The days are getting brighter and longer, and of course our thoughts turn to happy things such as er, patio furniture.

Oh yes, the new Spring/Summer catalogues are out, and we can imagine ourselves in the garden sipping iced lemonade and fanning ourselves in the gazebo.

One of the benefits of the warm weather is that you can do so much outdoors. You can hang the clothes out without getting frostbite, you can let Robbie the rabbit out of his hutch and have a wander, and you can read your favourite newspaper in the sunshine. And I can do my dad a favour and brush my hair outside.

Unwanted hair is a big problem in our house. I want it but no-one else does and certainly not on the carpet.

Everyone's hair falls out but when it's long it just makes more of a mess. But it's not just me, according to recent news reports. Apparently, alopecia (hair loss) is a growing problem (well, not growing) and more and more women are becoming bald.

This makes frightening reading for me. Ever since I can remember I have worried about falling hair. As a teenager I spent small fortunes buying almond oil and coconut oil and smearing them into my scalp in a bid to prevent my strands departing.

My friends and I would gather for emergency meetings to discuss what treatment we would try next, even using crushed garlic and red chillies in a hair mask. Oh, it did make my hair fantastically shiny but unfortunately the pong made it impossible for anyone to get suitably close-up to notice.

Trips to Pakistan were no help at all. Over there they are even more obsessed with having fantasy waist-long shimmering hair.

As soon as the plane touched down at Karachi my hair was accosted by various cousins and aunts who wanted to know whether I was a Pantene girl or a Sunsilk lover.

Shampoo is certainly big business, here and there, but my mum says that traditional methods are best. Long before the Body Shop, Mum was using an assortment of herbs and spices to keep her lush black hair thick and shiny, so much so that she was often stopped by people asking her what shampoo she used.

During pregnancy your hair is supposed to either fall out or grow more lustrous. Mine fell out and what was left of it was removed by the baby swinging on it.

Now I am not interested in hair care at all.

The fashion pundits are telling us that the pony tail is back in fashion. And it must be sleek. But stressful lives make it impossible to think about follicles, split ends or shine. The only time I spend on it is when I'm vacuuming it off the carpet.

It would be nice to have the sort of hair in magazines but it is too much bother. Perhaps I'll consider a wig. But only if it wasn't very windy. That really would be hair today, gone tomorrow.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.