changes you've made to your "look"

Thanks, snowy . I do like Cover Girl's lip gloss, maybe I'll just stick with those.

 

What, this thing? That's over a week old at this point... I'm actually thinking of keeping this past No Shave November and seeing if I can pull a handlebar and beard.

 

Seeing pictures you've posted on Facebook over the past few years, I've noticed that you've been losing weight and you look good Keep up the good work!

 

Thank you!


I was thinking about updating my wardrobe, maybe this summer. It'll be interesting to see what I come up with. Probably something like rockabilly meets hippie chick meets Joan Jett. Hmmm.

 

In my 20s, I changed hair colors and styles very often. My first husband and I were in the 'hair business' so it was to be expected. My default color, though, was platinum. It was insanely easy to bleach my hair out to a nice buttery white color and it suited me at the time. I was also heavily into fashion then and wore lots of vintage and other crazy stuff. It was fun. Since about the age of 30, though, I've been pretty boring - plain hair; practical clothes. With the exception of this one time that I shaved almost all of my hair off on a whim. Maybe later I will have the energy to scan some photos and show a progression of things that might illustrate what I looked like at one time or another.

 

I never thought of myself as having a look. Sure, I went through a period where I wore all black all the time, but that was due mostly to my lack of confidence in my ability to put any other colors together. No ensemble was intentional so much as it was just a side effect of being clueless. My clothes never fit. My hair was always short so I never had the burden of styling it. I was chronically skinny with no knowledge or motivation to change it. I was just a mess.

Then, I married a fashion designer. She didn't fix me, but she did teach me how to shop.

I didn't actually start changing until we separated. I suddenly got interested in being in shape. I got bold enough to try different colors. My body started to grow to the point where at least the smallest clothes in the mens section fit me.

Today, I'd say I'm about 40% to where I want to be, physically. I've gained a good 25 pounds in the last 2 years. Most of it looks good on me. I've had some setbacks and taken breaks in my routine due to random injuries and life events, but I see myself reaching my goal in another 2. It's going slowly because I do not want to gain a lot and then cut. I'm content to gain slowly while staying trim.

Fashion-wise, I feel like a whole new man. I dress with a purpose, most days. My wardrobe is slowly getting respectable (not there entirely yet, I only just recently found a belt that matches my shoes well enough). And my casual couldn't-care-less clothes are still good looking. My size is still at the very low end of what clothes stores carry (14.5" collar, 29 inch waist, slim fit only), but it doesn't bother me because underneath it all, I'm more proud of my body than I've ever been.

If there's one thing I still don't have a grasp on, though, it's my hair.

In any case, I still don't feel like I have a look. I don't try to stand out anymore than simply looking like I know what the hell I'm doing (without trying too hard). That doesn't bother me, though. Simply being confident and put together is enough to differentiate yourself from most of the crowd anyways. At 30, I feel like I'm getting better looking as I age. That's all you can hope for, right?

 

For years I did the carpenter jeans and whatever shirt thing, partly do to my work, partly because it was simply easy. Kept my hair long, and did a semi grunge/ semi construction worker thing.
Once I met my wife...this simply would not do. Now I gel my short hair, wear fitted jeans of slacks, and wear a far cooler selection of shirts.

I like it almost as much as she does.

 

i started working out, swearing at people that i don't like, wearing more shirts with buttons on them (down the middle of course, not just anywhere), and fewer pants with holes in them. i still wear alot of sneakers/chucks though

 

if I end up buying some cowboy boots.......I'll be screwed.

even though I live on a farm.........I do have the hat.

 

At 18, I had a close cropped flat-top, and a very "preppy" look.

I went to uni, buddied up with the heavy metal/role playing crowd, and grew my hair out. Earings, cowboy boots, long hair, jeans and t-shorts with loose cotton or silk shorts loose over (think Seatle grunge).

