A plain brown cake, a sleek silver bob

This week, essential life lessons from the village hair salon, plus a recipe for the simplest walnut cake.

I love the film Steel Magnolias: all those women, playing out their lives under the Elnett-scented ministry of Miss Dolly Parton at Truvy’s Salon, Chinquapin, Louisiana.

It’s astonishing I have so much affection for rural hair salons, given my first memory – as a customer, rather than as a little kid sitting on the floor with a colouring book and crayons…