Rachel throughout the ages

Since turning 18, dying my hair has become a regular occurence in my life, so I thought I'd take you all on a trip down memory lane of the past looks I've modelled!


So this is me at the innoncent age of 16, a complete and utter CHAV, this is one of the rare pictures you will find of me with my actual hair colour: a mousey brown that looks like dirty dish water!

Next up is me a year later at the age of 17, Apologies for the CHAV like exterior once again but this is me with the help of some blonde highlights, it obviously wasn't blonde enough for my liking.....

This is me showing how not too do the "bleach blonde look", my friend at the time, who it must be mentioned had no hairdressing experience bleached my hair with a box dye. This look was TRAGIC for me considering the fact that the roots came through every two weeks and when my friend died my roots they would come out lighter than the rest of my hair. So I looked like I had white blonde hair on top and a yellow straw like colour underneath it was wrong on so many levels!

If you can see past the TRAGIC pouts me and Louise are busting out here, you will see my next hair colour! When I finally got bored of looking like a Barbie reject, I decided that the next colour I wanted to be was dark brown. However because of the amount of bleach I had in my hair, the hairdresser's had to strip my hair and then put on a inbetween colour which was a reddy brown it was okay but it was never a permamnent fixture.

"The accidental ginger" look as named by Louise. This colour was a result of the colour in the above picture fading very fast, at the time I didn't like the colour but its now out off all the colours I've been its my all time favourite!

So this was perhaps a bit extreme for me to go from a rather light colour to a really dark one, it took time for me and others around to get used to it believe me! At the time I really wanted to be this colour, friends tried to put me off saying it wouldnt suit me, but then I've never listened to what anyone else has said in my entire life! Looking back I think the colour in this picture is too dark for my complexion it made me look washed out.

Not much difference in the colour here, its just a bit lighter with the help of some subtle blonde highlights. I really liked the colour here, but something else was on my mind....

..the length of my hair, I wanted a bob and a bob is what I got! At the same time I happened to put on a load of weight, which you can see in this picture ( this is me at my heaviest). I look at this picture now and hate what I see not only had I got big, but I'd cut off all my hair, but I believe if you don't like the way you look do something about it, which is what I did.

So this is me after I'd lost my "extra baggage", I'm really proud of this picture, because you can really see the difference in terms of my personal appearance from the picture above to this one. As you can notice I'd also started to grow my bob out at this point.

The colour looks a bit familiar dosen't it? Well this is me going back to my ginger roots, on purpose this time I may add! I LOVE this colour on me at the minuite, not many people die their hair this colour and thats what makes it different!

My hair has finally started to noticeably grow to a decent length, but once again I got the itch to do something different....

So I decided to have the undercut, as seen on Ellie Goulding. I really had to give this some serious consideration before having it done, the undercut isn't for everyone but now I'm really glad I had it. Initially when my friend Laura shaved it, there was a moment when I thought "what the hell have I done", but its something different, I don't want to be like everyone else plus when and if I get bored of it, you can easily cover it by changing my parting ( thank god I have stupidly thick hair!)

So that's the history of my hairstyles over the past 3 years, I've gone from one extreme of been a bleach blonde Chav wearing hair extensions, to been a ginger bird with a shaved head quite a change ah? Who knows what I'll do next?!

