Category: beauty

Sunday Morning Reads

by rhealitycheck

I have a tendency to flip through my Sunday T Magazine a bit quickly because I should really be doing homework and not reading the paper for fun – especially not the style magazine of all things but I very rarely can resist. It is my favourite part of the Sunday paper, I just adore looking at all the beautiful clothes and new styles but I often find that I don’t see many articles that truly catch my attention (I’m more a science section fan in that regard).

So imagine my surprise when I found the article “Butch Fatale” and my delight when I saw the fabulous outline of Rachel Maddow. As a member of the queer community it is always a pleasant surprise to see any such thing put in to the news. Especially into T Magazine, I mean that’s a pretty great place to be. It’s interesting because the article speaks of how lesbians very often overlooked in the gay community and for that matter pretty much everywhere else. I mean there are always more than enough lesbian stereotypes to go around the table but if anyone should ask what would image would you conjure of a “hot” lesbian, I don’t think anyone could answer it. There are just too many differing views. And honestly with lipstick lesbians running about how do you even know if they’re gay? But Daphne Merkin makes a great assessment when she said that the lesbians finally have a real icon to turn to in Rachel Maddow. Maddow has captured the hearts of gays & straights, men & women… in fact, I’d say she’s bewitched pretty much anyone who leans a touch left. I’d say that’s score one for the girls that so very often get overlooked. I mean who wouldn’t want to be funny, smart, well-respected and a bit of a wallflower if you could be like Rachel Maddow? I certainly would. In the words of Daphne Merkin, I am offically a fan that “Lesbian Glamour Steps Out of the Closet” in the form of Rachel Maddow.

My next fabulous find of the morning was a piece on the absolutely classic, timeless packaging of Chanel No. 5. Perhaps it is simply because No. 5 happens to be one of my all time favourite fragrances or perhaps it is because there are certain packages that I just adore (Chanel No. 5 being one of them) that I love taking a look at how it came about. I mean I think Gabrielle Chanel was one of the most forward thinking women of her time to be able to come up with such timeless classics. I mean to understand how to imprint something into one’s memory in that way takes talent that very few people have. I always tend to relate these things to the only other thing that I think has such a timeless quality and that is the little blue box of Tiffany & Co. I know being part of the queer community that this may sound a bit like a pipe dream but I have always said whoever gets me a little blue box or a little red box (Cartier, of course) will have my hand. While I may not be entirely serious about it since I do believe in spending the rest of your life with the person you love, not just anyone that gets you the ring of your dreams but it would definitely make me think twice before refusing should it not come from the person I was hoping. Granted this is all theoretical since I am nowhere near decisions like that but I think the fact that so many of my very near and dear college friends are getting married that it does make it stand out a bit more. Not to mention in the midst of the recession things like engagement rings and Chanel just cheer up the spirits a bit. At least they do for me.

The Ever Present Obsession with Losing Weight in America

by rhealitycheck

Imagine my distress as I am reading this morning in the paper about a new method of stapling your stomach where the surgery does not require cutting. I am quite serious and this appears to be quite real and if you’d like to read the article you should click here. I have always found it distressing when women (or men) want to get surgery in order to lose weight. Perhaps I am wrong but I just feel that the healthy way to do it is through diet and exercise. And I do realize that everyone’s body is different and it can be more difficult for some than it is for others which can be disheartening but I also think that it is our own responsibility to take care of our bodies. You cannot just allow yourself to balloon out and then expect a surgery to fix it.

Now I am no exception to the rule, I have my own set of insecurities about my own weight as do most women that I’ve met in the US. (Quite frankly many women from other parts of the world seem to have a healthier view of their bodies, perhaps not leaps and bounds healthier but it’s not quite as hyped up as it is here in the states, at least when I base this on my friends circle.) And I know that in recent years I have really let go and I really need to kick it up a notch but I am not going to let my hectic schedule talk me into a surgery that could possibly be damaging to my health. I mean how much do we know about “shrinking” your stomach. Somehow that just strikes me as a bad idea that could lead to all sorts of negative side effects and serious complications should you not be able to comply with your dietary restrictions.

