30 Days. 30 Hairstyles. Still Me

I’ll let you into a little secret.

When I decided to spend September wearing 30 different hairstyles in 30 days, it wasn’t purely about the hair.

September is Alopecia Awareness Month, so it felt like the perfect time to talk a little more openly about alternative hair — something that has changed my life in ways I could never have imagined.

September is also a special month for me because it would have been Erica’s birthday. Erica was the friend who introduced me to alternative hair in the first place, and the woman whose name now sits alongside mine in Helrica Massage Clinic.

But there was another reason too.

At the beginning of 2026, I was still genuinely frightened of social media.

I overthought what to post. I worried about putting myself out there. I knew that if I wanted people to find Helrica Massage Clinic, I had to become more visible — but that didn’t mean I found it easy.

So I gave myself a reason to show up.

30 days.

30 hairstyles.

One post every day.

No sitting staring at my phone wondering what on earth I was going to talk about. The hair gave me the subject.

What I didn’t realise was how much more those 30 days were going to give me.

I thought I was going to rediscover some forgotten hairstyles.

I think, actually, I ended up rediscovering quite a lot of myself.

One of the first surprises was how much hair I had completely forgotten I owned.

I started opening boxes and thinking, “Oh my God, I forgot I had this one.”

Some of the styles I hadn’t worn for ages ended up being the ones people loved the most.

That made me want to keep digging.

What’s in this box?

What haven’t I worn for years?

What happens if I try this one again?

Instead of reaching for the same familiar favourites, I started mixing things up.

Shorter hair.

Longer hair.

Straight hair.

Curly hair.

Blonde.

Brown.

Silver.

Pink.

And eventually, because there was only one way to finish the month properly… purple.

Me wearing purple alternative hair at Helrica Massage Clinic on day 30 of my hairstyle challenge

And somewhere in amongst all of that, something else changed too.

Posting stopped feeling scary.

At the beginning, having a hairstyle to talk about simply gave me a reason to press “post”.

By the end of the month, I realised I was actually enjoying it.

I wasn’t sitting there worrying so much about whether I should post, what people would think, or whether anyone wanted to hear from me.

I was just showing up.

And that felt like a much bigger achievement than I had expected.

There was another side to the challenge too.

Confidence.

Alternative hair gave me a confidence I had never really had before. Erica helped me discover that three years ago.

But when I look at the woman I was on 1 January 2026 and compare her with the woman I am now, I can see another change altogether.

At the start of this year, I was still frightened of technology, frightened of social media and frightened of putting myself out there.

Now?

I actually enjoy it.

I feel like I belong in rooms I might once have wanted to disappear from.

During September, I stood up as guest speaker at Coffee & Connections.

Me speaking at a Coffee and Connections networking event wearing alternative hair

I knew that day was coming when I started this challenge, and yes, of course I wanted fabulous hair for it.

But what struck me afterwards was that the confidence wasn’t just coming from the hair anymore.

It was coming from me.

From believing in what I do.

From knowing that Helrica Massage Clinic is making a difference.

From knowing that women are coming through my door as somebody’s wife, sister, colleague, friend or mum — and that, for a little while, I get to help them feel more like themselves again.

That confidence now follows me into rooms.

But strangely, the moment during the whole 30 days that affected me most wasn’t standing up as a guest speaker.

It was much quieter than that.

One sunny day, I sat outside Helrica Massage Clinic wearing pink hair and sunglasses.

Me wearing pink alternative hair outside Helrica Massage Clinic in Littleport

Above me was the clinic sign.

Helrica.

Helena and Erica.

The name of the friend who changed my life sitting alongside mine.

And I remember having one of those moments where everything seemed to come together.

I had gone from being frightened of putting myself out there…

to realising that putting myself out there was now helping other people.

That was a big moment for me.

And I know that because something really lovely has happened since I started sharing all of this.

Four women have contacted me to book Alternative Hair Consultations.

Four.

One has a special occasion coming up and told me she doesn’t want to feel the way she currently does when she sees herself in photographs or on the day itself.

Another told me she doesn’t like how she looks in photographs taken at work and has asked me to help her.

And two others simply want to give alternative hair a try.

They’ve seen me wearing it, changing it, having fun with it and getting on with my life, and they want to know whether it could help them feel better too.

That means more to me than I can properly explain.

Because I know what it feels like to be on the other side of that first appointment.

I know what it feels like to wonder whether alternative hair will feel strange, whether it will look like “you”, whether people will notice, whether you’ll feel self-conscious.

And I also know what it feels like when suddenly you look in the mirror and think…

“Oh. There I am.”

So perhaps the thing I was once frightened to share is now the very thing helping another woman take her first step.

That feels pretty special.

And somewhere during those 30 days, I noticed something else.

I was saying yes more.

Yes to trying things.

Yes to going places.

Yes to walking into rooms.

Yes to meeting new people.

I went to Zumba and absolutely loved it.

I tried a Clubbercise class — something I’d never done before — and although I discovered quite quickly that keeping up with all those moves is a whole different skill 😂, it led to a lovely new friendship with Vicky and, later, coffee in the sunshine talking about business, life and all sorts in between.

I also went along to watch Ely Women’s Veterans Football Team train.

Now, anyone who knows me knows football is not exactly my natural habitat.

And apparently I was far more concerned than necessary about the little white ball flying around the pitch. 😂

That has now become a running joke between me and one of the players.

But that one evening turned into something I definitely hadn’t expected.

I am now going to be sponsoring Ely Women’s Veterans Football Team.

And I don’t want to be the kind of sponsor whose name just sits on a shirt.

I want to be involved.

I want to go along to matches and training sessions, support the women, get to know the team and actually be part of it.

