response 95 of 200:

Jan 11 20:15 UTC 1998

Hmmmm... I think of it more as a pride aspect. I'm special, so I want to look
special, or at least like it matters to me. I was brought up to think that way.
I said a lot of MAKEUP is a sign of insecurity, not lack of dressing up. And
I'm sure Steve doesn't have the makeup issue to deal with. :)

I also hate blue eyeshadow and lipstick outside the natural lip line. Any
eyeshadow I wear is subtle and very light, and only serves to enhance my eye
color and make them look bigger. I love big, expressive eyes. I don't like
obvious eye makeup, because then people notice your makeup and not your eyes
themselves. I need blush to warm up my very pale cheeks... people have asked me
if I have the flu when I wasn't wearing it. But I hate those racing-stripe
slashes that some women glop on their face. I like powder because my nose is
sooo shiny, and the paleness factor. But I'd never wear brozing cream or
anything to make me look darker all over... it would look ridiculously fake. 

As for tanning beds, there's a reason I call 'em Cancer Beds. No thanks.

response 99 of 200:

Jan 12 03:46 UTC 1998

I get the impression of a bunch of mini-cultural gulfs here, with people
on the opposite sides saying stuff like "why would anyone care" and "there
must be something wrong with you if you don't care".  That i'd feel more
at home with a vi vs. emacs discussion probably lets you figure out where
i stand...

On clothes, i figure that dressing up is better than a prostate exam.
Usually.  Jeans 7 days a week is my choice, along with sweat socks and
a casual top - usually a knit shirt in summer, or a turtleneck (tucked
in) and flannel button-down (untucked) over it in winter.  I find that
i don't judge people by their clothes at work, but do away from work
(where i figure the-less-like-me the worse).  

On the odor front, i don't wear anything and generally don't notice
what anyone else is wearing, but maybe that's because hayfever, etc.
keep my nose semi-functional most of the time.  War stories told by
those allergic to perfume have made me somethat biased against such.

I don't like pierced ears or earrings, but have mostly gotten resigned
to them as unavoidable.  Though it's depressed me to see each of my
nieces in turn succumb to peer pressure and do it.  The newer piercings,
though, REALLY turn me off.  

For makeup, i'm probably in valerie's "great unaware" category.  If i
notice it, i don't like it.  I'm sort of philosophically opposed to
it, but if it's someone else's face, money, and time....their business,
not mine.

response 101 of 200:

Jan 12 09:49 UTC 1998

So much ice cream?
dressing up: I am what people call the casual guy. It is my character and it
shows. But it doesn't mean I look shabby or so, but I can if I want to.
Another thing is: I mainly wear black, sometimes with a bright colored accent.
So, that is, black jeans, black t-shirts, black socks, black shirts, a black
(or dark grey) suit etc. etc. etc. Makes me look like Johnny cash haha.
Next to that I almost never comb my hair because that's the purpose. When I
was young I had my hair like Sid Vicious of the sex Pistols (I wasa punk in
those days), nowadays it is thinning a little and my cut shifts towards the
Clint eastwood look. But still, I almost never a comb. Instead I use heaps
of gel to fix it in the direction i desire. But I don0t say my hair isn't
clean. Still, I think it even looks good while wearing a suit. Evenmore: when
wearing a suit, I still manage to walk around in soldier0s boots.
I am what people call different from the massess, or as Misty put it, the
intellectual aprt of society. I even used mascara in my twenties (mostly when
I had a gig with my band, or at parties), I wore three earrings (nowadays it0s
one).
As for women0s makup: that's another way of expressing who you are, where you
stand in life, what are generally your views. 
A woman with heavy eyemak-up doesn't necessarily have to be tramp, it could
very well be a message for people that belong to a cerain subculture, just
as much as all these crusties these days have to have dreadlocks (and they
smell, but look good in my view).
In fact it doesn't really matter what a person looks like, but if i had to
choose, I rather choose the t-shirt/jeans woman or the strangely dressed one.
The reason is that too often corprately dressed people haven't got anything
interesting to say, but that's here in Holland.
In the end it is people that show off (also in clothing) I avoid. All others
are welcome.
A lot of words again and still I got the feeling I haven't made myself clear.

response 103 of 200:

Jan 14 07:29 UTC 1998

I was thinking about that fantasy I entered in #100, and it occured to me
that that is the kind of thing people more often say about military
spending - you know, "wouldn't it be great if schools had all the money
they needed and the air force had to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber." 
Well, naturally, makeup doesn't have the potential for mass destruction,
but otherwise the situation seems similar to me.  Valerie said that the
reason she wears makeup is that she has found that people treat her
differently when she does.  Well, why would that be?  Because other women
wear it, that's why.  In other words, she has to wear makeup in order to
keep up, not because it's an inherently pleasurable thing to do. 

