My “Classic Bob”

 

          Just about 2 years ago, I decided to drive down to my local downtown salon and try out a new cut, the classic bob. It was a nice family owned hair salon that specializes in both haircutting and skincare. Before coming in for my appointment, I had looked through hundreds of hair magazines. My main focus was finding that “right” bob for me. At that time, the “bob” was all over the celebrity pages of magazines, television shows, and I even spotted some ladies sporting the “bob” in public. I thought it would be a great idea to try out a new cut I’ve never done before since I always stuck with my original long haired layered look with side swept bangs. I can be a risk-taker at times. This was a risk I was certainly not prepared for.

          The day finally came to experience my first ever “bob” cut. I had my hair stylist’s business card in my hand and waited at the salon lobby ready to be called in for my haircut. I knew about my hairstylist after driving by his old salon he was selling and called his number a couple days before my initial arrival at the salon. His name was Mark Zanetto, an amazing hairstylist in the business for 30+ years doing his only desired passion, hair.

          He finally called my name and generously asked me if I needed any water or tea during my service. I politely asked for green tea. Drinking tea is one of my favorite therapeutic drinks at any salon. It helps me calm my mood and relaxes my body down during my service. My hair stylist, Mark came back with my hot green tea and asked me what made me come into the salon today and for what kind of look I was aiming for. The consultation went amazing and I showed him the picture of the “bob” I wanted. I specifically told Mark not to cut the “bob” too high, but at the right length for my facial features. I asked him during the consultation if my round pear shaped face was suitable for this haircut. He gladly said, “Absolutely girl!” His words made me feel so good when he started cutting my thick long hair. I looked down at the floor and couldn’t believe how much he was cutting off. I panicked a little bit, but was thinking if Mark is in the hair business for years, he must absolutely know what he is doing right?

          I’ve gone from stylist after stylist in the past and had a great feeling about Mark and my new cut that was soon to be revealed. As I sipped my sweet green tea, I kept reminiscing about my new haircut and what it was going to turn out like. A mix of good and bad feelings went through my head. Was I going to like it or hate it?

          Finally, during the last snips and finishing touches on my hair, it was almost the premiere of my new “bob.” As Mark added shiny hair serum and slowly misted my hair with a sweet scented hairspray, he took out his famous huge black mirror for me to take a look at the back of my new “bob.” I looked at my hair and was stunned and amazed. My mouth completely dropped wide open and a huge smile brushed across my face. I was completely satisfied and content with my new “bob.” The haircutting experiencing was a success and Mark did everything to make me a happy client. Thus, that was one of the most special moments of my life and I will never forget that “bob” experience with Mark.

Barbara: Secrets to Iconic Bush Hair

If you're like me - and let's face facts - you are, you might have been a little curious how Barbara Bush keeps those locks of hers so silky, silvery, and wonderful. I think I may have stumbled upon the secret when looking for my own hair devices and I thought it was worth sharing: she uses an attachment on her hair dryer to keep those silver strands in line! That's right folks - you just can't get that iconic "Bush" hair with a stylist alone - you need your own devices to keep hair looking terrifying to minorities and the young.

I am certain this is something the Bush family would not want everyone to know about - the old first Lady sitting up at night doing her hair, taming those republican dreads with the vigor and force taught of a Navy Seal. Her sad "O" face popping up every time she burns her scalp and rips out a fresh chunk of Bushy goodness - the flesh tears away with the roots - old Republican roots - as they are both are set in their ways.

I am thinking those silver strands would cause a great deal of embarrassment for the Bush dynasty if this information were ever to get out - and I am risking my life to bring it to you. Who knows - tomorrow they might have me thrown in jail, but this is important stuff and I can not rest until the whole world can get that fabulous, elderly, look. I am prepared to meet my maker if they want to execute me via the famous "Bush firing squad" (GW Senior and Junior getting loaded, shooting family traitors, and drinking their blood). I beg you to spread this secret to honor my name so that the grace and beauty of the famous First Grandma can be shared by all - taking away just an ounce of the power this famous devil worshiping (allegedly) family has.

So, I beg of you, get this fabulous device to keep your hair looking aged, defined, and "Bush-esque". Let's take back some of the power so we can start our own wars. I know if your in Texas or basically anywhere in the middle of the country you probably already have one of these but for the rest of you - get them while they're hot - get it, hot! Ha!

I'm a dead man.

Fish Pedicure?!

My provincialism is probably showing, but -- and BUT, and BUT, and BUT! I know that is a lot of buts. But, I would be kicked in the butt before I would let fish "pedicure" my feet. I saw this CBS NEWS video and I said -- Say What?!

CBS reports -- "Sole Sensation is one of a handful of fish pedicure shops to open in Britain. Customers immerse their feet in a tank of tiny Garra rufa fish which happily feast on any dead skin they can find." See the video.

My take on this is this -- Put my feet in a tank of fish?.Trust the fish to clean my feet of dead skin? I hear Steven King somewhere laughing.-- or is the voice I hear that of Wes Craven?

So what if "fish pedicure" is a time tested method? I don't trust the government, do you think I am going to trust some fish?

