39 Comments

At 63 with fine hair I’ve had good results with Hairstory no foaming stuff - resisted till I got a good size sample in a mix box - and use it with the silicon scrubbing brush. All the fine baby hairs round the hairline have definitely improved. Expensive but I only do one application each wash (every 2-3 days) and it goes a long way. Also easy for travel - no conditioner required.

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I have v fine rubbish hair that I dye diff colours to make it exciting and the thing my lovely hairdresser told me to do is if on holiday EVERY time you go in water coat it with tiny bit of conditioner/olaplex afterwards to stop it destroying itself. Genuinly amazing how it didn’t go flat and frizzy and weird. I pass this on.

I’ve just bought hershesons duo of products and have CONVINCED myself that it will solve all my hair problems (it won’t but I have hope and that’s all that matters)

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Not celebrity endorsed but K18 is where it's at. Fed up with looking at Olaplex thinking, christ - it's like a million products and I have to order them very specifically or it won't work - whereas K18 is one stop mask that you leave in for four minutes and pow, you're outta there.

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Tried the JVN range after so much hype - Caroline Hirons raved about it. Did absolutely nothing for me.

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Jun 15, 2022Liked by Esther

A few years ago, I went to pay my respects at the funeral of a neighbour. Her daughter, who I'd never met before, opened the door to me and her first words were 'Haven't you got great hair!'

It is not so great now, however. I am 66 and something definitely happens post menopause. Having finally realised I can't wing it anymore and have to use product. I have lots, the spray oils with and without silicone, the John Frieda everything, the Olaplex and more. I just use whichever one comes to hand and I think they are much of a muchness. I won't be trying Ms Aniston's offering.

I feel The Times beauty columns are just full of ridiculously overpriced stuff that as you say they get delivered in a padded envelope. The advertorial element seems to the fore.

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Great piece Esther - thank you. I can't wait to listen to that podcast. I've recently submitted my first novel to a couple of literary agents and received one rejection and heard nothing (i.e. a big fat no) from the other. Bracing myself for the next cycle of submissions/rejections. Your hair always looks amazing - you should definitely be recommending products - or is it just great hair genes?

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Jun 15, 2022Liked by Esther

Also not celebrity-endorsed hair product, but after several years of restoring our house, mostly ourselves, my hair was so horrible, all dry and still full of plaster dust etc etc that in desperation I bought some Aveda Damage Remedy Restructuring conditioner. I think it is literally the most expensive thing they sell. It was amazing, and returned my hair to better-than-normal in the blink of an eye, and the very best thing about it is that I realised I could dilute it with water to get it to every-day strength conditioner, thereby ekeing it out as long as possible, still with the option of full bongos (thank you Esther, still using this whenever possible) miracle strength. I now buy a litre bottle which must last me about three years and makes it seem less extortionate. Additionally when I go on holiday I take a tiny bottle of full-strength goo with me and use a pea sized amount each time, diluting in my hand.

As a copy editor I don’t get rejected but I do get stupid questions, the answer to which is always (in my head) BECAUSE I FUCKING SAID SO YOU ILLITERATE MORON. Have just seen a number of local council posters about current drain replacement works explaining that it will make ‘the rainwater drain away more easier’.

Aaand breathe.

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Jun 15, 2022Liked by Esther

Had a good old laugh/weep at the line about lawyers with £6 mil villas in Italy (ex public law child protection barrister here - sometimes I used to (literally) pay to be at work, my legal aid fee was so ridiculously unrealistic). Please tell all of your own children, and any others you happen to know, NEVER to go into any legal work which relies on public funding 🥴. The rejection sounds downright demoralising though……

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Just tried to cheat on the Dead Eyes by jumping straight to Episode 31 where it tells you NOT to do that so starting at episode 1 where it’s pretty good.

Yeah, I get that about rejection and when I feel like whining about it, I hear my former self saying ‘what you whining about, bitch, at least you haven’t got rejected EVERY SINGLE TIME?’ Which is true but rejection still stings. And so much ghosting?! Perhaps one day we’ll be the kind of people who do the ghosting and then we should immediately be taken outside and shot.

Didn’t Aniston used to co-own Living Proof? Pricy, available at Marks and Spencer, not as good as its price would have you think.

This is the perfect post - rejection and hair products!

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I don't think a celebrity endorsed it, though John Frieda is a celebrity of sorts, but his Violet Crush shampoo and conditioner really do preserve my home-dyed colour and stop it going brassy after a few weeks.

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Dead Eye sounds BRILLIANT, thanks for that. Also, *you* should launch a hair care brand

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Jun 15, 2022Liked by Esther

SO, my sister was in hospital for two weeks at Christmas, full of tubes and couldn't wash her hair. Also, once she was well enoguh to walk around, they kept doing things like COLLECTING HER FOR AN XRAY just as she'd got her hair wet in the shower. She came out with hair like an absolute rats nest, sending me photos of HANKS of it as she desperately tried to get it deknotted.

Me, being a kind and good big sister, said "FOR GOD'S SAKE STOP, I'LL BE ROUND SOON" and went to the hair dresser nearby and explained the issue. They sold me a detangler with FUCKING CAVIAR in it. CAVIAR! The single most expensive hair product I've EVER BOUGHT because I have GOOD HAIR.

An hour later, her hair was as smooth and glossy as a prizewinning SHOW PONY.

I am not a celebrity, but I would endorse Mon Platin 12 in 1 Multi Action Hair Cream WITH BLACK CAVIAR for the very bedraggled.

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Lovely piece Esther, will def check out Dead Eyes. Re hair, I have curly hair and hate styling it and can't be arsed with celebrity endorsed hair products. But I do use a 'curling cream' from a brand called Milk Shake because it smells like, well, milk shake. I think JA should stop wasting our time.

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I can’t wait to listen to that podcast. As a scriptwriter my life is just one big merry-go-round of rejection - or a similar thing which is getting ‘notes’ between drafts that my friend described as ‘exam results day EVERY DAY.’ There must be something psychologically wrong with folk who have careers in the arts that often are poorly paid, have no guarantees and it’s so arbitrary who does well. Like a relationship with a bad boyfriend you can’t quit because when it’s good it’s GREAT. Sigh.

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Jun 15, 2022Liked by Esther

I have fine hair, which since I've got older has got finer. The only thing which helps is to gunk it up with very strong mouse, spray and bung it in velcros rollers. No shampoo, conditioner or brush has helped. There I've saved fine haired women a fortune!

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