It’s funny because I don’t think Americans have *always* been obsessed with being slender. I look back at the time of Marilyn Monroe and in those days having curves was sexy. In fact, that was the typical image of a model, it wasn’t those stick thin coat hangars that we call models these days. My theory (and I could certainly be wrong) is that this all changed when Audrey Hepburn came on the scene. No actress/model/famous woman had ever made it so glamorous or “cool” to be thin as she did. I mean let’s face it Audrey Hepburn is still an icon of class and beauty that is unparalleled. (I may be biased, I am also a little in love with her). But it saddens me to think that my most favourite icon of all time could have been partially responsible for this drastic shift in what is a beautiful body. I mean before her time women were supposed to have hourglass figures, which I will admit can also be a bit unrealistic but I think it gives a little more room for imperfection than the coat hangar look.

Don’t get me wrong I love Audrey Hepburn and I think that thin women without an hourglass shape can be beautiful too I just think it has lead to an obsession with losing weight and being thin. It would be great if we could get rid of the stigma of not being stick thin but also maintain an idea of what healthy is so that this country wouldn’t have such a problem with obesity. I believe there is a happy medium and somehow I think that we should be able to attain it.

Most Fab Haircut of Ever

by rhealitycheck

So this weekend I got my hair professionally cut for the first time in 6 years. I had stopped going to hair stylists the summer before my sophomore year of college because at that time my opinion was that I’d had expensive haircuts of approx $100 (I consider that expensive anyway) down to super cheap ones that cost about $15 and I had never got what I wanted. I found that most stylists didn’t listen to me and didn’t necessarily give me hair that grew out well or were even close to what I wanted. So I decided to start cutting my hair myself because if I do a bad job at least I’m not out of money and it’ll grow out. The first few could have been better, they weren’t horrible or tragic but they weren’t exactly fabulous either.

After about a year they began to have a lot of consistency and for a year and a half while I was still in college they were good enough that I started cutting my friends’ hair as well. After college I went back to only cutting my hair because let’s face it when you have a job you don’t have time to be people’s personal stylist out of the goodness of your heart (or at least I don’t). And quite frankly up until this weekend my opinion was that I’m a better stylist and I know my hair better than any professional I had met thus far. (So much so that my friends who haven’t seen me in a while after I give myself a cut will always compliment my hair and ask who my stylist is. I always got a kick out of smugly saying, “I do my own hair, from cutting down to styling/colouring/product etc”).

So since I started grad school in June I really haven’t had time to spend on my hair and definitely not enough to give myself a decent cut. Let me back up a bit, early in June when I had just started work and a few weeks after I had moved to Chicago, there was this poor kid selling salon gift cards outside my office and was getting turned down right and left. So I decided to be nice and just pick one up and figured I’d probably give it away as a gift to one of my good friends.

After having this card for a couple of months and not having time to cut my hair except for minimal trims that weren’t even close to acceptable, I decided maybe I’ll just bite the bullet and let someone else cut my hair, I mean what’s the worst that can happen? I’ll hate it and it’ll grow out, that’s not the end of the world. So I made an appointment and went in not expecting much. By the time I left, I was amazed.

I have officially decided that I have met the stylist of my life. Her name is Gabi, she works at Colin of London just north of downtown Chicago. I have never been happier with my hair. I gave her minimal direction and she has done a wonderful job. Not to mention everyone that walked in the salon knew her and everyone else that went to her *loved* what she did too (I got to see a couple of cuts because she talked me into highlights, which I surprisingly like. I’m not sure I’d do them again, they look great – barely noticeable, which is what I like – but they’re a little pricey without the gift-card and I don’t think I’m invested enough to put in the maintenance that highlights require).

So this is my shameless plug for my wonderful new stylist, Gabi, if you live in Chicago, she’s worth going to see. My hair looks fabulous styled or just air-dried. I never thought I’d see the day when I met someone who could do better things to my hair than I can but I’m eating my words quite happily.