Hen Dos and Don'ts

On Saturday nights across the country women doll themselves up and go out into towns all over the country for the great and noble pre-wedding tradition that is the hen night.

Gaggles of women take to the streets of Blackpool, Grimsby and other seaside resorts (and probably London as well) donning fake veils, L-plates, shower caps, matching team t-shirts and the obligatory ‘novelty items’ (some of which are long and hard, some of which are in various sizes and sometimes made of soft rubber). These groups of women, varying in age and in volume often take over whichever establishment is lucky enough to be graced with their presence and it is a wise move of any group of men to steer well clear of their dastardly ways.

It used to be that a night out was enough for this traditional wedding build up event, but as time has progressed so have the lengths that people go to to celebrate the last remaining nights of a woman's single life. A holiday to Tenerife, a weekend in Amsterdam or a day of ultra-relaxation in a country spa are all very regular (and rather expensive) events for a hen and her passionate friends.

So when did the hen and stag practice start? According to research the tradition of the stag night (which was around a long time before the hen night) dates back as far as the days of Henry VIII. Judging by his string of successful marriages, it looks like no matter how many parties you have it does not mean the marriages will end well. One imagines that his stags were rather sordid affairs and apparently if the King requested your presence, you had to attend or you’d be heading straight for the gallows. Do you think his subjects ever had the audacity to attach him naked to a lamp post or put him drunk on a train to Aberdeen? (Sure, I know there were no lamp posts or trains in the 16th century, but please work with me here!)

Historians maintain that the tradition of the stag night started much earlier than Henry’s time and maybe as early as the 5th century BC. It’s believed that the ancient Spartans would celebrate the final days of the grooms single life and make toasts and drink on his behalf to celebrate his last night as a single man. The hen night however started hundreds of years and only became popular in the 1960’s during the sexual revolution when women decided they should give the debauched men a run for their money - and why not? All good fun in the name of the bride!

But when did things start to go downhill with hen and stag nights? I suppose like in so many areas of modern society, people started to compete. Much like the elaborate marriage proposals we see on youtube and all over the internet these days, people started to wonder: who could have a bigger celebration? Who could get more drunk? Who could get wilder and more badly behaved? In fact, the behaviour of many hen nights has got to the point that there’s even a new TV programme launching next week called Hen’s Behaving Badly. Car crash tv let's be honest, and from the clips that have been shown as tasters, I think it will be a shocking example of the way our country's women can behave on one of these infamous nights out.

However, it’s not only the bad behaviour, it’s the sheer size of the celebrations that are getting out of control. Asking your friends to fork out for a long weekend in mainland Europe seems rather excessive no matter how much they may love you and want to celebrate your upcoming nuptials (or rather you few days remaining before you undergo them.

HAPPYCAPS goes global!

Watch CAMAY'S 1950's advertisement for a free shower cap with a purchase of their soap. Shower caps have come a long way!

Hi Glenda,

The movie has finally wrapped, my life is at a normal speed again and I finally got my blog post up about your lovely caps! Thank you again for your patience. I hope you like what I wrote.

http://bobbypinblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/we-have-much-more-stylish-options-now.html

Best, Lauren

On 5/14/13 11:46 AM, happycaps@mail.com wrote:

Hello Lauren

Wonderful news re the movie, how exciting for you! Should they need a shower cap scene...

Many thanks and I look forward to hearing more!

Regards

Glenda Hill HAPPYCAPS

It's a Bee's Life

As a member of the BBKA (British Beekeeper's Association) - and also as one of my Darlings has a bee theme in the guise of BEE MY HONEY BUNCH, I thought you may be interested in an article I read on the BBKA website.

Did you know that bees have different jobs throughout their short lives in the colony? The trained eye can often spot the nurses, guards, cleaners and scouts. I found this article really fascinating and would like to share it with you. Life in the Hive is structured; at each stage of a honey bee's life it has a different job.

There is an order to the way the colony is run to ensure its survival. How many type of Bee are in a Honey Bee colony? Three - a single queen, thousands of female workers and in the summer hundreds of male drones. The drone bee does no work and in the early autumn they are evicted by the workers and die.

What Does The Queen Bee Do?

The major purpose of the queen is to lay eggs. During April and May she lays day and night, each egg taking about 20 seconds. That’s over 2000 eggs a day, more than her own body weight. The queen mates only once and holds sufficient sperm from the male drones to lay eggs for 3-5 years, incidentally the drone bee dies in the process which must come as a major disappointment for him.

There are 3 types of wax cell used for eggs. In the smallest cells (5mm diameter) she lays fertilised eggs, which in 21 days produce the female worker bees. In larger cells (7mm diameter) unfertilized eggs are laid which in 24 days become the male drone bees, production of offspring not requiring mating is known as parthenogenesis. A very special cell that hangs vertically downwards is used to produce new queens. A colony producing queen type cells warns the beekeeper of an impending swarm. A male drone bee has no father but does have a grandfather!

