Mini-Ep 477: A Few Good Pants Recs
Doree and Elise hear from listeners about relaxing solutions to bacne and some very good advice on travel pants.
Mentioned in this Episode
Trader Joe’s Thick and Creamy Greek Yogurt
Trader Joe’s Peanut Protein Granola
J crew jersey pajamas
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Transcript
This episode transcript is AI generated.
Doree Shafrir (00:10):
Hello and welcome to Forever35, a podcast about the things we do to take care of ourselves. I'm Doree Shafrier.
Elise Hu (00:16):
And I'm Elise Hu and we're just two friends who like to talk a lot about serums.
Doree Shafrir (00:21):
And this is a mini episode where we hear from you. We share comments and your thoughts and we answer your questions to the best of our ability. But please remember, we are not experts. We are podcast hosts and we always encourage you to seek support first and foremost from a medical and/or mental health professional as needed.
Elise Hu (00:39):
Yes. Yes indeed.
Doree Shafrir (00:41):
Yes, indeed. What's going on, Elise?
Elise Hu (00:44):
We are now rounding, I guess by the time this episode comes out, it'll almost be the end of January already, which is pretty wild. I
Doree Shafrir (00:51):
Know. How did that happen?
Elise Hu (00:53):
I know. I know. And February, there's always the trifecta of activity for whoever is the romantic partner in my life because there's Valentine's Day, my birthday, and then the lunar new year all within five to six days usually. Oh, wow. So Rob is really gearing up. He's like, "Okay, I need to make sure I'm emotionally prepared for this because this is a lot." And as you know, I love my birthday. So I'm like, "Well, what are we doing for my birthday? Where are we going? What do you have planned?" Right. "What do we have going on? Did you know it's my birthday? Three days after Valentine's Day?" He's like, "I am aware."
Doree Shafrir (01:29):
Oh my gosh.
Elise Hu (01:30):
But I am going to keep it chill. I decided since we now have a restaurant that our good friend Rose owns and it's become our cheers where everybody knows your name. The cool thing about the restaurant is the restaurant is just one part of it. You've been. So it's like the rest of it is this giant food hall surrounded by a bunch of food stalls. And so what I was thinking is, and I texted Rose about this, just like finding an area in the kind of food hall area to
Doree Shafrir (01:58):
Take
Elise Hu (01:59):
Over, to occupy, so that friends can kind of just come and go on a Friday night or a Saturday night. And then they can get their own food or drink from any of the five or six different food stalls and bars all around. And then we can just kind of hang and catch up. And that is my way of keeping it chill for birthday celebration. It worked out really well in New York. I don't know if I told you. Yeah, that I just put up a signal flare. This is what I do every time I'm in New York. I like just pick a bar and I put out a note to the friends who all live in New York and say, "Hey, I'm here and if you can make it, come out. " And then you never know who's going to turn up. And sometimes people I haven't seen in like six years and other times it's somebody I just talked to on the phone that day and they were like, "Oh yeah, I'll come down." So it's fun and we'll just do kind of an LA version of that.
(02:47)
And the restaurant's pretty central. It's in West Adams, so it's not going to be like having people come out to Santa Monica, which I have done before for my birthday, which is a lot to ask of some people. So depending on where they live.
(03:03)
So
Doree Shafrir (03:03):
True.
Elise Hu (03:04):
Yeah. I'm excited about that. That's kind of going on. And then I'm trying to get to go to New York again actually in February because there's the podcast festival on Air Fest.
Doree Shafrir (03:18):
Oh
Elise Hu (03:18):
Yeah. And one of my bosses for one of the parenting podcasts, she was like, "I got passes to this. " So I'm sort of like, "Well, do you want to maybe send me? That'd be fun."
Doree Shafrir (03:30):
Does she? Does she
Elise Hu (03:31):
Want to send you? Yeah. I mean, I feel like the jury's out. Right. It wasn't an immediate yes, it wasn't a no. So I'm hoping that we get to do that before the end of February because my tour of like mid-sized or small obscure California towns due to ... That mid-size or obscure California towns that host soccer tournaments and volleyball gyms is really getting pretty repetitive.
