I love Rob Lowe, but who doesn’t? Because of his career longevity, he’s known and appreciated across a few generations. My children know him from his Wayne’s World and Austin Powers roles, my daughter from his DirecTV commercials. But I feel like I have a special kinship to him because I’ve read his memoirs, seen his movies and TV shows, and share a piece of Ohio background with him. (He’s from Dayton, OH and my McCully family has roots in neighboring Springfield, OH). His youth was largely my youth; we share very similar cultural references. He just happened to be living those experiences, while I was consumer of them. . . the movies, the tabloid stories, the relationships.
Fast forward to January, 2015. My friends Elizabeth and James Quinton asked me to help out with a “job.” James would be the hair stylist, and I was asked to do makeup. The job was for some male grooming for a guest speaker at the Roper Hospital gala here in Charleston. The guest speaker, Rob Lowe. I could tell you all the nuances of that evening but, this is all that’s necessary: He’s as warm and gracious as he is handsome.
Skip ahead again to this past November. Jim, my husband, said we had a “show hole.” We needed a new series to watch from Netflix. We chose West Wing. So we embarked on the show that we knew and loved from 1999 to 2006. It’s up there in my Top Ten all-time favorite tv shows. This is where I could go on and on about the stellar cast, the writing, the very particular and interesting camera shots, and story lines. So now that I’ve finished the series (selfishly, I stopped watching when his Sam Seaborn left for California politics;), I’m in love with the work of Rob Lowe, all over again.
I’m so very grateful that this experience came to me. I don’t ask why or how. I just happened to get lucky. But I will tell you this: the Universe has a way of keeping me grounded and humble. As I was powdering and grooming this icon of handsomeness, I noticed his eyes darted around my face, as if something seemed familiar. I had my game face on, so I kept working and didn’t meet his look. At the time of this job, I was in the throes of my esthetician curriculum. . . in particular, we were studying and being guinea pigs for chemical peels. When I floated home that night and into my evening face-cleansing routine after my work with RL, this is what I saw in the mirror (below). And then I realized that his “darting eyes” caught sight of this. With his handsome age-defying face, perhaps he knows a chemical peel when he sees one. Thank you for your graciousness, Rob 😉
In 2015 Rob Lowe developed and launched a line of skin care products: Profile For Men. Be sure to check it out. And Rob, if you’re reading this. . . please send products so I can have my handsome husband and sons do a review!
