Category Archives: Beauty

Jan 9 2019

The value of a smile

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I recently got in a spot of bother on Facebook for taking a casual swipe at the amount of pouty profile pics on my friends’ feeds. Although it was totally tongue-in-cheek, my status got some 100 comments, with a couple of people suggesting I was “unfairly judging” and “damaging (their) self-esteem”. It did (eventually) blow over with only a handful of acquaintances sending me to Blockdom, but nevertheless, it has me wondering just when a traditional smile went so out of Vogue.

Having recently polled a few particularly pouty mates, “not liking their teeth” is the most common reason given for all the Blue Steel poses. All of them have teeth, yet they claim they’re not white or straight enough to be Tinder-worthy. This, despite the fact I’ve had numerous night’s out with these ladies, and they’ve never looked more sexy than when they’re laughing.

Don’t get me wrong, I can see their point. With all these naff filters making the rounds, it’s far easier to take a pouty pic nowadays, than it is to take something natural. It’s a trend I’ve deliberately resisted, despite some anxiety over my own teeth. Thankfully my views seem to be shared by the majority of men out there as my aforementioned post was given the thumbs up by 100% of male respondents.

Like most people in their thirties, I’m paranoid about the colour of my teeth. Although I don’t drink tea or coffee, having vowed to never drink white wine again, and switched to red, my gnashers are now decidedly less Hollywood, and more Dallas. Yet as I have sensitive teeth, the thought of bleaching them frightens me, and given the state of our finances, Craig is almost certain to leave me if I nipped to Harley Street to have them laser-whitened. (… I’m saving this particular “can I have…” until he slips a ring on my finger!).

I’m also not a massive fan of my two front teeth. I think they stick out a little, and are wider and longer than the rest of them. I’m pretty sure this can be corrected via a few cosmetic appointments, but again, until my wedding day, I can cope with the quirkiness of them. Hey, if it’s good enough for Madonna, right?

So am I just more blasé about my appearance than my mates? Or maybe I’m just more comfortable in my own skin. Or maybe, just maybe, my teeth aren’t that bad.

I don’t want people to think I’m not an advocate of cosmetic dentistry. Far from it. In fact, one of those big front teeth I’m not so keen on, well it’s a crown. Yep, due to an alcohol-fuelled misadventure in my teens, I once famously sat on a picnic bench so heftily it flipped up and whacked me full frontal in the face. Thankfully, a quick emergency call to Daddy for some cash the next morning saw me pounding my mobile for a cosmetic dentist to fix my cracked tooth that day.

The whole experience opened my eyes to the miracles that dentists perform day in and day out. We’d all be forgiven for thinking that when a tooth decays, cracks or slips out of alignment, that little can be done. After all, we all know someone who seems beyond redemption. But the sheer quality and availability of dental services out there today, means no smile can’t be fixed or transformed. My wishlist may still be just that, but when I win the lottery, I’m booking myself into the dentist’s chair, getting a boob reduction, and hiring a personal trainer the very next day.

Yet still, Facebook is full of lies. We turn to our best side, avoid anything below the shoulders to hide those pesky lbs we’ve put on, and keep our mouths closed. Turn on some Disney-esque filter and we have flower halos above our heads, our eyes and lashes have been enlarged some 20%, and a cute animal nose sits atop ours. I struggle to make out who half my friends on Facebook are thanks to Snapchat filters!

So I’m sticking by my guns. I’m not judging anyone, it’s not my place to tell you what you post to Facebook, Instagram or anywhere else. But I’m bringing smiles back. Big, wide, eye-creasing smiles. My smile, that is unique to me. So no one, even when I eventually change my surname to Craig’s, won’t know who I am, and just how happy I am being me.

What do you guys think? Partial to the odd pout? Let me know in the comments

xxx ‘Til next time! xx

 

Oct 24 2018

Make blissful bath time count this half-term with Venus

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So the dreaded half-term is upon us - already. The kids have only been at school for a matter of weeks, yet they’re off, making a mess of the house, fort-building with my sofa cushions and fighting over whose bowl of Haribo has the best sweets in it. I love my children, but I love them even more when they’re not here!

