From the editor
Some time ago, a staffer at my hair salon asked me – and I’m sure she meant it to be tactful – “Have you got a contingency plan for going grey?” Of course, what was implied was, it’s time to either let the greys grow free or commit to a lifetime of frequent touch-ups. I recalled this recently when I met a man who has recycled 89,000 plastic salon bottles into, among other things, sunglasses. Paul Frasca’s company, Sustainable Salons Australia, recycles hair salon waste. I was staggered to discover that more than a million kilos of hair foils go into landfill each year. Paul’s company recyles that too, and even the hair itself gets refurbed – some of it to create wigs for those suffering alopecia, or hair loss due to medical treatment. The rest goes to making hair boons, which are used to sop up oil spills in the ocean. You can do your bit by going to a hairdresser that’s part of the Sustainable Salons national network.
Still on beauty, if you’ve ever walked into one of those brightly lit beauty stores, where the sales girls ply you with palettes for smoky eyes and catwalk-hot scarlet lip gloss, you’re not alone if you feel bewildered and frustrated. After all, plenty of us don’t want to look like an Instagram sensation, but we really want to look the most radiant and healthy version of ourselves. Our Prevention Beauty Innovation Awards are where skin meets science, where we test and assess products
(more than 350 of them this year!), so we can tell you which ones will make a real difference to the health of your skin, so you can look and feel your healthiest and most beautiful. Turn to page 85 for all the finalists.
With two in three Aussies now dabbling in some form of complementary medicine, we tasked our health reporters with investigating just how much their proclaimed benefits are based on rock-solid evidence. We’ve put the hottest and most hyped forms under the miscroscope. Some of the findings were surprising – see page 78 for more.
Meantime, as we’re hurtling at warp-speed into the festive season, we’ve got all you need to help you keep calm during the frenzy. Enjoy the issue!