My Sunday Photo - Buxted Village Barber

For My Sunday Photo this week I've chosen my favourite photo from the last week of my 365 project.

I took Kalyan for a haircut at Buxted Village Barber.  This time we had to wait for his turn and the twins were fascinated by the window decals so I nipped outside to grab a photo.  As always, Denise did a great job and Kalyan loved the experience, he really seems to like the clippers although they do sometimes tickle him.  Priya had a haircut recently so she just had her hair brushed as she wanted a turn in the chair and I wanted to avoid a tantrum.  She keeps asking for a "proper haircut" like Daddy and Kalyan, I think because she hates having hers brushed!

The first 12 days of my 365 project.

First Haircuts - Buxted Barber review by Bex

We finally took the twins for their first haircuts in February!  I've been reluctant until now as I love playing with K's little curls at the back of his neck but they were starting to just get frizzy and look more like a mullet!  Plus we were getting asked often whether we were going to get their hair cut.

I insisted that he keep his lovely curls on top though (although it was all pretty straight on the day due to winter hat wearing!) and just have the back and sides smartened up.  Priya just needed a trim as her fine hair is easier to handle when long and can be tied/pushed back from her face (I'm tempted to get her a fringe but it just means more upkeep and 2:2 twin:parent ratio time is rare and I don't fancy taking them on my own just yet!)

We took them to Buxted Village Barber after a couple of recommendations from friends in the village and I was very impressed!  It was quiet when we went in at around 10am on Saturday and I asked the owner if she minded me taking photos as it was their first haircut, luckily she didn't mind.  I was glad we were the only customers so I wasn't embarrassed to snap away and Priya was very good while she waited her turn.

We started with K as we thought he was most likely to kick off although he has been much better with strangers lately, plus it was his hair we most wanted trimmed.  Again, we were lucky and although he was initially a bit unsure and didn't want to sit in the chair himself, he settled on Daddy's knee (extra lucky he was happy with Daddy leaving me free to take plenty of photos) and was soon looking very content and seemed to really enjoy the feeling of the water spray and the combing!  He just gazed off into the distance with a hazy, relaxed look on his face while clutching his beloved red spikey ball.

He did get a bit unsure again when it came to trimming around his ears though and cuddled into Daddy but he was very good and let Denise carry on.  She was excellent, very patient and good with them both while getting the job done.

Then it was Priya's turn and she was as expected - super keen and nosey!  In fact it was difficult to get her to keep her head still as she wanted to see what was happening.  Denise had a great trick to get her to look down, giving her the mirror to look into.  She does love a mirror!

Look how long it had become when those curls are stretched out!

I would highly recommend Buxted Village Barber and Nik will be heading there next time he needs a cut.  It was £8 in total for the twins' cuts.  Priya just had a little off the ends so hers didn't take long.  They both behaved so well and look fab with their new hair-dos!

Embracing the Greys

by Bex

As you know, I stopped colouring my hair last April.  15 months later, after just one haircut in between, it had gotten pretty long and the greys were finally down past my ears.  It became much more subtle once it was past the stage of 'roots' which made quite an obvious stripe.  I enjoy having long hair for a short time and I love being able to wear it in a big top knot but it takes much longer to straighten and tends to look unhealthy much quicker even though I rarely spend time heat treating it - I often just tie it back when it gets this long.

Long hair while I decide which dress to keep from Seraphine, with Twitter/IG help!

Hair in a top knot - plus I just love this picture of the bump!

I always planned to cut it once the greys were down past my chin and I was toying with the idea of dip dying the ends blonde before I chopped them off!  As it happens, with everything else going on at the moment and my plans for a maternity shoot, I decided just to get a longish bob and although the greys are ALMOST to the length where I could tie them back, they're not quite down to my chin yet.

The result is an easily manageable, much tidier haircut (when my hair gets that long the ends become quite straggly as it's very fine) that is still easy to pull back out of the way for when the twins arrive!  As the ends are still the old colour, it does look as though it's been dip dyed about an inch or two if you look closely but I am liking the overall effect now being my natural colour.  It entirely depends on how it's styled and how the light catches it how noticeable the actual greys are but I like them anyway, they're more silver than grey and I never have to worry about roots again!  Not to mention the cash I'll save on the colouring.

