7 Last Minute Mother's Day Gift Ideas under 70!

1. For the Working Mum

This Ted Baker Pale Green/Mint Ipad case will add a splash of Spring colour to work wear or off duty chic. £35 at ASOS

                       

  

2. For Glam Mum

I love this bag – it’s made from real leather, it comes in this pastel pink colour, I love the satchel style shape. All this for just £60 at Accessoryo.com. AMAZING!

3. Another For The Glam Mum

All mums need a clutch for when they’re off Mummy duties and this one from Accessoryo.com is just lush. The Gold and bronze metallic colour screams date night. it has been featured in Vogue and it’s only £29.99!

                              

4. The Trendy Mum

 I love this sophisticated Floral pixelated Blazer from New Look. Mother’s day lunch with white jeans or trousers would work very well indeed. £29.99 at New Look

5.  Mum on the school run

This is Britain – so rain is never far and all mums on the school run need a coat with rain resistant head gear – the hoodie! This quilted one from new look is £29.99. It also comes in black but the navy version is just chic.

                       

6.  For Mums who love shoes

for when the weather cheers up these leather wedge sandals from Dune are great for casual (with dark or light jeans) or work wear (with a midi pleated skirt, perhaps a white one). The combination of of colours will work well for Spring. On Sale now at House of Fraser at £60

7. The relaxing Mum

If nothing else in any mum’s wardrobe says relaxation, it’s the dressing gown. This Charcoal coloured Calvin Kiein number is made from soft jersey material with a satin trim. £55 at Selfridges

                    

Embrace it & Move on

Since my first post about a week ago, I have been asked what pushed me to ‘the brink’ in the first place. So I guess I’m having to explore some ‘issues’. I think there are 2 main reasons why I considered a return to relaxer.

1. Ease of styling & management – I was absolutely convinced that my hair would be easier to manage on a day to day basis. So rather than spend 30mins to an hour twisting or otherwise preparing my hair for tomorrow’s style, with a relaxer I could just wrap and hit the pillow. I also felt I could be more spontaneous with my styling. If I fancied a different style in the morning I could just flat iron into the desired style, in minutes. I would still conclude today that relaxed hair is easier to manage on a day to day basis, but it is high maintenance in a different way. When my hair was relaxed I would be at the hair dressers every 2 -3 weeks for a moisture infusing treatment, necessary to keep relaxed hair adequately moisturised to avoid breakage and that limp lack luster look.

2. The more acceptable, neat, tidy look – this is very much the vulnerability that the hair industry preys on. We have long been taught that a ‘well put together’ look is always topped with straight, sleek hair. While I do enjoy a straight look occasionally, it really isn’t worth the time, money and health risks associated with a relaxer. There are many neat, tidy and red carpet ready natural hair styles. We just don’t see them often, although the tide is certainly turning. From banks to furniture retailers, black hair in it’s natural state is being featured in a TV ad near you. I am really enjoying this natural black hair renaissance we are currently in and seeing images of naturall girls and women on TV is really encouraging. It reassures the most reluctant naturals it’s ok to ‘go with the fro’. Personally, the more of these images I see, the more confident I am about wearing my hair in its natural state and basking in the glory of my growing afro.

I wanted desperately to return to relaxed hair so that I wouldn’t stand out at work or in a social context. I rightly thought (at the risk of sounding dramatic), I would be judged just because my hair was different. And I have had people wanting to touch my hair because it’s ‘so different’. Some people react positively to my natural hair and others are confused as to why I won’t relax or straighten it in some way.

I am a natural because it’s who I am. 

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To The Brink of Creamy Crack and Back!

Just a few short months ago, I gave serious consideration to having my hair relaxed. Something I now call a ''dark moment''’ in my natural hair journey. After “transitioning” for about 9 months 5 years ago, I very nearly cracked!

Despite going natural all those years ago, I was a reluctant Naturalista for years! I was very proud to tell people my hair was natural, while they inspected closely, mostly in disbelief because it was always straight. I had such a high dependency on my beloved GHDs that I never ever washed my hair unless it was going to end with a GHD straightening session – it was just part of the process! In fact, if ever the unmentionable happened (GHDs gave up and broke one day), I don’t think I’d have gone to work, to local shop or even answered the door to the postman – unless he was delivering  a Package from GHD.

I found a new addiction in these

I knew nothing....

In the early days of my transitioning process, I loved my ‘new’ natural hair. I could clearly see how much healthier, thicker and stronger it was than my chemically treated / relaxed hair. This was all very well but I really didn’t know how to style or manage my own hair in its natural state. It was my near miss with returning to creamy crack that caused me to realise that I really hadn’t done much research on managing and styling my natural hair. I knew I had to stop the relaxers but I didn’t know what to do next except for wash, condition, blow dry and you guessed it - straighten.  Let’s just say in a pub style quiz with questions like what does TWA stand for,  what is co-washing, what is protective styling,  you wouldn’t have picked me to complete your Naturalista team. Yes I was that bad!

I came so close to relaxing my hair that I popped into my hairdressing salon and had THE CHAT with my hairdresser, booked the appointment and made the necessary childcare arrangements. My hair dresser, who has looked after my hair for years and seen it through pixie crops, colours , relaxers and the transition from relaxed to natural seemed somewhat underwhelmed by my decision to return to the creamy crack. But I was stubborn, steadfast in my new commitment to make my hair ‘more manageable’.

Angry Determination....

So now I had everything in place, 2 days before the big day my husband stuck his oar in! Something about letting myself down and giving up on 5 years of embracing my true self, how the quality of my hair was about to take a nose dive.  *sigh* There are no words to express how angry I was with him. How dare he tell me what to do with the hair on MY head!? Really! Now I was really determined. Armed with angry determination, I wasn’t just going for a relaxer anymore, now I was adding cut and highlights! No scrap that a full head of colour – maybe blonde!

The light bulb moment....

As night fell and I was getting closer to THE day, I thought about my journey and revisited why I went natural in the first place. I thought about my daughter and how she’d one day ask to have her hair relaxed and I wouldn’t have a leg to stand on with my progressively thinning, chemical dependant, but straight hair (anyone else ever wondered why it’s called ‘relaxer?). And then as if the universe was conspiring against my return to the creamy crack, as I casually browsed Facebook, I came across an article a (natural) friend had posted. It was about the black hair industry and how natural hair is perceived by women in Nigeria. The article revealed nothing I hadn’t heard before but it struck a cord when I realised the scale of the industrial size effort to disguise, change or ‘make better’ hair of African origin, not just in Africa but all over the world. It’s a sad day when you hear or read about the boom in Brazilian or Peruvian hair particularly in Africa or the large scale, world- wide  problem of ignorance about the dangers of the chemicals in relaxers, particularly when used as regularly as 6 – 8 times a year as we do.

So… on that sad note, my appointment at the hair dressers changed from relaxer to a red-brown colour and trim. Of course I had it straightened! With all that professional equipment and skill around, I just had to. As a one off, of course!

Now I have a go-to protective style (2 flat twist connecting seamlessly at the back of my head), I have yet to see my best twist out, but I'm getting there and I continue to experiment with a wash and go although I’m still working on perfecting that.

And that my friends, is the story of my rebirth as a Naturalista.

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