Like most mums, I try to plan some sort of daily activity to get us out of the house and make some memories, but best laid plans go to pot when it’s raining and miserable outside. Instead I’m frantically raiding the craft drawer for felt tips that work, and scrap card that hasn’t already been scrawled on.

So when Venus challenged me to take some precious “me-time” this half-term, I caved in all too quickly. It was the perfect excuse to palm the kids off onto Craig one evening, have a nice relaxing bath, and road test Venus’ best-selling razors.

REVIEW: Gillette’s Venus and Olay Razor

So, after ridding the bath of seaponies, toy squirters and other such delights, I lit some candles, queued up some podcasts, and set about the chore of shaving my legs. I’ve used a Venus razor for a few years now, but this one promises to lock in moisture thanks to a built in Olay Moisture Bar. Alongside Venus’ 5 blade technology which gently exfoliates for skin surface renewal, the flexible shave bars with added Olay, reportedly leave you with a silky smooth finish and helps to prevent those dreaded post-shave dry legs.

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In fact, given we’re all now finally admitting defeat and sticking on the heating in our homes, skin dehydration is an all too common side effect. My quest for year round supple and nourished skin always ramps up a gear as the colder seasons kick in, and I spend a fortune on body creams, milk and vitamins to keep my skin looking its best. Needless to say I was intrigued to see if this made a difference.

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I’ve tried razors with built-in moisture bars before, and some can look really cumbersome and unwieldy, but this one has all of the features we’ve come to expect from Venus, with it’s same soft and sleek handle, and super flexible blades. It also came with a little shower hook that suckers onto your bathroom tiles - ideal if you like to keep your razor up high away from smaller children.

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Like always the 5 blades gave me a really close shave, and glided across my skin effortlessly. The flexible head helps hug curvy contours such as knees and elbows, and you don’t feel the need to go over the same area twice as it cuts through the shortest of hairs to leave a silky flawless finish. The soft grip handle and Olay infused bar releases light skin conditioners, allowing the razor to glide seamlessly without the need for foam/gel. A nice surprise was also the sugarberry scent, which lingers on the skin as you shave.

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The real test however is how your legs feel out of the water. After a quick towel dry I could really notice the difference. Whereas my old razor would leave my legs visibly dry, I found them much better with the Venus and Olay combo. On closer inspection, they looked shiny and well nourished, and of course, smooth to touch. I still moisturised using Clinique’s Deep Comfort Body Butter (my absolute favourite), but they stayed lush and silky far later into the night than my previous razor.

REVIEW: Venus Bikini Precision Trimmer

I’ve wanted one of these for ages but never quite got around to buying it. Like most women I keep my bikini area in check using a variety of methods. Although most of the time I’ll plump for a quick wax at a salon, if I’m in a rush or simply too busy, I might wax at home, use a hair removal cream or whip out my razor. I’ll mix this up throughout the year to ensure this delicate area stays smooth without drying out or getting sore.

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Not solely for use on your bikini area, the Venus Bikini Precision Trimmer looked good for emergencies, and for when I’m away on business, so I was delighted when the Venus team sent me one to review.

First up, it’s very cute. Being only 20cm long, and coming with a super cute little pouch, it’s tiny enough to slip discreetly into your overnight bag for whipping out when needed. Requiring 1x AAA battery, it flicks into life quietly and takes care of any errant hairs to ensure a tidy finish.

As I’m quite prone to nicking myself, I was curious about how it would handle, but the 90° angle-head is surprisingly easy and safe to use. As it’s really thin and light, it handles almost like a pen, offering ultimate manoeuvrability over all those tricky to reach places. So safe in fact, you could use it to tidy up sideburns or other unwanted facial hair.

It actually offers a really close shave too. I’m not usually a huge fan of dry shave devices as I think they leave stubbly patches, but if you pull the skin taut with one hand and go in the direction of the hair growth, you get a really professional long-lasting result. I also really liked the little 5mm comb provided. Simply attach to the trimmer atop the cutting element for trimming hair to a uniform length. This is ideal if you keep a little hair, but like it looking really tidy.

To sum up, far from staying in my overnight bag, I think I’ll use this more regularly - saving me time and a good few pennies on salons. Let’s face it, no one has time for that during half-term, do they!

More information?