At 28 I decided I didn't want to be one of those guys that had a bald spot and a pony-tail at 40, so I had it cut down to about 2" long, business smart. I stopped wearing the shirts over the tshirts, but kept the boots.

By 35 I had gone to a close crop (#3) all over, and had lost the boots and the earrings.

At 41, I got a new job, and due to being very busy, skipped a few haircuts. When my fringe was falling into my glasses, I told my wife I was about to go get it cropped back again that weekend, and both her and my mother said (talking over each other) "Don't - I hate your hair that short".

So now I have the longer hair back, but not ponytail length. I dress fairly causal, but pretty smart. Not quite preppy, not quite Polo, but not shabby, I'm told.

I have never been complimented much on my appearance, and it un-nerves me still, as I am always waiting for the insult the moment I admit that I'm flattered, but I've recently had a few people tell me I look OK, and that's new, so whatever I'm doing, it seems to work for me.

Not sure I believe it totally though... confidence? what confidence.... :-(

 

Ha ha... Ban hammer!

 

I went from shoulder-length hair to pixie cut at the end of middle school, and followed the cycle of cut-grow out-cut a handful of times. Since I spent some time really looking back at old photos, though, I probably won't cut it off again - I like my look with my hair longer.

I also went through a phase of piercings (early undergrad), though I never had anything I couldn't hide. I also don't have any visible tattoos - just the cave paintings on my ribs that some of you are already familiar with.

When it comes to style of dress, though, I've grown up quite a bit. In middle school, I tried to fit in and wore some crazy shit. In high school, I varied between jeans-tshirt-hoodie and a little bit of goth, a little bit of punk. I like the "dress up" aspect, but I didn't always like the attention. In college, it was jeans-tshirt-hoodie pretty much all the time, with a little goth thrown in when I went out. After college, I developed a professional wardrobe for my job, and wore t-shirt and jeans most of the time that I wasn't dressed for work. I had a second job in a horse barn, and I wore comfortable-but-destroyable clothing as a result. I got rid of my glasses, too.

Now, I have a tendency to stick to cleaner dressing when I go out. In class, we are either in professional dress or lab clothes (sweatpants and t-shirt). I don't like wearing jeans anymore, unless they are with my tall boots - I prefer running tights, leggings, and dresses. I wear a lot of technical athletic clothes if I'm not going out somewhere nice, and if I'm out somewhere nice, I'm in a dress and either boots or heels. Hell, I wore running tights and dresses for most of my road trip - I just like looking more polished.

I am still learning to accessorize, however. It's a place I need improvement.

Now - photos!

High school:




Undergrad:





Post-college:




--- merged: Mar 9, 2013 at 11:43 AM ---
And now.. grad school.







You can see that my eyebrows filled in quite a bit from high school to now, hahaha.

 

Those leather chaps that match the vest and mask are a quite a sight as well. Unfortunately the "no shirt, no pants, no problem" rule frequently applies here. AKA "the Plan9 rule"

For boring stuff about me, the biggest change to my look that I really like is how my brownish red (used to have a hint of red in the light when I had it grown out more than fuzz) hair is going from a stylish grey to an even better white in several spots. Generally you can expect me to have the bald look or very close to it with at least a goatee or full beard.

 

I was overweight for pretty much my entire life. When running laps in gym class, I was always last and would have still been last if there were a few more kids in the class. Around 2006 I switched from working retail 4 days a week to teaching piano 3 days a week. I suddenly had extra time and money and decided to get in shape. I joined a gym and started working with a trainer.

This is from about 2004. I was carrying 20-30 extra pounds around. Posture not fantastic either.


This one is from last year Aiming constantly for a plant based whole foods diet doesn't hurt. Baraka Guru soon ended my reign of Westeros.


Today:


Whoops, yeah that's from my dating profile. Ending a marriage caused my self-esteem foundation to shake, and staying in shape and paying more attention to my appearance has helped me stabilize. One has to work harder when you're single, you know? Still working on getting the wardrobe thing down.