Source: worldartsme.com
This is a girly post. No apologies. I’m girly.
Since retirement I have the time to research topics. There are blogs, articles and videos on just about everything from how to clean a pond to fixing a toilet.
I leave the toilet fixing to the beloved husband. I focus on more (or less) practical things. I watch YouTube videos on pond, hair and beauty products (and not always in that order).
YouTube videos can be boring. They are always longer than they need to be. Fortunately there is a fast forward.
To all you YouTubers out there: cut out all the giggling. I don’t want to hear about how bad you look because you were out late last night. Or anything at all about your kids. I am here to learn something, damn it get on with it.
Those giggly chicks that can’t do a professional video know how to work hair. Or do make up so you don’t look like a clown. (Everyone has their talents. Not judging!)
Ten minutes maximum is what I am willing to invest in my morning hair time. That’s ‘blow dry’ to walk out the door finished. Yet I will watch hours of videos to learn tricks and tips so I can do it in 10 minutes. Seriously, hours!
I watch the big stylists like Sam Villa demonstrate a haircut. He’s a very talented man. No one in my area cuts like he does. When I go for a cut, I am always trying to explain an unknown technique (the result doesn’t resemble Sam’s).
Note: Don’t reference watching videos because that’s like telling a doctor you use Google to diagnose a medical condition. Makes them cranky.
I know my hair better than anyone else. I’ve lived with it for many years. I know each cowlick personally. I attended their baptism. I was there when they lost their virginity. (Ok, you get the picture.) It’s an intimate relationship. And no, I can’t change my hair part. Not without a major hair rebellion (and tons of Dippity Do).
I take advice in stride. There are a few purchases I made on the advice of either a professional or a dear friend that turned out to be a waste of money. (I have a high end flat iron that I can’t manage. It has a mind of its own and will burn me when insulted.)
My hair is sort of like this with more bangs and layers and a shade darker. I don’t look like Julie Bowen either.
Many stylists have told me not to use styling gel. It will weigh my hair down. I’ve been using it for years. I like my hair crunchy (not stiff like the 60s but crunchy) because it will last more than a day. Only gel will do that. All that other stuff makes my hair flat as a board (as does that expensive flat iron that gives me hickeys in the process).
A few years back I had a sample of a high end conditioning goo for damaged hair. I liked it but it was expensive and sold exclusively through a website that insisted on regular deliveries. Yesterday I tried the free conditioner that comes with my hair color. It does the same thing if you keep the amount small. Totally absorbed and wasn’t greasy. I like free. (I should do a YouTube on making products multi-task!)
Source: divinecaroline
Last week I watched a video on using highlighter/concealer on the face. The video was 5 minutes but it only takes 20 seconds to apply. That timing works for me. Did you know those eye liner wings at the end of the eye are coming back? It’s déjà vu all over again! (Not for me, been there done that!)
I wonder if there is a market for a YouTube video explaining how to make a YouTube video. There must be one but no one watches it. I’m very grateful for that fast forward button!
Views and Mews by Coffee Kat 
My hair is straight with not one hint of a natural wave with several cowlicks and it is fine and our water softener makes it worse. I have always worn it short and it is really short now with just enough length to bend the hair over a 1/2 inch barrel. And the last five years I have had gray hair coming it that has a mind of its own going every which way. You will be sorry you ever posted this blog post because I so need a person to answer my questions and HELP. I know your hair is nothing like mine but when you mention gel and hair products I get all excited with the hope that you can tell me some product that will make my hair look like Halle Berry’s short pixie cut… 😀 I would love to know the gel you use, I am currently using Paul Mitchell Extra Body Sculpting gel before blowing dry and hitting my hair with the curling iron. Just recently switched from Mitchell Super Sculpt. Any products that you like… shampoo, gel, molding cream/wax(when your hair was shorter) no mousse… I would love to hear it! I have never thought of YouTube for help and would not know where to start. I had a wonderful stylist from 2001 until 2007 that really knew how to make my hair work and then she moved to Florida… sigh. I use Bare Minerals for my face and am happy with that… I hate messing with makeup. That’s it Kate… this is a book, sorry. I bet you are happy it is done, at least it doesn’t take more than 10 minutes to read… 🙂
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Your gel is probably fine. I use a Pantene Pro V thickening gel with a spritz of Matrix Wonder (root) booster just at the crown roots. Mousse never works for me. It’s not strong enough. If I need a hairspray I just use it at the top and just a very little as I don’t like helmet head. I firmly believe that stylists are often better at some cuts than others. If I change my style I sometimes have to change the stylist. Look for people with short hair you like and ask who they go to. I had a great stylist in the 80s but she kept cutting my long hair shorter and shorter. I had to switch or I would have had a Halle Berry cut. I am not good at a curling iron. I use a curling brush. I don’t burn myself and it’s easier for me. They have demos on the Perfector to get an idea of how they work. Never tried Bare Minerals. I use mostly Skinceutical products with a prescription tretinoin. Since retirement, I’m not big on makeup either. Eyes are sensitive so I rarely use eye makeup. I just found a good makeup for my face. Covers any discolorations. It’s from Oxygenatix. Mineral based. My response is also a novel!
