Nioxin Thinning Hair Treatment

Hello my lovelies!

In my last post I talked about taking care of my appearance post lockdown and one landmark event was having my hair cut after four months in Covid-induced Isolation.

Fortunately something I did address in lockdown was my thinning hair.

My cousin recommended a treatment for thinning hair.
So I bought myself a starter kit and got with the programme last November..

Of course I took before shots.

The fringe is thin as it's the front and top that’s noticeably thinning. 

I tried a comb over side fringe but it was clear that it wasn’t a winning solution as it’s robbing Peter to pay Paul  eh. 

Looking at these pics I realise now that I should have taken a top of head shot.  Oops


The treatment comprises of a shampoo, conditioner and a scalp and root treatment that’s massaged on after the hair has been towel dried.

On

When I had a Christmas meal with my cousin a month after starting the treatment she noticed tufts of new hair has already come through and yes, I could see that too! 

Look closely.  Fine strands had appeared in the thinning area. 

Then they grew longer. 

And integrated into the hair eventually.  

I can feel the shorter hairs at the top of my head now but it’s nigh on impossible to demonstrate the growth in pictures, so you will have to trust me on this one. 

 Anyway my cousin said that had happened to her too (and her partner started calling her Tufty!)  

So it seemed to be working.   Even now I can feel the shorter hair strands, much longer now of course 

What I’d also noticed as clearer evidence was the reduced amount of hair on my brush.   I comb loose hair off my paddle brush weekly.  I used to comb off a chunk of hair the size and density of a rather corpulent hamster.   Now it’s a wispy clump.  This pic was taken soon after using the treatment.  

I now comb off an even lesser amount of hair, so that is my ongoing evidence that this product is working for me.

And this is where we are now.  The tufty strands have now integrated and are currently about 4-5 inches long. 

It's difficult to gauge whether my hair is thickening with the new hair, but my yardstick is my hairbrush and reduced hair loss has got be a good thing!

NB: this pic is a -straight from the hairdresser thrice-washed- pic with no volumising products added, which I frequently use.

The starter kit is available on Amazon, but first you need to find out what type of treatment you need.

So if you’re interested in this product, follow the link  

HERE

to complete the questionnaire to find out which product suits your hair type.

It's possible that this treatment may not work for everyone but it worked for my cousin.  It worked for me.
My hair brush says it all!

Toni and Guy salons stock the Nioxin range and it’s available on Amazon (link below).
All three products are needed, you only apply a small amount each time, and they last for simply ages.
And on that point I must add that since I've been using Nioxin my hair has stayed cleaner and fresher for longer, so I now wash every 4 days.


I hope this post has made some sense, as it's difficult to prove growing hair!
If you do try Nioxin, please let me know how it goes eh.
In fact a blogger I know has started using it so I’ll found out how things have gone for her.


Is thinning hair something that’s happening to you?


A la perchoine,
Mary.

This product has been effective for me personally. In writing this post I am not guaranteeing its efficacy for all.

Self-care Hair

Hello my lovelies!

I don’t know about you but I don’t take good care of myself on a normal day.  But give a girl four months of lockdown and I looked positively neglected by the end of it.  In fact I was close to reporting myself to the authorities for self-neglect!  So in the last few weeks I’ve been making some effort to start loving myself with some right royal pampering.


One of the things that needed attention was my hair.

After

I’ve been happy to let it grow during lockdown.  And I didn’t rush to the hairdresser when things were lifted over here as I quite liked the longer length.

Before

In recent weeks  my fringe needed a tidy. So I hacked at it with kitchen scissors  

My hairdresser glossed over that. 

The look of a crazed Mary Scissorhand after being let loose with kitchen scissors!

 The morning of The Cut 

But this no-make and exasperated pic says it all.  It desperately needed a trim and a bit of chopping in on top and that hacked fringe need sorting!

So I took my hair mess to our local Toni and Guy and it got a good work over.  

I look a bit more presentable now. 

I have fine hair but lots of it.  Normally.

But in recent years I’d noticed it thinning on top and the result is of course that my hair doesn't  have the bulk it once had. 

My mum had thinning hair on top and I used to do her hair in a way so as to cover up the thinning spots and that seemed to work. I can’t do that with mine as it’s long but anyway, I guess a certain president has sabotaged the comb over for the rest of us!   

Thinning hair is hereditary in our family as my cousin had suffered from the same issue as I and Toni and Guy recommended a hair treatment to combat this.  My cousin had used it a few years and suggested I give it a go too. 

