1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
lifestyles
5 4 7 16 35 7 16 7 16 9 23 17 23 7 23 9 23 7 23 9 23 7 23 9 23 7 23 9 23 7 23 9 23 7 23 9 23 7 23 9 23 7 23 9 23 7 23 9 23 7 23 9 23
Photo Illustration by Martin Altstaedten / KANSAN
What price beauty?
From hair-removing hot wax to permanents and body piercing,the rituals people endure to look good often are expensive and painful. The results sometimes are less than glamorous.
By Cathleen Siechta Kansan staff writer
Some say there's no such thing as natural beauty.
Permanents, artificial nails, tanning beds and makeup are just a few of the not-so-natural products that students use to enhance their appearance.
But how far will they go to build the perfect beast? Students sacrifice time, endure pain and pay big money to look good. And the beauty industry has been cashing in on their vanity.
Sometimes, students get the short end of the deal.
Jennifer Marlar, Dallas sophomore, spent five hours in a hair salon to change her hair back to its natural color after a mishap with a store-bought hair coloring kit.
"I had deep auburn hair, and I decided that I wanted to go back to my natural blond," Marlar said. "My roommate tried to color my hair, and all it did was give me hair with three different colors, kind of orange, red and blond."
Marlar went to a salon where she had her hair bleached twice and colored five times to correct the damage.
"It took all that to get me back to being blond," Marlar said. "I spent $75 at the salon, and about $30 worth of products from the store."
Was it worth it?
"I don't really think so," Marlar said.
"My friends think it looks good, but I wish it were healthier. I guess you're not ever happy with what you have."
People go to great lengths to pamper the hair on their heads, but what about the hair they don't want? Facial hair, hair on the legs and bikini area, and underarm hair can be removed by plucking, waxing or electrolysis, the removal of hair roots by means of an electric current applied with a needle-shaped electrode.
Although electrolysis usually is considered a less painful method of hair removal, it still can be uncomfortable.
One female student, who wished to not be identified, said that she had electrolysis done on her upper lip every six months and that it was painful.
"It hurts, especially the tender area around your nose," said the student. "I used to go every month, but the more you get it
"When I come home from getting my eyebrows waxed,my eye makeup is running down my face."
"When I come home from getting my eyebrows waxed, my eye makeup is running down my face," said Heather Riley, Omaha junior. "One time, they used a more expensive wax instead of beeswax, and it ripped up the skin on my eyelids. It was really red, and a few
The first experience with waxing can be painful.
done, the less you have to go in. It takes longer for the hair to come back now, and later I may not have to go at all."
For around $95, a woman can have her face, legs, bildni area and underarms waxed, a process that involves applying hot wax to the area with unwanted hair, allowing the wax to cool and then removing the wax, along with the hair. Waxing facial hair, if done in a salon, costs around $15. Home waxing kits can be purchased at a store for about $4.
Electrolysis usually costs about $35 for a 30 minute session.
Another hair removal process that lives up to its reputation for being expensive and painful is waxing.
Heather Riley
Omaha junior
days later, they scabbed over. It was pretty bad."
Becky Isaac, owner of Becky's Hairstying, 2108 W. 27th St., said most clients built up a tolerance to the pain of waxing after a few visits. She said many men came in to have their eyebrows and sometimes their backs and chests waxed.
Another beauty ritual that many men and women subject them selves to is body
"It's a constant," said Joseph Gaultney, owner of River City Hair Co., 1021 Massachusetts St. "People are always coming in to get either their ears or their children's ears pierced. With the children, I'll talk to them and tell them what they're in for. I let them know it's going to hurt a little, like a shot. Now, someone is getting their nose pierced, that's a little more painful. A lot of people's eyes really water when we do that. We suggest that they sit down and relax awhile before they try to leave."
piercing, putting holes in the body for the purpose of decoration.
One beautifying process does not take such a toll on the body. Facials, treatments that improve the condition of the skin, can be relaxing and soothing.
