Are you well groomed?

After years of having to look "pristine" in various Company uniforms I loved the day I could hand back the last one to my then Area Manager when I retired from the homesales business,we used to have to be on show as much as the showhomes and it became a chore after 20+ years.
Now I am happy in my jeans and boots with a cropped jacket for every day wear but must have my hair tidy,I first started to grow it after I was ill over 20 yrs ago and have kept it long ever since so now it is tied back in a long ponytail or up in a big bun,minimum foundation and a sweep of blue eyeshadow and away we go.
Marion maybe if you clip your hair up and give a quick spray it will grow down soon and you may like the style and it will stay tidy during your working day.

I tried a BB cream, my daughter uses one but I went back to Estée Lauder's Double Wear foundation. I use Touche, ( I wish you had a warning click when the tube is about to give up) and then a rose Lancôme blusher, just enough to look healthy. A subtle smoky eye shadow, have brown eyes and black hair. Estée Lauder's mascara, it lasts all day and doesn't shed. Normally I would finish off with a Lauder lip gloss but I bought a lip stain today, YSL, I read some good reviews about it staying put all day. Finish with a light spray of either No5 or Allure. Think a light touch of scent can make you feel good. Having several daily hot flushes at the moment and to keep everything in place I use Papier Poudre booklets.

Hmmmm, well I do try. I never leave the house without mascara and brow pencil. As I have fair lashes and have over plucked my eyebrows over the years and they are now virtually non existent. My hair is so thin and fly away that spraying it just makes it flat.
I do have clothes for slobbing indoors and I would change even to pop
to the local shops. Not that they're that bad it's just the way I am.

I am well groomed. I never wear any make-up. I am clean; I brush my hair; I launder my clothes. That is well groomed.

Make-up is decoration/enhancement in addition to good, healthful care of one's skin/natural appearance.

Sorry to insist, but the suggestion that somehow you are not properly dressed if you don't wear make-up annoys me.

Granny , that sounds exciting , have a good one !

I remember doing one of those questionaires in sixth form designed to show possible careers. One of the suggestions was was being a buyer for big department stores. However - Sister Mary Paulina instantly dismissed that one as she (rightly) said that I would never have succeeded in arriving for work each day 'well groomed and fashionably dressed'. Other ideas required a degree so off to university I went and I remember being one of the few who didn't possess any rollers let alone wear them in bed as other students did.

Bags - me too!
I shower daily, have clean hair and clean clothes. I rarely, if ever wear makeup; it makes me feel claustrophobic and I can't wait to get home and remove it. I can brush up well like the rest of 'em, but I am only comfy in jeans or casual clothes and can't wait to get back into them after a day of formal wear. So the answer is yes, I am well groomed.

I have to defend women that ' go the whole hog' with the makeup and clothes.
My DDs best friend ( picture the girls on TOWIE on a night out) to give you an idea. She is one of the most generous and kind hearted people you could meet. She is never without this look. Even on the school run.

Oh, I can enjoy the look. On someone else. For me it's totally unachievable or wanted.

If they want to go the whole hog, that is their choice and very smart they look. but those who don't or can't wear lipstick and eyemakeup, hate the way that foundation clogs their skin, and don't want to wear perfume shouldn't be labelled as "not trying" or "letting themselves go".

I had a colleague who looked perfect in every situation - a similar age to me - in her 50s when I worked with her. She was a size 10, with beautiful long thick shiny hair, just the right amount of make up, lovely clothes, nails etc. If we went on a works 'do' I would try really hard to look nice but when she turned up I felt as though I needn't have bothered. Very full of herself though. On one occasion we went for a Christmas meal with a few colleagues and she was posing and swishing her hair about. A young Italian waiter came over to our table and she was batting her eyelids at him. He leaned over, kissed ME on the cheek and said 'you are a very lovely woman and I hope you have a lovely Christmas'. You could almost see steam coming out of her ears. Sadly that was about 10 years ago. These days I leave most of myself in the bathroom when I go to bed.

I wear foundation because it 'evens out' my skin tone and I think it is also a protection against the elements in addition to moisturiser, plus blusher as I am pale, lippie to finish it off. Hair, well I have been fighting it for years, as it is wavy and unruly.
I rarely wear makeup at home, but would love to look to wear some eye makeup for an evening out.

