My New Hair Parlimentary Briefing

Yesterday I attended a parliamentary briefing with the charity My New Hair to raise awareness of hair loss issues for cancer and alopecia patients.

I met with many local MP’s, other My New Hair patients, hair professionals and nurses.  I found out more about the issues faced by other people who lose their hair through medical reasons or from cancer treatment.

The event took place at the House of Commons on October 27th and called for improvements in NHS wig services for men, women and children affected by medical hair loss. Services vary in quality and patient experience differs widely across the country.

Many of the MP’s Said...

“I am saddened that many patients who suffer hair loss as a result of cancer treatment or other medical condition are still not receiving the support that they need from the NHS.  Hair loss causes significant distress to patients; the NHS must work harder to ensure that wig services are organised in the interest of the patient and include good quality wigs as well as appropriate emotional and practical support. By training hair professionals to understand the needs of patients and to help them to find a style that works for them, My New Hair is making a big difference to patients’ lives. “

My New Hair was founded by acclaimed hairdresser Trevor Sorbie M.B.E inspired by his own experience helping a family member during cancer treatment. Trevor now dedicates all of his salon time to offering advice and a wig customisation service to clients suffering medical hair loss.

Says Trevor “This is the beginning of what will be a challenging but exciting journey with the NHS – we have helped set the precedent and encourage the rest of the country to follow our lead. My New Hair has given me a whole new dimension to job satisfaction, using my skills to give something back to society and do something truly meaningful. It isn’t about hair, its psychological medicine for women who are suffering hair loss through illness.”

The charity provides services directly to people suffering medical hair loss and trains an independent national network of hairdressers to cut and style wigs making them more personal and natural looking.

I was really honored to be part of something that has effected me for the past 15 years and to feel like I have now played a part in helping to improve this NHS service.

I personally have not used the NHS for years.  My previous experience was having to wait for months to get a dermatologist appointment, then once I got the appointment I would just be given a voucher to get 2 synthetic wigs that I had to pay a £60 prescription charge for.

As I suffer from long term hairloss I like to wear a wig that has a very thin base that is more comfortable to wear for extended periods of time and I also I like to use real hair in my wig as this is more realistic and longer lasting.

In the past i have felt the NHS could not offer me any help with my long term hairloss.  Hopefully this is the start of great things to come!

Please visit my website www.alopeciabeautytips.com where you can see how my story has been in the Daily Mail, GMTV with Lorraine Kelly, Marie Claire and how i have worked with the little princess trust charity and Trevor Sorbies Charity 'My New Hair'

Top 5 eyeliner tips

I have been using gel eyeliner for a long time now and although I have tried many other kinds... pencil, liquid etc. Gel eyeliner is the best if you have no eyelashes and are trying to define your eye in a natural way.  Using this eyeliner also means that you can work into the water-line of your eye easily, which can really help to define your eyes that bit more.

My top 5 tips for gel eye-liners

1 Find a gel eyeliner that glides over the skin of your eyelid easily.  The eye is delicate and you don't want to pull or press too hard on the skin.  You can try a tester on the back of your hand just to see how it goes on.  Try doing a light wiggly line and imagine that it is your eye.  Avoid ones that are too dry.

2 Use the right kind of brush with a good length handle on it. Otherwise you are not going to create the best effect and it will make life difficult if you use some of the piddly brushes that just come free with your product.

3 Look after your brush that you use to put the eyeliner on.  As you are using it every day and putting it right inside your eye it needs to be clean.  I keep wet wipes with my beauty kit and clean brushes with these and once a week or so i use soap and water to thoroughly clean them.

4 When you're using your gel eyeliner make sure you always put the lid back on tightly.  You don't want it drying out.  If the eye liner is getting to the end of the pot and had dried out a bit and does not glide as easily then get the end of your make up brush and just stir the remains.

5  And finally my best of all the tips! I was rubbish when I first started wearing this kind of eyeliner.  I had such a wobbly hand!  My best tip is to just do what you can by putting the eyeliner on and then for your mistakes just get a cotton bud,  dip it into some eye-make up remover and just delicately edit away any mistakes.  Easy!

Two of my favourite Gel Eyeliners are... Elf Cream Eyeliner and Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliner.

Elf is a new brand that you can buy online and is only about £4.  I think it is really good but I have to say I still love the Bobbi Brown version which is about £15.  As long as you look after the eyeliner it lasts ages!  It glides on really nicely and I find that it has a nice matt finish where as the Elf one has a shinyness to it. I also like the dark brown Bobbi Brown colour that I go for.  Whereas the Elf has black and then the next colour down for me is too light.  I also found that the Bobbi Brown eyeliner stays on for longer and the pigment of colour is much stronger.

Above you can see me before with only my Semi Permanent Eye Make Up on.  This is great on its own but I like to add eyeliner to this as it really intensifies the look. 

Here you can see how I have added eyeliner to the corners and the waterline of my eye by starting at the inner corner of my eye gradually getting thicker to the outer corner of my eye.

Please visit my website www.alopeciabeautytips.com where you can see how my story has been in the Daily Mail, GMTV with Lorraine Kelly, Marie Claire and how i have worked with the little princess trust charity and Trevor Sorbies Charity 'My New Hair'