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

Wonder how many girls could get away with a thong and body suit?

I love a good slumber party. It’s a super-fun, super-affordable birthday party. For Ainsley’s 9th Birthday we had two classmates over. It was a Spa Party.

Turtle Cheesecake from Whole Foods. Honestly, I’m not sure why regular birthday cake even exists. These calories are worth it.

There were gifts. Good ones. Things were going well.

Then I did something that made time stop for a moment. It just stalled there and hung in the room. My daughter’s mortification was amplified by a classic MOOOOM!

My BFF turned to me and said, Just five minutes ago you said you had an Edit Button! An hour later, the same friend said, Ainsley is going to have the best memoir!

I turned the camera on myself to record the exact moment in which I lost all my Mom Cool and became That Mom. 

She had opened a gift of perfumed shower gel and I said . . . don’t use that on your vajayjay.

(For the record,  I DO have an Edit Button. I have a much better, more accurate, description of the taste of that cheesecake, but I thought it might sound a little crass.)

When Ainsley was a baby I participated in what felt like an Ancient Tribal Ritual – I held her tightly swaddled body down while she shrieked with fear, pain and anger – so the doctor could pierce her ears.

One ear down, I thought, “Dear God, what am I doing?”

When Ainsley was around 3 years old, she found the pierced ears annoying. They always had to be taken care of. If you didn’t pay attention, the skin would try to grow over the earring in the back. We once had to get one ear re-pierced. She demanded I take them out, said she didn’t want pierced ears anymore. I obliged.

Of course when she was 6 she started asking that her ears be pierced again. Or maybe 7. Definitely 8. I would tell her she had to prove that she could take care of a piercing by being responsible for her body.

For her 9th Birthday she got her ears pierced again. She cried after the first ear. But, they gave her a sucker and she had solid gold daisy earrings so it was considered all worth it.

Ainsley wants to dye her hair blond.

Because it’s pretty.

“I wish I had blond hair like Zack,” she said.

“Well, anyone can have blond hair,” I said. “Or red, pink, brown, black. Any color really. No one is married to their natural hair color anymore.”

Personally, I think hair color is a wonderful technological advancement and the tools just keep getting better and better.

Several years ago I put some highlights in her hair while I was highlighting my own hair.

We’ve also had pink streaks glued in at one point.

It’s fun. It’s pretty.

“I want to get a good tan,” she said.

“I will buy you self tanner if you promise, promise, promise to wear sunscreen everyday, all summer long,” I told her.

“Deal,” she said.

I figure this is a great way for her to establish a good habit, the wearing of sunscreen. They didn’t have self tanners in my day. I worshipped the sun and now I have melasma to show for it. I’d rather she kept her skin nice and healthy and beautiful.

I’m off to the pharmacy to buy some Sun-In and self tanner. We’ll have a make-over party and be perfectly “sun-kissed” by day’s end.

I’ve said “no way” to the leg shaving though. Mostly, because it’s a never-ending battle once you start. It’s a pain and really isn’t fun at all.

What’s your stance on self-tanners and highlights and leg hair?

There are times during the month when women naturally feel a pull inward.

If we fight it – we end up feeling like crap.

If we don’t, maybe we feel lazy or guilty.

There are other times during the month when women naturally feel like they can run 10 miles, get everything in the world done, conquer new projects and kick-ass at everything.

I’m guessing most of like those times the best. I do.

I’m reading this book by Miranda Gray, The Optimized Woman.

It’s the only book I’ve read that describes these shifts in mood and abilities as a secret super-power that only women possess.

It describes the woman’s feminine monthly cycle in terms of Creativity, Reflective, Dynamic and Expressive Phases. It outlines the phases and shows women how to best use this cyclic nature as an invaluable resource to become their most productive.

I am so glad I found this book before my own daughter starts her period. I can only imagine how much more relaxed and enjoyable my own cyclic nature might have been had I found this book as a teen. Or if I had heard a different message than the one constantly promoted in “dirty vagina marketing” – otherwise known as the sale of tampons, douches, pads, Midol and other PMS medications, feminine sprays and wipes.

I highly recommend this perspective on our natural abilities, innate to us as women. It’s an interesting experiment in a shift of perception.