Thursday 28 April 2016

Rest your roots - 5 products for £5!

Your hair is weak, brittle and in need of some long-awaited TLC but payday is no closer than you are to being ‘Becky with the good hair’.

So how can you transform your dull, lacklustre locks to achieve strengthened, sumptuous and sleek tresses? (Especially when the likes of argan oil is so frickin’ expensive – 125ml of Moroccanoil Treatment is £31.50!)
Well my soon-to-be silky-haired friends, thanks to my nosiness which is nigh on impossible to curtail, I went into a Poundworld for some standard homeware bits and bobs, and emerged with an abundance of haircare products.


Say what you will, turn your nose up if you feel so compelled, but when I saw the sheer amount of argan oil products they supplied – all at the advertised price of a measly £1 – I knew I was onto something. Of the argan oil products, I only got the oil itself and heat protector spray suffused with oil, but there were about 8 other products all made with the pioneering heavenly oil-infused haircare tool  – if I used more than 2 oil-based products at once in my grease-prone hair, I’d look like a dripping buffoon, slimy and sopping.

My hair tends to have exceptionally dry ends, and it becomes greasy quite quickly, so for that reason I only use argan oil on the tips. On wet hair combed with a wide-toothed comb (helped by the divine-smelling Schwartzkopf Detangling Spray), I add a couple of drops of argan oil to my hands and rub my palms together to get an even coating. Then I bring all of my hair over both shoulders and run my fingers through it like a makeshift comb, focusing on the ends and applying the oil no higher than ear-height. If I have any excess oil left on my fingers, I massage it into my elbows, as it helps moisturise them and keep them soft and supple.

My top 5 Poundworld products that produced amazing results, for minimal money:

  1. Argan Oil Hair Treatment
  2. Schwartzkopf Detangling Spray (Strawberry scent)
  3. Macadamia Oil Extract Hair Mask
  4. Alberto Balsam Superfruits Shampoo & Conditioner (Mango and Passion Fruit)
  5. Argan Oil Heat Defense Leave In Spray



To get more tips on growing your hair, click here

Tuesday 12 April 2016

Chelsea Bridge Massage*

Thank you Chelsea Bridge Clinic for inviting me down for a full body massage; it was sheer bliss. I met with my therapist Bianca (a stunning green-eye beauty) who got me to fill in the standard forms about the problem areas on my body (eg. back pain, joint pain) and then I was lead through the quaint clinic to a treatment room. Although offered, I declined the temporary underwear which were horrific... some sort of  confused grandmother mullet pants - Bridget Jones in the front, and tooth floss in the back. Having said this, I am yet to find a spa that offers sexy temporary underwear - a girl can dream.
The massage began and as soon as her lotion-lathered fingers touched my skin, I turned to putty in her hands... I was so relaxed, all I could do was grunt my muffled replies to "is this pressure okay for you?" and "how is the room temperature for you?"
Although I am normally a back and scalp kind of girl, it was when she began working out the knots in my calves and giving my tootsies individual massages of their own, that I thought I would melt into the bed with pleasure. She went to town on my chest and neck, gently alleviating the stresses I'd evidently been holding there by the various clicks and crunches, and then she began a snake charmer-esque wiggle movement with my arms and fingers that, although at first I found peculiar, ended with my shoulders feeling looser and freer than they have in years.
Finally was her personalised advice for my lower back problems that often stiffen me up and result in looking like the Hunchback of Notre Dame - she showed me a variety of exercises that enabled my back to loosen and release the taut muscular issues that were posture-related. She helped me with these to get maximum effect whereby I laid flat whilst she twisted me, stretching my lower back and initiating a resounding clunk, which I'm sure echoed down the hallways, reverberating for minutes afterwards!
It was a great massage with new techniques I haven't experienced before, made all the more memorable by the assistance and advice given to help me in everyday life to ease my aching lower back. 
Kudos for maximising this clinic's potential through the alliance with Très Spa - I will definitely be returning.