Monday 19 October 2009

My New Hair Trevor Sorbie

I was helping with the newly founded charity organisation My New Hair over the weekend. Trevor Sorbie (very famous hairdresser) is training stylists all over the country to cut and style wigs for women with medical hairloss.

It was a brilliant day and meeting Stephanie, a 12 year old Alopecia sufferer, stirred up a lot of emotions for me. She reminded me of me when I was young and why I have put so much time and effort into making my www.alopeciabeautytips.com website. Her mum told me I changed her life yesterday as I was such a fantastic role model for her, which felt really rewarding and has only confirmed my desire to really help other young girls with medical hair loss.


There is going to be an article in a new magazine called Recognise all about the day with My New Hair. Will let you know when it is out.

For more information please vistit www.mynewhair.org
And please visit me at www.alopeciabeautytips.com

Saturday 17 October 2009

Fab New Beauty Tips

With the beauty tips i tell you about you are in complete control over how you look and they will always work for you. Hairloss is never easy, but it doesn’t have to destroy your life. I tend to try and always look on the positive side of things, ie…I never have to wax or shave! Some of my friends spend £100's removing facial hair...

My 1st tip - Get rid of any preconceived ideas that you have of wigs as they really are fantastic these days! Seriously... i have wigs that range from £60 to £2000 and they all have their benefits. Now you can buy a wig and have your wig cut by a stylist to suit your face shape and it looks so natural and gorgeous. If you are new to wearing a wig i would just start by wearing one for a few hours at a time and build up to wearing it all day... Eventually you get use to it being there and you do not notice it.

My 2nd tip - Experiment with make up. If like me you have lost your eyebrows and eyelashes don't worry... You can draw in your eyebrows and use lovely eyeliners to create fantastic effects! I dont bother with false eyelashes anymore as they are too time consuming. When i was younger and had more time i wore them everyday. Or you could have Semi Permanent Make-up... This is really fantastic and can save so much time in the morning. My semi permanent make up starts to fade after a year so i like to have it topped up to keep it fresh looking.

My 3rd tip is how to keep your wig tangle free. My hair tangles most at the nape of the neck... i make sure that when i order a human hair wig that i get european hair as this is the best quality, When i am wearing a synthetic wig i keep it away from heat (watch out for patio heaters in the summer!) I do not sleep in my hair but if you need to i suggest sleeping in a old wig that you don't really use anymore. When i wash my real hair wigs i use luke warm water, try to leave my hair to dry naturally, then just run my hair straightners over quickly to get rid of any frizz.

You can find all my Beauty Tips at www.alopeciabeautytips.com

Friday 16 October 2009

My New Hair Trevor Sorbie

This weekend I am going to London to help the organisation ‘My New Hair’ make a DVD that brings awareness to this pioneering new charity, headed up by Trevor Sorbie.
I will let you know all about how I got on next week!

'My New Hair' helps women with hair loss and provides support, helping them to get a professional wig personalised just for them.

They can:

• Offer advice on choosing a wig.
• Help you choose the right wig for you.
• Find your most local My New Hair salon.
• Provide you with a wig personalisation service.
• Offer you support and aftercare.

Their promise is to make the service accessible to people across the UK and long term, across the world. Many stylists share in this belief and want to help overcome the preconceptions around wearing a wig. It is there ultimate goal to make this a part of the best standard of care available to people with medical hair loss. They are working nationally to achieve this aim with healthcare organisations and other charitable initiatives.

Their aim over the next 3 years is to connect with over 400 salons across the country.

Please look at my website too...

http://www.alopeciabeautytips.com

I have featured in the daily mail

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1210383/I-started-going-bald-12-I-want-world-women-hair-loss-ashamed-of.html

I have also featured in on GMTV with Lorraine Kelly! What me on this you tube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-phsUBb-ivU

Thursday 8 October 2009

GMTV Interview with Lorraine Kelly and my 2nd Top Tip on Semi Permanent Make-Up

The second question that I get asked most in your e-mails is “where did I get my Semi Permanent Make-Up done” Well......!

