Entries Tagged 'Hairy Issues (fashion, hair, clothes)' ↓

My parents have been in town. Very exciting and fun for all of us.

We went to the best hairdresser in all of East Texas, Crystal, and got a Four Generation Makeover.

My aunt, Janice.

My grandmother, Viola. (I think she looks sooo hip!)

My mom Susie. She’s rocking the Paula Deen look.

Me, Tracee. I can’t thank myself enough for going short and sophisticated. I call this last year, My Year of Good Hair. An artist for a hairdresser changes everything. Self-image, self-esteem, and confidence. What I project out into the world has most assuredly changed – for the better – since my hair grew up.

And of course, Ainsley. Who we treated as “one of the girls” on our Salon Day and shopping trips. She’s just stunning.

Email me and I’ll give you Crystal’s number.

Fan The Girl Revolution on Facebook.

Ainsley doesn’t think this shirt is inappropriate because it just looks like trees on a shirt, “how is that inappropriate?” She wants to know.

Which means I deserve a Gold Parenting Star or a Blue Ribbon of Daughter Raising. This means the seven year old is in the minority having not been exposed to Internet Porn or the E Channel yet.

When I mentioned the word “stripper,” she said “what’s a stripper?”

Go me! She’s sheltered enough to remain . . . what’s the word I’m looking for . . . . oh yeah, seven.

Suzi Warren, the creator of this TODDLER TITTY TASSLE T-Shirt sold at Twisted Twee reportedly spoke to Parent Dish, who was quoted on  Stroller Derby, who was quoted on Gateway Pundit , and reportedly claimed to have created this shirt in protest to how the rest of us our dressing our girls.

“The Nipple Tassel t-shirt was designed as a response to my own distaste at seeing mini versions of sexy clothes on young children,” she wrote. “Five-year-olds wearing slashed mini skirts and boob tubes, little thumb-sucking Britneys.

“There is nothing very sexy about a baggy, lap neck, long sleeved t- shirt for a 6-month-old. So by embellishing this style of garment with printed nipple tassels, the result is not that the baby becomes sexualized by the tassels, but that the tassels are made benign and silly by the baby. In fact the more inert, innocent and unaware the infant is, the more ludicrous the contrast becomes.”

Of course, your kid doesn’t get to be naively, gloriously seven if you dress her in a shirt like this, “in protest.” The way the other parents point and refuse to let their kids play with yours will probably invoke questions. Inappropriate questions.

You know who I think this shirt is perfect for? Pedophiles.

You know what I think parents should do to companies who start offering products like these? (Along with their child un-friendly alphabet tea towel which reads “C if for” and has a photo of a Condom also reeks of pedophilia undertones.)

Let them go down in Recession Smoke.

Fan The Girl Revolution on Facebook.

This is Ainsley’s Madmen self image. She doesn’t get to watch Madmen, but she hyjacked my self image, so I stepped back and  let her create herself.

This is my self image. I tried to be as realistic as possible.

This may say a lot about how we feel about ourselves. Or it might be meaningless.

Some similarities – we don’t have the same nose in real life, but we did agree that the nose choices available were all pretty ugly. So we picked this one. Which says more about our beauty ideal than the noses on our faces, I guess.

We both chose classic dresses, most likely because there weren’t more slutty choices.

We do have the same bob hair. We both went for the donut, but I put mine back and picked up the martini glass and a cigarette. Then I remembered I quit for the kids and put them back. We both picked pearls, smiles and blue eyeshadow. Cause, duh.

Her eyebrows are more natural, mine are more highly-arched. Gimme a few years and our eyebrows will be identical via tweezer.

Go over to Madmenyourself.com to check out your own self image.

Fan The Girl Revolution on Facebook.

Hollister back to school t-shirts are inappropriate. They have sexualized messages on them.

I can’t even muster up any fake shock today. Sorry. Am I officially desensitized or just having an off week?

Jezebel can at least still muster up a paragraph of “gross and inappropriate.”

If we had half a brain we’d – as parents who buy their kids’ clothes – let Hollister, in this rough economy, go bankrupt. But I know us better than that now.

Fan The Girl Revolution on Facebook.

One major secret to a positive body image is wearing the right clothing for your body.

Clothing that doesn’t show everything is clothing that cleverly hides flaws and private areas. Like the above dress, for instance.

I don’t want to mislead you, I’m no prude. I’m prone to flashing a bit of cleavage myself. I just feel oddly entitled to lift my arms up all the way without flashing my stomach, which I’m not as proud of as I am my clavicle and cleavage area. I also feel entitled to bending over without showing the world my butt crack and my men’s briefs. It does not make me feel great about my body to not be able to move it freely without tugging, pulling, adjusting and fussing with my clothes.

The American Psychological Association, in their Report on Sexualization of Girls, site girls’ need to constantly tug at and adjust clothing as a major body image issue.

“A second emotional consequence of self-objectification is appearance anxiety; which is manifested by checking and adjusting one’s appearance. Girls’ fashions arguably compound the opportunities for this kind of anxiety: tight-fitting “belly shirts,” micro-miniskirts, and plunging necklines require regular body monitoring and a kind of chronic vigilance about whether everything is in place.”

Of course you can relate. We can all relate to bending down and wondering who is looking at our bum crack because of those low rise jeans. We can relate to tugging our too-short shirts down over our pants or pulling on the necks of our shirts to cover our bra strap. Or having a toddler flash our boobs by pulling a blouse down just a little too low as they cling. I’m over it.

This does nothing to make us, or our daughters, feel great about our bodies.

The right clothes – the right swimsuits, shirts and jeans – are vital for a positive body image. (Go to Zafu to find the best jeans for your body.)

While you might not find the perfect fit – embarrassing adjustment not required -  in many stores, there are clothing designers out there who are making fashionable, modest clothes for real women and real girls.

I recently purchased a swimsuit from Diviinemodestee.com for myself. I love how I feel about my body when it’s accentuating my positives with a good design and requiring the least about of tugging and pulling. It hides things, like my stomach, that I don’t feel comfortable showing the whole world. Another modest clothing company, Shade, is having a clearance sale right now with some very cute and body flattering suits for women.

I’m going to buy one of these tummy covering tankinis for Ainsley next year to avoid the whole “I want a tankini! Why can’t I have a tankini?” temper-tantrum episode in the dressing room. The one where she’s pulling the suit down enough to cover her tummy and exposing her chest to prove that it “fits.” Maybe I’m not the only parent who has had that moment?

“You can have a Tankini dear,” I’ll say next year and I’ll allow her to choose from this adorable collection.

The extra-long, high necked cap-sleeved T-shirts at Diviine Modestee also allow me to say “yes” to halter and tube top fashions that are admittedly cute, but which her father will never let her wear out of the house.

Oh, they are having a clearance sale right now and I’m not aligned with the company in any way.

Fan The Girl Revolution on Facebook.