It seems like a bunch of people switched to the app and budgeting within their digital funds (bank) rather than cash. Just wondering what we're all doing. I did pick up the RC wallet yesterday because it finally went on sale, but now I'm wondering if I even need it because I've been budgeting within the app/ my bank. I was an avid paper envelope user before the app
Just fyi, be sure to visit potential homes without your realtor (just go and park on the street for a bit outside of the house). Do so at rush hour, at night, and early in the morning. I don't care if it's weird, as long as you don't break any laws. We only saw our house 2 times because it was almost an hour away, and both times were scheduled by our reality. The house is on a main road, but we really didn't know how busy it was until our final walkthrough when we were already locked into contract.
We found out that the times we looked at it were very slow times (early Saturday and mid day on a weekday). Turns out this is a main road that everyone uses and goes at least 30 over the speed limit constantly. It's terrible during rush hour and in the evenings. We believed our realtor when she said "she knows this road and it's not that bad- this is as busy as it gets". DON'T BE LIKE ME. DON'T BELIEVE YOUR REALTOR. DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH. Anyway, now I'm off to investigate arborvitae and how to mitigate loud traffic noises (probably will go with green giant arborvitae and sound deadening window inserts). FML.
TL/DR I got diagnosed with celiac disease, got prescribed Zoryve foam (which looks gross) for sebum plugs and inflammation, and now my hair is growing back and doesn't look like a greasy mess.
This is a bit long, but I kinda wanted to throw it out there because I figured out why my hair was terrible for so many years. It's kinda specific to my situation, but it might help one or two people out there.
Ok, so I don't know who was asking about Zoryve a while ago, but I saw a post about it and I asked my derm. I've had thin Gollum-style hair for a while, where it is fine but wavy/loosely curly. My hair will get these amazing pretty curls if I let my hair air dry and scrunch as it dries, but then the curls fall out and my hair just goes into a frizzy limp state of looking like Gollum. Its been thin on top for quite some time, to the point where I could see the shine of my scalp through the hair.
Fast forward a few years: I found out that I have celiac disease and it literally makes your hair fall out from lack of nutrients getting absorbed to the gut. That combined with anemia (probably from the celiac disease), and chronic sebum plugs made my hair fall out. With every shower I'd lose a ball of hair the size of a a large marble (when compressed into a ball). I'd lose just as much when I brushed each time. I finally got a doctor to listen after years of complaints, and got a celiac diagnosis, and got prescribed Zoryve for the sebum plugs.
Getting both the celiac diagnosis and the medicine was like pulling teeth. It took 3 different dermatologists until I finally got a solution. The 2 previous doctors just tried to push minoxadil or ketoconazole shampoo on me despite never seeing any improvement. In fact, the ketoconazole was so harsh that it seemed to cause hair breakage in what little hair I had left.
The final derm listened to me and prescribed the Zoryve because I had itching associated with the hair loss due to the sebum plugs. I would scrape my finger nail across my scalp and id get some little tiny round clear hard balls of sebum under my finger nail. Sometimes the entire hair follicle would come out with the sebum plug .
My insurance flat out refused to pay for the Zoryve foam initially, so my derm literally had to prescribe minoxadil and ketoconazole shampoo AGAIN to me despite it never working in the past, and I had to buy that, then the derm had to reorder the Zoryve with a note saying all other treatments were unsuccessful. Then after that I was able to get it with a $0 copay! I started using it daily and it looked AWFUL on my hair, like I put semi-opaque white-clear goo on my hair (ah-hem). Yeah this stuff was right up there with minoxadil for the way it made my hair look, but worse because of the whitish tinge. It looks and feels GROSS. Seriously, they need to fix this product because there's no way you can apply it without it looking really gross. I would apply it in the morning, leave it on all day, then was my hair before bed, or vice versa (only leave on at night).
I used it for about a month, and just covered my hair with a bandana, and omg I thought I had LICE. I suddenly had little white rice shaped things in my hair. I panicked and then my spouse pulled some out of my hair and it was literally all the sebum plugs working their way out of my scalp.
It was very gross for about a week, and then they were just gone! My scalp was smoother, whereas I had little bumps before all over my scalp. I did stop using it after a while because I feel like my scalp balanced out once I got everything under control, but I still have to go back to it for a week if I got glutened or if I feel the itchy scalp returning for whatever reason.
Other things I did are to (ironically) switch to a more gently shampoo and a conditioner with aloe. I use the JASON brand aloe vera shampoo and conditioner. I also shampoo and condition my hair and rinse upside-down using a long hose and spray head in the shower so I don't leave and residue on my scalp. I NEVER use any hair spray or anything else on my scalp because the second I do, I get a massive itchy scalp issues and clogged pores. It's been about a year of doing all this and I have baby hairs growing in that are about 2 inches now. My hair still grows very slow, but I'm hoping that'll change as I get my anemia under control with Blood Builder brand liquid iron supplement, vitamin D gummies, and Nordic Naturals Omega 3 DHA pills. Overall my hair feels normal finally, and I don't feel like I have an itchy greasy, grainy scalp anymore.
My derm wasn't sure if the plugs were related to the celiac disease, but I think they are related because now if I get gluten, my scalp gets greasy again, and the plugs come back again, and I need to use the foam for a week or so to get rid of them again. I think the Zoryve worked because it gets rid of information in general, and I think that's what was going on with my scalp, so it literally took away all the itching and overreacting that happened when I was getting gluten attacks.
Anyway, that was a lot, but I hope it helps someone out there.