It's the Little Things

It’s amazing how a different shower head and peppermint soap can give you a new lease on life. I may become a fanatical shower addict, obsessively clean because of these two additions to my life.

But I've started midstream; let me backtrack. I think I have complained that since we got a new, higher shower head for DH (who is 6’5”), our water pressure has changed in our shower to that of a half-filled watering can desperately trying to quench flowers in mid-July heat. Like that extended metaphor there? We had one of those “rain” heads, the huge ones that actually kind of look like the many-holed end of a watering can. Tra-la, yay, it will feel like we’re under a downpour! Nothing but a light drizzle. Ech. When trying to wash long hair, this does not help. Thus we changed back to the old head, which sprays everywhere, but the pressure ROCKS. Thank goodness for pliers and waterproof tape; I got that sucker put together in 10 minutes with a little elbow grease.

Add to that, I went shopping for hand cream with SPF in it (more about that in a sec) and ended up buying Mentha Body Vitamin Body Wash from C.O. Bigelow (found at Bath and Body Works) simply because it smelled of peppermint. I won’t get graphic, but what a fantastic combo this morning of water pressure and tingly peppermint! If you have not had the pleasure, I strongly suggest getting some (not cheap, but worth it). The tingle lasts even after you've toweled off!

I really went because of what I read recently in Real Simple about the fact that we as women often neglect our hands in the everyday fight against skin cancer and UVB rays. Think about how older women’s hands look—that and the wattle neck show aging quite obviously, in my book. They suggested using hand cream with SPF in it. Well, I can tell you that it’s not as easy to find as you may think. After searching the web, I finally ended up going onto the Skin Cancer website to see what they suggested and bought True Blue Spa’s Glove Me Tender (corny name, I know) hand cream, SPF 15. Also not entirely cheap, but honestly, a pea-size amount truly does do the trick. Just a suggestion. The Skin Cancer site also has sunscreens and other moisturizers listed that they deem strong fighters against UVA and UVB rays.

P.S. If you don’t think sun does damage, my dad’s hands stand as a classic example: He’s played golf all of his life and the hand he wears a glove on is lily white and baby-soft. The other one is permanently tanned with rough skin and age spots.