I NEVER WASHED MY OWN HAIR
ELIZABETH FORBES-STOBBE, 56, works as a consultant in the care industry. She has saved €4,075 during lockdown and says: I AM missing my hair and beauty treatments so much. They were a huge part of my life before we went into lockdown.
I’m divorced and have been feeling a bit down recently. I’m a sociable person but one of the big factors is that I don’t like the way my appearance has changed, for the worse, without my treatments.
Adding it all up, I realise I spend a fortune on my hair — including extensions, colour and fortnightly blow-dries. Before lockdown, I never washed my own hair.
It might sound like an easy job but I hate having to do it myself — and spent hours, sometimes whole days, at the salon.
Being at the salon makes me feel alive. It’s about the social side, too, being around young people.
It’s not just my hair that’s expensive. I spend hundreds on my skin, hands, feet, eyebrows and teeth, too.
I have honestly never even thought about how much I spend on all this stuff, until now. More than €15,500 a year is just embarrassing.
However, I don’t feel guilty. I’ve worked hard throughout my life — I was a nurse for a long time before setting up my business — so feel I deserve to enjoy spending my money on me.
Last week, I got so sick of seeing my hairy top lip, which I usually have waxed, that I took a razor to it.
I nicked my lip in the process — and am now terrified the hair will grow back thicker — so I won’t be doing that again. It’s important to leave this stuff to the professionals. I’ve booked myself in for salon and clinic appointments stretching three months ahead.
I don’t know when they will open but I’ve got my name down, just in case.
In the meantime, I cannot bear what I see in the mirror.
I’m hopeless at styling my hair. I just haven’t had the practice.
I was convinced I look a horror but my 12-year-old niece was chatting to me on
FaceTime last week and said, ‘I can see your roots are grey but you still look good, Auntie Liz!’ Sweetheart! So maybe I’m not as high-maintenance as I thought.
WHAT SHE’D USUALLY HAVE SPENT: Hair extensions: €275. Hair extension maintenance: €330. Hair colour: €195. Balmain (blonde weft): €400.
Fortnightly blow-dry: €230. Manicure, pedicure, eyebrow tint and wax: €165. Facials: €145. Glycolic skin peels: €355. Products to maintain skin between peels: €755. Massages: €175. Spa days plus treatments: €445. Botox: €440. Jet polish: €165.
TOTAL OVER THREE MONTHS: €4,075 (€16,300 a year).