Have you heard of mirror fasts? Where you go for a week or however long without looking in the mirror?
Does this mean that you also go without make-up, or can you put on your make-up without looking in the mirror, which I'm sure I could do in a heartbeat.
Today, I went out without any make-up whatsoever. I felt like a whole wheat dumpling. I felt unkempt, blotchy and seedy. I felt old.
I know, women used to go without make-up all the time. You were considered a floozy if you wore it. Remember when Meg in Little Women wore some rouge at a ball and Laurie got his knickers in a twist about it?
But then who turns out to be the ideal Little Woman? Amy, who spent half her life with a clothespin on her nose to improve it's shape. Amy, who got all the good clothes and got to go to Europe. Amy with the blonde ringlets.
I grew up with the movies and Mad Men advertising. I have to wear make-up and look in the mirror.
Or move to a hut in Iceland.
I've done two week-long mirror fasts in my life, once in high school and once in college, inspired by a book about a walkabout in which the author describes her months without looking at her own reflection as having the effect of her forgetting her own personal, physical borders. That always sounded appealing to me. But, then, I've never worn a lot of make-up (I wear mascara now, but that's the most I've ever done) and I have pixie-short hair, so it's not a big sacrifice for me maintenance-wise.
ReplyDeleteThis made me laugh and laugh. Oh how I adore you!
ReplyDeleteWe had a librarian in my little rural community who must have gone on decade mirror fasts. Her lipstick was way over her lip line and I never remember her hair being kept. She would have been downright scary if it wasn't for all those Lois Lenski books she introduced to me.
ReplyDeleteNo, no, no!
ReplyDeleteWhat about Après Pesto teeth?!
What about Wake Up from Drooling Nap?!
What about Slip Riding High above Skirt?!
Or, my most famous "Let's-Not-Check-the-Mirror-Before-Church moment: When I realized, just before communion, that I had worn one black leather pump and one black leather slingback to church.
God gave us mirrors for a reason, I say.
You just blew my mind with that interpretation of Little Women.
ReplyDeleteRead it again, Carly. It's Amy, not Jo who is the perfect little woman. I didn't realize this until I read it as an adult.
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