2014 Mulled Wine

I don't consider myself a wine connoisseur, but I remember one year when someone I worked with told me about their sampling of mulled wines across all the supermarkets. I thought it was a great idea but this is the first year I've thought about it early enough to have a chance to try all the supermarkets. So, following is a completely unprofessional list of everything I've tried in order and what I thought in rankings 1 to 5...

4 Mulled Wine (Selected by Tesco)
£3.59, 75cl, 10% vol
The first mulled wine I've tasted this festive season, it smells the way it tastes - sweet. Not enough to be sickly, but enough to overpower the other flavours.

3 Mulled Wine (Selected by The co-operative)
£3.49, 75cl, 10% vol
While it's not too sweet, this wine tasted less like one seasoned with spices and more just a mix of all the flavours of a mulled wine. Not bad, but not distinct either.

1 Mulled Wine (Winemaker's selection by Sainsbury's)
£3.00, 75cl, 8% vol
Now this is a bit more like what I look for in mulled wine; I can actually taste the wine.

5 Mulled Wine (Sainsbury's Taste the Difference)
£4.35, 75cl, 11% vol
Unfortunately, this falls back into the too sweet category, and so, with the (marginal) increase in price compared to the others, drops to the bottom.

2 Winter Warmer Mulled Wine (Morrisons)
£3.49, 75cl, 10% vol

While nothing special, at least this wine wasn't too sweet or mixed with so many flavours they all blurred into the background.

So, all in all, a rather disappointing first year testing out all the supermarket's offerings. I would have liked to sample some more but haven't planned well enough for it this year. Next year I'll do a shopping trip at all the supermarkets at the start of the month, rather than trying to head out to one after I've finished each bottle. It has been fun experimenting though :)

So, hair

I don't 'get' hair. I strongly suspect I never will. It's not something I'm passionate about, or even interested in, and I have been fed up with mine for a long time.

I am, however, trying to do 'something' to make it a bit more acceptable.

I'm hoping a few blog posts will help me log my progress and learnings, and, maybe, an expect will comment and solve all my problems.

My hair is wavy, and I like my waves, but it is also frizzy.

I don't like spending a lot of time on my hair. My ideal hair care routine would be a wash with shampoo and conditioner, towel drying and brushing through. I don't mind running another product through my hair, with my hands, but I have no patience for blow drying, straightening or curling.

I've read enough articles to know some of the science about hair and I've tried all sorts of products over the years, without any real success. I had a long phase of straightening my hair in 2006/7, but when I realised my dry, dead, and split ends were climbing up I stopped. I thought I'd had some success with putting some product in my hair when it was wet, twisting or scrunching it up into a bun or clip, and letting it dry naturally before taking the clip out, until I started receiving comments that my hair always looked wet, AKA, greasy.

Anyway, a couple of years ago I decided I needed to start at the basics, I needed to get my hair cut more often, no longer only when I wanted a change, but regularly, to try and keep it growing healthy from root to tip. I also needed a Hairdresser who knew what they were talking about. I wanted someone who saw me walk into the salon and knew straight away what the perfect cut would be for me, someone who had the knowledge and confidence to help me get it right.

In my attempts to find someone I quickly became annoyed with how many different Hairdressers didn't know what to suggest or who suggested so many options it was clear they didn't know much more than I did. They asked me what I wanted, but I was paying them to be the expert! I knew nothing about hair, I just wanted something that wasn't a mess.

Eventually, I decided to spend a bit more money on going to a pricier salon and I finally found what I was looking for.

I know it's just sales, but I've been buying everything my Hairdresser recommends, in search of my miracle product.

I exasperated him when I was last in. He asked me how my products were working and I told him that there'd been no change, my hair was as much a mess as ever. Maybe I needed more time using them? During the course of him cutting my latest trim I explained about my wet twisted bun method and he said I couldn't expect the products to work if I put no effort in.

He instructed me to buy a round bristle brush and to blow dry my hair whenever I washed it, every two/three days. I went home and looked for YouTube videos on how to blow dry hair. Seems it may take some getting used to, so I will keep it up until my next appointment.

I have also bought a round bristle brush, one that has the highest ratings on the Boots website.

I've now tried blow drying my hair on several occasions and I can't say I'm overly impressed. Yes, it is straight, but it's frizzy as ever, if not more so. I have a bottle of Argon Oil in my draw at work, another product I'm experimenting with, and I found my hair so messy throughout the day that I had to get it out and work it through my hair on multiple occasions. At least that tames it for a little while.

I've seen no next-day benefit either. Usually if I have my hair straightened properly it lasts for a couple of days, but my hair is just the same, frizzy and tangled as it's always been, a day after blow drying.

Still, it's nice to feel my hair light again. I didn't realise how much I'd been weighing it down by working some product through it while wet and twisting it up to dry.

I'm discouraged, but unsurprised. I'm going to take this photo with me to show my Hairdresser next time he asks for a report.