So, here are some photos of before and after, it was hard to get the right angle/light to show the greys when taking them in the mirror but you get the idea!

I love my new do by Nicole at Kano.  They're so friendly in there, even after not having seen me for 9 months since my last cut, as soon as I walked in, she and Amy both smiled and greeted me warmly as usual.  It's always nice being recognised even if you're not a proper regular!  Amy's face was hilarious as she looked at my growing bump and asked, what's that!?  lol.  I also loved their reactions to the news of twins, I just love telling people and I love that people notice the bump now!  :)

The (dreaded?) greys

by Bex

I've been meaning to write about this for weeks, even before I saw a similar post on Anna's blog.  The last time I went to the hairdresser was the 13th April.  I would always try to plan my appointments close to an event and this one was just before going down for Nik's Dad's retirement party in Durham.  I would always get a trim and colour to hide my roots as they were becoming more and more grey.  I've coloured my hair for a long time, initially because I wanted it to be a more red colour and then when I went back to dark brown, it became more obvious when my greys were growing in and I would get it refreshed more often to hide them.

I've had grey hairs for years, even when I was 19 I remember finding one or two.  Since wedding planning and now the stress of our fertility problems, it has definitely become worse.  Obviously it could just be as I am getting older but I really think the stress has increased the greys exponentially.

Lately I've not been quite as bothered about hiding them.  I decided I would quite like to see how it would look if it was all grown out.  I think it just looks really bad at the moment as my parting looks like a stripe of grey.  In photos, depending how I have styled it, it looks like a grey streak almost like Rogue in X-men!

If I scrape my hair back (my go to lazy style) it's not as obvious but if I do my usual side parting when I straighten it, it's very obvious and I often tie up the top while it's growing out.  It also seems to be less noticeable if I wear it curly which you may have noticed I've been doing a lot more lately.

I may well end up giving up and colouring it again or may grow it all out only to find I look 10 years older and decided to go back to hiding it again but I want to see it.  I want to know what I will look like naturally.  I think I'm generally pretty relaxed about growing older.  I have quite a few wrinkles around my eyes and have no interest whatsoever in anti-wrinkle treatments so why was I so bothered about hiding my greys?

It was costing £55 each time for a cut and colour at the hairdresser and although I find getting my hair done quite relaxing, it also takes about 2 hours.  (My old hairdresser was cheaper (£38) and quicker and gave just the same results but I always had to plan so far in advance to get an appointment and travel into town whereas my new one is not far away at all, I can park right outside and have been able to get appointments with just 2 days notice.)  The other thing is, if I don't grow it out now and they all go grey, it will be even more obvious if I decide to go natural in the future and I might be stuck having to dye my hair forever.

I will go for a trim soon to tidy it up a bit, but I've decided to grow it out a bit anyway and since I rarely wear it down at the moment, it isn't a priority.  The thing is, I doubt any of you have noticed so far, the only people who have mentioned noticing how many greys I have are colleagues at work.  I was searching for Anna's post to link above and found this article about other women deciding to stop colouring their hair and they talk about it being liberating yet terrifying.  I don't have any strong feelings about it, I'm more curious to see how it looks.  The thing is, they are 48 and 64.  I am only 31.  Should I be concerned about apparently aging so early in my life?  It has certainly made me wonder about my fertility issues as I have an unusually low AMH which equates to that of a 45 year old woman.  I suspect my hair could also be that of a 45 year old woman.  Am I heading for an early menopause too?  Will I look 50 when I'm only 40?  I think it's best just to not think about it.

It will become more obvious as it grows through the lengths but who knows, I might like it, maybe I'll look wise and distinguished ;)

Does anyone else have a lot of greys before they expected to?  Do you hide them or proudly show them off?  Have any of you noticed my greys peeking through?

And just in case you're wondering, my dress is from Malaysia, part of a shopping trip with Mum to a few stalls near our hotel in Borneo.  We're both loving tie-dye at the moment!  The necklace is from an American website - Linsey ordered it for me so I can't remember the name, sorry!  Ring - Spitalfields market, belt - Dorothy Perkins, bracelet - John Lewis.

Pin it Do it - Sock bun

by Roz

I've been meaning to share this #PinitDoit for a few weeks now but kept forgetting to actually write the post, ooops!  I've loved the look of big, chunky hair buns for a long time but every time I tried to do it myself it looked awful.  I put it down to having really thick, long hair.  It turns out I was doing it wrong all along!

