Hair Raising 2
Adventures in home hairdressing continue apace.
In an effort to up my game I have invested in a pair of thinning scissors. So perhaps ‘invested’ is stretching the point. One can pay anything from £5 to £500 for thinning scissors and given that I am still a beginner in anyone’s estimation I opted for the lower end. For very similar reasons it also felt prudent to practice on my own hair before starting on Mike.
The first thing to note is that it’s very easy to get carried away with thinning scissors. It’s much like pruning a shrub. One cut leads straight on to the next as you become absorbed by the process and it’s only when you step back to review progress you wonder if perhaps you might have gone too far. By which time of course it is far too late to put anything back. Not that anyone of your acquaintance would do anything as stupid as that. Obviously.
Hastily reverting to YouTube I found a video by a very nice man from America who seemed especially competent in the use of thinning scissors. The jaws of the instrument are closed onto a small section of hair a few inches from the scalp and with seemingly minimal effort on his part glided down each lock towards the ends. “Smooth”, he kept saying, to emphasize the point. “Smooth”. Very few strands fell to the floor but after he’d repeated the procedure a few times the fringe (bangs) of his model looked perfect. All excess weight removed, nicely integrated and flowing. Rather less.. hacked (shall we say) than my first attempt.
Suitably enlightened I now felt ready. Except that when I closed down the jaws of the thinners on a lock of Mike’s hair they stayed there and didn’t move. I tried to pull a bit harder only to be rewarded with yowls of pain. I may have discovered how it is that professional hairdressers pay so much for their scissors. In a word: “Smooth”.
In spite of everything Mike seems satisfied with his hair. I only wish I could say the same for mine. As a child I used to be able to sit on the ends of it but for many years now it has been layered and short. I decided during the first lockdown that, for expediency, I would just grow the layers out. It feels very strange now to have all this swishy stuff round the back of my neck – the place I couldn’t reach with the thinning scissors, obviously.
After a few months of chopping bits off the front and sides more or less at random I started to trawl the internet for example hairstyles in a last ditch bid for inspiration. The trouble with many of those pictures is that they’re created primarily as a marketing exercise for a proper hairdresser’s skills, intended to last for the duration of a photo shoot staged indoors with ne’er so much as a drop of rain or breath of wind. The polished, gravity defying, not-a-hair-out-of-place look may be something to aspire to but for the extreme gardener it has inherent limitations. Around here it would have as much chance of survival as that other never-going-to-happen ambition of mine: manicured, sculpted and exquisitely painted fingernails.
And of course chez duck does not come equipped with a full hairdressing facility. The mirror in the hall was my first port of call on the basis that I could simply run the Dyson over the carpet and the debris ensuing from the follicular butchery would magically disappear. But as my styling task became ever more challenging better light was required and the hall mirror proved too small. It came with us from our previous house and is modelled along the lines of a church window paned in mirror glass. It may sound incredibly kitsch but is surprisingly realistic. For hairdressing purposes though, take it from me, ‘stone’ mullions in a mirror get in the way.
Nothing for it then but to retreat to the bathroom where there is ample light and a nice big mirror with.. praise be.. no mullions. Which all worked fine until it was time to clean up. The room is fully tiled with grout between the tiles and silicone sealant at the junction between the walls and the floor. Even on full power and with its special crevice nozzle the Dyson refused to touch it. The long suffering home hairdresser is left with little option but to scrape each and every severed hair off the silicone with one of those aforementioned perfectly preened fingernails.
I have reached the point at which I would now be begging a hairdresser, if only such a thing were possible, to chop the whole lot off. It’s sorely tempting to ask Mike to cut back every single lock of my hair to a couple of inches and let the shape of my head do the layering. Would it work do you think? Has anyone ever tried it? Or am I destined to remain with a look entirely consistent to having been dragged through a berberis backwards? Ouch.
I’ve twice gone from waist-length to buzzcut. Apart from people not recognizing you (good/bad depending on the situation) the main problem was remembering I didn’t need a whole handful of shampoo in the shower (serious foam overload) and that I had very limited time before the remaining hair dried in whatever direction it was pointing as I exited the shower 🙂 If you go VERY short then at least you can just run clippers over it.
This is one of the things that I loved about short hair.. that you can just put your fingers through it and it is dry in an instant. I’m not one of those people who relishes a lot of faffing. Whether I would be brave enough for a buzzcut though.. don’t know. I suspect if lockdown goes on much longer I will find out!
