Health and Beauty Aids

Over the course of the pandemic, I’ve doubled down on the “Self Care” with things like meditation and working out. But along the way, I’ve also permitted myself random indulgences of a more superficial nature.

First, new tweezers. This is mostly because my damn kids would always steal my tweezers, and then I realized it was because we probably had two or three pairs of tweezers floating around the house, but only one pair were the “good” tweezers. But they weren’t even all that good, and then they disappeared from my medicine cabinet. And I was like, dammit, I’m not just going to go and buy another pair at the grocery store or the drug store, because chances are that they won’t work that well and I deserve a pair of tweezers that will grab teensy-weensy splinters and hairs instead of these non-functional pieces of scrap metal. So I read reviews and paid easily three times as much as usual, and my reward was the most effective set of tweezers that I’ve ever encountered. And best of all, I’ve left a pair of our sub-par tweezers in the usual spot in my medicine cabinet, but these Far Superior tweezers are tucked away in a slightly different place, safe from my daughters, waiting patiently for the next time I need them.

Ugh, and I didn’t mean for this to be a whole hair removal thing, but I’ve also recently acquired a Flamingo razor, which I like very much. This change was also prompted by my daughters, but not because they were stealing my razors. No, they were actually Deeply Disappointed in me because I was using those disposable plastic razors, which are wasteful and evidence that I am not nearly as concerned about the Impending Planetary Apocalypse as they are. So one of them had requested a reusable razor, and the first razor performed poorly, and then were replaced it with a Flamingo (available at Target!). And I don’t know how it happened, exactly, but it was clearly such a superior razor that soon the other daughter had acquired it, and they urged me to join their special Flamingo club, and I was even instructed on which color to get so that when we travel together, we won’t get confused. And they had mentioned it once or twice already when I happened to rest my leg on one of their shins and it was the smoothest shin I’d felt on a human in years, and they were like, “That’s what we’ve been telling you!” and so I went out and got the pink one as I’d been instructed.

On the pro-hair side, these hair clips from Etsy are awesome. M had requested some for Christmas, and I ended up stealing one because I liked them so much. And then I ordered more. They hold my hair very securely,which is wonderful, because my hair tends to slide out of most clips. And I wore that first one almost every day for months while I was waiting to feel safe enough to venture out for a hair cut, and it still hasn’t broken a bit (with other clips, I often lose one comb-tooth of a clip at a time until the clip becomes useless). And weirdly, it is exactly the correct support when I am laying on my back to do sit-ups–it’s like it was created to be a cradle for my skull. Which is obviously a mis-use of a hair clip, so it’s even more surprisingly that I haven’t broken any of them yet.

Also: delightful smelling lotions, which I’ve already mentioned.

And finally, the possibly craziest frivolous shift: I have become a manicure person. Specifically, I am an Olive and June fan. I was completely sucked in by the Facebook marketing and requested a Mani System for Christmas. And then Cute W was stumped for Valentine’s Day ideas and acquired some more polish colors. And then I was pleased by how cute my nails were looking–my first manicure was probably my best home manicure ever, and then I did it a couple more times and kept improving. But they didn’t seem that strong, so I decided to start taking hair/nails vitamins and I also acquired the Olive and June nail strengthener and base primer. And that was a freaking game changer, because I used to get chips in my nail polish within a day or two, and now my polish lasts more like a week, and that is increasing as I improve from “practicing” each time I re-do my nails. And nicer nails just make me happy. Like, I’ll be stopped at a stop sign and I’ll look down at my hands on the steering wheel and think, “Cute!”

Or I will be doing planks and I can distract myself by admiring my nails–my five-day-old manicure is still so shiny!

And yes, it is slightly ridiculous, but this past year has been a lot of trying to find joy in small, attainable pleasures, and this one is harmless, and it really does give me consistent little bursts of happiness

It’s funny, because lately I’ve seen the question going around social media, “What do you always want more of, no matter how many you have?” and my answer has always been books, and more recently houseplants have come on strong. But lately, I have a running wish list of Olive and June polishes and accessories (LD, JM, Grateful & Kind, Cockatoo, and a new Poppy, this weird thing that helps you hold your brush, since mine has gone missing). I think once I get those, I’ll be satisfied for a while. But I’m not making any promises. I can tell you from experience that I find sporting a new shade of nail polish vastly more satisfying than baking a loaf of sour dough bread.

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