In my last Blog I mentioned briefly the DECADE DUMP and now is a good time to elaborate on it more fully. It is about women (and men) reaching a big ‘O’ birthday and leaving behind or dumping things about themselves that, with small changes, will happily take them into a new decade.

I believe that the beginning of each decade is a time for assessing yourself, rather like January 1st can be, in the annual cycle.

For many people reaching a new decade can be a challenging time and not the pleasure I believe it should be.

So I decided (a few decades ago) to float the idea of the Decade Dump on my clients…mostly the ones approaching 50 ++. I realised that if you approached another decade with the same hairstyle, makeup and clothes that you had been wearing for the past decades, this could add years to the way you look now. So I suggested to my clients who were at this stage, to rethink firstly their hair. Many women believe if they hang on to long hair it will make them look younger. It doesn’t, it accentuates the fact that our faces have ‘matured’. Equally the colour is important. If you had dark hair as a younger woman, then trying to keep that colour is a mistake, as our skin tone also changes and now the two don’t match. Also as you, naturally, still have grey hair growing, after a week or so of colouring, the scalp now is a very strong contrast. The same with blondes, colour needs attention and surprisingly so does grey hair. Not all grey hair can be left natural and look good. Its all about the texture of the hair.

Makeup is another pitfall. If you haven’t done it for a few years, reassess your makeup. I like Bobbi Brown, their products and their colours. You can get good advice and free makeovers in most of their stores.

In my previous Blog I spoke about clothes that were bought many years ago, ageing us. It is important for our confidence to update our wardrobes and the beginning of a decade is a good time to do this. This does apply to men too. Although many would disagree, some men are really happy to get advice, but just don’t know where to go to get it. Men, too, enjoy compliments but after a certain age don’t expect them. Why not?

I do not believe in cosmetic surgery unless really needed. I think there are other things that can make us feel more comfortable about reaching another decade. So dumping the one we are leaving and embracing the one we are approaching with a few easy tricks, maybe be a good option.

I would prefer women were complimented with “Is she ?..she looks really good ” rather than “I wonder what she has had done”.

Have fun.

Susie