banished from the Northern WaterTribe and why. Like, girl, this is certainly something your father is not proud of, maybe even blaming himself for the inexperience and arrogance in which he acted when, after chasing the barbarians who attack the city ,  ended up destroying a sacred place. I'm sure you did not tell him about how "cool" the first conversation you had with Amon was.

Okay, I'll take it easy with Korra, maybe this "Stop Protecting Me"  it is her trying to reaffirm herself as Avatar after all she suffered in Book 01. Then this almost desperation for not wanting to be seen as a child and wanting to be considered a capable person, made her, ironically, act like a child and show herself unable , after make some wrong choices.

You guys remember that when the NorthTribe invaded the SouthTribe, she chose to stay with her uncle and not her father. Even Tonraq being an incredible father.

 (Look at this? This  person is trustworthy right. The guy is sitting in a dark room, alone doing a bunch of nothing. IN THE DARK!)

Unalaq was another one that I did not like since the moment I saw it. He is by far the worst villain even more that Ozai's greatest megalomaniac style, worse yet, Ozai wanted his Nation to rule the world while Unalaq wants evil to dominate simply because he wants to. But I give him something, he was good to see that moment of “wanting approval” that Korra and exploits it in his favor.

**

When Korra discovers that his uncle was responsible for the unjust sentence of his father when Unalaq underwent an attempt of kidnapping and that he also was responsible for the banishment his father years ago. First of all I can not blame her for the violent way she approached the judge for the conversation because I think it would do the same. (Dont mess with the people i love)

**

Something very interesting to note was that this season was where everyone was further away from each other. And the frozen scenery of the northern watertribe helped amplify this feeling. The soundtrack of this season is also incredible,  all of the seasons are actually.

**

Another thing I liked was the interaction between the sons of Aang. It was a bit sad to know that despite being a great Avatar, Aang was a bit flawed as a parent. Paying more attention to his duty to the world than with his family. And clearly having a favorite son, Tenzin. I can understand why, but is sucks anyway

But I also think the character who was best explored this season was Tenzin. We can connect with his concerns. The burden of being responsible for the survival of the airbender culture, the fear of failure, and the quest to be a reflection of his father.

We know more about Bumi, and dude, the scene in ep.04 where he talks to his father's statue, apologizing for not being an airbender, and besides that , he did what he can to keep the world . And Kya is kind of a more lesbian cooler version of Katara in terms of personality.

**

One more “down” to this Book in the beginning was to make fun with the Bolin being clearly in an abusive relationship with Eska. This is not fun people, people die because of it.

Poor Mako in the first half,  his only getting slapped by Korra . Later on  I understand, but I dont agree with his position of delivering Korra's plans to get help for the southern tribe to Raiko. Episode 06 was focused on Mako, Bolin and Asami. We can see Asami, in a moment of weakness that I dont understand until today, kissing Mako. Bolin pursuing film career and Mako showing a certain ability as a detective. This I found cool because it gains another layer to the character , it is no longer just the romantic interest of Korra. It also had virtually the revelation of Varrick as a secondary villain for this arc of them

Bolin also has something nice, If in the first episode, he was shown was someone who only can fight with The Krew, later in book 2 he and we see that he is capable to fight alone for himself.

And Asami, this babe was her own “up and fall and up again” arc as CEO of her dad company. And she shows that she has what its need to take control of the business.

**

I really dont know what happened to the writers in this first half of book 02, way below the expected But Raava inspired them to make the wonder that is the second half of the season. And so I finish my analysis of the first half of book 02

**

Beginnings part 1 and 2 are my favorite episodes of the entire AVATAR series. Seriously, everything in these episodes is incredible, from the differentiated animation (Studio Mir is back baby!!!)to the soundtrack, and of course, the script.

In Beginnings we are introduced to the first avatar, Avatar Wan. And so, we are presented as the cycle began. From real, every time I see these two episodes I cry like a baby.

"Return to the beginning. Find Raava "

Lets talk about  Wan, he was a young thief trying to survive, in a  dangerous and authoritarian era of what might be considered the beginnings of the Fire Nation, a city that lay on the back of a Giant Turtle, protected them from the spirits -dominated forests.

I will not say much about these two episodes because even if you dont remember , go watch, seriously, it's incredible. And because if I start talking about them I will not finish.

