The top five Powder Room must reads...

As voted by, well, you....

A recent photo with my pal Bex. It’s meant to be summer, but it’s raining. If you want to know why British people drink so much, this is it…

Hi frens

I’ve had a bit of an influx of new followers - good day to you all - so I thought I'd give you a brief overview of what I do, and where I’m at before a few weeks off for holidays.

I’ve almost had my Substack for a year now which is WILD. It’s fascinating to see which posts do well; often it’s the ones you least expect. It’s also been joyful to have a place to write unedited, freely, and in my own tone of voice (without having my lols taken out. That’s a slight bugbear of mine, it often feels like women can’t be funny in journalism, only men are.)

Going forward I’m still talking about beauty culture, I’ll still be curating those ‘beauty hotlists’ to give you a no BS guide to what to do and what to buy, and I'll also be broadening out a weensy more into identity and culture generally.

I wanted to share here's my five most popular posts and why I think they’re worth a read if you haven’t already. On that note, I’m going to start paywalling things a little bit more gradually; some of these columns take days to write because I want them to be useful and insightful. So if you can and want to upgrade to a paid subs, that would be very much appreciated.

Now, on with the show….

Much love…

Five of my most popular columns….

1. I'm not a wife, or a mum - will I ever be celebrated again?

I wasn’t sure if and how this would resonate (or alienate) but over the last decade, as friends have coupled up, had kids etc, that shift from your friends being your family, to them having their own families can be a bit lonely at times. It takes a lot to keep your closeness, but it seldom feels like that shift is ever discussed from the single person’s POV - so I did that, here.

2. Do you need an ageing plan? 

I didn’t expect this to fly the way it did; sometimes you think it’s just you struggling with these things and looking for a way to navigate the pressures of ageing. Although I hate that both you and I have to waste our valuable brain space with this stuff, it does make me realise how much more of these conversations we need to have. And, because I’m a Capricorn and like practical advice and tips, I needed a plan to follow…here.

3. Are you a victim of generational dieting trauma?

This post came as the result of conversations with friends, talking about their mothers’ comments about weight and bodies and feeling frustrated with their attitudes. I do think we need a bit of gentleness with both older and younger generations as well as our own, we all get differing but equally toxic messages about body image, and size. I’ve genuinely only got a handful of friends who don’t have disordered eating after the millennial size zero years, but the compounded impact of generations of dieting trauma is intense and complicated - see if it resonates with you here.

4. How do we first learn if we’re pretty or ugly?

This is a small extract from my book - so I’m glad it did well otherwise I would have cried tears of blood (peak goth.) I had a sense of being ugly from the age of 4, and this chapter of my book investigates the psychology of how we get the messages about appearance throughout childhood, and why those beliefs are so hard to shift as an adult. Read it here and there are links at the end of this post to buy a copy of UGLY too!

5.I tried 50 box dyes and these are the ones I genuinely rate

Honestly this surprised the sh*t out of me - 171k views?! Wild. But I know why this - and my other beauty shortlists - do so well. Beauty is too bloody complicated and never specific enough. So I’m so glad that these columns are helpful, but I need your input: what do you want me to cover? Let me know and I’ll get cracking…and click here to read this one.

FUTHER READING
-Upgrade your substack to paid here. 
-Buy ‘UGLY: Why the word became beauty obsessed and how to break free’ in the UK here, in the US here and click here to for other countries.
-Follow me on Instagram here
-Find out more about my work here.