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I'm a wife, mother and grandmother. I'm opinionated. I contradict myself frequently. Most of all, I love my kids. I believe in them. I fight for them. They're weird and wonderful. If you want to know more, here's a bunch of other stuff from my old site.

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Archive for the ‘Beauty’ Category

Breathe, Skin!

UGH! My face looks like a prune!

The weather is cooling down but we haven’t used the furnace yet. So why is my face getting so dry and wrinkly? Why do I look like a relief map? What’s happening to my face?

I know I’m looking at that dreaded 5-0 birthday next month. I know my face is getting older but this past week has been really hard on my skin. The problem is, I don’t know why I seem to be sprouting new wrinkles so quickly. I don’t think I’ve done anything all that different.

I’m still using all the lotions and potions and serums that I’ve used for the past year. I take special care of the skin around my eyes. I wear lots of sunscreen. It just seems that my skin needs something more. I’m thinking that I should invest in a portable oxygen concentrator to run at night to feed my skin oxygen. Does that work? I know my lungs are healthy since I stopped smoking almost three years ago. But maybe my skin needs a good dose of oxygen to revitalize it.

Okay, off to do some research on that…

Beauty Advice, Anyone?

I’m hoping I can get a little advice here.

My skin is looking really tired. It’s dull and discolored. I use a Glycolic lotion and a retinol product now as well as a night cream with peptides. It’s just not enough, though.

I’m thinking of scheduling a facial but I’m concerned that I could break out from it. I’ve heard that can happen sometimes. I’m looking for a service that includes blackhead removal since those are a problem on my nose.

Is there anything I should ask for when scheduling a facial? A special procedure, maybe? Or specific products? Anyone know?

Look Into My Eyes!

I’ve heard (as you probably have) that the eyes are the windows to the soul. If that’s so, then I think such important windows ought to have some extravagant exterior shutters showing them off!

Way back in the early 80s I fell in love with Ultima II Falsies mascara. It made my lashes thick and long and as close to a false eyelash look as I’ve ever seen. And then Ultima II stopped making my absolute favorite mascara. I’ve been on a quest to find my Holy Grail mascara ever since.

I’ve tried ModelCo (not bad), KissMe mascara (interesting “tubes” coating each lash), DiorShow (not impressed at all) Jane (cheap but actually good), Rimmel (another cheap but good one) and dozens of others. But I wasn’t looking for interesting, not bad or even good. I was looking for WOW! FANTASTIC! I was looking for the ultimate in eyelash dressing.

And now I’ve found it.

I took the kids to the mall this weekend and while they played glow-in-the-dark miniture golf, I headed to Macy’s for mascara. I know that Lancome makes excellent mascara but it always dries out too fast. The only brand at this particular store that I hadn’t tried was Shiseido. So I set my sights on Shiseido. I requested a false eyelash look and Cindy, the Shiseido Consultant, worked her magic.

First, I love that Cindy looked to be around my age. Some of the makeup lines seem to employ younger girls and while they’re very nice, they can’t possibly know what it’s like to have 50 year old skin. I like looking into a face that is close to my age and looking fabulous.

As for the products, Cindy understood exactly what I wanted. She understood that eyelashes begin to thin out as we age. She understood the look I wanted. So started off with the Shiseido Mascara Base, a gel that goes on clear. I’ve always used a base but every base I have (at least 4 right now) is a cream base. They all work the same so I didn’t expect this one to be very different. Oh, but it is!

Even though you can’t see the Mascara Base on my lashes, you could see that my lashes appeared longer after one application. That alone surprised me. I never would have guessed that a clear gel would make my lashes look longer.

And then Cindy applied Shiseido Advanced Volume Mascara. OMG!! Just one coat of this unbelievable mascara made my lashes look so long and thick that I could have sworn they were fake. I was totally blown away.

Naturally I bought both the base and the mascara on the spot. Then, on my way home, I began to have a little bit of buyer’s remorse. I wondered, what if the mascara flaked all over my face? What if it smeared and gave me raccoon eyes? What if taking it off was so hard that my eyes became irritate? Maybe I should have worn it for the day, taken it off that night and then gone back to buy it the next day.

I needn’t have worried though. This mascara over the base stuck to my lashes and wore like steel. Taking it off was a cinch. My typical method is a little Extra Virgin Olive Oil on a cotton pad to gently remove all eye makeup. The Shiseido mascara came off easily.

Ignore the age spots and fine lines, and behold the lashes that don’t disappear!

Magic Potion For My Skin

I think I’m going to break down and order my beloved Helichrysum Essential Oil and a large bottle of Emu Oil. Nothing makes my skin feel and look as good as those two simple ingredients.

Actually, I think Heli EO is wonderful for just about anything, from Rosacea to psoriasis treatment. Naturally, if your doctor prescribes medication you should stick with that, but there’s no reason not to give this fantastic EO a try.

