She's ok, but she's no Elin.

Is she cute?

The consensus seems to be that while Tiger’s ladies were cute-ish, to varying degrees, none of them was as attractive as his wife.

Women are having a hard time making sense of this. I definitely did.

But apparently this “cheating down” (in terms of attractiveness) phenomenon is not new. Whether it’s because a) attractive women are less available to be mistresses b) men care about novelty more than attractiveness, or c) the attraction that leads to cheating has an emotional element more than a physical one, I think it’s significant.

The lesson for women: Although men are visual creatures, they may be a little more complicated than we think they are when it comes to temptation and infidelity. In other (more cynical and paranoid) words, no one is safe!

Thanks for the insight, Tiger.

“No woman,” the most outspoken one proclaimed “has ever gained or lost a man because of her eyelashes.”

“That is such a waste of money,” another added, shaking his head.

Since I’m single and theoretically looking, I could have just filed away the input.  Instead, I argued.  Perhaps no woman has ever gained or lost a man explicitly because of her lush eyelashes or lack thereof, but don’t eyelashes contribute to prettiness?  (That’s the whole point of the mascara industry, right?)  And isn’t attractiveness somewhere around, oh, I don’t know.  .  .Number One on the list of things men care about?

The jury is still out on Latisse.  But here’s my theory about what does and does not matter when it comes to our physical attractiveness to the opposite sex:

Worth the energy and investment

1. Face (clear skin, good makeup)

2. Hair (healthy, flattering style)

3. Body (in shape, and in flattering clothing)

Total waste of time and money if 1-3 above aren’t taken care of

1. Purses (no matter how expensive)

2. Shoes (no matter how hot)

3. Jewelry (mo matter how blingy)

Am I on to something, or am I just being defensive about the fact that so many of my purses are from H&M?

Women, where do you spend your beauty bucks?  Men, what really matters?

Bald and Cute

Well, go ahead and give up on Oprah starting a natural hair revolution. She’s declared that she’ll never do a big chop because she doesn’t have “the head for it” or “the chin for it.” See the video here: Oprah Refuses to Cut Her Hair

Meanwhile, Solange – who joined her on the show with Chris Rock, discussing Good Hair – brazenly dons a short cut. But don’t give the younger Knowles too much credit. She isn’t any more self-actualized, progressive, or afrocentric than Oprah is. She just knew she’d still be cute. Sort of like a woman with flawless skin can go without makeup and proclaim herself down-to-earth, when in fact she just has good genes.

Since we’re talking about dating here, I’d like to suggest the following:

As much as black women obsess over hair, black men don’t give two shakes of a rat-tail comb whether it’s long or short, relaxed or natural, real or fake, present or totally absent, as long as its part of an overall package that is cohesive, attractive, and confident.

Tell me if I’m wrong.

On that note, I’m going to go inspect my chin. . .