25 BEST
Wardrobe and Grooming Tips to Turn Heads!
Almark Publishing
Published by: Almark Publishing PO BOX 17108, Bridgeport, CT 06673 All right reserved. No part of this book may be republished in any form without the permission of Almark Publishing. © Copyright 2014 Warning-Disclaimer: Almark Publishing has written this book to provide information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is offered with the understanding that the publisher and the author are not liable for the misconception or misuse of the information provided. Every effort has been made to make this book as complete and accurate as possible. The purpose of this book is to educate. The author and Almark Products Inc. shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss, damage, or injury caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book. The information presented herein is in no way intended as a substitute for medical counseling. Pregnant or nursing women especially should consult their physician for proper nutritional guidelines.
25 Best Wardrobe And Grooming Tips To Turn Heads! You’ve made the commitment to lose weight, get healthier, lower your risk of life-threatening diseases, boost your lifespan and look fabulous too. Great decision! In a few short weeks, you’ll start seeing the results of all the dedicated work you’ve put into achieving your goals. Along the way, though you’ll want to start making some adjustments to your hairstyle, maybe even the color, to maximize and attractively frame your new thinner face. For the ladies, you may also want to re-think your makeup. What looked good on a heavier face frequently looks overdone on a thinner face. You’ll no longer need those dark, slimming contouring colors to create a slimmer face—you’ll now have the real thing! Learning new makeup tricks can make the most of your new look. Plus getting a makeover is a fun reward for reaching your first weight loss goal. And for the guys, a shorter, more stylish haircut might be the ticket to show off those newly found cheekbones or jaw line, shaving off that big, old-you beard or goatee that hid your heavier face. You might also want to start exploring the world of men’s appearance-enhancing cosmetics. Try some exfoliates that can remove old, dead skin and its superficial lines; or some healthy-looking moisturizing bronzers that make you look like you just spent a few relaxing hours on the beach. Some people think they should wait until they’ve lost all the weight they want before buying some new clothes or making changes to their hairstyle, makeup, etc. But, truthfully, that’s a mistake for 2 very important reasons: ONE, your old clothes that are now hanging off you don’t show off the smaller size you’ve been working so hard to achieve. It can also make you look dowdy, sloppy and surprisingly older than you are! That’s not
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the positive, upbeat image you want to project. If you’re still going out in the work world everyday, you’ll want to always look your best. TWO, updating your hairstyle, and/or your makeup, will erase, or minimize, any signs of haggardness that losing weight can temporarily show on your face. It takes a little while for your facial skin to readjust to less padding beneath it and you can look a little dehydrated and drawn for a short while. So, to help start off your weight loss goals successfully, we’ve put together several tips to help you look and feel your best while you’re losing weight. Let’s start with the basics…
GROOMING Hair 1. Keep It Clean It’s important to keep your hair clean and styled attractively at any time, but especially now while trying to lose weight; you’ll likely be working out and sweating more. Sweating can make your hair mat down, itch, feel and look sticky and unattractive. If you don’t have time to do an entire shower, shampoo and blowout at the gym, buy some waterless, “No Rinse”, shampoo1 (REI, Walgreen, Sally Beauty Supply, online vendors) and take a bottle with you along with your hairdryer. The bottle has a handy applicator tip that you can apply to specific areas of your hair where it collects the most sweat. These are usually under the hair in the back, around the hairline and ears. Rub it in good with a towel to absorb the sweat. Then re-blow dry your hair quickly. Waterless shampoo freshens up your hair and it gets rid of any perspiration odor. Forego the dry, powder-type shampoos. They’re a mess to apply, don’t work very well and can leave an ugly grayish residue on your hair.
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25 Best Wardrobe and Grooming Tips To Turn Heads
2. Length You may want to kick off your new weight loss program by changing your hairstyle too, but don’t change it too drastically at first. If your face is full to heavy, don’t go for a very short, close-cropped haircut, as this will draw more attention to a full face. A longer layered hairstyle will add some bounce and lift around your cheeks and eyes and balance out the fullness in your cheeks. Wait until your face has slimmed down to go shorter—especially if you’ve been thinking about one of those spiked/gelled looks.
