SCENT OF A WOMAN
“Lotion is a wonderful thing!”, declared C, as she sat on the bed one morning slathering on the stuff. I would have agreed with her if I didn’t have to waste 10 precious minutes each morning putting on the stuff. I wonder why they couldn’t have come up with a spray-on version. They do have spray-on sunscreens so why not winter lotions too?
When I first came to San Diego, I labored under the delusion that since it was by the sea, it would have weather like Kerala. Hot, humid and the kind that skin and hair love. I could not have been more wrong. This is becoming a habit, being so wrong about things. My brain had neglected to register the fact that that the whole of California is basically a desert.
Winter arrived and brought with it a unique set of problems. My hair, which has a mind of its own even otherwise, began to look like I had stuck my finger in an electric socket and the less said about my skin the better. Suffice to say that the Komodo dragon seemed to have skin that looked better than mine!!!
In an effort to get back to a semblance of my old human self, I embarked on an expedition to stock up on lotions and potions. I got the names of a couple of lotions from my roommate and armed with that knowledge, I confidently marched up to the cosmetics aisle of Target. One look at all the aisles full of cosmetics and I was tempted to turn tail and run back home. How were people ever supposed to decide what they wanted if there was such a bewildering array to choose from? And here I thought Americans valued their time!!
I steeled myself and started on my quest. I was baffled when I found a ginger and orange lotion. Is this a scent in this country? And to think of the hours I spent with halves of lemon frantically trying to scrub the scent of ginger/garlic off my hands. But it brought back fond memories of trying to weasel out of helping mom with the cooking, so I went ahead and got some. Sun-kissed raspberry and gardenia, now that sounded very exotic, so I had to get that one too. Powder fresh, now this reminds me of sweet swelling babies, all bathed and powdered with Johnson’s baby powder, so I grabbed some of that too.
Suffice to say that I now have enough creams, lotions and gels to last me for the next 10 years if not for the rest of my life. The question is, how many of those can I use at the same time, without smelling like the Malleshwaram flower market???
When I first came to San Diego, I labored under the delusion that since it was by the sea, it would have weather like Kerala. Hot, humid and the kind that skin and hair love. I could not have been more wrong. This is becoming a habit, being so wrong about things. My brain had neglected to register the fact that that the whole of California is basically a desert.
Winter arrived and brought with it a unique set of problems. My hair, which has a mind of its own even otherwise, began to look like I had stuck my finger in an electric socket and the less said about my skin the better. Suffice to say that the Komodo dragon seemed to have skin that looked better than mine!!!
In an effort to get back to a semblance of my old human self, I embarked on an expedition to stock up on lotions and potions. I got the names of a couple of lotions from my roommate and armed with that knowledge, I confidently marched up to the cosmetics aisle of Target. One look at all the aisles full of cosmetics and I was tempted to turn tail and run back home. How were people ever supposed to decide what they wanted if there was such a bewildering array to choose from? And here I thought Americans valued their time!!
I steeled myself and started on my quest. I was baffled when I found a ginger and orange lotion. Is this a scent in this country? And to think of the hours I spent with halves of lemon frantically trying to scrub the scent of ginger/garlic off my hands. But it brought back fond memories of trying to weasel out of helping mom with the cooking, so I went ahead and got some. Sun-kissed raspberry and gardenia, now that sounded very exotic, so I had to get that one too. Powder fresh, now this reminds me of sweet swelling babies, all bathed and powdered with Johnson’s baby powder, so I grabbed some of that too.
Suffice to say that I now have enough creams, lotions and gels to last me for the next 10 years if not for the rest of my life. The question is, how many of those can I use at the same time, without smelling like the Malleshwaram flower market???
posted by newatthis at 1:40 PM
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