I started graying when I was 19. I began to cover up the gray around the age of 32. Before that time I just had great looking natural highlights. I colored my hair until last year. I decided that at 47 I was going to see how gray I actually was. My dad has that beautiful white, silver hair. Sure enough that is what my hair is like in the front. It is salt and pepper in the back. I LOVE IT! I happened to comment on our local newspapers fashion editors blog one day when she was talking about this very subject and she did a story on women going gray and I had the opportunity to be a part of that project.
I have a young face and most people are shocked when they find out I am 48 years of age. I think a lot has to do with your attitude. This is what works for me:
Use a purple shampoo made just for gray hair.
Increase your eye makeup, eyeliner, etc.
Enhance your brows!
I wear funky, chunky black glasses. The contrast is amazing.
Wear bright colors!!!
Don't forget your lips!
I keep my hair in a short hairstyle and it really enhances rather than detracts from my overall look.
Embrace the new look! Not many women can do this and feel great about it. I have had more of my friends say they wished they could do what I have done but just can't bring themselves to do it.
Good story. I do think where there is a will, there is a way. I think people who want children find a way to make it happen. People just need to be organized and prepared...the stress diminishes with each baby smile and giggle. Thanks!
Here in NC, the first 2 years of college can be done at the statewide system of community colleges for VERY little money -- less that $3000 per year! And full scholarships are available, too, regardless of income in some cases. That is cheap enough! There are even 2-year training courses such as sonogram operator and RN that produce income in half the time of a 4-year degree. Check out your local resources.
I started graying about 3 years ago (well, that's when I NOTICED it). I'm 28 now, and though I'm not graying enough for anyone else to notice, I am certainly noticing, especially in the front peak of my hair.
I used to dye my hair blonde, because I was always a dirty blonde. Now I'm some sort of dark brown color, but my hair was so dry and brittle from all of the dying that I knew I had to stop. So I started growing it out in August 2005. This saved me about $100 every 3 months.
I discovered, by the recommendation of a friend, using henna to dye hair. You can use it to dye it red, black, or even use neutral henna which is meant for lighter colored hair, but doesn't actually dye your hair blonde.
What I loved about this stuff is it was cheaper (about $35/quarter for my length which is past my shoulders), it was actually healthy for my hair, and it covered up grays REALLY well.
My hair was so dry before, and is so amazingly silky now after using henna for the last year. I'll never go back to anything else, and I still don't have to put up with gray hair. It really compliments my natural brown with some reddish highlights and an awesome sheen.
If you're ever interested in checking it out, there's a site that was created by a woman who studied henna for some thesis of hers and also sells the stuff: http://www.hennaforhair.com
I love this post! I am 51 and just a few months ago decided to "freshen" myself up ...
No greys but a dishwater brown haircolor - a full head of low lights (vs. highlights) that will be retouched in 4 months along with a snappy new hairdo.
Started a simple routine of face care: cleanser, toner and moisturizer.
Out with all the old makeup - found out about mineral makeup and just love it. A foundation, blush, mascara, lipstick and eyeshadow goes on everyday.
Drink more water. Eat whole foods. And the most fun: bought a Wii Fit and exercise everyday now. Also started taking a good multi-vitamin.
Made all my check up appointments in one month. While at the dentist had my teeth professionally whitened.
Here is the most important and free beauty tip I found out quiet a while ago: A smile, kind word, and sparkle in the eye. It's all about attitude :)
I think a lot of people's gray hair is due to lifestyle stress and nutritional deficiencies, in particular, mineral deficiencies. Do a web search for 'gray hair' and copper and see what you find. I've been taking mineral supplements for 20 years, and at age 49 have to pluck only the odd gray/white hair. Everyone thinks I color my hair, but I don't. An old farmer saw me and my dark haired kids one day and commented, "Your family must get a lot of copper in your diet!"
I'm 44 and quit coloring my hair a couple of years ago. I get so many more compliments on my hair now than I ever did before! I get compliments from my mom (who still colors her hair at 75), from friends, and even from strangers!
Like Allie above, I also don't bother with makeup and don't style my hair. Although both would only take minutes out of my day, they are minutes I'd rather spend doing something else.
