Whether you have kids or not, the fact is that once you hit 30, you’re going to start getting invited to kids birthday parties. These are social events that do not follow the rules you usually bear in mind when heading out. Looking trendy, hipster or sexy is certainly not what you need to aim for, and your bestie mom is going to be way too stressed out dealing with damage control to pay any attention to you. So forget about sipping cosmos and gossiping: Her priority is avoiding anything that might upset her littlest loved one on their birthday. And if we are honest here, there is A LOT that can go wrong. Any amount of unpredictable happenings can turn a bouncing beauty into a hysterical, snotty, howling mess. If this happens, that bestie of yours will be looking at an afternoon of feeling like a failure as a mother. Sounds like fun, right?
Luckily for me, I love kids. I find it so refreshing and relaxing to spend time hanging out with them and their brutal honesty. At kids parties, you will usually find me sitting on the floor in the corner playing with the blocks. IMHO, this is the most enjoyable way to spend such a festivity. But like I said, there’s also a lot that can go wrong — especially when it comes to wardrobe choices. So I’ve gathered up a few tips to help you survive the juvenile event!
1. NO DANGLING EARRINGS (OUCH)
I don’t want to have to spell this one out because it’s just too painful to think about, but chances are someone will hand you a baby at some stage and dangling earrings are very attractive to little hands!
2. DON’T WEAR ANYTHING WHITE OR EXPENSIVE
There will be cake, and children will be eating cake in a highly inefficient manner. There are not enough mother hands to clean all those chocolatey faces before the little darlings decide to hug your leg!
3. NO POINTED OR PEEP-TOE SHOES
There will be running around, and lots of general tom-foolery, and someone will stomp on your toe. So just do yourself a favor and wear comfy shoes. With so many cute kids around, no one is going to notice what you have on your feet anyway.
4. LEAVE YOUR HIGH HEELS AT HOME
You really don’t want to go home with the guilt of breaking cute little baby fingers on your conscience. It is impossible to predict where crawling babies are at any particular time (they move faster than you would think) and while no one will admit it, every mother has almoststepped on a crawling child.
5. PENCIL SKIRTS ARE A NO-GO
I love pencil skirts; they feel great to wear and make you wiggle when you walk. However, they’re not so great for sitting on the floor or crawling after toy cars!
6. MIGHT AS WELL AVOID ANYTHING TIGHT FITTING AT ALL
You know you’re going to keep yourself entertained by eating every cute cake pop in sight, so enjoy it and don’t make yourself uncomfortable while doing so! Leave the shapewear at home, and forget the word carb for one day.
7. DRESS LIKE A PRINCESS
Considering we’ve ruled out fancy shoes and kids don’t know or care about shapewear, use this opportunity to wear a dress you would have doubts about on your usual night out. You can be the Marilyn or the Audrey for the next generation; they will look up to you in awe and remember you forever.
8. COVER UP THE PUPPIES
Babies have a different relationship with boobs than anyone else on the planet, so if you’re going to put the cleavage on display, expect to get some attention in a way you are not used to. If you don’t keep an eye on them, they’ll go straight for the nipple grab. My son likes to hide his little cars in my cleavage. I guess it’s a safe place for them?
9. KEEP YOUR HAIR OUT OF REACH
Unless you want your hair pulled for the entire duration of the party, go for an up-do. Keep your locks out of harm’s way and you might manage to get home without bald patches.
Personally, I love kids parties, so I guess I’m writing this for those of you who don’t. With a bit of planning, you can have an enjoyable, comfortable festivity, expand your horizons, and crawl around on the carpet pretending to be a dinosaur. Then you can go home, put your feet up and have a well-deserved glass of wine.
