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

Why I became a skin therapist

Once upon a time, I sat waiting in a salon that shall be nameless, because I'm not keen on offending anyone, and I'm not too clear on the libel laws. This was many years ago, but the memory is still painful...

...I'm waiting, not terribly patiently, for the dimbo receptionist to finish talking to her chum on the salon phone.

 “Yeah, babe, yeah, I know right. No, he never? What? Reeely?”

Her inane chat goes on and on as I seethe quietly. I left early to get here; I made sure I had change for the car park; I double checked the time and got here five minutes early, as requested. I wait longer...

Ten minutes later, I know rather a lot more about this girl’s life and friends than I’d like to. I sigh more loudly and start drumming the reception desk with my neglected nails. She finally looks up:

 “Gotta go babe, there’s a customer, yeah, I know, it’s a pain, right. Later, babes.” And, finally I have her attention! She speaks to me:

Her: Hiya.
Me: Hello. I had an appointment booked for 1pm.
Her: Oh yeah, Take a seat, I’ll go and get the room sorted.

I seethe a little more, and try to remember how long I put on the car, because I’m now 15 minutes later than expected.

Finally we go into the misnamed “therapy room”, where I’m greeted by off-key whale song and a fug of cheap incense, nail varnish fumes and air freshener, presided over by a pissed-off looking statue of the Buddha. I’m not surprised; he looks as I feel. I thought this was supposed to be 'an hour of Blissful Relaxation', but so far, all that’s happened is that my blood pressure, normally rather low, is rapidly approaching the stratosphere.

“What’s up with your skin then?” she asks, laconically (or would if she knew what it meant). “If you don’t mind me* saying so, it looks a bit old and weathered.”

Actually, I do mind, and, as I’m about 25 years older than her, I’m bound to look a little more careworn in comparison, especially after listening to her inane babble for 15 minutes. Anyway, at least my nails, eyebrows and eyelashes are my own, unlike hers.

She proceeds to slap some cream on my face, telling me I desperately need exfoliating – my God! What’s she using? A patent and potent mix of Agent Orange, diamond chips and stainless steel gratings? It stings. I mention this.

“Yeah, well, it’s meant to take off the top layer, innit.”

I’m not altogether convinced that I want the top layer removed and allude to this. Nobody else complains, apparently.

I give up and suffer with clenched lips, as she proceeds to tell me about her fella and asks whether I think she should dump him and go out with Darren instead. I mention that Darren and I have not been introduced, so I couldn’t really give a valid opinion – “Oh, right, yeah”

She tells me about her holiday in Majorca, as she slaps more stingy stuff on. I try to go to my happy place, but they’ve moved it without telling me. I’m bloody paying for this; I can’t believe it.

Finally she says she’s finished with me for now, but I need to come back next week so we can do something about those lines.

“What exactly are we planning to do?” I ask “Botox?” “Nah, I’m not qualified, but Stace could do it for you, she’s just done a course.”

I demur gracelessly and say I’ll learn to live with them. Then I stare in dismay at my reddened face, and don’t say anything, because I think I’d cry. I’ve got quite nice skin normally, but now it appears like newly waxed legs: reddened and blotchy, and should it really itch? I looked better when I came in. Is this really good for my skin?

I go home to weep and drink vodka. Still, on the bright side, I didn't get a parking ticket.

     This was just one of the reasons why I studied skin care; I thought that there had to be a kinder way to treat the skin. Surely skin treatments could be pleasurable as well as effective? Is it really necessary to suffer to be beautiful?

     The answer to all those questions turned out to be Dr Hauschka. Kind, gentle, effective, organic and unique. Just like you and me, and our skin. 

     Why not try a little kindness and see how your skin responds? www.theorganicbeautician.com

*Yes, I know this should be 'mind my saying so', as it is a gerund, but I'm quoting from life, and her grammar, like her customer service skills, left something to the imagination.

Organic September - back to basics

 Welcome to Organic September! 

     What is that? you might ask. It's been going on for several years now, and is an annual campaign led by the Soil Association. The idea is to encourage people to make small changes to their purchasing habits and to raise awareness of buying genuine organic products. It's pretty obvious which month it's in, isn't it?

     Anyway, I thought it might be a good opportunity to go 'back to basics' about skin care, as it's so easy to miss things out in consultations and there is so much to learn. Most of it slightly different from what we are usually told: 'no night cream', for instance, has been known to induce semi-hysteria, but there's no need to panic - all will become less murky and arcane over the next four weeks.  

     During this month, you will discover

• why many things you’ve been told about skincare are unhelpful and possibly damaging to your skin
• how you can find a better way of looking after your skin so that it becomes radiant and healthy because healthy skin is always radiant, but radiant skin is not always healthy
• simple tricks that will help keep your skin looking radiant and dewy, regardless of age

     So, why do I say that nearly everything you have been told is wrong? Well, for a start take exfoliating. Yes! Please take it away and dispose of it. 

