Ninja Beauty Secrets, part 5

Skincare and Haircare

We’re going to take a slight departure from our lessons and focus our attention on skincare. Not long ago, I believed that a good look was comprised of 66% hair, 33% makeup, and 1% “oomph,” the oomph being the little something extra that takes your look over the top. But what if you don’t want to hide behind a luxuriously full wig or a full head of long, flowing hair? The percentages would then be skewed towards perfecting the beauty of your face and the amount of oomph required would be far greater than just 1%.

We’re not supermodels and many of us don’t aspire to be, but the one thing that can help our look tremendously is having nice, healthy skin. Nice skin makes most people overlook odd or unusual features. I have discovered that while genetic males might judge a woman’s beauty by her overall physical attributes, a genetic female more often than not judges a woman’s beauty by the quality of her skin.

Nice, healthy skin is a goal that is attainable by everyone with enough time, dedication, and money. If you have the genes, you don’t need a lot of money to have nice skin. For the rest of us, me included, we must spend our money wisely on proven products that are readily available to help us.

Neutrogena makes an awesome moisturizer (link will open in a new window) that you should apply to your face every day, twice a day, morning and night. It’s the best $10 you’ll ever spend. If you have a favorite moisturizer, use that instead, but be sure to use it every day, twice a day from now on. You won’t see immediate changes, but after six months or so of continuous use, you should see your face looking healthier and more radiant.

On nights that you go out and wear makeup, I recommend wiping your face with skin toner on a cotton pad to get rid of excess oils. I’m in love with GreatSkin Ginseng Mineral Toner (link will open in a new window), but there are many toners to choose from that are just as good. Allow your face to air dry and then apply a layer of moisturizer to your face next. Allow your face to absorb the moisturizer for a few minutes and then apply your makeup.

At the end of the night, after you return home and remove your makeup, remember to wipe your face with a facial cleanser on a cotton pad to get rid of any remaining makeup. I like Shiseido Pureness Deep Cleansing Foam (link will open in a new window) and have been recommending this product for the last decade. There will always be some makeup that will get absorbed into your pores and a hot shower before you go to bed or in the morning will open up your pores and release the makeup residue. After your shower, apply toner and then moisturizer to your face. The sooner you get rid of the makeup residue, the better off your face will be.

So many looks nowadays rely on the beauty of the face and less on an elaborate hair style. If you are full-time, I recommend maintaining your hair every day and don’t let it flop or frizz out. Make it work for you by shaping and styling it using pomade, gel, mousse, hairspray, or whatever works for you. Invest in a few hair style magazines and start learning how to style your own hair. It’s much easier to practice this skill on a friend and have your friend work on your hair and that way you can grow your skills together. Tame any hair that looks beastly. You might have to get your hair permed and color-treated to achieve the style you want, but the cardinal rule with hair stylists is to go to someone you trust rather than the cheapest place. I have seen too many transsexuals with Brillo pad hair that I know could’ve benefited from the hair services of a competent hair stylist.

For the part-timers, I recommend purchasing the finest quality wigs you can afford. Buy synthetics to keep the cost low, but try to buy monofilament wigs (link will open in a new window); monofilament wigs have hair sewn into a silicone scalp that looks like hair growing from your own head. In the past, I’ve convinced a lot of people, including full-time transsexuals, that my monofilament wigs were my own hair because they look so real. Imagine walking around in broad daylight with nobody knowing that your hair is not your own. At $260 to $300 per wig, the investment might be worth it for that added bit of realism. Remember that wigs don’t last forever and need to be reconditioned or replaced eventually.

While I advocate choosing shorter hair styles over longer ones, never follow this rule if you don’t have the type of face for a shorter hair style. Many of you have long faces or square jaws that just don’t look good with shorter hair styles, so stick with styles that are at least chin-length and hug the face a bit to cover the problem areas. I am completely against wearing curly style wigs because this look is clearly from a bygone era. Look at all of the most chic hair styles these days and note that they all involve straight or wavy hair.

And now a little bit of housekeeping. One reader expressed her concerns with removing the glue from the paste technique described in my first article. Since glue stick adhesive is water-soluble, a thorough cleansing of your face with a hand towel soaked in warm water is all you need to remove the glue. Seeing that four months had passed since my first article, it would have been helpful to me if this reader sent me feedback on what techniques did or did not work for her at the time my article was published rather than waiting for a site feedback survey. The paste technique is a well-known technique used by professional drag queens and female impersonators for years. Moreover, I learned this technique from one of the owners of this site.

Perhaps I should have mentioned that the target audience for Ninja Beauty Secrets is transgender women who have gone beyond the basic makeup skills and want to perfect their skills using techniques I’ve developed from my years of experience. My original intent was based on the supposition that if you’re a ninja, you’re an expert. If you want a more basic treatment of makeup, then my book “Secrets to an Awesome Makeover” along with my companion video are two essential tools you should consider purchasing and studying from before you tackle Ninja Beauty Secrets.

Next month, we’ll resume our regularly scheduled programming and tackle eye shadow application techniques for deep-set eyes.

For more ninja beauty secrets, purchase “Natural Makeup Techniques” or “Secrets to an Awesome Makeover” from my web site (link will open in a new window).

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