Today was one of those days that upon waking up and checking the state of affairs on the internet (while still in your pyjamas), you notice that no matter where you look, everyone is talking about the same topic. Normally on days like this the news is about a natural disaster, a plane crash, an awards show or a celebrity who fell over (not looking at anyone in particular Mads). This morning was different, it was not a world changing event that consumed social media and news sites, but a girl who posted a photo of a dress asking if anyone could tell her what colour it was. Sounds kinda cray cray right? This girl took a photo of her mother-in-laws dress and when she showed the photo to her boyfriend, he saw a white and gold dress, but she saw it as black and blue. Unable to reach an agreement, they asked the internet and since then the world has been split in two.
So full of confidence I clicked the link and thought, I’ll tell them what colour it is, can’t be that difficult right? And there it was, an obviously white and gold dress! No question in my mind.
What’s the big deal here? I thought. Scrolling down through the comments I saw that the reactions were split 50/50, some people said it was blue and black, while others saw it as white and gold as I did. A couple of people suggested that the people in the blue/black camp were just trolling and trying to mess with our minds. I seriously started to think that it was one of those tricks where you fool people into staring at a photo for ages when actually there is nothing to see.
So I put on my Sherlock Holmes hat and I began an investigation, while I actually should have been getting ready for work, this dress had my attention, and I wasn’t alone. It seems that the whole internet was talking about it! Then I came across an article on wired.com claiming to be able to explain The Science of Why No One Agrees on the Color of This Dress. Science! Yes, science is the answer, here we go. It seems to have something to do with the way our eyes have learned to see colours, our brain calculates what colour something really is by ignoring or discarding the effect of daylight on the item. So if you look at grass during a sunset, it may look dark purple, but your brain will see it as green. Daylight changes colours and your brain knows that so it does it’s best to calculate what colour something would be without the influence of daylight. Sometimes this goes wrong and this is what is happening with this photo of the dress, some peoples brains exclude the wrong light information and see the dress as white and gold.
Seeing this image for the first time, I saw the blue squares but the dress was still gold and white for me. I remember this happened to me once when I was scouring through some ivory flower girl dresses a while ago. I knew this could be possible because the dress had a blueish hue and if you pick colours like that in photoshop you can often be surprised by what shows up. (Notice I was still not convinced). Then something mind-blowing happened, I scrolled back up the page and was confronted by a obviously BLUE and BLACK dress. They swapped the image, I thought, frantically clicking back to the original image, to the article on facebook, the images on twitter, everywhere I looked I saw a blue and black dress. Unbelievable!
It reminded me of this image, it looks like two different shades of grey but if you cover the middle of the image with your finger you can see that both tiles are the same colour. With the dress I couldn’t force myself to see it one colour or the other, sometimes it looks white/gold and sometimes blue/black. Since I read the explanation it mostly appears blue/black, before that it was always white/gold, I think this is fascinating, did reading the explanation force my brain to realise it was calculating something wrong? Lets just say this is the most mind-blowing dress I have ever seen!
Finding your dream dress is no easy task. After all, it must be the right shape, style and color — and it has to match that [probably unrealistic] dream dress criteria in your head. We’ve all been there: On that shopping trip to find the perfect dress for that very important event. All of a sudden, you spot a dress in your dream fabric on the other side of the shop: The color is perfect, it’s covered in a wonderful print and you’re already imagining yourself swishing across the dance floor in it. Eyeing the other shoppers suspiciously to make sure no one swipes it from under your nose, you rush over there and gather it lovingly in your arms, only to realize that it’s a weird shape, has a strange cutout, is too short, too small, too much cleavage or is some disaster silhouette that renders it unwearable. Heartbroken, you go home with a dress that is the “perfect shape,” but in a fabric that is just not as pretty as the one in your imagination. I blame Pinterest for making me fall in love with dresses I will never wear, I mostly love to buy unique homecoming dresses for 2019, those are my favorite ones for special occacions.
