I hate pampering. There I said it for the world to hear. Since this is a blog about my living as well as cooking I decided to come clean with my opening statement.
I know that millions of people love to be pampered. Most of my friends like pampering in one way or another. Please know I don’t mean to discredit, discount, or talk bad about spas and salons or the folks that love them. It’s just not for me.
I’ve had my hair cut, colored, highlighted, and permed. I’ve had my nails done. I had one pedicure, massage, and facial. I used to get my eyebrows and bikini line waxed, I even got a Brazilian wax done twice. All leaving me with a meh feeling. I do have to say the Brazilian wax left me with a, “Wow that hurt like hell!” feeling. Please don’t take it personally how I feel about pampering, you can just say, “Fuck you Julz, I like pampering and you are from a different planet.” Fair enough I am good with it.
On social media, I see how excited people are to have a mani-pedi day. A few years ago I actually scheduled one for myself. All I could think of was, “Get me the hell out of here!” I sat there thinking how much time I was wasting and that I was going to spend a bunch of dough being miserable. I hated the pedicure. I hated having my feet touched. I felt the same way about all the other pampering treatments I have had.
I can actually cut hair pretty well, I understand the basics of it. I’ve cut other people’s hair along with my family’s and did a few friend’s hair and make-up for their proms back in high school. I can’t do complicated cuts like my boys have now, but I can do basic stuff. I’ve been cutting and coloring my own hair for years. I tried almost every color blonde, red, burgundy, black and red, highlights, and an unsuccessful purple but didn’t like any of them. I especially didn’t like my mousey medium brown that has a lot of natural red in it. My natural hair color gets so brassy I hate it. It turns orange in the summertime. My father once told me my hair looked like a doorknob. Thanks, dad!
I started coloring my hair darkest brown, not black when we started the business almost 4 years ago. We were taking some Vermont Spätzle photos for social media and I looked at myself. It was summer and my hair and tan skin were the same color. I had a one-dimensional look. I figured I had the chance to have a new look at our new business. We were literally meeting hundreds of people every week, this was my chance to shake it up. I really liked the way the darker hair made my face and features pop. For the first time when I looked in the mirror, I thought it looked like me. My son Noah and my siblings all have dark hair I have recently found out, maybe that’s why.
I have to “refresh” my color every 4 weeks. I use professional hair color and not drug store products anymore. There is a huge difference! I hate touching up or coloring my hair. I absolutely dread it and make up excuses, wear a hat, or use a product called Style Edit which blends the grown-out areas beautifully. That is until I suck it up and color it.
A hairdresser once told me, if you don’t keep up with your hair color you will look like a whore! WTF? It was a high-end salon and he was highlighting my hair. If you don’t keep up with it, don’t tell anyone I am your stylist. Screw you pal, that was my one and only time going to him. Another one left the highlighting color on too long and my hair broke off at the roots. See why I don’t like going? Every single stylist tries to talk me into cutting my hair short. I listened to them a couple of times and regretted it. Worse was when they did what they wanted and cut more off than I wanted. If I wanted to cut my hair shorter I would have asked for it. Capeesh?
Yesterday, I decided it was hair coloring and pedicure day. I had to psych myself up all week to do it. I had my hair done by 8:30 am and my toes finished before noon. Was it a waste of time? No. While my hair color is processing I run around like a damn idiot getting projects or cleaning done. You can get a lot done in 35 minutes! The thought of being stuck in a chair for that long at a salon gives me the screaming meemies.
For someone who thinks it’s a chore when it comes to self-maintenance, I never minded spending 3 hours getting ready for belly dance gigs. Maybe it’s because I am transforming myself into someone else? Maybe it’s because I love performing and dressing up? Most definitely! Every gig I had a different look whether it was different hair, makeup, or costuming. We had gigs almost every week so I got fast and efficient at it. I hope when the pandemic is over we can perform again, I’ve missed it.
Yesterday morning I heard the birds chirping. What does that have to do with this post? To me when the birds start chirping again spring isn’t that far off. Instead of my usual dark toenail color, I went with light lavender…a sure sign of spring in my mind. A sign of hopefulness.
Why do I hate being pampered? Is it a deep-rooted thing? Maybe it’s that I hate relying on other people and can’t sit still long enough to enjoy it? The definition of pampered is being treated with extreme and excessive care. Am I nutty enough to not feel like I am worthy of it? Whatever the reason…it’s just not for me.
We really are related because I feel exactly the same way! Lol!!
Never had a manicure, pedicure, facial, been to a spa, and don’t expect to. If enough time opened up to do any of them, I would prefer to sit by the window and read a book and consider it time well spent.
Nice piece, my initial reaction was this is somebody who demands to be pampered, (even if it is about not being pampered). I look forward to communicating with Marty about this.