We are ladies not scrubbers!

      Scrubbing at your lovely skin is not a good way to treat it, despite what all the companies selling us scrubs and peels say.

     (At this point you might be thinking that I’ve gone mad, but I can assure you that I am fairly sane, have rather good skin or so my clients say, and haven’t scrubbed, exfoliated or peeled my skin for over a couple of decades. Guess what? It looks just fine!) I often say to my clients 

     "If you really want to scrub something, there is the kitchen floor,or better still come and scrub mine!, but don't attack your lovely face."

     If you have an open mind, and think this is an interesting concept, then please continue to read for the rest of this series, as we discuss this further, but if you are quailing in horror, then please run away now: go back to your scrubs, wipes and peels, as this is not for you! 

Dr Hauschka and the Rhythm of Skin

This year marks the 50th year of Dr Hauschka Skincare, so it seems appropriate to write a little about the two Rudolfs who made it possible, as well as Elisabeth Sigmund who did so much to develop the treatment side, as well as the skincare products.

In 1924, Dr Rudolf Hauschka, creator (with Elisabeth Sigmund) of the eponymous skin care range had a meeting, in a corridor, which would literally change his life: he met Dr Rudolf Steiner at a conference, the year before Steiner died.

Rudolf Steiner 

Born in 1891, in Austria, the younger Rudolf was a keen biochemist and was looking for a way to preserve plant extracts without the use of alcohol or synthetic preservatives, in a way that would retain the essence of the original plant. He asked Dr Steiner a seemingly simple question: "What is the meaning of life?" (I think we'd all like the answer to that one.) 

Anyway, he got his answer. Rudolf Steiner told him to study Rhythm, because "Rhythm carries life." 

Most women are pretty aware of rhythms; we have the obvious monthly one, then day and night, heat and cold, dry and moist: all these different modalities of life and rhythm surround us, and we take then for granted, without really thinking about them, but Dr Hauschka was inspired by this concept, so proceeded to experiment with various methods of extracting and preparing his plant extracts. 

By potentising them according to homeopathic principles and using his unique 'rhythmical processing', which involved exposing the plant extracts to the elements and rhythms of nature, he succeeded in creating an water-based extract of rose petals which remained stable without the use of alcohol or preservatives. 

If you or your children have ever tried to make Rose Water, you'll know that initially the mix smells beautiful, but in a day or so, it's pretty rank and only fit for the compost heap. Dr Hauschka's, however, lasted for over 30 years, and formed the basis of the mother-tincture that was used for medicines, by Hauschka's company WALA. 

(Wala is an acronym for Warmth and Ash, Light and Ash or, more probably, in German:Wärme-Asche und Licht-Asche, which stands for the rhythmical process developed by Rudolf Hauschka)

In 1935, still working with the impulses of anthroposophy, Dr. Hauschka opened the first WALA laboratory in Germany. There was a bit of a blip in the period between 1939 -1945, and Rudolf Hauschka, like all the best people, spent some time incarcerated; a pretty common occurrence at that point. He was lucky enough to survive the war, and WALA continued its medical work, expanding and creating a range of medicines that today numbers over 900 different products, plus the Dr Hauschka skin care range.

This was a co-creation with the renegade Esthetician and anthroposophist Elisabeth Sigmund. She was ordering WALA medicines to use in her own skincare creations and they began to correspond.  Dr. Hauschka asked for her thoughts and ideas about creating an holistic skin care range based on Anthroposophical principles, and was so intrigued and delighted with her input, that she was invited to visit WALA HQ in 1964. 

From then on they collaborated and the first WALA skin care products appeared in 1967. Initially the products were labelled with both their names: 

Dr R Hauschka and 
„Heilende Kosmetik nach Elisabeth Sigmund“ (roughly translated as 'healing cosmetics from Elisabeth Sigmund') but her name was dropped at some point; I don't know why. It often happens to women in science, though. It might have been considered better to use the prefix Dr. and Elisabeth had given up her medical training in order to work as a nurse during the war, and never gone back. 

Rudolf Hauschka's grave at Wala

The resulting partnership was remarkably fruitful and creative. When Dr Hauschka died in 1969, Elisabeth Sigmund carried on with their joint work. She developed the Dr Hauschka Classic Facial treatment, the Facial Gymnastics and started the development of colour cosmetics - makeup with the same curative ingredients as the skincare range. 

Elisabeth Sigmund's grave at WAL

Elisabeth Sigmund died in 2013 at the age of 99, wearing her favourite Dr Hauschka lipstick to the end, and still a keen student of Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy.

They both stayed at WALA though; their grave are in the lovely little cemetery in the grounds where they worked so hard.

Empow(d)ering women

At the Edinburgh book Festival, Zadie Smith asked if women were paying the hair and makeup tax, and she has a fair point: should modern women be spending up to four hours on their hair and makeup? If they do spend that long, then she is surely justified in limiting her seven-year-old daughter's mirror time. Mind you, she looks pretty glamorous in her makeup!