But what if I told you that you can have your cake and eat it too? That you can choose your dream dress style, and then decide which fabric you would like it in? Sounds fantastic, right?! It gets better: The dresses I speak of are made in high-quality cotton and feel like a fantasy to wear. I should know, considering I have two of them and am saving up for 10 more! This dream come true is facilitated by UK-based retailer Victory Parade. So without further ado, I have selected my favorite dress and fabric combinations to inspire you. Because it’s never too late to start building the perfect vintage-inspired wardrobe. Or, you know, to own the dress you’ve been waiting for your whole life:
1. RETRO FROCK IN COMIC STRIP PRINT
This dress was my first Victory Parade purchase! It’s a retro-inspired frock with a deep pleated skirt and fitted bodice. It also comes with a self-covered belt and buckle for an authentic finishing touch. I am sure the word kitsch has been used to describe my style several times, but this cartoon strip print is fabulously kitsch!
2. DAY DRESS IN COW PRINT
I cannot begin to describe how excited I was when I stumbled upon this dress! It’s covered in realistic cows, which might seem a bit childish, but the beauty of it is that you only realize as much when you get up close: From a distance, it just looks like a black and white dress. And I just love clothes with a secret!
3. POLLY PENCIL DRESS WITH ORIENTAL DRAGONS
This dress is next on my wish list: A pencil dress with a contrast turnback collar and pockets with tailored cap sleeves. Here in a beautiful print featuring oriental dragon motifs with lots of gilt inlays. This one has limited availability, so don’t y’all go buying it before I get my hands on one! Or maybe I’d like a turquoise peacock one better? It’s so hard to choose!
4. HAWAIIAN DRESS WITH FLORAL PRINT
For ladies who like to show a bit of leg, this design is based on a Hawaiian wedding dress, with a wrap skirt and waterfall frill at the front. I’ve never owned a white dress before (I’m far too messy to keep it clean for more than five minutes), but if you’re the same, don’t even worry: You can just choose another Hawaiian dress fabric!
5. NANCY DRESS WITH CROSSING STRIPES
There are two things that I love in dress design: 3/4 length sleeves and a square neckline, and the Nancy dress has them both! A perfect dress for the office, this piece also features a delicate asymmetrical pleat detail across the bust.
6. REVERE PLEAT DRESS IN JAPANESE CRANE PRINT
The contrast collar is another big favorite of mine: It’s so dramatic and wonderfully frames your face. This dress is a perfect example of the huge comeback that vintage fashion is making at the moment.
7. FEVER PLEAT IN TEAL
This is the perfect holiday dress with contrast straps trim and a belt. I can feel the summer breeze just by looking at it!
8. SKIRTS!
If you’re not particularly a dress lover, then you can go for the Pencil or Pleat version of the dress skirts.
Now you have the dress, so all you have to do is master the vintage hairstyle! What started as a tiny clothing stall at a festival in 1996 has grown to the most fabulous pick-and-mix store that I have have ever seen, and I am delighted to be able to wear these wonderful dresses that no one else has! First published on Bustle Feb 2015 Images: Author; Victory Parade
In general I strive to treat people like people and to not treat anyone differently because of their appearance, gender, race, background, etc, etc. This sounds logical and straight-forward but I know that not everyone feels the same as me, even good, loving people sometimes believe wrong things just because they grew up being told that was the truth. I was so proud when hip and trendy grandmother announced that gay people were the same as everyone else and that she enjoyed getting to know the gay couple in her building. The proudness was swiftly followed by sinking feeling as the words “As long as none of you become gay” escaped from the newly modernised grandmother! I am sure that the loud and instant protest from the whole family around the table made her re-think her stance on the issue. I appreciate that it is difficult to shake of ideas you have grown up and she’s getting there! We all need to do this, challenge ideas that we grew up with, gather information and choose our own path.
Historically, people were put in all kind of boxes and had to suffer the rules imposed on their given roles, black people were not allowed to ride on busses, women had to quit working when they got married, homosexuality was considered a mental illness, the list goes on and on. Now we know that these ideas are wrong and we don’t tolerate them but back then they were generally accepted and this is why I believe we need to be aware of the stereotypes we are led to believe.
