Rogue1
member
Joined: 08/08/09
Posts: 11,632
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Hi, Colin!
I am going to somewhat invade your thread. Sorry, but I have a story.
I get these women. It isn't really vanity or even consciously done most of the time. For many women, it is the way they are raised and the communities they grow up in. For some of us it was drummed into our heads that you must be pretty and look your best at all times.
I have in the past, put on full make-up and done full hair to go to the pool or the beach. Once done, you shower off, flip the hand dryer nozzle up, pull out a brush and blow dry and reapply it all. It was what was expected of me and I did it. I lived with a man that required me to be in full make-up and hair by the time he got home from work everyday. Didn't matter if I was cooking or cleaning, it was required. It was the same for my friends and their husbands and boyfriends. You didn't go to the end of the drive to retrieve your mail from the box without at least a light coat of naturalness on your face and your hair decent.
See, the number one priority for my parents and my friends parents were girls were to always be pretty. My mother blew through every fashion trend that came along both in her clothing, hair, etc and our home decor. The height of fashion at all times. Oh, you could be smart as a girl, but be pretty first,
I am not saying I had bad parents nor were my friends parents. They were just products of their own generation.
I have since broken the habit somewhat.. I will no longer go made-up to pools and beaches, drive-thrus, gas stations or grocery stores. I have learned that pony tails and sloppy hair buns are my friends and have become comfortable in the t-shirt (a piece of clothing I was raised to believe was tacky).
But I was able to take these albeit small steps by moving far away from the community and the people who influenced it. And that's the thing, it wasn't until then I realized it was even something not required and I didn't have to do.
Not all women in this sort of brainwashed mindset have that opportunity. They aren't weak. They are just doing what they and those around them have always done. Sort of ingrained into them.
(sorry for hijacking your thread, Colin)
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