In short. Wan receives the power of fire from the Giant Lion Turtle and  go into the forest. Then he  return home before entering the forest, and thus steals the fire power ,which was forbidden to use in the city.What is worth mentioning is that the bendinds there were not developed , dont expect  martial arts movements. 

 Here ,even with power, Wan is merciful and selfless. He did not think only of himself, he did not exposed who participated in the rebellion with him and still spared the life of a guard. He is then banished to the forest and .... aaa did not say, I cant not speak of these episodes man

Anyway, after going through "trouble" on his first night out in the woods. He seeks the help of a spirit who simply says "it's not my problem", so Wan tries to fantasize as spirit to be able to enter the oasis of the same spirit that denied him help. Then he discovers that there are other LionTurtles, and consequently, other cities.

And in his journey, even with hunger he decides to release an animal, which turns his animal partner. And so, seeing the altruistic action of Wan, the same spirit that denied him help, helps him to escape the hunters. And so he decides to stay and learn from the spirits.

And so, Wan learns the dragon dance, protecting the oasis and his friends spirits. My baby Wan <3

Back in town, Wan's old friend decides to lead a group of people who believe that only with the power of fire, it is possible to live in the forests. Needless to say that shit happens right ?!

Then Wan decides to travel the world with his pet, Mula. The music in these parts is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, really.

Then Wan discovers Raava and Vaatu fighting and, unknowingly, helps Vaatu to escape. With the help of Raava ,who at first dont like the ideat of joining with Wan to fight Vaatu), Wan finds the other lions turtles and is given the other bendings.

Raava is light and peace. Literally, the good. Vaatu is evil.

However, Wan can only change elements, when the spirit of Raava passes through his body. Wan is an example of a good person, he literally made the biggest shit in the world but instead of running away, as many would do, he took responsibility and face it.

And it is on this journey that he begins to train heavy, the elements, and learn about the balance of the world.

"He can not destroy light any more than i cant destroy darkess. One can not exist without the other "_Raava

"Most humans think only about themselves" _Raava

Man, this is so true, worse, it's a direct truth. There is no metaphor here.

There we see humans using the power of fire to clear the forest, nothing new  really. The same group as that friend of Wan. And so, these people attack anything (spirits) they see, not knowing whether it is good or bad, just by their own ignorance. What unfortunately happens in various parts of the world with minority groups that are attacked only by the ignorance of the aggressors.

In this 5-minute scene, we see all the power of ignorance and violence. Humans have invaded and destroyed the forest, and still set fire to any spirit that appears. In Brazil we have farmers doing exactly the same thing with the natives, with the moral help of the president. But we are not here to talk about the shit hole that is Brazil right now....

The stronger Vaatu gets, the smaller and weaker Raava gets.

(I'm almost crying because I'm writing while I'm watching this wonderful episode.)

It is then that Wan touch’s on the energy that comes out of one of the portals and this scene happens

(This scene gives me so many chills. Its simple epic)

Now officially as Avatar, Wan and Raava succeed together defeating Vaatu, imprisoning for the next 10 thousand years. It is also Wan who makes the decision to close the portal, separating spirits and humans.

We then see the Lion Turtles talking that a new era has begun, and we will no longer be given the power of the elements to the people. Then shows Wan's narration as he separates two armies, because it seems that war is what a human being does best.

Then we think the episode ends there. With the message of the duty of the avatar and all but ...oh boy we are wrong . We see a much older Wan, mortally wounded in battle. Regretting that he had not fulfilled his duty to bring peace, that darkness still surrounds humanity, he did not have enough time.

"Do not worry, we will be together for all your lifetimes and we will never give up" _Raava

Soon after this talk of Raava, Wan dies and the cycle of avatars begins.

(im not crying... you are)

Something I think is very important to mention is that these two episodes, as well as this season of The Legend Of Korra, use something that I hate, that is the megalomaniac villain and the megalomaniac consequences. Only, especially in these two episodes of the Wan, we are not focused on this  but on the learning of the character and all the wisdom of Raava(the hero).

Vaatu can be evil, he has to be evil because he is evil. Now, Unalaq? "Urrr I will release the spirit of darkness to become an evil avatar because I want, even if it destroys the world."

