2013-09-25-Ladies Lounge 3
Seminars@Hadley
The Ladies Lounge 3
Presented by
Patti Jacobson
Sharon Howerton
Polly Abbott – Second Sense, Chicago
Moderated by
Dawn Turco
September 25, 2013
Dawn Turco
Good morning and welcome to Seminars @ Hadley.
Today’s topic is The Ladies Lounge 3. We started
with The Ladies Lounge several months back and
thanks to the feedback we got through our survey,
there was interest in us continuing with The Ladies
Lounge. So we have done The Ladies Lounge, The
Ladies Lounge 2, and this is the final in the series and
we’re doing something a bit different today.
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I’m not sure if the panelists are a little bit nervous over
the potential “Stump the Panelists” but we thought we
would just do open microphone and we’re doing it
because we covered a lot of good topics in the first
two lounge rooms. We talked about make-up and hair
accessorizing, how you organize your closets and
drawers so you can find things, stain on clothing.
Lots of topics covered and lots of good questions
were answered, ask and answered, but sometimes
we don’t get to all the questions or even all the topics
on everyone’s minds, so we thought we would do an
open microphone today.
So we don’t really have prepared presentations by are
returning panelists. Let me start by thanking all three
who have been with us and that is Polly Abbott from
Second Sense here in Chicago and she’s our certified
vision rehabilitation therapist and has lot of
techniques that she shared along the way, and we
have Hadley instructors both long time instructors
Patti Jacobson; who is with me on the phone today so
you’ll notice a little bit different when we’re trying to
get the microphone to Patti and so she and I can chit
chat when we don’t have the microphone, but she is
on the phone with me today and also joining us
Sharon Howerton. Thank you to the ladies for
returning and you can obviously do our quick “Hello”
when we get things rolling.
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As a part of the announcement for today’s Lady
Lounge, Ladies Lounge we invited participants to
send in a question in advance if they would like so
that we would at least have an idea of some of the
things on your mind, and we had some people do
that. So I thought we would start off with those
questions and be sure we got them in to thank them
for their diligence and pre-sending.
Ladies the first one that I’ll share with you came from
Robin and Robin is interested in any good make-up
tips or beauty tips for keeping one’s face looking
young. Robin says that she’s “In her mid- 50’s but
would like to look as young as possible for as long as
possible.” I resemble that comment actually, so I
relate to this question quite nicely. So anyway, Robin
is looking for some tips and ideas on how to stay
young looking, how to keep our complexion looking its
best.
The first thought that came to mind for me had to do
with everything I’d been hearing lately about
protecting our skin from the sun and as one who tans
easily and loved sun bathing I have to admit, I’m
covering up with a hat a little bit more then I used to;
using sunscreen. Before I hand it off to Patti or
excuse me Sharon or Polly, Patti your already with
me did you have any quick thoughts that popped into
your head?
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Patti Jacobson
Yes I do. I’ll tell you what I do, I am diligent about
using moisturizers. I also use sort of a regime; I use
an exfoliator when I’m in the shower, and then I use a
moisturizer before I put on my foundation make-up,
then I use a liquid foundation really light because I
don’t like that feeling of cakey make-up. But I would
say a moisturizer, I don’t know Dawn can we mention
a brand?
Dawn Turco
If you had one, you know it’s you’re…
Patti Jacobson
I like Oil of Olay and you can just get it in the
supermarket but it’s real moist but it goes on really
light and I like that.
Dawn Turco
I agree with you on all points and moisturizing and
having that good regiment and actually getting the
makeup off at the end of the day is so critical too and
doing a good job of that. Polly and Sharon I’m going
to let go of the microphone.
Sharon Howerton
I think Patti had mentioned some other products in
past seminars to, Argon Oil I think was one. I’ve
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heard about it, have thought about it, but have not
purchased it. I use like a sunscreen kind of
combination type of thing to, that blends easily
whenever I remember to put it on, but goes to color
too, and from what my future daughter-in-law said, it’s
the kind of thing that you don’t want to stand out, you
want it to just to blend in to your skin. So I got, I think
not the lightest color, but the second lightest of that
particular brand. So that’s what I do and yeah, always
moisturizer.
Polly Abbott
I’m a little bit more low-tech. I certainly agree with
everything above and think that Oil of Olay is great.
However, I believe to look young you have to get lots
or sleep and think happy thoughts actually. I think
that rest, getting enough rest really shows on your
face and if you can think happy thoughts that also I
find happy people look younger.
Dawn Turco
I agree with all of that and I did a quick look on line
and they talked about no smoking, good diet,
hydration you know drinking lots of water is good for
some in many different ways. But I did find that kind of
an interesting topic or comment related to this and it
said that, it suggested that as much as we all love our
coffee, tea is actually better for you and green and
black tea contains some protective compounds. I was
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thinking I’m switching to tea after my morning coffee
now. I mean I like tea and I have allot of tea in the
house so I’m definitely going back to a few more cups
of tea then I’ve had per week. Any other thoughts on
that Patti or ladies? Patti, before I let go of the
microphone?