Zirh Introduces a Booze-Soap Line

At the end of a long, hard night drinking out on the town, it’s likely that you will have at least some alcohol on your body, your top, your jeans,  your purse, your man-bag, your Iphone, your Ipad, or whatever else you might happen to have with you. If you aren’t going out, however, and would like to pretend that you’ve been out for a wild night on the town in order to impress your friends, you can now use Zirh’s booze-inspired scented soaps.

We can all thank our lucky stars that Zihr has a few different choices in their booze soap line.  For those who prefer an Asian scent (or a Sake cocktail), you might want to try out the Sake Bomb, which supposedly smells like Lemon Grass and retails for a ridiculously expensive 15 bucks. Those who are more serious drinkers and like a little more bang for their buck in a cocktail might like the Zirh’s Long Island Ice-Tea soap, which reportedly smells like a combination between citrus and cola. YUMMY! The Screwdriver (unsurprisingly) is marketed as having a citrus-like scent.

Despite the inclusion of the cocktail names in the soap’s names, the Zihr website doesn’t say anything about whether any of the soaps smell like alcohol. A lot of specialty soaps smell like alcohol anyway, so it truthfully would not make much of a difference. If the alcohol scent is really important to you, you could probably put a little vodka in a spritzer bottle to spray on yourself when you feel the need. A warm Sake Spritzer could also do wonders to perk up tired skin and make you feel like you are out boozing when you’re at home or in the office.

I have a hard time imagining that the booze soaps will have much value to anyone beyond novelty.   As to whether or not the cleverly-named soaps are worth the 15 dollar price tag each is definitely questionable- that’s a lot of money to pay for a single bar of soap. That said, I do think the Zirh soap would look sufficiently nice enough in a glass soap dish to dress up a single guys’ bathroom, which always goes far in impressing in any single ladies that might be around because we all know that how a soap looks and is marketed is much more important than whether it actually cleans well, smells nice, and produces nice suds.

Unwanted Facial Hair: How to Get Rid of It

I was about 17 or 18 when my brother ever-so-helpfully pointed out that I had a mustache. It was exactly what I needed to hear during my rather tumultuous adolescence and my younger brother was just exactly the person to hear it from -please note the sarcasm as it was definitely intended.

At the time, I had no idea that facial hair was a common problem for women- I thought I was a freak and didn’t know what to do. My mother didn’t have a mousetache and I had never noticed whether any other members of my family had one. I was severely traumatized.

The hairs are noticeable. I was embarrassed to have a “friend” joke about my stache in a public place the other day, just the same way you would be embarrassed if a friend joked about a pimple- not a nice feeling.

Luckily, for those of us who are less fortunate in the facial hair department, there are many easy options available.

Here’s the low-down on hair removal options for any hair you might have on your upper lip.

Depilatory Hair-removal Creams: There are several hair-removal creams on the market that are available in drug stores.

  • The good:  The obvious advantage to the hair-removal creams is cost- they are inexpensive. In addition, the hair-removal creams are quick to use.
  • The bad:  Hair-removal creams use harsh chemicals and have adverse side-effects including redness and irritation, especially if the cream is left on too long. As no girl wants to look like Bozo the Clown, the creams should be used with caution. Also, the hair grows back quickly.


Bleaching: You can opt to lighten your facial hair at a salon or at home.

  • The good: Bleaching is not too expensive.
  • The bad:  Although the hairs will be lighter, you will still have hairs on your lip.


Waxing:  Again, this can be done at home or in the salon.

  • The good: It lasts 2-3 weeks. 
  • The bad: For about two minutes, it is painful and involves a trip to the salon.


Threading: Threading is the ancient art of using a thread to “lasso” any unwanted hair to remove it.


  • The good: It is very precise and quick. Threading is also extremely sanitary and does not involve the use of any chemicals on the skin.
  • The bad:  It is tough to find professional threaders.

Guide For A Gentleman?

The Associated Press report titled, "A Short Guide for the Modern Gentleman" -- I saw this video and had to comment on the topic.

What makes a gentleman in the 21st century? A clean set of clothing, a good body deodorant, and the good manners not to break wind in public. Breaking wind and sitting on the throne are things a gentleman does in private. Also, a gentleman should either have a job or a pension that supports his expenses. A gentleman is not a moocher. He lives within his means by making use of his own resources. If a gentleman choose to make a wager, he wagers no more than pocket change, and never more than he can afford to lose. A gentleman is not a welcher. A gentleman has at least one friend, because friendship is healthy. This could be a lady friend, or a gentleman friend, or it could be a well trained and friendly dog.

That's enough advice.

The UnReality Shows

The NBC TV reality program, "The Biggest Loser," which is a so-called reality show about grossly fat people losing a lot of weight in a relatively short time, has spawned best-selling cookbooks and workout DVD's. The show leaves a sizable footprint on popular culture.

