Baffling "Beauty"

I guess I do not understand the Utah culture as much as I thought I did. Countless times I have had my haircut here and have come home complaining of the weight of the excessive hairspray and the amount of backcombing that was used in the styling of my "do". I'm not sure what the triangle-head look does for people here, but all of the hair stylists seem to love it. Once I even came out of the salon looking something simliar to Jackie Kennedy (who was a lovely woman, but her hairstyle isn't quite my taste). I have vowed never to get my hair cut in Utah again, and if I somehow break and have to cut my hair, I will ask only for a cut, and I will style it myself when I get home. I just can't handle it anymore.

However confusing this hairdo thing is for me, I thought it was the only strange beauty trend occuring in this state. Boy, oh boy was I wrong! I recently talked with my mom about some new makeup called Bare Escentuals. It's supposed to be really healthy for your skin so I ordered some online. The kit was $60, so I decided to go to the mall and have it put on me by a so-called "professional" before I opened my kit and decided I hated it, and then waste $60. While I love the makeup, it feels really good on my face and looks very natural, she decided to add some of her spunk to my look. Blush from my nose to my ears, eye shadow clear up to my eyebrow, and jet black mascara (I usually use brownish). EEK! It looked kind of nice after I fixed it for a while, but then when I got home it looked like I had put on makeup that was two shades too dark for me because of this bronzer crap she put all over my face. This was a surprise to me, because her makeup was beautiful. With the hair thing, you can always tell when you're gonna get backcombed, and I figured it was the same with makeup. Maybe I'm just an old fuddy-duddy and I am too conservative for the new 'Hip' styles. But, I will not get my makeup done here again, either. I love the makeup, and I think I would love it a whole lot more if I put it on the way I like it. Who knows, maybe I'm just too hard to please.

So, if anyone can explain what's so beautiful about a triangle head and fake makeup, please..enlighten me. My midwestern farmgirl ways just don't seem to fit in out here. Funny, though, I never pictured Utah as a fashionably modern place to begin with. Huh.