My husband dislikes the made-up look (he likes natural), so this works out really well for me. :)
I wouldn't have had it any other way and wish I'd had more! Our kids were born many years ago and we were dirt poor. Our home was full or love, laughter and kids! All six are successful adults with wonderful families. Among them are a lawyer, doctor, nurse, independent business owner, computer guru, and educator. All have been to college and paid for it. The world is a better place because of them.
Great timing on this post. I'm 55, with classic salt and pepper hair. As part of debt reduction, I have given up professional hair coloring and let my grey hair grow out. Hey, I'm a feminist, grey is good. My hair looks fine, and I am happy with the way I look. But now I'm scared, really scared, about work, and in my field, age discrimination is quite real. Blessed with youthful skin, dying my hair makes me look considerably younger. Never dyed my hair at home, but I just got a box of clairol and learning to do it is my weekend project. I really resent having to do it, but reality matters so I'm going for it. Working for a world when age is not stigmatized is my mission.
It seems like there are two definitions of "corruption". We think of it as bribes to get things done, or get out of trouble with the government, or unethical business practices. The people in the other country seem to think of "corruption" as an extension of race and class privilege. That is, people are not treated equally by the law and government.
We don't seem to have so much of the former, but, the country was, basically, founded on the latter. Perhaps the way our country created a caste society for people of African descent (and others) helped create the "democratic society" that many middle class people, especially white people, enjoy today.
Here's a simple example, to use a familiar symbol of a racist caste society. Assume that all the people need to drink water, so the city installs water fountains. However, the caste society demands that we have "separate but equal" facilities for White and Black people. (Or to use the parlance of the 1950s, Colored people.)
Now, the government folks know that the lower caste (the people of African descent) have little to no power, and there's a desire to maintain a caste society. So, the fountains for Whites are maintained in better condition than for Blacks.
Why would a White person complain about the water fountain? It's clear that resources are being diverted from the maintenance of the Black fountains to pay for the maintenance of the White fountains.
The need to do something to get a "favor" from the system is reduced, because the unequal distribution of resources is part of the system.
Now, to make a more salient, contemporary point. The most corrupt system in America today is the police system - it's often corrupt even when all the cops are honest. That's because of the War on Drugs, which is probably one of the most unfair government projects out there.
I went to a relatively "elite" school many years ago. At the height of the conservative "Reagan Revolution", drug use by some students was quite high :-) The vast majority of these lawbreakers were White, and of them, many were the children of professionals, like doctors, lawyers, academics, and middle management in corporations, etc.
Of perhaps 200 people I knew using illegal drugs, mostly marijuana, but also meth, acid, ecstasy, heroin, shrooms, and coke, I recall only one person being arrested.
Now, I don't know how many of these people have political power today. I'd guess that 90% are professionals doing highly intellectual work or have some community influence.
As far as I can see, this generation of drug users and lawbreakers have not become engaged in enlarging the political pressure to repeal the War on Drugs.
That's probably because they, and their kids, are not at risk of being pulled over for "driving while Black" (or Brown), and then being found with a small amount of marijuana on their person. It doesn't affect them.
Meanwhile, over 50% of people going to prison on drug charges are Black. They make up only 13% of the population. All people use illegal drugs at approximately the same rate, so the laws, if written fairly, and applied fairly, should produce more balanced convictions.
I think that's the corruption people see when they look at America.
I have seen a number of people leap into parenthood that should have seen a list like this beforehand. Many of these people have turned out to be right lousy parents, and a few have succeeded. I'm glad that the above guests have found joy and success as parents.
I'm thinking right now of a particularly young, vulnerable young girl who got pregnant after a one night stand, and was talked into having the baby and raising the child with the father, who is irresponsible and immature. I can't say that she won't be an amazing mother, but the future is definitely not promising given her family and financial situations.
Sometimes I do wonder if people over think things like starting a family - I wonder if I won't be too old in a few years to even get started. These things are always personal decisions, but in any case, I think the above issues are worth considering.
I am 53 years old, married for 30 years, and have never colored or highlighted my hair. I am totally grey and have earned every one of those grey hairs, ha! ha!