Doree Shafrir (04:03):
Yeah. Although as I texted you, at least you're not my sister in DC whose daughter is into synchro ice skating. Because the description of what they need to do for these like ... Are they tournaments? Meets? I don't know what they're called. Yeah. Is like insane. And this weekend in DC is going to be so cold and it was like, dress warm, warm up maybe outside. It's like, what?
Elise Hu (04:44):
But also because there's the dance element when it comes to figure skating and ice dancing, like there's all of the hair requirements, makeup requirements, costume requirements. And that's totally typical in dance. It's like your hair needs to be half up, but your hair needs to be in a cleared clean bun and you need to wear this color and not that and like these shoes. But like to do that and be outdoors and like trying to stay warm, there's a reason I moved to Southern California and not back to DC after being a foreign correspondent. I could not.
Doree Shafrir (05:18):
Yeah. Could not. I feel like by the time this airs, the weather event will be over, but like almost the whole rest of the country is in for some pretty crazy ice and snow and cold. So if you were listening to this, I hope that you got through it okay and you're doing all right because it sounds, at least right now before it starts, it sounds like it's going to be pretty bad.
Elise Hu (05:49):
Yeah. Yeah. Check on your neighbors.
Doree Shafrir (05:51):
Yeah. Check on your neighbors. Well, Elise, we got a couple of responses to Sammy's question about back exfoliation.
Elise Hu (06:02):
Yeah. We weren't sure if it was Backney or not, but we were like, "Maybe it's Backney and if it's Backney, it's this.
Doree Shafrir (06:08):
" I mean, I think it was Backney, but a few people recommended the Saluks skin cloths.
Elise Hu (06:17):
Okay.
Doree Shafrir (06:18):
I don't know if I'm saying that correctly. S-A-L-U-X.
Elise Hu (06:20):
Okay.
Doree Shafrir (06:21):
And it sounds like these are ... So someone said to Sammy's question regarding back exfoliation, I love the Korean exfoliation mitts that Elise mentioned specifically for exfoliating the back. I highly recommend the Japanese sheet exfoliators, and that's what these are. They're called salax. You hold it in each hand and pull it back and forth on your back, shoulders, butt, and back of thighs to exfoliate excellent for the hard to reach areas, happy exfoliating from Seattle. And then someone else wrote in with the same recommendation and said, "Sammy, get yourself a salax. This thing is the absolute best for exfoliating all over, including hard to reach spots. I lather mine with regular bar soap, but it works with anything. Soap, body wash, et cetera, leave skin soft and smooth and never gets moldy. A Holy Grail product IMHO. Hope that helps."
Elise Hu (07:13):
Yeah, love
Doree Shafrir (07:15):
That. And then we got a voicemail about this as well.
Listener Voicemail (07:19):
I have backnee recommendations for you. I used to get really, really, really bad backney and I spoke with a dermatologist, an aesthetician and whatnot. And the general takeaway is if you work out, take off those clothes and/or wash your back ASAP. Also, even when you're kind of washing your hair and the soap is coming down your back, try not to do that. Maybe try to lean forward. Also, I don't know if it was just happenstance, but I got a couple back facials and while it sounds crazy, it was important to me. It was like a huge source of ... I don't know. I was just really kind of embarrassed by it and wanted to kind of step it up a notch and I got a couple back facials and it cleared it up so well. So yeah, those are some of my recommendations. Make sure it stays clean.
(08:13)
When you're working out, take that stuff off, clean it, even don't get shampoo and stuff on it and maybe try. If you've got some fun, try a back facial. All right, good luck. Bye-bye.
Elise Hu (08:22):
Well, now we have an idea for what to get Sam Junio on their birthday.
Doree Shafrir (08:26):
Oh yeah.