I was recently asked about Semi Permanent Make-Up by Lorraine Kelly when I was on GMTV. You can see the you tube video of this if you click on the link below... Lorraine was admiring my natural looking brows so I told her all about them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-phsUBb-ivU

Also make sure you check out my website www.alopeciabeautytips.com

I use to spend ages getting ready every morning.... I had to draw in my eyebrows and put thick eyeliner on to add the much needed definition to my eyes... Most of time time I got them looking right the 1st time and I would be off out the door with all the practice I had, but it would be always when I was in a hurry that one eye would look perfect and the other would look so wrong! Also the amount of times I have poked myself in the eye with my liner brush cause I was rushing was too many to count and I would worry about touching my face throughout the day in case I smudged my make up. Something had to be done!

My 1st shot at semi permanent make up was with my wig company Hudsons in Manchester. The lady who provided the service also worked with the wigs too so basically she did not do it that often so was a bit unpractised. She was very neat but it look ages while she tattooed each individual hair into my skin... Yes OUCH! 2nd time I found a salon where she was a bit more use to doing it but I had to travel quite far to go and see her. At the time I was using the company Razzar and thought that they were the only people who did semi permanent make up who I could trust. When you have tattoos done on your face you don’t want to take the risk. I went there for a few years and in that time Semi Permanent make up really took off... The good news is now you can get it done in loads of place!. ‘Micro Pigmentation’ is fast becoming the must have treatment for the Millenium, not just for people with Alopecia, it can also be used to camouflage scars and also everyday women like to have make up when they wake up to defining brows eyes and lips.

As the service was now far more popular I thought there must be somewhere closer to have this done.... So I did a bit of research and found a lady called Gail Proudman. Turns out that she travels around the country teaching people how to do semi permanent make-up so that they can perform this beauty treatment in their own salons. Gail was doing semi permanent make-up day so I thought she must be good! My experience of her was that she was so lovely, fast, painless (helped by the anaesthetic!) and provided fantastic results.

Www.spmubygail.co.uk

As eyebrows are suppose to have a natural hairy look about them Gail would just quickly tattoo lots of little hairs that gave them such a realistic effect.
As my trust in Gail was sky high I decided to go for it with the tattoo eyeliner. This really was the bain of my life putting on eyeliner every morning still and I really felt I looked awful with out that definition around my eyes. I had poked my self in the eye one too many times so I went for it! I was really scared and I thought that it was going to be the most painful thing ever but it was not too bad! She had a great technique of pulling my eye really tight while I held my eyes closed. She also uses anaesthetics here too which really numb the eye lid and help with any discomfort. I wont lie to you... I really did look like I had been crying for hours afterwards... My lids really swelled up but oh my god it is totally worth it! I love my eyeliner its amazing. I think that if my hair grew back I would still have it done as it just look fantastic and you don’t need to waste you time in the morning with make up. I tend to add a little bit more eyeliner to my eyes for a more dramatic effect and after a few 6 months I use a bit of eye pencil too as it starts to fade a little. I think a top up once every 9months to a year is probably what you need.

The procedure can be expensive... Eyebrow are about £300 and the eyeliner is about £250. Gail will give you a discount thought if you go keep going back to her though which is really helpful.

Hopefully this will really help some of you out!

Thursday 1 October 2009

Alopecia Beauty Tips Top Ten

Ever since my article came out in the Daily Mail/Marie Clare last month and my apearance on GMTV with Lorraine Kelly i have had such a fantastic response from hundreds of women. I just wanted let you know how amazed i was at the number of women out there with Alopecia. Lorraine Kelly said that 1 millon women in the country are effected by Alopecia at some stage in their lives but i think that this could easily be more! I use to think that very few women had Alopecia but it turns out that i was very wrong.

Many of the women who have contacted me are amazing, they have found their own way of coping with alopecia and they have not let it take over their lives in a negative way at all!
Years ago the thought of going to an Alopecia awareness evening to chat to other women about alopecia was not something i would have wanted to do as i thought it would be lots of women being depressed about having alopecia. As i just wanted to get on with my live it was not somewhere i could imagaine my self going... but turns out i was very wrong again, these evenings were probably full of women who are positive and wanted to help other women who were recently suffering with the effects of alopecia.

