How to master curly hair without hair mousse

Natural curls may be more fashionable than they’ve ever been before, but how do you look after them as a midlife woman?

In my youth, I was lucky enough to sport a mane of long, thick, natural ringlets, a striking contrast to my tiny size eight figure. Fast-forward 30 years and my hair has halved in volume and I’m now a size 12. Despite the change in numbers though, I’m far more confident now than I was back then – one bonus of getting older is accepting yourself as you are.

As a tweenager, I envied the models’ shiny, straight, blonde hair seen on the covers of the Sweet Dreams books I loved, but by the time I was 14, I liked my distinctive curls. In the 80s while all my friends were booking perms, I was rocking the natural look, with just my trusty diffuser hairdryer to keep my curls looking their best.

With hindsight, I took my lustrous locks for granted – little did I know they wouldn’t last forever. It was only in my 40s, three kids later and once my ringlets had dropped into looser curls that I realised what an asset my hair once was. 

Growing up, my hair icons included Julia Roberts (in her Pretty Woman heyday) and Kylie Minogue for her flouncy curls in the ‘I Should Be So Lucky’ video. Interesting that they both now tend to wear their hair straight. Not me though, I’m still happily trapped in the 80s, pumping on my trusty hair mousse to keep the volume up.