If Vaatu was the villain alone, trying to lead Korra to the dark side, I think it would have been better, or if Unalaq had been better worked for us to believe in his ambitions ... All the Korra villains have a very cool ideology be it equality, freedom or prosperity. Unalaq is only a classic religious fanatic, and a forgettable villain.

**

Moreover, the rest is just Korra and his friends preparing for Harmonic Convergence to beat Vaatu. And the end of the arc’s of Asami, Bolin and Mako.

Now, on this journey of Korra in the spirit world, when she misses Jinora and meets Iroh. Their interaction is wonderful.

I'll separate some quotes from Iroh to Korra, who at the moment is in the shape of a child.

Iroh says: "Even in material world you will find it, if you look for the light you can often find it. But if you look at the dark, heres what you will see "

Several things can be compared to this speech, but the first thing that came to mind was depression and its power to catastrophize everything. As depressive girl, I think I have the property to speak at least of my experience with it.

As depressive, I often see things on the more negative side and thus, "I search for darkness" and so, it is only her that I see. And as much as the search for light is arduous and tiresome, it compensates. It's a daily struggle. Even in the worst of times, look for the light in the dark and you'll be fine. Even if the path is dark and scary, we all have light and we can all walk that path, whether alone or with help.

And Iroh was also right in another speech, helping others is one of the best things you can do. I can not describe the good feeling that takes care of you when you help someone. I think if we all did that, the world would not be in such a mess.

**

Now let's talk about the shocking and sad scene of the loss of connections. 

Honestly I think it's something that can be reversed, and if I did it in a fanfic the creators can do in HQ u.u

About the fanfic, ~propaganda moment here~, I swear that I will continue translate it a and post at least once a month on Wattpad with the link here on Tumblr.Who was interested, here is the link of the chapters already translated. I still do not consider myself fluent in English, so I accept any corrections.

Link for the chapters in English: https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/117030440-the-legend-of-korra-book-5-legacy

(This is just to say how much i love Korra with loose and messy hair, my god how I find it sexy. And for you guys to see this gorgeus image and forgive me for the “propaganda time”)

Returning...

Anyway, at first, I found it very heavy and unnecessary but after analyzing the series as a whole and not just Book 2, I think I understood.

Korra is the avatar in a world practically totally different from the world of Aang and the previous avatars. A world where technology grows every day, a world each more similar to ours. That is, a new era. And this new age, perhaps it did not need other avatars. 

Dont slap me please. But like, for example, what am I going to ask a 19th-century person how she communicated, if we have the cell phone today? Things have changed, the experiences and how to deal with the things too. Perhaps Avatar Kyoshi does not have adequate advice for the Avatar in an increasingly political and complicated world.

The breaking of the cycle was literally the end of an era of Avatars, the avatars that will come after  Korra, in theory, will be more apt to deal with these problems so similar to what we experience.

But yes, I wanted her to somehow reconnect.

As you can see, although I love reading philosophical, political, social, historical, and psychological things, I do not quote any specific author in my interpretations, but I certainly use the knowledge I learned in what I write. "Lara, why dont you quote this guys here?" Cause my memory is terrible in memorising words, which means that I would have to reread, to know who exactly said what, and my college dont let me have this much time

Another thing I forgot to mention, the Gifs are not mine, more talented people than I've done them, and I just picked it up from the internet. Ican tag you in the comments if you are the author of those

Although it is not the book that most focuses on psychological issues, it does so through philosophical questions of "Who I am" and "What is my duty in the world"

Overall, book 2 of The Legend Of Korra is the most nostalgic of all, in my opinion. And in my view, the theme that stands out is that of "Search for own identity". 

We see this in Wan,Bolin, Korra, Tenzin, and Jinora in  a more prominent way.

Wan on his quest for Avatar's identity, even if it is unconscious. Korra for the exact opposite, her quest is for herself. Who is Korra? And would Korra be limited to just been The Avatar?

Who is Tenzin? He finally detaches himself from his father's image. As he says in the fog of the lost souls: "Im not a refletion of my father. Im Tenzin " Bolin who discovers his is not just a sidekick to his brother, he is more than that

And Jinora discovering and embracing without question her full potential with the spiritual side.

And besides, i hate it the all giant final fight. I simple dont like it. 

#the legend of korra #avatar korra #team avatar #Asami Sato #tenzin #mako #bolin #avatar #korrasami #raava #avatar wan

[adventuresaroundasia]

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info. 