3. Color If you color your hair, be sure to keep up the monthly root touch-ups especially if your hair is darker than a medium blond. Having a 1” growth of gray-white roots makes your hair appear to be thinning, looks messy, and tells everyone you color your hair. If you’ve decided to grow your gray hair out, cut it shorter in overall layers to get there faster. Use a temporary dark rinse on the new growth to blend it into the darker ends until the gray is all grown out. Roux Fanciful 2 is one of the better temporary color rinses. They’re heavy enough to blend the gray in yet they wash out with each shampoo. You can find them in beauty supply chains as well as larger retail stores like Rite-Aid or Walgreens, or you can find them online as well. Another idea is to have your hair frosted overall in a lighter color that camouflages the gray growing in. Or, have all the darker hair lightened to match the roots as they grow in. Let a professional do it though as these methods require using bleach and special toners. If your hair is just starting to get gray streaks in it, you might want to enhance it by getting some lighter streaks around your face, which can really help make you look less tired. For men, if you’ve been thinking of coloring your hair to hide gray, there are several “men’s hair color” products out there you can buy from your local grocery or pharmacy. Some take only about 10-15 minutes 25 Best Wardrobe and Grooming Tips To Turn Heads
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to complete processing and target only the gray—they don’t change your natural hair color. These include Just for Men, Clairol’s Natural Instinct.3 Of course, you can always use the same hair color sold for women, but these usually take about 30 minutes and they do also affect the natural, or existing, hair color. Follow the directions exactly to get the best results. Pick a neutral color as these colors take the best on gray hair—the bases in red or ash (green, blue) colors are absorbed more by gray hair and can give off an unflattering, unnatural hue. You may want to consider having the color done professionally, especially if it’s the first time. A barber, or hairdresser, can restore your gray with a natural looking color that will make you look, and probably feel, years younger! If you want to see what you’ll look like with a different hairstyle, color, etc, check out this fun “makeover” website.4 You can upload your current photo and play around with hairstyles, lengths, and colors to give you an idea of what you’ll look like before you make the commitment at the hairdresser.
4. Facial Hair This is more for the men, as in beards and mustaches, nose and ear hair, but ladies sometimes have cosmetic issues with “hirsutism”—facial / body hair too. For the guys, if you wear a beard or mustache, keep it clean and neatly trimmed closer to your face. You’ll look younger, and your face slimmer, if you keep your beard, mustache, goatee, trimmed to follow the contours of your face. Handlebar mustaches, et al, may be an interesting novelty-look, but in general, they’re not very flattering. They may project a kind of “circus” character look to your face and most women don’t find them all that attractive. So, if you’re looking for a relationship, you might want to rethink your facial hair designs.
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25 Best Wardrobe and Grooming Tips To Turn Heads
Also, keep unsightly nose and ear hair trimmed meticulously. You can do this yourself with special circular, battery operated razors created just for nose and ear hair, or you can visit an ENT doctor who will do it safely for you. For the ladies, facial hair, especially dark mustaches and sideburns, can really detract from your attractiveness and make you feel self-conscious. There are several facial hair removal systems on the market like Oil of Olay’s.5 As well, there are battery-operated facial hair removers like No! No! 6 that remove your sideburn hair, upper lip hair, arms, legs, or anywhere on your body you have hair you want to remove. These systems work better than traditional shaving with a razor and shaving cream. The treatments last much longer, don’t leave scratchy stubble on your face, legs or underarms, and don’t leave a shadow when the new growth starts coming in. Men also can use these products on chest or back hair, and even their facial hair depending on the coarseness of their beards.
5. Eyebrows You might be surprised to know that just neatly grooming your eyebrows can open up your eye area and make your entire face appear younger and slimmer at once. This goes for guys too—long, heavy bushy eyebrows not only give an “angry bird”, or “curmudgeon scowl” to your face, but they make you look much older. Remember how much younger and perkier Idol star Susan Boyle looked after getting her eyebrows re-shaped? Just by taking some manicure scissors and simply cutting them shorter, and then plucking strays beneath them, will open up, lighten your brow area and soften your entire face. Leave the 1920’s Jean Harlow eyebrows in the past—they don’t look natural and they often give you a wide-eyed startled look.
