bikram-proof mascara

Mac X, decidedly not Bikram-proofSince we started going to Bikram classes at Red Dragon Yoga, it's been endless laundry around here. We've both been doing a lot of sweating -- insane, copious amounts of sweating-- hence, the every-other-day loads of wash.  

After class, my clothes are soaked, my yoga towels are soaked, and by the time I get home for a shower, so is the towel I bring to put down on the seat of the car.  I live in horror of the cloth seats in the rental car I'm driving these days developing that fuggy, swampy gym smell.  Absolutely gruesome amounts of sweat.

Or should I say: good amounts.

It's been an interesting transition to this hot practice.  No more throwing something on after class and strolling for a coffee or a meal.  No more quick-change in the dressing room and then running errands. Not a chance.

After class, I'm a red-hot mess.

I kind of stand around, a bit stunned, once I emerge from the hot room after an hour and a half experience.  The skin on my face really is red. I can feel it from the inside out.  I am wrung out, but also totally happy, totally relaxed.

And if I'm not careful, I have black rings around my eyes.

Last night I made a point of removing eye make-up before leaving for class, but I guess my last-minute ablutions weren't all that effective.  Mid-way through class I realized I was leaving black and purple marks all over my towel, wiping off remaining bits of liner and mascara with every swipe.  And even though there are mirrors on two sides of the room (which may honestly be harder for me to get used to than the heat itself), I don't practice so close that I can really see what's happening with my face.  I can see my hair curling in the swampy conditions, I can take in multiple angles of what I don't like about my belly, but the eyes, into which sweat is running, not so much.

I could, naturally, switch to a waterproof mascara, now that I'm regularly, every other day, attending the sweat-fest.  But the last time I tried that, I ended up with mascara that was not only waterproof but also make-up-remover-proof.  Took my esthetician, not kidding, twenty minutes of varying products to get it off me.  If you have a recommendation (besides don't wear make-up, bla bla bla), make it in the Comments pretty please.  You'd be doing me a favor.

For sure it's a lifestyle switch, this experiment with Bikram.  Last night I was so happy to run into and practice near someone I know from the former Anusara kula.  We talked before class about our lives since The Scandal, and it felt so good to have someone from my old gang there with me, too.  It just made it so much better, so much more fun.  

The mascara, along with the towels and the laundry, and the outfit, is something I'm figuring out as I go along.  Little process-improvements for me to think about as I stand there in my post-class euphoria, feeling good even if my eyes smart a little from regular contact with my towel.

XX