That feels really special to me.

Because again, it all came from saying yes to something I might once have talked myself out of.

I went.

I tried it.

I stood there.

I talked to people.

I laughed.

I made new connections.

And I think that is what surprised me most.

The hair challenge started as something fun and visual.

But somehow it gave me this little nudge to keep choosing things that felt different.

Different hair.

Different rooms.

Different people.

Different experiences.

And the more I did that, the more I realised something:

I wasn’t trying to become somebody new.

I was just becoming much more comfortable being me.

During those 30 days, I also completed my training to become a Menopause Wellness Practitioner.

I had started the course before September, but finishing it during this particular month felt strangely fitting.

It has taught me so much — not just for the women who come through the clinic, but for me too.

About nutrition.

About hormones.

About what our bodies are dealing with behind the scenes.

About why we sometimes feel tired, overwhelmed, forgetful, emotional or just not quite ourselves.

And one of the biggest things I took from it was this:

We are far too hard on ourselves.

We focus on the one thing we forgot.

The PE kit.

The school payment.

The appointment.

The thing we meant to do and didn’t.

And we completely overlook everything else we are already juggling.

Sometimes I can be standing there folding a basket of laundry and remind myself that, actually, I’m not really only doing one job.

My body is doing a hundred things in the background.

My brain is holding onto a hundred more.

And I am still standing there folding the washing.

So maybe I don’t need to give myself such a hard time.

Maybe I need to cut myself some slack.

That is something I say to the women who come into Helrica Massage Clinic all the time.

And I think September reminded me that I need to say it to myself too.

We are doing better than we think we are.

And strangely, that idea of being a little kinder to myself didn’t stop with the hair.

It spilled into my wardrobe.

Then the loft.

Then the house.

The 30-day hair challenge had already made me open boxes and rediscover styles I had completely forgotten I owned.

So I started wondering…

What else have I forgotten about?

That thought sent me into my wardrobe.

And this time, I was ruthless.

Not the usual kind of declutter where I take everything out, make an enormous mess, get rid of one skirt and then put everything else back again. 😂

I mean proper carloads to the charity shop.

Things I hadn’t worn for years.

Things I had never worn at all.

Things I had kept because one day I might fit into them again.

Things I looked at and genuinely wondered why on earth I had bought them in the first place.

And do you know what?

It felt liberating.

It reminded me a little of cutting my hair off three years ago.

Sometimes holding on to things doesn’t make us feel better.

Sometimes letting go does.

Our tastes change.

Our bodies change.

Our lives change.

That doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with where we are now.

It just means we are allowed to make room for the version of ourselves we are today.

And amongst all that clearing out, I rediscovered lovely things too.

Clothes I had forgotten I owned.

Pieces I had made myself.

Things I suddenly wanted to wear again.

So perhaps, just like the hair boxes, the wardrobe became another little reminder:

Sometimes we don’t need to become somebody new.

Sometimes we just need to make enough space to find ourselves again.

And then there was the Christmas tree.

Every year, I secretly choose the day our family Christmas tree is going up.

Nobody else knows.

I just put it up and then send everyone a photo saying, “Look what went up today!” 😂

But this year, before all the clearing out, I wasn’t even particularly looking forward to it.

Mainly because I could barely get to the tree in the loft.

Now?

I can.

The loft is clearer.

The house feels lighter.

And I’m actually looking forward to that little moment again.

It sounds like such a small thing, but I think that is what all of this has reminded me.

Making space matters.

Sometimes physically.

Sometimes mentally.

Sometimes emotionally.

And sometimes, once we let go of what we no longer need, we make room for the things that make us happy again.

So what did 30 days and 30 hairstyles actually teach me?

Quite a lot, as it turns out.

I started the month thinking I was giving myself a reason to post on social media.

A little challenge.

A bit of fun.

A way to talk about alternative hair during Alopecia Awareness Month.

And yes, it did all of those things.

But it also reminded me how far I have come.

From the woman who once wanted to disappear into the background…

to the woman who will stand up in a room and speak.

From being frightened of social media…

to actually enjoying it.

From reaching for the same familiar hairstyles…

to opening boxes, trying something different and thinking, “Why haven’t I worn this one for years?”

From being scared to be seen…

to realising that being seen might actually help somebody else.

And perhaps that is the bit I am proudest of.

Because four women have now contacted me for Alternative Hair Consultations.

Four women who have looked at me changing my hair, laughing about it, living my life in it and thought:

“Maybe I could feel like that too.”

If sharing my story helps even one woman feel a little less frightened, a little more hopeful, or simply curious enough to come and have a chat, then every single one of those 30 posts was worth it.

And of course, September will always have another meaning for me.

Erica.

The friend who introduced me to alternative hair.

The friend whose name sits beside mine in Helrica Massage Clinic.

The friend who changed my life in ways I probably didn’t even understand at the time.

I think she would have found the whole 30-day challenge hilarious.

And I like to think she would have been proud of what came from it too.

So yes.

30 days.

30 hairstyles.

Blonde.

Brown.

Curly.

Straight.

Short.

Long.

Pink.

Purple.

And plenty in between.

But underneath every single one of them?

Still me.

Actually…

More than ever, still me.

And if September taught me anything, it’s that I’m nowhere near finished learning, trying new things, saying yes to things that scare me a little, or discovering what comes next.

So here’s to making space.

To cutting ourselves some slack.

To trying the hair.

To wearing the outfit.

To walking into the room.

And to being exactly who we are today.

Because that version of us deserves celebrating too. 💜

(And now all I have to do is get over my fear of that little white football flying around the pitch. Michelle is working on this one with me).