Thursday Thirteen #353

  

13 reasons not to squeeze zits. It's sad but true: I still get pimples. 66 years old, and red bumps still appear beside my nose and on my chin. Not with the regularity of my teens and twenties or even thirties -- thank God! -- but dammit, they still show up.

I have, for the most part, replaced pimple popping with pimple patches. (I'm glad this is a blog and not a podcast, because "replaced pimple popping with pimple patches" would be very difficult to say.) But I admit the temptation is still there. And here are 13 reasons to resist it.

1. Inflammation. Guess what: your skin doesn't like you squeezing and poking at it and that annoying red spot will just get redder.

2. Pain. Squeezing hurts. Pimple patches may not deliver immediate results, but they don't hurt. Be nice to yourself. Don't squeeze.

3. Infection. Anytime you break the skin, you give bacteria a chance to enter and make things worse. 

4. Spread. When you pop a pimple, the pus will just naturally touch nearby pores, which puts you at risk for another zit. 

5. Cysts. If your attempt to pop goes wrong, you may just force the infection deeper and instead of a pimple you may find yourself with hard, really icky cyst.

6. Bruising. Pressing your fingers forcefully into your skin can cause bruising. 

7. Scabbing. Know what looks worse than a zit? A scab. Why risk it?

8. Delayed healing. After you break the skin, it takes longer to heal than if you'd just left it alone. 

9. Scarring. The popped pimple may leave you with a reminder for the rest of your life.

10. Broken blood vessels. After your pimple fades, you may find yourself with a network of little veins near the skin's surface.

11. Discoloration, or "postinflammatory hyperpigmentation." This is what can happen when skin experiences trauma. It can take years for the discoloration to fade completely.

12. Cosmetic reaction. After you pop a zit, you have to be very careful applying moisturizer and foundation. These products were not created for broken skin.

13. I close with my personal endorsement. (At least one of these 13 shouldn't be cringey, right?) I order these patches from Amazon. They're affordable and efficient.

Please join us for THURSDAY THIRTEEN. Click here to play along, and to see other interesting compilations of 13 things.

 

I'm now her

Back in the mid-1980s, I worked as an in-house creative for a major hair care manufacturer. That job was the most fun I ever had at work. I got to hang out with the guys in the lab who tested new products and I learned a great deal about hair chemistry. I learned how to read ingredient statements and write the corresponding claims that appear on the bottles, cans and boxes.

As a result, I know how to shop. I know that price and packaging are not a dependable indicator of quality or results. And I'm a smart consumer ... except for hairspray.

Because back in the mid-1980s, I saw the demographics for Aqua Net. They weren't scientific, they were anecdotal reports from distributors. But they were brutal. Aqua Net was the brand of choice of blue-haired old ladies who favored helmet hair. The ones who like to get lacquered up after sitting under the bonnet hair dryer.

For me, buying Aqua Net has always meant I've given up. Never mind that, with its price point, it's a better deal than just about anything else on the store shelf. This isn't about product performance. It's about self respect.

As of last weekend, I lost all self respect. Nothing else at Walgreens was on sale. Not even Suave or White Rain! So, for the first time, Aqua Net made its way into my shopping bag.

I'm now her. I'm now the blue-haired old lady.

Here's further proof: After my client presentation Monday, I had hours to kill before my train. I was stressed. I was exhausted. I deserved a treat, so I took myself to a local salon and got a 30-minute massage.

It was not until this morning, when I disrobed for my Tuesday shower, that I took note of the undies I had worn on the massage table. Not only were they my big old cotton granny panties, the elastic was frayed.

I'm now her.

Self portrait. See? My hair's not blue!

My color for fall/winter

#161 = Teak Rose. Yes, I got a pedi today, first one in ages! Going from sandals all day/everyday to tennies and flats and even heels every once in a while has been hell on my tootsies.

"The check is in the mail"

So my new freelance client tells me. It better be, because today I spent the money.

I took a writing assignment for the friend of a former coworker. It was fun, a nice respite from the financial services I write at my straight job. Plus it made me happy and proud that I was able to make my former coworker look so good.

Oh, and there's the incremental $412.50. That's nice, too.

