Accessorize your shoes with one-of-a-kind laces
Dear Answer Angel Ellen: My favorite shoes are Nikes in bright colors — red, turquoise, hot pink and orange. They come laced with round shoelaces in the same color as the shoes. The shoes are still in great shape but the laces are wearing out. These shoes really only look good with the same color laces, but I can’t find them in stores. Any suggestions?
— Elise J.
Dear Elise: Etsy.com has an array of options in not only round (aka rope) laces but also flat, reflective (or not), waxed (or not), in a variety of lengths. Prices are usually in the $3 to $5 range. But here are things you should pay attention to before you order:
Shipping costs which can double the price.
Color. Say you’re looking for deep aqua. I found some that seemed the right color but when I clicked on them the color listed was mint green. Are they blue? Are they green? Be sure to check with the seller (ask for more photos?) before you order since some sites won’t accept returns.
Measure the size you need carefully, don’t just eyeball it.
Also, there are specialized online shoelace sites like shoelacesexpress.com, mylaces.com and others. Amazon has plenty of offerings, but many vendors are selling variety packs of laces in many colors when you might want only one or two of the shades included.
Dear Answer Angel Ellen: Am I the only parent who has this problem? My curly-haired daughter (she’s 4) gets terrible tangles in her hair and they’re super hard to untangle. Yanking at them with a comb or brush hurts so I often despair and just cut them out.
Are there better solutions?
— Marni D.
Dear Marni: Stay ahead of the problem by shampooing your daughter often with detangling products, deep conditioning creams and leave-in conditioners (drugstores, amazon.com). But, I get it. You don’t always have the time to corral your child
for a bath.
For a stubborn tangle, try warm olive or coconut oil to loosen the knot, although my experience is that the results are so-so at best. Sometimes you’ll just have to get the trouble areas as creamy/greasy as possible and slowly, patiently, starting with the hair at the end of the knot, use a finetoothed comb to work out tangles.
There are how-to YouTube videos to aid you.
My 20-something niece Olivia had dreadlocks to her waist and decided she was tired of them but did not want to cut her hair. For many, many evenings she’d put on Netflix to kill time, oil down a dread and patiently detangle it using — wait for it — a flea comb she bought online for the purpose (chewy.com, $9.16). The dog/cat comb has metal teeth that are super close together and it worked for her.
Angelic Readers 1
From Jennifer W.: “Here’s something I do to keep mosquitoes away from ankles at outdoor get-togethers. I plug in a little desk fan and put it on the ground, somewhere close but in a place it won’t be knocked over. The little bit of a breeze does help keep mosquitoes away from our ankles!”
Reader Rant
“To newspaper and magazine food sections and food blogs: Stop using elite adjectives to describe ingredients. Why do so many recipes tell us to use ‘good quality olive oil’? Oh, I think I’ll use that bad quality oil that I just drained from my car. This is especially wrong because Consumer Reports recently showed that one of the cheapest grocery store olive oils surpassed the pricey brands. These kinds of elite and distancing adjectives show up too frequently in recipes, signaling that you’re not rich enough to be making this food. Also, don’t get me started with the recent New York Times QUARANTINE recipe, with millions out of work, that begins with cooking four lobsters for a lunchtime salad. Please stop the snob signaling.”
Now it’s your turn
Send your questions, rants, tips, favorite finds — on style, shopping, makeup, fashion and beauty — to answerangelellen@gmail.com.