Elise Hu (08:29):
That sounds so luxurious actually to have-
Doree Shafrir (08:32):
But their birthday isn't for a while, so we might have to come up with some other reason to get it for them.
Elise Hu (08:37):
Okay. Or we send this exfoliating. Right. The
Doree Shafrir (08:44):
Exfoliators. Exactly. Exactly. Okay. And before we take a break, on a totally different note, we got a text that said, "Hey, just needed to send you a text to share my favorite and dare I say craveable breakfast all from Trader Joe's. The thick and creamy Greek yogurt with the peanut protein granola, and then add whatever fruit I have. Blueberries, strawberries, oranges, bananas, whatever. I've been trying to increase my protein intake in the morning, so this helps." I also love the thick and creamy Greek yogurt. It is very good.
Elise Hu (09:14):
Is it near the regular Greek yogurt?
Doree Shafrir (09:17):
Yes.
Elise Hu (09:17):
Okay. Because we get a lot of Greek yogurt, but it's usually that non-fat kind that's kind of boring.
Doree Shafrir (09:25):
I mean, I love full fat, whole milk Greek yogurt, and that's what this is. And the container is like navy blue. But it's really good. But I've never had the peanut protein granola, so that's intriguing.
Elise Hu (09:43):
It sure is. I keep trying to have the girls have some of these protein packed bars that are available. They have breakfast bars from kind. Kind bar puts out breakfast bars and things, and they're really not into it. They're like, "Yeah, how about we just eat eggs for protein?" We'll just eat it and not eat it in the old fashioned food rather than infused into my breakfast bar or whatever. So I keep trying. It's not going over that well.
Doree Shafrir (10:15):
Yeah. Good luck. All right. All right. Well, we're going to take a short break. Before we do that, our voicemail number is 781-591-0390. If you have any questions, comments about backnee, protein, anything else, call or text us, and you can email us at Forever35podcast@gmail.com. We also put links to everything we mentioned on the show at forever35podcast.com. And on Instagram, we are at Forever35podcast. Our Patreon is patreon.com/forever35. We have tons of bonus content on there, plus our Forever35 newsletter, plus ad free episodes. So check that out. And our favorite products are at shopmy.us/forever35. And after the break, we have some more comments on the one versus two kids question, and then also a request for pregnant postpartum where.
Elise Hu (11:15):
Okay. We'll be right
Doree Shafrir (11:16):
Back. All right. We are back and we got this text that said I'm writing in about the one versus two kid question. We have two girls spaced pretty close together, and I think some of it depends on the personality of the older child. My oldest needs so much attention, but I traveled with my younger one alone last summer and it was so easy compared to our normal vacations. I have a friend whose parents decided to keep having children until each of them had a buddy since the first two didn't click.
Elise Hu (11:55):
Oh my gosh.
Doree Shafrir (11:56):
They have seven children. So take this approach with a grain of salt. Wow.
Elise Hu (12:02):
Okay.
Doree Shafrir (12:04):
That's a choice.That's a choice. Those are choices. Yes. That's really something. Okay.
Elise Hu (12:17):
Wow. Well,
Doree Shafrir (12:18):
We got a few more voicemails and emails about this, but I was starting to feel like we were veering into dish rag territory. Not dish rag, dish towels. Dish towels. Yeah, dish towels. Sorry, dish towel territory. So I wanted to be mindful of that and not have it monopolize our entire episode, but clearly people have a lot of thoughts about this. So thank you for all of your emails and texts and voicemails about this topic.
Elise Hu (12:54):
Yeah. And sort of tangentially related or adjacent to this is a woman who writes in who says she is eight months pregnant and trying to figure out what the heck people wear postpartum. If you or the Forever35 Brain Trust have any suggestions for pants that don't irritate C-section scars, cozy robes and the like, I would greatly appreciate it. My mind first goes to, I don't have a lot of cozy robe recommendations. I have a few robes that I occasionally wear and I just got them from Nordstrom Rack. So they're not like particularly special. They're just affordable and I wore robes a lot during COVID and we were home all the time. But postpartum, I really liked just like the basics from UniClo. So pants from UniClo, they have like sweatshirts, just sweatsets and all of that was very comfy. But I want to shout out, I think I mentioned this last episode or the episode before that I'm really into my quarter zip from Varley and Varley also has pants that go with the quarter zip.
