SHE WEARS IT WELL
Model and TV presenter Lisa Snowdon is back with a second edit for Wallis full of luxe knitwear, relaxed dresses and cosy joggers. EMMA JOHNSON checks it
THE call came on Tuesday morning. On the other end was the lovely receptionist from my hairdresser’s. “Hi Emma, I am sorry, but due to the new restrictions...” I didn’t need to let her finish that sentence. I know the drill. My appointment for my seven-weekly half-head highlights, cut and blow, next month, was off.
I had been expecting a call from the salon from the moment Boris issued his ‘Stay at home, save lives, protect the NHS’ rallying cry on Monday evening plunging us into a third lockdown. A proper one this time, like March, not like the ‘lockdown-lite’ we had in November.
And now here we are, back in the land of DIY haircuts, daily walks and banana bread baking.
When the first lockdown came I was just days from a hair appointment.
The black/grey roots on my light-blonde hair were very present. The thought of having to go around for weeks (in the end it would actually be four months, before I got back in the salon) looking like that horrified me.
Then the penny dropped: the only person who would be seeing that hideous stripe streaking down my head was my other half.
And the people in the supermarket. But when you are scrambling for the last packet of toilet rolls, no-one cares if your hair looks a show.
As things stand, who knows when schools will re-open this time, let alone hair salons.
But I have decided to take a more positive approach to the whole lockdown situation this time around. At least from a beauty and styling perspective.
Admittedly, the fact that my fabulous hairdresser ‘lockdown-proofed’ my locks at my last appointment with some very cleverly positioned lowlights, is helping me with this intention.
My plan is that, instead of being miserable about all of the things I can’t do while we are under our new stay-athome order – like shop for clothes, get glammed up for dinner, have my eyelashes permed and tinted, wear actual shoes
– I am going to focus on all the time-consuming beauty chores that I get to skip for the next few months.
Case in point: During the inaugural lockdown I didn’t wear mascara for three months and I see no reason to reach for the stuff this time around either.
Likewise, self-tanning went out of the window – anyone who says they enjoy applying self tan is lying – along with painting my nails. I actually do like the painting part, it’s getting the stuff off again that I hate. I dread to think how many hours of my life I have squandered trying to remove Chanel Rouge Noir from my fingertips.
I also plan to pack in plucking my eyebrows. I am curious to see just how close to Cara Delevingnelevel bushiness a 40something woman can get.
However, there is one beauty task I won’t be skipping during this latest confinement, and that is shaving my legs and armpits.
I realise it might not be very feminist, but I also believe in a woman’s right to smooth.
And I plan to spend at least a third of this lockdown lazing in the bath anyway...