The Femme Files

Dying To Look Good – The Ugly Truth About Cosmetics

This may be hard to face, but there isn’t anything beautiful about cosmetics. In fact, the repercussions to using conventional makeup and body products can be quite ugly. Most women aren’t aware of the plethora of chemical toxins that are lurking in their beautiful berry lipstick and nicely packaged perfumes. And think of how many times the former are applied and spritzed during the day!

In the pursuit of beauty, women worldwide apply makeup and body products every day. In fact, one study showed that up to 40 different products are applied in the daily routine of women. In each typical cosmetic there contains a cocktail of ingredients (chemicals) that are used as preservatives, emulsifiers, thickening agents and fragrances. Some to mention are alcohol, Isopropyl (SD-40), Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate (ALS) , Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT),  Diethanolamine (DEA), Monoethanolamine (MEA), & Triethanolamin (TEA), Diazolidinyl urea, Dimethicone, Paraben preservatives (methyl, propyl, butyl, and ethyl) and Imidazolidinyl urea. Were these difficult to pronounce? If you can’t pronounce it, than you probably can’t eat it and you should only put on your skin what you can put in your mouth.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Is the Humble Mirror Responsible for our Vanity and Insecurities?

Glancing at myself in the mirror the other day, it got me thinking, who invented mirrors? This question may seem so trivial – yet think of how significant a role the mirror plays in our daily lives. This invaluable object is strategically placed around the house with the main intent to show us…well…us.  So the conception of the mirror gave birth to us seeing our physical selves, and for the first time, gave us the ability to have feelings about our physical image.

Whoever invented the mirror, then, should be blamed for our insecurities and our vanity.

For some trivial information, Archaeologists in Turkey discovered polished stones, closely resembling mirrors, which date back to 6000 BC. But the actual inventor of the mirror, the one that is placed in our house, was by a German chemist in 1835 named Justus von Liebig.

Mr. Justus von Liebig, you are hereby guilty of creating the insecure and narcissists.

Though you may rest your defence that reflective surfaces, i.e. lakes, existed since the beginning of time, it is unlikely that cavewomen stood out in the open, hours on end, dissecting every bit of themselves as the women of today can do in the comfort of their own home in front of their mirror. The mirror you created.

If mirrors didn’t exist perhaps our idea of beauty would change. Or would there even be an idea of what beauty is? That’s a tough one to answer but it is suffice to say that the world would probably be a happier place without mirrors. No more stressing about the cellulite on our bums because we wouldn’t even know it existed. Our insecurities would simply vanish into obscurity. The relentless time spent fixated on what we are wearing, our bodies, wrinkles, pimples, creases, bumps and lumps would return to us allowing us to focus on the more important things in life.

Flying Back in Time

One airline shocks its employees with its new workplace manual

Now there’s a code of conduct at every workplace which usually revolves around the avoidance of low cut tops, hooker heels or stealing someone else’s gourmet sambo from the fridge – if this applies to you, it’s nothing compared to the rules female flight attendants at Air New Zealand must adhere to.

The latest manual for the airline was recently released – some slightly offended staff members obviously decided to make it public knowledge! Here’s a few of the rules and regulations: too much or too little makeup is a no no, with blue eyeshadow or bright red, pink, purple or orange lipstick, unnatural looking tans, scaly hands and smelly breath also banned. Staff must pluck their monobrows, trim nasal hair and avoid excessive “frosting” in the hair as well as hair bands with a metal joint. Always wear deodorant, and if you’re a sweaty betty, the manual even details where to buy specialised sweat pads to absorb the excess. Physical appearance is obviously important, so staff are advised to stay fit and “may find it helpful to wear a pedometer, which will measure how many steps you are taking each day and hence give you a measure of how active you are and can aim to be.”

Where the instructions got interesting was when it came to cultural behaviour…

The Death of Conversation

The Texting Epidemic

It is 8:30 am. I am sitting on the train for the daily morning commute, still a bit weary, but slowly coming to life with every sip of my black tea.  I look around at my fellow commuters, as well as the man sitting next to me.  I would like to strike up a friendly conversation to help the time pass on this overstuffed train, but I can’t…He is thoroughly engaged (through my nosey peeping) in his facebook application on his iPhone. I have another look around and notice the strange phenomenon – everybody’s eyeballs are glued to the screens of their mobile phones! I even see a girl texting so fast that she looks like she is going to have an aneurysm if she doesn’t deliver her telephonic message in less than 3.5 seconds.  Nobody sitting on this train is talking. It’s as though a simple “good morning” or a friendly chat is a thing of the past. Am I behind the times because I want to form words from my mouth to communicate with another person?  I have a think and ask:

 Where did verbal communication go?