Cosmetic Options (2)

Most successful people value basic grooming and good hygiene. Each morning, and perhaps again in the evening, they wash their face, comb their hair, shave or apply makeup, and check the mirrow. To go out without having completed this series of routine tasks is to risk social embarrassment. We've all seen people who look like they've just gotten out of bed - their hair a rat's nest of tangled locks, shirts flapping, dots of shaving cream behind their ear. We wonder: "Doesn't this poor soul own a mirror?"

Although other people's shortcomings seem glaringly obvious, it's human nature to overlook our own deficiences, and presume others are equally forgiving. Just this once, take a closer look at what others see when you smile at them in greeting. You've washed up, you smell great, you've brushed your hair, clipped or painted your fingernails, and smoothed your jacket. You feel pretty good about yourself. You're ready to take on the world, and the world doesn't stand a chance. You gaze at the mirror and say: Everything is fantastic. But is it?

Let's take a close, candid, and unflinching look at the face you're preparing to show the world. Stand in front of the mirror, look at your mouth, and smile. Now, lean forward a bit, draw back your gums, and grin. Look carefully in the mirror. After grinding several tons of food during your lifetime, the surfaces of your teeth have become uneven, and some may be chipped.

You've also consumed a river of beverages over the years - coffee, wine, tea, and cola have stained your teeth yellow, brown, and black. Are you a smoker, or even a former smoker? Then it's likely all those cigarettes, cigars, or pipes have left behind yellow-brown nicotine risidue. All those times you failed to brush your gums have left them a little puffy and loose around the teeth. Your teeth have shifted slightly over the years and now jut out in jagged discoloured protrusions.

To be continue...