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YouTube can be an entire set of encyclopedias and more all rolled into one. I couldn’t agree more how useful that fast forward button can be, especially during the make-up tutorials….dear lord.
My sister always had a tub of Dippity Doo on her dresser and I was in awe of its existence.
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Dippity Do is still out there somewhere. You could treat yourself!
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My answers are probably far too manly for a G rated response about YouTube videos. 😀
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Hmmmm…now you sound like my husband.
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LOL. 😀
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I use YouTube all the time to fix things that are broken, and I learn new computer programs or fix computer issues with YouTube assistance. But I haven’t thought of learning more about makeup and hairstyles. I think you’re really on to something!
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It’s addictive. You know it’s bad when you bookmark your favorite makeup videos. They are calming and make me believe I could actually look like that again!
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Go ahead and make one. We can share the link on our blogs!
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I am sorely tempted although I doubt whether the people who need them would watch them. Sometimes they are not even sure of the products they are demonstrating.
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Just found a couple horrifying cat videos where people were hurting cats and not realizing it. Just decided 😉 that “people are idiots.”
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Yes, please, do the YouTube tutorial! Their videos can be a good resource but mostly they drive me crazy!
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Yes, my eye rolling counts as exercise, right?
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LOL!! Absolutely!
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This post is too girly for me. 😛
But I love that shot of your hairdo on someone else’s head.
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That made me laugh! It’s pretty close.
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I had a maintenance light on my car that came back on even though I had just taken it in for service. I found three different YouTube videos all showing the same way to turn it off, and I still couldn’t figure it out. I ended up taking it back to the garage and watched them do it. Sure enough, it was exactly as they showed in the videos. Sigh.
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So it wasn’t the videos? Perhaps you aren’t a “visual” guy.
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Yes. And not mechanically inclined either!
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🙂
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oh, I am with you! I figured out how to fix a double hung window on YouTube, but the unprofessional videos I had to wade through to get to a decent one were many and annoying.
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Makes me wonder if they ever look at themselves. I’d be embarrassed!
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All I can say is I’m a disaster with that liquid eyeliner stuff. Especially when kitties are bumping my elbows, after deciding that is the exact moment they must be petted. This will not end well.
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The only thing I can say is that I am a disaster with that liquid eyeliner stuff. Worse when kitties are bumping my elbows after deciding that exact minute is when they need to be petted. This will not end well.
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I have dry eye which is sometimes better and sometimes worse so I can’t use powdery things near my eye. Some liners don’t make my eyes happy so I don’t use much eye makeup anymore. I had a good hand back in the day but then you could also read my signature. Cats and makeup don’t mix. They also don’t mix with a good navy suit.
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It might be too weird if I comment on this post, don’t you think?..:)
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I am sure you watch YouTube videos for manly things.
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My husband uses YouTube more than I do. I forget that it can be a good resource for a lot of things. I probably use it mostly for help with my camera. Never thought to watch hair or makeup videos… but, judging from your experience, I don’t think I’ve missed much. My hair is fine and straight… there’s not much I can do with it. Go ahead and make the YouTube tutorial… save us from the excess giggling and inane chatter!
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It was really helpful with the pond and changing out garbage disposals and a lot of other stuff too. I don’t wear a lot of makeup. Since I don’t work, I don’t wear it everyday. I have learned a few tricks that are really simple and don’t require full war paint (that’s my brother used to call it).