Both DDs and DIL all look gorgeous with makeup but don't always wear it. I might add neither DD takes after me.

We saw someone very gorgeous yesterday strutting around, I thought DH would be entranced. I said 'she's a bit full of herself isn't she', and DH said he was just thinking the same. Surprise!

I was getting rather worried reading this thread and feeling a bit of a slattern because I often don't bother with makeup at all.

I like clean hair and I shower every(ish) day. But I never wear foundation. I sometimes put a bit of powder on my nose and under my eyes. If I am going out I wear mascara and eye liner underneath and recently I bought a lovely navy blue eye shadow which looks very sultry but I only wear it in the evenings when I am going out.

I have recently started putting a bit of lipstick on if I want my face to look colourful.

I agree with thatbags that makeup is a decoration rather than an essential part of good grooming.

Incidentally, I don't care if I look well groomed or not. In fact I like to look slightly scruffy a lot of the time.

That's when I feel at my sexyist

Bellsnana; Olay's Complete Care multi radiance Day is as good as a foundation imo. I love make up; always have, always will. But have to say I hate to see girls/women wearing too much. Used to know a young girl who wore really heavy full make up every day and wanted to say to her, take most of that off and people will see how pretty you are.

Make up is an essential for some, optional for others and not needed/necessary for the rest to feel groomed.

It's an essential for me due to looking like an albino rabbit around the eyes without it

I must say that the lady next to me who always looks groomed wears minimal make up and is a lovely person, she's been my friend for over 20 years and just seems to always look good!

I used to work with a girl who was very glamorous. In fact; when she moved to another office, my boss [it was an open plan office and our desk was in front of his] said [in a West Country Accent] 'oh dearr; oi won't 'ave anything noyce to look aat now'. Made me feel great that did. Anyway, one Christmas we all got tarted up for an office do and she turned up totally the opposite; simple dress and very little make up. Result was she looked stunning. I learned a lesson that day. But I think what annoyed me most [this was a long time ago; think Life on Mars era] no one noticed that it was me that did all the work and she used to sit at her desk filing her nails .

Tegan I know that feeling !

I love that glossy, clean look. Barely-there makeup, clean, buffed nails, well-cut, shiny hair...but I can't pull it off myself.

I can't bring myself to leave the house ( or even rattle about inside it) without full slap ie foundation, powder, lippy, eyeshadow. And nails. Hate being without nice glossy, dark, unchipped nail polish. I draw the line at eyeliner and falsies though. (Eyelashes, that is..).

I don't think I'm groomed, particularly, though. Now Joanie Collins..THAT's what I call groomed!

This time of year I feel as if I am wallowing in a scruffy, outdoor-clothes late-winter state. Working from home...
But this morning I made the effort to spray stuff into my hair so that it is a tidy bob rather than an unkempt mess.
If you see a really smart woman around here - high heels, tights, full hairdo and full makeup etc - in the day, she will probably be a he.

On Anglesey, Jess?

I wonder if the perfectly groomed one looks at you and wonders how you manage something? She probably admires you in a different way.

Most people are at least a bit self conscious and I have yet to meet someone who likes their own hair! It is so easy to say get a good cut but for some of us that still doesn't work. If you have difficult hair you have a problem which can only be solved by using masses of products and no one wants to do that every day.

bags is right - make up is an add on (though I consider it an essential one!)

Being well groomed, to me, means being clean, clothes and all, hair brushed and tidy, no visible whiskers, nails well kept (don't do varnish) and feeling (key word) good.

And, by the way, I think that apples to men, especially those with awful bushy eyebrows and hair poking out of the ears and nose. Ugh!

My 62 year old sister loves her hair - and so she should, it's so thick it can't go in a pony tail, but.......she hasn't washed it herself for over twenty years! She has hairdressers in the UK, America and Australia who will open up early especially to wash her hair. (She has homes in each country.) My sister is always well groomed and has hardly ever worn make up until just recently when she has started to use a pale lipstick. She has always used Clinique soap on her face and her completion is flawless. Good job I'm not the jealous typs.

Or even the jealous type!