All women, but not all men...

      There's been a lot written about Harvey Weinstein, and his appallingly bad behaviour and bizarre sense of entitlement, and now it's beginning to turn on the women who knew: why didn't they say something?

     This is something that my husband, being an adult, and with no propensity to blame anyone for anything that is his fault (luckily) calls "How can I pin it on the missus?" after a friend of his, who, having pranged his car, was trying to work out if he could blame his wife. (Who wasn't even in the car at the time, and in fact, prefers horses.)

     Whether it is a universal male thing to try to pass the blame onto women, I don't know, but it does, of course, have Biblical precedent. "The woman did tempt me, Lord." So let's wrap her up in black shrouds, so that her propensity for 'tempting' is removed. Yeah, right. That'll do it. Not. How about trying to get all men to behave with common civility instead? A bridge too far?

     Anyway, Facebook, a thing of wondrous ability to steal your time, and will to live, has come up with a #metoo trope, and many women are posting things that have happened to them, most of which are no surprise to other women, because we've pretty much all had some entitled idiot thinking he has a free pass to the female anatomy. Some chaps are getting a little twitchy and saying #notallmen, which wasn't really the point; nobody ever said all men are total fruitloops, but pretty much all women have experienced the nastier side of entitled masculinity. To lighten the mood a little, I thought I would recount something that happened to me. Don't worry! No triggers!

     When I was 19 and living in London, I often got the late tube home to High Street Kensington and then had to walk for about 20 minutes to where I was living. Having done a little bit of karate, I wasn't terribly concerned and with the arrogance of a teenager, I thought I was invincible. Once, arriving after midnight, I was greeted by three young men, a little older than me. They were tall, strong and of a dusky complexion. One of them said that he would walk me home. I was slightly perturbed by this idea, so I fanned out my keys between my fingers and prepared to thump him hard.

     He walked me to my door, told me that I shouldn't be out late at night on my own because it was dangerous for girls at night. He waited till I'd unlocked the door, then said goodnight and left. A Gentleman!

     So I don't believe that all men are the problem, but I'm also aware that I was lucky in that instance. One of my Australian friends once found an unknown hand on her posterior, in a crowded tube. Lifting it in the air, she asked loudly

     "Whose is this hand, and why is it on my @rse?"

     She was in a full carriage, and with true British phlegm, everyone turned away and ignored her; nobody stepped up to help. Shocking behaviour, and presumably what goes on all over the place, not just in Hollywood.

     Let's hope it's getting better, but according to my daughters, it doesn't seem to be, although the youngest scowled so scarily at a group of catcalling lads recently, that they shut up. She wasn't prepared to put up with it, but her older sisters told her to ignore it. Plus ça change, eh?

     Ah well, plough on regardless, eh? Have a radiant day! 

Not just for Guacamole

Yummy skincare      Every once in a while, I look again at the ingredients of what I'm using on myself and my clients and have a muse on them. It's much easier to do this when they have friendly Latin plant names than when they are chemical ones like Methylisothiazolinone. (I may have misspelled that, but I don;t care, I'm not a big fan...)      One thing I suggest to people who've been on my Skincredible Journey is to chop an avocado over their Radiant Skin Salad at lunchtime, as it's an easy and delicious way to benefit from the oil, as well as the vitamins, minerals and trace elements contained in this creamy pear-shaped fruit. It's great to care for your skin from inside as well as outside, and easy when it's this tasty.      Avocado oil is prized as a skin care ingredient because it spreads really easily, so without pulling delicate skin, it also emulsifies with other ingredients and is quickly absorbed and well-tolerated by most skin types. As it makes skin supple and smooth, it's also great for hair and itchy scalps. So all pluses there.      Something bizarre...      Something you might not know about avocados is that the name derives from the Aztec word for 'testicle', as the fruit grow in pairs. (That's up there with Testament and testimony and the way the Ancient Hebrews used to swear oaths by putting their hands on each other's 'thighs', or that's what it says in the King James version. If you learned Latin you'll know different, and if you have nothing better to do, here's the explanation. We do learn something most days, don't we, though we might be happier to labour on in ignorance.)      Another equally unusual avocado fact which really makes it a 'fruit for today', is that it changes sex daily.  At least, the flowers do: half of the day the flower is ready to receive pollen, so acts 'female', while the other half of the day the flower sheds pollen making it 'male'. Whether this makes life easy or tricky for the pollinating insects, who knows? Possibly it was not a consideration.      Now, not only is avocado good for your skin, but also for your hair and nails having ludicrous amounts of potassium as well as the benefits listed above. Let's not forget the monounsaturated fatty acids, antioxidants, magnesium, and folate, shall we? Lucky it's delicious, then. And, don't believe people who tell you it's fattening. They often go off to eat chocolate and biscuits, which are not as beneficial and probably more fattening. Some fats are good for you and your skin;this is one of them.      If you have any left over, you can also rub it into your hands, though personally I prefer hand cream, as it is less likely to make one resemble the Incredible Hulk, but possibly that is being Greenist...?      With all those benefits, both internal and external you probably have guessed that Dr Hauschka use it liberally. So what's it in? Here's little list (and they really would be missed!)       All of the following have Avocado in: Daily Hydrating Eye Cream, Quince Day Cream, Rose Day Cream, Rose Day Cream light, Regenerating Day Cream, Firming Mask, Concealer, Light Reflecting Concealer, Lavender Sandalwood Calming Body Cream, Almond Soothing Body Cream, Lavender Sandalwood Calming Body Wash, Lemon Lemongrass Vitalising Body Wash, Almond Soothing Body Wash, Rose Nurturing Body Wash.      Of course the new Regenerating hand Cream contains avocado too. If you liked the normal hand cream, you'll love this and it smells a lot nicer than avocado. but, maybe don't eat it...        Have a radiant day! Contact me: jane@theorganicbeautician.com