oldageisnotforsissies54

Since we are literally days away from the 2018 Fall-Winter Fashion Week season, I thought I might rerun this Fashion Week blog post written in September of 2013. I had just taken notice of their Spring/Summer styles and had these thoughts about the styles as well as fashion and the changes in how we now get our information.

Ok. I admit it. I’m not young anymore. I’m not the type of person that people turn to for fashion advice, but I do have an opinion. So hang on to your hats, because I just took a moment to look at what walked down the runways for Fashion Week, the latest of which was from Paris.

As usual, many of the designers are so intent on making a statement that their clothes come across as tacky and as “please, please, please notice me before I fade into obscurity”. I’ve learned to just ignore it, but I do notice the subtle and not so subtle changes. I look for color changes, patterns, changes in the amount of jewelry worn, hats or not, hairstyles, skirt and pant lengths, etc.

What We Can Expect

Note: Remember this was written almost five years ago. Later, I’ll do an update for Spring using the last fashion week results….

I noticed that there are some interesting colors for this coming spring and summer (2014). The color orange shows up time and again, and I noticed that it pairs nicely with navy. Mind you the orange isn’t a football orange, but some interesting orange hues. Nice!

Mint green is still around. I also noticed that hats are looking good with lots of the knitted kinds. Native American prints seemed to be making a comeback.

Skirt lengths are all over the place. Just choose what you believe looks best on you, and you are in style! Pants legs are up and down–slender, tapered, cropped, but I didn’t see many wide-legged styles.

I saw tennis shoes, basketball shoes, stiletto heels, and those cute bedroom style flat shoes that our grandmothers used to wear. I didn’t see any square-toed shoes, though.

We started to see a lot of buttoned-up shirts on the runway last spring, and that has continued. Sadly, hair is still mostly straight and long. Yawn.

Of course, these are spring styles for 2014; but it is what is to come. Why not start now. One designer mixed pastels, such as pastel peach, pink, and blue. It looked right. There were also pastels with dark colors, such as a muted pastel pink sheer full skirt paired with a fitted black blouse. It looked right, too.

There are still some of the mixes of prints. Yuck! Thank goodness that tacky fad is almost gone. Not!

Eyebrows are very noticeable–maybe even bushier than Brook Shields were. There did seem to be a lack of makeup, and I didn’t see very many women with tans. I don’t know about you; but at my age, I need some of a tan, even if it is from a bottle.

Changes in Fashion Media

What was really interesting, though, was how I viewed Fashion Week this year. Instead of waiting for “Vogue”, “Marie Claire” or “In Style” magazines, first out of the box was “Pinterest”. I went through their boards.

What interested me more, though, were the boards which included styling done by everyday people across the world. Lots of street scenes, and girls and women who had put together their outfits for sharing. I was much more intrigued with what I saw on these boards. Here were lots of real people with real wearable styles.

I also follow several fashion bloggers, such as The Style Crone. I love her clothes, and she’s in my age group.

One board intrigued me until I began to recognize some of the models. I immediately loved these clothes, and why not. This board featured models from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, etc. Oh dear, I guess I may be living in yesteryear.

They were the best of the best from those years, worn by models who were well known at the time–truly beautiful and sexy. Remember when we all wanted to be just like them and wear the clothes they were wearing?

Will Fashion Shows Ever Be Fun Again

Which brings me to my next point. On the boards of Fashion Week were many of these crazy, out there, in your face, far out styles on women who looked emaciated and sad. There were no smiles, and they looked like they wanted to be anywhere and wearing anything except those ridiculous clothes.

Photo by Pixabay

I’m wondering if I will live long enough to see fashion shows that are fun, again!

Do you, too, like to look at fashions from Fashion Week? Do you take notice of what is new on the racks? Do you miss the fashion models that were of an average weight?

I’ve been hoarding a little secret about how I take care of my chin hair. I’ll share in this my first ever blog post; but first, why am I starting a blog now?

