Sensitivity Training

No no, I don't mean emotional sensitivity.  I mean physical sensitivity -- by way of skin, eyes, diet, and hair.

Many people who have fair skin find themselves extra sensitive to chemicals and perfumes found in nearly every beauty product on the market. Often these allergies develop suddenly after years of trouble-free use.  Maybe their skin breaks out easily or they become ill from perfumes or dry cleaning chemicals.  Either way, its not a fun situation to find yourself.  For those of us with non-traditional coloring our choice is often lodged between something that flatters or that which doesn't cause irritation; we feel lucky when products are both.

Rock the Foundations

You walk up to a makeup counter and ask to see their lightest foundation.  The clerk behind the counter hands you a tube of "ivory" makeup and you dab some on the back of your hand.  The smear on your hand is clearly darker and different than your skin and the clerk says "Oh, you have to put it on your face because your hands are usually lighter."  You're unconvinced, but you put a dab on your face.  Its still Oompah-Loompah orange.  You clean it off and try another, and another.  They all fall into one of two categories:  utterly the wrong color, or so sheer they provide zero coverage. If you are very lucky, 24 hours later, you won't have a rash or new pimples where the makeup touched your skin.

Fairly Happy

Photo by http://suzi9mm.blogspot.com/

Pick up a magazine.  How many un-tanned women do you see?  I'd venture to guess the answer is somewhere between zero and none.   If you live in North America, Europe, or Australia, our modern pictoral media gives the impression that only tanned women are worth photographing and pale women are something less.  With the exception of a few TV stars who are slavishly pale (Christina Hendricks and Nicole Kidman, for example) we rarely get to see glamorous depictions of the fairest of the fairer sex.

However, most people would agree that a woman can be strikingly beautiful with pale skin, especially so when she is healthy and puts even the smallest amount of effort into her appearance. I'm talking brushed hair and tidy clothing -- not full makeup and a ballgown.   We get noticed for being different, and that's because we are.   I call these women Fairly Happy, meaning they are happy to be fair.