When Leslie of Comfrey Cottages shared she was doing a Remembered Remedy blog party, I knew immediately what I would be sharing. A Rosy Facial Steam.

Just after my parents split up, when we moved back to my mom’s family home, I spent a lot of time with my aunts as she was a newly working single mom. My mom had three sisters and 4 married brothers so it was easy to do. But my Aunt Teresa and I had a special bond the summer I turned 13. She had three boys and I think she got a kick out of spending time doing girly things with me. I never dressed up more, played with my hair more, or was just plain girlish with anyone else before or since….until now.

I resisted being girly with my little ones for so long. Insisting on pants only and nothing pink, only one doll in the house, absolutely no princess movies. You get the idea. I am not sure what it was, some misinformed idea about what it really means to be feminist. Fear of them not being taken seriously or having the same opportunity as boys. I guess I was a little afraid. But as my girls have gotten older, I can’t stand in the way of their own expression. Sevilla loves to wear dresses, her favorite color is certainly pink, and goodness if every single thing she owns must have jewels of some sort on it. Considering how much I kept it out of the house for so long, it made me realize how dogmatic I was being about it all. So I took the lid off. Supported her choices and reflected on what it really means to be a strong woman.

Like the color of my lipstick is a sign of my declining mind. ~Ani DiFranco

Being a strong woman isn’t about wearing pants and shoulder pads to compete with the boys, though there is nothing wrong with this expression. My husband says the biggest trick every played on the feminist is that to be liberated you have to become more like a man. It doesn’t have anything to do with loss of curves and gentle touch, emotional expression and lightness of being. The world needs all these things more than ever. Being a strong woman is to be who you are however you are. Celebrating our feminine gestures should be a part of how we are strong. Teaching our girls to love our innate gifts of gathering, loving, balancing, and costuming without shame is the road we are choosing to take. I do believe men and women are different in the way we see and build the world. Celebrating woman as she is becomes the true test of feminism.

So I can see my girls in all their beauty standing tall in their pink ruffled dress removing their sparkly jeweled sandals just before they climb their beloved paloverde tree. It is with great pleasure I am able to share this remedy with them gifted to me by my beautiful aunt with great pride for our family’s feminine gesture and heritage.

Rose Facial Steam
Fill a large bowl with fresh roses
Add 1/4 c vinegar
Cover with steaming hot water

Place a towel over your head and make a tent with the bowl. Breathe in deeply and repeat aloud: “I am a beautiful woman” until the steam cools.

Love and besos,
latisha