A couple weeks ago my grandmother came to Pittsburgh for a visit. She was only here one day and one night and she came with one request—to go wig-shopping.

Luckily for grandma, her Pittsburgh granddaughter inherited the baby-fine hair of the Bert-family and not the luxurious lioness manes of the Kane sisters (yet, somehow also got the lioness unruliness along with the thinness... sigh). I've blogged before about my fake ponytail, and since making that purchase I've been anxious to get back to the wig shop before winter—I figure wigs are the most stylish alternative to winter stocking caps a gal can muster. And thus, I knew just the places to take grandma on her wig-shopping spree.

A selection of shoes from My Lady Boutique

Before the wig-shopping, however, and even before grandma arrived in town (chauffeured by Donbert), I headed downtown to do some more serious shopping of the sort that would likely be too tiring for grandma. My first stop was the Rainbow. The Rainbow is a juniors/urban/club-duds kind of store that can be found only in places where people don't normally shop. So far, I've seen them downtown, at the South Side strip mall (not the South Side Works—people actually shop there), and in heart of East Liberty. At the downtown one, they make you leave all of your bags, except your purse, up front while you shop. Kind of a coat-check for potential shop-lifting. This always makes me a tad nervous when I first show up, especially because this time around I had to leave my laptop. But once I'm shopping, I find that it's actually quite a relief to be unburdened by my extra baggage. I went into the Rainbow that day looking specifically for small purses to take clubbing—I've put something of a moratorium on clothes buying since I'm poor and already have so many—but didn't find any, and so continued on to the My Lady Boutique. It should be noted at this juncture that the My Lady Boutique actually offers two locations downtown, though, oddly within about a block of each other. The first and original My Lady Boutique is on Fifth just down from Wood Street, the second My Lady Boutique is on Fifth about halfway between Wood and Smithfield. The first is predominantly clothes, but also offers some shoes. The second is predominantly shoes and accessories, but also offers some clothes. I only ever go to the second (see above stated moratorium on clothes-buying). The very best thing about the second My Lady Boutique is that they have two floors. The top floor (and the mezzanine for that matter) is entirely shoes, and everything on the top floor is $7.99 or $9.99. This leaves me positively enthralled, as this is just about the perfect price for shoes in my estimation. After trying on several pairs, I settled on two pairs of blue sandals, one pair strappy with kitten heels and one more casual with chunky heels, and decided to buy yet another pair of The Best Sandals Ever.

The Best Sandals Ever

I originally bought a pair of The Best Sandals Ever in red earlier in the year, and after a short breaking in period (no womens' sandals that are $9.99 will let you get away without a few blisters the first few wears) they have proven themselves to be simultaneously the most comfortable and most stylish platforms in my collection. I wear them everywhere, to work, to the club, to Jennifer's bridal shower... they go with any outfit and I always get tons of compliments on them, including from random people on the street. So when I saw that My Lady Boutique still had the sandals, I decided to buy a pair in black. With that, I went downstairs to check out, and the cashier informed me that the sandals were Buy One Get One Half Off. I marched back upstairs and found a pair of strappy, high-heeled red sandals that I'd had my eye on. I didn't originally choose them because they're terribly impractical and I'll probably never wear them, but I got four pairs of shoes for $27 bucks, so I'm not complaining.

From there, it was up to Macy's. First stop—the Clinique counter. In general, I'm a drugstore cosmetics kind of girl... that is, what few cosmetics I wear. The extent of my make-up is Cover Girl Fresh Look pressed powder, the cheap, clear, flavorless vitamin-E lip gloss and Wet N' Wild lip pencil in willow, which is precisely one shade darker than my actual lips.

City Block and T-Zone gel, posing with my free gift

But there are two items I will buy from the Clinique counter. The first is Clinique's T-Zone control gel, which I discovered after Neutrogena stopped making their Pore-refining Mattifier. The Clinique version works just as well and has salycilic acid to aid in the fight against acne. The other item I buy from Clinique is their SPF 25 City Block sunscreen. Now that I'm in my late twenties, and thus getting older for real, daily sunscreen wear is a must, and the City Block is perfect. It's oil free, won't clog pores (I can attest that I don't break out any more often using the City Block than I did before) and it has a slight tint. Not enough that you have to worry about matching it to your skin or looking like you have a terra cotta tan, but just enough to help even out skin tone. I've never liked wearing foundation makeup, and so this slight tint is just enough to make my skin look just a little bit better without anyone really being able to tell why. While I wasn't exactly getting low on either the T-Zone gel or the City Block, I noticed in the paper that Clinique was running a free gift with purchase offer, so I decided to stock up on my two staples and cash in on the freebies.

From there I went to the Macy's bakery and grabbed a thumbprint and decaf coffee while I waited for Neilbert and grandma to get into town. We met on Wood Street on the corner just down from Eastern Wigs on Fifth. Dedicated readers may recall my previous visit to Eastern Wigs wherein I bought a fake ponytail. It seemed naturally like the best place to start. Just as a heads-up for anyone who might decide to drop in to Eastern Wigs—sales ladies at Eastern Wigs are the hard sell type. The last time I was there the lady complimented my hideously boring dollar store sandals. Moments after stepping in the door, the lady had a wig on grandma's head. To be fair, it was a great wig... as grandma wigs go. All the wigs grandma tried on that day looked basically like her usual wigs. The wig from Eastern Wigs, though, was noticeably more natural looking, boasting a variety of warm highlights and overall looking much softer than the wig grandma had walked in with. Furthermore, the wig was about $60, which constitutes a substantial savings for grandma who normally has to order them through her hairdresser at a cost of over $100. After purchasing her Eastern wig, grandma, Neilbert and I continued around the corner, down Wood Street, and up Forbes Avenue to Penn Wigs & Fashions, another downtown wig shop. In this one, the lady brought out a variety of wigs that also looked almost exactly the same as every wig my grandma wears, but they just weren't as nice. They were all kind of monotone, no interesting highlights, and they had a more fake-ish wig look than the one grandma bought at Eastern.

My New Wig

Still, at $60 they were still a deal and so grandma got one with a slightly different style of waves than her usual. As grandma tried on the bevy of look-a-like wigs, I browsed... and was delighted to find that most of their long-haired wigs were around $40. The wigs at Eastern tend to be $60+ and so I've always been reluctant to get one there. But $40 ain't bad at all. My fake ponytail was $35.

I tried on about five wigs in all. There was one with such beautiful honey and carmel colored hightlights, but it was ultimately too flat without enough movement. Next there was a very dark brown wig with long, swingy layers and auburn highlights at the tips. It made me look kinda like Xena with a modern cut and dye job. I tried on several more honey-colored wigs, many with more shape to them, but none could quite hold a candle to the prettiness of the highlights on the first wig. Ultimately, the one I liked best was a dark brown, shoulder-length with bangs and bronzy brown highlights. I wanted a wig, after all, that made me look significantly different than I do on a daily basis. And this one does... at least for most people. My Uncle Donbert, as it turned out, is already so jaded by the frequency and number of my hair color changes throughout the years that he answered the door without remark upon my return to Chez Neilbert and Saundra. My mom on the other hand claimed that she wouldn't have recognized me enough to let me in the door. Donbert gave us both a questioning look. I told him it was a wig. "Really? No..." I had to let him feel the foundation weave of the wig before he truly believed it was a wig, so I guess that bodes well for the realism factor.

And so, I ended the day with a larger shoe wardrobe, future assurance of sun protection, and the perfect wig for... er... now I just have to figure out when to wear it.