Olives, almonds, jet-lag and hair...

It’s Friday again. Just sitting down to write my weekly blog from sunny Spain, after 2 long days of travel and a jet-lagged day of settling in. At least the trip seemed shorter this time, since I was able to sleep during 2 of the 3 flights!

Here are my “secrets” to help your flight seem shorter and to feel more rested when you arrive:

1. Get yourself some earplugs or put on a disconnected headset to muffle that crying baby or the chatty people who don’t realize they’re keeping others awake. If you’re a person who falls asleep to music, you could try playing a soothing quiet tune through the headset.

2. Use a mask to shade your eyes (this one wasn’t my idea… Air France provides these on overnight flights!). Darkness tells your brain it’s time to sleep.

3. Use a neck pillow to prevent your head from falling to one side when you fall asleep (a sudden shift in head position can easily wake you and a bad head angle is a recipe for a stiff neck!)

So, not rocket science, but little things can make a difference in how you feel when you arrive, if you think to prepare ahead!

My other tip is to set your watch to your arrival time zone when you’re halfway through your longest flight. I find it works best if you do this just before or after you take your nap. For me, it seems I can fool myself into changing time zones more easily if there’s sleep involved, since I never know how long I’ve slept until I look at the time! Might not work for you, but it helped me…

And, just to follow up with my “going grey”— above is my photo of “haircut #2”, taken on our balcony overlooking the Mediterranean. (Love it here!) I’m surprised that I look less grey than I expected, though… I guess it’s like a box of chocolates—you never know what you’ll get! Maybe I didn’t need to go quite as short as I did but it will be an easy “do” to keep up with while we’re visiting Espaňa.

I did have a question from a reader, though…what if you don’t want to cut your hair short to speed up the elimination of the dyed part? Two ideas if that’s you… First, if you’re mostly grey, you could colour the top layer platinum to match the roots, either all of the top or streaks/highlights depending on how grey your roots are. Platinum is a popular colour these days, even among younger women. Quite striking, actually! Leaving the underneath part would create a mixture of colours that would help camouflage the “change line”. This could also slow down the change-over, giving you time to get used to it all. Going natural is a change that some of us want to ease into…

A second idea, for those who have a lot of grey, would be to just “strip” out the colour from the dyed hair so it will blend with mostly white/grey roots as they grow out. I have a good friend who is using this approach, and it looks really nice! In similar fashion, some will colour their hair a light colour that will transition more easily to natural. Whatever you decide to do, a consultation with a talented hair colour specialist is always wise. They would certainly have more ideas and experience with all this than I do…

But I must add that I’ve been admiring the lovely natural-coloured styles that increasing numbers of women are sporting these days. Now that I’m paying more attention, I’m noticing so many women who are enjoying just being themselves when it comes to hair style and colour! Our own “freedom 50+”…

But now, back to my pre-supper appetizer of delicious crunchy almonds and tasty Spanish olives…