There are a few things I just never get tired of, like taro Tuttimelon, MAC Power Surge Eye Kohl and Sex and the City (all but the second movie, which I pretend does not exist).
I was watching Season 4 the other day, the episode where Carrie and the girls talk about “Secret Single Behavior.”
A Secret Single Behavior, or SSB, is something you only do when you’re alone. Carrie likes to eat jelly on crackers, standing up in the kitchen while she reads Vogue.
An SBB, or Secret Beauty Behavior, is a variation on the SSB pertaining to a secret beauty ritual. Like, save my stuffed animals and I (and now you, too), no one knows that I secretly trim the top edge of my eyebrows with a small scissors. If I let too much time pass without doing it, I develop Conrad Waldorf brows.
El Hub has also never seen me clip my toenails, a ritual I like to save for “me time” but sometimes forget to do for months until I look down one day and see eagle talons instead of toes. Seriously, I could probably carve my name in a tree with those things…
Do you have any SBB’s (Secret Beauty Behaviors)?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Mine involves toes too–my heels get really dry. I use a Pediegg and then a buffer but trust me, no one wants to see the crap that comes off my feet! Oh and tweezing my chin is not pleasant to watch either!
i died laughing at “i could probably carve my name in a tree with those things” bwahahahaha!
hmm, let’s see….my secret beauty behavior is removing facial hair :weeping: i swear I’m turning into a man sometimes, so i always nair it off…i’d die if a lover saw me walking around with nair on my upper lip and chin!
Seems to be the consensus so far — the dreaded chin and upper lip hair! Ugh!
I’m with the other girls, facial hair removal (not eyebrows). But that is more alone time.
I think that probably many many more facials that what I actually need.
Eyebrow trimming – me too 😀
Hahaha I llove Conrad Waldorf!
I shave my big toes…. people would call me Sasquatch if I didn’t!
I do this too! Thank heaven we aren’t alone in this!
I have a couple: I trim my eyebrows too, and I think it’s TOTALLY UNFAIR that I have to do that, given that I am not a 75-year-old man (or an ill-tempered Muppet, for that matter). And yet, here we are.
I also –*cringe*– squeeze the blackheads on my nose. I KNOW, I KNOW, you’re not supposed to do this. I’ve known that since I was like 12, I try to be good about it and just wash my face and exfoliate and put Biore strips on them, and yet … can’t. stop. myself.
I squeeze my blackheads too! Somehow I get this weird satisfaction out of getting these evil things out of my pores with my bare hands… That one is definitely an SBB, no one but my cat is allowed to be present 🙂
me too! i thought i was the only one who still squeezes to get them out….*hides face*
Hahaha. Me too!
Awesome. I get major satisfaction from getting stuff out of my skin.
I secretly shave the hair off the tops of my toes & pluck the 2 random strands that sprout on the top of each foot. Eek!
I tweeze my chin and random jaw hair. I also shave my toes.
I shave the outer half of my eyebrows off and just pencil it in. (Otherwise I look like I need an eyelift, and I’m only 18!) I have a hair obsession, so I shave from my eyebrows down. I also always dehydrate my nails before I apply nailpolish because the nail polish just chips off the next day if I don’t.
I will sometimes pluck instead of shave my underarms. They look cleaner that way. It’s time-consuming, though, so I don’t do it too often, in which case I will shave instead.
I do that too! Actually, I use an epilator for my underarms, and pluck whatever’s leftover. It stays cleaner longer.
Me tooo! I have a big problem with hair under my arms, it never grows the right way and get bumps that hurt if i use the razor or wax (which by the way reeeeealllyy hurrtsss!!!) so i have to either pluck them or wear long sleeves so no one can see my manly armpits. But i have to do it all at once and by all i mean eyebrows, upper lip and armpits the same day so you can guess how long it takes!
All of these reasons are why I want to get laser hair removal on the armpits!
Yeah hair removal isn’t pretty. I also use Mint Julep mask on my face and chest (which is a wierd green color) and then I deep condition my hair at the same time. I look like I should be on Star Trek!
I’ve discovered via multiple successful trials that the best way to get the ups guy to deliver that package you’ve been waiting for is to smear Mint Julep on your face. Rest assured he’ll show up in the next 10 minutes.