I know that it’s not always easy to re-think the values that society teaches us, but I think it is important to challenge everything and figure out for ourselves what we feel is the right path.
It is much better now, right? We all realise that people are people, right? That everyone is free to work where ever, love who ever and ride whatever bus they want, right? Somebody please tell me we have learned from our mistakes!? If I think about Ferguson and “I Can’t Breathe”, it makes me feel heartbroken, naive and stupid but at the same time I am proud of the people who are standing up in peaceful protest to try and make the world a better place. It just makes me feel sad that this is still needed but it does motivate me to do as much as I can in my surrounding to make the world around me as tolerant and understanding as possible. It’s a roller-coaster of emotions here!
A topic that has crawled under my skin over the last few years is the genderising of products to identify what females/males “should” buy. Are you female? Then you may only use the pink one!
How about this mind-blowing advertisement from 2011? If you are interested, I have always used mens razors simply because they are cheaper and they work just as good as ladies razors! May I remind you, we are talking about removing hair from skin. Which makes me think of another level of gender role oppression: “Why do I hate the hair on my body?” but that is a discussion for another day. If you want to categorise your razors to have more selling angles and variations, may I suggest something along the lines of the following:
Sensitive skin
Facial
Large areas (legs/back?)
Design (narrow for shaving cute or groovy shapes)
Why does the pink plague personally bother me so much? First of all, I don’t like being told what to do! Secondly, this wave of pink products, especially for young girls, is accompanied by an ‘ideal’ an ‘image’ of dainty and delicate, soft and sweet, that does not match my personality. I have always known that I am not elegant or ‘lady-like’, I often have the feeling that I am not behaving in the way I ‘should’. That how I see myself, the person I know to be me, is not acceptable, I am not a proper lady! I love wearing dresses and red lipstick but high-heels are a wobbly step too far for me. I love getting dolled up and feeling pretty but I draw the line at beauty norms that cause physical pain. I want next generation to grow up believing in themselves and not torturing themselves trying to fit into boxes. I am not saying that girls may not wear or love pink, I am saying they should wear whatever they would like. Then I hear the voices in my head in chorus “But hilary, girls really like pink things!”. I recently went shopping for a birthday present for my 8 year old niece who loves reading, and if I avoided the books with “FOR BOYS” printed on them I was left with 3 options:
Princesses
Ponies
Beauty and fashion
Then I begin to wonder, do they really like these pink topics better than everything else or is it because it’s the only thing they see? I wanted to find an interesting book for an 8 year old child that was not gender tainted and I did not succeed. I was in a hurry so in the end I bought a book from her favorite tv show and when I got home and read the description on the back of the book I felt sorry I hadn’t searched further: “Full of tips about fashion, beauty, friendship and love”… are those the four topics you want the women of tomorrow to prioritise? Look pretty, have lots of friends and find a man. The saddest thing is that we have taken a giant step backwards, marketing in the 80s was not so gender orientated. My favorite toys growing up were a weather station and a microscope. I was never much into Lego, but if I had been, it would have been red, yellow, blue and green and not pink as it is now!
If you look at the advertisements below, why do we think one is old fashioned and wrong and think the other is perfectly acceptable?
What is to be gained by genderising products? Does it really lead to higher sales? Does excluding half of your audience really work out better in the long run? Ok maybe I am being a bit naive here, I guess companies wouldn’t do it unless it was profitable.They will only change if we put our money where our mouth is. We are the customers and we need to send a message that we will not buy their “Beautiful colouring book for Girls” and “Brilliant colouring book for Boys”. Your kids will thank you for it in the long run. Choosing where you spend your money is a good step in the right direction, if you are feeling particularly impassioned you can write letter like this fantastic 7 year old girl did.
Genderising products is not only ridiculous (as Ellen points out below) but is also damaging to the futures of these young children who are pushed into roles that they don’t necessarily agree with. In an experiment, girls who played with Mrs. Potato Head thought they could achieve more careers than girls who played with Barbie. Yes, even Doctor Barbie.