Patti Jacobson
No I can’t think of anything else. Tea sounds good.
Dawn Turco
Yeah. Okay ladies one last chance on that one and
participants what are your ideas? Go ahead you can
take the microphone to.
Sharon Howerton
This is Sharon. I wonder if part of it is also genetic. I
mean some people I guess look older than others and
no matter what you do it may be hard to change
what’s naturally ours. I don’t know I’m well beyond 50
and I’ve been told I look allot younger so who knows
the caller’s points are certainly valid to.
Vicki
Good morning, this is Vicki from South Carolina. I
wanted to let you know about a product that I have
use for probably about ten years and it’s called
Vanicream. V-a-n-i-c-r-e-a-m, and I can get it from the
dermatologist or Walgreens, the drug store carries it
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as well. It’s a wonderful moisturizer and I also sleep
under a vaporizer every night and it’s because of my
sinuses, but because of the hydration it has really
kept my skin very good. I’m 60, but I don’t have any
wrinkles and I’m very fortunate I guess but I do try to
exfoliate, you know enough rest and things like that.
But those are two products that I use religiously.
Caller
Hi, I used to like Oil of Olay but my daughter
introduced me to Burt’s Bees which is an organic
product, and I really like that better. It does a better
job on my skin, but I also wondered if you could
address the nail polish that you talked about last time.
I’ve looked for this nail polish which is applied with a
felt tip pen or something, can’t find it, so is there a
certain brand or a certain name for this so I can find it,
or I wonder if it’s available on the internet, thanks?
Dawn Turco
Patti I’m wondering if you mentioned, or if it was a
participant that mentioned the nail polish and maybe
we have an answer for that? And thank you for not all
dashing out to buy humidifiers for the bedroom, that’s
a good idea though. Hydration, we’ll repeat that one.
Patti were you the one that mentioned the nail polish?
Patti Jacobson
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Yes I want to say I think the brand is Cover Girl, and I
know I bought it at CVS or Walgreens. For sure you
will be able to find it on line somewhere. I did have
one other person who contacted me about it but I
don’t believe she was just someone who had listened
to the archive, and was not part of the seminar before,
but she had found it. Try for Cover Girl though.
Dawn Turco
Okay, let me move on to the next question. Jenny
submitted this one, and she says that she wants to
know actually about stains on clothing, and she says
she “Looks great in off-white blouses and tops but
seems to be a coffee- stain magnet,” and wonders
what strategies we have both to prevent and deal with
coffee and other stains. I can say actually I know this
obscure fact, that in the US we consume like 400
million cups of coffee a day and that coffee bouncing
out of the cup somehow onto us is not a blind issue.
I will use my husband as an example; he is constantly
spilling the coffee on himself. So what do we do
about stains or in particular coffee if you know about
coffee ladies, here’s the microphone?
Sharon Howerton
Well first of all, I can fully relate to that my rule is: no
coffee in a travel cup on a Monday. For some reason
Monday mornings are the worse for spilling on
yourself because you’re not quite awake yet and can
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tend to be a bit fumble-fingered I think, or at least
that’s me. To take care of those stains, carry some
shout wipes so that you can wipe up the mess on-thego or at least prevent it from setting and then when
you get home try some on-the-spot stain remover like
OxiClean or the Tide sticks that are found in the
laundry section of the grocery store.
Also mark that stain with a pin so that after the article
of clothing goes through the washer and dryer you
can get somebody with good eyes to check and verify
that all of the stain came out.
Polly Abbott
One of the things I was thinking was well, I mean it’s
pretty hard to prevent the spill of coffee, I mean it can
happen even in a mug with a travel mug with a lid, but
one of the things I was thinking is when you go to
clean it up those Tide to-go pads, I wonder if they
would be a good idea to have that you can carry
around with you that you can once you spill the coffee
that you can use that to get, I think it pretty much gets
the stain right out and you don’t even need to worry
about it once you’ve cleaned it up with that. You can
just put it through the wash and there you go. I’m not
sure if the Tide sticks are the thing they could be.
Dawn Turco
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Yes we talked about those tide sticks and I think what
Polly was saying to, the brands now that have little
cloths, kind of like the handi-wipes that you can get in
the individual packets, there’s some of those on the
market where it’s a little cloth that you can blot on or
dab on the stain. I know that anytime I’ve read
anything about stains they tell you “Don’t be rubbing
and scrubbing at it, you’re supposed to be blotting
and getting it out as best as you can with some
clean.” Lots of times I see people in restaurants take
the napkin and get it wet and kind of blot at it, but
Patti you’ve got the microphone here what were you
going to add?
