Product review - Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie

I love products. In fact, I have so many that I'm having a man come around and build me more storage for them.

But I only use a few. Up until recently I used L'Oreal Curl Power mousse but they stopped making it. Now you can buy it on the black market for about £30 a pop. I have indulged but it isn't a long term solution.

Anyway, I've found a replacement. And it's this -

My new favourite hair product

It's totally different to a mousse. It's like putting conditioner on dry/damp hair. It feels wrong. And it smells a bit weird. Some people say they like the smell but I think it's a bit pukey. Don't let that put you off though! It doesn't smell like that when it's on your hair, just when it's a big lump in the palm of your hand.

I rub it between my palms and then apply it thinly all over the hair, especially the ends. Then I start twirling the hair to make riglets. I then leave it to dry.

Once it's pretty dry I either run my fingers through the hair to break up the curls a bit or blast it with the hairdryer. The curls stay lovely and defined but the main thing is that the hair doesn't frizz up. With mousse, the more you touch the hair during the day the more it gets frizzy and dry. It goes rather stiff in fact and loses it's bounce.

But with this smoothie it stays bouncy and soft all day. I think the general condition of my hair is better as a result of using this product which I can't say about most styling products.

I should point out that it was recommended by Lauren at How Bourgeois. I do pretty much everything she says so it doesn't surprise me that this is a brilliant product if you are curly, and probably if you are also curly and grey. Grey hair needs moisture and this thing seems to moisturize it all day. Must be good. It's also made with natural ingredients so if you are not dying your hair because you are worried about chemicals, it gets points here too.

If you've used this product and want to add your opinions, please go ahead. And if you have alternatives, let me know. I can add them to the pile of things to go in the new storage unit!

My Instagram Introduction

Here's something I wasn't expecting.

It turns out that there's a whole subculture I haven't been part of - Instagram - and a whole sub-subculture I never knew existed: women in their 40s who love clothes and hair and other pretty things. And now I'm part of it too.

I've always loved fashion, believe it or not. I've been an Elle Magazine subscriber for years and love to flick through the pages learning about trends and designers. But, although I'm not un-stylish, I've never invested much time in my "look"

So here's the weird thing. As my hair changes I need to pay attention to it. I can't just wear it the same way every day because it keeps changing and what looked fine yesterday, doesn't look good today. This applies to my clothes too. My colouring is changing so I've been adapting my clothes and makeup.

When you have black hair and wear an all black outfit you have one look. When you wear an all black outfit with greying hair, it looks very different. You have to ask yourself whether that's the look you were going for!

Which brings me to Instagram. I'm finding some fantastic role models - real women in their 40s who try different looks and share them with their followers. I've started doing the same, not because I'm looking for "likes" but because it is forcing me out of my comfort zone. When you know you are going to post a photo of yourself in today's outfit, you take a bit more care putting it together.

The big trends with women my age are:
Scarves - they add colour around the face and often provide a contrasting pattern which is very current.
Jackets - they provide a bit of structure and when you add a t-shirt and jeans give you a great silhouette
Great shoes - I can't walk in high heels but if you can they can really be a highlight if the rest of the ensemble is a bit plain. For me, it's often boots and, if you check out my Instagram profile, you'll see that I just invested in some new ones for autumn
Pattern - stripes are very popular. But so is animal print, zigzags and checks. In fact, anything goes really and combining two patterns in one outfit goes down very well with followers!

If you search #styleover40, #40plusstyle, #growingoldgracefully, #fashionover40 or just #whatimwearingtoday (if you fancy pot luck!) you'll find some great people. I'm particularly inspired by @catoinamsterdam, @fashiononthe4thfloor, @mymidlifefashion, @josidley and @themrsrigby. But I'm already following 213 people and I rarely see anything I don't love! These are people having fun and feeling great. And I am now one of them!

If you want to find me look up @blairelyspalmer or go here https://instagram.com/blairelyspalmer/ 

See you there!

I am officially obsessed!

I looked in a mirror about 15 times yesterday evening. Any excuse to go in to the hall or downstairs WC was taken advantage off for a quick look-see at my hair.

Apparently no one else really notices the sparkly silver roots that are all over the top of my head and around the sides. However, their appearance has caused me to purchase 5 headbands, 6 new hair clips, 2 new hair styling products and to experiment with a variety of new hair dos (and don'ts).

Little sparkly roots...see?

I know that the novelty will wear off - probably the longer my roots get the shorter my patience with this topic will get - but for now it is my obsession. I scour Pinterest every evening looking for more silver vixens, I research what colours will look good with different types of grey hair, I look at women (and men) in the street who are grey or going grey and wonder how they decided and when they decided or whether they didn't decide and are just having a few weeks of feeling slummy.

I watched a video yesterday about a women who has written a book about going grey and reflected that she didn't really look grey, and how I hope after all this preparation and blogging and purchasing of products I am VERY grey underneath. Otherwise it's all a bit of a let down.

And now I am blogging about the fact that very little is happening as a way of making it feel like something is happening.

I'm a go-getter (I think that's what they call people like me. I'm also can-do. And a control freak. I'm basically your biggest nightmare). So when I decide to do something I do it. But you can't make your hair grow any faster than it's going to grow. I'm sure there is food you can eat and supplements you can take but fundamentally hair does its own thing and it does it very slowly.

My boyfriend observed that my excitement about my sprigs of grey was akin to the excitement you get when you notice that your seeds have sprouted in the garden. You put them in the ground, you watered them but a part of you never really believed that anything was going to happen. Then, one day, you went outside and their little heads were peeping above the earth, still wearing their little seed-head hats and you thought how amazing it was and how fantastic you were for making that happen (even though you did very little except add water).

The difference is that every time you look at your seedlings they are bigger. They have 2 leaves, then 4. Then you don't check them for a couple of days and they grow huge while your back is turned. Often, within weeks, you have something with a flower or a leaf you can eat.

But my hair will take months if not years to bear fruit (if you can excuse the analogy). And I can't imagine that a couple of days will go by without me looking at it only to be hit with the surprise about how much it has grown. Not if I keep checking the mirror every half an hour anyway.

The life lesson here is probably something to do with patience, something to do with letting go of needing to control and direct everything, letting go of the belief that my sheer force of will can make something happen faster than nature desires. And maybe it's too soon to take lessons from it. In plant terms I've still got my little seed-head hat on. And, until there's really something to see here I should probably find myself a better hobby than checking the mirror.