I have had a love-hate relationship wth my hair. As I was falling asleep last night I thought to myself that I am in a good place with my hair at the moment and I have been for a little while. I am lucky that I have found a great hairdresser (although she is in London and I am not- that will need to be addressed at some point!).
Because I have added lots of images, this substack has become too long for some emails, so do click through to the app for the whole post!
Right, where were we? Hair….
Fleabag - ‘hair is everything’ episode
I was born with very fine blonde hair and, according to my mum, most of it fell out when I was two or three due to eczema. It had to start growing again, so I didn’t have a very full head of hair as a child.
I struggled to have a pony tail and bunches or plaits were out of the question.
Throughout my childhood I mostly had short hair, cut by my mum’s friend in her kitchen. I think she was a hairdresser. I remember wanting a ‘Lady Di’ cut in the early 80’s. The reality was that my hair didn’t play nicely and I was called ‘Worzel Gummidge’ by another girl at school. I didn’t like that very much. It seemed like girls were meant to have Rapunzel like tresses and I certainly did not.
The Icon- Lady Di
As a teenager I started to grow my hair. I had a bob for a while and my stepsister gave me a perm when she was training to become a hairdresser.
The perm growing out
By the end of sixth form I had shoulder length hair and I felt much better about it.
I kept my long hair at University and it didn’t need much upkeep. Those were (mostly) good hair days! Looking back, it could have done with a good cut! Look at those ends! I was oblivious at the time though.
Then, in my final teaching practice, I caught nits (headlice). EEEWWWW! I went for a chop after that and went back to having a short bob. I kept that for a while and it was my haircut when I got married. No fancy ‘updos’ for me.
Throughout my late twenties and early thirties I dabbled with different hairdressers and different styles. Luckily I can’t find too many photos, but the memories are strong:
strawberry blonde (almost ginger) short hair!
very short spiky hair, with highlights (the one with the plastic hat and the hook!)
long flicky bob, which took ages with straighteners, even though my hair is straight!
This was the flicky bob stage- but the flicks didn’t last due to my fine hair.
Eventually I found my current hairdresser. At that time I had highlights with foils and either a bob or short hair with a longish fringe. My hair worked better because I had a hairdresser who understood my hair. Yay!
Then, of course, I lost all my hair when having cancer treatment. At the time it was quite shocking of course. Of all the side effects it was not the worst and it was liberating to not have to wash your hair! Hair is not everything, but not having any is impactful. I never really got on with wigs, they were too itchy. I did absolutely rock a headscarf though. I loved matching them to my outfit and adding a brooch here and there. I also started wearing big earrings!
*As a side note, don’t ever say to someone having cancer treatment ‘it’s only hair’ (it’s not, it’s much more than that), ‘it’ll grow back’ (nothing feels certain, it might not) or ‘you’re lucky, being bald suits you’ (it wasn’t a choice guys, and also what if it didn’t suit me?).
When my hair grew back it was different to my pre-cancer hair. It was thicker (curly to start with) and darker. Navigating haircuts as it grew was kind of tricky, partly as it was during covid, but with the help of my patient hairdresser we got there.
Now my hair-days are mostly good. I have stepped away from dye completely, although I have a few (natural) sunny highlights at the moment, along with some greys! It’s true that when your hair feels good/bad it impacts on the rest of your day. I am grateful my hair grew back and I was lucky that my hairdresser was so wonderful throughout it all. I guess that’s why I am finding it hard to break up with her!
Most recent cut
Have you had any hair disasters? Have you found the best hairdresser? Tell me your stories or leave a photo!
PS- You will not be surprised to know that I wrote this all by myself, without AI
See you next week!
I love your most recent cut! I enjoyed your post and related to it lots as I’ve not had an easy hair journey but a good hairdresser has always helped! Hope all is well! Xx