I have a “beauty mark” on my cheek that sprouts a couple of dark hairs that I have to pluck.. I had an ex point out that they were there years ago, and I refuse to let anyone ever see them!
Hahha the toenails crack me up! This is foreign to me because I am a little obsessive about both sets of nails~ I tel me friends you can tell the state of my life from my nails. If my toes are chipped and nasty, even in Winter!, something bad is up, lol!!
Sorry to interject, but if you have a mole with hair sprouting out of it, you should consider getting it checked by a doctor because it could be cancerous. I have quite a few moles myself so I pay attention to whether they are symmetrical, or bumpy etc.
Sylvie! Sorry I just now saw this! Thank you for the concern~ It’s always had little hairs, I first noticed them when I was 13, and it’s been normal since (fingers crossed!). A very good point to bring up though, moles can be scary!
Pore Cleaning Strip. Its not that bad walking around with it on my nose, but once I rip it off I like to inspect the results…
I totally do this too. It’s half of the fun!
ha ha ha I do the same thing!
LOL i trim my eyebrows too! makes them look more defined and well shaped hehe and i snip the random dark hair on my jaw D:
i guess i like putting on nail polish by myself, oh and makeup, i find it so weird when someone watches me.
I tweeze the one thick hair that sprouts out of the mole on my neck. I also shave the hair on my big toe and top of my foot (I used to tweeze it, but it hurt too much and was time-consuming). I second Kris on the Pore Cleaning Strip… it’s rather fun to see how much gunk you ripped out.
Yeah… I’m another for the upper lip hair removal. I go back and forth between using nair to get rid of it, or just using the funny looking springy tool with handles on each end, can’t remember the name. myspringit? iono, but it’s basically a threading device.
AND i second shaving my toes ::cringes:: yeahh…… i’m a hairy beast =[
I trim my eyebrows and shave my big toe also. Seems to be common practice around here lol I like to watch the boy shave sometimes and he hates it when I do
Unlike most Chinese girls, the women in my family are hairy. It’s so ironic that my hair grows like, “HAIR!!!!! Hear me roar!” because my husband is so utterly grossed out by any excess body hair on women. My SBB is that I pluck the hair on my fingers. Without my trusty Tweezerman pointed slants, I would have man hands.
Hahaha. My boyfriend also has the weird hair thing. But only on himself? maybe he hasn’t start critizing me yet for my hair toes..
(I love the “Hear me roar!”, I can relate!)
Am I the only one who trims her pussy??? I use a comb and eyebrow scissors (because they are rounded and I don’t risk to accidentally cut myself) to cut pubic hair real short: mine is quite dark and I looove the see-through-lace effect I get ^_^ Now that I have admitted this, I am more tham ever committed to keep my nickname highly confidential 😉
I don’t trim my hair, I just wax it all off. Saves me 60$ a month to do it myself, but it does hurt more and take longer… I can’t stand having hair down there!
But doesn’t that make it feel stubbly? I’ve tried trimming down below but I can’t ever seem to get a consistent length.
Hair trimming in General……facial, toes, private parts…….they are mine (and sometimes my aenesthetician) only.
If I’m not careful, I sport a stash and beard, so a little folicular deforestation is practiced behind closed doors a couple of times a week.
I’m an eyebrow trimmer as well (love the muppet reference!). I like all my body hair to be either completely removed or very trimmed, except the hair on my head, of course. Small mustache scissors definitely do the trick for trimming. I must admit, I’m a little more lax in the winter months though. 🙂
mine involves food and tv – there’s nothing i enjoy more than a bag of m&ms or a pint of ice cream while plopped in front of the tv with realtiy shows on (the housewives series comes to mind) … i still do that every once in a while.
Nair! Upper lip and inbetween my eyebrows cause im too lazy to pluck that bit! My boyfriend walked in on me and just laughed. I also do this mwhilst watching SATC !
I am old enough to be Mommy to most of you…and children, let me tell you that facial hair gets worse as time marches on. I inspect chin, upper lip and my whole face DAILY for stray hairs…funny thing is, most of them come in white now…but they still have to be removed! I even carry tweezers with me JUST IN CASE I should be out and feel one of those little varmints… :-}
I am now a big-toe shaver. I have no idea how this happened. When did I turn into a hobit!?