Why not now! As I move through this stage in my life, this stage that others call “senior”, I learn something new every day. These are minor things that become moments of great revelation for me because I encountered them for the first time such as what to do about chin hair. So for about a year, I thought I should be sharing. It is my hope, too, that you will share your little secrets in reply.

I lost my Mom and Dad over a decade ago before I entered this senior stage. So most of what I have to go on came from my grandmothers who both attained a ripe old age, one 92 and the other 99. Unfortunately, I was young then and lived under the veil of perceived immortality. I’m afraid I wasn’t paying much attention.

Today, here I am, treading water and looking for answers to help me find my way through this, and yet just another, stage in my life.

Me and my Granddaughter Ava

Crap, I got Chin Hair

So what would I like to share first? Well, this morning I looked into my magnified mirror (10X); and there they were again. Six black hairs on my chin, sprouting here and there with no rhyme or reason. It is my mother’s mother’s chin. I remember looking up at my Grandmother at those hairs. Certainly, these six are not mine. Of course, I know better, because I have been dealing with them for about a decade.

Many Different Ways to Tackle Chin Hairs

First, I plucked them for a while. That was when I could still see them with no magnification. I was always on them like white on rice. No way was I going to let anyone see those hairs, and back then there were about twenty of them. So why are there only six now? I’ll explain later.

Second, I had them waxed, along with all the fine fuzz that began to form around my jawline, upper lip, etc. I went in about once a month for the waxing and plucked the twenty that grew faster in between the waxing.

Third, I even tried depilatory creams.

Fourth, I started making more money in my career, so I went to see my plastic surgeon about having laser hair removal. It was supposed to be five to six sessions at about $150 per session. This was quite a few years ago. I think I’ve been somewhere between ten and twelve times now, and these six remain. Where there were about twenty, now there are six. I gave up, especially since nothing will take care of the blond fuzz elsewhere.

But there is a fifth way that I found that works better.

First, an explanation; because what I do may surprise you.

My Dad passed away over a decade ago. My sisters and I cleaned out their home, and we divided their possessions between ourselves and the grandchildren. What was left were many items that no one seemed to want, including a brand new electric shaver.

I was familiar with this shaver. Earlier, while fighting cancer he needed one, so I went out and bought him a nice one recommended by “Consumer Reports”. I was so optimistic at the time, but the shaver was all of three months old when Dad’s cancer unexpectedly came roaring back with a vengeance. He passed very quickly.

Since I owned the family home, I sifted through the remaining items and kept the shaver, thinking my husband may want to try it. Finally, after it set around our own home for several years, I decided to try it on my legs.

Here is what I learned. Within a couple of months, the hair on my legs became soft and non-stubby. I use it twice a week on my dry legs, and it works great for me.

So what do I do now? What is my secret?

So what does this have to do with the six stubby hairs? Well, I take my electric shaver; and I lightly go over them and the peach fuzz, as well. Problem solved. I have been doing this for about two years and they softened over time and became non-stubby.

(Note: This was written in 2013, so it has been almost seven years since I began using an electric shaver for my now grey chin hairs. There’s only five of them left. One stopped growing. The electric shaver still works great.)

My husband knows nothing about this. I’m also too vain to let anyone else in my life know, until now. But now you know and my secret is out!

And that is why I now have a blog. I’m tired of keeping all these little secrets, which probably aren’t all that secret anyway.

I’m pretty bold and naïve to try just about anything. I’ll share both the successes and the screw-ups.

More later!

PS. Please sign up for my blog. All you have to do is add your email to the top right of the page and click on the subscribe button. I only post once a week unless I’m traveling so you only get an email a week at the most. For travel, it may be different, though. For example, I posted daily from Peru and China.

Thanks for reading!!

Are you a woman who suffers with chin hair? How soon did you notice yours? How do you remove yours?

OLD AGE IS NOT FOR SISSIES

NOTHING IN LIFE IS TO BE FEARED

Everyone Loves Fashion Week! Well, Maybe Not Everyone.