I grew up with a rather vane mother who had to go to what I called "the beautiful shop" every week, and dyed her hair blonde every three weeks. She still does, and she is 79 years old.
I never wanted the expense or the hassle. I love it, and even my naturally blonde 26 year old daughter thinks my hair looks great!
I find lists of all the costs of having kids depressing. I have kids. I like having them. Yes, it has cost tons of money.
So what?
Having them really does focus your energy on getting done what needs to get done. This includes re-energizing your career to make more money if you need to!
Having them and being a good parent helps you stop being so d*** selfish. They are so vulnerable in so many ways that if you are a caring parent you will do whatever it takes to stop them from feeling pain that you caused. This can even cause you to become a better person, preserve your marriage, create good habits, cause you to take better care of your health, help you reconnect with the good parts of your own childhood and repair the not-so-good parts, and more.
Can you put a dollar value on a pearl beyond price?
The timing of your article couldn't have made me laugh more...I was sitting here tonight thinking that I'm having dinner tomorrow with friends I haven't seen in awhile, and crap, my gray roots are worse than I thought. I was getting ready to do a Walgreens run which I so didn't feel like doing so I figured I'd see what my Wisebread friends were up to tonight, and there you were...Congrats to you - I wish I could do it - but I'm 49 and I don't know if I could pull it off without looking like my grandma.
I think that you have to make a distinction between moral corruption and legal corruption. Moral corruption would be acts that we collectively disapprove of, but are not technically illegal. For instance, politicians who accept money from lobbyists are probably morally corrupt but are not necessarily committing a crime. On the other hand, slipping a $100 bill to a traffic cop is definitely illegal and against the law.
The difference with the United States is probably that most Americans probably would not blatantly do a corrupt act that was blatantly illegal. In some other countries, illegal corrupt acts are routine. In other words, Americans may be more law abiding. Does this mean that the USA is less corrupt or more hypocritical?
I'm 47 years old and have never covered my gray hair. I actually like it. A couple of years ago, my eyebrows started going gray too. I actually like that as well, lol. I'm fortunate in that I have a round full face and I'm a bit short; people regularly mistake me for 30something, even with the gray. I think if more women would stop coloring their hair, it would become more acceptable for women to age naturally. I may be luckier than some because I'm not actually even going gray; my hair is going white. EmmyLou Harris and Mike McDonald both look wonderful with white and/or gray hair, so if you need encouragement just look at them.
I remember, when some airline or other was cratering, watching some women tell a newscaster that they were willing to work for less pay to keep the company going "because we're all like family here." I also remember yelling at the TV, telling them they were fools, "It's not a family, it's a business, you idiots!" It was about then that I decided to get out and make some friends, because I was spending too much time watching TV. Of course, the airline went bankrupt and the women lost their jobs and their pensions.
I've lived in a lot of states and several countries. Of the countries, it seemed to me that the US as a whole was much less corrupt, at least on the level of daily life. In those other countries, we paid little "tips" to get anything at all done. In the US, I've worked for the government of several states. Louisiana was corrupt, without question, but I didn't see that in the other states. In Louisiana, I worked for a government program intended to help poor parents of severely mentally handicapped children with fees for various resources. The rich had all their kids enrolled in the program. That was one small example. While we were there, the governor was sent to the pen on corruption charges. A friend of ours in Louisiana started an engineering business; once I asked him why he didn't expand into Texas. He answered, "I don't know who to pay there." A lot of things weren't fair in all the states, but usually it had to do with the fact that the middle class and the wealthy were also better educated and knew how to access what they needed, not because they paid people off.
Congratulations for moving into the lazy-with-your-appearance camp! I've been living in this tent a while.
- I shave my legs quarterly (yes, quarterly. Oddly, the longer you do this, the less hair you grow)
- I do not use make-up (I am too lazy to do the work)
- I do not dye my hair
- I do use deodorant (yay!)
- I do not iron clothes
- I do not style my hair (in fact, I only wash it 1-2x/week, and only w/ vinegar)
- I wear the same style of shirt every day, and the same type of jeans, so I never have to figure out if I match or am fashionable (every few years I'm fashionable for a season or two, the rest of the time I'm not)
I am the queen of appearance lazy, and it seems to get worse every year. But it is so very liberating. Good luck getting used to the grey!