Ladonna McAlister, manager of Step by Step Hair Professionals, 925 Iowa St., said some students came in for $16 facials before or after finals.
"It's very refreshing," McAlister said. "After we cleanse, examine and steam the face, we give a 15-minute face mas
sage, which is just incredible. Then we do a face mask and any necessary extractions. Then we tone and hydrate the face. The process takes about an hour, and it leaves your face feeling wonderful."
But what about those who want to dramatically change their faces?
Robert Dinsdale, a plastic surgeon at Lawrence Otolaryngology Associates, 112 W. Sixth St., performs cosmetic surgeries such as eyelid tucks, corrective nasal surgery, corrective ear surgery, scar revision and facelifts.
"The majority of young people who come in either want to have their nose corrected or their ears tucked back," Dinsale said. "It seems like most people get that done when they're younger because kids teased them for things like big ears when they were younger."
Dinsdale said each patient must go through an evaluation to ensure they were getting the surgery for the right reasons.
"Ineed to know that patients are self-motivated in their actions," Dinsdale said. "If a guy's motivation is that his girlfriend thinks his ears are ugly, or he wants to win some girl over, and if he changes his nose he'll get her, then I would advise against the surgery."
Dinsdale said cosmetic surgery was just another form of self-improvement, not unlike haircuts or hair removal. He said that in the case of nose reconstruction, which usually costs more than $1,000, 80 to 90 percent of patients were happy with their results.
Apparently, so are most students who opt for less severe forms of self-improvement. Even though Riley had a bad experience with hair removal, she still gets her eyebrows waxed.
"it's definitely worth it," Riley said. "I mean, if I don't go in, my eyebrows will grow together. I don't want to look like a cave woman."
APRIL 5,1994
PAGE 9
People and places at the University of Kansas.
LEAD STORY
In what might set a new U.S. record for reluctance to part with deceased relatives, neighbors found the mummified body of Georgia Farrell lying on her sofa in Boise, Idaho, in March. Authorities said that she probably had died in 1887 at the age of 88 but that the death had never been reported by her son Robert, who lived in the house. One neighbor said she often had asked Robert where his mother was and that Robert had replied, "Oh, she's in (the house)." (Last August, a Maple Heights, Ohio, man was reported not to have parted with his deceased mother for two years.)
YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS
- Mark A. Thomas announced in December that he would run for sheriff in Winston-Salem, N.C., this year. Thomas said he would be more effective at fighting crime than the incumbent because he was "criminally minded": He was convicted of theft in 1983 and of embezzlement a few years earlier.
- According to a recently filed lawsuit, Utah state Sen. Sara Eubank, a women's rights advocate, fired her employee Jacqueline Hedberg, alleging that Hedberg's productivity had dropped drastically. The principal cause of Hedberg's loss of productivity was that she had not been able to recover emotionally from being raped in December 1992. Said a representative of the Utah National Organization for Women. "(The case) is a tough one for us."
- In February, Vincent Castillo was jailed in Kener, La., after illegally breaking into his mother's home in order to establish a "domicile" in Kenner so that he could run for mayor as a resident. In a previous attempt to establish a Kenner domicile, he said he had lived in the vacant storefront of a pet shop he once ran.
- In February, the Dutch parliament passed a law forcing farmers in the Netherlands to reduce the amount of animal dung they produce by one-third. The country has so much livestock that the dung causes massive water pollution. Farmers think that they can meet the new requirements by changing their livestock's diet.
- The Seattle Times reported in February that staff members of Washington state Rep. Adam Smith could not describe to a reporter the workings of the "sexual devices" that would be restricted for sale in Smith's proposed legislation. The bill regulates the sale of books, magazines, films, etc., and also requires that devices for sale such as the "penisator" and the "vibrillator" be kept out of sight of minors.
- As of mid-February, after six weeks in office, Mayor Freddie Goode of Liberty, Ky., has resolved clashes in his new administration by firing four of the five members of the city council (the fifth member is Mrs. Goode): the chief of police, the city administrator, two office employees and the entire
See WEIRD,Page 10