If I could own just one Essential Oil ever for the rest of my life, it would be Helichrysum. It’s that wonderful. Pricey, but wonderful.

Beauty Improvements

I remember all too well the agony of teenage acne. Back then, the only solution was to try to cover it up. No one knew about (or talked about) non-comedogenic products. The stuff I used to heal and cover my acne actually made it worse.

Today, my daughter is bombarded with choices. Each product carries the claim of being the best acne treatment on the market. The down side is that it makes choosing so difficult. The up side is that most of the products actually do work.

Maggie is trying such a solution right now. I’m hoping it’s the right one for her. If not, it’s back to the drawing board, er… drugstore skin care aisle.

Oh, My Skin!

I don’t know if I’m under more stress right now or if my body is just playing a really mean trick on me, but I’m breaking out like a teenager. This is crazy!

I’ve never had really good skin but since switching to mineral makeup, I’ve remained relatively clear. This past week, though, has turned my face into one huge eruption. I never thought I’d be searching for an acne treatment at this age.

I think I’m going to steam my face tonight to get out all the impurities and then I’ll massage extra virgin olive oil into my skin for healing. Hopefully, that will take care of it. I think I have a little Galbanum Essential Oil left so I might mix a drop of that in the olive oil, too.

I think this acne might be some kind of message that I’m behaving like a child about something. Or is my skin just going haywire, rebelling against getting old?

Rethinking The Age Thing

Looked in the mirror this morning and saw wrinkles. A LOT of wrinkles. They’re not just around my eyes now, they’re on my cheeks, too. And my face is sagging.

So I’m trying to remind myself of all the good things about growing older. For example, I’m not as gullible as I was 20 years ago. I’m almost eligible for AARP, too. They have great discounts on travel, so that’s definitely good. And even though my body aches more now, I’ll consider medicare advantage, too.

The best thing about getting older, of course, is grandkids. Naturally, you need your kids to cooperate with you on that. I just can’t think of anything about being young that is as wonderful as having a grandchild.

Okay, the wrinkles are worth it. End of discussion.

This Is Naked, Naturally

Let’s talk hair.

I was born with curls. Lots and lots of curls. Got it from my dad and passed it on to all but one of my kids. After living with curly hair for almost half a century, I know quite a bit about it. I know that curly hair is different than straight hair.

In my quest to have hair that behaves, I have educated myself in the chemistry of hair. No, I was not a science whiz in school. In fact, had I known then that learning about chemistry could help me with things like lotion, creams, serums, shampoo and conditioner, I’d have actually studied and passed with a grade higher than a “D.”

Anyway. Due to this mass of ringlets on my head and the awful things that most commercial hair products do to it, I have learned a great deal about the ingredients that go into shampoo and conditioner. One of the troubling things I have learned is that it’s nearly impossible to buy a really gentle, non-damaging product for your hair. Well, until now.

Naked Natural SampleI recently got a sample of naked naturals Shampoo and Conditioner. This stuff is different for a few reasons. Primarily, and most important to me, is that the shampoo has no Lauryl or Laureth Sulfates. What is that and why does it matter? Well, these are harsh detergents that most shampoos use. These surfactants give most shampoos their big bubbly suds. People tend to think that it’s the sudsing that makes the hair clean. Not so. You can achieve just as much cleansing from less sudsing – and less harmful – cleansing agents. When I make my own shampoo, I use Cocamidopropyl Betaine and Decyl Glucoside. My shampoo doesn’t suds as much as commercial products but cleans wonderfully. So imagine my delight when I read the ingredient list of the Naked Natural Shampoo and found Cocamidopropyl Betaine as one of the surfactants.

Granted, this natural shampoo didn’t suds as much as some others but it did suds more than the one I make myself. And it cleansed my hair and scalp as well as any I’ve tried. The sample I recieved was for color treated hair, which my hair is not, but it still worked well. I’d love to try the moisturizing line, though.

naked hairI’m also careful about the conditioners I use on my curly hair. I know some curly heads use a lot of silicone based products but I prefer to stay away from silicones. In fact, after shampooing and conditioning my hair, I massage in Monoi di Tahiti oil and let my hair dry naturally. The problem has been finding a conditioner that doesn’t make my hair feel “coated” like so many do. I was pleasantly surprised that the Naked Naturals conditioner left my hair soft, tangle free and yet feeling, well, natural! I don’t think my hair has been this shiny and manageable since I was a kid. Now that’s a big deal.

The thing that really set these hair care products apart was the ingredient Keravis, a plant protein that has been shown to make hair up to 3x stronger. As I age, my hair becomes more and more fragile. This is just what I need to strengthen my hair.

