Is there a way to accurately count the true cost of a disability? I’ve often wondered whether ‘I coulda been a contender,’ had I not been born half deaf. It is a phrase I’ve always joked about when I think about how my hearing loss might have affected my career and future earnings. Did being…
Health & Beauty
Would you have your hair cut by a trainee?
In my twenties, when I couldn’t stretch to exorbitant salon prices, I was usually very happy with free, or almost free, hair cuts done by trainee hairdressers. I say ‘usually’ because there was just the one time when I emerged from the chair distraught after a scissor-happy frenzy had ensued and I was convinced my…
Get fit: get paid
You know the cliché: new year, new you. Early January sees the gyms filling up, the streets full of pavement pounders, and empty fruit and veg aisles, as we look to shed some of the excesses of the holiday season. But, with nearly a third of us abandoning our New Year’s resolution by the second…
Should we still be paying for the contraceptive pill?
The contraceptive pill arrived in the UK in 1957. It was initially introduced to ease ‘female disorders’, and was made accessible to all women in 1960. The pill has so far done wonders for women; allowing them choice, liberation, and control. Today, 55.5% of women use the contraceptive pill, not only to prevent pregnancy, but also to…
Charity shop? Why not!
I have long been a lover of charity shops – in a culture of fast fashion, it is the most ethical way to shop. I even volunteered in my local Age UK charity shop in my teens for my Duke of Edinburgh Award. Sometimes I go on day trips to places which have good charity shops…
Why I will probably never stop buying clothes
Anyone who knows me knows that I love my clothes (almost as much as my food)! When I first got a part time job at 14, all my income was spent in Topshop. This was then later divided between alcohol and Topshop, but for a while it was mainly Topshop. When I was in 6th…
The autumn statement: what it means for our tampon tax
A couple of weeks go, our dear chancellor, Phillip Hammond, produced his autumn statement – AKA ‘the budget’. Yep, instead of doing the budget in the spring, you know, round the time the financial year starts, the government is now going to review the country’s spending in the autumn. Apparently, this will give us more time to…
Curly hair: how much does it really need to cost?
It is an old adage that goes, as so many know, ‘the grass is always greener on the other side.’ And so, I had been trying to tell myself this over and over again, as my horrible unruly mop of hair haunted me throughout the most difficult phases of my childhood. It was always sticking…
My search for a perfectly budget wedding dress
Getting married can be daunting enough without all the expenses looming over your head. When I decided that I wanted a fairly low key, low cost wedding, one of the questions that flooded my mind was ‘what about the dress?’. There wasn’t any way that I felt I could justify a £500+ dress – one that…
We need to talk about puffer jackets
Puffer jackets are popping up everywhere from catwalks to high-street retailers, but the very thought of them is giving me chills. Why? – I was born in a puffer-jacket country, a place so cold you have no choice but to wear one, making everyone look like the Michelin Man trudging through the snow. Firstly, I…