it’s afro-american dirt.

Sorry for getting a bit snippy on my end.

I think I was responding not so much to what you actually said but what I interpreted in the context of the whole thread about makeup. Which now, in the coolness of the evening rather than the heat of the afternoon, seems rather logical. Sorry!

Yes Keryn, I automatically assume that any woman who doesn’t wear mascara secretly hates herself and needs immediate professional intervention before she does something drastic with her silverware.

Cool down for 5 seconds and re-read my post.

Forgive me if I’m reading too much into this, but I passionately disagree with that.

Yes, you read that right. I don’t quite know how to explain the phenomenon.

So, I’m a (light-coat of) mascara and (strawberry) chapstick girl. The mascara darkens the blonde tips of my eyelashes to make me look less tired, and the chapstick is mostly for comfort. And yes, only strawberry will do.

But, like Artemis, I try to use skin care products to really improve the health and appearance of my hand-carved mahogany. I guess that’s more of a varnish than a coat of paint, eh?

Interesting post, Rusty!

How do we find the balance between sufficient grooming and liking ourselves and others for who we are? What’s the middleground between laziness and obsessiveness (such as between total lack of concern for physical fitness and compulsive gym workouts)? What about the point that some skin care (and skin care products) actually do improve your skin’s health and your overall health and your confidence in your own attractiveness? What about all the questionable chemicals in conventional cosmetics (say that 5 times fast) and personal care products that have possible long-term health detriments, particularly for women, who generally use more of the personal care products?

It’s a complicated issue.

I personally have a skin care routine that often, but not always, includes foundation; and I usually put on some lip color when heading out into public or hosting something. Mascara goes on about 50% of the time when I’m anticipating company or the public. I think it’s a happy balance. Plus, the products I use really do make my skin healthier (and they’re organic, woo-woo!), so I don’t feel like I need any extra makeup to ‘cover’ anything. And I’ve learned to love my freckles (which, as a child, I didn’t).

On the other hand, I always felt my parents pushed makeup on me too much. I wasn’t allowed to wear it until I was 13, but after that, if I was going somewhere and they thought I wasn’t wearing enough, they’d tell me. I even got some super scarlet lipstick partly so I could over-do the look and get them to back off. But it’s taken me years to learn how to not care when they say things like that (esp. when my mom says them) and years of my dismissal of their makeup advice for them to mostly stop giving it. I hate that it’s so entrenched.

One of our family-lore stories is that when my parents got married (and my mom was a bombshell), my dad told her that even though they were poor students, he didn’t want her wearing cheap make-up. The way my mom tells it, she could’ve been offended, but she didn’t really mind because she was already a committed Merle Norman gal.

I was appalled.

I am a hand-carved mahogany box.