Vidal Sassoon - Salonist - Review

I was asked to try Vidal Sassoons new hair colouring project Salonist, in association with Super Savvy Me.

Ten years ago, I dyed my hair bright red, although unintentional it became my “thing”. Towards the end of my twenties, I took it upon myself to look/act more mature, so I went for sleek black bob. Although I love my bob, my life in general became crazy and far too serious, my Mike joked that my old red hair held my superpowers!

So when I volunteered to dye my hair any colour (except blonde – have you seen my eye brows?) Super Savvy sent me two brunette colourants, a blonde and a glorious red. I posted all the colours on my social media. After all the votes it was decided that I would become a red head once more!

The colours I was sent from SuperSavvyMe 

I hit a snag early on, there was no way any colour was going to cover the black lengths of my hair, so I began the process of stripping my hair. The first lot only made my roots ginger, the second try made my roots blonde and the third set, that I left off my roots left my hair lighter brown but still very dark.

Strip One...

Strip two...

Strip three...

This was a three day process; my pain was through the roof – all in the name of vanity! On day three I just decided to go for it.

The Vidal Sassoon Salonist hair dye works on the bases that our hair roots colour differently to the lengths. So first I covered my roots, I tried using the root brush that came with the kit, but only being able to use one hand fully, I ended up using my fingers, I then added the colour serum meant for the rest of my hair. There was plenty of product to cover my shoulder length do, the Salonist kit didn't have an over powering smell like my similar products do and the colourant was easy to apply.

The Salonist Kit

No, I'm not naked!

I clipped up my hair and covered my head in a carrier bag (Superdrug if you must know!) and waited....

I got in the shower to remove the product, it looked as though I’d recreated the shower scene from the movie Psycho, but it didn’t take long, I then coated my hair in the Salonist conditioner which smelt lovely.

Even though my hair was wet (and therefore darker) I could see that the colour had struggled to cover the lengths of my hair. After I dried it, I had red roots, darker red mid hair and very dark ends eek! BUT I liked it! It looks as though I’d had an ombre treatment but the wrong way around, plus I’ve had three strangers asked me when I had it done!

Post dye roots

 So I’m now semi red head! As my hair grows, I’ll continue to dying it using Vidal Sassoons Salonist as the colour is a lovely warm red and despite all the stripping and dying me hair is glossy and soft!

All in all, I highly recommend Salonist, despite the multi red colours this was my fault not Vidal Sassoons. I will continue to apply my hair, using my fingers rather than the bowl and brush, I’ll probably keep those and use them for paint pots/brushes for my nieces’ and nephews art project –  yet another bonus!

Thanks to Super Savvy Me and Vidal Sassoon for the chance to get back my super powers!

L x

Toilet Habits

!Warning toilet habits discussed below, if you’re squeamish or eating your dinner, don’t continue reading!

Last month writer Sam Cleasby wrote a blog on being a woman suffering with an invisible illness, by invisible I mean she doesn’t have a wheelchair, white stick and she isn’t missing any limbs. Sam has ulcerative colitis, a condition that causes inflammation and ulceration of the inner lining of the rectum and colon.  

The condition is a nightmare where you are plagued with bouts of diarrhoea, excruciating pain in your bowels, weight loss, fatigue and anaemia just for starters. The condition then continues its war on a body, causing joint inflammation and pain, skin and mouth blisters, bone thinning which all could lead to sufferers having their bowels removed (or part of them) or at its very worse it could lead to cancer.  

There are similar conditions; Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Crohns disease but all three have varying levels of pain, symptoms and outcomes. Sadly I know people with all three.  

Sam’s blog piece was a letter, from Sam, telling a woman off for tutting at her, after she emerged from a disabled toilet, because the woman saw no wheelchair she assumed there wasn’t a disability.  

I’ve witnessed friends sob after they’ve not made it to the toilet in time, friends who have blushed when their condition causes a lot of breaking wind or when they’ve asked for room spray after a loo trip. These conditions have left my friends, at times, house bound, having to take days of work only for their boss to suggest they “buy a box of Imodium and get over it”. Like any of us with chronic conditions we need empathy and understanding, not sympathy and mocking.  

These day’s I try and accommodate my friends by leaving, wet wipes, air freshener and a product called Poopourri(<- click="" for="" information="" it="" nbsp="" of="" span="" this="" works="">in the bathroom and since my loo is situated off my kitchen/living room I always put music on to save embarrassment from any noises being heard.  

Due to my own conditions I’ve come closer to understanding as to what Sam and my friends go through. I have to take a lot of medication and the side effects are almost as dire as the pain itself.  

Up until recently I was taking up to 8 codeine tablets a day, these are great pain killers but caused my constipation to be so bad, that at it’s worse, I didn’t go to the toilet for 18 days . On day 17, I took a lot of laxatives desperate not to have to see my GP or A&E. Day 18 was horrendous, my guy Mike, had to hold me up on the loo for several hours as I passed out in pain, whilst I finally opened my bowels (brownie points for the boy though, he took it all in his stride, he didn’t mock me or suddenly go off me after it all!).  

For the next day or so I had to run back and forth to the loo at short notice, my butt was so sore, my legs numb from sitting on the loo and completely washed out from it all – I had a new view of what people go through. 

