Five Year Fix, Five Year Plan

Merlin's_Beard

LadyWithAPlan said:

I have a pot for my hairdresser -  as I go approx every 10 weeks. I am lucky as he is a lovely friend and also helped him with some legal stuff when he was setting up  on his own so I get reduced rate  - luckily ... cos otherwise ouch...... but my hair has no chemicals on it..

I am not sure what type hair you have but that K18 Hair mask is amazing - expensive - but last for ages and takes my hair to a whole new level. I gather that Olapl*x does similar wonders - Mr ALD* does a bonding range of shampoos etc that my friend has switched to which are far more MSE

But the extraneous £1's or £4's if the coffee I buy out is bad such as my college coffee - that just annoys me..

I've got curly hair so a maintenance nightmare. This is also why I have an expensive hairdresser (and also a dedicated YNAB pot) - I thought I'd try a curly hair specialist and was sort of hoping it wasn't worth it, but she's the only person I've ever been to that can actually make my hair look good and spends plenty of time offering advice and cheaper alternatives too.

Irritatingly I was listening to a BBC podcast which looks into whether fads are SB (best thing since sliced bread) or BS and when it came to curly hair, the list of ingredients to avoid and the whole "curly girl" ethos is legitimately based in science (if you really get me going on this I sound like I'm in a cult, but I'm in a cult that gets compliments about their hair for the first time in their lives so it's working for me so far.  )

I know a lot of Olaplex formulations are a no no, but I'll look into the K18 mask - a brief search say it has alcohols in (drying and bad), but that those are essential to how it works so it might be okay? More research needed.

Merlin's_Beard

Chin has also decided to be MSE - electrolysis was only 15 minutes today (9th session today), down from 30 minutes, which takes the price down from £40 to £25. Let's call that £15 saved.

Finished planting bulbs - that's 380 in the ground over the last few days, half of which were the MSE deal from a few weeks ago so I'm not entirely sure what all of them are. Hopefully some of them sprout and I get a colourful spring!

LadyWithAPlan

Well done chin The bulbs sound gorgeous

I wouldnt swap my hairdresser for anyone and if you have found someone who knows how to make your crowning glory  even more fabulous - well she deserves her own savings pot!
K18 might not work on your hair but is brilliant on mine and hasnt dried it out. Maybe then buy a small botlle of it - or share with a friend..

savingholmes

Love the reduced chin treatment time counting as a saving. 

You sound brighter.

killerpeaty

I know it's a bit late but no, you don't need to show HMRC anything to do with your ISAs. It's like they're invisible or non existent to them. It just doesn't figure in anything.

Curly hair is a pain to look after. I have moderate curls, but don't look after them at all. My sister however does so, so I can see what my hair should look like. It's really nice, shame I'm lazy! Depending on your level of lazy/comfort, I find silk pillow cases a really easy way to protect my hair. But lots of people use silk bonnets to protect.

Merlin's_Beard

I'm  team silk bonnet and pineapple the curls on top of my head, but I think I'll try and get a pillow before next summer - bonnets work but they're hot as Hades.

killerpeaty

Honestly had no idea that bonnets would be hot! They always look so cool.

LadyWithAPlan

I have only silk and satin pillow cases and in fact I take a spare one with me wherever I travel ... not obsessed me at all ... I get too hot with the silk bonnet

Merlin's_Beard

@killerpeaty I don't think it's the silk/satin per se, it's just that any hat will retain heat, and once you're in bed your head is the only place that isn't under the covers! Perfect for winter but horrible in summer.

Merlin's_Beard

Had a week off and not going to lie, not much achieved. A lot of recovery after a frankly horrible month at worth, mixed with horrible weather. Managed to do some catch up tidying and sorting. Spent half an afternoon soaking in the bath listening to podcasts. Went around and measured a few drawers on dishwashers to check all my plates will fit after advice from this thread.

I've got a bunch of soil improver and some more bark mulch delivered, but I'm not particularly keen to start on my claggy clay soil until it's dried up a bit - we were one of the most flooded bits of England last weekend and half my local town was under water so everything's still a bit soggy.

Despite that half my garden thinks it's spring - I've got flowering rosemary, sprouting spring bulbs....! Not really sure what I can do about that so I'm ignoring it.

Had a lovely day out today though, trip to London for some much needed entertainment and immersion in something different. Long day though and a lot of money spent on coffees (some money spent on a matcha tea, both flavours I like individually but together actually foul. Lesson learnt!). Mini M&S treat picnic tea on the train home. Now decompressing with a (decaf, black tea) cuppa before bed.