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You might want to try a relatively new craze, eyebrow threading, to clean up your brow line, giving a more attractive shape to your eyebrows.
Nails 1. Cleanliness Like your hair, it’s important to keep your nails clean, well-groomed, nicely polished at all times but especially so while losing weight. You may not know it, but people notice your nails more often than you think. They can tell a lot about you and your general health. Many doctors can tell what conditions or diseases you might have just by looking at your nails. If you have any vitamin/mineral deficiencies while you’re dieting, they’ll likely show up in your nails first. They’re also a good place to start to pay more attention to your grooming if you’ve neglected it in the past. Clean nails are not only more attractive but they are healthier. Your hands touch many surfaces throughout the day and multiple germs, viruses, bacteria and toxins can collect on your fingertips and beneath your fingernails. If you bite your fingernails, or cuticles, or you put your fingers in your mouth while eating “finger food”, it’s a sure way of transferring all those organisms—especially cold and flu viruses—from surfaces to yourself. What if you work in a job where your hands get dirty all the time and your nails are stained from chemicals or are dry and cracked? Investing in a good pair of barrier-type gloves and professional barrier hand creams beneath them can help. Those used for professional hairdressers, construction workers, and woodworkers work well, or you can try Kerodex, SoftGuard DermaShield or Invisible Glove barrier creams.7 A simple light coating of Vaseline to your fingertips can keep the cuticles and nails from getting so dry that they split, bleed, get infected and hurt!
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25 Best Wardrobe and Grooming Tips To Turn Heads
To get hands and nails clean from grease or dirt, professional cleaners that contain a little pumice in them, like GoJo, work great. Soaking hands in plain, warm, grease-cutting soapy dish detergent for 10 minutes also helps float greasy dirt out from under fingernails. Then, using an old toothbrush to scrub under your nails helps get embedded dirt out. And this is true of men as much as for women, maybe more so as many men work with their hands directly every day. Going for a professional manicure, once a month, can help get rid of built up stains and dirt as well. Plus, a professional manicure once a month is a good way to sit back and relax for a little “you time” as reward for meeting your monthly weight loss goals.
2. Length / Design Those exotic, fu Manchu length, fantastically colored, adorned nail tips can be artistically beautiful, but let’s face it, they’re not very practical for every day use. Especially if you’re still working! Keep them at a more workable length and design that won’t get snagged on everything you come in contact with.
3. Color / Style Though they look hip and stylish on young girls, the more ornate nail designs and colors tend to look odd on people over a certain age and can make a negative statement about you. If you’re still working in the business world, you may want to go with more subtle, understated, traditional colors and designs for everyday wear and save the exotic nails for special nights out. If your work requires using your hands frequently, or just in maintaining your home and grounds, having too-long and ornately designed nails, can not only be a liability but also a waste of money. You’ll likely have to constantly re-do them from getting nicked, banged, or caught on things.
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4. Toenails / Feet As your toenails are usually only visible to others in the summer, you might want to save the exotic designs for them. Yet, keeping them a healthy length is important to prevent painful cuticle inflammation and infection from nails growing into your skin. Too, your toenails/feet also have some special concerns associated with weight loss from working out and sweating more. Toenails can be an easy place to grow ugly nail fungus, and the soles of your feet can also become infected with it, if you don’t change your socks quickly enough. Wet feet inside dark, hot shoes is a perfect place to breed fungus. Change your socks, take a shower, or wash your feet, soon after working out. In addition, walking around barefoot on wet gym shower room floors can get you a nice case of burning, itchy athlete’s foot. Always wear sandals or protective foot covering.
Personal Hygiene 1. Body Odor While losing weight, your general body odor may become more noticeable and/or change and smell differently. Why? Sweating more from working out, different foods you’re eating—especially if you’re on a higher protein/lower carbohydrate diet, eating more animal products and sulfur containing vegetables, certain vitamin/mineral supplements, not drinking enough water can all influence your body odor. These foods are noted for causing your body odor to be stronger: red meat, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, fish8 or high sugar junk foods (you shouldn’t be eating these while dieting!). Now, don’t forego eating more protein and vegetables because you’re afraid they’ll make you smell badly. Simply drink more water to help flush out the chemical reactions produced by these foods. Also, always be sure to use a good topical deodorant (not an antiperspirant that blocks 8
25 Best Wardrobe and Grooming Tips To Turn Heads
sweat glands), and a good deodorant soap in your shower. A few light spritzes of cologne or perfume will also help.