A healthy queen bee is continually emitting pheromones (a bee perfume) that only the bees in the hive can smell. These pheromone odours tell the bees in the colony that the queen is still with them and all is well in the hive. This chemical pheromone communication is quite sophisticated and the ‘personality’ of a beehive will change if the beekeeper changes an old queen for a young one. In this way a beekeeper has some control over the temper and enthusiasm of a colony.

Does the queen ‘rule’ the colony?
No, the queen is simply an egg-laying machine. The queen bee has a smaller brain than a worker bee.

Queen making & swarming

1. Bees construct up to 20 wax queen cells, which are acorn like and point downwards.
2. The queen lays fertilised eggs in each queen cell.
3. The young (nurse) bees feed the young queen larvae with a rich creamy food called Royal Jelly, and extend the cell downwards until it is about 25mm in length.
4. Nine days after laying, the first queen cell is sealed with a layer of wax capping.
5. This is the time for a large swarm (called a prime swarm) of bees leaves the hive led by the older bees. The old queen has been starved of food to make her lighter and able to fly. The older bees can jole the old queen to join the swarm.
6. Eight days later first virgin queen leaves her cell. Two things can now occur, either the first virgin queen leads a smaller swarm from the hive (called a cast) or she locates the other queen cells and kills her sisters by stinging through the wax wall of their cells.
7. About one week later the young queen takes her first flight to orientate her to her new surroundings.
8. The queen will shortly take several matting flights in which she will mate with up to 20 male bees called drones.
9. Three days later the mated queen will begin to lay fertilised eggs.
10. This queen will stay with the colony until at least the following year when she too may lead a prime swarm.

How do bees make a queen?
The making of a queen is triggered usually by a combination of conditions such as congestion in the hive and lack of egg laying space this culminates in a swarm.

Why is there only one queen?
It is not understood (by man) why bees will only tolerate one queen but any attempt to introduce a second queen results in her death. If a queen dies unexpectedly during the summer the bees are able to make an emergency queen from eggs younger than 3 days old.

How long does a bee live?
In the summer a worker bee only lives for about 40 days. As no young are raised over the winter months, the workers born in the autumn will live until the following spring. A queen can live up to 5 years however for the beekeeper a queen is past her prime in her third year.

How do bees share out all the jobs in the hive?
When a bee is born it’s first job is to clean out the cell in which she was born. Jobs are then allocated on the basis of age. Duties of Worker Bees 1-2 days - Cleans cells and keeps the brood warm 3-5 days - Feeds older larvae 6-11 days - Feeds youngest larvae 12-17 days - Produces wax, Builds comb, Carries food, Undertaker duties 18-21 days - Guards the hive entrance 22+ days - Flying from hive begins, Pollinates plants, Collects pollen, nectar and water.

How many bees are in a beehive?
High summer about 35,000 dropping to around 5,000 in the winter.

Why do honey bees swarm?
A swarm is the natural way for bees to multiply and produce new colonies. It is normally the culmination of queen rearing. What Is Bee ‘dancing’? Bees need to communicate with each other to pass on the location of food sources. To do this bees have evolved a unique dance language that can be understood by us. A worker bee returning from a rich source of food will ‘dance’ on the vertical comb surface by running in a circle, on each revolution the bee will bisect the circle at an angle. The angle with respect to 12 O’clock represents the angle to fly with respect to the sun. If the bee ran from 6 to 12 O‘clock i.e. straight up, this would say fly directly towards the sun ‘. And 7 to 1 O’clock would mean fly just to the right of the sun, 12 to 6 O’clock ‘Fly directly away from the sun’. In other words the bees translate the angle to the sun as an angle to the vertical. To represent distance the bee ‘wiggles’ its abdomen whist crossing the circle, the more wiggles the greater the distance. So a bee will ‘say’ to it’s friends ‘Fly over there for about a 1 mile and you will find something that tastes like this’. Pretty Smart!

There is so much in the press about the dwindling bee population and the possibility that this may have been caused by pesticides called neonicitoids that the use of these have now been banned, and whilst the loss of my two bee colonies over this long and harsh winter was probably due to just that, it is quite a privilege to be part of a group of enthusiasts who have the opportunity to observe these fascinating insects without which the world would struggle to survive food wise.

Bees are truly fascinating creatures, totally selfless; they literally work themselves to death - for the benefit of the whole colony. Why not look at one of our fabulous shower caps, appropriately named BEE MY HONEY BUNCH. Covered with fine yellow net, on a base of soft vinyl, this little Darling is sprinkled with small, delicate sunflowers and surrounded by a few honey bees. The shower cap is finished with small satin brown and yellow bows and the risks made of orange binding, enhanced by yellow lace.


Until next time!


HAPPYCAPS

Alternative Uses for Shower Caps:

Lurking nasties: A hotel's TV remote is one of the most likely surfaces to be contaminated with potentially sickening bacteria. 

Most hotels have disposable shower caps in their rooms. It occurred to me that they would make a sensible cover for the remote control. Few of us take sanitation sprays with us when travelling, but if any of you are like me, the bottle is usually in “my other bag”. I came across the article below and thought I would share it with you, especially as many of us will be travelling to sunnier destinations over the next few months.