I’ll tell you all about it in my next post.  How’s that for a cliff hanger?!

Meantime, have you been hacking at your hair?

How has it turned out? 

And what kind of style are you favouring right my now?

A la perchoine,

Mary x. 

Let’s Chat About Pancake Hair

My dearest sweet people, how the devil are YOU?!

I’m still on holiday and I’m working from my phone today and the keyboard’s interaction with the  blogger site is a bit , er, weird.   For that reason I’m doing something slightly different..  I sat on the stairs and had a little chat with you instead of typing up my usual tome.

Very briefly, I’d like to know how you feel about going to the hairdressers.  It’s not my favourite thing, I’m not going to lie.  Perhaps it’s because I’m a little indifferent to my hair immediately I walk out of the salon.  So please spend the time you’d usually spend reading my written word to sit down with a cuppa and have a chat about hair.  Then hopefully you’ll drop me a few lines to share how YOU feel about your hair immediately you leave the salon.  I’d love to hear of your experiences.

Oh, and normal service WILL be resumed shortly.   Honest.

A la perchoine,

Mary x.

Fringe and Fingers - Girlie Stuff Today!

Firstly, I'd like to welcome my new followers, Gail & Susan.  If I have missed welcoming you as a recent follower, dear reader, then I have to apologise for my lack of technical skills - I can't find how to access the buttons of new followers and the followers section seems to be frozen.  Oh dear.  Sorry.


I've had few days of spring cleaning, gardening and a serious attack on an olive tree, so this post is a bit hotch-potch.
Starting with ...


Fringe

I had my hair trimmed during the week and still my fringe isn't feeling "right".  So of course I took to my kindle for an investigative selfie, so much easier than a camera.

 Despite the tidy-up, I noted that I still have a sparse fringe.  It's thin in the middle and I can only deduce that it's because I'm suffering from hair loss as I age.

 Yesterday in my doctor's waiting room I picked up a magazine dealing with "female genetic hair loss".  Fortuitous, thought I.   Serendipitous.  So I read that it's common and hereditary.  It's something to do with testosterone and  just when I got to the bit about how maybe I could deal with it (hopefully something can be done), I got summoned into the doctor's room.  So, I know it exists and I know my mum had a thin front bit cos I often did her hair, so it's hereditary.  The bit I'm missing is if anything can be done.  Any ideas?  Are you dealing with a thinning pate?  Are you doing anything about it?  I'd love to hear.

Fingers

I continue to be gaga about my gel nails, which are now actually growing over my finger tips!  The first time in several years.  However, as a result of stripping, washing and replacing sofa slip-covers, I've had a bit of gel nail damage.  I arranged an appointment to have my nails re-done.  Tomorrow.  Sunday. 

 What is the world coming to?  Until a few years ago, we couldn't buy petrol or rubber gloves on a Sunday nor everything in between. We couldn't go to the pub.  And all of that was just fine by me.  And now we can do all of those things.  

Of course, I choose to do none of them.  But I now discover that I can have my nails fixed on a Sunday.  And I choose to do that.  Nay, I am rushing to do that.  It seems a bit, er, perverse.  But needs must.  I am feeling so weak-willed.  I should have refused a Sunday appointment ... but I have become so quickly fond of having proper girlie nails.

But, stop press ladies, in the interim I have fixed the more damaged of my nails with a teabag.  A teabag you ask?!  Not a handbag a la The Importance of Being Earnest but, yes, you heard right, a teabag.  Just look at the link my helpful Son sent ... here.

It's a bit fiddly and I was using my left hand to work at it so the result is not salon-standard but it's kept the nail together for two days and has stood up to olive tree hacking, so it's doing a great job.  Have you ever tried this?  It's a bit reminiscent of those nail repair kits that used to be on sale.  Showing my age.  Again.

So, there you have it, my hotch-potch of a post.

Hope you're doing just what you want to do this lovely Saturday.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

A la perchoine 

HAIR!

Shining, streaming, gleaming,

Flaxen, waxen, show it, flow it,

Gimme Hair!

Not my words, but words from Hair, the seminal 60s musical.

I'm sharing these words with you because today I'm thinking about my 60s hair.

Have you noticed a change in your hair as you've gone through the journey to "a certain age"?

I certainly have.  And if you have too, then perhaps by sharing my Hair Journey, it may be of some small help to you.

Pre- A Certain Age

Back in the day, I used to keep my hair long and fringeless, which meant it needed little cutting.  Good for me as I don't particularly like going to the hairdresser. 

