Saturday, January 6, 2007
maintaining oneself
Laura over at 11D has an interesting post today about over maintenance of oneself by which she means lots of coloring your hair, having botox treatments or facial surgery, etc. The post was prompted by Nora Ephron's newest book and a New York Times review of the same (which I'm not linking because the Times requires payment when something is a few days old). Anyway, Ephron apparently asserts that women do "over maintenance" in order to fend off fears of being bag ladies. As you can read in the comments to 11D's post, several of us have risen to a sort of defense of bag ladies by pointing out that bag ladies are not simply women who let themselves go all over slovenly, but are women who came into psychological and financial bad times. Ephron's using them for jolly fun shows a bit of insensitivity, no matter how unintentional but her callousness and lack of awareness aside, my feeling is that most of us use creams and astringents as our skin starts to feel less comfortable and when we look in the mirror and see skin and hair becoming more slack and less lustrous - regardless of whether others notice it (yet). Plus, as we grow up we learn that we are decorative objects in the world at large whether we rail against it tooth and nail or not. Even those who refuse make-up do so mostly with a sort of rebelliousness. (A few months ago, I met a woman who appeared to be a grown up counter-culture type who turned out to be a movie cosmetician. Since that was entirely not what we expected, with her cargo jeans and sweatshirt, long hair and clear but apparently unaided complexion, we complimented her and asked for her "if you had one thing to recommend". Ha ha, she laughed, won't you be surprised, yes use cleansers and all that but the real secret is excellent eyeliner and light foundation. Everyone will be sure it's just you and your fabulous genes.) Fear of bag ladiness, my foot. It's fear of age and decrepitude and death.
With that, here are some questions for any Rare Readers who would like to join in: (1) do you color your hair, (2) do you wear eye make-up, (3) do you wear foundation, (4) would you do botox or other treatments, (5) would you do facial surgery, and (6) why or why not for any or all?
With that, here are some questions for any Rare Readers who would like to join in: (1) do you color your hair, (2) do you wear eye make-up, (3) do you wear foundation, (4) would you do botox or other treatments, (5) would you do facial surgery, and (6) why or why not for any or all?
Labels: about me, blogs (others'), reflections
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| posted by jau at 4:27 PM
— at 5:22 PM, January 06, 2007:
Moze — at 1:43 PM, June 25, 2007:
| posted by jau at 4:27 PM
3 more:
— at 5:22 PM, January 06, 2007:
I think it's about caring about ourselves not about fear or anything. I have a friend who had breast cancer surgery and arranged for a beautician to do her hair, face and nails the day after because it reminded her that she still wanted to take care of herself. I think it shows we are caring about ourselves when we pay some attention to how we look. We don't have to go overboard. (My answers to your questions are the same as yours except it's my puffy eyes I'd like to get rid of, not my chin.)
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Moze — at 1:43 PM, June 25, 2007:
1) Nope. The gray that's coming in is a gorgeous silver. I'm looking forward to more! 2) Mascara, a little, and sometimes a little more, but most days none. Most eye makeup makes my eyes look small. 3) Not often. But I wash and moisturize my face several times a day. 4) No way in hell! This is my face, not the toy of some surgeon.
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