Hotel health risks: Study reveals TV remote and light switch are among germ hotspots
By TRAVELMAIL REPORTER

It might be wise to pack a large bottle of hand sanitiser the next time you book a hotel stay. A new study has revealed that light switches and TV remote controls in hotel rooms are crawling with potentially sickening bacteria.
Other surfaces most likely to be contaminated include - unsurprisingly - toilets and bathroom sinks.

The study was carried out in three hotel rooms in three American states – Texas, Indiana and South Carolina. Researchers collected samples from 19 surfaces in the rooms and tested them for aerobic bacteria, which includes germs known to cause illnesses, such as streptococcus and staphylococcus. They also tested for the fecal bacteria coliform. Bathroom sinks were found to be hotspots for lurking nasties while floors were also found to be crawling with bacteria.

All the measurements were taken in colony-forming units of bacteria (CFU) per cubic centimetre squared. TV remotes were a major culprit of germs measuring an average of 67.6 CFU.

Researchers also took swabs from hotel cleaning equipment, including gloves, mops and sponges – noting that these items would easily carry the bacteria from room to room. These items were found to be infested with all sorts of bacteria, for example, the sponges were found to have 500 CFU of aerobic and fecal bacteria. 

Kirsch suggested that the findings could help hotels develop better cleaning practice'Currently, housekeepers clean 14 to 16 rooms per eight-hour shift, spending approximately 30 minutes on each room. Identifying high-risk items within a hotel room would allow housekeeping managers to strategically design cleaning practices and allocate time to efficiently reduce the potential health risks posed by microbial contamination in hotel rooms,' she explained.

Armed with that information – and short of taking your own remote control with you – or simply not watching the television, have a wonderful holiday wherever your destination.

Happy travelling!

Alternative Uses for Shower Caps:

Desperate for a diaper? Cut 2 holes for baby's legs in the shower cap, line it with a tee shirt/towel/whatever comes to hand - and voila! Problem is immediately solved ;-)

You just never know what you might be able to achieve with a Happycap! Check out out entire range of shower caps at happycaps.co.uk!

Alternative uses for Shower caps  

Recently I have been looking into other uses for these very reliable yet underrated essentials for daily living. I came across several individuals who actually wear their shower caps in the kitchen whist making certain dishes where the smell of the cooking tends to permeate the hair. This smell can, and usually does, last until the next time your hair is washed. So in order to solve this problem, why not try it for yourself with one of our shower caps - the smell of a full English breakfast is especially powerful and the lingering odour can be avoided!

Below is a wonderful Thai recipe sent to me by a friend. The cooking smell pervades the kitchen whilst in progress, but you now know what to do in order to avoid your curly locks taking on kitchen odours. Enjoy!

PAD KRAPOW MOO 

Recipe Thai basil leaves will cool the fiery red chilli and add the perfect fresh finish to this dish that's crammed with crunch and colour. 

2 tbs oyster sauce
1 tbs fish sauce
2 tsp caster sugar
2 tbs peanut oil
550g pork fillet, thinly sliced
1 red capsicum, halved, seeded, coarsely chopped
2 long fresh red chillies, halved, seeded, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
150g green round beans, trimmed
80ml (1/3 cup) water
1 cup fresh Thai basil leaves
Steamed jasmine rice (optional)

Step 1 Combine the oyster sauce, fish sauce and sugar in a small bowl. Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a large wok over high heat. Stir-fry one-third of the pork for 2 minutes or until browned. Transfer to a plate. Repeat, in 2 more batches, with oil and remaining pork, reheating the wok between batches.

Step 2 Heat the remaining oil in the wok. Stir-fry the capsicum, chilli and garlic for 2 minutes or until soft. Add the beans and water, and stir-fry for 3 minutes or until the beans are tender crisp and the water evaporates.

Step 3 Stir in the oyster sauce mixture and pork. Add the basil and toss to combine. Serve with rice, if desired.

Shower caps don't need to be a necessary evil!

Why do people wear shower caps? To keep their hair dry, to prevent their hair going frizzy or curly from the steam and to protect a hair style. 

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Why in the world does everyone think that everybody in the world washes their hair every day? It isn't necessary, especially if your hair isn't oily or dirty, and, in fact, your hair is more manageable if it isn't washed every day. Plus, some people don't have a hairstyle that lends itself to washing and just letting it dry by itself with a comb run through it a little bit.  If you have just been to have a blow dry, you may want to protect your hair from steam. A shower cap does this. Some people don't have naturally curly hair so they have to set their hair on curlers or it takes too long to blow it dry in the morning.​
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There is something to be said for letting the oils from your scalp reach your hair a bit - makes it healthier, some PH shampoos strip the hair strands.



Most people spend  fifteen minutes in the shower or having a bath.This is your time, your time to relax and dream; a time to indulge and become someone else perhaps, with a themed idea, a fabulous shower cap - and perhaps a glass of bubbly!