Such is the case with military spending.  Ultimately, the argument for
buying weapons is, "If we don't do it, someone else will".  Sure, there
are always a few people who really *like* having powerful weapons, just
for the sake of having them - but the majority would rather do without
them if we weren't afraid we'd be outdone by someone else. 

So I think cosmetics are to women as guns are to men.  What do you think?
:)

response 105 of 200:

Jan 14 13:56 UTC 1998

I dunno. I never have worn makeup, although my great-aunt tried really hard
to make it a habit (when I stayed with her, you had to put on lipstick and
rouge just to go outside...). But I do own some that I bought in the last year
or so, and I even put it on once in a while, just when I feel like it. It's
not because of any outside forces that I'm aware of, since my natural mode
is to go without.

response 107 of 200:

Jan 15 00:08 UTC 1998

The last time I wore make-up (not counting times my sister and I
experiment with it just to see what it looks like and then proceed to wash
it off before we take a step outside) was for my senior picture in high
school.  I only wore make-up then because in my high school, the girls had
to wear white caps and gowns for the pictures and I would have turned out
very pale without the make-up.  Not counting that, the other times I wore
make-up were Halloween, Halloween, and did I mention Halloween? ;)

response 109 of 200:

Jan 16 06:05 UTC 1998

Sarah honey, I bet I'd win the pale contest. I cannot find foundation anywhere
light enough for me. I've had people gasp upon seeing how pale I am. You can
see my veins through my skin (nurses love me). If I wear shorts, people ask me
why I'm wearing white pantyhose, because my legs are so white. 

(True story: Last year when I was sick with Mono, I was waiting in a doctor's
office to find out what the heck was wrong with me. When the doctor walked in,
before I had said a word, she stopped cold in her tracks and said "Ooooh, you
ARE pale!"... which also meant the nurse whom I'd talked to 2 minutes before
must have mentioned it also. My friends said they wanted to have me eat a
hamburger, I was so white.)

Anyway. As for the tucked-in-shirt issue, I often wear oversized shirts loose.
It depends on the shirt. I do feel a bit more comfy when my tummy and butt are
covered. Problem is, some oversized shirts end right at the widest point of my
hips, which isn't too flattering. 

response 111 of 200:

Jan 16 16:16 UTC 1998

I only look pale in the summer and when standing next to my sister, who has
been regularly doing pool babysitting and ends up darker than the average
person who lives in Florida.

I never got into make-up.  I have enough trouble getting my act together when
I crawl out of bed at six thirty in the morning to worry about putting on
makeup.  I'm lucky if I remember to eat before I leave the apt.

response 113 of 200:

Jan 18 16:47 UTC 1998

i read a little colmn of 'factoids' in our newspaper
recently. it says women under thirty tend to use
too dark makeup around the eyes, and those over 40
tend to use too dark rouge/blusher.

i am very sensitive about what i smell like.
i dot like perfume, and i wear unscented deodorant.
but since i like to smell fresh and clean, i use nice
bathsoap in fresh scents.

i usually wear jeans and tshirts, or sweaters or sweatshirts with
a layer of flannel over the top like a jacket. i either wear
tennis shoes or lwather workboots.
**a word from the experienced: never EVER wear steel toe
workboots through airport security. it isnt worth it.**

in many computer companies here in the northwest, the uniform is
jeans in the winter, shorts in the summer. woe to the unwary
engineer who is caught in a suit! even on a job interview!

response 115 of 200:

Jan 21 04:41 UTC 1998

Ayep. My mom is 54. I think she's so looks oriented because she simply comes
from a time where looks, for women, were a #1 priority. The goal was to get a
man ASAP and settle down, then try to keep him. So you needed all the help you
could get.

On the radio some DJs read passages from a Home Ec book in the 1950s.
One section was devoted to greeting your husband when he came home from work.
Things like cleaning up the kids, doing your hair, wearing a smile, being
pleasant, massaging his  feet (!), fixing him a drink, making sure dinner was
ready as soon as he walked in. Thank God I wasn't alive then, I'd be in some
psych ward now.

response 117 of 200:

Jan 21 08:59 UTC 1998

I have my natural hair color, but I get accused of dying it in the summer
because it gets red highlights so quickly due to the sun.

I have a naturally pale complexion that barely darkens when exposed to a lot
of sun.  I get a few freckles across my nose, but I blame the tone and
freckles on the Irish in me.  I have German ancestry on the other half, but
I have no idea what their skin tone tends to be.  <shrug>  I'm also anemic,
so that explains the pale lips and gray cast.  =)  Told ya I'm a corpse
without a little light blush.

response 119 of 200:

Jan 21 16:19 UTC 1998

I've attempted to highlight my hair just for kicks.  Hasn't worked yet.