Mirror, mirror...

[redfox]

Kjerstin Gruys: My Year of Not Looking in a Mirror

http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/articles/2013/05/17/kjerstin-gruys-my-year-of-not-looking-in-a-mirror.html

[Jilly]

She probably could not have done this when she was my age. She would have been unable to pluck her chin hair. Just saying.

Kidding and hair aside, it is an interesting exercise.

[Zoebird]

I pluck my chin hairs by feel anyway. :D

Pretty cool. I don't look in mirrors much -- it's mostly a diagnostic tool for me. :D

[peggy]

We don't have mirrors either. Actually, the ones in the bathrooms are the only mirrors in the house. My mother used to accuse us of being vampires!:D

[CathyA]

I pluck my chin hairs by feel anyway. :D

Pretty cool. I don't look in mirrors much -- it's mostly a diagnostic tool for me. :D

LOL Zoebird.........that's a good one! :D

[iris lilies]

I pluck my chin hairs by feel anyway. :D



yep me too, when I;m sitting in front of the computer. Get a lot of plucking done that way.

[ctg492]

Oh if I waited a year to look in the mirror, I doubt if I would recognize myself! I swear I hardly do now when I look. I feel better and stronger then when I was 22. I can run a 1/2 marathon, bike 4,000 miles tjis year....Yet at 52 I am sadly disappointed in the wrinkles and sags :( I weight the same as I did at 22. I just never saw the old lady looking back in the mirror coming at me so fast.
I am struggling with looking old as you can tell:|( so here is a funny story to ad to my age grumblings. I had contractors remodeling. Nicest young man was on the crew. They all left and an issue came up so back they came. I meant this remark totally different then it came out. I said, Steve, I had hoped we would meet again under different circumstances. His face turned red, I realized how it sounded and could not back track. I meant I hoped they would return to do more work not fix an issue. My son teased me about hitting on 30 year old guys. Husband said, that's ok guys feel flattered when an older woman hits on them :doh:

[Zoebird]

oh, ouch, ctg. I totally get that. LOL

i'm lucky that i'm only 37 and people tell me that i look 27 (nice of them), and I'm going to a dermatologist now to solve some broken capillaries and stuff (make ya look aged), and basically take religious care of my skin (i'm starting the collagen beds, too -- on the dermatologist's advice). it's actually very affordable (far more than I expected) for this -- basically what most women spend on make up, hair, and clothes. Being a minimalist in that area means I can spend it on my skin. DH wants to spend it on his skin now, too -- since he's 40 (looks 30). We can't help ourselves. We are *so vain!*

Anyway, yes. An attractive healthy older woman hitting on him is effectively my husband's dream. But when it's accidental (he also has foot-in-mouth disease), he says it's all the more charming.

[pony mom]

I couldn't do it. I've become obsessed with my teeth since starting that remineralization program I mentioned some time ago. Can't stop looking at them---they're so white and look like glass.

Anyone do the mirror thing where you hold one at a right angle to another, so you see yourself as others do instead of a reflection? OMG!! My left eye is much smaller than I thought, the right side of my mouth droops...what else have I missed all these years!

[Spartana]

We don't have mirrors either. Actually, the ones in the bathrooms are the only mirrors in the house. My mother used to accuse us of being vampires!:D
This is me too - just the bathroom mirror. Although my sister has a full length mirror in her bedroom that I sometimes use to see how certain clothes look on me. Generally when I borrow hers:-) . As an unhairy fair skinned blonde, I don't have to do much in the way of grooming except the occasional minimal make up I wear when I go on a date. Otherwise I wash my face, brush my teeth and put on sunscreen without looking in a mirror except to brush my hair and stick it in a pony tail most days.

[SiouzQ.]

When I was camping in New Mexico it was so freeing to just run up to the campground bathroom and only do the necessary things like wash the face, brush the teeth and clip my hair up. I had vowed not to use any makeup on this trip and I didn't. The light in the campground bathroom was very poor anyway and I can't see at all close up anyway. I though I looked just fine and natural and I went about my business of hiking and touring.

The problem I have with with mirrors began again once I got home. A few years ago I got a magnifying mirror to install on the bathroom wall so I could see the stray chin hairs I needed to pluck. Then I started to inspect everything - my pores, the laugh lines, etc. This is kind of embarrassing to admit but I find I waste A LOT of time looking in the mirror when I DON'T NEED TO! Like every time I go into the bathroom, to do anything, it sucks me in and I don't even realize it until a lot of time has passed. I am working on some of the mind games I have taught myself so I don't lose myself in my reflection searching for all the imperfections. Sometimes I put a towel over it, or turn it to the non-magnifying side, but it can be a terrible struggle. I have thought about taking it down but I am not ready yet...I don't mind looking like I am camping when I am camping and hiking but I guess at home I am a bit more vain and want to look a little more together.

[ctg492]

SiouzQ! Omg I too do that. I actually get mad and toss that stupid little mirror in the drawer once in a while. Then sadly I stick it back up. I remind myself that no one gets that close to inspect me, but does not help. I change my look and outlook every so often. I went through a stage where I tried the no makeup, natural deodorant, no poo, no perfume...then a revert back to all the goodies. Wonder why that is? I can do without many extra add ons except eye makeup, mascara to be exact. I am by no means a slave to the extras, but I just feel better with them. Now the poor lady in stilettos at the farmers market Saturday, I felt sorry for her obsession!

[SiouzQ.]

I am glad I am no the only one! It's not like I am a girly-girly at all, and I don't have to dress up for work or anything and I am kind of a slob with my clothing these days; all I wear is jeans and T-shirts/tank tops. I think I look better with a little mascara and a little brow liner and that is about all I use but I guess I am obsessed with the condition of my skin, after a life-long problem with acne. I have a lot of scars and blotchy skin with freckles and (I think) large pores. It has bugged me since I was a teenager and I am 51 now. I cannot afford any expensive "treatments" to improve things so I guess I am on a life-long mission to accept it and move on. And you are right, nobody is really inspecting things as close as I inspect them; one of the things I came up with when I get lost in the mirror is to ask myself, "What is reality?" And then I answer (to myself), "No one else is as concerned about your skin as you are. Walk away, now". And that has worked in the past, so I am trying it again now that I am back home.

I know I feel so much better about myself when I am doing what I love to do, which is traveling and experiencing things and not obsessing over stupid sh** like my appearance. I think I am pretty good-looking (most of the time), I clean up well when I have to, and my body is pretty fit and strong these days. I could almost be in an ad for an outdoor equipment company; that's the kind of look I have, I guess, a fairly natural, fairly unadorned human female.