But if you are already pregnant, don't panic and think your baby is destined for lifetime poverty if you don't have every one of these items checked off your list. If I had read this when I was pregnant, I would have wanted to stick my head in the oven!
It's great to plan, but many(50% of those in the U.S.?) babies are unplanned. I sometimes wish people would take into account that not many people spend years planning for each child, for a variety of reasons.
"Don’t fool yourself: you will not be able to bounce your baby on one knee and office work on the other; new parents are always amazed at how completely occupying their baby can be."
This is not true, if you really need to get things done, you will. I wasted so much more time every day before we had our child last year. I get more done now than I did without her. Yes, sometimes that has meant literally bouncing her on one knee and doing homework simultaneously.
After some 40 years, I stopped torturing my hair. Occasionally I shampoo in a little bleach, leaving it in only a couple of minutes. This lighten all of it. Silver streaks look like they were done professionally.
You know how on iTunes, you don't like half the songs on the top 10 list? you wonder why they get so many downloads? A few of them are good, but there are many hidden gems out there too. this is the case with poplar console ports and rs.
runescape is, in my opinion, one of the best rpgs to ever hit gaming, and ive played many of them, including WoW. rs is so deep and there are so many things to do! games are not my life; i am an accomplished musician and an aspiring businessman, and am a pretty damn good runningback :p. But, in my spare time, runescape is a very good way of just unwinding and talking to some friends and practicing business strategies. Also, its pretty fun to pwn noobs...
Im also working toward 99 smithing its pretty boring (the smithing not the game) but i watch football or the news while doing it so i dont waste time. in small amounts this games fun-my names techmage22 and if u wanna smith/skill w/me and my friends add me
I found that getting highlights occasionally (I do every 3-4 months) keeps things looking a little more youthful and colorful, and is MUCH cheaper than keeping the whole thing dyed. That said, I've been contemplating ditching even that (to save the money, basically). This is a timely article - thanks!
I started graying when I was 19. I began to cover up the gray around the age of 32. Before that time I just had great looking natural highlights. I colored my hair until last year. I decided that at 47 I was going to see how gray I actually was. My dad has that beautiful white, silver hair. Sure enough that is what my hair is like in the front. It is salt and pepper in the back. I LOVE IT! I happened to comment on our local newspapers fashion editors blog one day when she was talking about this very subject and she did a story on women going gray and I had the opportunity to be a part of that project.
I have a young face and most people are shocked when they find out I am 48 years of age. I think a lot has to do with your attitude. This is what works for me:
Use a purple shampoo made just for gray hair.
Increase your eye makeup, eyeliner, etc.
Enhance your brows!
I wear funky, chunky black glasses. The contrast is amazing.
Wear bright colors!!!
Don't forget your lips!
I keep my hair in a short hairstyle and it really enhances rather than detracts from my overall look.
Embrace the new look! Not many women can do this and feel great about it. I have had more of my friends say they wished they could do what I have done but just can't bring themselves to do it.
Great post!! I really enjoyed it!
Good story. I do think where there is a will, there is a way. I think people who want children find a way to make it happen. People just need to be organized and prepared...the stress diminishes with each baby smile and giggle. Thanks!
Here in NC, the first 2 years of college can be done at the statewide system of community colleges for VERY little money -- less that $3000 per year! And full scholarships are available, too, regardless of income in some cases. That is cheap enough! There are even 2-year training courses such as sonogram operator and RN that produce income in half the time of a 4-year degree. Check out your local resources.
I started graying about 3 years ago (well, that's when I NOTICED it). I'm 28 now, and though I'm not graying enough for anyone else to notice, I am certainly noticing, especially in the front peak of my hair.
I used to dye my hair blonde, because I was always a dirty blonde. Now I'm some sort of dark brown color, but my hair was so dry and brittle from all of the dying that I knew I had to stop. So I started growing it out in August 2005. This saved me about $100 every 3 months.
I discovered, by the recommendation of a friend, using henna to dye hair. You can use it to dye it red, black, or even use neutral henna which is meant for lighter colored hair, but doesn't actually dye your hair blonde.