Hi in the first lockdown I used the dog clippers all over to cut OHs hair I just went for it and it grew back ok and I have just done it again but managed not to get it so short
After Christmas my hair was driving me crazy so I persuaded him to do mine and it’s was a relief to get rid of it it’s growing back now and when lockdown over I will get it sorted
Oh gosh, that must be a relief. I can’t be doing with floppy hair. I keep hoping it will grow enough to tuck behind my ears and then perhaps the situation will resolve itself. The trouble is I have more than an inch to go and with a bit of luck I shall soon be getting active in the garden again. It will drive me mad then.
I’ve decided to just trust my husband, even though I have very wispy 71 year old hair. The result may look a bit amateurish, but people will just think it is that corona-thing, won’t they? Any trimming is better than none. And he’s getting better at it! I then add some haarversteviger (What’s that in English, hair-thickening foam?), blow dry the lot, and there you are.
It sounds like hair styling gel or mousse, to give the hair more volume and texture?
The fact that we are all in the same boat does help a lot. I am quite sure there are people struggling more than me, I have certainly seen some pretty weird styles around!
No, I do not think I would do that. It is too cold now for a cut like that ;-). Luckily I have done my HB and sons hair since forever. I dye my own hair with henna every four weeks and cut it myself as well. In layers. At least one thing I am good at. Being able to do your own (and families) hair saves you a fortune and in pandemic times makes you everybodies favorite person. I would keep on practising till no hair left, but wait till spring.
At the start of the pandemic (before my hair got completely out of control!) I did think it would be brilliant if I could find a style that I could maintain myself. Because of the cost, yes, but also because we’re so far away from any hairdresser it takes half a day to get even the simplest of trims.
I was informed today there is a “glacier” at the top of the drive so you’re right, it probably is too cold right now!
Not the easiest of tasks, I wish I’ve taken even a basic course back then but who would know what’s happening would actually happen. We may also have watched the same tutorial on youtube 🙂
There are some great tutorials on YouTube. I had to laugh when I found the one I use for Mike – it is about four years old but had no comments until April this year when someone asked if there was anyone else watching as a result of the pandemic. It was followed by a deluge of affirmative replies!
Oh I do sympathise. I’m a victim of the heavily layered short-back-and-sides growing out syndrome. My thick wavy hair has a life of its own, so do I hack bits off the back and hope that when all the layers are the same length it will suddenly miraculously be OK? I’m eyeing the clippers which I use to give the Head Gardenere a trim and getting very tempted.
That was exactly my strategy too. I ended up with a huge volume of hair at the bottom of the back, all the layers plus a year’s worth of split ends. I looked like Wendolene from Wallace and Gromit. I have cut all of that off now and ended up with something more like a wedged bob. But not exactly what you’d call professional. I suppose I should have given it until the split ends grew out but I don’t have that kind of patience.
Speaking as someone who normally has her hair cut at a (cheapo) hairdressers every 3 weeks on a no 3 setting on clippers, I was more than happy to invest in a set of clippers and ask the Golfer to do mine – my hair might have only been an inch or so long during the lockdowns but to me there was just TOO much of it! I shall still return to the hairdressers when I can, as I usually have a trademark section of hair a little longer, but I am not convinced the Golfer could manage that! But yes, using clippers is a cinch and you can’t really go wrong – the settings probably go up to about an inch or so.
It’s very tempting. I cut Mike’s to about an inch and it looks OK. Not sure I could go any shorter though. I can never get over how quickly hair does grow. I used to go to the hairdressers every five weeks and it was amazing the difference just a quarter inch off made. I think maybe that’s where I’m going wrong currently. Little and often, rather than an occasional hack, might achieve a better result!
I have a similar short/layered look, and hack at mine with scissors. First I comb it all forward and cut off anything that reaches my eyes. Then I use the front hair as a guide. Working front to back, I comb it all back, pull a section up, “measure” against the previous section, and chop. I suspect the back looks a little irregular, but I can’t see it, and it all grows back anyway! Best of luck.
Now that sounds a very professional way of doing it. The demo I follow for Mike’s hair suggests exactly that.. start with a section through the front and then use that as a guide for the rest. It works too. Easier to do it on someone else when you can see what you’re doing, kudos that you’ve managed to make it work for yourself!
Well, I won’t say it is professional, but at least it’s not TOO patchy. I must admit that I struggle with the back.