Today I spent just over half of it. I bought a Roomba 415 (newer than my current, two year old, much loved, but no longer working well Roomba) and got a pedi at the local salon that is good enough to be open on Sundays. (Puerto Vallerta Violeta again. Maria the manicurist complimented me on how soft my heels are! I feel like I got a gold star on my homework.)

I'm having lunch on Tuesday with the former coworker who set this up. I've already done a couple of quick assignments for her this year, too. I wonder if Tuesday will be business or social. With the agency world as it is right now, I should snap like a turtle at any incremental income that's offered to pay for luxuries like vacuum cleaning robots and Sunday pedis.

Yum!

I am hooked on Japanese Cherry Blossom bath products by The Body Shop. It has the most delicious smell! It's only available for a limited time, so get yourself to The Body Shop, at the mall or online, today. Really. You will thank me.

Time for a beauty break

My order from Sephora.com just arrived and I confess -- I'M IN LOVE! Behold my new philosophy® Supernatural Retractable Blush Brush. A natural hair* brush that folds down to a little over 4" long and fits beautifully in my makeup bag.

Earlier this year, when I was on my fantabulous spa vacation, I got not so much a makeover as a makeup refresher. The way I had been doing my face was a bit dated, and esthetician Lauryn laid down the law: no more mascara on my lower lashes and blush is mandatory. I've been trying to follow her edicts, but the brushes that come with powder blushes are so uniformly crappy that I haven't been able to touch it up during the day.

No more. From here on out, this ol' Gal will be as pink-cheeked as she was in her long-ago, dewy youth.

* I can't help but notice they don't specify what kind of "natural hair." I'm trying not to dwell on this.

Hugging Victoria

I'm sitting here waiting to hear that my mom is finally coming home from the hospital (long story, separate entry to come) and I'm watching an infomercial for Victoria Principal's Reclaim cosmetics line.

I like Victoria's products and have been using some of them for more than a decade. I know I don't look my age and I give this line some credit for that. But if Victoria Principal and I were to suddenly cross paths, would I hug her in gratitude? No. A handshake, sure. Perhaps even a surprised, delighted squeal. But no hug.

That's one thing I've noticed about this infomercial: all the women who are on air to provide testimonials seem so comfortable with Victoria, so eager to hug her.

Is it because the products are so wonderful? Because these women watched her as Pam on Dallas for all those years?

Take that, Victoria Principal!

Principal Secret discontinued my moisturizer, Time Release Moisture. Creamy but not greasy, with a decent SPF, I love the contents of that pink and white jar. Her newer products -- from her Advanced and Reclaim lines -- just don't do it for me, leaving my skin feeling tight.

When I was getting my spa facial last week, the cosmetologist told me how "really good" my skin looked and I should just "keep doing" what I've been doing. Much of the credit goes to my new dermatologist, and his antibiotic cream and his laser, but I also believe it's due in large part to my beloved Time Release Moisture.

I've tried countless other creams and they have all ended up on my nightstand so I can use them on my heels. (I have the most expensively moisturized heels in North America!) Until now. This lovely little purple jar from Kohl's Good Skin line seems to work almost as well as my Time Release Moisture, and better than some of the more expensive brands I've auditioned.

Since this isn't the perfect replacement, I'm planning on trying one more, a calming lotion by Aveeno. But at least now I can be confident that once I deplete that last lonely jar of Time Release Moisture, I won't automatically start looking like my portrait in the attic.

Free to underprivileged trollops …

… 3 boxes of Nice & Easy #108. They're of no use to me anymore because I've left my red headed days behind. But I find it impossible to throw anything new away.

So if you've ever had a desire to look like Belle Watling from Gone with the Wind …

If I have only one life …

… let me live it as a brunette. Actually, according to Matrix, my hair is now "dark natural blonde," but what they hey. It's back to a reasonable facsimile of my natural color, which I haven't seen in a quarter of a century. I like how it looks. I'm curious about how it will play with all those who have never seen me as anything but a redhead. But the important thing is that I like it. There's something significant about this change. I don't know why, but it's important to me.

But I'm still mad!

