Category: Miscellany

Since we’re on the subject of saying something to colleagues whose beauty techniques (or lack thereof) are obscuring their most beautiful selves, let’s talk about when you should absolutely say something to them.

Let’s do that instead of talking about the young saleswoman at T.J. Maxx who looked like a graffiti artist had attacked her upper lip. People, I am ALL ABOUT faking a plumper upper lip, but let’s make sure we keep up with our lip pencil application throughout the day, m’kay? And let’s keep the lipliner within a reasonable 1/8″ and not, like 2″ over our top lip, m’kay?

You should say something if:

1. Your colleague’s complexion seems yellowish or in some other way badly off;
2. Your colleague begins to smell funny, and it’s not perfume or cosmetic, but a metallic smell or a sulfuric smell, or a doo-doo smell. I have found all of those things to be early evidence of illness or laxative abuse or bulimia.
3. Your colleague is suddenly losing a lot of hair.
4. Your colleague is losing mobility or energy at an alarmic or very noticeable rate.
5. Your colleague seems to be gaining or losing an awful lot of weight quickly.
6. Your colleague seems to have booze coming out of his/her pores the morning after any event, and sometimes for no reason at all.
7. Your colleague, once put together, now seems drab and listless and can’t even be bothered to apply lipstick or comb his/her hair, let alone accessorize.

These are all beauty issues secondarily and health issues first. Wait for a good time to ask them if they’re feeling alright. Lovingly tell them what you’ve noticed. Ministers aren’t known for our self-care skills and self-awareness — sometimes it takes a caring outside pair of eyes to pull our attention to where it ought to be.