2. Breath Odor Likewise, with dieting, especially on lower carbohydrate diets, your breath can take on a heavy, musty smell. The fat burning/ketone releasing effect of a lower carbohydrate diet can come out on your breath as either a fruity, “nail polish remover”, or a musty smell, especially if you’re not drinking enough water to flush them out of your system adequately. Be sure to drink half your weight in water each day. For example, if you weigh 180, you’ll want to drink 90 ounces of water each day to completely flush these chemicals out of your bloodstream so they don’t exit in your sweat. In addition, the extra water will help keep your energy up and your skin more hydrated and elastic so it can readjust faster to your decreasing size.
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GETTING SLIMMER How To Dress The Part When first starting your weight loss program, you likely won’t be buying a lot of new clothes until you’ve lost about 20-25 lbs. But there’s still a way to update your look and create a new, slimmer appearance with just a few new pieces, and accessories that can help you transition as you continue to lose weight. The following are some simple ways to create a slimmer look and disguise typical problem areas for both men and women:
Ladies STOMACH 1. Add a wide belt or scarf You can hide a chunky stomach by adding a wide belt, or wrapping a wide darker color scarf, or “fanny wrap” around the lower part of your abdomen, hips. This gives the illusion of cinching in this area. Go for medium-to-darker colors and stay away from big silver/gold buckles on the belt, or big, floral, or busy geometric prints.
2. Toss the big pants Elastic waistband pants are okay while you slim down, but usually the legs have a generous amount of material on them that make you actually look bigger than you usually are. Find some plus size slimmer leg pants in a darker color (walnut, black, olive green, navy, dark plum, burgundy, dark grey), in a sturdier fabric like heavier weight stretch jeans. This instantly slims your bottom half and draws the eye down away from your stomach.
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25 Best Wardrobe and Grooming Tips To Turn Heads
3. Add some fashionable boots Along with the slim leg pants, nice-looking boots also help draw the eye down away from a bigger stomach. Get them in a heel-size that’s easy for you to stay on most the day.
4. Add a longer vest A hip, or mid-thigh, length vest in a darker color, with a darker loose fitting top beneath, can visually subtract about 10-15 lbs off your stomach and hip area.
5. Monochrome, or slightly darker on top Same color top and pants have a slimming effect if the color is not too light. Stick to more medium-to-dark tones. Or, mix and match, a darker, longer, hip length, loose fitting top with a lighter-dark color, say a black top with dark grey, brown or olive pants. This helps minimize a larger stomach.
Things to avoid Large floral prints, drawstring pants, flimsy fabrics, too-tight stretch fabrics, pencil skirts, tucked in blouses, tops, tight waistbands that create enormous muffin tops.
HIPS 1. Dark bottom, lighter top If you’re weight is deposited more in your hips, you’ll want to even the appearance by creating an optical illusion. Darker pants will slim down too-wide hips, while a lighter top will draw the eye upward and away from the hips.
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2. Slash neck, V-neck tops You’ll want to draw the eye away from the hips, so wearing a slash neck, deep V-neck, off one shoulder top, in a lighter color will help.
3. Jewelry, scarves Interesting jewelry pieces and pretty scarves also act to draw the eye up and away from the hips. Pendants, necklaces, should hang no lower than mid-sternum.
4. A-line clothes Slimmer fitting at the waist and flaring at the hips, no shorter than just below the knee, the A-line skirt in a medium-to-dark color is very slimming to larger hips. Similarly, an A-line, slightly longer than hip length jacket, in a medium-to-dark color will minimize large hips.
5. Higher heels Flat shoes tend to accentuate wider hips while higher heels tilt the body slightly forward, and push the hips backward minimizing their width. But don’t get so high you can’t walk comfortably, a 4 inch maximum.
