EDITOR’S LETTER
I was 12 years old when I met my best friend Nadette. She was the pretty girl in the brown bubble skirt and matching crop top, with the glossiest, thickest and longest hair I’d ever seen. I was a little star-struck.
Over the years, as our friendship grew, we had many things in common: a well of useless information about ’90s supermodels and a desire to work on a magazine (she as the photographer and me, the writer). We also shared the same chocolate brown hair. But my wispy, fine and frizzy lengths never quite compared to her mane, which was never shorter than her bra strap, sometimes layered, sometimes with a fringe, but always lush and thick. Nadette jokes that she was born with long hair, and I almost believe her.
Not all women are blessed with that lushness, and experiencing sudden hair loss can be confidence-busting. That’s why we spoke to a trichologist about strategies to pamper your scalp to get your healthiest head of hair in ‘Scalp truths’. And if chemical treatments and excessive heat-styling have caused breakage, we’ve got help in ’11 Rules for healthy hair’.
When it comes to our friendship, I can chart our history through new hair technologies: Nadette was my biggest cheerleader the first time I had a bionic straightening treatment, waiting to see if my hair would still come out straight after a shower (it did). She was the first person I knew to request ombré colour long before it was fashionable, and she told me about keratin treatments before they hit our shores.
Sometimes, the relationship with our locks is not as clear cut as our friendships. SA stars describe theirs in one word in ‘Coiffure confidential’. How would you describe yours? Hopefully, after you’ve worked through this issue and found inspiration to try a new colour, a great cut or a desire to embrace your own texture, only one word will spring to mind: love!
Michelle Brownlee Smith
