Cleanliness Is...

Wear nail polish only when it is unblemished, and only in the color of the season. A clean polish is a polish ready to fight with. I took a few Mexican and Dominican preteens to a conference in LA where we met up in their dorm and braided our hair. They asked me if my mother had taught me to braid my hair. I answered frankly that she hadn't. She taught me how to make a French bun, and that the three strands, one winding on top of the other made a braid, but she never made the effort to pull the silky white strands of my hair tight as harp strings to wind it up into a braid or any other kind of ponytail that I would one day teach my daughter. No, my mother taught me to comb my hair, to brush the knots out of it,  to paint my nails for important meetings and always wear bras and underwear of the best quality. What a woman does with her hair is legend. You can tell a woman's upbringing, culture, and values by the way she decides to wear her hair. Or lets it loose. This is eternal, this is primordial. You can wear it with sparkles or cut it in strange shapes, but Lord help you if it  doesn't look clean. Cleanliness, and personal assembly is key, if you're on the "body is a temple" kick.