The body beautiful

Your guide to make-up and more. This week: what price for good hair?

Those who do not understand the importance of good hair might have been shocked at recently published figures on the average lifetime expenditure on haircare, which show that British women are typically spending £27,000 on their styles in a lifetime.

	Good or bad hair day? Actress Nicole Kidman adjusts her hair whilst out with husband Keith Urban

And the big deal is…? One commentator pointed out that for such an amount you could have a small holiday apartment in Bulgaria. If you asked most women whether they would rather have good hair days for the rest of their lives or a tiny apartment in an unglamorous part of Europe, the sensible ones would choose the barnet. Bad hair is bad for the soul. It can wreck careers, trash self-confidence and ruin wedding days.

Spending money on your hair - especially if you have the type stylists kindly describe as "difficult" - does not mean you are a frivolous person. Far from it. Lady Thatcher's hair always was, and still is, "done". So is Cherie Blair's. I'd put money on Hillary Clinton's campaign hair bill being well into four figures by now. That carefully streaked power-cut is surely being blow-dried twice a day at this crucial time. Why would Charles Worthington have a branch in the City of London if not because a decent do is important for job prospects?

Good hair cuts deep. A high-powered friend of mine shells out £5,000 a year to see TV stylist Paul Edmonds. She has the kind of impeccable highlights that would give Jennifer Aniston a run for her money, but my friend swears she gets a lot more than just a salon finish from Mr Edmonds. "I actually think he is some kind of healer," she confided. "I sat down in his chair the other day an emotional wreck and walked out on air." When you consider that a good therapist in London costs around £90, it looks like my friend has found a cost-effective way to soft hair and soothed nerves.

I'm certainly not the most high-maintenance person I know. Most days I wash my hair (with something from Kiehls or Frédéric Fekkai for around £25 a bottle), condition it (with a nourishing concoction from Philip Kingsley or Kérastase for around the same price), scrape it up into a bun and leave the house. But if I break down the cost of my haircare - taking a deep, deep breath first - I'm sure it's way above the average.

Let's do the maths. For a party or an important meeting, I try to squeeze in a salon blow-dry; I decided some years ago that I was never going to be able to achieve the same results myself. Let's say this occurs roughly once a week at £35 a pop. My hair is naturally dry so a monthly salon conditioning treatment - £30 - is priority code one. This basic salon programme comes to £2,240 per year.

Add to that the cost of colour - to which I am barely committed, booking in for a half-head lowlights (around £90) just three or four times a year. Chuck in the 10 per cent tip, plus a couple of gold coins for the junior, a coffee or even a manicure while the foils work their magic, and we are looking, very easily, at £3,000 a year.

In my youth I'd blag free haircuts on "model" nights, go to cheaper salons and bulk-buy products from the local market. But I'd estimate I've lived the way I do now for at least a decade and - recession and lifespan permitting - plan to do so for at least another 40. That adds up to - gulp - £150,000. Holy hairstraighteners!

And that doesn't include the taxi I hail after an appointment if it is raining/windy/humid because I take the Pauline Prescott, safety-first approach to blow-dry protection. Nor does it include the number of hot irons I have owned, or the £25 Babyliss Hot Air Styler I replace every year or so. My lifetime hair bill will be more if I ever go grey or bald. Gosh, I hope my mother isn't reading this.

On the upside, I always cut my husband and children's hair myself, totally free of charge. Surely that is enough to offset my own hefty haircare tab?