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I could never get my fringe to go the way the hairdresser did, not matter how much (or not) gel, mousse or setting lotion I applied, or how long I teased it with the rounded brush and drier.
A good cut always paid off though, but these days with my hair being as long as it is, I just wash it in the shower, then apply the antifrizzy stuff I did a post about a little while ago, and give it a quick belt with the hairdryer until it’s almost dry. I drag it back in a pony tails anyway, which seems to give it the natural wave if I ever wear it loose (not often).
What I want to know is why my hair is always at its waviest and most controllable the day before it needs washing!
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My hair is always at it’s best the day before a scheduled haircut. It’s the hair’s revenge.
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Ha! Love the theory!!
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I, too, have suffered too many curling iron ‘hickeys.’ One would think that I’d learn to keep a hot-potentially-lethal object away from my neck!
I produce gaming videos for upcoming YouTubers who love to play video games but don’t have the editing and technical skills to produce their own videos. Some of their videos are mind-numbing to edit, so I can only imagine how their subscribers feel! Although, I guess their low subscriber numbers should tell the tale, right?
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Some of the videos I watch could sure use a producer! The information is simple to present but the giggling and insidious and inane chatter is, as you say, mind numbing.
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I think your statement about instructions being written in a language know only to the writer is spot on…and You Tube is an amazing source of clarity! I recently bought a knitting loom and the directions in the box were not for the product in the box! However, through the use of You Tube I was able to easily make knitting with this loom a pleasure.
And, one more thing…Dippity Doo! That used to be my favorite hair styling product. Is it still in existance?
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I googled Dippity Do and there is a version still available at Walgreens. I think everyone used it. Your loom is a good example of how little care is taken for instruction books. Once I figure something out, especially something I don’t use often, I write my own instructions. I have written them for cleaning my pond filter. I do it once or twice a year. Takes a half hour IF I remember how. If not, it could take 2 hours. Sometimes the instructions are written in such a small font (so they can do 6 languages on 2 pages) that I have to redo them in 12 point after reading with a magnifying glass.
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Elizabeth Taylor is probably screaming patent infringement. (Always loves that liner look…the brush had to be ripped out of my hands as trend changed)
We do use YouTube sometimes…or I turn it on, get annoyed at the pacing, drive husband crazy with the fast forward before snorting at the giggling and wandering off leaving him to get all the info. Works.
(If only I could find a good haircut…almost ready to drive 2 hours to my old guy who started at one of those cattle call mall hair salon places then jumped from place to place as he became known…but probably couldn’t afford him now…) (No, selfie haircut videos are not a good idea)
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Haircut videos are only good for bangs or telling someone else what you want (unless you are extremely brave or are getting buzzed). Unfortunately good stylists jump around a lot as they become known and have a following. People get really weird in front of a camera. Maybe I should do a YouTube on making a YouTube.
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We often turn to YouTube when something needs to be repaired or gardening issues. Recently I diagnosed a finger ailment through YouTube. It’s a great resource for some things.
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I love it. I found it after retirement. I watched pond cleaning videos that were very helpful. I’ve started using it when I buy a something new because instruction books are written by people who have English as their 27th language. We used it to epoxy paint our garage floor. My husband uses it to fix almost anything.
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You have more patience than I do. Most how-to YouTube videos annoy me more than inform me. Too much silliness, not enough content. Of course, I’m one of those people who learns better w/ words, not images. But still…
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You nailed it! Too much silliness. I watched a demo of a flat iron (this was when I thought I could do it without third degree burns). The presenter had gotten one free from the manufacturer in return for doing a YouTube (I have to investigate that technique). She didn’t know what the product was called and had to read the box. Thumbs down. You should at least be familiar with the product. Didn’t learn anything from that one.
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Eyeliner wings are a challenge now that there are some wrinkles in that area. But, that means I’ve laughed….and cried…..and lived.
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Yes I would need to spackle it first. Way too much work although on some it looks good.
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I watch YouTube videos on painting (artistic) techniques and I am with you. 10 minutes is a good amount of time for a video. They can be very helpful. If only I could remember all of it!!!
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You are a patient soul. 10 minutes is a little long for me but maybe it’s my topics. If it’s something good done professionally, I can watch a lot longer.
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