To find out more or order online, head to the Gillette Venus website, or pop into your nearest Superdrug or Boots. To be in-the-know with all the latest launches, news and competitions, you can also follow Venus on Facebook and Twitter.

Disclaimer: The products described in this Venus and Olay review were gifted to me. All images are my own.
Mar 13 2018

A love affair with hair: Postpartum hair stories

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My hair has experienced some big changes since the onset of motherhood. I started life with limp, weak locks, and this carried on throughout my school days. It wouldn’t grow longer than my shoulders, my split ends were devastating under neon lighting, and it was so fine my ears would poke through it like Cate Blanchette’s character from Lord of the Rings. This earned me the nickname “Weasel Ears” which didn’t set well with this angst-ridden teen. No amount of Aussie 3 Minute Miracle would thicken it up, and I never quite mastered how to blow-dry for volume.

Yet when I got pregnant with Dexie, I was suddenly sporting the thick and full mane I’d always wanted. I finally invested in GHDs and beachy waves would actually last half a day before succumbing to gravity. I think it was the only thing I really enjoyed about pregnancy. The rest of it was one long big list of Nos: no cigarettes, no hair dye, no cycling and no alcohol (and no one should ever have to meet me sober).

Yet I was repeatedly told by anyone and everyone that it wouldn’t last. I’d give birth then find clumps of my beloved hair on my pillow. It would clog up the drain in the shower and end up more limp and pathetic than ever before. Breastfeeding might delay the inevitable, but my good hair days were numbered - so they said.

Yet miraculously this didn’t happen. Maybe it’s because I didn’t torture my hair with appliances in my twenties, or scrape it into various up-dos (seriously, my ears are horrible), or maybe it was like some sort of divine pardon for time served with lacklustre locks. Whatever the reason, my pregnancy tresses stayed. In fact, we’re now 5 years on, with another pregnancy in-between, and my hair is still long, healthy, and voluminous.

In short, I got lucky when so many don’t.

In fact postpartum hair loss has been a bit of thing among my friends, and one (who shall remain nameless) was utterly tortured by it. She’d pop round brandishing some new miracle product and plonk herself down on the floor in-between my legs for me to massage it into her scalp. It put all my moaning into perspective as clumps of what precious little she had left came away in my fingers. Of course I’d discreetly chuck this over my shoulder, but she always knew. We’d Google image search other women suffering from hair loss but nothing seems quite as severe as your own journey with it - and I watched my gorgeous friend age before my eyes in the green glow of my iMac.

Yet this is normal right?

Well yes. The average non-pregnant woman loses some 100 hairs per day; sounds a lot, but it’s not enough to notice. During pregnancy, an elevated estrogen level prolongs the life cycle of your hair, meaning fewer fall out. After you give birth, however, your estrogen level plummets and all those hairs that stuck around for 9 months, fall out and are replaced by new growth that is subject to your hair’s pre-pregnancy life cycle.

But what if you lose too much?

Like my friend, you mean?

Well to cut a long story short, she was eventually diagnosed with postpartum thyroiditis - an uncommon condition in which a previously normal-functioning thyroid gland becomes inflamed. Left untreated, as thyroid cells become impaired, mild signs and symptoms of underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) can develop, one of which is (…you guessed it…) hair loss.

A few years on and her hair is thickening up, yet the affected scalp never did yield a new crop meaning far less strands to play with. An FUE hair transplant could be a good solution, but she’s better with styling than me, and still looks 10 out of 10 on a night out. Not even hair loss could dull my girl, and she’s as sassy as ever when she hits the Prosecco.

But it has got me thinking about how our hair is so often taken for granted. Whether we grey prematurely, recede in our twenties, or too casually diagnose ourselves with some sort of temporary blip to our hormones when we wake up a few hundred strands lighter, just when should we bite the bullet and go and see a doctor?

So I decided to write this post; to lay out two very different postpartum hair stories, so pregnant women can see beyond the pages of What to Expect When You’re Expecting, and learn to listen to their bodies again. It’s not something any of us parent bloggers are readily shouting about either, and we should be. Continued severe hair loss well after pregnancy is worth talking about. If my friend had not spoken to a professional about her hair, she might not have been diagnosed, and she might have lost more than just her hair. Our bodies have funny ways of telling us things, and thankfully so does our hair.

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