(14:08)
And so I don't know where, if they're high waisted enough to not interfere with the C-section scar area in particular, but I have been really happy with Varley as like for soft pants and soft life clothing. What about you? What do you remember wearing or do you have any recommendations in this area?
Doree Shafrir (14:31):
Yeah. I remember wearing a lot of the Lululemon align leggings, both during pregnancy and postpartum. And what I liked about the aligned leggings is, and also I should say I had a C-section, so I totally am with you, but the aligned leggings have a really thick waistband. And I don't mean like thick width wise, but I mean like it's very tall. Do you know what I'm saying?
Elise Hu (14:59):
Yes. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, I have some.
Doree Shafrir (15:02):
Yeah. So it doesn't like dig in anywhere and they're sort of compression-y, which is good after you have a C-section. I also had, I think they'll either give you a wrap or you can get one of those wraps, like a belly band kind of thing. And I found that to be really helpful. And you can like wear pants over that, that the waistband might be like hitting in a weird place if you weren't wearing it, if that makes sense, because the band is like covering the area. Yeah. Anything sort of like soft, high waisted, but like a little bit compressiony. You don't want a waistband that cuts into you, but something kind of like flat and tall,
Elise Hu (15:54):
Which
Doree Shafrir (15:55):
Is what the align- The
Elise Hu (15:56):
Align would be good for that, right?
Doree Shafrir (15:58):
Are good for that. So yeah, so that would be my recommendation. I also remember I had a pair of J crew pajamas that were like jersey material. And what I liked about those too is that the top was button up. So if you're nursing or pumping, that was really convenient also and they were just so like soft and nice. So yeah, so that was another thing. You
Elise Hu (16:35):
Don't have to be postpartum to wear any of these soft clothes. No.
Doree Shafrir (16:38):
There you go. You can
Elise Hu (16:39):
Keep living the soft life long after this baby is out in the world.
Doree Shafrir (16:47):
I will also say like you're probably not going to be wearing like jeans that much, but if you have maternity jeans, those are also great for postpartum, especially the ones that have like the side panels because the ones with like the big elastic stretchy material, yeah, sometimes those are a little too big after you're not super pregnant anymore, but the ones with the side panels just kind of like expand nicely and that just always like feels nice, feels better. But yeah, you don't ... Something that's like slightly compressiony, I think is like the way to go.
Elise Hu (17:35):
Yeah. Okay. Hope that helps.
Doree Shafrir (17:38):
Yeah, I hope that helps. Okay. We're going to take another break. After the break, kind of along the same lines actually as this question, we have some recommendations for travel pants.
Elise Hu (17:50):
That's right. We had another listener who had been asking for travel pants and some of you in the Forever35 community have responded. We'll hear from those folks after the break.
Doree Shafrir (18:00):
Yep. All right.
Elise Hu (18:01):
We'll be right
Doree Shafrir (18:01):
Back. All right. We are back. And our first recommendation is for a pair of pants from REI. This person says, "I have a pair of the North Face Aphrodite 2.0 pants that I ordered from REI in 2019 and are well loved and still holding up great. I've worn these for air travel. I recommend them. The waistband is comfortable a few inches wide with a drawstring, pockets, and a straight leg." See, you got to get that wide waistband.
Elise Hu (18:42):
I'm looking at the photo and these pants could work for postpartum too maybe because of that wide waistband that we were talking about. This is a recommendation obviously for travel pants, but yeah, they look like they would hold up. North Face makes great stuff too, and it'll last for a long time. So sure, these pants are priced at $95, but if you get-
Doree Shafrir (19:02):
They're a little expensive.