I also think that four hours is way too long. I'm not sure what these women can be doing, unless they are straightening their hair daily. Which, as any hairdresser will tell you will eventually leave you with no locks to straighten at all, as straightening is very bad for your hair. 

So can it be the makeup? 

Can you spend two hours on your makeup? I can't. At a push (i.e. most mornings) I spend about five minutes putting on my makeup. In fact, being fairly sad like that, I just timed myself to check, and I can slap on the slap in just under five.That includes foundation, eyeshadow, eye liner, mascara, lip liner, lipstick, blusher and bronzer, by the way. As I am a trained MUA, maybe that doesn't count, but my clients are also taught how to makeup quickly, as really, who wants to spend that precious time painting their face on a daily basis?

If you want to do all that contouring, though, it might take longer

I'm not a huge fan of contouring on the High Street; it usually looks as if the wearer has war paint on. Contouring was really designed for photography and bright lighting, but, if it makes you happy, and you have damn all else to do with your time, by all means watch some YouTube videos and learn how to do it properly, with the caveat that what looks splendid in the bright light of your room might look a little 'Frankenstein's bride' in the great outdoors. Fine if you like the Goth look but otherwise, maybe save it for the Insta filter?

Wasted time?

Back to that wasted time, though: it's only wasted, if you feel that you have to wear makeup. You don't. You look great without it too, so only wear it if you really want to, not because you feel imposedupon. Feminism is about free choice, and if you choose to spend your precious time painting yourself, fair play. In fact, recent studies suggest that women do better in exams if they are wearing makeup! So maybe that time is not wasted!

So makeup can be empowering! 

If you feel more confident with a little paint and powder, that's fine; just learn to do it faster, and enjoy it! Makeup should be for fun and enhancement, not for hiding behind.  

Sun protection in the 'Shade'

    Yesterday, my husband insisted on showing me the highlights of the women's cricket. I'm not terribly interested in cricket, but I thought that the girls should have been supported. They did tremendously well,

     The thing is, I have not so fond memories of playing cricket at school. We had to play with the boys, and they knew what a googly was and a boundary and I didn't. Plus they could quote from Wisden ad nauseum. (If you don't know, don't ask. Particularly don't ask a cricketer.) That was fine, as long as you were interested in cricket. I can't remember any of the girls being keen; we generally prefered rounders. 

     It's not cricket

     My other main memory of school cricket is a red nose. Because in those days, they didn't insist on children being smothered in sun-cream, before being allowed out, under an umbrella and sunhat. (Nowadays, it's virtually classed as child abuse, to let a child outside, without lathering it in white stuff.) 

     A Quest...

     Since that time, I suppose I have been on a quest for the perfect sun cream. Not all the time, you understand. I do have a life. However, now and again, I would wonder which sun-cream to use, pick up a shiny bottle and look at the ingredients listed on the back. At which point, it was promptly returned to the shelf, as being unsuitable for human use and detrimental to the ozone layer/coral reefs etc. 

     Smells like unclean spirit

     This is because the majority of sun protection products contain artificial fragrances, colours and various assorted synthetic chemicals which claim to absorb the rays of the sun. Brands which claim to be natural, usually use minerals (such as titanium dioxide or zinc oxide) which sit on the skin reflecting them. Some studies suggest that chemical sunscreens are more likely to cause allergic reactions than mineral sun blocks. Plus many of the ingredients are really unpleasant. After all, if they can bleach and kill the coral reefs, what are they doing to you and your skin? 

    Dr Hauschka used to make a rather lovely suncream, but then stopped, as they were not convinced that they could use natural ingredients and still achieve the ratio of UVA/UVB protection mandated by EU regulations, so that was a pain. 

Over the years, I've used the Dr Hauschka normalising day oil on my face and made a mixture of oils and butters for the rest of me. But, I am quite cautious to avoid too much sun and wear a hat, because I am not partial to a burned nose. 

     However, I did burn my nose once, when surfing (or falling off a board and semi -drowning, which is my version). It was horrid (the burning bit, not the falling off the board - I've perfected that) and I would like to avoid that in future. But you can't surf/swim/run/do stuff under an umbrella all the time, can you? You need something, sometimes.

     'Shady' ladies!

     Now, I have recently found a sun cream called Shade, which is mostly organic (Zinc oxide can't be organic) and only has four ingredients, so is unlikely to cause problems, even on the most delicate flower/child. I've been testing it for a couple of days, until it started to rain (again) and it seems very nice. My clients seem to agree, too, as it has been whizzing out of the clinic.

     At the moment, I only have a limited amount of handbag-sized testers, but if there is enough interest, I'll stock it permanently, in larger sizes. So do let me know if you'd like to try one. They are £3.75 for a 15 ml tin. As I said, I've been putting it on for the last few days and I like it! You might too. But you won't know unless you try it, will you?

www.theorganicbeautician.com