Pin Me!

Taking care of curly hair definitely isn’t easy, especially when you travel or live abroad for an extended period of time. After living in China for five years, I definitely learned a lot of tips and tricks when it comes to caring for curly hair abroad. Now I’m doing the digital nomad thing in Vietnam, and I’ve brought those skills with me!

That said, my eyes have recently been opened to the wonders of the Curly Girl Method, which has completely flipped my life (and hair care routine) upside down. The Curly Girl Method (CG Method) has a TON of rules, so I’ll definitely be going through my experience attempting the CG Method for the first time (abroad!!!) in this post as well.

PS- You should all start the Curly Girl Method right now. My hair has never looked (or smelled) better. 

Flaunting my curls in Beijing

Finding the Right Products Abroad (Non-CG Method)

If there’s one thing curly girls worry about, it’s products. If you’re only traveling for a week or two, it’s easy to bring your products from home with you. However, if you’re traveling for months on end or moving abroad, you need to come up with a few long-term solutions.

Finding the Right Shampoo Abroad

When it comes to regular old shampoo, I’ve never had issues with this abroad. In China, I stuck with Head and Shoulders Shampoo, which I could find pretty much anywhere. Head and Shoulders is pretty moisturizing when it comes to shampoos, and I never had any issues with it. The bottle also lasts forever, since I only wash my hair 2-3 times per week with a little bit of shampoo.

Pantene ProV did its job for the most part

Finding The Right Conditioner Abroad

Obviously, conditioner and styling products are a completely different story. My recommendation is to look into Pantene ProV. I used Pantene ProV Curl Perfection back home in the US and loved how thick and moisturizing it was.

Unfortunately, you can’t really find conditioner specifically for curly hair in Asia, so I looked for other types. In the past, I used the Chinese Pantene ProV with the pink label, which was a super moisturizing leave-in style conditioner. However, in the last few years, I stopped seeing it around, so I went for the one with the gold label, which is supposed to be extra moisturizing for dry hair.

The reason why I recommend Pantene is because it’s super moisturizing and you can find it in pretty much any country. I saw it in Tanzania and here in Vietnam too! Obviously, if you’re following the CG Method, just ignore these product suggestions. We’ll get to you later!

Attempting to contain my hair in a scarf so it wouldn’t go CRAZY on the Seattle ferry

Bringing Products From Home

I’m a huge lover of gel for curly hair, and I’m happy to say that I feel super vindicated after learning that the CG Method recommends gel too! (Take that, stupid hairdressers!)

While I can easily find gel abroad, I’m always disappointed by the quality. Most of the gel I find comes in small bottles and is aimed at men. Either it has a weird smell, or is super alcoholic. My most recent gel I bought in Bangkok literally smells like vodka and has “alcohol” listed as one of the ingredients.

What kind of alcohol is it??!! Is it vodka???! Probably.

I was always a huge fan of Dep Sport gel and LA Looks Sport gel (this one is CG approved!). What I typically do is stock up on gel when I go home for a quick visit. I bring two big bottles of LA Looks and a small bottle of Dep. Then, if I happen to run out, I just attempt to buy a decent gel abroad (and fail miserably).

When it comes to moving abroad or traveling long-term in Asia, I always recommend bringing gel from home, along with other products that are super expensive in Asia, like face moisturizer. The longer I stayed in China, the more products I found that worked (Innisfree and Nature Republic saved my life on many occasions- Thank you Korea!!!). But I still haven’t found a good replacement for an awesome gel.

My travel toiletry organizer

Traveling With Your Products

While some travelers swear by going carry-on-only, I hate to break it to you curly girls… Give up on those dreams right now.

I don’t know about you, but my super long curly hair needs a ton of conditioner and gel to function, so travel-size bottles just aren’t going to work for me. Besides, my moisturizer is also too big, and I need a ton of that too. (Dry skin, dry hair… I’m cursed!)

I find it needlessly stressful and expensive to try and find conditioner and gel while I’m traveling. There have actually been times where I just CAN’T find conditioner. My friends hated me a little while we were traveling in Vietnam and I made them walk around a random town with me for 20 minutes to try and find a store selling conditioner. We failed.

