wear mascara to Home Depot

If you are like me, you probably have many different looks.  You have the date night out with the hubby look – super cute overpriced jeans paired with a top from Anthropologie or Bloomies, hair blown out nicely and freshly applied make-up.  Next, you have the out with the girlfriends for lunch look – which could include any of the following:  yoga wear or maybe a slightly sweaty tennis outfit – because like me, you have picked up tennis as a hobby solely due to the fact the outfits are just so darn cute or maybe,  it is capris & a tank with your chocolate brown Havaianas Sandals with minimal make-up.  And of course there is the driving the kids to school look – Victoria Secret’s PINK t-shirt, yoga pants which have never seen the inside of a yoga studio, optional bra, whatever flip flops you have nearest to the door and the make-up you were too tired to take off the previous night. 

There are of course a few more looks: 

• going to a black tie school fundraiser or B’nai Mitzvah look
• meeting the new moms at your child’s open house at school look
• and lastly there is the going to see that old high school friend whom I haven’t seen in a really long time and I want her to notice how much better I look than last time we saw each other – even though she will never ever ever EVER acknowledge improvement or compliment me look (oops, another blog entirely)

So you get my point.  No matter how attractive or un-attractive we think we are, within our overall self-image we have our own personal scale of measurement. One our worst day, we are our own personal “1″ and on our best day, a “10″.  For example, my “1″ is the way I probably looked for the first six weeks of my baby’s life but I was smart enough to never look in the mirror during that time. And my “10″ is the way I look when Luis, the fabulous stylist, blows out my hair movie-star-style.

Now think about this.  Isn’t it amazing how differently we are treated based on where we fall on that scale on a given day?  I am the same woman with the same body and the same personality yet the world reacts differently to me.  I get a lot more help from the bag boy at Publix when I am having a “cute” day than when I am having a “rushed out of the house and didn’t put myself together just to grab some 2% milk for my coffee” day.  It is a very hard thing to have to admit but no matter what we try to believe – physical looks do matter. 

I have a very hard time accepting this.  I have a pre-pubescent daughter.  I want her to believe that it is what she has on the inside that really matters.  I want to tell her – and myself – that being a really good person, being honest and kind and generous, and of course FUNNY, is all she needs to get everything she wants in this world.  Unfortunately, I have to admit to myself that is just not true in the world we live in.

People are going to assess you on a first impression which is based solely on your appearance at the moment.  Unfortunately, we cannot hand over a bio package to every new person we meet.  However, wouldn’t it be great if we could?  It would go something like this:

CR:  Hi, I am Crazy Redhead.  Nice to meet you.

New Person:  Hello, may I see your bio? 

So, then I could hand over the bio package, which would include, among other things:

• my current psychological profile
• my fbi file (just kidding – or not)
• letters of references from my friends who can vouch for my sparkling personality
• my wedding picture (because even 13 years later, I still love my currently out of style big poofy sleeved wedding dress)
• a letter from my preschool teacher, Mrs. Matheson (because I was the only one she trusted to bring home the guinea pig for the weekend)
• a drawing my youngest child has done of me (because he thinks I am the most beautiful girl in the world)
• a recording of my sister singing (it wouldn’t really help me but I am always impressed with my sister’s voice.  It is not fair that she got to be beautiful and talented and gets to be a natural redhead but still have olive skin and therefore can get a tan)

must insert private note to my little sister here – everyone else reading needs to skip this next line –

“Does this public declaration of your many attributes finally make up for my television debut in 1975 when I told the host on the Skipper Chuck show that you were ‘a pain in the butt’?”

 Okay, everyone else can continue reading here:

I guess I made the point.  When we first meet someone, there is not much to go on besides our appearance.  It isn’t right but we do it.  I try very hard to not fall into that “book by the cover” cliché but I will also try not to judge you for doing the same.  It is just part of the society we live in. As Howard Jones so rhymically put it in 1985,  “No one is to blame.”

Lastly, we have taken a bit of a “long and winding road” (sorry, I can’t help myself with the corny song references today) to get to my point.  Here is my belief:  You are not setting the women’s movement back just because you typically apply a fresh coat of lipstick right before pulling into the service drive of the Lincoln dealership.  If one coat of Mac’s Twig lipstick is all it takes to get your politically incorrect SUV serviced a little quicker, then “knock yourself out baby”!

 Just remember this lesson the next time you find yourself needing some extra help navigating the aisles of Home Depot, trying to find the right size hinges for your daughter’s complicated science project, and go ahead and apply a bit of mascara first.  Just so you know, my favorite is Maybelline Full ‘N Soft Mascara, Brownish Black.

It works for me everytime!

Have a great weekend.  Thanks for joining me the inaugural week of this fun journey.  Remember to check in with the Crazy Redhead on Monday for another adventure in the life of a 30ish/40ish suburban woman. (If you have not already done so, you can click the link in the right column of this page, to subscribe to receive an email alert of my new entries. )