I am in what I refer to as the high maintenance stage of life. It's what happens when you approach the seventh decade of life. (And if you think it doesn't hurt to write the words "seventh decade", you are either under the age of 40 or infinitely more serene, centered, and spiritually mature than I can ever imagine becoming.)
At any rate, at my age, it takes quite a lot of effort of every day to achieve a semi-respectable appearance. Below are a list of the products I use every day to keep small children from running screaming when they see me coming.
Hair
hair dryer
flat iron
curling iron
styling mousse
welding paste (Really,that's what it's called. I call it spackle.)
Skin
night cleanser
night moisturizer
eye cream
day cleanser
day moisturizer
sunscreen
hand lotion
body lotion
foot creme
hydrating body wash
Make-up
foundation
blush
powder
eyeshadow
eyeliner
mascara
lipstick
lipgloss
lip balm
Nails
base coat
nail polish
top coat
But when you are walking 500 miles carrying all your belongings in a 40 liter backpack, when the wisdom of experienced walkers says carry no more than 10% of your body weight (the ONE time when I find it an advantage to be overweight!), when some pilgrims actually squeeze out half a tube of toothpaste to save a couple of ounces of weight, it looks like the products in my maintenance toolkit will have to be reduced. A lot. A whole lot. A WHOLE lot. In fact, this is my list:
sunscreen
moisturizer
lip balm
soap
This is either freeing or terrifying. Or both.
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