Invisible conditions like IBS, UC and Crohns disease are embarrassing for people, so I wanted to put my support out there. Don’t judge those who are governed by their toilet habits, don’t assume that an able bodied person coming out of a disabled loo isn’t in need or entitled to the privacy and invest in a few products to keep in your bathroom, many people are too embarrassed to ask but they’ll be incredibly thankful for your gestures!  

L x 

The Proposal!

With Valentine's Day almost upon us, I thought I'd share Mike and I's engagement story. I never got to write about it as my brain was fogged with drama and a heavy dose of codeine! So, for new followers, I'll recap how Mike and I met.

One of my best friends Leanne and I met in an unusual way. My pal Mike P started dating Leanne's buddy Lauren. Suddenly Leanne and I were relationship widows, so we formed a singles alliance built on road trips in Leanne's bright orange 1980's car and a diet of junk food, booze and self pity.

Leanne joined an online social and dating group, she convinced me to join too. I'd met my ex online but had been single for 18 months, although I signed up, I wasn't too fussed about being in a relationship again.

Then I met Mike aka VanillaGorilla and I was LilPinkDuck.. I fancied the pants off him but he lived 80miles away, neither of us drove and I couldn't travel on my own in the wheelchair, so I blocked his profile. Lucky for me, Leanne and even Lauren (who would come up for air occasionally!) kept unblocking Mike or Geology Boy, the nickname they had bestowed upon him.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

The Proposal

9 Years on, the boy and I have a mortgage, a merged DVD collection and have fended off countless questions of marriage and babies. I was very laid back about the whole thing, I know plenty of unmarried couples who are perfectly happy, but every time we'd go on holiday, I'd wonder whether he was going to propose . 3 trips to Australia, 4 to Spain, Ireland and an epic trip to New York later, my hand came back empty.

From day one, Mike had said that he'd want to get married and have two babies by the time we were 30, so when I turned 30 on June 5th of last year, I was a tad confused, none of these plans had materialised and yet we were still happily together.

A year before I turned 30, Mike and his family had booked a holiday to Disneyland Paris combined with a week in Bordeaux in June 2014. Off we went, to the land of fine foods, excellent wines and the happiest place in Europe - Disney!

Disney was amazing, no matter how old you are, the place gives you goose bumps and sore cheeks from all the smiling. On the second day there, Emma, Mike's sister, told us that she'd booked us in for dinner at Jules Verne, the restaurant inthe Eiffel Tower! I was beside myself with excitement, a trip to the centre of Paris with the best views in the entire city!

So, on June 19th Mike and I caught a (double decker!) train to Paris. I thought he was a tad moody, but put it down to him being tired. As we walked out of the train station, we were faced with the Arc de Triomphe, which is so much bigger than I realised. We started walking/rolling into town and there, in the distance, was the Eiffel Tower, the beacon of France, the monument of so many films and TV shows.

The tower was also a lot bigger than I had imagined, it was also majestic and more beautiful than I'd given it credit for. After dropping our stuff off at a hotel we headed for an early dinner.

My oh my! If you ever get the chance to go to the Jules Verne restaurant - GO! The food was simply exquisite, the service was second to none and the champagne flowed beautifully. I felt on top of the world. The France skyline surrounding us, with blue skies immerging - I felt so lucky, maybe too lucky and I have never been so full in my entire life!

After dinner we went back to the hotel so that Mike could change out of his suit and into his infamous Hawaiian shorts. I felt so full, I started to nap but begrudging left the hotel to make the most of Paris.

We had photos of all the views from the Eiffel Tower and none of the tower it's self, so we headed to the grassed garden surrounding the landmark.

There were hundreds of people doing selfies with the Tower. Coach trips, couples, friends and artists huddled together to get the perfect shots. We were no different, using Mike's gorilla pod fashioned into a make shift selfies stick.

We were about to leave when Mike said he had a gift for me, he handed me a package with his sisters address on the front. I opened the gift to find a pad lock with the words "Lynsey Ellard and Mike Garrick together in Paris". I was silly excited as I'd not had a chance to get a padlock made to attached to the famous locks of love bridge, which was on my bucket list.

Moment's before Mike asked

I hugged and kissed the boy, I was so thrilled he had been so thoughtful and romantic but then he told me to check the packaging again for another gift. I felt another padlock and read the words...

"Lynsey Ellard, I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with U! Will you marry me?"

I looked at Mike, back to the lock, back to Mike and to the lock once more.

I asked "Really??" Mike laughed, I giggled leapt at him at with a kiss then said "Of course I will...... and finally!!"

I was giddy with joy and Mike explained why he had forgone some of the proposal traditions. He said he was too scared to kneel down, as he was worried I'd keel over, sensible as I have trouble standing at the best of times. He hadn't chosen a ring, this was more my influence, I rarely wear jewellery so I thought it best that we chose it together.  If I was going to wear a ring my whole life - I'd have to love it!

Mike hadn't managed to ask my parents hand in marriage as he had flown in from California hours before we'd left for France, he phoned them straight after the proposal, luckily they said yes!

I spent the next hour calling friends and family (running up a £100+ bill!) although I couldn't get through to a lot of them with signal and overseas phone issues sadly.  Then I completed my very modern love story with a very modern announcement on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, with the photo below I put the words...

The boy did good!

The ring we chose together

"What a locky girl I am! We're #engaged! The boy #proposed on a lock of love in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris!"

A very ‘locky’ girl indeeed!  

L x