tight tweeds and secret needs

Tick tick tick tick tock, the clock goes. How much time do you spend everyday on dressing up, people ask me. It’s hilarious how I’m always mistaken to try on 3 sets of clothes before I step out of the house, that I spend hours dressing up– implying that I wake up early–, that I rehearse my clothes the night before, and that all my time is spent shopping.

What’s worst is how 75% of the people I know mistakenly assume that I’m shitloads in debt because of my food and dress lifestyle.

I really wish I had time to shop, or even to patiently trawl through ebay. But most of the time, all I do is transit through a shopping center in the middle of traveling to a destination, or en route home. Shopping expeditions are limited– if I’m lucky– to once in two months. That, meaning at least 3 hours of hunting through shopping centers. I love those Whole Day Shopping Escapades, but they’re more of a treat than anything else. In response, I’ve developed the ability of scouting through an entire shopping complex in half an hour. That is, unless I’m taking photographs of myself in changing rooms.

As for online shopping, all I do is view fashion blogs like Catwalk Queen and the various others I visit. That is why, thank you fashion bloggers like Danz and WendyB for always posting up delectable offers on eBay and the various labels on your blogs. They’re an absolute time saver and life saver for yours truly!

The entire issue of time got me thinking about just how little time I spend on dressing. My mornings are spent this way.

5 mins– snoozing and feasting on the last five minutes of sleep like a scavenging vulture

5 mins– changing The Cat’s water and maybe feeding her. And catching another 2 mins of sleep.

10 mins– skin care, dental hygiene and forcing in my contact lenses

5 mins– makeup. Which consists of curling eyelashes twice, 2 coats of mascara, blending some eyeshadow, eyeliner (sometimes), concealer, foundation, loose powder, blush, lip balm, lipstick (sometimes), eyebrow pencil.

7 mins– lazily stumble to the closet(s) depending on the mood/theme I feel like, ironing whatever needs to be ironed (but most of the time I tell myself they’ll just smoothen themselves out after being worn, otherwise I claim that unironed is the latest fashion. Some people stupidly believe what I tell them is en vogue), getting dressed, accessorizing

5 mins– packing my bag. Because I normally carry truckloads of stuff, and searching for a book to carry.

10 mins– brew my tea, and make my breakfast. Check my mail, read the news.

5 mins– snap some quick photos

And voila!

But, what I feel most guilty about is how abandoned my hair is. Somedays I wake up with it wavy, on others a little straight. The last time I combed my hair was two months ago, because I was aiming for a stick-straight look. Prior to that, I probably did not comb it for years. It’s that bad. And I think I have not conditioned my hair for two months. I even sleep in wet hair.

This is so funny to admit but I’ve never been for a spa, a facial, a manicure nor a pedicure. I am put off by the immense length of waiting, so I shun this. I remember two years ago, I decided to get a perm– in defiance against this dude who insisted I had to straighten my hair. So I picked out a nice salon, paid about three hundred bucks, and sat down.

I nearly died. Because I had to sit down for three hours, and the lady was positively hurrying herself because I kept telling her I had something on later. It was one trip to the washing basins, another trip back, to and fro and fro and to, and repeat till fade. As I flipped from cover to cover of the entire magazine pile, I could almost memorize what they all said. And I got bored sipping green tea and munching their chi chi cookies. I suffer from some form of ADHD, you see.

What killed me most was how the lady looked at me as though I was some rare species. “Wow you’ve got virgin hair!!” she exclaimed repeatedly. Well, I’m just bloody lazy to dye it or highlight it, and I think I look pretty good in black hair. I need one part of me to be black. Plus these treatments means they need truckloads of TLC, which frankly, I cannot be bothered about. Exfoliating my legs and moisturizing them, however, is another story altogether.

But anyhows, I was pretty happy with the curls. Although I never really used any curling lotion nor really took care of them. They lasted about eight months anyway.

the day I got it permed

And frankly, most of the time, it’s better off living contorted in a rubber band of sorts. Sometimes I even use the red ones that are used for tying domestic stuff.

I love flowers– I have a huge collection of flower accessories, most from Accessorize (even the kid’s range) and some hand-made from plastic flowers. So when the mood strikes, I wear them in my hair.

This was taken in ‘05. Imagine how it has grown since. Bleah.

Apart from that, sometimes I straighten it, otherwise, I use rollers. It’s banal how I have an entire hair-styling kit from Vidal Sassoon that I barely use. Now, I’m starting to collect more and more hair bands given how cheap they are. It’s amazing how little time is required simply to pull your hair into some style of any height, to play around with the fringe, and essentially, to create a gazillion different styles. But yes, the moral of the story? My guilt with regards to how I . . abuse my poor hair.

Well, I’ve been notably absent. Some stuff have happened lately, and I needed to recuperate, figuratively. Plus I’ve just gone for major acne treatment so the skin’s red, I’m banned from makeup on most days, so I haven’t been in much of a mood to take photos. I’ve been stuffing my hair with hairbands, unveiling and using my collection. Boy, is it tough.

Here’s The Hairband:

hairband from Salvatore Ferragamo

Of course I’m really not supposed to wear it with bangs.

dress: BySi
shoes: Hush Puppies
earrings: Six