Credit where it's due - Schwarzkopf

I'll be the first to admit I spend more time ranting on my blog than giving praise where it's due.  But that's about to change with this post.  I really have to share a piece of wonderful customer service I recently encountered, in the hope that other companies might take note.

If you've met me, or looked through my photos, you'll notice that I like my hair dye.  My natural hair colour is very dark brown, and it's been going slowly grey since the grand old age of 16.  I've been colouring it ever since, and have pretty much worked my way through all the brands on the market.

My hair, with added grumpy expression!

Last month, I popped into our local supermarket to pick up a new box of hair dye, but didn't get to immediately doing the colour.  Lost the receipt somewhere along the way (honestly, who actually keeps receipts they need? Yes, there's dozens in my handbag, but they're invariably for sandwiches & cans of pop).  When I opened the box to colour my hair, I was frustrated to say the least when I found that there wasn't actually any colourant in there, just the developer and conditioner.  Oh Noes! Grey roots!  In days of yore I would have had to say "Sucks to be me" and buy a new one, probably muttering bad things about the brand & not buying from them again for a few years, even though they're a favourite.

However, this is the 21st century, and we are all citizens of the digital community, or something.  So, I did want any self-respecting netizen would do, I took to twitter and facebook.  I found the company's pages, and told them.  They replied and gave me an email contact.  I emailed them with the full details.  Next day I got a phone call asking me for a little bit of extra info, and lo & behold, by the weekend, they had sent me a brand new box of my hair dye to replace my dodgy box, and a personal letter as well.

So this post is a big "Thank you" to the lovely people at Schwarzkopf for making hair colours I like, and for a fantastic piece of customer service.  A few other companies could learn from this.  I'll definitely be buying from them in the future.

Squeaky the Media Starlet

Now, I always knew Squeaky was going to end up a mini-media star.  After all, my twitter handle is @meedja.  And SqueakyDaddy works for the BBC, and used to work on the radio.  There's no escape for her, really, is there?

Well, it's come true.  Squeaky is officially a media starlet, appearing NOW in a Real People magazine near you!  Because I'm a bad blogger, with too many other things to do, I haven't given you much time, this issue is only out until Wednesday 11th July, so pop into your favourite corner shop, supermarket, or wherever you prefer to buy your magazines from, and grab a copy.

Our starring moment

We responded to a call for help from the magazine, for mums to take part in their Mum To Mum advice page, and as Squeaky had recently had a mammoth breakthrough in the hairwashing front, and gone from believing she was being murdered to finding it actually quite good fun, we thought this was the perfect topic to share our experiences.

The whole process was really easy, I sent them an email, they called me a couple of times to take the information from me, and to read back the story to make sure I was happy with it all, and I emailed them a selection of photos (yes, they used my least favourite, where I have complete Hair!Fail, but hey), and we had a very happy evening taking photos in the bath for the one on bottom left.

The whole page

So, pop to the shops on Wednesday, and grab yourself a copy before our moment of fame disappears into the recycling forever!  I'm keeping our copy, it's something Squeaky can look at/be desperately embarrassed by when she's older.

Big Girl!

Today was a Big Girl Day in the Squeaky household.  We put on our Big Girl Trousers and went on an exciting adventure.  All the way to the hairdressers!

I deliberately booked the appointment for roughly naptime, as I needed my hair cut as well, and I figured she'd be more manageable well rested.  Then, typically, she refused to go to sleep in the car on the way there.  Never mind, into the Symbio, reclined, hood down, and a ten minute walk round town is enough to bore anyone to sleep.  She slept all the way through my trim, including the hairdryer bit.  Then woke up, perfectly refreshed & relaxed just in time to sit on my lap, for her First Ever Proper Haircut!  I've trimmed her fringe a couple of times, but it was getting towards the stage where a proper haircut was needed.

Here's the results - a proper Big Girl now!  I'm so proud, she was really well behaved (a Peppa Pig branded bag of mini eggs might have had something to do with that), and sat beautifully for the hairdresser, then got home and phoned Daddy & Grandma to say "Me hair done!"

One more milestone to tick!