Quarantine Financial-Lows Have Forced Me to be My Own Stylist

I continue to experiment with new styles during quarantine.

Influenced

There was no way I could watch 100 episodes of KUWTK without wanting to add a dash of style and beauty to my life. I liked looking neat and presentable pre-covid (pre-KUWTK) but now I really, really enjoy looking good. No one tells you what a natural high that is, looking good really is feeling good. You provide your own confidence and happiness.

It was like when someone complains repeatedly about something and you want to tell them - "just do something about it already..." I was complaining to myself all the time, my internal thoughts were always that I do think I'm pretty. I just think there are so many other ways I could enhance the beauty I was born with. Because when the only guys that approach you look like they binge-watch anime and binge-play video games, it's probably just you honey (me). Well, those are the only type of guys my age that visibly show interest. The next category of fine, presentable men (sarcasm) that show interest are those of the 40-something category. Most likely with pot-bellies or pot-bellies that are in the process of forming...

So you see why I had to look inward, right? I do admit - I feel like a textbook Basic B*tch by confessing that I am very inspired by those women (the Kardashians).

But no money.

I am unemployed due to covid, I make about $300 a month from working for my mom, and $150 from a photography contract. I stopped receiving unemployment over 2 months ago. I'm rationing my $1,800 left in savings that was $4,200 about 3 months ago. I am literally poor. It's depressing but I'm staying afloat. And, I'm enhancing my look at the same damn time.

HAIR

I've never heard the Dashians blatantly state it but I totally caught on to the fact that they all wear their parts down the middle! And you've probably heard or read somewhere that the most attractive faces tend to have symmetrical qualities. How do you make your face symmetrical? Surgeries, you say? Well yes, but that wasn't the answer I was looking for. You can start by just giving yourself a sleek neat part right down the middle whenever you wear your hair down or in a low pony. Look at the show, the only one who doesn't wear their part down the middle is Kylie. But I knew there had to be a pattern when I saw the other four all doing the same thing.

Other than a middle part, I also use something called hair paint wax because there are so few styles I have the capability of doing and I do like to switch it up. I literally only know how to do twist outs and I was not blessed with hands for styling hair. I've tried braiding and flat twist style tutorials on YouTube. It simply is not my forte, so for the most part I accept that I'm a woman who either needs to stick to basic at-home styles or become such a baller that I can walk my ass into a hair salon every 2 weeks. Promptly.

Purple hair paint wax. I've tried maybe 6 colors by now.

The wax allows me to change my color easily too, which I love doing. As far as expenses - the way I see it, spending $7 on a container of wax is much better than the $85 I ashamedly spent on a silk press and trim a couple weeks ago. Damn did I look good tho...

At the very beginning of quarantine, I bought a pack of kankelon and looked at a box braid tutorial because I have wanted protective styles with weave forever but spending $200 on getting that done is INSANE to me. Did you know there's 6 different techniques you can use to start a box braid?! Update on my braid-ability coming soon. That one pack of kankelon is still sitting behind my desk as I type.

NAILS

I literally dream of the day I'm able to walk into a nail salon and get medium length acrylic nails in a regular shape with a great color. A translucent shimmery lavender or something equally pretty and classy. As all the ladies know, our nails can quickly amount to the equivalent of a bill. $50 every two weeks and boom that's $100 a month. My electricity and phone bill combined is a little less than that.

I was not blessed with hands for hair but I've always had the steady hand for giving a great manicure and pedicure! So at the beginning of quarantine, I invested in a LED/UV lamp and set of 6 soak-off gel nail colors along with gel top and base coat and a few others tools necessary. All in all I spent maybe $60. A regular gel painting for nails and toenails combined is around $50-70. So for the price of a usual one-time visit I will be able to yield, I don't know about 50 manis and pedis with my own supplies.

I still can't believe I took this photo... and did this gel mani!

CLOTHES

Previously, I was a huge thrift shopper but I've come to realize that my wardrobe looks rather... homey. Things are more worn and look like I might've had them since high school. Because I was a thrifter, I was familiar with a few shops that also bought clothing from literally anyone willing to sell. (So long as the clothes are in decent condition.) So I rounded up 2 book bags of clothing, shoes, and accessories that do me no good and let a shop review my items for 2 hours. They offered me $22 in cash or I want to say about $30 in store credit. I took the cash and, wow, I must be poor because I remember being pretty happy about the $22.

That was the warmer months. I've just become reacquainted with my winter wardrobe and I found quite a few fashion no-no's in there. After bagging that stuff, I combined it with the stuff that didn't sell last time and guess what? I will be taking them all to another thrift shop to hopefully, have them offer me an exchange. Except this time I may take the store credit because I currently have only 2 pair of pants for the winter. Yikes.

MAKE UP

This section will be short because I do not wear make up, but I do want to. I'm avoiding it because I know it takes skills to apply and money to buy and I'm not ready to commit to either of those just yet. I have pretty good skin, but when I do want extra help I usually want my undereye bags covered and skin tone evened out. Luckily, I discovered tinted-moisturizer on an ad on my Instagram feed. It's not a foundation but just a lotion with a tint the color of your skin. It's not cheap to me, $15-$20, but I imagine that's much cheaper than acquiring all the different ingredients for baking your face.

Tinted moisturizer gave me a great, natural glow.

SUMMARIZED LIST OF BEAUTY HACKS:

1. Hair paint wax (lasts for about a week), $7

2. Learn how to do your own box braids, all you have to buy is hair, $40

3. Learn how to do your own long-lasting gel nails and toe nails at home, $50-70

4. Sell old clothing, make $20-$100

5. Use tinted moisturizer instead of a full face of make up, $15

Thanks for reading!