I realise this next video is made by a company who is trying to make girls buy their products by picking up a subject close to our hearts and making us think “They understand me, they want to be my friend and stick up for me”. I know that all they really want is money in their pockets, but they highlight an important point: society sees femininity as a lesser, sillier, weaker, and we learn to believe that as we grow up. One of the first quotes I ever saw on pinterest was this one and it hasn’t left my mind ever since:
“Girls don’t simply decide to hate their bodies, we teach them to”
I know I have been mostly focusing on the female side of the discussion but gender roles imposed on boys and men are equally as damaging and also need your attention. However it is more accepted for a woman to show masculine characteristics than the other way around. Yes women have the same legal rights as men (at least in my country) but men and women are certainly not treated, or paid, equally in very many situations.
Girls can wear jeans
And cut their hair short
Wear shirts and boots
‘Cause it’s OK to be a boy
But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading
‘Cause you think that being a girl is degrading
Madonna
It is damaging to everyone to be put in boxes in the first place, and it is simply not fair or correct to say that one box is deserving of more respect than another. This is maybe the reason why Feminism is needed, and while I agree with certain definitions of Feminism I would prefer to stand behind a cause with a more gender neutral name!
Gender roles impose control and deceive progressive time
Welcome to the land of the broken mind
Hush boy, oh hush boy, don’t say a word
Throw on a jersey and no one gets hurt
Hush girl, oh hush girl, just bat your eyes
Play our little game, play our little game
“Compared to girls, research shows that boys in the U.S. are more likely to be diagnosed with a behavior disorder, prescribed stimulant medications, fail out of school, binge drink, commit a violent crime, and/or take their own lives. The Mask You Live In asks: As a society, how are we failing our boys?”
“A culture that doesn’t value what we have feminised.” Niobe Way
I am against telling a child that they should be a certain way because they are female, male, black, white or whatever physical attributes they happened to be born with.
We should use this chance to rid the next generation of the constraints of our past. Don’t teach intolerance or predejuce to our children. Be aware of the old fsshioned ideas you grew up with, fight them, Don’t Believe Everything You Think. Chose to make a positive change in the world, and start with yourself.
My mister asked me what would I think if I had a daughter and she wanted to be in a beauty pageant, my gut feeling was “no daughter of mine would want to do that because I would educate her to the fact that women are not just items of decoration”. But I guess if I follow my own argument, then I would have to support her in anything she wants to achieve. I too am still learning!
After all, growing up I loved my Barbie with her groovy 80’s leg-warmers and it didn’t damage me! My crippling body-image issues probably came from somewhere else right? I’m going to err on the side of caution here, my 2 year old son got a Lammily doll for Christmas!
So next time you’re heading out to buy gifts kids, remember this guide to what you can or cannot buy for girls/boys:
In the tourist travel book my boyfriend had when he first came to Ireland it warned “don’t start conversations with Irish people about abortion or religion”. That was ten years ago and today I have to wonder if anything has changed. Quick update for those of you who are not aware of the situation with abortion in Ireland, until 2013 it was illegal in all cases, since then it is allowed in cases where there is a risk of loss of life. This change came about partly in response to the avoidable death of Savita Halappanavar caused by the restrictive abortion laws. However, the criteria to qualify for abortion under the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 is very limited, you can read all about it here.
Recently, Independent Socialist Clare Daly proposed an amendment on this act, to allow for abortion in the case of fatal foetal abnormalities. Just to be clear, we are talking about pregnancies in which there is no chance that the baby will survive the birth. Sounds logical right? This bill was defeated yesterday in the Dail by 104 votes to 20. OH? Wait, what?
