Rethinking Beauty at Almost 40
For years, I took the simple approach, but now, at 39, I’m reinventing myself, one step at a time
I arrive at my appointment with five minutes to spare. As my kids and I get out of the car, I lament at how long it’s been since I stepped inside a nail salon. About 16 years ago, I thought. Sixteen years ago, I got married; because of that, I treated myself to a manicure and a pedicure.
Since then, I’ve fully neglected my hands and feet. Growing up, there were no emphasis placed on beauty — the act of attaining or maintaining it. It’s been said that daughters learn the most about beauty from the female figures in their lives, and my mother, while beautiful in her younger years, did not place a high emphasis on beauty. She kept her makeup minimal, her hairstyle simple, and considered anything beyond a haircut or a perm to be a frivolous expense.
Thus, I grew up thinking that beauty is pain, so why bother paying for it?
Now that I have a daughter, who ironically, is very girly (she wears dresses most days of the week, loves manicures and everything pink), I’m taking a step back to reevaluate my relationship with beauty.
Which is how I found myself at a nail salon on a Saturday morning.