What I loved about this stuff is it was cheaper (about $35/quarter for my length which is past my shoulders), it was actually healthy for my hair, and it covered up grays REALLY well.
My hair was so dry before, and is so amazingly silky now after using henna for the last year. I'll never go back to anything else, and I still don't have to put up with gray hair. It really compliments my natural brown with some reddish highlights and an awesome sheen.
If you're ever interested in checking it out, there's a site that was created by a woman who studied henna for some thesis of hers and also sells the stuff: http://www.hennaforhair.com
I love this post! I am 51 and just a few months ago decided to "freshen" myself up ...
No greys but a dishwater brown haircolor - a full head of low lights (vs. highlights) that will be retouched in 4 months along with a snappy new hairdo.
Started a simple routine of face care: cleanser, toner and moisturizer.
Out with all the old makeup - found out about mineral makeup and just love it. A foundation, blush, mascara, lipstick and eyeshadow goes on everyday.
Drink more water. Eat whole foods. And the most fun: bought a Wii Fit and exercise everyday now. Also started taking a good multi-vitamin.
Made all my check up appointments in one month. While at the dentist had my teeth professionally whitened.
Here is the most important and free beauty tip I found out quiet a while ago: A smile, kind word, and sparkle in the eye. It's all about attitude :)
I am spreading the word that I would like some small fruit trees for my garden. Also seeds and so on for next springs vegetable garden.
I plan to eat them all, so that definitely will save me money. ;)
I think a lot of people's gray hair is due to lifestyle stress and nutritional deficiencies, in particular, mineral deficiencies. Do a web search for 'gray hair' and copper and see what you find. I've been taking mineral supplements for 20 years, and at age 49 have to pluck only the odd gray/white hair. Everyone thinks I color my hair, but I don't. An old farmer saw me and my dark haired kids one day and commented, "Your family must get a lot of copper in your diet!"
I'm 44 and quit coloring my hair a couple of years ago. I get so many more compliments on my hair now than I ever did before! I get compliments from my mom (who still colors her hair at 75), from friends, and even from strangers!
Like Allie above, I also don't bother with makeup and don't style my hair. Although both would only take minutes out of my day, they are minutes I'd rather spend doing something else.
My husband dislikes the made-up look (he likes natural), so this works out really well for me. :)
I wouldn't have had it any other way and wish I'd had more! Our kids were born many years ago and we were dirt poor. Our home was full or love, laughter and kids! All six are successful adults with wonderful families. Among them are a lawyer, doctor, nurse, independent business owner, computer guru, and educator. All have been to college and paid for it. The world is a better place because of them.
Great timing on this post. I'm 55, with classic salt and pepper hair. As part of debt reduction, I have given up professional hair coloring and let my grey hair grow out. Hey, I'm a feminist, grey is good. My hair looks fine, and I am happy with the way I look. But now I'm scared, really scared, about work, and in my field, age discrimination is quite real. Blessed with youthful skin, dying my hair makes me look considerably younger. Never dyed my hair at home, but I just got a box of clairol and learning to do it is my weekend project. I really resent having to do it, but reality matters so I'm going for it. Working for a world when age is not stigmatized is my mission.
It seems like there are two definitions of "corruption". We think of it as bribes to get things done, or get out of trouble with the government, or unethical business practices. The people in the other country seem to think of "corruption" as an extension of race and class privilege. That is, people are not treated equally by the law and government.
We don't seem to have so much of the former, but, the country was, basically, founded on the latter. Perhaps the way our country created a caste society for people of African descent (and others) helped create the "democratic society" that many middle class people, especially white people, enjoy today.
Here's a simple example, to use a familiar symbol of a racist caste society. Assume that all the people need to drink water, so the city installs water fountains. However, the caste society demands that we have "separate but equal" facilities for White and Black people. (Or to use the parlance of the 1950s, Colored people.)
Now, the government folks know that the lower caste (the people of African descent) have little to no power, and there's a desire to maintain a caste society. So, the fountains for Whites are maintained in better condition than for Blacks.
Why would a White person complain about the water fountain? It's clear that resources are being diverted from the maintenance of the Black fountains to pay for the maintenance of the White fountains.
The need to do something to get a "favor" from the system is reduced, because the unequal distribution of resources is part of the system.
