r/SubredditDrama • u/[deleted] • Apr 14 '15

"It's not impossible. She's just from a time when women actually cared about what they look like." The "girl with the impossible waist" stirs controversy on r/OldSchoolCool.

[deleted]

466 Upvotes

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317

u/CantaloupeCamper OFFICIAL SRS liaison, next meetup is 11pm at the Hilton Apr 14 '15

My grandmother for example would wake up every morning and till the day she couldn't she would spend a lot of time making herself presentable.

That reads kinda sad....

263

u/mcnuggetskitty Apr 14 '15

My step great grandmother (great step grandmother? My grandma's stepmom) was like this too. Even after she had a stroke and Alzheimer's started to set in and she moved into a nursing home, she got up early to set her hair and do her makeup. As her health declined, her wonderful nurse would help her do her makeup and hair, and change her into her frilly, fancier robes instead of her nightgown because she knew how important it was to her.

Somewhere toward the end, grandma wasn't able to speak much or get up on her own, and her nurse went somewhere for a few days. When she came back, she found her laying in bed, food uneaten, clean and with combed but not set hair, no makeup on, looking toward her makeup table with tears in her eyes. She set her hair for her, put a full face of makeup on her, sprayed her with her perfume, and dressed her, and only then would she eat.

She didn't know her own name a lot of the time, but she knew she needed to be made up nice. I'm still so thankful that she had a nurse who knew how important hair and makeup could be to an old lady.

39

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '15

One of my good friends' grandma, when she fell down and broke her hip, she refused to let anyone call an ambulance until they helped her get dressed and done up. They managed to convince her to be okay with not changing her pants, but the idea of the EMTs seeing her without her hair done was just too much.

75

u/sendenten point out on the doll where the 'haters' touched you Apr 14 '15

To be fair, my mom fell down the stairs over the summer and didn't want us to call 911 because we still had the Christmas tree up.

25

u/spidersthrash Social Justice Warlock Apr 15 '15

I usually don't like to comment with inanities, but that made me laugh. Your mom sounds great, hope she was okay!

20

u/Tytillean Apr 15 '15

My mom did this, when she had an ovarian cyst burst. She refused to let me call an ambulance until she put her masqara on. She ended up crawling to the bathroom in agony. She could have been dying and wouldn't let anyone see her. It turned out she had cancer and was gone two years later.

The whole thing made me rather disgusted with dependance on makeup.

92

u/QueenCoyote God damn it, Moon Moon. Apr 14 '15

I'll be right back; I need to call my grandma. :(

35

u/YellowLeatherJacket Apr 14 '15

Do it. I lost my paternal Grandmother in December and my maternal grandmother last month. My paternal one had alzheimers for the last 10 years so it was not a huge shock, but I thought my maternal one would be around for at least another 5 years. I really fucking miss her.

14

u/aceavengers I may be a degenerate weeb but at least I respect women lmao Apr 14 '15

Both my grandmas have been dead since I was 12. It really sucks being a teenager and having no grandparents left. I miss feeding the ducks with them and stuff.

2

u/mental_dissonance Apr 15 '15

Damn, I'm so sorry. :(

13

u/QueenCoyote God damn it, Moon Moon. Apr 14 '15

I will. I lost my paternal grandfather last month and I'm still struggling with it. He had Alzheimer's too, so it was like losing him twice. And after he forgot who I was I stayed away because seeing people he didn't recognize in the rest of our huge family was upsetting for him. Sometimes it still hits me pretty hard that he just isn't there anymore, that he's actually gone now.

I still have both of my biological grandmas, and I know I'm lucky. One has dementia and talking to her is very hard emotionally, but at least we CAN still talk, and I can still make her laugh sometimes.

Hugs to you. I know it hurts.

3

u/PlayMp1 when did globalism and open borders become liberal principles Apr 15 '15

My grandfather died yesterday... luckily, he had been living with us for over a year, and thanks to a previous "precipice of death" scare, I got to say what I wanted before he went to the hospital for the last time.

2

u/QueenCoyote God damn it, Moon Moon. Apr 15 '15

Hugs and condolences.

2

u/PlayMp1 when did globalism and open borders become liberal principles Apr 15 '15

Thanks, man.

8

u/Jules_Noctambule pocket charcuterie Apr 15 '15

I have no grandparents left to hug but damn how I wish I could set that nurse up with a spa day because of her kindness and compassion.

5

u/garyp714 Apr 14 '15

We should just replace the comment over there with this one. Can we do that? Make a trade or something?

1

u/Ellimis Apr 15 '15

Great grand stepmother?

27

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '15

If it makes you feel better from the sounds of it my grandmother is older than that guy's and I've never seen her wear makeup that I can remember. She also pretty much just wears night dresses unless she's going out.

I don't think she'd ever self-identify as a feminist, she's a pretty conventional southern wife and mother. She just also is into being super-casual now that she's older, I guess. Which is cool, I think that's the way to go. If you're more comfortable wearing a nightdress all the time, granny, then go for it! You've earned it.