Just pack your products in plastic ziplock bags in case they leak. I also recommend grabbing a bar of Lush solid shampoo, because shampoo is the most likely thing in your bag to leak (I speak from personal experience).

Just be careful to let the shampoo bar dry out so that it doesn’t melt and turn to putty in your little tin container. (I also have personal experience with this one as well).

If only my life was this organized.

Money Saving Hack: Only Check One Bag

If you’re traveling with a partner or friends, my biggest money-saving hack is to only check ONE bag. Decide which bag is largest/most durable and have everyone put their large bottles and products in just one bag while carrying on the others. Then you can all share the cost of the checked bag!

While this wasn’t super necessary for me in China since I always got a checked bag for free, it helped my friends and my fiance and I save money while flying around Southeast Asia using cheap Air Asia flights!

My hair gets pretty long abroad

Getting Your Hair Cut Abroad

DONT. Just don’t. Especially if you’re in Asia.

Cutting your hair in a place where curly hair doesn’t exist is a recipe for disaster. If you’re in Europe, South America, the Middle East or Africa (depending on your texture) you’re probably fine, just check for good reviews online. But if you’re in Asia… good luck.

While there are certain hairdressers in larger cities that cater to foreign expats, I have a hard enough time finding a good salon in the US that won’t mess up my hair, let alone one in China!!

So, what do you do? Personally, I get a really good haircut once a year. Yep- that’s it!

Why do hairdressers always insist on straightening it?

To think I considered making it permanent!

There was a time I considered making it permanently straight

I just tell my American hairdressers how long I need to go between cuts and let them know that they need to give me a great shape that can last me an entire year. After many years of trial and error, I finally managed to find a few decent hairstylists that can do this without chopping all of my hair off.

When I’m super desperate, I take a pair of kitchen scissors and cut my hair dry (which is apparently how you’re supposed to get it cut anyway). I take each curl individually and snip an inch or two off in a diagonal line. It always turns out fine and I get rid of those pesky dry ends!

If you don’t have a hairdresser that knows how to handle curly hair, I highly suggest looking for a Deva certified stylist who has been trained in the art of the CG Method and cutting curly hair. I’m super excited to book an appointment with a certified stylist in Seattle when I’m home!

[button url=”https://www.devacurl.com/salon-stylist-search.html&#8221; label=”Find Your Deva Certified Stylist!” size=”large” target=”_blank”]

Starting the Curly Girl Method Abroad

When my friend introduced me to the Curly Girl Method a few weeks ago, I was absolutely HOOKED. I joined the Curly Girl Support Group on Facebook, watched countless Youtube Videos (Shoutout to Curly Susie!) and immediately started searching for CG Approved products.

Unfortunately, I literally could not find ANY CG Approved conditioners in Hoi An or at the large Costco-esque store Megamart in Danang (about 30 minutes away).

Curly Girl Method: No silicones, sulfates, or parabens! (aka what is in EVERYTHING)

After getting some advice from the support group, I used a company called iHerb to order products from the US to Vietnam. While half the products for curly hair don’t actually follow the rules, I ended up finding a solid 15-20 I could work with.

I did a TON of research and ended up choosing 3: Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner, Beautiful Curls Activating Leave-in Conditioner, and Kinky Curly Styling Custard as a gel.

Thanks Customs…

Wow… Open boxes and everything

Dealing With Customs and Imported Products

My fiance Chris and I went a bit crazy on iHerb and ordered $100-worth of stuff. However, when it all arrived, our box was held up in customs for a solid week. We were informed by DHL that they didn’t believe that our stuff was only worth $100, so we had to send them the receipt and links to all of the products.

When the box finally arrived, we were told we owed customs $50. WTF!!!!???!!! Yeah, thanks Vietnam. Apparently they only really do this to foreigners, and there’s absolutely no way around it except to have a Vietnamese friend order for you.

Also, they had ripped the boxes of our supplements and meal bars open and taped them back up, and the cap to my leave-in was completely off and there was conditioner spilled in my box. Really??

Thankfully the leave-in is super thick, so I only lost a tiny bit of the bottle.

Time to bug mom and dad…

Relying on Friends and Family

Obviously, I won’t be attempting to order products again (unless it’s through a Vietnamese friend). This means I’ll need to have my parents bring me a few things when they visit.