Patti Jacobson
One thing I was going to add about marking a stain
with the pin and that’s a really good idea, but you
might not want to be having a safety pin showing on
your blouse in the office all day. So one thing you can
do is put a piece of tape just scotch tape on where the
stain is and then take a break, go to the restroom and
take your blouse off and put the pin on the underside
of your blouse. It still marks the stain but the pin isn’t
visible all day, and then you can just take the tape off.
Dawn Turco
Yeah if you didn’t find the tape irritating to your skin,
couldn’t you just put the tape on the underside or I
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guess if you have a stain it could be on the top to?
Because there’s some blouses the tops…
Patti Jacobson
The reason why I’m saying to put the tape on the
outside is because if you were to take the blouse off
and tape the tape on the underside, you’re going to
lose where the stain was.
Dawn Turco
Got you, got you. So if you can get to a restroom
immediately, I think the sooner you work on spills the
better you are. I think when we were referring to the
pin I think it was when you actually got it home and
put it into the laundry perhaps I’m not sure, but some
people don’t even, you know we have some materials
that we don’t want the hole showing so I like that tape
idea. Let me go to the microphone because I think
Sharon had something to add.
Sharon Howerton
Yes I did, thank you. A couple of things I would say
one thing that I try to do pretty religiously is if I’m
going to have coffee out to be sure that the cup is not
very full, to keep my hand over the cup when I’m
holding it. I’m right handed so I’m holding it in my
right hand and keep my left hand on the top, and try
to keep myself from a place where I’m going to be
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jostling it around, just as much as possible. I don’t
spill a lot so you can feel that I’m not just saying it, I
just kind of try to be really aware of that kind of thing.
And if I’m going to be standing somewhere I’m not
going to be carrying a liquid if I can help it, particularly
not coffee. I have a dog and if she’s moving around I
have to mind where she is. I’m not going to be
holding something because my left hand is going to
be occupied with her and so I try to be really careful
about that sort of thing.
The other thing to is I think if you do spill something
ask someone who can see if you can or can’t see
very well, to take a look at it because I think there’s
nothing, we can do our best with it, it wouldn’t hurt to
have someone else to check it out. Because we can
think we got it and we really don’t or we could miss it
by a little bit and then we’ve done our best but it’s still
there. And so if I’ve had a situation with a stain that’s
the first thing I would do is to have someone else help
me with that.
Polly Abbott
I just thought of another strategy that I’ve been
noticing lately as I do my morning commute. I see a
lot of ladies with their coffee cup with a straw pocking
out. I think their intention is actually to avoid spoiling
their lipstick but it seems to me that that would also be
a good strategy to avoid spilling as well.
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Dawn Turco
Oh you’re making us chuckle on this and I love that
Polly; yes maybe it is the lipstick. One last thing that
I’ll add is there is lots of home remedies of sorts for so
many things and I did read once that if you take a
third of a cup of white vinegar and two thirds of a cup
of warm water and use that to dab at the coffee stain,
and this is with everyone of course realizing you have
to know the fabric first because not everything works
on every fabric or is safe for fabric, but there is a
home remedy that I have yet to try but I did read
about it.
And before we move on because we have our friends,
some of our friends here from Canada and sometimes
I read in comments that we don’t address Canada
quite enough, I’ll do a shout out on coffee to Canada.
I read and I looked this up specifically because
everybody thinks that Americans are these huge
consumers of coffee, and we are we like our coffee,
but we rank 26 in the world in coffee consumption.
Canada comes in at nine. So let’s hear it for Tim
Horton’s and Canada’s consumption of coffee. Letting
go of the microphone.
Polly Abbott
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Hi it’s Polly. Yes Canadians and I am one, we love
our Tim Horton’s and it’s no wonder we’re drinking it
all because it is great.
Jenny
Yes hi this is Jenny and this is my question, thank
you. I would say I always use a straw with coffee and
it does seem to help but another reason for using a
straw with coffee is it’s supposed to protect your teeth
from some of the stained effects of coffee and maybe
some of the acid. So maybe more people will be
using straws with their coffee and it won’t feel so
eccentric.
Donna
Hi this is Donna. I heard one of these home remedies
that, and I know you have to do this after you get
home, but coffee or blood if you soak it in saltwater
will remove those stains along with the vinegar, I
heard that to but not together.
Caller
I just saw on TV that drinking with a straw can have
the same effect as smoking around the lip area for
wrinkles. Now I hadn’t thought of that before but it
might make sense.
Dawn Turco
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My goodness, talk about things that never cross my
mind. Now I don’t know if I stay with my travel mug,
which at Hadley here we are my coffee is two floors
down or two flights of steps so I always use a travel
mug. But goodness, now I don’t know what approach
to take. Thank you for those additional comments
and things to think about.