I've just watched the CBS news expose about "The Biggest Loser."  CBS News interviews Kai Hibbard, a former contestant of the NBC program. CBS seems to point out gladly, "The Biggest Loser" has been a big ratings winner since its debut in 2004, and CBS goes on to show that there is something rotten on the TV fat farm. Ms Kai Hibbard and her husband discussed in the interview the many and various ways the "reality" show is misleading. See the video.

I stopped believing everything that I saw on TV, when I was very small and learned that there weren't little people inside the TV doing all of those amazing things, that I saw on the screen, and that there weren't anything inside the TV set, but wires and tubes. I stopped believing most things I saw on TV, when I saw someone shot and it was nothing like on TV. There was blood. There was screaming. There were no commercial breaks. I most definitely don't believe what I see in the commercials, nor do I believe the politicians I see on TV, and I don't believe the reality shows. Reality and TV are contradictions in terms. Don't forget to check out the video.

Salon Debacle #379

I don’t know a single woman who hasn’t had a hair debacle. I had my 379th hair trauma last week in preparation for a wedding that I’m not even going to go to.

I was at the mall shopping for a dress- beach casual, whatever that is, and feeling incredibly frustrated because where I live, there aren’t many weddings requiring beach casual attire and none of the sales clerks knew what I was talking about. I tried on dress after dress (none of which looked good except for a dress made for evening wear- decidedly not beach casual) and even phoned a friend from a dressing room to get a second opinion.

Finally, I picked a dress out, but only after making sure that I could return it if I kept the receipt- it looked all right, but was a little bit out of my price range. After that, I needed some help to feel better about myself- I thought getting my hair done would help.

I was wrong.

I went to a place in the mall, which is usually a no-no, but since I haven’t been in the city long, I don’t have a regular hair dresser. The hair stylist was nice, cute, and a little bubbly- I thought getting highlights from her would be the perfect antidote for my shopping blues. It wasn’t. As I learned the hard way, most experienced hair dressers do not look like they have just graduated from beauty school- as it turns out, she may have even been a beauty school drop-out with the way my hair turned out. The color was wrong and I had to have a re-do, which left me looking like a tiger, only without the RAWR.

The salon offered to set me up with a “more experienced stylist” the next day, but I said no. They charged enough that they shouldn’t have hired an incompetent stylist in the first place. Instead, I went to another salon where I was told it would take two more steps to “fix” my hair.

When she was finished, I still wasn’t exactly impressed, but it did look better. She then asked me if I was going to come back to finish the process at which point I told her I wasn’t sure- she then told me that I was one of those people who will never be happy and are always negative.

I told the manager and disagreed heartily with her assessment. Obviously, she never read my article about “Dishwasher Chicken”.

.....

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The High Cost of Beauty



I am not about to disclose my own personal choices for hair removal, beauty products, hair cuts, and the like, but I will say I am staggered by the costs of beauty and beauty-related expenses where I live.

How the women around here afford their typical beauty "maintenance" remains a mystery to me.

A full-leg wax plus a bikini wax is actually a deal at $60 at a nearby salon. Add in $15 for eyebrows for those who aren't too handy with the tweezers and you have a monthly cost of $75 alone just to remove your unwanted hair from your face and body.

Add in the cost of hair cuts, hair coloring, perms, straight perms, and whatever else it is that you personally need to do to keep yourself looking stunning hair-wise, and it can be up to $50-200.00 for a 2 month period, without even considering the cost of shampoo, conditioner, mousse, hair gel, or anything else hair-related.

Should you really believe the hair stylists who claim that it is imperative to go to the salon every 6-8 weeks or is it ok to let your ends straggle a little bit and let the roots grow out?


The experts remain divided, but it's hard to pinch pennies when it comes to your hair. You can color it at home, but home hair kits don't always turn out as well.  (I recommend using natural products like hennas or temporary dyes) and it's really tough to cut your own hair unless you are in the mood for a buzz cut.  

Make-up is yet another expense. Again, I'm not disclosing my own beauty regime, but if you calculate the cost of make-up that the average woman uses on a daily basis, it's not cheap. And, as a friend who recently cut back on her expenditures for beauty products pointed out, it's hard to start using alternative products when you're used to using a higher quality of products on your skin.

I haven't even gotten to the added costs of manicures and pedicures, which are almost necessary for summer time. To save costs on manicures and pedicures, going to a beauty school is a good idea.

I won't even begin to discuss wardrobe and shoe costs. A part of me really is curious how easy it is for most women relate we watch Carrie on "Sex and the City" when she buys a $500.00 pair of shoes when most of us are lucky if we can keep ourselves feeling beautiful with the occasional pampering coupled with the necessary beauty maintenance?

In case you missed some cost-saving beauty tips, check out this great advice.





http://beautyworld.us/news/cost-saving-beauty-advice-beautiful-women

Face Paint, and Images that Lie

If you watch this video

carefully, you'll understand some of the reasons why women struggle so with self-image, and body image. This video is about lying with images.

Keep in mind that this is a promo film for Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty, which, in and of itself, is not a bad thing, and it is in part about increasing the self-esteem of young women.

But keep in mind too, that the ideal of female beauty has changed through time, as this video from Phillip Scott Johnson shows.

We are, all of us, beautiful.

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