I’ve got an appointment at my hair salon for a cut and color tomorrow.

Isn’t it funny how your hair looks fine…amazing even, and then within a matter of days, it goes to heck? All of a sudden, my gray roots popped out of nowhere this week, and my bangs are too long and I’m trying not to cut them myself. The only reason I keep bangs in the first place is to cover my forehead…someday my little furrow lines are going to turn into bigger wrinkles though, and bangs won’t be enough. I’d better break out the anti aging serum now and do a little preventative maintenance, eh?

And speaking of wrinkles, and how to reduce wrinkles, and aging gracefully in general, when do you go from using makeup to cover the occasional blemish to worrying about the elasticity and tone of your skin? Cheryl Tiegs swears by a product she promotes called Unbelievable…and I’ve got to say, she’s looking pretty darn good for 61, so that’s good enough for me. I like the concept of Botox, but not the idea of needles in my face, so when someone mentions a safe, needle free alternative like Unbelievable, that works in 5 minutes…well, sign me up!

I’m not one to buy products I see advertised on TV. I need to learn more about a product than I can in 30 seconds, so I prefer to research things I see on TV online and off to learn more. Proactiv Solution is one of those products. I’ve been seeing it on late night TV commercials for years, but other than the glowing celebrity endorsements, I didn’t know much about it or how it worked. With one daughter on the verge of puberty, I turned to Acne.com to investigate the claims put forth by Proactiv, and what I read was interesting. I’m actually thinking about sending the link to Acne.com to my oldest, so that she can learn that chocolate and oily foods don’t cause acne, as well as other popular acne myths. Lord knows, it’s hard enough being a middle school kid without your face being wrecked by acne!

I’ve been wearing makeup for oh…almost 20 years now? The makeup tips I use today are the same tips I picked up in my teens by reading Seventeen and Sassy magazines. I’ll never forget the question one Sassy reader asked…she wanted to know if she should only apply makeup to her face in one direction, so that her pores wouldn’t be clogged. The beauty editor replied, “No, your pores are not vertical blinds.” HA! Silly, but it stuck with me all of these years, and it’s something I read at least 15 years ago.

Being 32 now, it occurred to me that there are probably improvements I could make in my makeup routine, and I don’t want to take advice from the 60 year old lady staffing the Clinique counter at the department store. I found a great assortment of makeup tips for all ages, from how to apply lipstick to eyeliner. (I know a few women who could use that eyeliner advice!) If you want to look like the “after” on What Not To Wear instead of the “before”, this is the place to get tips and advice to shake up your makeup!

When I was in my teens, I was constantly told I looked younger than my age. Being told you look 13 or 14 when you’re 16 isn’t necessarily a good thing at that age, and I never appreciated comments like that. Of course, now that I’m 31, I’d LOVE to be told I look young for my age, but it ain’t happening! I did run into a high school acquaintance this weekend, and he used works like “great”, and “skinny” to describe how I looked now, as compared to 15 years ago, but he didn’t say “young”. It’s probably the gray roots that kept that particular word from leaving his mouth! Amazing how fast twelve years of marriage and three kids will age you, right?

Of course, it’s not as if I’m using any special skin care products to keep that youthful glow on my face. I’m so pressed for time these days, my skin care consists of washing my face in the shower, at night, and putting makeup on to look presentable before leaving the house. There are all sorts of products designed for women my age who want to protect their skin (and look younger) and one in particular has a great offer available right now. When you spend $100 or more at Borba.com this month, you’ll receive a free bottle of Skin Balance Water as your gift. Borba features products like HD-Illuminating Plasma Crystals, which resurface and re-texture your skin to reflect more light and minimize the appearance of pores. What I really like is that if you’re pressed for time, you can combine steps in the treatment plan and still get great benefits! If you’ve got time to spare, do the full treatment, and if not, give yourself a quickie and go!

There’s a new hair care line from France making a big splash here in America. Boost is a new line of hair products that promises to fix issues like slow growing, or thinning hair, without making the hair you have weighed down, heavy feeling, or oily. The products use herbal extracts instead of silicones to keep your hair feeling oil free and weight less. The line even includes products that can assist with Alopecia Areata, which is a rare condition in which patches of hair are lost from the head.

During trials of the product, 16 of 35 patients showed a significant improvement while using the Alopecia Areata hair care products.

I am a huge fan of a waxing technique called a Brazilian wax. For those of you who don’t know what this is, it’s a process, similar to a bikini wax, except ALL of the hair from your nether regions will be removed. And I mean ALL. Your waxing professional will have you in positions that no one has ever had you in before in order to get every last bit of hair from your girly parts. The benefit of this is that you can go for about a month of bikini season without any shaving. The first time I had a Brazilian, I didn’t know what to expect. I had only read about it, and had never seen one done. It’s not for the faint of heart. It does hurt, and you will be getting up close and personal with a stranger holding hot wax.

I came across this Brazilian bikini wax video that shows the actual wax process. It’s for adults only, and it does contain a bare hiney shot. Videos like this are created for us in the spa and beauty industry so that people can learn how to perform the techniques, but I think it’s great for someone who is interested in getting a Brazilian!

Most women wear makeup every day. We consider the price, the color, and how it looks and feels on our skin. A few of us consider the ingredients, or the brand, and whether or not the product has an SPF built into it. Women of color may feel that an SPF product, or special skincare made for pigmented skin isn’t important - but it is! Just because your pigmented skin tans beautifully and never burns doesn’t mean it isn’t being damaged by the sun and UV rays.

The right skin care for pigmented skin is rarely found in the aisle of a grocery store, so if you have pigmented skin, you’ll need to think outside the box when you’re ready to buy your makeup and skincare products.

ORIKI Cosmeceuticals is a line founded in 1984 by American Board Certified dermatologist and biochemist Dr. Tuan Nguyen. Dr. Nguyens philosophy is that there are more than just the skin types of dry, normal, combination, and oily, because pigmentation plays such a big part in how to care for your skin. Because AMO skin types (Asian, Mediterranean and Olive) react differently from fair skin, and can turn a darker color after scarring, or acne, you need a skin care product that will work with your skin instead of against it, like this Whitening Serum.

I’m a nosy little thing when it comes to celebrities, so when I see these new moms who always happen to be Hollywood A-listers struttin