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Winter Blah's |
| Author: The Short Hair Diva |
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Date: January 2005 |
Introduction
Darlings, what on earth is worse than the winter
blahs? The only thing worse is not having some ideas to fight the
winter blahs, and fortunately for you, dears, you have ME to help.
Let’s start, as always, from the top down. If you
haven’t already, it’s time to set up an appointment with the best hair
stylist you can afford. Get rid of the split ends, the so-so color, the
can’t-make-up-your-mind streaks, the listless style—it’s time to shine!
So, first on your list should seeing your stylist. Go in armed with some
ideas (and pictures, best of all) you think would work for you, as well
as ideas for new color or high/low-lights. I cannot stress enough how
important this is: if your HAIR looks good, YOU will, as well.
Moving on down from your hair, nothing sets off
that new ‘do like great makeup and jewelry. Be sure that your hairstyle,
makeup, and jewelry is flattering to your facial shape. To determine
your facial shape, pull your hair back and completely off your face.
Take a good, long look. Does your face resemble a heart, a square, an
oval, or is it round? Although there are many resources to help you make
the most of your facial shape, here are the Diva’s basic face shape
tips:
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For a heart-shaped face, you may want to go with a
hairstyle that fills in around your jawline, like a casual flip. Add
bangs if you want to draw more attention to your eyes.
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For a square face, you can round out the angularity with a
softer hairstyle. Loose curls, for example, are a nice touch, as are
wispy side tendrils.
·
For an oval face, the world is pretty much your oyster.
The oval is a perfect showcase for nearly every type of hair style, long
or short. Some suggestions: an asymetrical wedge cut, a shattered shag,
or fingerwaves.
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For a round face, you may want to give it some definition.
Try bangs to cut down the overall round effect, or “C” curls in front of
your ears.
Now, let’s talk makeup. Winter time is always a
good time to try out new looks and new directions. If you’ve been
sticking with the same-old, same-old makeup choices, then it’s time to
mix it up.
Do yourself a huge favor and get yourself to the
makeup counter at one of the malls. During this time of year, they are
likely to offer free makeovers to push their cosmetics. Take advantage
of an experienced eye with regard to your makeup, but be aware that they
will be trying to sell you each and every product they put on your face.
Learn from what they show you, and of course treat
yourself to some fab new products. (Darling, it’s tacky not to buy
SOMETHING after they have worked on you!) But remember that you can
probably still use some of your own makeup. Just pay close attention to
the tips they show you.
On to jewelry. The Diva does so love jewelry! But
again, go back to the lesson of facial shapes. For example, if your face
is round, and you love big, round hoop earrings, you may want to choose
a thinner, more airy-looking hoop. It won’t accentuate the roundness the
way great, big, heavy, solid hoops may.
Remember that pearls, unlike diamonds, can be a
girl’s best friend when it comes to their unique ability to reflect
soft, flattering light. Especially in the wintertime, when skin is
subject to dry air and lack of sunlight, a pair of pearl earrings can do
wonders for your complexion. And nothing is more ladylike, yet so subtly
sexy, as pearls. And don’t just stop at earrings—go for an elegant
string of them at your collarbone, or dripping luxuriantly into your
cleavage.
Now, all that said, let’s take another leap of
faith and go on to your closet. We won’t get into fashion here, but the
Diva knows from experience that over the holidays closets get neglected.
Take your fabulous new hairdo, makeup, and jewelry right into the closet
and start organizing. Some of the Diva’s favorite tips for “closet
surgery” are these:
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If you haven’t worn it in a year, you won’t. Period. The
end. Sell it or give it away.
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If it was an expensive gift and you hated it when you got
it, you aren’t going to like it any better now. Appreciate the gesture,
but you are under no obligation to keep something you neither like nor
wear.
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If you find you wear 20% of your wardrobe 80% of the time,
you need to seriously weed out the things you don’t wear.
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If you can’t get your beloved, worn-for-years leather
shoes cleaned and repaired, toss them. Nothing looks worse than tatty
shoes. Trust me—it doesn’t matter how much you paid for them, either.
All people will see is worn-out, scuffed footwear.
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And here’s the most brutal tip of all: by the time you
lose the weight you need to in order to get back into that size 3 pink
suede mini, it will be so far out of style you’ll look like an old drag
queen. Be who and what size you are. Treat yourself to a few really nice
pieces—they’ll make the rest of your clothes look fabulous. Besides,
size does not matter; the fit does!
So that’s it, dears. Take some well-deserved time
to send those winter blahs packing. This is the time of year we all need
a lift!
Love from your one and only Diva!
To say the least, it did not a pleasant evening
make! Evidently, the Diva is not the only person out there who has
questions about hair behavior or hair situations. The following are some
of the Diva’s actual emails regarding hair behavior:
Question
What’s in YOUR Wallet?
“Dear Diva,
My husband is an idiot. He absolutely loves those
stupid barbarian-hordes-storming-the-malls “What’s in YOUR wallet?”
credit card TV ads. He thinks the long-haired savage look is totally
cool, and until now was content to simply enjoy them on TV.
But no more. He has long graying (and rapidly
thinning) hair he normally wears in a neat ponytail, but apparently lost
his mind over the weekend with his drinking buddies. He came home with
his long hair down, sporting literally dozens of doo-dads hot-glued onto
the ends of his hair. The least offensive object was a child’s blue
plastic marble ponytail-holder. The most offensive was a cut-off blonde
Barbie doll head. His friends decided that they needed to adopt the
barbarian horde look, starting with him.
Now, the man works from home, so an office dress
code isn’t a problem. MY problem is that he looks ridiculous! And of
course now that he has sobered up, he isn’t all that crazy about
dragging all that stuff around in his hair. He put me up to writing to
you to get your advice.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
From
"I Married An Idiot”
Answer
Dear IMAI,
You’d like my advice? Here you are: offer your
husband one of two options: a major haircut or a divorce. (I won’t even
tell you what I think of a grown man acting this way!!)
It’s clearly time for him to put away such
silliness and get a man’s haircut.
Best,
The Diva
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