Skin Deep

As a child of the 70s/80s, I grew up in a pretty holistic, “hippy” household where we tried to do everything natural & “organic” (long before the word was being stamped on every label). Our food was mostly healthy & natural, some even grown in our own back yard, or from the gardens of friends & family. My mom used “natural” hair & skin care lines, found at Whole Foods (back when they were just one little store in Austin, not a nationwide chain) & vitamins were everywhere. I also remember there being plenty of “home remedies” for this & that. Some were born from tradition, passed down through generations (“old wives tales”) & others came from the extensive reading my father did on all things healthy & natural.

For as far back as I can remember, I would spend hours in my room with various products & ingredients, pilfered from my mother’s bathroom & kitchen, mixing this & that, concocting the perfect products for this or that. At the time I was more concerned with skin care products, probably because that’s what I’d seen on tv or in magazines. Women were always shown devoting a great deal of time to creams & masques for their face during their beauty routines. Hair care seemed really to only consist of using the right shampoo (Vidal Sassoon – because if you don’t look good, we don’t look good!), learning how to get a good nights sleep in a full set of rollers, & a healthy coating of hair spray! Of course, over the years, I learned there is much more to it than that &, eventually, started experimenting with a variety of ingredients on my own hair.

Fast forward to present day – As a licensed cosmetologist, I have a wealth of products readily available to me & promising all manner of results. Some backed by years of research & the finest quality, least damaging ingredients (Kevin.Murphy, Sojourn, Aquage’s SeaExtend line) & many others that are really no better (possibly even worse) than the cheap drug store lines – they just come in a nice package with “famous” name. But for all of their research, proprietary blends, & patented ingredients, have we managed to lose sight of the fact that, for centuries, women have grown long, beautiful, healthy, strong hair without the aid of man made products? Are we overlooking brilliant remedies that may be found right in our own back yards (or local, natural markets, as the case may be)?

Recently, part out of necessity & part out of pure curiosity, I’ve began to experiment with some of these “home remedies” again; researching the ingredients that have traditionally been said to do this or that for your hair & applying that knowledge to mix my own potions. I thought I would start sharing some of the results – wins & losses – here.

So… keep an eye out, as I will be posting the first couple this weekend (complete with pictures)! And, if any of you have any home remedies, for hair or skin, that you love – or ones you’re curious about, but haven’t yet tried – please use the Ask Me a Question link to share it with me, so that I can give it a try & post a review!

I am now officially a licensed cosmetologist in the state of Texas. Only took me 18 years, but what the hell! :-)

www.afetishforhair.com

Took my written state board exam about an hour ago. Completed the 110 question test in just under 30 minutes & scored 87%. Now, just a few more weeks & I’ll clock the last of my hours & be ready to take my practical. Anticipated graduation date is set for November 20th.

18 years in the making… hard to believe it’s really almost over.

Check out this blog from Birchbox.

So….. I just really don’t understand what the big deal is. Who says we have to lose all sense of style & “self” as we age?

I’m not quite 40 yet (38), but I can assure you that I have absolutely no intention of suddenly toning down my look once I hit some arbitrary magic number.

Think about who it is in their 40s, 50s & 60s right now. These women “grew up” in decades when punk & rock & roll were still edgy. I’m a mom, I have 2 teenage boys & I’m covered in tattoos, have my nose pierced, stretched ear lobes & like to keep my hair long with very drastic, edgy layers. Right now it’s black with platinum blonde balayage on the tips of my bangs. I also like it with blue bangs or blue ombre. If I ever did choose to cut it off, I’d probably opt for something asymmetrical & funky (like Miley Cyrus’ new cut - loving that!) & still play with the colours.

What do y’all think?

birchbox:

British artist Daphne Guinness leads the trend in baby boomers rocking edgy hair. (Photo: ohnotheydidn’t.livejournal.com)

We’ve covered a number of crazy hairstyles on this blog, from Miley Cyrus’ asymmetrical platinum cut to Katy Perry’s orange locks on the cover of L’Officiel. But we definitely didn’t anticipate this new trend that’s hitting hair salons across the country. The New York Times is reporting that the bravest, edgiest hairstyles aren’t on the heads of teenagers and 20-somethings anymore—but women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s.

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