So today I have been watching the reactions on social media, ranging from shock, anger and frustration to suggestions that the bill was unconstitutional, and a kind of smug “it’s for the best” reaction. I know I’m just asking for trouble by getting involved in this debate again but it still shocks me how people can be so indoctrinated that they openly and unashamedly say these things. Here are some of the reactions to a post where someone shared a news article covering the defeat of the bill with only the comment “This country…”
Let nature take it’s course? Do you hear yourself? If you really believe that then we should close all hospitals tomorrow.
Look, I’m going to ask you to do one thing, get a cup of tea, take a few deep breaths, think about all aspects of the situation and then decide for yourself what you really think is the right thing to do. This is the same thing I asked you to do when I wrote about the Mother and Baby Homes in our deep dark history, it fills me with a deep sadness that in 2015 we have not yet learned to think for ourselves.
Here it goes, I want to sketch the situation because some people don’t seem to understand, have never thought about it or are brainwashed past the point of seeing reality: (Trigger warning for people who have been through similar situations)
So imagine, you, your sister, your best friend finds out they are pregnant, delighted, they tell their friends and family and start to get ready for this life changing event. Some weeks later at a scan they are told that their baby has a fatal foetal abnormality. For example, the baby has no brain, no organs, a heart growing outside their body, one or other horrific abnormality which means that their beautiful baby will NOT survive the birth, has no possibility of life and will never know anything other than pain. She and her partner rush frantically from specialist to specialist, hoping to hear something else but the result is the same in several hospitals.
SO… The people who are against this bill think, and PLEASE correct me if I have misunderstood, that the best solution in this situation is to force this heartbroken mother to carry her dying baby around in her body for the next 6, 7, 8 months, to subject her to the torture of feeling her baby move and knowing that they will never take a breath, to let her wonder every day how much pain her beautiful unborn child is suffering, to leave her no other choice than to go to another country to undergo a procedure with no aftercare, no counselling, and to come home empty handed with no body to bury.
Is this what you think those women, your sister, your best friend, deserves? On top of the devastation of losing their baby, you wish more hurt and trauma on them? I cannot even begin to imagine how psychologically damaging that must be for those women, not to mention the possible physical complications involved. How can you put your hand on your heart and say out loud that you think that is what should happen?
As apposed to the proposed alternative, that following the confirmation of the results, the couple would have a few days to come to terms and say goodbye to their baby and then go to their local hospital to undergo the procedure in a safe environment surrounded by family, with the support and medical aftercare needed following extreme medical procedures. That they could take their baby home and bury them (if that is what they want) and begin to mourn their loss without the shame and fear of having done something illegal.
A pro-choice slogan that has been going around for years comes to mind: “If you don’t agree with abortion, then don’t have one.”
I am not trying to tell you what to think, I am just asking you to think.
It is time to shake off the ideas we grew up with and make up our own minds and forge our own path. Separation of church and state is an important! But I guess I should be careful what I say, blasphemy is prohibited by law in Ireland. Originally the law was applicable only to Christianity, but was replaced in 2009 by a new offence of “publication or utterance of blasphemous matter” against any religion (you can’t say we’re not politically correct!).
Images: Flickr/infomatique; Flickr/kouk
We live in a world where we seem to be moving further and further away from nature whilst forming habits that go against our natural beings, like sitting still for eight hours a day and using all kinds of chemicals in our food, in our beauty products and on our clothes, getting surgeries like nose thread lift. I decided to visit a natural hairdresser in the hopes of seeing if she could point me toward the right path to taking better care of my hair in a natural way. For almost 20 years, Lieve Noels has run her salon Lila from a charming location in Antwerp, Belgium. She works alone and opens only on appointment, so you always have the place to yourself. From the vintage display cabinet on the antique retro floor tiles, you can buy handmade combs from India and all of the natural products she uses in her salon.
To be honest, I pretty much just expected to go home with a bottle of earth-friendly shampoo and call it a day — but what Noels had to say surprised me. She taught me about what our hair actually needs, whilst explaining that it reacts differently to each season and therefore needs to be treated differently based on the time of year. I guess this is sound logic, when you think about it. We do, after all, wear different clothes depending on the seasons, or purchase different moisturizers, so why not do the same for our locks?