Panelist, we are so lucky today. We were so worried
nobody would have anything to say and it’s going
beautifully, so thank you. I’m moving on to the last
pre-submitted question, this one came from Lisa. Oh
my god I don’t know how we answer this one I’ll be
honest with you. She says “Here’s the decade of
question when it comes to dating. How do you meet
and let a man know that you’re interested in him? I’ve
met two “Interesting men.” One was married and the
other preferred same-sex partners.” So Lisa needs
some quick tips ladies on how we meet people.
I think in part as a low vision person, I always
struggle with the fact that I couldn’t have eye contact
with a person until they were within about two feet of
me, and that doesn’t always work in social settings. I
would say to friend “Who is it, who is it?” from across
the room when they’d say “Oh somebodies looking at
you,” I’m going “Which direction, which direction?”
Patti do you have any thoughts before I hand this
over?
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Patti Jacobson
Well I do have thoughts and I don’t know how good
they are but maybe they’re old fashion I don’t know.
In meeting people I think it’s really important to go
through friends or church or a group that you might be
interested. Maybe you’re a ham radio operator or
you’re interested in dogs or cats; get involved in
places where people have like interests. I think the
best way to strike up a conversation or be able to talk
to people is ask people about themselves. People
like to walk about themselves. Then you can kind of
get a conversation going and take it from there.
Dawn Turco
Alrighty, let me hand the microphone off. Okay notice
how when we ask about how to meet interesting men
we all seem a little I won’t say we’re clueless but
we’re hesitant to say on a microphone. Let me try
again and I agree with you Patti. I have moved
actually allot as a single person, because I got
married over 40, so I was single a very long time.
And moving from town, and city to city or state to
state with school or job, you needed to get out and
just join some things or take some lessons. In
Chicago here I joined a youth group, Young Adults
Group they called it at my local church. So you do
have to get out there and meet people. Your chances
of meeting somebody interesting are going to
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obviously expand the more people you meet and
perhaps in what you would think are safe
environments. So there you go. Did anybody think of
anything? I’m letting go of the microphone again.
Jenny
The only thing I can say, I’m 28 so I’m pretty young,
one of the things that I’ve learned the hard way is if
you do meet somebody who might be interested or
might just be being nice, is to not throw yourself at
them, chase them or whatever, I’ve found out the hard
way that men just don’t like that. A friend of mine who
is also totally blind like I am, we’ve both made that
mistake now. I don’t know, is Lisa is total or not, but
that’s just one thing I can suggest right now. If you do
meet somebody, it’s hard because you want to talk to
them and that their interested you want to really get to
know them, but at the same time you don’t want to
throw yourself at them. I don’t know if that really
applies to this or not but I just thought I’d mention it.
Sharon Howerton
Maybe we need, this is Sharon, maybe we do things
differently by age and experience to, but I’m over 60
and I am not dating anyone at this time. If I were or
did find someone that I find interesting I would
probably ask someone that knew that person because
I just have not had the best success in the world. I
guess that’s really all I can contribute about that.
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Maybe if you’re younger and/or more adventurous
you’d do things differently but I’ve become pretty gun
shy.
Dawn Turco
I think food can be a big help, I think it can bring
people together. Does anyone else out there believe
that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach?
How true is that?
Polly Abbott
Oh yeah, yeah I think so I agree with you on that one.
I think that and not all men, but some men it can be
about sports and their love with sports, but not all men
do of course. And also music to can be maybe can
be another avenue to go maybe, possibly.
Patti Jacobson
Has anybody tried dating services?
Sharon Howerton
I had a friend who did, she’s totally blind and she
gosh I can’t remember which one she used. She set
her limits very specifically in terms of the distance that
she wanted to meet someone, and actually ended up
marrying this guy. They’ve been married now about
five years, but she’s a pretty brave lady. So yeah she
did but again I don’t remember which service she
used.
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Dawn Turco
There is a fellow employee here at Hadley that met
his now wife on one of the dating, I think it was one of
the Christian Mingle sites, and it worked for him. He’s
blind, she sighted and they now have two adorable
little girls so I think it works for some people. I think
we did a dating seminar some years back and of
course there’s always the cautionary thing to say
about those sorts of sites. When you do decide to
meet somebody, you know some of the safeguards
and this again in respect of vision, maybe you go with
a friend to the coffee shop and not have them come to
your apartment or house first. You know all the
obvious safeguards that you would want to employ for
somebody who you really, really don’t know.
Jenny thank you for sharing your thoughts on, and
your age and how, I agree about don’t throw yourself
at people and that’s just true in general. I think also
feeling confident about yourself. Not appearing to be
super needy, I don’t think men want that right away.
Be confident and true to who you are. I think that
helps to and the image you portray.
Benita
Yeah I have several friends, this is Benita, who have
met and married people via the things like the
conversation, maybe not specifically Blind Café but
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that type of format where you can go in and chat.
