Hi. My name is Jennifer and I’m a lazy personal groomer.
Sometimes I think I need a support group because I absolutely hate doing my hair and makeup. Yeah, I make the effort every day–sometimes not until 3 in the afternoon–but it’s not something I look forward to or enjoy.
I find myself feeling a little like Mr. Incredible after he saves the world, “How come the world can just stay saved?” Because how come my hair and makeup can’t just stay done?
This is probably why I write about makeovers. My last two books, oddly, have that theme. Granted, Immersed was about a girl who had to do a make-under so she could keep lecherous clients away. But that’s a change of appearance. And then there’s The Lost Art, where Ava is prompted by super duper meanness of her coworkers to change not only her looks but her demeanor. But there’s a bottle of peroxide involved.
Grudgingly I admit to having bought a bottle of Sun-In to spritz on my hair while writing this book this spring. Yeah, it was probably a rookie error because there’s more orange than gold highlights involved. Sigh.
But I think this all may stem back to my dislike of hairstyling and makeup application. Maybe if I write about my characters doing it in positive ways and with good effect, I can see their good example and say, “If my fake people from my head can do it, so can I.”
Broken logic. Just like the broken ends of my hair from too much time under the blowdryer and the super hot curling iron required to put even the slightest wave in my impossibly straight hair and the shellac-like hairspray I have to invest in to keep that minimal curl in it.
Sigh. I can’t wait until I’m an old lady and can go in once a week and have them comb my blue hair and have it stay that way for a week. That’ll probably be the one physical perk to old age.