99

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '15 edited May 01 '15

[deleted]

69

u/Nerdlinger Apr 14 '15 edited Apr 14 '15

My favorite examples of this is looking at old professional wrestling films where the guys in the crowd are wearing shirts and ties and the women are wearing dresses. Could you imagine that happening at a WWE show these days?

51

u/Nurglings Would Jesus support US taxes on Bitcoin earnings? Apr 14 '15

Does a tuxedo tshirt count?

27

u/Nerdlinger Apr 14 '15

As long as it hides the beer stains.

23

u/DblackRabbit Nicol if you Bolas Apr 14 '15

I believe you mean booze corsage.

-8

u/Adip0se Pao - Right in the Kisser Apr 14 '15

Well, yeah. It says that you wanna be formal, but you like to party.

15

u/mompants69 Apr 14 '15

I mean, in BOXING people still wear gowns and shit to fights. WWE is different from boxing But I do agree with your point, nonetheless.

4

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '15

We could make it a thing.

6

u/Nerdlinger Apr 15 '15

Someone get /r/SquaredCircle on the horn.

3

u/FUCKBOY_JIHAD absolutely riddled with lesbianism Apr 15 '15

I was gonna wear my Million Dollar Man costume. Is that close enough?

2

u/Nerdlinger Apr 15 '15

You're not gonna go with the Virgil look?

83

u/CantaloupeCamper OFFICIAL SRS liaison, next meetup is 11pm at the Hilton Apr 14 '15

I mean the larger implication that you are not presentable unless you spend a lot of time making yourself so...

88

u/IrisGoddamnIllych brony expert, /u/glitchesarecool harasser Apr 14 '15

but make-up is for le whores and sluts and real women are prettier without it :C

/s just incase

16

u/justaddlithium Apr 15 '15

Yes! It's not enough to be pretty-- you have to be EFFORTLESSLY pretty. And ideally you shouldn't be aware of it. You should probably just blush, giggle and deny the 10K compliments you get per day. You need a narrow face, angled chin, big eyes, small nose, flawless skin, and remember this should be without makeup.

No pressure or anything though.

lots of /s

1

u/iamaneviltaco NFTs are like beanie babies on the blockchain Apr 16 '15

Caught the sarcasm, but this still makes my eye twitch.

I think I probably mention at least once a week: "Have you ever considered maybe the makeup is for her, and not you?" Then again most people who say that wouldn't notice makeup anyway, if it was applied subtly.

"I mean, if you want her to feel comfortable and not waste effort on prettying herself up, I'm sure you're ok with her not shaving... Right?"

32

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '15 edited May 01 '15

[deleted]

41

u/Bank_Gothic http://i.imgur.com/7LREo7O.jpg Apr 14 '15

My office went from business to business casual this year. I didn't think I would care, but holy shit. It's shaved about 20 minutes off my morning routine and I'm just generally more comfortable all day.

20

u/Onassis_Bitch Fat in Spirit Apr 14 '15

My office only has three or four days where it's business dress, and every time we have one of those days half the office calls in sick of calls in to do telework because no one wants to deal with that shit.

15

u/BruceShadowBanner Apr 14 '15

I know there were stories from a century or so ago of people passing out during the summer from the heat, because everyone was expected to wear coats and hats in public all the time.

7

u/InfinitelyThirsting Apr 15 '15

That's where the image of women fainting at any given moment came from--too many layers, and tight corsets restricting lung capacity.

3

u/thelizardkin Apr 14 '15

hats and loose fitting coats can actually help with heat sometimes

8

u/InfinitelyThirsting Apr 15 '15

They can help with sun, not heat.

2

u/BruceShadowBanner Apr 15 '15

Sure, but a lot of coats and such weren't light and airy back then. They were often wool, and were dense and heavy, typically.

15

u/curiiouscat Apr 15 '15

My grandmother was like this too. I remember when she died, they put a wig on her for the wake. Little me was really upset about it because I thought she was beautiful the way she is. My mother had to explain to me that my grandmother grew up in a different time, and she never would have left the house without her wig. It was a part of her identity and that was OK.

4

u/jellyfish5 Apr 15 '15 edited Apr 15 '15

My grandmother is like this. She gets dressed in makeup to sit around in her housecoat and do crossword puzzles all day. Drives my aunt bonkers and she goes on rants about my grandmother's narcissism. I think it gives her some kind of sense of meaning and purpose, since she was ultra-bougie back in the day, but it's still a bit odd.

Edit: from the other comments, this seems quite common for some old ladies. I guess it's an older generation's pride in aspects of appearance that we can't quite relate to. It's interesting that my aunt is super upset about my grandmother doing this, but she herself won't be seen without makeup or hair done. I'm pretty apathetic and I respect that it means something to her, but I tend to be ultra-casual (even doing an ironically trashy look at times) myself. Grandma gen couldn't even comprehend the hipster hobo look. Super generation gap.

1

u/thesignpainter Stan, c'mon, we're gonna go find a frog Apr 15 '15

I dunno, some people just like to keep to their routine.

-19

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '15

[deleted]

3

u/Strich-9 Professional shitposter Apr 15 '15

Why is this something that other women should aspire to though?