James Corbett Hair

My gorgeous UK (and non-US) readers need to bear with while I work myself through some recent New York activity!

On my recent trip to the Big Apple I was given the opportunity to get coloured by the extremely fabulous James Corbett. Well, I say, 'opportunity', I was frog-marched to his salon and told 'he's the best in the world, sit down' (in the nicest possible way).

James is very discreet about his clientele but a little googling will tell you that he is responsible for colouring people such as Kendall Jenner as well as ensuring that Christina Hendricks stayed a glowing red as Joan Holloway on the set of Mad Men.....

James trained under Frederick Fekkai and Louis Licari, and honed his skills with industry legend Jose Eber.

His salon in Midtown is an unexpected hidden treasure for niche brands - across hair, colour and skincare but the nicest part of the operation is Hair 2 Help, the non-profit that James set up to provide free of charge, holistic healing, wellness and beauty services to cancer patients and their caregivers.

The services provided by Hair 2 Help include wig styling, reflexology therapy, acupuncture therapy, makeup application lessons, nutrition counselling and meditation.

Not just a pretty face. ;) I cannot recommend James and his team highly enough.


Thank you for having me JC.


James Corbett can be found at:
25 West 19th Street - Ground Floor
New York, NY 10011
+1 212-388-1296

For more information on the salon and services: www.jamescorbettstudio.com

For further information on Hair 2 Help including how to donate: hair2help.org

Young girls, 'thigh gaps', You Tube and the 'F' word.

Fat. The 'F' word I've probably used more recently than any other. Yes, even that one.

Long story short, I turned 40, broke my coccyx, bought a car, stopped walking everywhere, exercise was too painful - and I put on weight. No sh*t Sherlock. That is something I am still - and always will have, to work on. The back won't heal and I love my car.

What I let slip though was saying the 'F' word in front of my daughter. Fat - not the other one. She's used to that one. (Judge away - I'm human).

Then I heard stories from my child about girls at school talking about their 'thigh gaps'. Young women seeing a gap at the top of their thighs as something to look up to. Or saying things like 'Oh God I wish I had a gap like you!' to girls who are naturally thin. And some of her friends would call themselves fat in my presence - and my heart would sink.

These are young, healthy, intelligent, insanely intelligent, beautiful young women, who we are bombarding - through social media, advertising, videos (don't get me started on the videos) with images of what 'society' thinks is attractive. See also: Disney films. Anyone else notice that the girls in Frozen look like Bratz dolls? Big eyes, no waists, perfect boobs, long flowing hair that looks like it's trapped in a wind tunnel like a bad Meatloaf video from the 80's?
Yes, they may be the 'heroine' of the movie, but they look like a cartoon version of what real girls look like. And I'm sick of it.

This house is now an 'F' word free zone. I'm turning the 'F' in 'fat' to 'Fabulous'. I can't take it anymore.

We are our own worst enemy. I am in the process of editing my first YouTube videos. The first thing I thought when I saw them was 'God. Fat.' And I very quickly thought of my daughter - and her friends - and stopped myself. We are so much more than our outside appearances and yet we are continuously, relentlessly, made to feel inferior because we are not one of the 10 women in the world that look like the 10 supermodels in the world.

Watch this from Amy Poehler - it's wonderful.



No more. I'm sticking with the other F word. Fuck it.