Goth Maintenance

Every now & then, a gal needs to spend time on some upkeep. I try not to be high maintenance, but certain things must be done to keep me looking sharp. At a minimum, I must dye my hair & get my brows done. Now, I don't do either one on a very regular schedule -- I tend to put them off until they look awful & annoy me so much that the situation is dire or until I am attending some fabulous event (usually costume-related) for which brown roots/random greys & scraggly bushy browns would look lame.

And lo, 12th Night is coming up soon, for which I'm making an elaborate gown, plus a new hairpiece in jet black, so dyeing hair to match is important. Might as well fix the brows too!

I've been dyeing my own hair since I was at least 16 (that's over 25 years), so this is no big deal to me. But I've learned a few things thru trial & error & from the pros. The number one tip I've learned is to only dye your roots, don't dye any more than that or you'll get fried ends. This is why I was thrilled when Clairol came out with the "root touch-up" kit because it contains less dye than the full boxes, so you don't have to mix up a whole bottle & throw half of it away.

My other recommendation is to head to a beauty-supply store & buy a few tools for yourself. Get a tint brush, a few plastic caps (the ones like shower caps), some metal hair clips, & a box of rubber gloves. The tint brush & gloves will be better than the crappy versions that come in the dye box. And the clips & cap keep your in-process hair tidy while you're waiting.

I tried to get a photo of my roots, but none of the pix would turn out! See, my hair is naturally very dark brown, & most people have a hard time noticing when my black dye is growing out. My husband doesn't notice at all. But what's more obvious is the grey hairs. I don't have too many (sadly, no cool Dave Vanian streak!), just a few here & there that kind of stick out to me. If there was enough grey to make a statement, I'd leave it, but until that happens, I dye. Besides, I love the glossy look of fresh black!

While I'm perfectly happy to do my hair at home, I'm horrible about doing my brows at home. In fact, I didn't start doing anything about my brows until maybe 5 years ago. My eyebrows are naturally of the very full Brook Shields variety, so going with some kind of pencil-thin look is a bit wrong. Or at least would require insane amounts of maintenance. The best I can manage is an occasional trip to the Benefit Brow Bar, which I like because it's nearby, clean, & reasonably priced. Unfortunately, because it's at the mall, you have to time it right or there's a huge wait, plus you're never sure you'll get the best aesthetician.

Here's my brows before getting them done...

Au naturale. Pretty huge. Now, this time, my favorite aesthetician was not there, & the one I got didn't quite listen to me when I said "full, natural, just tidy the brows up & give a slight curve." Instead, she decimated the brows, which is what happens about a third of the time (meaning, whenever my fave gal isn't around *sigh*). Of course, they'll grow back fast.

Here they are afterwards...

Not bad, just not quite what I wanted. But hey, I can't / won't do them myself, so that's what happens! My hair, of course, looks great. Perfectly back in black.

What's your maintenance routine? Do you do it yourself or go with the pros?

This CorpGoth's Skin & Hair Care Routines

I missed out on Le Professeur Gothique's Naked November Homework Assignment & didn't show you my bare face. However, I don't wear a ton of makeup on a daily basis, so my naked face isn't that different from the face I regularly post here!

For work, I only wear lipstick, black eyeliner, & sometimes a touch of eyeshadow. I rarely wear foundation/concealer/powder unless I want to really impress someone (say, I'm doing a training session) or I'm feeling awfully fancy that day. I try to limit the face makeup to costume events because, no matter what I use & how diligent I am about removing all the makeup as soon as the day is done, I get nasty pimples.

"All Is Vanity" by
C. Allan Gilbert, 1892

In my 20s, I wore foundation a lot more often, & my skin was horrible. So I'd wear more makeup to cover up the blemishes! I became a vicious cycle. I tried all kinds of products to clean my skin & supposedly fix the acne. I asked my doctor for help. Nothing worked until I just stopped wearing so much makeup. Limiting how often I wear foundation to just special events means I mostly just get breakouts in the week after that event (like right now, after last weekend's vampire ball!) and occasionally due to hormonal issues, but not the constant bad skin I had for so long.

Also, my skin care is dramatically stripped down, making my life easier & skin happier. I remove my eye & lip makeup with baby wipes -- plain ol' generic, supermarket-brand baby wipes. I've tried organic, natural ones, but the cloth was rougher & the cleanser stung my eyes. Yuck. And all the makeup remover products I've tried don't work as simply & cleanly. After that, I usually rinse my face with tap water. Done!

When I wake up in the morning, I rinse my face with tap water again & put on a light Olay moisturizer.  About once a week, I lightly scrub my face in the shower with a puff to exfoliate. Otherwise, I try not to mess with my skin or it will go crazy.

My hair needs a bit more work. I use a modified 'no-poo routine,' shampooing about once a week & using just conditioner & water the rest of the week. I learned about this from the Curly Girl book & related websites, as a way to help de-frizz naturally curly & wavy hair. Most shampoos are too harsh & full of detergents that cause frizz, plus, in stripping away natural oils, they encourage your scalp to overproduce oil. A lot of environmental/natural-living types are eschewing shampoo because of all the unnecessary chemicals in it -- you can whip up natural, cheap alternatives that work better (but that smacks of effort to me).

I'm OK with a simple rinse-&-condition, leaving the shampoo for when I get a buildup of hairspray & other products (I'm just not that natural ;-). I also add this fantastic leave-in conditioner from Beauty Without Cruelty. Really makes my hair silky soft, plus enhances the waves.