Elise Hu (19:03):
Yeah, but if you get hundreds of wear or hundreds of wears out of it, the per wear cost really drops.
Doree Shafrir (19:11):
I think my only potential concern about these pants in particular, and I would want to try them on, is that they look a little low rise. So I don't know if our listener has experienced that or what they think, but they do. All of the pictures of them on REI's website, they come up way below the belly button.
Elise Hu (19:37):
Is it just me or does the model in this photo seem maybe short too? So the pants look long. I like it when they put the same pants on various people of different body sizes. That really helps me decide whether to buy. Here, it's just on one model and it could be sort of-
Doree Shafrir (19:59):
Oh, you know what? ... deceiving. It says in seam 32 inches, which is pretty long. Yeah. So I see what you're saying, Elise, because they do look like they're sort of bunched at the bottom on this model. Yep. Good observation. Thank you. Okay. Next text, next message. This was actually a comment left on our Patreon post about the episode and this listener wrote, "So I like Lulu Joggers too. I recommend new with tags or lightly used on Poshmark. If you can get old versions, like pre 2020, the quality was significantly better. The size tag inside printed that is a number inside a circle versus a square means it's old Lulu."
Elise Hu (20:50):
Oh, okay. So like when it says six or eight or 14 or whatever, it was a circle around it back in the olden days. That's
Doree Shafrir (20:57):
Right. I have pieces from 2013. "The Air Essentials is great as a sweatshirt top, but I really advise against their pants because none of them have pockets. It's just really impractical when traveling. I like the sweatshirt, no pockets, and half zip also, still no pockets. Vory joggers are great and run large. I think the reason Spanx doesn't have pockets is because they're all about making everything look smooth, and I think they think that pockets disrupt that visual. That's my guess. Form over
Elise Hu (21:31):
Function.
Doree Shafrir (21:32):
Yes. No make goose stuff. But I agree. You got to have pockets, especially when you're traveling. So that's a good point that I had not thought about. So thank you for that comment because I might have decided to splurge if ... But for the pockets issue? But for the pockets issue. Okay. Finally, we have a voicemail.
Listener Voicemail (22:00):
Hey, Doree and Elise. So I am a Spanx eressential connoisseur and I would like to give by two cents considering the question about comfy travel outfits. My mom and I were literally at the airport and we saw this woman in her 60s and she looked so good. Her up it was so cute. We asked her where it was from and it was Spanx Air Essentials. And back then, the material kind of came in like a sweatshirty material and it was really constant. My mom got the set. The downside is it doesn't really have pockets. The upside is that it's very comfortable. Since then, a couple years ago, Spanx Air Essentials only has kind of like that kind of scuba-y material that Elise was mentioning and it tolls really easy. I've actually got a refund on half of the items I've bought because it doesn't really wear or wash well.
(22:55)
Additionally, it does not have any pockets, which an air essential to me. I need pockets, pockets, pockets. So I do own several sets and what I wear them too is sleep every night. I love to wear them around the house starting at like five o'clock when I get home from work because it still kind of looks like an outfit, but it isn't like pajama-y. So yeah, loves, air essentials, maybe not for traveling or maybe if you don't need a lot of pockets, it is really, really comfortable. Okay. Take care. Also, it kind of gets hot. The material doesn't breathe all that well. So like in the summer, I don't wear them for pajamas too, but like right now in the winter, oh my God, I just live in them. They're very, very, very comfortable. Okay, bye-bye.
Elise Hu (23:41):
All really good advice. Yes, this pocket's issue. You would think that the Spanx consumers have already written in and made a lot of noise about this, so hopefully they'll reconsider their position on pockets.
Doree Shafrir (23:56):
Yes. Pockets forever. All right, Elise, that brings us to the end of our mini episode for today. Everyone, thank you so much for listening and we will talk to you soon. Take care. Okay.
Elise Hu (24:09):
See you later.
Doree Shafrir (24:10):
Bye.