It is a real struggle. I hold a mirror behind my head to use in conjunction with the wall mirror at the front. But of course that leaves you having to work one handed. I think next time I will try sculpting the shape after it is dry. Like topiary!
Hello Jessica.
Well, this all does sound rather more like Sweeney Todd than Vidal Sassoon we have to say. Just thinking of the pain as hair is ripped from the head rather than neatly and painlessly sliced is enough to strike terror in our souls.
All of this confirms that we made a wise decision years ago and that was to live opposite our hairdresser’s shop. So, in non-pandemic times we can nip across the road for a quick trim and blow dry or the full works. No time wasted in travelling. No stares before the hairdresser has worked her magic and no time for the hairspray to be dislodged before getting home. And, during pandemic times, well, you may have guessed already….. our miracle worker hairdresser can come to us. We wash the hair in readiness for her arrival with the professional equipment. No blow drying necessary and all completed with everyone fully masked in no time at all. Bliss.
Just an idea…..if moving is not a possibility….could a hairdresser’s shop be set up in a garden building? Just asking…..
Vidal Sassoon! Now that brings back memories. I used to go to one of his salons when I lived in the Big Smoke.
But these days I would indeed have to move, move to Hungary by the sounds of it. Under Boris rules mixing with any person you don’t already live with is verboten unless it can be deemed essential. And hairdressing is specifically listed as non-essential, garden shed or no.
Have you considered a Flowbee? You run it through your hair and it cuts the ends off at a specific length, or that’s the theory anyway. My brother-in-law uses an equivalent instrument to trim his hair but then he’s been going bald since he was 18 and there’s not much left anymore. We bought one to trim my husband’s hair but I didn’t feel very confident using it so I went back to scissors – I’ve been cutting my husband’s hair since he was in grad school decades ago. My own hair is longer than it’s been in at least 10 years and I’m now seriously considering having my husband trim it. He viewed online videos on the subject but, after sharing what he felt were the best of these with me to get my thoughts, I’m now wondering if I can wait things out a bit longer. My first vaccination shot is scheduled for tomorrow.
So, I have looked up Flowbee. Amazing. The video looks very impressive I have to say. But I must ask, how long was your brother in law using the Flowbee before all his hair fell out?
Re your own hair, I would wait. It only takes three weeks post first shot to start to build immunity. How much worse can things get? When I first asked Mike to cut the back of mine he suggested getting a spirit level. I thought he was joking. Once he’d done it, without the spirit level, I realised he hadn’t been joking at all.
Good luck tomorrow.
LOL! Years ago my son asked me to cut his hair – I refused to do his fringe which had to be long and he could flick back because I had cut it too short and we had a ranting teenager. So he had to do it himself and we had a ranting teenager! He understood after that and was compliant. Fast forward to last summer and HRH asked me to do the deed. The years of practice on my son helped and he was delighted. Since then I’ve done it a few times – he keeps asking it to be so short that instead of using fingers as a guide, I just snip along the comb. The last time I had to laugh and then doubled up in hysterics. Here is . . . Tin Tin! LOL! And I trimmed my son’s hair while he was here the last time.
Sooooo don’t worry – the more often you do it, the easier it is. My hair is long and plaited, so all I do is my fringe over the bin placed in the sink. Little bits still seem to fly somehow but not so much as the wet bits fall down into the bin. Everyone starts somewhere first – even the professionals. Keep trying, you can do this!
Thank you for those words of encouragement, I shall keep trying. I’m impressed you can do a Tin Tin.
I was watching the birds on the bird table today and thinking how lucky they are that they can just shed feathers and grow new ones. Why can’t we be like that?
I hope your birds are coping with the cold. From what I remember they do very well. Those feathers provide good insulation. Funniest thing was watching geese come in to land on a frozen pond. The legs go from under them and they are powerless to stop until they glide to a halt.
Thanks Jessica. Boys seem to be fine – they tend to sit out in all horrid weather in spite of having shelter and their house. As for the girls, they either sit on bales, or the deep bedded straw as it is nice and cosy as the straw composts beneath them. I keep adding layers if it starts looking messy. I’ve had to take the ice off every morning but today was the deepest ice. Even the chickens water froze! They are tucked up in a house inside so seem to be fine. The bantam Faverolle (Fizz) is laying eggs so she’s happy enough!
Very annoyed the snow just looks like someone threw tiny polystyrene balls all over the place. I mean if it is going to snow, then it needs to make a bit of an effort – couldn’t even make a snowman!
