Wednesday, March 24

Why do you do it, Woman?!

In response to this prompt on what it means to be a girl (in terms of physical maintenance) and whether your beauty routines have to do with your own philosophy or impressing someone else (i.e. a man).


My morning routine is very simple. I wake up forty minutes before it's time to go, brush my teeth, wash my face, apply my routine cosmetics (can be found on the "about me" page), sometimes straighten my hair, dress, and then drag yobu out of bed so he can drive me. I don't do make up or complicated hairstyles in the morning and at the moment I'm thinking of ways to reduce the amount of time I stand around thinking what am I going to wear?. I just would rather sleep.

I do pluck my eyebrows as regularly as I can remember to, I do try to do my nails on a weekly basis because they break otherwise (I have soft nails), I do my toe nails because I don't like my toes and it helps that they're painted, I shave when I shower, and I use various products for my hair as my hair can be quite problematic (maybe a post on this in the future). I haven't gotten a facial in a while, but I plan on it as soon as I come to more money, so it's not so much that I don't want to as that I can't afford to at the moment.  I'm not interested in manicures or pedicures as much, because I am well aware of the damage I do my nails on a daily basis so unless I suddenly become as rich as Richy Rich it's not likely that I can sustain a manicure.  Therefore any facials, massages, acupuncture...these are all luxuries I want for me and I prefer them over expensive hair cuts (my last hair cut was $4 and I trimmed it myself just the other day) and other beauty treatments.  I think when I'm older and wealthier I can revisit those categories and decide if I want to try them.

As for what I do for yobu...well, the line for what I do for me (and my self-esteem) and what I do to please him can get a little blurry. I think shaving regularly is something I do for him, because when I lived alone I only shaved when my legs would show.  Since I've been with him I've worked harder on improving my skin, and I say that I buy products so that he can use them as well (he's an actor/model so he worries about breakouts too), but really I enjoy the results of using Clarisonic brush on my face, various scrubs, and the zit-zapper thing we got not-so-recently.  Makeup is something I don't think I wear for him so much as I wear for the people around me, either because they all wear make up (and I know they will!) or because of random girls who wear make up (like heavy make up in a club), in an effort to measure up.  Dressing up is something I definitely started doing more because of yobu, I think whenever I had a crush on a guy who I would see I would dress up more for him to notice, so living with a crush means having to dress up more often. It makes me feel more confident, putting effort into what I wear that is, but something like dressing cute instead of "professional" or cool is definitely his influence.  Maybe because my ego is not that big to begin with (code for self-esteem issues) I have a more difficult time figuring out what's for me and what's for others because a large percentage of me feeling good is based on feedback from others (terrible, I know) so if you're happy with me, I'm happy with me.

Surprisingly enough this only applies to my outlook, not so much my character, so I can take you not liking my personality or me for me, but if you hate my hairstyle then I'm going to start questioning it as well.

What about you? What do you do that only girls do and why do you do it?

Edit:  I read that Jessica Simpson has a new reality TV show called The Price of Beauty and I will be following it to comment on it from now on. :D

3 comments:

  1. Oooh, do you use that zit zapper thing..what's it called, Zeno or something? Does it really work. I am a sucker for beauty gadgets and had my eye on that for the longest time! xoxo

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  2. I mostly dress up and wear makeup so i can feel presentable since everyone around me has something on. I totally understand where you're coming from. I definitely respect a woman's opinion on makeup and looks over men. If a woman comes to tell me how beautiful my lipstick shade, I'd feel GREAT! :P And yes, I would even question my own hairstyle if someone didn't like it :p

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  3. Logan - The one we use is by Thermaclear and it works on "bumps" before they become pimples (unlike the other ones...I guess?). Sephora has it here: http://www.sephora.com/browse/brand_hierarchy.jhtml?brandId=ThermaClear if you're interested in reading up on it! I don't use it regularly, only when I feel I need to, but yobu uses it almost everyday and I do think it helps when he does.

    Rainy - I agree about the fitting in, it's often just about not feeling "underdressed" or not made up. Like on campus I dress down but then at work I feel inferior if I don't dress up. And they say there are 3 types of women: women who dress for men, women who dress for women, and women who dress for themselves xD

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