You Tube and me

I gave up Facebook for Lent, and it's going great. It always does. I am reminded that I need to work on actual, in the flesh interaction, because interaction on Facebook is risk-free and therefore not really real.
Anyway, this has meant that I have had to find new distraction from studying and housework. No need to look that hard! I have started to follow beauty channels on YouTube. If this sounds sort of paradoxical, it is. I spend about 5 minutes getting ready, maybe less. But I hope it will not always be that way. And I have 2 little girls, and I want to be able to give them beauty tips as they get older. This means that I had better work on acquiring some beauty tips. When I was growing up, my mom worked full time as a nurse, and makeup and hair weren't really a huge priority. She has had like 2 zits in her life and the most even complexion ever. She wore eyeliner and lipstick, and I think that was it. She never really did her hair in front of me...it was always short anyway...but I think we were all too busy in the mornings or on opposite schedules or something. When my parents (yes, they both!) did my hair, it was basics only. Basic braids, half up half down, pony tails. I didn't learn to use curlers until I was a senior in high school, and I don't think I truly mastered them. I still can't use a curling iron all that effectively. I got a perm and that took care of things for a long while, and then I cut all my hair off and discovered my hair has curl all on its own...lucky for me!! Wow. I got by on that forever. Product shmoduct.
I have always had pretty good skin, or always pretended I do because wearing makeup really really feels gross to me. I was asked in grad school if I wore it at all, and I remember asking if moisturizer counted. This cavalier attitude, I fear, is no longer realistic or functional. I am older, with some older people flaws. Hence the new interest in video tutorials from total strangers.
I am going grey at the temples. I am 33. I am not thrilled. My hair has also morphed into my dad's hair...very dark, like almost black. This is bad for hiding the greyness. I am going to have to start dyeing it, which I hate hate hate the idea of. I have dark circles under my eyes. Like, all the time. I get about 7 hrs of sleep a night. I am also sprouting zits all over my chin. My mustache and my eyebrows require constant maintenance which I fail to give pretty consistently. I figured out today that my daughter will tell me I look beautiful no matter what...wake up hair was practically matted to the side of my head. I told her I was ready for the day...she told me I looked great. Bless her. I also love these capri pants from Kmart. Like, they literally cost about $5 a pair, and I am wearing them OUT. I think I bought them when I was first pregnant w E. But it's hard to remember. I hurt my big toe on my left foot so badly that the nail is black. At first I attempted to hide it w nail polish, but now I don't really care. And I wear my $2 Old Navy flip flops with my black nail. Stellar.
Back to the intention of this post, which is really to praise an LDS mom and other LDS moms who look so good and have so many beauty tips it sickens me. Now, I know a whole load of lovely LDS girls from high school. They were then, and are now, just the epitome of womanly beauty. Not my kind of low maintenance beauty...beauty that involves shopping and nail polish. While looking to enhance my beauty tool chest, I found this LDS mom on YouTube with a channel called "cute girl hairstyles." She has 5 girls. She shows women just like me HOW to do their child's hair. Naturally, she has become super famous and is on TV and things. So deserving. I am reminded how much technology gives to people who ordinarily wouldn't get recognition outside their own communities, or even families. Anyway, this is improving my mom-confidence in a big, big way. I can do this! I can learn the joys of a three barrel curling iron...how to double french braid...how to use dry shampoo and hairspray! It's all very exciting. Because let's be honest, I want to raise girls who care about that stuff just a smidgen more than I do. When they're in their 30s, I don't want them to feel panicky about catching up, because it sucks, frankly. So here's to the hot LDS moms who are already my friends (you know who you are!) and the ladies I will never meet but absolutely respect. Thank you for sharing your womanly wiles...for FREE.