Went to get my hair cut and colored yesterday. Usually I do the color myself, but I want to change it back from red to light brown and with the peroxide that entails, I was afraid of it turning green or falling out by the handful.

The guy who has been doing my hair forever took out the Matrix board and I indicated which color I wanted. "Not today," he said. That would be too drastic a switch and he was afraid I wouldn't like it. He slathered and painted a blonder color than I wanted and promised me I would be happy with the change.

Guess what. It looks EXACTLY the same as if I did it myself with Nice & Easy. There's so much red in my hair that the blonde didn't really cover it. The cut is nice, I guess, but the color looks just like it did last week at this time.

All this for only $40 more than my cut regularly cost. What a fabulous investment!

He felt terrible as he was blowing it dry. He kept saying, "Do you see a difference? Does it look better to you? I don't know why it doesn't look more different."

No, I don't see a difference. No, it doesn't look better to me. And it doesn't look more different because you didn't listen to me when I told you what I wanted.

That's what I thought. What I said was, "Oh, it's fine. It's lighter. That's different! We'll get it where I want next time."

I'm sorry he felt bad. But I hate this hair. I wanted new hair. Or rather, I wanted my old hair back. My light brown hair that won't show dark roots as it grows out. And now I have to wait until St. fucking Patrick's fucking Day to get it.

Thanks to Bridezilla and her bad haircut ...

… I have been ruminating on my own relationship with hair today.

Most of the time, I like my hair. It's short, red and in good condition. I like how it catches the sun. I like that the style isn't quite like anyone else's.

That's most of the time.

There are the days right after I get it cut when it's too short and I feel dykey or like a "Poor thing." (Short for, "Poor old thing, she thinks she's still young.") Or the days when it's too long and the cowlicks start to go mad and the style has no shape. Or the days right before it's time to color when I just know everyone is distracted by my roots.

It's true that bad hair days really are bad days for me. So while I don't scream and lay on the floor, I guess at heart I'm not that different from Bridezilla.

I wonder which would be a worse wedding day trauma -- bad hair or an enormous zit?

Experience the bride yourself:
Bride Has Massive Hair Wig Out
wigoutgirl - 6 min - Jan 18, 2007
Bride wigs out and cuts all of her hair off hours before the wedding
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10VmJ-8XGA4

Back to the future

I'm going to do it. Today I'm going to make the appointment. And next month it's going to happen.

I'm going back to my original haircolor.

Or a reasonable facsimile. I mean, let's face it. God wasn't that kind to me in the first place. So soon I will go from a redhead to a pale brunette.

I've been dying my hair for 26 years now. That's more than half my life. Since my hair grows fast, this means that twice a month for more half my life I've looked for Nice 'n Easy on sale … smeared Vaseline behind my ears so I won't dye the skin back there … sat around for 30 minutes with gook on my head … and been stuck doing a separate load of wash for my dye-stained towels.

By going back to a slightly improved upon version of my original color, the contrast when my roots grow in won't be as drastic, and I shall only be saddled with above chores every six weeks or so. (What will I do with all that extra time?)

Besides, it's time for a major change. And I'm intrigued by the idea of trying something new by trying something old.

Silver threads

Uh-oh. I'm getting ready for work, my first day back at the office after my long birthday weekend, and I notice two gray hairs over my right ear. This does not make me happy. I wonder what else is going on under all that Nice & Easy #108.

I'm reminded of that old Elvis song, "How many, how many I wonder. But I really don't want to know."

Damn you, Victoria Principal!

Principal Secret is slowly but surely discontinuing its original spa products. This means that slowly but surely it will be harder and harder for me to get my absolute favorite moisturizer: Time Release Moisture.

I've been using it forever because I love it. Thick and creamy, it goes on easily but never feels heavy and works well under foundation. And now it's going away.

Which means I will now obsess on how to score as much as I can, while I still can, and stockpile it in my linen closet. I just now won an auction for a jar on eBay. I still have the liquidation websites to explore.

I don't enjoy this. But unreasonable product/brand loyalty combined the impulse to hunt and capture are the warp and woof of my personality.

http://onegalsmusings.blogspot.com/2006/05/i-will-not-obsess-i-will-not-obsess-i.html