Personally that’s not for me but it worked well for
them. What I think is and I have been married and
divorced and I married later in life also, is you have to
be happy with yourself and like yourself, and then
other people are going to be more comfortable. I
have girlfriends that have tried to mold themselves
into what they think a guy wants, essentially ends up
changing personalities whatever to try to fit a
situation, and that doesn’t work. Just be who you are
and let people like you for who you are.
Caller
I think that sounds good. I always think dancing if you
can get yourself in an environment where there’s
dancing, it brings you a little closer and you can get
the touch and the smell thing going on to.
Dawn Turco
Wonderful comments everyone. Gosh, Patti anything
else that you can think of that we’ve covered?
Patti Jacobson
No, thank you.
Dawn Turco
Okay. There’s a question on the screen that I need
more information about so, question concerning
barcode reader. Is there something else you can add
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to that question because I’m not quite sure what you
want?
Donna
Yes this is Donna. I’m talking about the Omnibarcode reader from Australia that you can put
barcodes on your clothing and then they can be
washed and they remain there. Because the talking
color thing doesn’t work quite honestly all the time. I
was wondering if anyone ever used that and had any
comments on it.
Polly Abbott
Actually is that for, well the Omni is from, is that the
one from Envision America? Because that one, I
haven’t actually used it, I have an I.D. mate Summit
which replaced the I.D. mate Omni and now it’s
actually been replaced by the I.D. mate Quest. I have
the I.D. mate Summit it does work although I haven’t
really tried it on clothes; I’ve just used it on household
product.
It does seem to work although in Canada we don’t
really have quite the database if you will or database
as we say up here, we don’t quite have the database
that you have down there when it comes to all the
products. We’re getting better but there’s still allot
that aren’t in, a lot of products that are not in the
database, you have to actually record something.
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You know record what it is so the next time you scan
it, it will work. It will scan it and read it according to
what you’ve put in it, but I haven’t used the Omni
itself.
Dawn Turco
I just asked Patti if she had any thoughts and it wasn’t
about Omni. Patti’s got the microphone; you had
something you wanted to contribute.
Patti Jacobson
Thank you. If you’ve heard about the PenFriend, and
if you haven’t heard about the PenFriend, email me
and I’ll explain it further. It’s a recording device that is
used for labelling and it uses little stickers that you put
on things to make audio labels. They’re coming up
with some stickers now that can be used on clothing.
I think the PenFriend is cheaper than the Omni and
that might be an option.
I’ll tell you what I do with my clothing, and it’s just a
low-tech solution, I mark my clothing with tiny safety
pins placed in different locations in the clothing to
signify the colors. You can even take pins to the store
with you and mark as you shop, that way when you
get your cloths home you have them already marked.
It’s something that’s worked really well for me and I
even do the same thing for socks.
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One pet peeve of mine is that allot of blind people
think that they have to wear just white socks or just
black socks. In the winter especially, I wear lots of
different colors of socks and I put pins again when I
take my socks off in different locations to signify
different colors. Like navy socks I pin at the top, black
socks are midway between the top and heel, brown
socks are at the heel, grey are at the toe and white
get no pins.
So there are some low-tech ways. The color identifier
that I use and I think Sharon uses it to, is called a
Colorino; c-o-l-o-r-i-n-o, and it’s been really pretty
accurate. I’ve loved it.
Dawn Turco
Patti while you have the microphone, you want to
mention the mini course? Patti teaches out
Independent Living courses and we have new ones
out that are mini courses, meaning two lessons.
Don’t you have one that addresses all this?
Patti Jacobson
There is, there’s one called Clothing Care and
Dressing Confidently and it talks about buying
clothes, shopping, getting a color assessment that
might help you out, marking clothing, getting stains
off, doing laundry, ironing all kinds of stuff like that.
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Dawn Turco
Okay, so they can find that information on the Hadley
website, so a little infomercial. Alright Sharon has
texted in a message so, Sharon I’m letting go of the
microphone and maybe you can bring up our next
topic.
Sharon Howerton
Yes thank you Dawn. We were talking; I’m going to
do my own infomercial here. I teach a three course
parenting series for expectant parents, infants, and
early years. Those are the three courses for
preparation, infancy and early years, and I do office
hours with my parenting students on Wednesdays at
1PM central.
We were just talking about this seminar last week. I
have two young women, one who is in her 20’s and
she just had a baby and she was asking about styling
her hair, she wanted to know how you can do that.
Another young woman she is a little bit older I think
she has a little bit of vision, she said, she’s an Africa
American young lady and she said “Oh I’ve been
styling my hair all my life. People just tell me what it
looks like and I do it.” But she’s a pretty adventurous
girl and so I’ve wondered if other people had thoughts
or ideas about styling.