Blog post inspired by Adam Lines

For You Grandad

This is one of my articles I wrote for my news and feature writing module at university, its about my Grandad having Parkinson's and how my Nan deals with caring for him 24/7, an issue that is close to my heart. Been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease is something no individual wants to hear. Over the years the condition progressively deteriorates leaving the individual in what can only be described as a shell of their former self. William Powell has lived a good and prosperous life with his of 56 years Eileen. Becoming the carer of her husband Eileen has battled with such emotional turmoil over the last eight years she truly is an inspiration to us all. When William was first diagnosed with Parkinson's he took the attitude that there "was nothing wrong with me" and went about his normal business. Over the last two years the disease has completely taken over his life. Independence is something everyone takes for granted but to have that taken away from you after so many years of been able to stand on your own two feet would be hard for anyone to come to come to terms too not at least a sufferer of Parkinson's. What Eileen finds really hard to comprehend is the fact her husband was the person she always had to rely upon, he was the man of the house it was his sole responsibility to care for her till death did they part. Life doesn't always go according to plan, six months ago under the doctor's request William went for a MRI scan as his memory loss had become so severe they thought he he may have Alzheimer's, Eileen said of this matter: "I prayed he didn't have it, it hurts enough to see the role reversal in our lives I am now his main carer it is my sole responsibility to make sure he is OK". William may be fortunate that he didn't have another life changing disease as the one he already does have has a strain on his normal day to day goings on. Every morning Eileen has to dress him because left to his own devices clothes are put on back to front, attention has to be on William at all times during the day, in one instance when this didn't happen he fell down the stairs bruising all of his back, worry for their safety is clearly evident from their family members as they have daily visits from their son Steven. Over the past few months there has been some developments into the care of William, he now goes to a day centre every Friday giving him the chance to socialise and be independent for a good few hours. Even Eileen has been asked to go to a "support for carers" group something she has decided to decline because she doesn't want to leave William. It's clear that been a carer isn't a 9-5 job, its a lifestyle the pressure of which a lot of individuals couldn't handle. Eileen barely has any time for herself and she tells us how this affects her emotionally: "Since the conditions worsened, I get frustrated with him and I have no time for myself, I just about have enough to do the bare essentials like shopping". Since the Parkinson's worsened Eileen has been put on anti-depressants, William may have contracted the disease but both of them are suffering because of it. Been stuck in a house all day just the two of them must add to the pressure of their relationship. Here Eileen explains why they don't go out much: "When we go out William always wants to do things his way, he has always been an independent man and he struggles to realise that when were out we need to do things my way. He doesn't like escalators and I can't just leave him when were out." It seems the only option for Eileen to keep a close eye on William is for them to stay at home most days. It's not only the independence of William that is lost it's also that of his wife Eileen, a side effect of Parkinsons's is to have disturbed sleep patterns, this affects Eileen as well as William and when a typical day for them both will start at 6am and won't end till about ten pm, its easy to see how tiring their day can really be. Eileen's main concern is for William to take his medication four times a day. It's hard for William to get out in the day, one memory Eileen shares is from when he was still driving: "He was determined to still drive even though his memory wasn't so good, he took the car out and he was gone for three hours, I was beside myself with worry so I had to call my son he couldn't find him. I thought I'd lost him." Due to the Parkinson's Williams memory capacity has shrunk, to have a conversation requires a lot of patience because mid-sentence he will have forgotten the subject, simple things most people take for granted he can't do. For a person who used to have to have his belongings neat and just so it's a shame to see that he now leaves things out and a new daily routine is to put his newspaper in the pantry. Eileen and Williams is truly inspirational after 56 years of marriage they are still going strong regardless of what life throws at them. Life doesn't always deal the card we want but even though Williams condition is slowly deteriorating both he and Eileen battle on with the help of family, showing a new dimension of unconditional love. Love you both very much x

Music

For those who know me on a personal basis, you will know music plays an important role within my life. I constantly play music around me, from my car radio to my Sony Walkman mp3 player which goes EVERYWHERE with me. My taste in music is not for everyone it mainly consists of RnB and chart music, which has earnt me the label of "the chav" by my best friend Louise.

Anyway back to the point of this Blog post, I thought I'd share with you some Artists that I'm really enjoying this week;

Firstly is Chipmunks new single, Champion featuring Chris Brown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlnMVb2XVVk


The song is basically about Chipmunk putting two fingers up to the people who doubted him, hes basically saying I'm here, I made it, I'm a champion. A refreshing perception he gives in the sing is his knowledge of the fact that he can be taken off his pedestal at any time, by the people who made him who he is and that's why, Champion is basically saying you've got to work for what you want, you need to push yourself to achieve what you want in life, instead of making do with what you've got.

Champion was the first time I'd witnessed Chris Brown rap, I was pleasantly surprised in how well he did so, this is an aspect I'd really like him to use on his own material.

Next is a woman called Jessie J, she burst onto the scene late 2010 with her song "Do It Like a Dude", and now her follow up single "Price Tag" has landed straight at number one .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMxX-QOV9tI

I personally think Jessie J is one of the hottest new artists England has at this present time, she seems to have the whole package having written all of the material off her album, she was also responsible for Miley Cyrus's hit song "Party in The USA". Not just a pretty face ah?

I really like the message Jessie conveys with her single "Price Tag", Money shouldn't the centre of everyone's world, people need to be reminded of how to have fun. One of my favorite lines from the song has to be "And it wasn't low blows and video hoes, Am I the only one gettin...tired", a subtle way of suggesting that she doesn't have to rely on the apparent sexiness other artists use to be a success, mentioning no names (BRITNEY SPEARS).

The last artist I want to mention is Nicki Minaj, she's not for everyone but I absolutely LOVE her and I personally think her album "Pink Friday" is one of the best out in the charts at the moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7GW8TYCEG4

Anyway that's me done for today, obviously the sort of music I love is not going to appeal to everyone but I think you always have to be open minded when it comes to music, its a powerful thing. xxxx