Now, to make a more salient, contemporary point. The most corrupt system in America today is the police system - it's often corrupt even when all the cops are honest. That's because of the War on Drugs, which is probably one of the most unfair government projects out there.
I went to a relatively "elite" school many years ago. At the height of the conservative "Reagan Revolution", drug use by some students was quite high :-) The vast majority of these lawbreakers were White, and of them, many were the children of professionals, like doctors, lawyers, academics, and middle management in corporations, etc.
Of perhaps 200 people I knew using illegal drugs, mostly marijuana, but also meth, acid, ecstasy, heroin, shrooms, and coke, I recall only one person being arrested.
Now, I don't know how many of these people have political power today. I'd guess that 90% are professionals doing highly intellectual work or have some community influence.
As far as I can see, this generation of drug users and lawbreakers have not become engaged in enlarging the political pressure to repeal the War on Drugs.
That's probably because they, and their kids, are not at risk of being pulled over for "driving while Black" (or Brown), and then being found with a small amount of marijuana on their person. It doesn't affect them.
Meanwhile, over 50% of people going to prison on drug charges are Black. They make up only 13% of the population. All people use illegal drugs at approximately the same rate, so the laws, if written fairly, and applied fairly, should produce more balanced convictions.
I think that's the corruption people see when they look at America.
I have seen a number of people leap into parenthood that should have seen a list like this beforehand. Many of these people have turned out to be right lousy parents, and a few have succeeded. I'm glad that the above guests have found joy and success as parents.
I'm thinking right now of a particularly young, vulnerable young girl who got pregnant after a one night stand, and was talked into having the baby and raising the child with the father, who is irresponsible and immature. I can't say that she won't be an amazing mother, but the future is definitely not promising given her family and financial situations.
Sometimes I do wonder if people over think things like starting a family - I wonder if I won't be too old in a few years to even get started. These things are always personal decisions, but in any case, I think the above issues are worth considering.
Sorry....I meant vain, not vane!
I am 53 years old, married for 30 years, and have never colored or highlighted my hair. I am totally grey and have earned every one of those grey hairs, ha! ha!
I grew up with a rather vane mother who had to go to what I called "the beautiful shop" every week, and dyed her hair blonde every three weeks. She still does, and she is 79 years old.
I never wanted the expense or the hassle. I love it, and even my naturally blonde 26 year old daughter thinks my hair looks great!
I find lists of all the costs of having kids depressing. I have kids. I like having them. Yes, it has cost tons of money.
So what?
Having them really does focus your energy on getting done what needs to get done. This includes re-energizing your career to make more money if you need to!
Having them and being a good parent helps you stop being so d*** selfish. They are so vulnerable in so many ways that if you are a caring parent you will do whatever it takes to stop them from feeling pain that you caused. This can even cause you to become a better person, preserve your marriage, create good habits, cause you to take better care of your health, help you reconnect with the good parts of your own childhood and repair the not-so-good parts, and more.
Can you put a dollar value on a pearl beyond price?
The timing of your article couldn't have made me laugh more...I was sitting here tonight thinking that I'm having dinner tomorrow with friends I haven't seen in awhile, and crap, my gray roots are worse than I thought. I was getting ready to do a Walgreens run which I so didn't feel like doing so I figured I'd see what my Wisebread friends were up to tonight, and there you were...Congrats to you - I wish I could do it - but I'm 49 and I don't know if I could pull it off without looking like my grandma.
I think that you have to make a distinction between moral corruption and legal corruption. Moral corruption would be acts that we collectively disapprove of, but are not technically illegal. For instance, politicians who accept money from lobbyists are probably morally corrupt but are not necessarily committing a crime. On the other hand, slipping a $100 bill to a traffic cop is definitely illegal and against the law.
The difference with the United States is probably that most Americans probably would not blatantly do a corrupt act that was blatantly illegal. In some other countries, illegal corrupt acts are routine. In other words, Americans may be more law abiding. Does this mean that the USA is less corrupt or more hypocritical?