We have had little more than a sprinkling here. It’s so cold but most of it seems to be wind chill, the actual temperature doesn’t seem to be that bad. I went out this afternoon thinking that I wouldn’t have much watering, that all the pots would be frozen. Far from it, even the water in the can was still liquid. We are quite sheltered in the valley though, especially from the east. A benefit of having all the trees. At the top of the hill it’s much colder. Mike says there’s a “glacier” on the drive.. something to investigate tomorrow!
Minus 4 this morning. My thermals have thermals to go outside! Thankfully the house is protected by the hedgerow shrubs and trees along the banks on the north and east boundaries, but exposed to the west and south winds which are the prevailing ones! The barn is sitting next to the north bank and quite protected – but that still got cold! The ducks are in the orchard along the north bank so an amount of protection to be had there.
Glacier sounds interesting! You need to get yourselves some crampons for glacier strolling! Or to have as a non-slip back-up system. I bought some this year but, like the sledge, I hope I have jinxed the weather into being a little kinder!
Flippin’ heck! It does feel a lot colder today. The wind has moved round to the SE so we’re less protected than we were. I decided glacier investigation could wait until tomorrow!
If it’s any consolation it is colder in Braemar. I tried some crampons when we went hiking in Norway to a frozen waterfall. That was seriously cold and the paths had turned to ice as well. Crampons worked very well. We’d decided that year to have a short holiday in November. I chose the Caribbean. I ended up instead on a beach (-7C at midday) 200km above the Arctic circle. 🤷♂️
Yikes! But a super experience. Minus 4 this morning and reached a heady 1 degree later! A friend in Scotland said it was -18! It can go back to the Arctic circle now – I’ve had enough! LOL!
I used to work in Scotland. One memorable morning I left Inverness before dawn to drive to Perth. The normal couple of hours took most of the day. When it got down to -12 the windscreen washer bottle froze and I was having to stop every ten minutes, hack some ice from the side of the road with my bare hands and use that to clean the windscreen! But the scenery, oh my. When the sun came up over the snow the world turned duck egg blue and pink. Just incredible.
Beautiful. We toured the Highlands but it was in June – still snow on Glencoe though! So it was a lot warmer! Subsequent years were spent in Mull, which we fell in love with.
It’s a magical place for sure.
I have let my hair grow longer and longer during this pandemic year, and now I am enjoying having it that way. I have watched my hairdresser cutting my hair for so many years, how she holds the scissors and the hair and then cuts without hesitation that I do the same to my husband, and he is happy.
I am slowly learning how to cut Mike’s hair, doing your own is another matter entirely. It is a strange feeling for me to have longer hair. I think if it was properly managed I might enjoy it too. Except that the grey is more noticeable now. Certainly it provides an element of comfort now that it’s got so much colder!
I had long hair, then short, then long again. I now keep it plaited and pinned up out of the way, but the in between stage can indeed be annoying. May I suggest a bandanna and/or hat for keeping not-quite-plaitable hair out of the way when gardening? I always have a bandanna over my hair in the garden – keeps branches from grabbing, bugs from investigating my back hair etc.
It is absolutely the in between stage that is the most annoying. Long enough to flop into the eyes, too short to tuck back. A bandanna is a good idea, or a head band which I think I still have somewhere. It’s the midges that drive me mad in the garden, especially under the trees. They seem to be able to home in on me from miles around. Anything that would help with that would be more than welcome.
As hairdressers have remained open in Australia (except Melbourne for a time), we’ve not had the hair dilemma here. I have cut Mr MG’s hair for the last 40 years with our $6 Woolworths scissors and I remind him every now and then how much money he’s saved over that time.
Every now and then between trims I feel compelled to cut an annoying strand of hair from my own head and I’m usually flummoxed by the mirror image difficulty, so I’m impressed that you were able to do yours in the same way.
It is really hard isn’t it. It’s the mirror image difficulty and also having to work one handed because the other is holding the second mirror behind your head. I shall persevere because the reward will be worth it. I’d love to be able to maintain my own hair. Then I can spend all the money saved on plants!
I let my hair go completely gray last year, rather than venture out to the hairdresser. It was a revelation to me and the revelation was that I look old and sick with gray hair. So, I recently did go back to my hairdresser and she gave me a cut and color. I feel ten years younger!
I have all that to come. The grey is really starting to show through now, another thing to blame on the stress induced by Covid. I shall see how it goes. Part of me wants to colour it but my hair grows so fast, I’d be forever needing to have the roots redone. Maybe something else I can do from home.
