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What Makes a Great Facial

What Makes a Great Facial

April 19, 2024

Clean, bright, age-defying complexions take regular time and effort. But there's never been as much help as now to deliver noticeable and meaningful results. I’ve worked with beauty therapists for over 40 years, testing whenever I can both here and on travels. What’s so impressive today is...

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The Great Bonding Hoax

The Great Bonding Hoax

March 26, 2024

Were people misled or did they helpfully misunderstand? About ten years ago a great whirlwind of marketing was created about a new bonding product. Something that could reconnect some of the bonds broken by bleaching. This seemed to gift a 'get out of jail free' card to colourists the world over to jet-hose peroxide with gay abandon. Hundreds of other copycat products followed...

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I've Been Trolled

I've Been Trolled

March 15, 2024

A few weeks back I had another barrage of abuse from hairdressers on Tiktok. And all over a video that influencer Melissa Varnavas had posted. The issue was around cost, but personal attacks included me wearing a suit and apprentices being called slaves etc. (they assist as part of their deep learning).

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Apprenticeships

Apprenticeships

March 15, 2024

The TikTok keyboard trolls got themselves into a tizzy over my use of assistants. I was accused of using them as slaves, human hair clips, that I had them for ornaments to massage my ego, that it was so awful for viewers to see that they must have been watching a parody sketch. Haha!

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Don't Fight with Nature

Don't Fight with Nature

February 10, 2024

Many newbuilt university campuses wait a year before laying the paths. Planners have learnt to respond to the dirt and mud tracks that people naturally decide on before concreting over them. These social trails are also called desire paths.

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Jennifer Aniston's New Rachel

Jennifer Aniston's New Rachel

January 20, 2024

Does Jennifer Aniston worry about being typecast? Every hairstyle she has is called a Rachel after her Friends fame. But which Rachel is it? There were so many different looks. One person’s Rachel maybe be different to another’s...

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Which are you? Minimalist or maximalist.

Which are you? Minimalist or maximalist.

December 09, 2023

Do you lean towards the uncomplicated, or prefer to go large with all bells and whistles? Bauhaus or Baroque, Armani or Versace, Sushi or French Haute Cuisine? Maybe you swing both ways like me, but I lean more to

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Winter Sun - UAE

Winter Sun - UAE

November 24, 2023

It’s an odd place Dubai. Each of the half dozen times I’ve gone in the last 20 years it’s almost unrecognisable. Such is the rapid pace of change with a population now half the size of London and most of that since...

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What Has Meaning For You?

What Has Meaning For You?

October 29, 2023

It was a question I asked myself recently in a semi-panic. I’d just bagged four non-refundable air tickets to Arizona in the BA sale about ten months ahead. The idea was to give the boys an educational adventure in cowboy country, except I later discovered they didn’t know what cowboys were and didn’t seem too interested. 

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How do You Handle Chaos?

How do You Handle Chaos?

October 14, 2023

It was a good question, and one that many clients have asked in different ways over the years while watching the drama of their hair transformation.

Through the mirror, it may appear to lack method in the waving arms and the madness of swirling hair. But it is highly complex and technical. The difficulty in carving shapes in hair as opposed to

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Winter Sun - Cambodia

Winter Sun - Cambodia

October 13, 2023

I’m sitting here watching water buffalo in the paddy field. They’re less interested in me than I am in them which suits me just fine; happy to observe and enjoy without disturbing their day. Staying at the beautiful Phum Baitang resort in Cambodia, part of...

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The French Connection

The French Connection

September 01, 2023

Are we jealous of the French? Do they envy us? This love-hate relationship of the frogs and les rosbifs has lasted a thousand years, along with forty-one wars in the meantime and two World Wars as allies. But London is the sixth largest French city (were it in France) and the English love France second only to Spain as a European second-home or retirement destination.

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