I'm 47 years old and have never covered my gray hair. I actually like it. A couple of years ago, my eyebrows started going gray too. I actually like that as well, lol. I'm fortunate in that I have a round full face and I'm a bit short; people regularly mistake me for 30something, even with the gray. I think if more women would stop coloring their hair, it would become more acceptable for women to age naturally. I may be luckier than some because I'm not actually even going gray; my hair is going white. EmmyLou Harris and Mike McDonald both look wonderful with white and/or gray hair, so if you need encouragement just look at them.
I remember, when some airline or other was cratering, watching some women tell a newscaster that they were willing to work for less pay to keep the company going "because we're all like family here." I also remember yelling at the TV, telling them they were fools, "It's not a family, it's a business, you idiots!" It was about then that I decided to get out and make some friends, because I was spending too much time watching TV. Of course, the airline went bankrupt and the women lost their jobs and their pensions.
I've lived in a lot of states and several countries. Of the countries, it seemed to me that the US as a whole was much less corrupt, at least on the level of daily life. In those other countries, we paid little "tips" to get anything at all done. In the US, I've worked for the government of several states. Louisiana was corrupt, without question, but I didn't see that in the other states. In Louisiana, I worked for a government program intended to help poor parents of severely mentally handicapped children with fees for various resources. The rich had all their kids enrolled in the program. That was one small example. While we were there, the governor was sent to the pen on corruption charges. A friend of ours in Louisiana started an engineering business; once I asked him why he didn't expand into Texas. He answered, "I don't know who to pay there." A lot of things weren't fair in all the states, but usually it had to do with the fact that the middle class and the wealthy were also better educated and knew how to access what they needed, not because they paid people off.
Congratulations for moving into the lazy-with-your-appearance camp! I've been living in this tent a while.
- I shave my legs quarterly (yes, quarterly. Oddly, the longer you do this, the less hair you grow)
- I do not use make-up (I am too lazy to do the work)
- I do not dye my hair
- I do use deodorant (yay!)
- I do not iron clothes
- I do not style my hair (in fact, I only wash it 1-2x/week, and only w/ vinegar)
- I wear the same style of shirt every day, and the same type of jeans, so I never have to figure out if I match or am fashionable (every few years I'm fashionable for a season or two, the rest of the time I'm not)
I am the queen of appearance lazy, and it seems to get worse every year. But it is so very liberating. Good luck getting used to the grey!
But if you are already pregnant, don't panic and think your baby is destined for lifetime poverty if you don't have every one of these items checked off your list. If I had read this when I was pregnant, I would have wanted to stick my head in the oven!
It's great to plan, but many(50% of those in the U.S.?) babies are unplanned. I sometimes wish people would take into account that not many people spend years planning for each child, for a variety of reasons.
"Don’t fool yourself: you will not be able to bounce your baby on one knee and office work on the other; new parents are always amazed at how completely occupying their baby can be."
This is not true, if you really need to get things done, you will. I wasted so much more time every day before we had our child last year. I get more done now than I did without her. Yes, sometimes that has meant literally bouncing her on one knee and doing homework simultaneously.
After some 40 years, I stopped torturing my hair. Occasionally I shampoo in a little bleach, leaving it in only a couple of minutes. This lighten all of it. Silver streaks look like they were done professionally.
You know how on iTunes, you don't like half the songs on the top 10 list? you wonder why they get so many downloads? A few of them are good, but there are many hidden gems out there too. this is the case with poplar console ports and rs.
runescape is, in my opinion, one of the best rpgs to ever hit gaming, and ive played many of them, including WoW. rs is so deep and there are so many things to do! games are not my life; i am an accomplished musician and an aspiring businessman, and am a pretty damn good runningback :p. But, in my spare time, runescape is a very good way of just unwinding and talking to some friends and practicing business strategies. Also, its pretty fun to pwn noobs...
Im also working toward 99 smithing its pretty boring (the smithing not the game) but i watch football or the news while doing it so i dont waste time. in small amounts this games fun-my names techmage22 and if u wanna smith/skill w/me and my friends add me
rs rocks! (playing since release)
I found that getting highlights occasionally (I do every 3-4 months) keeps things looking a little more youthful and colorful, and is MUCH cheaper than keeping the whole thing dyed. That said, I've been contemplating ditching even that (to save the money, basically). This is a timely article - thanks!