The Vanity Mirror: For beauty tips and other such things

So, uh, how do you keep yourself pretty? Because I have no clue how :/

Sun screen, moisturizer and chapstick are a good place to start. You don't have to buy fancy expensive stuff but keeping your skin in as good condition as possible is a good idea.

Proper sleep is good for the skin. Otherwise — clean, moisturize, sunscreen.

Routine is essential. Regularly taking care of yourself, drinking plenty of water, keeping a varied diet, moisturizing, plucking, waxing... My god this all sounds very exhausting! But if you keep it up it makes a real difference. Purchasing good quality products also helps, I tend to find pharmacy recommended products work far better than the expensive brand names you can find anywhere.

Excellent point. I also use cold cream to remove makeup.

Also, check out the health and beauty department at Big Lots or any job lot store. I have found the super high dollar stuff there dirt cheap. It won't happen every time but often enough to check it out.

Religiously waxing my eyebrows and straightening my hair helped me a ton. That, and figuring out how to wear makeup in a way that worked and didn't look all clown-whore.

For guys: learning to shave properly is essential. And by "properly", I mean with a blade rather than an electric. Electric razors never give you a close shave, are nigh-impossible to keep clean, and can irritate your face because of the "lift & cut" action most of them use. A blade also scrapes off a layer of dead skin and oil, helping to keep skin soft and prevent zits. Several things I've learned about shaving:

• Soften your skin. The best time to shave is right after a shower; your face is clean, the skin and hair are softer, and you're already in the bathroom.
• bigger isn't better. Skip those silly quad-blade monstrosities. The extra blades do exactly nothing, they're over-priced, and they get clogged easily. The cheap blue Gillette plastic two-bladers actually do a better job with the right technique.
• Keep it clean. Rinse your razor often; by often I mean after every pass. Make sure there's no hair/gunk in it. Dry it off with toilet paper after you're done with it. A properly cleaned disposable razor, even a cheap one, is good for at least a half-dozen shaves, if not more if you do this. Most people's razors look like they were previously used to peel a potato, and then they wonder why their face looks like they shaved with a piece of glass.
• go slow. Take short passes (1" or so) and clean the razor between each one. You're less likely to nick yourself this way.
• shave cross-grain. Hair grows downward, so shave at a 90 degree angle if you want a close shave. This only works if you aren't really stubbly, which brings me to the next point...
• shave often. At least every other day, if not every day. This actually results in less irritation (your face will get used to it) and makes it easier to get your face perfect.
• Old tricks are the best tricks. Skip the cream-in-a-can and get yourself a cup and brush. You get a better lather; hell, you can use a piece of bar soap that way and save a few bucks. However, make sure that...
• you have a good aftershave. Here's one place where newer is better. Get a good cream-based aftershave that is alcohol free; your face will like you.

That's all I know, anyone else care to comment?

I do my best to shave every day, with a disposable and using a brush and cup... yet I still have visible hair and stubble is back within the hour...

@Funny: damn, I guess some people are born to have five o'clock shadow.

I use beard cover, and it helps, but not well enough. I guess I should try a straight or safety razor then.

Or you could just grow a beard for now.

Or maybe start waxing or something.

@Funny: safety/straight razors require a lot of practice. A friend of mine decided to go that route, and liked the close shaves...right up until he buried the razor in his cheek when his hand slipped. He still has the scar.

A safety razor, I've heard, is a good middle ground between disposables and a bare blade. I'll admit I've always wanted to learn to shave with a straight, but I've never had the time or money to get into it.

New question! How does one clean long hair. I was only taught to clean my scalp...

Well, you shampoo and condition it just like you do short hair, but you have to get the lather through the whole length of the hair. It uses up a lot of shampoo, and takes a lot longer.

I couldn't tell you any more than that because I could never be bothered with putting a lot of product in my hair.

I'm assuming you don't bunch it all up and scrub it while you scrub your scalp... that just seems like asking for a few dozen extra knots...

..Huh. I never really thought about the method I used to scrub my hair before.

First, wet your hair, then get your head out from under the shower spray. Then add shampoo on your scalp. If you do scritching motions with your fingers back and forth, just curling and uncurling the tips, you can scrub your scalp without balling the rest of it up. That should work up enough lather that you can work it down the rest of your hair going with the grain of the hair. When it's all lathered rinse thoroughly.

Condition your hair lightly at the top and a little more as you go down.

And after towel drying comb with a wide tooth comb.

I do pile all the wet hair up and work the lather through it in a mass. But I also use a conditioner that helps with keeping it from knotting. And using a wide-toothed comb to comb through it while you have the water running through it also helps — the wet hair is slicker and smoother than dry, and the water helps separate and straighten the individual strands. (Note: my hair is fairly straight to start with. I don't know if this would work as well for someone with curly hair.)

I have a friend with incredibly curly hair and he spends money on good conditioners and uses a lot of it and he has the most gorgeous natural ringlets that go half way down his back.

Oh, yeah. good conditioner. I've found that you can use cheap shampoo, but a good conditioner is vital. The tricky part is that "good" varies wildly between people. I use Aussie Moist and it works great for me. My sis used it when she was visiting, and it made her hair look greasy. Different hair; different results.

edited 22nd Mar '11 7:55:56 AM by Madrugada

A lot of it is really trial and error. What works for one person's hair is disastrous for another's. The trick is to find the right combination of products that work for you.

I used to have waist-length hair and, for the sake of laziness, often would bunch it up. Didn't need conditioner or any special brush (rarely used a brush at all, actually). Then again, apparently I had rather thick hair, so maybe I'm just lucky. I don't know.

My hair is halfway down my back at the moment and in all honesty I'm incredibly tempted to chop it all off as it is such high maintenance, and I'm starting to get it caught under my arms!

What I do find helps as someone with thick, wavy hair which insists upon knotting itself beyond reconcile, is a good conditioner in the shower and a leave-in-conditioner out. I was recommended It's a 10 'Miracle Leave-in Product' by my hairdresser. It's absolutely wonderful for my hair type and doesn't leave your hair feeling sticky and greasy after only one day like most. I immediately sent some to my mum in England who used to be a hairdresser and she adores the product, remarking that it was unlike anything else she had ever tried. It's relatively inexpensive considering how long it lasts for (going on over a year now for me and only 1/4 way trough the bottle) and you can find it on ebay or amazon cheaper than you would a salon to be honest.

I've heard switching brands ever couple months or so is a good idea, as one washes away the buildup from the other. It seems to work well for me, but then again my hair never really got that long (I've got fine blond hair, it never got longer than shoulder blades).

Which reminds me, I need to get a haircut. I'm getting too old/too thin on top to have a freakin' ponytail. A few more years and I'll look like an old hippie.