Look I love you B and maybe you did wake up looking fabulous cause well you're the Queen, but don't tell me that soaking your face in La Mer and weekly Sonya Dakar treatments don't have to do with your flawless look.
I didn't always have curly hair. No I spent 14 years of my life with thick long beautiful stick straight locks, until I woke up one morning with a "kink" that I just couldn't get out. Fast forward a few years, and I had a boss show disapproval for my natural hair (I'll save you the story). That was enough to shift my mentality of getting to know my flat iron and beginning this journey of frying my hair on a bi-weekly basis.
If you saw me in the past few weeks maybe you noticed something different.. or hopefully you didn't. Because today is the day I break my 18 days of no eye makeup and natural hair aka 18 days of "I woke up like this." The idea came along because I started to realize my once long eyelashes and thick hair had seen too much YSL mascara and Chi heat. Also, I was inspired by my main lady in her fascinating response to people who call her ugly for daring to go bare.
The first few days I avoided eye contact with people to hide my "ugly" bare face like suddenly because my eyelashes looked less doll-like I was inferior. By day five I couldn't handle the curly hair anymore and was desperate to straighten my hair, going as far as turning on the straightener like an addict who needed her fix. Standing there iron in hand almost ashamed that I even turned it on I slowly stepped away repeating to myself "get ahold of yourself Avis you are more powerful than the Chi." Yes I call myself Avis.
A week later the red blotches and spots on my skin were completely gone, and I was back to having the clear, soft skin I've been so blessed to have. Suddenly no makeup was looking a lot more appealing. My hair stopped breaking constantly, and I almost started liking the bohemian look that I was wearing as a nice transition into the summer months.
Two weeks in, it took pictures of my "former" self to remember what I looked like with more effort. I began liking the close to no effort and time it took me to get ready, in fact beyond moisturizing and SPF (which you should ALL be doing) I had it down to ten minutes.
I think more importantly and this is going to sound so cheesy, but it made me more OK with being in my natural state. Ultimately, it made me realize that if I get in my eight hours of sleep (hard but trying), drink a lot of water, and use my trustworthy Kiehl's skin care I don't actually look all too different than when Bobbi Brown and Nars give me a hand. My curly hair in this humidity sorry nothing can help you; your shining moments are limited to dry LA exclusively.
Sometimes it's not that I think that I really need to have every hair in place, but because "everyone" else is doing it I'm almost obligated to follow suit. Women are lucky that we have makeup, and on those days where I've gotten two hours of sleep I'm so grateful for my Shu Uemera eyelash curler. But women also hide behind a mask that is not good for your skin or hair, and in all honesty sometimes makes you look worse not better. I'll never completely give up makeup or hair products I'm a girly girl to the core, but with the warmer months approaching take this as an opportunity to let go of some of your beauty routine and simplify your life a bit. I dare you all to go bare and see how you feel after a couple of weeks.
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