IF IN DOUBT, WASH YOUR HAIR
A manual for Life

Whether you are starting out in life with dreams and passions or looking back on it and taking stock, ‘If in Doubt Wash, Your Hair’ – A Manual for Life’ by Anya Hindmarch is a refreshing and personal account that will ignite your raison dêtre and provide comfort to all women (not just the fashionistas and embracers of style). Written in lockdown our Wild Card read is filled with inspiring ideas and practical advice for life.

Famous for her exquisite handbags and her imaginative and memorable campaigns such as ‘I’m Not A Plastic Bag’ (2007) and ‘I Am A Plastic Bag’ (2020), in this book we discover the Anya behind the mother of five, a successful entrepreneur and a globally renowned businesswoman.

At the right side of fifty, with over 30 years as a working woman, Anya shares her story of family life as a young ambitious mother juggling a career, marrying a widow with three young children (and then having two of her own) and setting out in life with ‘doubts’ and insecurities. We discover her roots and coping strategies – some definitely worth pinching such as ‘beat the clock’ and ‘the Christmas contract’. It may not work for you but her enthusiasm for embracing fear and being ‘true to yourself’ is infectious and a comfort.

The title, ‘If In Doubt, Wash Your Hair’ may appear curious, flippant and even trivial, but at the heart is Anya’s story. Her story of doubt, presented with a raw honesty, connects with the reader and with this she invites you to join her journey to designing and building ‘fashion with purpose’.

The book delights the reader on many levels. We have a taste of her creative process and mind, we find out what really gives her the biggest buzz at work (is it the love of craft and workmanship in her products or is it the journey to bring her designs to life?). We also find out what really makes her happy and what drives success – ambitions that we all aspire to.

Her honest appraisal of self, which she assesses and reassesses in the recent year of lockdown, is enlightening. As readers we are reassured that it is okay to doubt, okay to fail (sometimes this is a good thing) and then guided through Anya’s own worries to work out what the pursuit of true happiness is for us all.

In the Den we loved her for her kindness, baring all and finding new truths as well giving us time to appreciate ourselves. As one book clubber in the Den shared – ‘Anya saved me in quarantine – a blessing at 2am last night, good to be a girl, am treasuring every moment, and enjoying the now!’.