I’m in Melbourne and during last year let my colour grow out completely – the secret to good gray heart is a fabulous cut so you might have to wait until you can get out again for that look. It was easy to let mine grow out as I didn’t see anybody to worry about. Persevere with the home styling it will be worth it when you can sit in a salon chair and come out looking fab.
Hi Christine
Nothing beats a good cut. I shall have to keep persevering for the moment as there isn’t much choice. It’s a good time to experiment though because, as you say, nobody is going to see the result!
I’m glad the situation is improving in Melbourne. Australia has done so well managing the pandemic overall. Wish the same could be said for the UK.
Perhaps I should have kept quiet..🙁
Keep safe.
I am embracing my lockdown hair. It has an entity of its own, and I am curious to see how it develops.
I have loved the grey/whit highlights shining through my hair for many years. Before the highlights showed through I thought my hair was a dull mousey brown.
I remember having copper and silver highlights put in my hair many years ago and paying a fortune for the privilege. Now I have almost the same look for free! It lasts longer too..
I let my hair grow, and the colour grow out, during our lockdown. It’s taken months to get used to a “Grey Me” and it is also taking ages for the hairdresser to sort out the mess I’d made trimming the bits I could reach! It went all out of shape. I just left OHs hair until he could get to the barber. His is quite wavy and I knew I’d make a complete mess of it.
You’re going to get more skilled the more you do it , and at least hair does grow back pretty fast.
It does grow back fast, faster than badly pruned shrubs fortunately!
Unfortunately Mike, reading this post, was reminded that his hair needed cutting so I had to do it again this morning. More practice. I discovered it’s easier to cut a chap’s hair when it is wet, it controls the waviness somewhat.
With only one cut in the last 12 months, squeezed into my hairdresser’s impossibly busy schedule during the summer, I thought I was doing OK with a fairly “pandemic proof” hairstyle – straight, long, and a fringe I could manage myself. Famous last words – it is 30 years since my hair was this long (who knew it grew THAT fast?), my fringe is a tatered mess, and last week I was seriously thinking about getting OH’s clippers and taking the whole lot off, à la Sinead O’Connor. I have lots of hats . . .
You will regret the Sinead O’Connor. Don’t do it! Or at least wait until spring.
What an awful problem. I am lucky – I’m on the way to reprising my 70s look – albeit a different colour
I would have to have an Afro perm to do that. Although I doubt we are supposed to call it that now. Fortunately I did keep the wide toothed comb that I bought at the time to tame it, albeit it’s now missing a couple of tines. It’s still great for untangling my current year’s worth of split ends!
All I could think when I saw your headline was–Uh Oh. Never been tempted to give myself a major chop. Slight trim here and there (and NOT with thinning scissors). Suggestion for next time–should there be one–is to spread a bed sheet on the floor of the bathroom to catch the hair. Then you only have to pick up the corners of the sheet and take it outside for a good shake or two. No silicone will be harmed in this process. And much less swearing, too. Well, except maybe for the haircut. 🙂
Yes I’ll have to do something like that. The silicone emerged unharmed but it was a right pain getting up all the hair, in lots of very fine little bits thanks to the thinning scissors. I’d just assumed the Dyson would suck it all up. Another great thing about hairdressers.. they do all the clearing up!
i have been very lucky to be able to meet up with my hairdresser monthly. She has been more than vigilant….her dad is seriously at risk and she takes her part of her caregiving duties very seriously. So far, so good. My daughter…who goes to someone else —less vigilant I might add, and who as a result contracted the virus although has recovered—has decided her solution is a baseball cap. This is working well for her…for how long, we’ll see!!!
You are lucky. Hairdressers opened here briefly over the summer but we too have been taking a cautious approach so didn’t go. Perhaps if I’d known then how long this mess was going to last..
I think we paid £10 for some Wahl clippers. They are really very good and we got a cape and scissors with them as well. My wife zips over the top with the No 4 and the sides with No 3. The clippers paid for themselves on their first outing. I am not allowed to touch my wife’s hair, which is normally salon only and costs insane amounts. Therefore my hair is under control and hers is less so. I bought a 40 watt propagator so that there is plenty of light, and warmth, and I can put it out of the way in the study. This has gone down well with my wife as the spare room no longer looks like a jungle. I am not sure if I am happy or not as some things have come up and others not. The annual question is it me or is it the seeds?