According to the Naked Naturals website, the products contain no animal by-products, no DEA or TEA, synthetic fragrance or harsh chemicals. I don’t necessarily object to animal by-products although I know others do. Synthetic fragrance usually gives me a headache so the light lavender scent was a welcome treat.

My only real objection to the product is the term “natural” but that’s because I don’t like those kinds of buzz words. After all, poison ivy is “natural” but I wouldn’t use it on my hair or skin. Likewise, chemicals are not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I would challenge anyone to define “natural” in respect to beauty products.

Despite that one small gripe, I really love Naked Naturals line. I’m not planning to make any more of my own shampoo or conditioner for a while, choosing instead to buy the full size of the Moisturizing line of Naked Naturals. My curls are happy and that’s what really counts.

Clear It Up

I was always amazed that my sons had very little acne at teens. Both my husband and I dealt with breakouts so I always thought that all my kids would as well. The boys, so far, have been very fortunate, with only an occasional pimple here and there.

Not so for my daughter, though. She’s been battling acne very much like I did at her age. I know how frustrating it is and I’d love to help her with it. I’ve provided simple mineral makeup for her to us, hoping that she’ll use it rather than the gooey stuff she gets at the drug store. (Teens are so difficult sometimes.) I’ve also looked around for various products that may help, at sites like the Orovo online store. I’m still evaluating the ingredients and cost of several lines.

If I can’t help my daughter to clear her face by this summer, it may be time to seek medical advice. I hope we don’t have to go that route but I’m prepared to do so if I must. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

Quick Beauty Fix

I’m about to let on to everyone just how old I am. Not that I’ve kept my age a secret, of course, since I’ve stated it plenty of times (Were you paying attention?) but some of you will read this and not remember what I remember and realize just how ancient I am.

When I was a teen, my sister and I had all kinds of issues with our hair. For one thing, it was curly. For another, it was curly. No kidding, that as a huge problem for us back when the ultimate hair style was parted down the middle and hanging straight as an arrow. The whole point of that look was rebellion against the values of the 50s with permed hair, wife at home, etc. etc. Straight hair meant no hairdressers or structure. It was about free and easy and being yourself. Except that concept flew right over my head. Instead, I spent more time keeping my hair straight than most women spent curling it during the previous decades. So much for being yourself.

Any woman with curly hair tryi
ng to be straight will tell you that water is the devil. Whether I went swimming or got caught in a light rain shower, all of my straightening efforts would be destroyed instantly. Heck, even a humid day would turn me into a frizzy mess over the course of hours or even minutes. Naturally, we always tried to get an extra day between shampoos to avoid the water and the need to pull, tug and iron the curls out of our tresses.

To the rescue came an innovative product, PSSSST! It was a spray can of dry shampoo. With much shame, I admit that I used that white powdery spray to allow myself to skip a day of washing, straightening and ironing my hair. I knew that my hair had a white powdery coating after using it but it stayed straight for and extra day, shaving about 3 or 4 hours from my “getting ready” time for shcool or other activities. Yes, that’s how long I spent doing my hair back then. Shameful.

Several years ago my mom was in search of that product to use on my Aunt Helen. My dear Aunt Helen had had surgery and my mom had trouble washing her hair during the recovery time. We never did find the dry shampoo but remember the white powder, my mom got the idea to sprinkle talc in Aunt Helen’s hair and brush it out. The look was the same – as if someone had sprayed white powder on her head.

So, why do I bring this up? Well, I just noticed that a company, Salon Grafix, has introduced a dry shampoo that sounds like the old stuff but without the white powder look. In fact, the Salon Grafix Dry Shampoo comes in a variety of colors which is probably the trick to this product freshening your hair and keeping it looking great without the white residue. I cannot wait to tell my mom about this!

I do let my hair curl on its own now so the straightening thing isn’t an issue for me. But let’s face it, there are plenty of days when I’m running around the house, mopping, vacuuming, doing the laundry while looking pretty rough. I know that there’s still time to jump in the shower before the husband or kids come home. And then the phone rings and I find out that a kid is sick at school. UGH!!! I’m required to sign the kid out in the office but I know that the dirty hair will send everyone running, thinking I’ve just crawled out of some frightening abyss. No time to shower, Salon Grafix Spray Powder Shampoo is just the thing for a quick fix up.

In fact, this stuff would be great for times of illness or injury, too. It’s bad enough being stuck in a hospital bed or even laid up at home, but to have your hair looking bad, too, is really too much to bear. Nice hair can go a long way toward helping in the recovery process. I know from having given birth so many times that when I fixed myself up, I began to feel better, too.

So tell me, are any of you old enough to remember the stuff from the 60s and 70s? Did you try it? Would you try this? And for those of you who work outside the home, is this something that you’d keep in your desk at work, to “freshen” your look before heading out in the evening, straight from the office? Can’t wait to hear what you guys think!

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