I can’t stand the thought of visible nose hairs, so I use the Mr.’s electronic clippers to quickly zap any hairs that may even be THINKING of inching into visible territory. I also trim the hair “down there” when I’m all by my lonesome, although I had a horrible incident doing just that a few years ago. I sit on the potty to do this (I know, TMI) so that the hair just falls from the scissor blades into the toilet. This time, I accidentally dropped the scissors into the toilet bowl, where they disappeared from view and promptly caused the line to back up. We had to call in Roto-Rooter and to my shame, the technician actually fetched the scissors out of the sewer line and said, “What the hell are these doing down here??” He was like Jim Carrey in “Dumb & Dumber”, only more stupid, lol. I was like, “Geez, I can’t imagine! I bet you find the craziest stuff in your line of work, right?” I’m more careful now.
LOVE IT. I have never thought of the potty.. always squatted over the waste basket.. but the toilet sounds so much better!
But I will be careful with the scissors!!
Big toe shaving and blackhead squeezing for me, too! I’m not really secretive about anything else… I think hair removal in general is a given, because, well, no one wants to see that!
I think my biggest SBB at the moment has more to do with acquiring new beauty products (especially nail polish!) and trying to integrate them into my current stash, just so no one notices I bought anything new!
Hmmm… I don’t have the hair issues that a lot of you seem to have. I actually had a girl ask if I waxed my arms (that would be no). I do have a thing about blackheads and whiteheads – it’s an OCD thing. And like Io, I try to integrate new items into my current stash, whether it’s nail color, or “regular” makeup.
Huge toe shaver, and nose hair plucker. If i don’t, my nose hair will be as long as the hair on my head. lol
Haha …
My SBB would probably be painting my nails. I’m not sure why, it just bugs me to have other people looking at me when I paint my fingers and toes.
I squeeze my blackheads like no one else. It’s practically a sport to me!
I also pull out the baby hairs near my hair line. They just kind of annoy me and it doesn’t look like I have a nice hairline when I pull my hair back… lol
I have three or four strangely dark hairs on the very bottom of chin (almost underneath it) that I pull out with tweezers…I hate them because, since I’m fair, I can see them before they even come out all the way. I’m stuck with 3 or 4 little black dots on the bottom of my chin all the time.
I’m actually glad I’m single now…I feel like a hairy beast sometimes! lol
I like to whiten my teeth at home! I also have a thing about tweezing my eyebrows everytime i get out of the shower. I am very OCD about all my beauty things and am so secretive about them my boyfriend thinks am perfect lol
I do the worse thing possible – I look for clogged pores/blackheads and go to town on them. Yes, it’s bad but it’s very satisfying at the same time. This is the reason why it takes me so long to cleanse and moisturize my face at night.
I use 2 shades of foundation to make my cheeks look less round. I also get a huge satisfaction out of extracting whiteheads.
Haha these comments are great! So glad there are so many fellow toe shavers out there. I also shave the hair on my upper lip. And I think its a given that shaving below the belt is a solo thing lol. I also CANNOT apply makeup with someone looking at me, not even a touch-up…i feel like someone is going to say “its not working” or something mean along those lines =(
Well, I’ve been married for 26 years so there is probably nothing my DH has not been privy to. For goodness sake he saw our daughter born, so I think he can see a little de-forest-ation on various places on my bod. Although he really does not care if I shave or pluck my various parts (face, legs or what have you.) He loves me no matter what, at least thats what he tells me! ;0)
I thought I was the only one plucking my toes but it almost seems everyone is 😀 And I pluck my upper lip too (I actually once shaved it with razor lol).. my hair’s blonde so I didn’t even really need to but I dunno, I just do
I secretly cut my eyebrows, I have one of those little scissors with a comb attatched, they’ve changed my life.
no ones mentioned this before, so I hope I’m not alone, but I pluck my lady treasure trail. I used to shave them before, that was a big mistake and now they’re kind of dark even though I’m a natural blonde. No one knows I do it, except you now, and no one ever will!
I made the shaving mistake too! They’ve sort of gotten bleached again, as I refuse to get rid of them now.. don’t want to deal with the darkness again!
