Beauty

At first glance this may not seem like it's important to consider, or even prep for. However, as a woman I can tell you that it's a comfort. Comfort is often what we need in a stress filled situation. I'm not saying in order to be a fully functional human we have to look like we just stepped out of Sephora, but let me explain.

There was something posted on facebook recently, about how our body image affects how we function, day to day. A clean pair of socks, clean underwear, dear gods a clean bra can make someone feel like life is actually worth living.

In a bug out bag, I suggest at least the above but also include the light weight things that make you feel good about yourself. A favorite perfume may not be the best, because it will make you more noticeable to any prey you may want to eat and also make you conspicuous to people if you are attempting to evade them. Yet some lipstick with at least spf 15 can serve dual purpose. Some foundation can do the same thing.

But in an every day situation. We will take me for example.

At best we can describe my appearance as "walmart chic" . I throw my hair into a pony tail, and find the cleanest clothes I can find. Sometimes those are straight from the dryer. Sometimes it's not. The makeup I put on is at most , sometimes it is Chapstick , Sometimes it is much much more than just chapstick. Things like this matter. When I actually take the time to put the makeup on, I feel better. I can only imagine the difference in a survival situation.

This reminds me of a story actually.

I was maybe 10 or so and we were having a family reunion. My mom had never been into makeup, but some of my family members were. I was in my cousins RV and she was curling her hair, and doing her makeup. I asked her why she was bothering, we were just family no one important, and she replied "I'm doing it because Bud likes me to look pretty, and I feel better when I have makeup on."

That's always stuck with me. Little things we do, for men shaving your face, putting on clean underwear such as Hanes Men's boxer briefs will make a difference in your day to day well being. 

I've talked a bit about when I was in the 6th grade, and my step dad was having cancer treatments. It was terrible really,  i can remember going to my sisters and her pantry would be stocked just enormously full of things like  candy, or chips...or ramen noodles. She says I would just stare at the food she had stored like I had never seen food before. Comfort food makes a huge difference. I admit that. However...That winter was when I truly learned to love my baths.

Our food situation sucked, I was home alone a lot. We just didn't have anything really to even consider a luxury. But, at the time water wasn't metered. We were getting our propane partially donated by the local propane company to help us get through the winter, so I didn't have to even consider fuel costs. The smell of the shampoo, how awesome my legs felt after I shaved. (German ancestry folks...I'm the hairy beast woman from Calcutta if I don't shave, even at that age.)

If it was like that in that situation that wasn't hugely a survival situation I can only imagine how things like that would be when it really does get bad. Some of you know the saga of my bathroom ceiling.

 It's been leaking for a few months now and finally it got fixed. We were going to a friends to shower, so I did splurge and buy myself this spa kit, it made the situation so much better. It meant I felt good about myself. Nope, we really couldn't afford it. Which is one reason I'm doing the monetizing of this blog. With the inbox dollars, and these amazon links.

I still cannot explain how down right good it felt to have "Luxury" stuff, in a crappy situation.
What non essential, but vitally important preps do you do?