Girly Girl

Growing up, I never learned the ways of beautification that usually come with being a girl. My mom wasn't bad looking, but she was more nerd than model. So, for whatever reason, I was on my own when it came to learning about make-up and hairstyles. It also didn't help that I had no sisters. Only a few times did I experiment upon my brothers with less and desirable results.

My mom's idea of make-up was pouring a little glob of Cover Girl liquid foundation in her hand and then rubbing it over her entire face like sunscreen. Then she finished off the look with a very bright lipstick. She usually only did this on Sunday or if she was going out to a party or something of the sort. I didn't understand it at the time, because I thought she looked great without make-up. I now know that most woman feel a security in make-up whether it makes them look better or not. Even though I loved my mom dearly, I am glad this tradition didn't catch on with me, except for my preference for Cover Girl.

In elementary I went through my god-awful experimental hair phase. Why no one ever stopped me I will never know. Most of my friends at the time had their hair done for them every morning by their mothers. Not me. I was left to my own devices. There were no style magazines laying around our house, so my only frame of reference was the hairstyles I saw on my friends at school. Sadly, I had no idea how to recreate what I saw. This resulted in such styles as -

the ponytail sticking directly out of the side of my head

the candy cane I wore as a hair decoration for Christmas

the mile-high hair-spray-encrusted bangs

And my personal favorite -

the frozen hair and resulting headache from waking to school in the winter with wet hair

I like to think I turned out pretty well after all that hideousness. I can now French braid my hair on my own, make a decent-looking ponytail, and I never use food items for hair accessories. It took a lot of magazine-reading and beauty show-watching, but I can finally say a am a bit of a girly girl.