by Rebecca
by Rebecca
I’ve just gotten back from Glastonbury, and there are some things I need to share with you.
I bumped into a friend within the first ten minutes of the festival, who dragged me straight to Moonchild Sanelly. I’d never heard of her before, and she blew me away. She was mesmerising in her confidence and humour. I turned to my friend and said that the energy reminded me of seeing Self Esteem do an intimate gig in LA before she got massive. Well, whaddya know, turns out they’ve just released a single together! It’s called Big Man and it’s a bop, I can’t stop singing it.
The Glasto sets you need to watch on iplayer are The Streets for a Mike Skinner masterclass in geeing up a crowd, Lankum for Irish Folk music at its darkest and most epic, Dua Lipa for good old fashioned pop star perfection and Sugababes for how to turn a roster of bangers into a s-h-o-w. Also you know who else? Paul Heaton of the Beautiful South. Just good clean fun!
Anyway, to business.
After a weekend out in the open, I can confirm hair suffers in the heat. Whether it’s thick frizz or thin strags, it needs placating the same way that hot skin needs aftersun. My back is rod straight as I type, as I’m visualising Claire whispering menacingly that her hair isn’t thick like mine & she can't use deep conditioner so this is useless to her. You’re wrong, imaginary Claire!
Firstly, let’s talk prevention. This Aveda sun protection mist is lovely, for the hair and the scalp. I prefer it to the Sam McKnight version, as the latter has sea salt in it, and I look like mangled old Caliban if I spray sea salt in my hair. That’s a Shakespeare reference *takes a bow*.
A hat is also excellent protection, of course. My favourites are from Alex Eagle (a great fit for a big head like mine), this nice straw one in the Toast sale, and this one from The Go To, as for me the Succession quote is timeless:
So, the conditioners. I’ll be the one to say it, Olaplex is a headache. They will insist their No.3 Bond Perfector is a cult product, but I’ve never known anyone to use it and not consider it an utter palaver. Keep on for fifteen mins, rinse off, and then condition again?! There is no time my love!
Besides that, the application recommendation is demented, which is something that happens all the time in beauty. ‘Apply a pea sized amount’ gets bandied around, and I’m sure works great if your face is Victoria Beckham sized. One bottle of Olaplex lasts three applications max, at which point there will be an annoying amount still in the bottle that you can’t get out. This is why I prefer tubs of deep conditioner, for that full Winnie the Pooh honey pot scoop.
If you colour your hair, use Davines Alchemic Conditioner. While technically not a deep conditioning treatment. It’s especially good for grey hair, my partner uses the purple conditioner and it really shines bright a la Alexandra Grant and she bagged herself Keanu Reeves so.
Speaking of Davines, when you go on holiday take this with you to do on a downtime day. It’s a small packet with a lid so you can use it more than once, and will undo the damage of chlorine/sea salt/sun exposure.
If you’ve got dry ends but your hair gets greasy easily, it’s good old fashioned Coconut oil. Apply liberally to said dry ends before bed, then wash your hair in the morning. I don’t have long hair anymore but when I did I would also always rub coconut oil through it before putting it in a bun.
My hair has never felt less frizzy than when I wore a Silke hair turban every night. I stopped because I met a bloke and not everyone gets turned on by Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard. I love it in this bird of paradise colouring:
The best remedy for thoroughly dry hair is, of course, a good haircut. The second best is amika’s the kure. Replace your normal conditioner with it once a week. Leave on for ten mins, and if you want it to really sink in, wrap your hair in clingfilm then do the towel thing over the top (it heats it up).
If you don’t want to go the whole hog and do a mask, you’re better off with a leave-in that you can apply to dry hair, or your wet hair straight out of the shower. I love all of bespoke hair care range Function of Beauty, but their leave in conditioner really is something else. I apply it to dry hair, the bottle has lasted me ages. If you can’t be bothered to wait for your leave-in via snail mail it’s between the OUAI or the Sol de Janeiro, depending on how much you like smelling of cheap holidays (it’s the latter if you do*).
Questions? Fears? More Shakespeare quotes? The comments are open for you my loves!
And if you wouldn’t mind giving us a cheeky like it helps our visibility ten fold!
*I do too
You should probably know that I will buy basically anything you recommend. RIP my stat mat pay.
I’m so in need of this! My hair is turning into a perimenopausal nightmare!! It’s partly an overuse of John Frieda go blonder last summer - your hair really does go (at least) two shades lighter! But with accompanied frizz and, as I realised, in a big fat block of blonde. So I am now growing it out, and am rocking the ombré look. I’m hoping it’s still a thing (I have no idea what’s hot or not anymore!). I was growing out, what was probably a similar mistake about 10 years ago, and a woman stopped me in a shop to ask who did my ombré! Cue hair swish: it’s just natural! I actually swear by the Olaplex. The shampoo lasts me ages (and I can get away with a 50p sized amount on my chin length hair. And I’ve just bought a bottle of the Colour Wow in the silver bottle, which does have hair smoothing super powers, but I am on the hunt for a weekly hair treatment, so will hook up with one of these. Thank you!!