Archive for May, 2012
Magic Shaving Powder
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have found, in recent years, myself becoming, shall we say, more hirsute than I used to be.
My "before" (courtesy of The Daily Weird)
Ok, not quite that.
But definitely more than I was 5 or 10 years ago. Is it from hormones? Post-pregnancy related? Aging? Seems bizarre.
Now, I’m perfectly fine with having body hair; I am an adult woman and it comes with the territory. And I have no problem with going au naturel–in the cooler months, I do so myself. But when it gets hot outside, I find I just feel cooler when I’m a little barer. Less sticky. So I do the shaving ritual for my legs & underarms & bikini area, whenever I have a few extra moments in the shower. I like the smoothness. (Veering toward TMI…)
My face, however, is where the extra fuzz bothers me the most. The peach fuzz seems thicker around my mouth and jawline, softening an already-softened area, adding to a jowliness I am not comfortable with.
So every other week or so, I lather up a tablespoon of Magic.
This stuff is AWESOME. It is super cheap (like, $2) and seems to be in most drugstores and grocery stores. It’s designed for men who have coarse facial hair to prevent irritation, but it works great for the ladies, with a few modifications.
Here’s what I do. I use a little plastic bowl and plastic spoon to scoop out a spoonful (it’s a white powder–careful not to inhale it). Then add a spoonful of cool water and stir until it’s a thin paste. Then apply with the spoon to an unwashed face (I found I get less irritation this way). I let it sit for 2-3 minutes (the can suggests 5-7, but that’s much too long for me), then scrape it off my face with the side of the spoon. Then I rinse with cool water–no soap, too irritating.
I end up with smooth cheeks and lips that last about two weeks. There are a few tougher hairs on me that don’t respond well, so I just pluck them rather than let the product sit too long and make me red and sore. This also works well between the brows, but be careful not to let it drip into your eyes or to take off too much of your brows!
I’ve also tried this around the bikini area with so-so results–it doesn’t get all the hairs before irritation starts.
So if you’d like to try a cheap depilatory, grab some Magic. There are a couple formulas; the green one (skin conditioning) is the one I’ve used with good results.
Let me know if you try it! And ladies who like to get a little hairless, do you have any tricks to share?
DIY: Purple mullet
From Plague of the Mullet.com
um…skirt, purple mullet skirt!
I should try to dig up some photos of my brothers and their mullets in middle school back in the early ’80s. Gelled spikes on top, long braided rattails in the back as they cruised around on their BMX bikes after breakdancing class…yes the 11-year-old ladies were all over that.
My now-adult-with-kids-of-their-own-and-conservatively-cropped brothers would kill me. 
So here’s a more palatable mullet. I saw the ladies on Ain’t No Mom Jeans and I’ll Take That in Purple celebrating the short-in-front, long-in-back skirts that are now popular, and I thought, hm, my legs are still pretty good. Could I get away with one of those? Better yet, could I make one?
Summer accessorizing
I love necklaces and bracelets and scarves as much as the next accessory junkie, but when summer hits (and oh heavens it has hit already here in the Deep South), I want as little touching my body as possible. Too hot and sticky for a necklace! Bracelets oppressively heavy around puffy wrists! And no way in hell I’m adding a sticky sweaty scarf to the mix…
So…I was reading about summer style “rules” over at Ain’t No Mom Jeans, and it got me thinking about maximizing minimal accessories. The writers make a great point: when the basics are all you’ve got, why not make them make your outfit?
Happy Mother’s Day!
Hope all of you Mamas out there had a delightful day! Mine was just what I asked for: pancakes, then quiet time to myself, then more pancakes! I seem to take the Mother’s Day Brunch idea to extremes…
I used to feel guilty asking to be Not-Mom for Mother’s Day–at least for a little while–but I find that it’s usually just what I need. And luckily, my DH agrees. He took the boys to the Aquarium, and they were thrilled. And I had the whole house to myself for hours! HOURS!
Mostly I played in my closet, trying things on and deciding what needed alteration and what was ready for donation. I’ve got a stack of sewing projects now (just what I needed, ha) and actually finished one project, the results of which I hope to post sometime soon.
One funny thing I noticed was that some of my sundresses (unworn since before I became pregnant with my now-2-year-old) now seem too girlish–cute and funky, but somehow not…sophisticated? enough for my tastes these days. Yet I don’t feel too sad about moving on from them. Especially if I can sell them and buy something new! (I should say “new” since they’ll be coming from the resale shop!)
So here’s the outfit I finally settled on for my forays into the world today. I love this wrap skirt, which I thrifted years ago in Wisconsin. The straight A-line style is flattering to my body shape (apple-ish), and the colors and batik pattern make me think of a costume I helped design & create for a fire fairy in a college production of The Tempest.
Tshirt, Land's End; Skirt, thrifted; sandals, Simple Shoes; necklace, macrame owl made by my mom
Online thrift stores?
I don’t mean Etsy or Ebay or all of the fabulous vintage sites out there–I mean local brick-and-mortar thrift stores reselling cheap used stuff that for some strange reason now have a meaty online presence.
Why is this so strange to me? I suppose the whole point of thrifting, to me, is sorting through the piles/racks of discarded clothes or goodies to find what I might consider a treasure. Vintage sites, Etsy, and Ebay have already done the sorting for you and offer up their treasures–a great resource, but different in my mind.
So when my friend sent me the link to Wisconsin chain Value Village (a store I have frequented growing up and pretty much every time I go back to visit) I was amazed–not only do they post the expected info, such as Red Tag day or Half Off Clothing day, but they sell items from the stores AND have an “In Season” section, where the latest fashion trends–and how to find them at the thrifts–are discussed (and here I thought that was MY idea!).
When I was visiting Missouri recently, I stopped in a Red Racks Thrift Store, also a chain with a website. The store was nicely arranged, a good size with reasonable prices, and I found a couple of good treasures (as did my son!). The website is charming, and covers most of the basics: Super Sunday Sale, .98 cents days, and where new stores are opening up–not much else.
Goodwill and Salvation Army have sites that are more like I’d expect, discussing the organization’s goals, job opportunities, who they serve, store locations, a few thrifting tips–more-or-less business-oriented. (Though I was intrigued by a Goodwill blog post by Jenna and went to check out her fun-looking site/project, All Thrifty States, where she visits thrift stores across the country in order to learn more about America. I’ll definitely be checking it out more!)
Is this a trend? I know everybody’s on the web these days–I was just surprised at the depth of the presence from some of these shops. Has thrifting become trendy? Is online thrifting a “thing”? What has your experience been–would you do your thrifting from your couch?
