You know what really grinds my gears...

I have struggled with acne since I was about 10 years old. I remember being in the 5th grade, it was picture day, and my face was in the midst of its first breakout. I wasn't too aware of it at the time, I was a kid. It bothered my mother though and that's when I was hit with my first bit of shame I can remember. Instead of being taken to the store and down the magical teenage aisle, lined with all kinds of bottles and potions, I was taken straight to the makeup aisle. I get what my mom was trying to do, and I appreciate her misguided attempt at keeping me from teasing and embarrassment when I look back at my photos when I'm 26. I just hate that I was never taught how to manage acne instead of covering it up and being ashamed. It's something that has plagued me ever since. I never knew how to take care of it, I only knew really how to make it worse which caused its own set of problems over the years. By the time I hit high school my face was a full blown mess. Scars and bumps ever where. I was ashamed. I literally slept in my makeup because I didn't even want my parents to see, that's how ashamed I was. I would wake up every morning 2 hours before I had to catch the bus just so I could take the time to prepare myself for the day, just so I could look people in the eye. I don't know if anyone remembers Max Factor, but I used to use their full coverage foundation stick EVERYDAY. As I got older I started learning about how to control it. Sadly, I was left with severe scarring both outside and in.

Now, to my point. The thing that has always bothered me and kind of got me started on this blogging thing is the sheer lack of girls who face the same problem I do. How the hell can you work with our skin? I have seen quite a few YouTube videos of scar coverage/acne prone skin, but only a handful are anything even close to being relatable to me. Even the ones that are relatable either use high end products that I cant afford or use things that only make things worse. The worst ones are of girls who have a few tiny blemishes...psh I wish that's all I had to worry about. Makes me want to scream! Its taken me a long time to even be able to say "I have acne". In this day and age its so shameful to be anything less than perfect. The ones who do put themselves out there do get praised but also are so severely ridiculed it makes me sick. I have thought of doing a YouTube tutorial on my "system" that I have down and seems to be helping but its still a fragile topic for me and I am not sure if I can handle the nastiness of the Internet. I don't know, maybe someday here in the near future I'll just do it. We shall see. Until then I am going to wrap this up by saying that's something else I will be covering here in the near future. The constant battle between good vs acne (I really like that title for a post...don't judge me for re-using it). Just got to get all my stuff together for it.

Anyways, if you stuck through this entire rant, thank you. Hopefully this will reach someone who can relate. I know that's all I ever wanted. :D

Take care and much love,
Mallory

PS: on a totally unrelated topic...I GOT TICKETS TO THE RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE SEASON 6 FINALE HERE IN VEGAS!!!!!!!! I am a religious watcher of that show and am still in total complete shock that I am going! Now off to go try out some fiiiieeeerrrrce looks for the show!

The trials and tribulations of co-washing

My life was changed when I first heard that you don't need shampoo. WHA?!? was my first reaction. Then I took a look at my fine, frizzy, bleached-to-shit-and-then-redyed-back-to-red hair, shrugged and decided "meh...what the hell". I have tried a lot; except for WEN, I have an aversion to anything that costly and over hyped. I started off at my local Ross and found Lisa Rachel Conditioner Cleanser for about $7 for a 12oz. bottle. It worked fairly well and I was impressed but ran back to my shampoo right after the bottle ran out and my hair didn't feel or look as miraculously magazine worthy like I had been led to believe. I tried the one from Sally's Beauty Supply called Hair One which I paid about $10-$12 for 12oz and immediately regretted my decision. It left my hair brittle, weighed down and my heart broken. The best ACTUAL conditioning cleanser I have ever found that has worked for me is RenPure Sweet Pomegranate Cleansing Conditioner. I paid about $7 for a whole 16oz! It actually retails for about $10, but I bought mine at our Air Force Commissary.  It was fantastic! I'm not an ingredient snob like alot of people, but I was pretty impressed with what it had in it. I'll link to their website so you can take a peek for yourself ( http://www.renpure.com/cleansing-conditioners ). It left my hair a bit dry on the ends at first but I would just slather on a bit of actual conditioner after and my hair was GORGEOUS! Bouncy, soft, shiny...basically any word you would use to describe magazine worthy hair. I didn't even use my blow dryer after I started using it. I had volume and actual wave to my normally stick straight hair. Flash forward 6 months. I hadn't strayed once. I was completely and utterly devoted to my RenPure. Then the worst possible thing happened...the shelf was empty. I checked back religiously day after day and it was no where to be found. Not going to lie, I shed a tear. I tried regular shampoo out of desperation and my hair was disgusting. I dye my hair a bright red color and add manic panic dye over that and while I was washing my hair I saw it go down the drain. That's when I knew it was time for drastic measures. In the shampoo aisle, a thought dawned on me...why cant I use regular cheap conditioner? Wont it do the same thing? A lot of cheap conditioners are fairly light and most actually have mild cleansers in them. BEST DECISION EVER! My heart now belongs to my $.85 VO5 Strawberries and Cream conditioner and my Suave Naturals Everlasting Sunshine conditioner which I splurged and spent a whole $1.75 for. So, yeah...cheapness prevailed and I have a nice, bouncy, fire red head of hair. I will never EVER go back.

OH! and as a note: I am 100% new to this blogging thing. I have no clue how to make it exciting and fun. If you see anything that I can do to make it better please do not hesitate to drop me a line. Much love and appreciation!

-Mallory

Where to begin...

There are many awkward things in life...one of which is starting a blog. One of which is starting a blog when you have never had a blog before. Where to begin. Do I introduce myself? Do I jump in head first like me and whoever reads this have been BFF's for ever? Hmmmm...lets take the first route shall we? My name is Mallory and I have a passion for beauty. Not just things that are beautiful but things you do to make yourself feel beautiful. With that said, I am 25 (26 is creeping up here in the next few days) and married to a wonderful woman. We have never had tons of cash for me to run around places like Ulta and Sephora to my hearts content, trying every new beauty treatment or makeup line. Frankly, I am a cheap-ass at heart. The thought of forking over $50 for a moisturizer or makeup pallet gives me mild panic attacks. At the same time, I am always on the lookout for new exciting things. I have become quite creative when it comes to scoping out the lesser known and lower priced alternatives and home remedies that make me feel gorgeous. I spend a great deal of time online looking at reviews and home remedies and then it hit me (like literally 10 minutes ago) why the hell cant I do this?!?! I have a lot of experience, I like to write, I need a hobby...LETS DO THIS! Will anyone actually read this? I don't know, but at least it gives me something to do. If people do happen to run across this happy little corner of the Internet than YAY! New friends! If you are one of those people HI!!!! Grab a seat, put up your feet and stay awhile. :D