I think that eventually we all find our own way of coping, but the people that i would like to help are the women who are new to our alopecia club and don't know where to turn or the 1st thing about wigs. Many of the women who have contacted me say they wish they had my website to turn to when they found out they had alopecia. My site is purly base on what i would have loved as a 15 year old girl as i was when Alopecia really started to play a big part in my life. Of course the website is for everyone but my experience has played a huge part in how i put it together.

I have responded to every single e-mail with as much infomation that i can think of but often i am asked the same questions so i am going to give you my top 5 answers to your most popular questions in all the e-mails that i have been sent....

Where did i get my wig from???

Oh wigs, wigs, wigs, they can be your bestfriend or worst enemy! haha. I've had 13 years experimenting with wigs so I think I've got quite a good eye at knowing what looks like a wig and how to make something unnatural look natural, I prefer that hint of 'bed-hair'.

Isn't it frustrating how much wigs costs? and that the nhs will only provide synthetic wigs. I find that for human hair wigs www.wigsworld.co.uk are very good because they are all handtied so I don't have to worry about hair moving a little to expose my scalp which can happen in left-weft/machine made wigs. HOWEVER because their prices have almost doubled you can get the same synthetic wigs at www.contrastwigs.co.uk for under less than half the price! I also go on ebay but I'm dubious about the quality, but you can find some bargins.

The wigs i use on a daily basis really do cost so much.. My most recent purchase has been just over £2000 and what is worse is that it arrived and I was not happy with it so it has gone back to be re-made. I ordered it this time last year and I still don’t have it. Such a waiting game for a custom made wig but hopefully it will be worth it. I have bought this wig from Nu Hair Technology as they have a slightly different method than the wigs that I usually buy from Trendco. I normally buy the custom made ultra lights. They cost just under £2000 but this would be less if i got shorter hair. Also look out for autum sales... my wig salon Husons in manchester offer a buy one get one free every year! My wigs last a few years but every 6 months I send them in to have maintenance done on them... have more hair added and died as the colour will have lightened from the sunlight. I live in Manchester and because of my postcode I am not entitled to a real hair wig! If I lived 5 miles down the road I would but I like where I live. What to do!? I have a different wig for the gym and holidays too as bad to do all the straightening and washing too often... I try to just wash my hair main hair once a week to extend the life and I never sleep in them. Dry shampoo in a can is great for just improving the fringe and just giving you one more wear out of it.

As I said the 1st wig I had was really awful and put me off synthetic wigs for many years and I thought that the only option for me was to spend large amount of money on my wigs... I have recently found out that this is not the case and in fact some synthetic wigs are really fantastic. Especially for holidays as they just dry in the style that they are made into. It was a life saver on my month long honeymoon where were travelled around the world. My real hair custom made wigs require all the faff of styling and drying them. When I was younger and had more time as a single lady I would be happy to spend the evening beautifying myself but now as a married lady with a husband and a dog to run around after I have less time for myself, so these wigs are very appealing!

Now that Trevor Sorbie is training hairdressers to style wigs you will be able to get that really tailored look from a much cheaper synthetic off the peg wig. Please see my article in Marie Claire ... I went to the Trevor Sorbie salon in London and he cut a cute little bob for me out of an off the peg synthetic wig and it looked fantastic! I am more use to the customised fit of an ultra light type of wig but it was still so much fun trying lots of different styles on. I had a ball! The article is about how Trevor Sorbie offers this service to women who wear wigs. I will keep you up dated as to what Trevor is doing and you can see for yourselfs by looking at www.mynewhair.org

The next wig on my shopping list is the vital wig by Trendco

Vital Hair is the latest addition to our custom made range and is the new generation of hair. Vital stands for Vitality, Innovation, Touch & Feel, Accuracy, and Longevity. It is a revolutionary product which looks feels and behaves just like real hair with all the benefits of artificial hair. Like real hair with Vital Hair you can swim, shower and sauna, wash, blow dry and heat style. Unlike real hair Vital Hair is durable, soft, colour constant and easy to care for, its stronger, lighter and more heat resistant than real hair. The unique quality of Vital Hair is that once you have created the hair-style you want it will stay that way no matter how many times you wash it! As with all our custom made pieces Vital Hair is specially designed just for you.