I came across this pin and it was literally like a light bulb moment.  Maybe you all know exactly how to do the perfect sock bun but I thought this was worth sharing if any one out there is as baffled as me.

  

(Sorry for the slightly smaller image of the Pin - Pinterest have updated how you embed a pin, which impacts both the positioning and size of the pin in blogger.  I added some HTML to the blog for first time to fix the positioning of the pin but couldn't work out how to enlarge the embedded image.)

I tried it for the first time when Bex & I went to the Mardi Gras parade and I loved it, even if Nik did think it was hilarious that I had a sock holding up my hair!

I think the trick is to ensure you get the start of the sock bun correct.  I've added a few pictures of me actually putting my hair up so you can see what I mean.

After pulling back your hair into a pony tail, put the rolled up sock over your hair leaving it at the end and tuck the ends of your hair round the sock.

If you keep tucking your hair in and under the sock as you roll the sock down your pony tail it really does work!  Even though it can all feel a bit loose as you do it, I always end up with a good shaped bun that stays in place with no pins or hair spray.

And now that I've mastered it, I cannot stop doing it!  Especially when it's been so hot recently.  I even wore my hair in a sock bun to meet my new nephew for the first time :)

So do you guys like the look of a sock bun?  It's definitely becoming my go to hair do when I can't be bothered washing my hair, it's smart enough for work, takes two minutes to do and I even managed to go for a run one night after work with my hair like this and it stayed in perfectly :)

Roz xx

ps sorry there's no hair swishing Gemma!

INAA Scottish Hair & Beauty Awards - blogger event

Last Monday night Bex and I went along to a "Bloggers do it best" event organised by INAA (I Need An Appointment) in advance of their Scottish Hair & Beauty Awards which takes place on 26th May.  The bloggers event was held in 29 Private Members Club, a venue that we both love.

Source

INAA.com, is the UK's 1st online Hair & Beauty booking portal and was launched in Jan 2010.   I have to be honest and say I had never heard of INAA before I was invited to this event, but I have since had a good look at their website and think it's a great idea.  You can type in your postcode and view time slots for all kinds of beauty treatments and I liked the way you could easily compare prices for similar treatments at different salons and if you were looking for a last minute appointment could potentially find some great deals.

The bloggers event itself was quite informal, with a brief introduction from the ladies at INAA, explaining why they set up the business and the role they believe bloggers play in today's beauty market, and a hello from Lauren Goodger (of TOWIE fame) who was there to promote her new fake tan products and Glasgow tanning salon.  We were provided with some yummy canapes and as Belvedere Vodka are one of the event sponsors, some long vodkas.  I think the last time I had a long vodka I was teenager! 

After taking some obligatory outfit shots in the big room, we moved on the The Apartment section of 29 for the remainder of the evening and it was a great opportunity to speak to both the lovely ladies who set up INAA and the brand representatives, whilst mingling and chatting to fellow bloggers :)

The following brands had stands at the event and we could chat to the girls and try out the products / receive little makeovers: Lauren's Way, GHD (they had an awesome new styler which has extra sensors keeping the temperature more even for better, faster results!), Bare Minerals, and last, but most certainly not least, Bumble & Bumble.  The very talented Bee (not to be confused with my B, that would be weird but awesome!!) was creating amazing hair-dos for those that wanted one.  After seeing some of her fabulous creations, including on WestEndGirl who requested a retro pin up style that looked amazing, I decided to ask for a beehive!  It was quite funny not being able to see what Bee was doing whilst she was styling my hair, but Bex took lots of photos!

I was so impressed with my hair that I honestly didn't want the night to end, well my hair was too fabulous to just go home!  So Lauren and I headed round to Corinthian for another drink and took some rather hilarious photos on the way there before Bex headed home.

We also received a goodie bag at the end of the evening which contained some of Lauren's fake tan products and sleep in hair rollers, a bare minerals eye shadow (I got a fab deep blue one and Bex got pink) and some bright orange OPI varnish called A Roll in the Hague.

It really was a fun night and it was great to meet so many Scottish bloggers, I hope the actual awards night goes well for the girls at INAA.

Roz xx