Kate Livingstone: Could you ditch the hairdryer?

Some of the things that come out of their mouths sometimes are staggering, but a comment made this week – by a head of state – no less, has left me speechless.

Well, not quite speechless obviously, or this column would be somewhat brief.

Anyway, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is on a crusade to keep the country from falling into an energy crises and has made his own suggestions on how his citizens can cut down on their power consumption.

He recommends drying washing clothes outside rather than a tumble dryer (fair enough), introducing a four-day working week to save on travelling (super!), and advising women to only use a hair dryer on special occasions (pardon?).

Señor Maduro reckons that “a woman looks better when she just runs her fingers through her hair and lets it dry naturally”.

Well, at the risk of sounding crude, I’d like to invite him into my bedroom after my morning shower.

If I merely ran my fingers through my hair, I doubt I could leave the house, never mind board public transport and attempt to be a professional at work all day.

I’d scare people with a combination of frizzy and wild hair.

You see it’s not just hairdryers he wants to ban, it’s all small appliances – so no tongs or straighteners either, ladies.

I’m sure that if you are the president of Venezuela, you are probably going to be in the company of many a beautiful, young women.

The ones who literally roll out of bed looking complete perfect, with the sheer power of vitality and youth negating the need for any kind of beauty aid, product, or even a mirror.

But for the rest of us, the mere mortals of this world, or even just those of us who are middle-aged, taking away these wee tricks is a little cruel.

The fact is, that as you get older, you need a little extra help.

Visits to the hairdressers are more expensive, as a simple trim suddenly becomes a cut, colour, half-head foils, conditioning treatment, blow dry and finish.

Clothes that cost a pittance in popular high street shops tend not to fit as well as they do on the models, and the less said about underwear the better.

However, I suppose that he is only trying to improve a situation after weather conditions wrecked havoc with the country.

But draconian measures will not win favour, even in a federal presidential republic.