Confessions

Casey - That, honestly, is why I’ve been freaked out about giving the oil cleansing method a go! My mom is doing it with success, but she’s always had dry skin. Whereas mine is the exact opposite. :p Ugh!

Steph - I have three tattoos, and I love them all, but can honestly say none of them have any meaning to them. The only advice I feel is universal to tattoos is to make sure you can live with having it on your skin for the next 60 years.If you don’t love it enough, don’t bother…

I thought redheads were always referred to as “ginger”. But as Laura says, it may just be a British thing!
x

Pippa @ Beads and Barnacles - Ginger is definitely a British term for red hair. I hadn’t realised it wasn’t universal.

Dont worry about your outfits not matching. its all about individuality
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LauraD - I’m anti-tattoo simply because I don’t like needles, and I can’t imagine paying someone to stick them into my skin, over and over and over again!
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Sigrid - The oil cleaning didn’t work for me either. My mom tells me great stories about teaching 7th graders. Once she thought she had finally “reached” a girl who never raised her hand to contribute anything. Her comment ? “Your slip is showing.”
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Emma - I’ve been tattooed for eight years now and I’ve never in real life have I been requested to recite any meaning (only online). My bodymods are mostly hidden away where they aren’t visible all day every day (except for the nostril one that I debated for years precisely because it can’t be hidden) given my level of modesty, but even back in the day when I thought going outside in a camisole or with midriff showing was okay no one commented. No one has ever asked my husband about his tattoo either, and it’s been 7 years and it’s far from inconspicuous.

You may get a lot more questions if you get tattooed in a language foreign to where you live, though.
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nikole - We often forget that impurities leave our body through our skin and manifest as cysts, bumps, boils (u name it). I do think it’s a matter of finding what works best for your skin type.
A friend of mine has really bad eczema and has been using coconut oil on her skin daily and it has helped keep the eczema under control and she has no break outs. Me on the other hand, i put oil in my hair and when it runs down onto my face and neck i break out.. BADLY!

Stephanie - Oil cleansing didn’t work for me either! My current method is exfoliating the beejeezus out of it and using a lot of toner. ::sigh:: Have you been to City Creek yet?? Lush(!!!!) opened there I’m anxious to try some of their skincare products.

You’re a beautiful vampire/ginger with darling taste in styling. I seriously do not know how you deal with those kids. I have more patience with pets than I do children.

I LOVE tattoos and wish I could find a few to commit to. I may do a big floral henna motif (back and arm?) this summer to see how I like it. I was with a friend who’s tatted up and someone asked the inevitable “what do they mean??” My friend just said it would take too long to explain. The exchange was kind of weird, so I see what you mean.
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Amy L - Bummer about the oil cleansing. I started using this method in January after being so upset with the breakouts and horrible acne that took over my face in the previous 6 months. I’ve had some success using the oil which I started in January. I still get bumps on my forehead/hairline and jawline but have less of the painful & HUGE pimples. I also realize this is my late 30′s hormones taking over. Who knew it would be this fun?!

I have 2 tattoos and have no burning desire to get more at this stage. I did consider the placement carefully in picked spots which don’t tend to sag much until way late in life and mine are in places that aren’t visible everyday. There weren’t huge meanings attached to mine – just representative of how I felt in my life at the time. My first was to celebrate my first job after college and the second I got when my husband and I were dating. No great life meaning – just happy times.
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kathi giumentaro - Hi there. I am in the process of having a small tattoo removed. All I can say is OUCH!. It hurts worse than getting the tattoo and has cost me well over 10 times what the tattoo cost. I strutted my tattoo around when I was in my 20′s and 30′s and I loved it. Now I’m 45 and not so happy to have it. Things change and what you love 5, 10 or even 20 years ago isn’t always some thing you’ll love later in life. Think it through.

Liz - Middle school kids are are indeed weird and going through that awkward “Hey, I’m a person…what does that mean?” I don’t envy your job. Also, you could say that you are a vampire hunter.

I’ve come across “ginger” as an old insult for the Irish, but maybe not so much anymore? Regardless, I’ve always thought red hair was the most beautiful color. =)

And hey, sometime you just need to buy a pair of jeans. And if they fit well, maybe you can replicate them with your fabulous sewing skills. =)

Reana Louise - I got the same flack when I wanted a tattoo and then… I just got it. Every time I look at it I still get a bit giddy and happy about how beautiful I think it is. I like these little posts from you; looking forward to seeing your tattoo!
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Chris Howard - Sorry about the break out, but the ginger thing probably means you have delicate skin. Two of my kids are gingers and I wouldn’t trade them for anything! No evil, I promise!

maddie - You should definitely get a tattoo, on whatever body part you want. I too have bought full priced pair of jeans and have felt the buyer’s remorse afterwards. But is the a price to looking good? NO! Being ginger is not evil. I am a ginger too and I promise you, I’m not evil We all try new beauty concoctions backfire majorly on us. The stories of my are experiences abound.

Have a wonderful, wonderful week. Only a couple more days until Friday!
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Regena - Amen sista! A group of needles injecting me with ink…no thank you.
and that picture reminds me of the black dagger brotherhood.
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Gabrielle - Well at least you got ginger and not ginga (pronounced ging (as in ring)-a) or ginge (pronounced like the start of ginger) or ginger ninja. I think they are all in common use in commonwealth countries, having heard them in NZ and Australia as well.