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I personally keep my hair short. It has a natural curl
to it so I wash my hair every day, I don’t have to do
anything more than comb it and I don’t get any
complains so I feel most comfortable that way, but I
know other people do other things. So that was the
comment that these two ladies had and the topic that
one of them really wanted to discuss, but she’s not
here. But anyway maybe she’ll, I’ll remind her if she’s
on later to listen to the archives. So if anybody has
any thoughts I’d, we’d appreciate them.
Donna
This is Donna, I’m with you. That natural wavy hair is
so nice, wash and go.
Linda
This is Linda a fellow Hadley instructor and I want to
say that when I started out wanting to do it because of
the boys I sat next to in certain class, my sisters and
my family really couldn’t help me. They would say
things and talk about things that didn’t make sense,
but I tried to take what they said and I practiced over
the summer when I was home and people could look
at how it came out. I learned a lot in that summer and
that has carried me through all these years.
I always ask my hair stylist what people are wearing
and it’s going to be that time again pretty soon
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because I’m at a cross-roads. So you have to have
people that you trust and then you have to be
adventurous to try things.
I don’t know how I got started with the curling iron but
I have found so many sighted people who can’t do it.
You really do have to be adventurous and try different
things, but you have to have people that you can ask
how what you’ve done looks. You have to be people
you can, they have to be people you can trust, that
you know other people say they have good style
sense or their hair is always really nice or whatever.
Caller
I have difficulty with coloring. I’m 65 and definitely
need to keep color in. I’m just having a difficult time
with keeping it colored and a color that I think I like.
Everybody has a different idea of what light blonde,
ash blonde, it’s just different so finding the right color
has been difficult for me.
Sharon Howerton
This is Sharon. I wonder sometimes too if it makes a
difference I know Linda you haven’t seen before but, if
you have a better understand of color if you had some
vision in the past, and then have some kind of frame
of reference. I had a hairdresser at one point suggest
highlighting my hair and I mentioned it to somebody
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else and they said “Are you kidding me, I already
have natural highlights don’t even worry about it.” So
it’s like Linda said, you really have to find someone
that you can trust to give you that kind of information.
And I guess we would do that whether you could see
or you couldn’t. Polly you may have a better
comment on that.
Dawn Turco
I was jumping in; it’s Dawn, on the hair coloring. Yes,
I am coloring my hair as well and hair color doesn’t
hold as well as you get older and grey and I’ve started
to just go with kind of counting the weeks and marking
the calendar because I have found I cannot rely on
my husband to let me know the roots are showing. I
don’t know, I guess they look at you so much or don’t
look at you that they don’t notice and I’ll tell you, I
have had a heart to heart with my best friend who is
sighted and I said “Would you please let me know if I
have let it go a little too long,” because I do go to a
salon I do splurge on that aspect of it, but I don’t like
to go any more often than is needed. So counting the
weeks and the advice of a good girlfriend can’t be
beat maybe. I don’t know, microphone loose.
Caller
That is good advice. I’ve gone with color because I’ve
had sight and referred to Pale Ale as a color I like,
hoping that it would gradually go into the grey/silver
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mode and she suggested Champagne. I thought we
would have been better off just toasting with our Pale
Ale and Champagne.
Dawn Turco
I always laugh that somebodies getting paid to name
these things; you know whether it’s hair color or nail
polish or lip stick. I’m truly color-blind so you do not
get a clue by the names anymore. Again it’s the
friend that you trust because you can go into a
department store and they can do a make-over and
think you look wonderful and sometimes their opinion
maybe not so much. So again I always go with the
good friend shopping is wonderful and so that works
for me. Patti any comments before I let it go?
Patti Jacobson
I was just thinking about getting my nails done and I
am so lucky to have someone who has done my nails
now for 20 years. She is so good at describing colors
and not very many sighted people are, but she would
just compare it to things and its pretty fun.
Dawn Turco
You know when I go to the salon I’ll say to them,
they’ll say “Pick your color,” and I’ll say “Well I’m color
blind so I need help. I want something not to bright,
not to this, not to that,” and they supposedly pick one.
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So sometimes I get home and it’s like “Oh my gosh,”
so I guess color is a matter if opinion. Letting go of
the mic.
Polly Abbott
I think color is a matter of opinion, however from what
I understand in the research I’ve done, stylist,
hairstylist are trained in color theory because it’s not
so much what color you like that determines what
looks best on you, it has more to do with how that
color interacts with what your skin tone is. For
example: if you have very, very pale skin you should
not be wearing, I read that you should not have
blondes that are very warm and bold and you need
them more ashy. If you are someone who has rosy
skin or dark skin, that again will determine what shade
of a particular color will look good on you. I think if
you can find a good stylist who has had that training,
they’re going to be able to better recommend a shade
that is closer to what you like, but also what will look
good on you.
Linda
I think sometimes that the salons they are trying to
sell a particular color that they or something, but I
have to trust them to. I don’t get my nails done that
often but I still say you really have to find some
people that you know are well manicured, well hair
colored and talk to them about what it is that you’re
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thinking about getting. Because those people don’t
allow somebody to tell them what color they should
wear, they know. And if you can find somebody like
that you got a gem. I’m thinking of somebody that
works at Hadley right now, but I’m not going to
mention her name.