I definitely save my Aveda face mask that’s bright green for when I’m alone, and also haven’t been brave enough to go to bed with Mario Badescu’s famous pink drying lotion on my face when the boy and I do sleepovers. 😉 And I’m with the big-toe-shaving camp! 🙂
Haha I’m going to remain semi-anonymous for this (no link to my blog this time :P) to save myself further embarrassment.
Umm, as with most ladies hair trimming in general. I too trim the tops of my brows occasionally. Plucking upper lip & big-toe hair (those two things sound lovely together, don’t they?!). Cleaning my belly button (:D)..oh yeah and sometimes I shave/pluck the hairs around my belly button (or, ahem, in the nip area). I also have like 2 or 3 hairs that grow right in the middle below my lower lip (like the “soul patch” area?) that I sometimes notice and decide to pluck out. Man, reading this you’d think I was the hairiest girl ever but I’m really not!
I think shaving/waxing below the belt is a given, not necessarily a secret that you would be embarrassed about, but still something you do in private of course.
Let’s see…what else…well this is gross but periodically I like to clean under my toenails.
Extracting whiteheads (or clogged pores, comedones? Never quite sure what they’re called. The little white/yellow-ish oily grains that get stuck in your pores).
Wow I have revealed way too much.
Bye now.
Yeah, I pluck my eyebrows, even though I tell people I don’t (I get this question quite often IRL)…
hmm i do have to cut down my toenails or they look like talons. One time my then boyfriend saw it and was so mortified that he cut them off for me..LOL.
I pluck the chin hair and shave the upper lip. Man the things you go through…haha
Vaseline all over my face!! It looks gross but it keeps my skin moisturized, it has helped with breakouts (for some strange reason) and it has helped my lashes grow longer!!!
I have a nervous habit where I find myself rubbing or pulling out my eyebrows, its so frustrating when all the sudden I look in the mirror and the “tails” of my brows are gone!!
I also pop zits like no other and I’m not afraid to admit that it is so enthralling… the “omg i can’t believe that was in my face” moment is like looking at a car accident-you can t look away
Oh, Karen, what a maelstrom you’ve released here! Haha, though we ladies have some CRAZY beauty issues to deal with, I just LOVE being a woman!
I also shave my upper lip, big toe, and bikini line but they’re not secrets in my house – if my partner wants me to look groomed then he can deal with the fact that it actually takes time and effort to get there!
I actually get him to help me sometimes (if I can’t reach or something) and he doesn’t mind. Also I test out new products on him! He always says that I don’t need to do all this stuff because I am beautiful enough as I am, but somehow I don’t think he would say that if he saw what my eyebrows/upper lip REALLY look like in their “natural state”! I can totally understand why others may not want to do these things in front of their other half (or any body else for that matter!) though! I’m just personally not a very private person when it comes to my body (I don’t run about naked or anything!!!).
I am shocked that there are people who read this blog who still believe the old wives tale that if you pluck/shave hair it comes back thicker or darker! Crazy! The hair follicle is the same size and cannot suddenly grow more, thicker, or darker hair! Different hair colours and textures are created by differently sized and shaped follicles and there is NO WAY that you can change the shape or size of the hair follicle by shaving or plucking. The shape of the hair follicle is genetically determined. Shaving only effects the “dead” part of the hair anyway (the shaft), so anything you do to it couldn’t possible effect future growth.
Hair colour and texture can change naturally in a few circumstances. In childhood hair colour often changes, and also at times when our hormones change (during pregnancy, puberty, or when having treatments for certain illnesses and diseases – notably cancer). However, these are changes at the cellular level and cannot be effected by anything we do to the outside of our body.
The reason that hair can FEEL thicker after shaving is because the hair shaft naturally tapers (gets thinner) at the end and when you shave you remove this gradually thinning part and create a blunt end which feels spikey to the touch as it grows out. When the hair starts growing back all at once, it feels as though the hair is thicker. That’s why when you wax you don’t get that spikey feeling – instead of cutting the hair off and creating a blunt end, the whole hair shaft has been removed (just like plucking) and the new hair that grows in it’s place is naturally tapered again.
Sorry for the slight rant, and thanks for a funny blog topic Karen, stellar as usual!
Hair removal! Upper lip, chin, random chest hairs, big toe, fingers you name it! I joke about it with my close girl friends but no one else 🙂