This sounds too good to be true but will let you know when or if i buy it.

Right that is all i can think of about wigs at the moment... The next blog will be about eyelashes!
Will post this tomorrow though as i need to go to sleep.
Aimee xxx

Wigs Wigs and more Wigs

I just found this really great article by Trevor Sorbie and thought i would share with you. You can never know too much about wigs i say! :o) I spoke about Trevor Sorbie when i was on GMTV so please do look up what he is doing. www.mynewhair.org. You can find loads of other useful links on my website www.alopeciabeautytips.com.

Need advice on getting the perfect wig? Get Trevor Sorbie's top advice and information here

About wigs

The single most important thing about making a wig look real is to ensure that the wig is customised to suit your face shape- in my experience you don't need to have a real hair wig to make it look real.

It's about getting the right advice and having the wig cut and shaped to suit your face. Also you don't need to pay a fortune. Most wig suppliers can fit and customise a wig from around £70.00. As I write these words technology is advancing and the quality and variety of wigs that are available increases all the time.

If you just walk into a wig shop and try on a wig it will normally not suit you immediately. This is because colour choice, customising of the wig, and correct product usage are essential for the most effective finished result.

There are many different types of wig but here is a brief explanation of what is most commonly available.

  • Synthetic hair wigs

    Synthetic hair wigs are made from a fibre - much like clothing fabric. But believe me once the wig has been customised and styling product added it looks incredibly real, and is, in fact, my favourite choice. Synthetic wigs are easy to take care of and you can wash the wig in warm water - condition it (using a fabric conditioner) and then as it dries it will re form its shape - this makes it very easy to take care of especially if you are feeling unwell.
  • Real hair wigs

    These are made from 100% human hair - generally speaking this hair comes from Asian countries where it is accepted practice for women to sell their hair. This hair is then cleansed, chemically treated, coloured and made into a wig. You need to take good care of a real hair wig and remember that just like real hair; it has to be blow-dried into style after each shampoo. A real hair wig is more expensive then a synthetic hair wig and requires more care.
  • Made-to-measure

    I don't recommend this service as a made-to-measure wig can take up to two months to make and will normally not be ready before your treatment begins. Made-to-measure wigs are normally worn by people who suffer from "alopecia" which is permanent hair loss.
  • Customise or ready-to-wear

    It really comes down to availability and suitability. You can buy some wigs that you can wear immediately but, in my experience, most wigs look more life-like when they have been trimmed to suit your face shape. Many wigs have over 40% too much hair in them and need to be thinned down to look more natural. Also, just as when cutting real hair, a wig should be customised to the individual. For example, layering around the face, or cutting a fringe - it really does make a big difference and with a wig the this is what makes it look real.

Products and care

It is extremely important to take good care of your wig. To wash and clean regularly and to understand what type of products you can and can't use.

For example, a synthetic wig is not real hair so you can't use tongs or straightening irons on these as they may melt the hair! However, you can use hair serum to make the wig shiner and more life-like. Generally speaking each wig will come with a care and advice label to tell you how to maintain the condition.

Trevor Sorbies - Wig head check list

Before looking through this check list I really recommend that you have spoken to your Consultant and know what is available to you from the NHS.

  • Locate a local salon or wig suppliers that can offer you advice
  • Think about what type of style you would like - just like a normal visit to the salon, take some pictures from magazines and think about what style you would like - have fun here, it's a chance to change your looks if you wish
  • If you have already lost your hair then take along a picture of how your natural hair used to look
  • Decide whether you want a real hair or synthetic wig
  • Ensure that you have spoken to your Consultant to see if you are eligible for an NHS prescription towards your wig. When contacting your wig supplier ensure that they can process this for you and that they are able to explain how the process works
  • If you are buying a wig for medical reasons and are not using a NHS prescription then you can claim back the VAT. Ask your wig supplier for a VAT exemption form
  • Prior to your treatment I recommend that you have your own hair cut into a shorter style so that if you do lose your hair it is not such a shock.
  • Call around to local salons and wig suppliers - ask if you can talk to someone on the phone or go in and have a consultation
  • Make sure that you budget for your wig and know all of the expenses involved.
Make sure you check out my Web Site at www.alopeciabeautytips.com