Dawn Turco
I agree with you Linda and yes Polly that is so true to.
When I first started coloring my hair I had black hair
all my life, so of course I started coloring it black. One
day my salon person at that time said “Dawn, had you
given thought to another color?” And he said “To be
honest, the black doesn’t look good”, and I’m sitting
there going “I was born with black hair, how can black
hair not look good on me?” He said “Dawn your
aging, what is nature’s way with hair when you age?
It gets lighter.” And he said that “As you get older, you
should consider something out of what was your
norm.” Then I started noticing celebrities on TV who
had really dark hair but they were told for it and I
though “Oh my God he’s right.” So I started going
lighter with their expertise helping me pick the color.
Letting go of the mic.
Caller
Yes I had the same experience and referred to those
dark or colors young people colors as paint-bynumber colors.
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Sheila
Hi this is Sheila. I have a color question but it’s not so
much like for clothing and that kind of thing. I was
reading a wedding registry recently and there was
some really bizarre colors on there and I just didn’t
have a clue what they were, and my husband is
useless to ask him things like that. I was wondering if
there was a place that we could find what different
colors actually are, because it said brushed nickel,
they wanted a brushed nickel something or that kind
of thing. I was just wondering if there was something
like that out there.
Dawn Turco
Have you stumped the bunch? Anybody with
thoughts?
Caller
I don’t really know what to tell you. Allot of times what
happens these days is they’re basically colors but
then they just put all these wacky names in front
them. That’s my understanding is when I’ve asked
sighted friends of mine what I’ll say “What’s that
color?” or “What does that color mean?” I can’t think
of the color off the top of my head as an example but
there’s just these crazy color names.
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Like going back to nail polish or hair dye for example
hair color, there are some crazy names out there and
you think “What on earth is that,” and really all it is it
could be a purple, could be a silver or stuff like that
but they just put or gold for nail polish for example,
but they’ll just put a crazy name in front of it to get it to
peak peoples interest. That’s my thought on it I can’t
describe a brushed nickel to well, I’m not 100% sure
what that is. That’s what I think anyway.
Presenter
I just tried Googling brushed nickel, “What is brushed
Nickel color?” and a whole bunch of websites pop up
that actually have photographs of what that color
might be. You also tend to get wallpaper websites will
pop up wanting to show you colors. I’m afraid I don’t
know of any websites that are descriptive. I think it
boils down to having that good friend who knows color
that can describe things for you.
Dawn Turco
I have difficulty with the metallic/copper colors too and
in fact often time at the store or even if I’m by myself I
have to say “Are these gold earrings, are they silver?”
and sometimes other colors come up like a gunmetal
is a grey. So ultimately you find out what it is and I
just end up memorizing it so I have a clue.
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Just one thought since we’ve been talking about
lipstick and nail polish, I take a small piece of paper
and write the color family I guess would be a way to
say it. Whether it’s a mauve, a pink, a red, a browner
tone. What’s the one I’m thinking of that’s orange?
Anyway, so I’ll write the name of the color on a small
piece of paper and then I tape it. I use of course a
layer, a black layer so I can read it and I just tape it to
the lip of my lipsticks. They may not always go with
the color I’ve got on but at least I figure I’m close.
Caller
There’s an idea
Dawn Turco
Patti wanted the microphone, go ahead Patti.
Patti Jacobson
With lipstick you could also use rubber bands. If
that’s numbers of bands on the tube of lipstick or put
the rubber band at the top end of the tube or down
near the base of the tube or in the middle. And you
know I would suggest not wearing different kinds of
lipstick, maybe two of three kinds and keep it really
simple.
Dawn Turco
I couldn’t agree with you more. Letting go or the
microphone.
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Caller
I think that’s where the PenFriend comes in handy but
you almost need someone there to help tell you so
you can label it. Once it’s labelled I find it very helpful.
Dawn Turco
We’re coming up on the end of the hour we’re about
five minutes away so any last question? We covered
all the ones that were pre-submitted and a few others,
anything else on your mind out there?
Sharon Howerton
This is Sharon. I was going to ask Patti, have you
ever tried lipstick with the Colorino? It just occurred to
me as we were talking about that because you’re
much more organized then I, I’ve told you that before.
I was just curious how that would work with the
lipstick.
Dawn Turco
Okay, you’ve got the microphone Patti.
Patti Jacobson
I have not tried it but I will. I’m at my mom’s house
now and I’ve got my Colorino with me and I’ll give that
a try and let you know Sharon.
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Dawn Turco
That’s great, alrighty. Letting go of the microphone
again.
Donna
Could you spell that Colorino for me again please, this
is Donna?
