Category Archives: hair

another life changer

15 Monday May 2023

Posted by in hair, life stuff

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hair doodles

The other day on a tapas tour one of my guests had her hair pulled back and secured with one of these doohickeys. It’s actually meant for ponytails but, like me, Martha has very fine hair so she had twirled hers into a little knot and then kept it in place with this. She even did a demonstration at one of our bars, showing me how easy they are to use. SOLD. As soon as I got home I found them on Amazon and placed an order, which arrived the next day.

Can I tell you? It works! For the past practically forever I’ve been using a scrunchy made from braided shoelaces (actually cuter than it sounds), because normal hair clips and slides just slip off. But these guys. Easy peasy. A bit off-putting how it looks like ALIEN when you open it up, but it slides so gently over my little bun and after that I don’t even notice it’s there. Keeps my hair in place and, well, it’s also cute.

Can’t wait till I am finally ALL WHITE as there is also a pale gray alien in the packet and that’s going to totally tone in.

should I…?

13 Tuesday Dec 2022

Posted by in casa azahar, hair

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silver

Turns out my roots are coming in pretty much white these days (before it was all more streaky brown and grey) so I am thinking of GOING FOR IT and just going silver. I understand it a process and will have to check it out with my guy. But with the alopecia ravaging my head perhaps I’ll also look less BALD if my hair is lighter? Ideally I will end up with my new natural hair colour and then won’t at least have to bother with that any more. What do you think?

cut off

06 Friday May 2022

Posted by in covid, hair, sevilla

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cut

So like fuck goddamit! Remember when my lovely hairdresser of more than 20 years Joaquín Curiel died of Covid last year, and then by chance I found a small place near my house that would do a quick wet-down and cut (no blow-drying)? Well, it turns out that as of now the staff there are no longer wearing masks, so that’s a big no way for me. Dammit. Because I don’t want someone who spends their day in close contact with the public breathing all over me at close range, even just for a few minutes. Really all I need is the quickest of cuts, a slightly angled bob, no fuss no muss. And so I turned to the good ol’ Corte Inglés. The down side is that I can’t just pop in and say – can you cut my hair now?? – I actually have to MAKE AN APPOINTMENT. On the other hand, I went in for my cut today at 5 pm and was home again at 5.20. And at least for now all the staff are wearing masks. That’ll do. For now.

hair we go…

24 Friday Sep 2021

Posted by in hair, health & happiness

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hair loss

I sure hope this works because IT WAS FUCKING EXPENSIVE. Finally got to see the dermatologist this week (three month wait for the appointment) and he prescribed a six month treatment using a potion of minoxidil (3%) + finasteride (1%) mixed into this base lotion, Finastopic. And so what the heck. Actually, I went straight to the pharmacy after my appointment and was told it would take a day or two to fill the prescription as it has to be specially mixed, and they asked me to put down a deposit for it. If I hadn’t done that I may have thought twice about using it after going home and googling minoxidil and finasteride (yikes). On the other hand, I’ll find out soon enough if I have any icky side effects. And if it helps then it will have been worth every penny and all the faff.  First application was last night… wish me luck!

UPDATE below…
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haircut time again

02 Friday Jul 2021

Posted by in hair, sevilla

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haircut

Since it looks like I’ll be travelling soon (more on that later!) I thought I should get a quick trim today, which I will follow up next week with a quick at-home dye job. Since I found out a few months ago that my hairdresser of more than twenty years, Joaquín Curiel, had died of Covid (I still can hardly believe it) I have gone to a little place in my street that will wash and cut my hair – no blow dry! – for 20€. Well okay, this was my second visit. I mean, look at this haircut. It’s a simple just below chin-length bob and I’ve had this same haircut for almost 40 years. Takes approximately seven minutes to cut, double that to dry and “style” it, which was always a waste of time for me since I go home and wash my hair again anyhow (especially since Covid). Anyhow, this was the second time.

And I think this is a great option for me as it is maybe a thirty second walk to my house (so wet hair? who cares?) and it’s cheap, BUT… I hate the smell of the shampoo they use. In fact, I asked them this time to just wash my hair once (they usually do it twice, with massaging, etc) but even still, after coming home to shower, and after washing and conditioning my hair again with MY products, my hair still smells like them! I find it really disconcerting. It’s like when I ask them not to use fabric conditioner on my duvet at the cleaners (duvet is too big for my washing machine) and then they do it anyhow and I have to hang the fucker up on the roof in the sun for five days before I can bring it back into my house.

I have this nose, you see. It smells everything. It smells things most people wouldn’t even notice. And especially when it’s something I find unpleasant (ie incense) it can leave me feeling quite nauseous. Okay, this cheap shampoo isn’t making me feel sick, but it’s just so PERVASIVE that I can’t ignore it. Am thinking next time I’ll bring my own shampoo? Or just ask them to spritz down my hair with water and then cut it?