Many thanks for all the comments I have received so far on my previous post on new wig choices. A couple of thoughts I received in person, many by email and some from comments here. The more doubtful and even negative ones are especially useful as they have made me stop and think.
I'll let you know whether I go for either of the two new proposed styles when I return to London next month.
I deliberately left out two factors in asking for opinions: how I feel about them and what they cost. The reason for the first omission is to get a reaction from people based purely on sight. It's lovely to get support and encouragement, and our trans community and allies are often great at that, but in big decisions you need reality to kick in. They both cost twice what my usual style costs, which isn't exactly cheap either, so I don't want to make an expensive mistake.
The other thing I thought I'd mention about hair is that I am having a resurgence of facial hair. This is odd as my facial hair had whitened and slowed in growth over the last few years to the extent that shaving only every two days for about a decade and then just every three days in the last couple of years was becoming normal. Recently, I often needed to use no beard covering makeup under my foundation as my hair was so pale. This summer, though, the hair around my mouth has markedly darkened and I am back to shaving every two days. This seems very odd. Maybe it's due to diet? Climate? Hormones? I can't say.
I now need strong beard coverage again. The moment I stepped off the Eurostar train at London's St Pancras International Station on arrival there in July I made a beeline for the handy Mac shop in the station concourse and bought a bright orange blusher as well as a darker cream foundation to match my summer tan. Both worked well for me all day during my shopping trip the next day. But the change in hair growth and tone is odd and I'm puzzled by it.
Anyway, the Mac blusher shade is unhelpfully called "Loudspeaker". It's a sort of dark tangerine and is ideal for covering beard shadow (though utterly unsuited to my cheeks). Mac is never cheap, though.
Body hair responds well enough to shaving in the shower, especially with natural soaps. I mentioned Aleppo soap bars last summer which are wonderful for this job and their high oil content leaves you with no need for moisturiser afterwards. I have been experimenting with rice starch soap and tea tree oil soap, too. They are cheaper and also provide a nice glide but leave you dryer afterwards. As someone who suffers from skin problems like eczema, I was given inspiring advice by a doctor once, which was that it was best not to put on my skin anything that I was not prepared to eat. Hence the foodie choices here! But the fact is that not all the heavily synthesised cleaning products we use these days are good for you. I do recommend the Aleppo soap in particular, ideally the fully natural sort from Syria itself. Not cheap, but marvellous when you are shaving or exfoliating.
Astronomy month, summer activities, and my resident critter
It's astronomy month for all. Friday's solar eclipse is not quite total here but will be 94% at sunset. I can't see the sun at sunset as there is a mountain in the way. Now logic would say that climbing the mountain, which is only 900m, would be the solution and the view from the top would be stunning. Except that behind that mountain is another, even higher, mountain. So I might take the bus down the coast to Cape St Ampelio where it's said there should be a virtually ininterrupted view of the eclipsed sun setting near the skyscrapers of Monaco, which might make quite a good camera shot.
The last similar eclipse I enjoyed was in 1999. I worked at a significant science facility and we staff went on to the roof to view this rare phenomenon. Until some petty jobsworth official came up and told us the roof was out of bounds as it was 'dangerous'. Had we not been involved in rational science we could have thrown the said jobsworth off the roof as a sacrifice to the sky gods in return for the sun's light. A poor sacrifice for the immortals, you'll agree, but an appropriate one! Bah! There's no fun in being reasonable and rational is there?
There's an eclipse of the moon at dawn on the 28th, and the Perseids meteor shower ends the month. I've enjoyed seeing quite a few meteors in recent years here.
We had one of our garden parties last weekend which was quite fun. And there's a pizza party this weekend, when there will also be the local council's mid-August fireworks, always a good event.
At home, the hot weather continues relentlessly, by day and by night. Going for a swim doesn't help as the sea and the swimming pools are just the same temperature as the air. The Mediterranean is becoming a tropical sea, and the invasive species from the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean are loving it! It's just as well I planted all those cactuses earlier this year as they are thriving and my herbs all died while I was away. Harvests are being gathered early and there is some food scarcity in the shops. Including bottled water. Which means we have to drink wine instead. Oh, the humanity!
Harry Hopper, my resident grasshopper, also thrives and his pot of plants is now a jungle ideal for him. I say him, but I am now almost confident that Harry Hopper is in fact Hettie Hopper, very likely female and most probably an Italian locust, a very common species here. If you don't like creepy-crawlies then look away below as my latest pictures show a rather handsome critter in shades of coffee brown (she was green when younger) and almost two inches long. Females of this species are much bigger than males, and that's why I think she is female. (What the trans status of this species may be, I don't know.)
I don't keep a pet as it's unfair to an animal when the 'owner' goes away as often as I do, but resident birds and insects are welcome. In many cultures it is considered an honour and a blessing when a house martin or hearth cricket or house centipede chooses your home as its residence. I feel honoured to have Hettie here this year, as I was when Laura the Lizard lived in my herb pots for five months in 2022.
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| Hettie Hopper, my Resident Critter for 2026 |
My next post will be celebrating 15 years of blogging.
Sue x
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