I wish I could get away with the clippers for Mike. He insists on a scissor cut so I am having to learn to be a Vidal Sassoon. Fortunately YouTube has come to the rescue as it so often does. Amazing the number of home tutorials that have sprung up.
I haven’t started seed sowing yet. When it gets warmer next week I will have to get it sorted out. The trouble is I have so many existing pots on the go I’ve run out of space. The Great Spring Migration will have to start early, with some evictions of the hardiest specimens to the big wide world.
Fortunately (for once) I have very fine hair so no need for thinning. We also had a visit from a mobile hairdresser before this lockdown. We have an appointment for mid February which I guess will be cancelled. Back to 70s look.
I am coming up to the year’s anniversary of my last appointment. How long can your hair grow in that time? Six inches? I have cut most of that off the back and yet there are still layers left to grow down.
I had a cut and colour booked in January and we went into lock down 2 days before I could go! Gutted and currently looking like Hairbear from the Hairbear Bunch at the moment but with a wonky fringe! *sigh*
Oh no! Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long. My hairdresser is going to have a really good laugh when she next sees me. I certainly won’t be underestimating their skills ever again, who knew it would be so hard.
A learning curve for hair, just as with shrubbery.
Dear Husband has a pony tail now. I have a very expensive, very good clipper purchased for a disabled dog (long story) and offered it to DH, but he has declined.
I got a spirit level, a ruler, and the scissors and had the DH trim 5 cm off my hair. He did a good job!
I should have accepted Mike’s spirit level suggestion I think.
For my part I’ll go back to the shrubbery, much more my element.
This had me smiling. I’ve only been to a hairdresser once this last year, I did cut my hair before that visit so fortunately it was fixed. Now I’m just letting it grow long.xxx
The growing out process is far harder than I expected. Short is fine, long is fine. Half way is murderous.
Oh dear – I feel your pain. I just let mine grow out during first few months of the pandemic. Then I was also lucky enough to take care of my hairdresser’s garden for several months while he was out of state, so now he cuts my hair for free whenever he is in town. Like you, my husband watched some Youtube videos, and then felt brave enough to cut our son’s copious locks. He honestly didn’t do too bad of a job. Maybe you are your own worst critic, and it really doesn’t look too bad? Anyway, I commend you for trying. 🙂
I could probably rightly be accused of being my own worst critic.. except in this case I know I’m right. It’s bad!
Adult son has just purchased a set of Wahl clippers – he did his head and had me tidy up around his neck – the line is sort of straight! I was fortunate to get a hair appointment in November, so still manageable but the thickness could be a problem if it’s another two months. I too have been purusing thinning scissors…
Be very careful with the thinning scissors. I had another go today (I never learn) and they’re lethal. Or perhaps that’s just another reason for not choosing the very cheap ones. Finesse tends to be lacking!
Have you enjoyed the warmer weather? The birds round here are getting thoroughly overexcited.
Update on the 40 watt propogator, or Light Garden. Very good at least 90% of the seeds have come up and I will have to repot some soon. Lovely. Strong plants, no wispy, floppy yellow things. It’s March soon so there will be an awkward two weeks when I take over the hall to cover the floor with pots and seed trays. I am hoping to get decent peppers and chillis this year, last year was a disaster. In other garden excitement there are the first signs of life in the asparagus bed, well mini bed.
Have you ever used those metal edging strips – Everedge? They are in The Garden magazine and look quite smart but I have been caught like that before…
All the best
Charles
A run of sunny days now! That gets me rather overexcited as well. It feels like spring really is just around the corner.
I fired up the propagator earlier this week. Tomatoes sown, plus some ornamentals. Chilli peppers next. I can get lights for mine too and it sounds like that might be a worthwhile investment.
I’ve never tried Everedge. They do look smart. I would imagine the key is getting them set at the right height. Enough to contain the edges but not so high they scrape the bottom of the mower. The sickening sound of metal grinding against metal is something that will stay with me forever, since that fateful day when Mike ran over one of the ducks..
I’m desperate to get my hair cut and have been tempted to have a go at it myself, but as you said it’s easy to get carried away, I’m sure I would mess it up!
The fringe is the worst, I can’t bear hair flopping in my eyes – especially now the gardening season has started.
But trimming it isn’t as easy as it looks, that’s for sure. The tip, if you’re going to try, is to do it with dry hair. Wet hair fluffs up as it dries, so what you think is the right length then will only get shorter!