Things to avoid Flatfoot boots (like combats, or “Ugs” that are in style now), clingy fabric pants in too light colors, short jeans, waist jackets, long flimsy cardigans.9
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25 Best Wardrobe and Grooming Tips To Turn Heads
Guys Men tend to carry most of their weight in their face and trunk area, unlike most women that generally have more weight through the hips. The following can help minimize heavier faces and trunks while you’re losing weight.
1. Square-bottom shirt, point collars Tucked in shirts, especially in a horizontal stripe pattern, and/or crew neck, or short sleeves, can give a silly “tweedle-dum” look, so go for a long-sleeved tailored shirt with a square bottom, and pointed collars, that can be worn out. A medium-darker color like plum, black, dark brown, gray, olive work with similarly colored or slightly darker pants are very slimming and flattering. Pointed collars also help slim out the face, rather than rounder ones that accentuate a heavy face, as do spread collars.
2. Longer jacket Shorter jeans-type jackets, et al, tend to strain right across the largest part of the abdomen. Get a longer, straight tailored jacket that ends at, or just above, your hips, in a medium-dark color, like a dark tan, brown, black.
3. Slimming colors, patterns Avoid dark color tops and light pants as this can make you look larger. Go for similar medium-dark color shirt/pant combinations that will create the illusion of a taller, slimmer line. Forget the horizontal stripes which only truly wear well on little boys—they never look right on grown men, no matter what their weight. Similarly, big, bold color floral or busy prints will zoom the eye right to your problem trunk. Wear them at home.
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4. The right pants Opt for pants with stove-pipe legs in a darker, sturdier fabric. Forget pleats that come off the waistband and stay away from higher than your natural waist waistbands. Go for flat stomach pants with the pocket in the back or that lie very flat. Cuffed pants can draw attention to heavier legs as well.
5. The right suit If you wear a suit to work, subtle contrasting pinstripes on a dark background is very slimming to a heavier stomach, as is a doublebreasted jacket cut. Stick to lighter, but sturdy fabrics. Stay away from heavy tweeds, herringbones, and plaids which will make you look “tubby”.10 Guys, you might want to take a trip to a good men’s clothing store, like Men’s Wearhouse,11 where a fitter/associate can help you put together a few good wardrobe choices. In addition, you can consult “personal stylists” or “personal shoppers”12 that will help you find looks and styles that are just right for you. They can help you add just a few pieces that will help expand your existing wardrobe until you’ve lost enough weight to buy a whole new wardrobe. And, if you have a favorite suit that’s still in good shape, many of these stores have their own tailors on site that will alter your old suit to your new size. If you stick faithfully to your diet and exercise regimen, soon you’ll be able to buy new, more fashionable clothes that will show off your weight loss achievement. But, till then, spending a little extra time on your overall appearance now with a new hairstyle, or cosmetic look, are all enormous confidence boosters. They not only make you look and feel more attractive but also will really spur you on to your final weight loss goals and maintaining them.
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25 Best Wardrobe and Grooming Tips To Turn Heads
References 1. No Rinse Shampoo, http://www.rei.com/product/746099/no-rinse-shampoo-8-oz? 2. Roux Fanci-Full, http://www.sallybeauty.com/color-rinse/SBS-700323,default,pd.html 3. Men’s Hair Color http://www.justformen.com/products/shampoo-in-haircolor/?shade=sandyblond 4. Hairstyle makeover device, http://www.ivillage.com/makeover 5. Diets and Body Odor, www.nextavenue.org/article/2013-08/5-foods-can-increase-your-body-odor 6. Barrier Hand Creams, Cleaners http://www.mfasco.com/barrier-creams-hand-cleaners-c-50_397.html 7. Oil of Olay Hair Remover, http://www.drugstore.com/olay-smooth-finish-facial-hair-removal-duo-kit/ qxp361038 8. No! No! Hair Remover, http://www.trynono.com/2?mid=807732 9. Instantly Slimming Resources, http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/slimming/slimming_tips/instantly_ slimming.htm 10. Top 10 Rules For Men To Dress Slimmer http://www.menshealth.com/cda/custom.do?incFile=mhlist_dressslimmer. jsp?site=MensHealth&channel=guy.wisdom&category=howto.guides 11. Men’s Styles, http://www.menswearhouse.com 12. Image Consultant Services for Men, http://www.stoltzimage.com/image-consultant-services/for-men/
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