The treatments are based on the Five Elements cycle of Chinese medicine, with each season represented by an element. The Chinese Five Elements Theory refers to wood, fire, earth, metal, and water, and practices such as Acupuncture and Feng Shui are rooted in this element cycle, along with tea ceremonies, yoga and martial arts. I know what you’re thinking: There are only four seasons, right? But late summer is included as a fifth, and I guess we can all recognize that period in which summer has ended but the beauty of autumn is not yet in full force.
Theories like this go back hundreds of years and are very profound and complex. So I do not claim to be an expert in any way. But my chat with Noels piqued my interest, so I’ve done a bit of research and have hopefully managed to simplify these hair care tips. Personally, I would like to get a bit closer to nature in my everyday life, without actually going to live in the forest.
SPRING: WOOD AND GROWTH (FEBRUARY 1 – APRIL 26)
Spring is the season of detox and purification, during which you should wash your hair every three days. You may notice that your hair is very greasy, and experiencing some hair loss is usual. Of course, this is nothing to worry about: We lose an average of 100 hairs a day. During this period your body goes though a cleansing process and you can help it along by doing a juice cleanse. As for your hair, the best way to cleanse it during this period is to put clay in it! Applying a green clay hair mask for 10 minutes removes toxins and leaves your hair shiny and clean. You should go for an energizing shampoo to keep your scalp stimulated.
SUMMER: FIRE AND ENERGY (APRIL 27 – JULY 20)
During the summer, you will need to wash your hair every day due to the transpiration that sometimes occurs excessively on your head. It is the season of sun and warmth, and the perfect time to eat mineral rich foods such as fruits and vegetables. It is, of course, compulsory to protect your skin from the sun (we all know that), but our hair can also benefit from some coverage, such as jojoba oil or aloe vera. During this period, you should use a shampoo designed for dry hair.
LATE SUMMER: EARTH AND SHEDDING OF IMPURITIES (JULY 21 – AUGUST 31)
This is the second cleansing phase: You can experience dandruff due to the cell renewal and some skin spots or breakouts. To keep you feeling great on the inside, go back to the trusted juice cleanse. The best thing you can do for your hair is dry brushing: Brushing helps your hair to eliminate debris encrusted on the scalp, but it also stimulates your hair follicles and promotes new hair growth by increasing the blood flow to your scalp. To combat the dandruff issue, you can try a Propolis shampoo that is made from a tree extract that bees use to strengthen their hives.
AUTUMN: METAL AND MINERALS (SEPTEMBER 1 – NOVEMBER 29)
This is an important season for haircare. In autumn, our lymphatic system slows down, which leads to a loss of minerals and means that we are less efficient at absorbing water. For our hair, that means dryness, itch and hair loss — and the best remedies are, again, the green clay mask, using a mineral spray with Organic Silicon, Magnesium and Vitamin D, and rehydrating with a Phyto Emulsion, which contains extracts from Baobab seeds (that’s the tree from The Little Prince).
WINTER: WATER AND LIQUIDS (NOVEMBER 30 – JANUARY 31)
You’re going to love this one: The best thing you can do for your hair in winter is to get your head massaged, which stimulates the blood flow to the scalp. In terms of food, eat warm food as much as you can (even for breakfast and lunch). Your body uses so much energy in order to keep warm that eating cold things just works against what your body is trying to achieve. Winter can also be a time of hormonal hair loss, but again, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. It happens every year and truly isn’t noticeable.
CONCLUSIONS
I love the idea of getting more in touch with nature as well as learning about, and paying attention to, the needs of my hair and body. I am particularly keen on using natural remedies to solve hair issues such as dryness, greasiness or dandruff, avoiding adding more unnecessary chemicals and medication to the mix.
Seriously hilary 