Remove, Cover, and Deal with "bruises" (Part 2-Cover)

A friend of my recently went a bit cray-cray with her bf and later found herself with a couple scandalous looking hickeys. This is not a post to condone or judge this practice. Some enjoy the administering or the receiving and others do not. In my travels I have found both kinds of people and I do not feel the need to voice my particular opinion. I hope only to stay neutral.


In this installment of my "bruises" post series, we will be discussing covering up these lovely marks. Part One Remove. Though some see them as no big deal or as proof they had a good time, others are less likely to be thrilled that you look like you were attacked by some Vampire Bears. 


1. Put foundation on it. This is probably the most obvious of suggestions. One problem that arrises though, is that spots of foundation on your neck stand out and make your skin look splotchy. The trick is to put a light layer of foundation over your whole neck, the dab extra foundation on the purple/red spots til you can't see them anymore. 


Sometimes this is not enough or you may not have access to foundation at the time. So there are a few other things to try. And lucky for those hickey receivers, current fashion trends are working in your favor.


2. SCARVES are so hot right now. And they go all over your neck, a strategically placed scarf can save face if you have to go straight from the house you passed out at to lunch with your mother/professor/straight edge friend. The great thing about this is that even if its warm where you live, you can still rock this look. 

Stylish Summer Scarf Tricks

The trick is to get a light weight scarf that is bright, summer colors.

3. Fashion your hair to cover them up. Can be tricky if you have short hair or if you were gunna rock an up-do to hide how messy your locks got. But when in a hurry or in a tight jam it may be easier to run fingers through your hair or just do a half up do and make a conscious effort to keep your hair in front of your shoulders. 


4. Shirts or other tops to cover it up. Perhaps a collared shirt, a t-shirt, or a halter that can be strategically placed. 


5. Turtlenecks- a last resort. Perhaps a cowl-neck will be less 1980's.


What do you do to cover those pesky hickeys? Do you show them off as trophies? Every been called out on having one?

Remove, Cover, and Deal with "bruises" (Part 1-Remove)

A friend of my recently went a bit cray-cray with her bf and later found herself with a couple scandalous looking hickeys. This is not a post to condone or judge this practice. Some enjoy the administering or the receiving and others do not. In my travels I have found both kinds of people and I do not feel the need to voice my particular opinion. I hope only to stay neutral.


But for those of you who wake up to find a inopportunely placed bruise on your neck or chest, I have a few tips that seem to work pretty well for getting rid of them quickly. (2-4 days)


1. Understand your hickey. A bruise is a place where blood vessels have been broken but the skin was not. When these break, red blood cells collect under the skin and that's what causes the discoloration we all know and love. The trick with bruises is to stop blood flow while the vessels are broken, then encouraging blood flow afterwards.


2. Apply ice within 15 minutes of receiving the bruising. Something cold will help prevent swelling, slow blood flow to the area, and reduce the final size the bruise will be. This is  where the "put a cold spoon" on the area idea comes in. But if it's a few hours after the bruising, or perhaps the next morning, it won't do you any good to ice it, because what's done is done.


3. Increase blood flow. You need the body to carry away the blood from under the skin. So "increasing blood flow will allow more healing factors into the area and encourage drainage" (Wikipedia) To do this, there are many techniques, but the best I have found during my recent research involves a toothbrush and hot wash cloth. 


Get your toothbrush (or a $1 one from the grocery store) wet and brush the damaged skin in small circular motions. It best to do it until it hurts a bit because that means lots of blood will flow to the area. If the bruise and surrounding area turn a bit redder then they were before, then you are doing it right. (But please do not scrub yourself raw, thats bad news bears)


The next step is to get a washcloth wet with hot water and lay it over the bruise. This also encourages blood flow. Do these steps as often as you feel and maybe experiment with what combination and frequency works best for your skin type. I would prescribe once when you get up, once mid-day, and once before bed. But from what I have seen, the more frequently brushed/heated the quicker they fade.


4. If it isn't gone within 2 weeks, you may want to go see a doctor, because a bruise lasting much longer then that may mean you are having complications in its healing.


What are your techniques for reducing bruising time? How scandalous do you think hickeys are? What would your mother say?

Lost phone survival

When you loose or break your phone and have to get a new one, it can be tricky to keep in touch with people and prevent yourself from falling off the map during the limbo time when you are without a phone. Here are a few tricks to staying sane and connected. (In order of importance)

1. Make your facebook status that you don’t have a phone and that people need to contact you through fb. For the whole time you don’t have a phone, post what you want but always end with that fact that you don’t have a phone, that way people will figure it out.

2. Be proactive about contacting people to make plans. If you have to wait for them to get onto facebook it may be tricky to stay in the know and hear about everything going on. So make the plans to go to dinner or the zoo yourself and invite people.

3. Text people from your computer. If you have a mac book, get on ichat, and click “Add Buddy” then when it asks for am AIM username put in the person’s phone number. But be sure to include your country’s code first, their digits. (US is +1) If you are on a Windows computer, go to Meebo.com and open an aim account. Meebo lets you use aim without downloading the yucky software. Do the same as above, add a buddy and put in their number.

4. From there these programs you can instant msg people from your computer to their phone. It’s a text! FO FREE! They receive it just like a text msg and can reply to the number its sent from. Just make sure to let them know who you are when you send the initial text.

5. Wear a watch. Trust me, now knowing what time it is will really mess with your head. So when you get the impulse to check your phone every few minutes, just look at your watch. Don’t feel bad, our whole generation has picked up this habit and having a watch to look at will help prevent you from feeling like your missing something all day. (Just be careful how much you do it or people will think you need to leave to be somewhere else)

6. Lastly, to keep yourself sane, know when you are getting your new phone. Work right away to get a replacement, borrow a friend’s old one or something so you can have something to look forward to and not be in an abyss of disconnection.

What do you do when you don't have a phone? What's the longest you have gone without?