That style kept me going for years (read decades).  No probs there.  I guess that's why I now struggle to get comfortable with a new style.

I'd had it blonded for years to help me cope with greasy hair.  It worked!

But my hair has changed since my Karaoke-ing days in Rhodes, 2002!

Condition - a brittle subject?

Hair condition can often change when its wearer gets to a certain age.  Mine did.  Mine got brittle at the ends around my mid-50s and looked lifeless, despite the products and attention I piled on it.  So I had a fair bit chopped off to get rid of the brittle ends. 

My advice to you is if your hair loses its oomph, don't try to fight it, get it cut off and start again.

Grow grey gracefully?

I also stopped having colour treatments at that point because of the brittle factor.  Big decision!  I was unhappy with the effect colour treatments appeared to be having, and I'll be honest, I was just plain curious to see what colour it now was under all that blonde bombshell stuff!

As the remaining blonde grew out,  the emerging grey gave it a highlighted look.  If I had to give my hair a colour now, I would say it is Skunk.  It's dark at the back and has grey curtains at the front.  Some believe I've had a highlight/lowlight treatment!

Whatever, the look doesn't scare me and it has helped that colouring hair grey has become fashionable with the younger set.  What good timing for us to let our grey out!

Now, I see that there are several dividends when taking this route. 

Cheaper hairdressing bills, No. 1! 

Less time spent in the hairdresser's chair. 

But most importantly, the condition improves because it is free of heavy-duty colour products. 

Mine feels quite silky so I rarely use conditioner on it.  

And I'm being true to myself.

Hair today, gone tomorrow?

Aging hair also seems to thin on top, that's become apparent now that I'm well into my sixties.  That misfortune is not limited to the blokes, we ladies experience that too.  It's not down to whether you've had long or short hair either.  Mine's was long, my mum's was short, we've both had thinning hair, if it's going to happen, it will.

So having accepted my lot,  I now play around with what I've got. 

I sometimes pile it up to give it height. 

This seems to give it more bounce and vaguely hides the thinning bits but exposes more grey underbits.  Do I care?!

I play around with the partings and instead of just letting it fall from dankly from middle, I switch parting sides now and again.  This gives a little more body, as does a messy parting.

Pump it up!

My blonded hair had its own lift, now I get it from a bottle!  Grey hair tends to be blank and flat on top, so volume products help enormously.

My preferred products tend to come from the John Frieda volume range.  I might stray but I keep going back.

       

John Frieda's products seem to make a noticeable difference.

And finally!

 Back in the days of Hair! in the 60s, hair wasn't an issue.  Now in my 60s, seems it is. 

So my top tips for my 60s readers are:

• Let hair find its own way, colourwise.
• Don't fight the ageing lifeless hair ends, it's pointless, chop it off.
• Lift the lankness with volume hair products.
• Play around with partings to mask thinning hair.

Hope this helps!

Have you had a bit of a hair journey too?

What are you doing with your hair these days?

I'd love to know.

Thanks for popping in today.  Looking forward to meeting up again soon.

A la perchoine.

What A Difference A GHD Makes!

I've smartened up my act.  Just a bit.  I went to the hairdresser yesterday.

Tadaah!!!

I spent a pleasant hour in here, flipping through Hello mags (gotta be done!) ...

... whilst Nikki at Tinas-Hair-Studio chopped my hair in at the sides, took a fair bit off the bottom and tidied up my messy fringe.  All long-overdue, judging from recent pics on this blog! I think she did a good job, considering what she has to work with.  Me.  I just need to mess it up a bit now!  

What about you - has your hair gone shorter, longer or stayed the same?

Have you let your hair go au naturel or do you have some whizzy colour treatments?

I'm intrigued to know how others deal with hair "of a certain age".

For the auspicious occasion I wore taupe 7/8ths chinos and some v. old metallic flatties, both M&S. 

 And I topped these with, well, not so much A Sleeper but more a Snoozer. 

I bought the Next  black metallic bead-trimmed shown above about a year ago.  And I didn't feel inspired to wear it,  just like the metallic sweater I wore recently here.

 

So my black metallic sweater hung in the wardrobe, dormant.  Then yesterday, just like with its taupe mate, I realised that metallic knits actually work well for cool summer days.  Because they are thin and tend to be long and slouchy. 

So the black beady knit has now been kissed out of its dormant state by a handsome prince (poetic embellishment) and has been brought to useful life in my wardrobe.  First stop, the hairdresser.