I don’t have red hair but I think its pretty and my daughter is strawberry-blonde-ish in certain lights.

Gorgeous Things - I have a son who is in 8th grade, so I hear you on middle schoolers. High schoolers are a lot easier to deal with. But congratulations on the job!

Re tattoos, I have no real opinion. One of my friends has beautiful roses on her shoulders. I can’t imagine sitting still for that long. I have two tattoos that I never wanted. They helped direct the radiation beams.

Lynne - I would say go for it. I am 51 and got my first tattoo when I was 48. I had been thinking about it since I was in my teens, but just didn’t get around to it. I waited until I saw something I really liked and between the tattoo artist and myself came up with something that I really loved. I am so pleased that I did it. My son didn’t believe that I’d had a tattoo done and thought it was a transfer. It was worth it just to see the look on his face!

I love your website BTW and come back to it time and again for information. Thank you and well done!

PsychOpinion - Just some honest feedback on the idea of getting a tattoo from a person who has a lot of them and got the first one about 6 years ago, and some notes on human behaviour because that’s my field.

1) You are absolutely right. People have very strong opinions about body art. Some are genuinely interested and curious about the choice to get it and what it means (some are thinking about it themselves, or believe it underlies pathology and they want to know what’s wrong with you) If they can see it, they’ll ask. It’s what people do. We’re nosy creatures, and ask about anything that catches our attention. It’s just human nature – before getting all of the artwork I have, the question I always got was people wanting to know where I was from because I ‘sound English’, but apparently now the tatts are more interesting. hehe. Before you get one, be comfortable with the idea of questions if it’s visible, but don’t feel obligated to explain yourself to a perfect stranger if you don’t want to. Personally, I take the time to answer the friendly “Wow that is sooo cool, where did you get it?” and brush off those others that are trying for form their own little diagnoses.

2) Whether your design means something to you or not, just make sure you love it. I draw the artwork for all of mine, so here’s how I decide if the next one is going to work. A few friends have tried out this strategy (some tattooed, some changed their minds). I get a permanent marker and draw it on (or have someone help draw it on if I can’t reach it well enough to make it look good). For three weeks, darken it as needed following each shower and walk around with it like it’s permanent. See how it looks with your clothes, see how it makes you feel, after three weeks scrub the rest of the marker off and go for a week without it. If it feels like something is missing, and you liked having it there then give yourself a green-light to get it. If you find yourself uncomfortable walking around with a marker drawing because you are afraid of what people might say or think, then I would guess that you’ll probably be uncomfortable with the tattoo.

Personally I love all of mine, but they’re not for everybody. My advice, try it out and see how it goes. It’s a great test-run with no pain and should cost about $5 for a decent permanent marker.

All the best – post a pic if you try out the test!

ms. modiste - I also tried OCM and broke out – ironically, because it made my skin too dry! From all the research I did on it at the time, it really can take a while to determine the correct balance between the “drawing oil” (generally the castor oil – which can dry out your skin) and the moisturizing oil (I used olive oil). For me, the ratio I was using dried out my skin (so badly that the skin started to peel off my nose!), which led to my skin overproducing oil to compensate, which led to breakout. For what it’s worth, I’m willing to wager that, if I’d stuck with it, I could have figured out a balance between the oils that may have worked for me… but ultimately it was just too traumatizing and I quit.

Actually, this is the same thing that happens when I use any kind of cleanser – this was just much more severe. What it helped me to realize is that I actually don’t really need to wash my face. Because I use mineral makeup (which is non-comedogenic, and can’t clog pores), I don’t actually have to wash anything off my skin – so I don’t. I use a warm washcloth and moisturize with pure jojoba oil. Using this method, I don’t have any skin trouble! (And I use a fair amount of the oil, too.) If you’re not wearing makeup that requires a cleanser to properly remove, I highly recommend giving this a go, just to see what happens. I often wonder how many people with oily or combination skin actually have naturally dry skin that’s overproducing oil in response to their cleansing method.

(As an aside, jojoba oil is also a fantastic eye-makeup remover, feels lovely and light on the skin, and absorbs quickly. I also use it as a hair oil, although I find you do have to be very careful not to use too much.)
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Kristel - I know this is late but her is some info from someone who had a tattoo and later paid quite a bit to have it removed. ‘It’s never the same river twice’ – have you ever heard that quote? The same can be true of people. We all change. Who I was 10 years ago is not the person I am today. A tattoo is forever. You may be depriving your future self of a life without a tattoo. You may not always think the way you do now and it may limit you in ways you might not be able to imagine now. A dear friend of mine has a full back tattoo. It’s big and it’s a work of art. She loved it at the time. She took up salsa dancing and now competes professionally. Who knew she would be so good at it? The judges don’t like her tattoo. It’s not a moral issue they said, they just find it distracting. She said if she could go back in time she would not have gotten the tattoo – dancing means that much to her and now it’s a big limitation in what she can wear on the dance floor. I had a tattoo on my arm. I found it got in the way professionally and to be honest it just wasn’t my style. I wanted people to notice the beautiful dress I made – not be distracted by my tattoo. I paid a lot of money to have it removed and I’m glad I did. Now people notice my work. Things change – people change – tastes change – think about it…….