Sharon Howerton
It’s C-o-l-o-r-i-n-o, and it is not only a color identifier
but it is also a light probe. It’s really great. The
amount of light, you know the tone changes if its dark
it’s a lower tone, if there is a lot of light in the room it’s
got a much higher pitch of tone. I think it’s great and
it was not real expensive. I got it from [Blind Device
Mart] in Texas.
Caller
I have a barcode reader for my phone called Digitize
but I have a problem finding the barcodes. Is there
any suggestion on a routine that you might set up to
find the barcode more easily?
Sharon Howerton
They seem to be everywhere and sometimes a
product doesn’t seem to have any barcode on it at all,
that’s been my experience anyway. Not with Digitize
but with an Envision America product.
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Polly Abbott
It really depends on where the barcode is. Like on a
soda can for example: it can be on the bottom like
along the bottom of the can, it can be more in the
middle on the side but towards the middle of the can
depending on, you know it just depends. It’s really
difficult with, well my understanding it’s difficult with
an IPhone or and IPad because the camera, the spot
where the camera is, is very small. You have to be
very, very accurate as to where the barcode is.
Whereas with the say Envision America product, you
have a much bigger surface that scans the can or the
product. You have a much bigger scanning area that
it covers so it’s easier to find the barcode then what it
is with the phone, although I’ve never actually tried
Digitize because I have an IPod tough which doesn’t
have the greatest of cameras so I haven’t tried it with
the IPod. If I were to try it I would rather try it with the
IPhone. That’s just my understanding from
experience. I have the I.D. mate Summit and I find
you just have to search around. There doesn’t seem
to be a common place for barcodes to be, like Sharon
said, they’re everywhere.
Caller
I have chased barcodes too with Digitize Eyes and I
had a clerk help me with, one time with how I held it.
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What was happening I have an IPhone and overhead
light was bouncing off and it was light it was blocking
out part of the item I was looking for the barcode on. I
ended up; there was a barcode that I could not find it
until I had her help me with it and we figure out that it
was the overhead lights and the reflection off of the
product and the screen of the IPhone.
Dawn Turco
Thank you for that comment folks, we are so nearing
the end of Ladies Lounge 3 and I have thoroughly
enjoyed the camaraderie of our participants and
panelists, and I want to thank everybody for their
contribution. If you’ve been in the other Ladies
Lounge thank you to you for participating overtime. I
often wonder if folks are tempted not to open my
emails because I typically write Seminars at Hadley in
the subject line. I think one of these days they’re just
going to get deleted and not opened.
Thank you to Patti, and Sharon, and Polly for opening
them and then agreeing to not just do one Ladies
Lounge, but as we got the feedback agreeing to do all
three with me. They’re in the archives for others. We
had some wonderful dialog today with participants
and some of you just listened in and that’s always
okay at our seminars at Hadley. You had the option
of just listening in.
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I’m going to ask the panelists if they’d like to say
anything else before we call it a day and I launch the
survey so just take the microphone if you will ladies
and then we’ll come back Patti and you can have it.
Sharon Howerton
This is Sharon, I just wanted to say it has been fun to
do this, I’ve really enjoyed it. I always thought I
wouldn’t have enough to say but we’re all basic things
and we’re all just doing this together so it’s been fun
and I just wanted to acknowledge one of my most
recent students Miss Elliot and I’m glad she came.
Polly Abbott
Hi it’s Polly, thanks everyone. I think I’ve really
enjoyed the open mic, we’ve had such a good range
of topics and subjects to discuss, it’s been quite fun.
Thank you.
Dawn Turco
Okay Patti you’re on.
Patti Jacobson
Thank you everyone. I just wanted to put in a plus for
Independent Living office hours on Monday afternoon
at 3 P.M. Central Time. 3 P.M. and we can talk about
some of these things in more detail then because we
talk all things independent living.
Dawn Turco
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We just activated two more courses today; one on
cooking and one on dining and socializing. They’re
shorter, two lesson courses so people and kind of get
in and get out, take a break if they want. So look up
the Independent Living series and more are coming,
more topics are coming. Anyway this is Dawn and I
will finally say thank you to all again and remind you
that if you have feedback for us,
Feedback@Hadley.edu. I check it daily, feel free to
use that for any extended comments or suggested
topics for future seminars.
Also a reminder that this is archived and we had
some questions before we got going about the
archives but Ladies Lounge the first, second and third
will all be on the past seminars page, along with many
other topics. So feel free to anytime of the day, you
don’t have to be a student you can just go listen to
those seminars or share them with others. Or if you’re
in a support group or any kind of a group setting and
you want to use them, they make wonderful
presentation and conversation pieces, I think. So
check us out, past seminars and if you want to be
notified there is a process for podcast notifications.
And again Hadley folks Sharon and Patti thank you so
much, and Polly thank you so very much. Good bye
all.
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[End of Audio – 1:00:00]
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