The Fructis ad for some hair treatment says “Why wait 3 minutes for a miracle treatment? You have better things to do with your time.” Have we become so shallow and so busy that we can’t even spare three minutes, the time it takes to go to the loo, to condition our hair?

I shake my head when I hear such ads because it is a sad reflection on our society. We tell ourselves, apparently, that our lives are so hectic that we can’t sit down for three minutes while a conditioner performs its miracles.

What would be wrong with applying a conditioner and then having a quiet meditation to ease your levels of stress. No time for that, says the ad. It’s go! go! go! Chasing your tails just to fit more drivel into your day and then having to drink in the evenings or take drugs to unwind after all that rushing around.

And this is in spite of all the mod cons and remote controls, not to mention the outsourcing of mundane chores. People even hire others to walk their dogs for them!

When you can’t fit in a three minute treatment, once a week, in your ‘oh so full life’, then there is something seriously wrong with your priorities.

What bothers me the most about the ad is the fact that advertisers of Fructis thought it might appeal to those women or they wouldn’t have created such a campaign. And from what I have observed about the pace of modern living they are sadly correct.

“What is this life, if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?” wrote W.H Davies in his poem “Leisure”. Isn’t it about time we asked ourselves the same question?