Now peeps, must dash as I'm off to see my Great Niece.  It's her 1st birthday soon so I'm popping round with her pressie whilst she's at Granny and Pop's.  I'll show you what I've got her, but please don't spill the beans if you see her before the big day!

It's from Next.  It's it cute?! She is going to look gorgeous in this little outfit.

Oh dear.  This was going to be a quick dive post today.  Look where it's led me.  Showing you toddler's dresses! 

Trouble is, when I start chatting with you guys, I just loose all sense of time and focus!

A la perchoine.

It's That Time

It's that time of the year.  The grass is growing fast, and so is my hair apparently.

From today's photo shoot I can see that my fringe need cutting 

So I got on the phone and fortunately my hairdresser could fit me in for a "quickie" later.

Happy days.

The Photographer was busy doing his Good Works, so I took some makeshift photos.

M&S side-zip stone crops with Woolovers breton-stripe-top in Linen/navy colourway,

with H&M denim shirt.

So, it's that time of year.  The grass is growing. My hair is growing.

The garden springs alive and demands attention. 

I'm busy doing a bit of work in the garden most days.  The pergola's grape vines have been radically cut back, the wisteria re-tied and bushes and the olive trees pruned. 

It's also Pollen Time!  And on some days I am suffering.  Today was one of those days.

My eyes were itchy and bleary-red.  I dosed up on anti-histamine.

And lay down to "rest my eyes". 

Of course, that is Pensioner-speke for a snooze.  I woke up, checked my watch ... Cripes! Ten minutes past my hairdresser appointment.  I jumped into the car and raced off, whilst observing the speed limit of course.  I'd had missed my slot and she was wrist deep in some lady's foils, so I made a quick deal with her for a quick fringe tidy-up before both she and I go off on our holidays.  Separately, I should clarify.

It's that time of year.  And it's that time of life.  Napping Time.

A la perchoine.

If Not Now, Then Just When Exactly?

You will be pleased to hear that I've put yesterday's rage behind me.   And the Storm With No Name has moved on too, so it's all good.

However, the relationship between Windows 10 and photos is still quite ugly in PP Towers, so I have turned my back on that particular photo challenge and moved on to brighter things. 
Like my new lipstick - look how bright it is!!!

YSL Lipstick With No Name

And could this be my new profile pout shot, I wonder?!!

Lady in front of a wind-battered olive tree.

Woolovers brown cashmere/merino edge cardi, Per Una brown print blouse, Next lift and sculpt jeans and the old Clarks tan bootees.

And lady with wind-battered hair!

Talking of hair, I mentioned in a post or two back that I was cherishing every single eye brow hair that I own.  I haven't plucked for years.  Even if these days some of those brow hairs are white and wiry and disproportionately long!  I need every single hair to create some semblance of a brow, no matter its aesthetical value, as over time my brows have become a thinner version of their former bushy selves.  This is the kind of thing that the next generation of females need to be prepared for, random hair loss will happen, it's not just a bloke thing.

I then chanced upon a post written by someone I follow who mentioned clipping the brow hairs with scissors.  It sparked a memory of my Mum clipping hers.  And I thought, duh, that's what I should have been doing with that long white thing, just like Mum used to do.  I went to the mirror and ... it's almost disappeared.  Even the old lady wiry ones are abandoning me now!

It reminded me of a realisation about aging that came to me last year. 

Physically, things aren't going to improve with age, quite the opposite in fact - they are not going to get any better, they will get worse, so, at this moment in time, it is as good as it's ever going to get. 

The revelation came to me, as usual, during one of my many  shallow moments when I realised that I'd been avoiding wearing skirts for fear of displaying my veined legs. 

It dawned on me (yeah, another duh! moment) that those veins won't disappear or reduce, but instead they will get worse over the years,
so if I don't get my legs out and wear summer skirts now. I never will. 

That's the aging process for you.  It was a gloomy thought but it was really quite liberating. 
The cropped jeans came off, the fake tan was slapped around and on went the skirts.  
I realised too how wonderful fake tan is, it hides a myriad of imperfections.  My tanned veins didn't look quite so bad and how wonderful if felt to be gadding about in light summer skirts, displaying my "sun" kissed legs.

And that was me, folks, liberated!  Joy was restored and the pout returned!!!

I now apply that test to much that I am challenged by as I continue to age. 

If I think this is bad, just wait to see what more the aging process has in store for me. 

So I don't hold back waiting for better times - if not now, then just when exactly?!

A la perchoine.