The Wardrobe Angel needs your hair care tips!

Wardrobe Angel reporting for duty. Aged 9. Strong hair game. 

In January I talked about giving my hair the chop. I'm going to renege on that chat and go long. Now, the only problem is that my hair literally looks like Brian May when it's down and after 4 years of GHD torture, my hair has inherited a halo of fuzz. At my niece's 1st birthday a couple of weeks ago there was much hilarity at some old pictures my sister Penny had unearthed of me basically feeling up trees and flowers in what can only be described as some pre-blogging pose premonition shots. Now the photos are here for you to laugh at but what I'm most interested in is my HAIR. Aged 9 it was awesome!!! Poker straight, amazing colour and in fab condition. My Dad implored me during my teenage years to "stop messing with yourself and leave your hair alone." Bloody hell, it really pains me to say this but Tom Roper was right. My hair now verges on black, which I don't mind, however it's the condition I am worried about - it ain't pretty. I love how my 9 year old hair is just flipped over on one side my head, all nonchalant and GLOWING. It is a cascade of hairy wonder!

No trees were harmed in the taking of these photos....

SO - join me on my hair restoration journey over the next few months as I try to reclaim my crowing glory. First up I'm booked to have a coconut oil treatment at my hair dressers next week. I've also been reading up on Hairburst and Hairfinity and googling what Kim K uses on her tresses (only washing it twice a week seems to be her top tip.) If you have any "get my hair back to aged 9 awesome" tips then please leave them in the comments below. This is what we're dealing with people, prepare for the halo....

This is a product free, halo heavy day. 

PS - if you look really closely at these pics you'll see my red nails - started young, eh?! AND I'm wearing a white denim skirt. I happen to have a Preen white denim skirt hanging in my wardrobe right now. Those style seeds were sown early!

Stay hair happy! Til next time... x

The Wardrobe Angel

How I get my locks to look like glass (thanks John Frieda)

I had finished presenting a WI (Women's Institute) talk when a hand shot up and the owner of the hand asked

"How do you get your hair to look like glass?"

My response was

"Erm....(uncomfortable pause) I don't drink, I don't smoke, I eat prettily healthily (another pause and I began to wring my hands)....erm...and Moroccan Oil."

It really threw me to be honest. I know when I do talks about my business I am the centre of attention but the fact the lady had been eyeing up my hair made me feel a bit off kilter. I'm not a beauty expert, a beauty blogger, a hair fanatic, I just use what I use and have luckily found the products which work for me.

Before I start this blog post in earnest, I would like point out that over the years my hair has been all shades of colour under the sun: orange, blonde, a brief flirtation with black, light brown, dark brown and red. Growing up I was never satisfied with my hair. With eyes skewed by the ideal set by the beauty industry, rather than what I saw with my own eyes in the mirror everyday,  I fell for all kinds of 'promises' from the marketing of such products such as SUN-IN only to have my heart, and hair, broken. You 90's teenagers will remember that ghastly spray (which I pretty sure was just bleach in a bottle) that promised sun kissed locks. I wanted sun-kissed locks and since I didn't live in California where all the models in the adverts seemed to reside, I bought the Sun-In and sat on the back doorstep of my mum and dad's house using the pale rays of Yorkshire sunlight to enhance my dark brown hair. You know what you get when you mix dark brown hair with SUN-IN? Orange hair. Bright. Orange. Hair.

Me, Blonde, You, shocked.

At Uni I went all Sonic The Hedgehog and had red highlights which eventually lead me to blonde highlights and a short urchin haircut that made me look like a boy. So much so, my friend marched me off to get my ears pierced. For a while I was happy with brown hair, I grew it out and started fashioning it into an almighty quiff. Then I got restless. A hairdresser caught me at a weak moment and I started the slippery slope into full blown blondeness.  Hard to maintain, even harder to find the money for the upkeep every 6 weeks and the hardest thing? Coming back from an epic holiday in Ibiza, we headed out to a club in Manchester where I was thinking "I look awesome. I woke up like this" when a woman in said club approached me and asked "are you ok? You look really ill." Bye Bye blonde. That was the last time I dyed it.

Now it is in its natural state - a deep chocolate brown - which I don't dye and love heartily, I have finally made peace with my hair. I use Brilliant Brunette Shampoo & Conditioner in the shower, Moroccan Oil on the very tips of my hair (otherwise we have an oil slick situation on our hands) after I have towel dried my barnet, then I blow dry and straighten the fringe and front section with GHDs.

I'm glad I wasted days of my life in the colourist's chair because not only has the first 30 years of my life provided me with loads of photos which are hair-tastically hilarious, but I worked out what suits me, what I like and what I don't.

I guess sometimes you have to make many shaped hair wrongs to make a right.

Til next time...x

PS - any hair nightmares you want to share? Pop 'em in the comments section below...