High Maintenance

High maintenance is definitely not a term that can be used to describe me. About the age of 13 I started down the path of curling my hair everyday and carefully applying makeup to enhance my features. By high school, I pretty much gave it up for good. My thought - when the makeup is gone by noon and the hair flat much earlier – what a waste of time. So from that point on, I’ve been spending my extra hour in the morning sleeping. I think I still end up looking okay and I’m much more rested.

Brazil is interesting because the women here seem to mix, wash & go with what I would consider high maintenance. Because of the warm weather you can wash your hair and walk outside and it is dry in about 10 min. I love this and take advantage of it everyday. You see very little makeup during the day as well which helps me to fit in. However, I’m not exactly sure if this because of the cost or the heat.

Then there are the acts of high maintenance beauty. It is common practice for women to have a manicure each week and a pedicure every two weeks. I know there are plenty of women in the states who regularly partake in these beauty rituals, but this comes from one of those women that views manicures and pedicures as a true indulgences. I take care of things on my own, but aside from my acrylic nails (which no one has down here) for my wedding I have had no professional manicures and two pedicures in my lifetime. I love them, but I have better uses for my money. I’d much rather travel than spend the money on something I can do pretty decently myself.

Well, it appears that this is all about to change. If you come from a place like I do where the cheapest manicure and pedicure will cost you about US$50+, you’d probably feel the same way I did when I first saw the prices in Brazil. I’ve been going to a place in the local mall and I pay a whopping US$13 – total. I’ve even been told that this is expensive for here. A coworker of my husband’s, who lives in a smaller town, pays about US$2.50 for her manicures.

I know, it is pretty unbelievable, however, if I was getting them every week I would probably need them to be that inexpensive. You do have to have a little bit of an open mind when getting nails done here. They do cut your cuticles, which is supposedly a bit of a no-no in the US. I figure, if millions of women do it here and they are okay, I probably will be too.

So, I’m going to be enjoying these beauty rituals while I can. I still don’t think I can get on the weekly schedule, but once every few weeks wouldn’t be bad. Who knows, maybe there is hope for this sporty girl after all.