I’m still on the hunt for the best products for my 3 a/b low porosity hair (and this is where I lose everyone…) but I’m hoping to find a few products I can get brought over in big bottles to at least last me until I’m in Australia this November.

When it comes to hair type, 1= straight, 2= wavy, 3= curly, 4=kinky. a= loose curls/waves/kinks, b=medium and c= tight. I’m a 3a/b since my curls range from the size of sidewalk chalk to the size of a sharpie. I have low-porosity hair because my hair has a hard time absorbing moisture but retains moisture (and WATER) very well. You can do a hair test to see what type of porosity you have.

My hair after ONE DAY of using the Curly Girl Method

A Few More Must-Have Curly Girl Lifesavers

In addition to products, I’ll also have my parents bring a few simple hair fixes that I can use anywhere.

Firstly, I’ll be getting a satin pillowcase to keep my hair from getting frizzy while I sleep. While I do put my hair up in a Pineapple bun to save the curls, the underside of my hair still gets frizzy. A satin pillowcase will solve all my problems, and it’s super luxurious!

I also plan on getting a travel hair diffuser. This collapsible travel diffuser fits on pretty much any hair dryer and can compactly fit in your bag, unlike a traditional diffuser or Devafuser. While I normally air dry my hair, it would be nice to diffuse if I’m heading out the door, or if it’s been 3 hours and my hair still isn’t dry and I want to go to sleep (that’s low porosity for you).

Finally, I want to grab a few small styling clips to give my roots volume and help my hair dry. I’ve currently been using large hair styling clips, but these tend to clump my hair in weird ways and make my roots strangely straight if I clip them too tight.

My pre-CG method curls (or should I say waves)

Do I Really Have to Bring All My CG Products From Home?

In Vietnam, I still have yet to see any CG Approved products. Thankfully there are some major brands that have CG Approved products like Suave Naturals, TRESemme Botanique, VO5 Herbal Escapes, Fruit of the Earth Aloe Vera Gel, Aussie Instant Freeze, and LA Looks Sport Gel that you MIGHT find abroad.

I’ll keep my eyes out, but at least in Vietnam, this is a huge problem for me. Specialized curly hair products like DevaCurl, Shea Moisture, and Kinky Curly are basically impossible to find in Asia.

I’d like to think that in China might have been able to find some of these products, or at least non-name brand CG approved products by using JD.com or Taobao, but no promises!

I basically recommend packing a few bottles of everything in your suitcase and requesting replacements from everyone who visits you. Worst case, you can pay to import stuff using companies like iHerb.

Ready for bed with my pineapple hair!

My Recommended Packing List for Curly Hair Girls

Now that I’m versed in the Curly Girl Method, there are a few things I wouldn’t travel without! Here’s a quick list of what you should bring

A Low-Poo, non-sulfate gentle shampoo to use 1x week or less

A big bottle of CG Approved silicone free conditioner for conditioning and co-washing

A leave-in conditioner

A Nice big bottle (or two) of gel (LA Looks is fine but I LOVE Kinky-Curly)

An old t-shirt or microfiber turban towel for drying your hair and “plopping”

A travel diffuser (optional)

10 Small hair clips for drying

A silk or satin pillowcase

A wide-toothed comb (optional) – I just use my fingers to brush my hair now!

Invisibobble “telephone wire” hair bands (these things are LIFE) and some bobby pins

Aside from your products, most of these things are super small, so you shouldn’t have a huge issue transporting them. While traveling with a ton of products is never fun, at least your hair will look fantastic??

If you’re living abroad, definitely search for the right products in local stores and online. The less product you have to bring, the better!

If you’re not at all interested in the CG Method, just go for Pantene ProV. It worked pretty well for me over the last five years!

Showing off my curls in Japan!

Any Questions??

Do you have any questions about managing curly hair while traveling? Want to know more about the Curly Girl Method and how I’ve been attempting it abroad? Do you have any advice for me or other curly haired travelers? Let me know in a comment!

I’m always checking back for new comments, so be sure to get in touch and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!

Want to know more about the Curly Girl Method? Get the Original Curly Girl Handbook on Amazon! This is where the entire CG movement began! 

Traveling With Curly Hair – How to Care For Curly Hair Abroad This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.  Taking care of curly hair definitely isn't easy, especially when you travel or live abroad for an extended period of time.

#beauty #curly hair #travel #travel tips