S. writes:

I’ve been reading your beauty blog for about two years now, and really love it!  You give great advice and your honesty about bad products make your rave reviews even more trustworthy.  Thanks for all the tips.  I have a question for you:  my mom is traveling to London for the first time ever (she is so excited!) and is worried about her hair styling tools working abroad.  I lived in Spain for a year and had no problems just using a converter with my American curling iron, but she has heard England has higher volts or some such nonsense, and she doesn’t want to fry her (very expensive) Chi flat iron.  Any advice?  Do you use a converter when you travel abroad, or do you use tools you purchased in England?  Any help would be much appreciated.  Thank you!!

Oh, dear God, S., do not let your mom use her American tools in England!  I have fried the hell out of my hair twice this way; the voltage is indeed screwy (something I can never understand) and not only will she be at a higher risk of burning her hair, but she may break the flatiron, too.  She’s better off going to Boots any buying a “cheap” (I say this with quotes because of the exchange rate) English version.  I’ve had the misfortune of both ruining an expensive flatiron and frying the bejeezus out of wide swaths of my hair while in London, so I speak from very traumatized experience!  Of course, she could always embrace the crappy English weather and try to rock a wavy look while there, but in that case, I’d recommend she bring grooming creme and anti-frizz lotion (the John Frieda Frizz Ease line works well), as well as some hair elastics, a chic skinny scarf or headband, and a damn-the-torpedos attitude!