Are you well groomed?

I'm not remotely well groomed these days now that I'm retired. After years of dressing in business suits it is great to just relax in jeans and sweat shirts.
But, - I can't start the day without a bit of moisturising cream on my face and a lick of mascara. And I always put earrings on first thing.

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I started out well groomed (well, showered, hair blowdried nicely and clean clothes) this morning, but by noon I looked hot and bothered with fuzzy hair. Some people have it but I haven't.

Well groomed like well dressed is not a question of what you do but how you do it.

You can go to the gym in t shirt and jogging bottoms and whether you look well-dressed will depend not on the cost of what you buy but how you choose and wear it, scruffy t shirt and scruffy jogging bottoms look awful. Clean navy jogging bottoms and a bright white t shirt always looks good.

The same with well groomed, face, nails etc clean and hair combed and you are well groomed

...and most of all an air of serene self-confidence (not the same as being serenely self-confident)

It wasn't done to have buttock wobble under the tight skirt on those days.

I wore a rubber Playtex girdle in my youth. Pink, with little holes and reaching from waist to top of thigh. Probably nearly as restrictive as whalebone corsets!

My hair has a mind of its own and needs a lot of mousse and spray to keep it under control. Today it's in its natural state and looks scruffy!

I don't think that it is only in modern times that there has been an expectation of what women should look like, dollie.
In my grandmother's time, it was considered shocking to show your ankle. And I don't suppose anyone on Granset has ever strapped themselves into a whalebone corset, either.
I please myself.
That means being clean, tidy and dressed appropriately and comfortably for the occasion.

Just looked at your photos on here and you ALL look very well-groomed.

Just off to have my daily fight with my hair.

Mine isn't smooth in a wind, marelli. Check out my dandelion head pic on my Twitter profile .

However, a dandelion hairstyle doesn't make me ungroomed.

Bags, you most definitely are well-groomed - especially your hair! I'm still struggling to do mine the way you showed me...! I always end up with bits sticking out and not at all smooth like yours.

Im with thatbags ...you dont need makeup and hair in place to be well groomed...id call it clean and tidy ...theres too much focus in the media of what women should look like in today's society...i think vanity plays a bigger part in being 'well groomed'...

Much as I love my best friend, she is so stylish, I always look like a bag lady when I'm with her. We go to Yoga. I arrive in baggy jogging pants and old tee shirt. She arrives in slim cut trousers, tucked into long boots, a designer blue top, with a silk scarf around her neck. She has a pretty coloured bag to carry her bits in. I have a Tesco carrier bag for mine! As I say, she has it, I have not!

I do well groomed and comfortable all the time as well as no make-up. I never wear anything uncomfortable.

I do well-groomed for formal occasions but the rest of the time I do comfortable. Formal occasions have become less frequent, I am glad to say, over the years. I do like to put nail varnish on my toenails though – but perhaps that's just tarty.

I just put on my make-up in the morning and comb my hair and forget about it. It has never occurred me to check on it during the day. I used to occasionally top up my lipstick but that is so old fashioned today and I haven't done it for years.

I think the well-groomed look looks desperately old fashioned these days. Very 'take a letter Miss Smith'

My DH said I looked like that many years ago, and I was a lot thinner then. No hope for me.

ummlilia - I can remember my friend and myself getting all 'tarted up' when we were about 15. My friend's mum came into the room and we said 'how do we look?'. She said 'like 2 sacks of spuds tied in the middle!' She was right too

Sounds as though she'd make a good workhouse manageress.

On dear, ummlilia; and I always thought the hijab could be the answer to my problems !

I wear the hijab (headscarf ) so don't have to worry about my hair, but I have watched so many tutorials on different ways of wearing it and no matter what I do I always look like a babushka. I have friends who just throw it on effortlessly and look instantly chic. I think it comes from within ! As a kid I had a sister who my father used to say 'would look good in a bin bag.' I ,on the other hand,looked-even in tailored suits-like 'a sack of spuds tied round the middle'. He was right..!

Tegan an apricot blusher is a soft colour with silvery hair.

Some women seem able to wear scarves effortlessly and look so chic and stylish. I can't, they just look a mess.

I have a friend who always looks incredibly tidy and cared-for, almost shiny! Even after a five mile walk she barely looks hot, next to my sweaty, wind-blown self! And she is a lovely person, too, I don't think she gives her appearance much thought, is just built that way - some people are!
I do love make-up, but have never been that good with hair. It's short these days, when it was long it just wouldn't stay put in a French pleat (remember those?), I do notice women who can just wind their hair up in a chignon and look very chic in seconds, but I'm happy just to have hair.
We should all remember that a smile can make us all look years younger, brighter and warm - it really does!

It's funny isn't it, that being well groomed has nothing to do with beauty? Quite often rather ugly women look good simply because they look well groomed and stylish.However, IMO you can overdo the styling, and look as if you are trying too hard.It's all about confidence, if you have that it goes a long way.Being clean, of course, some make up usually helps us all [however good our skin] it gives a bit of colour and glow.Also it helps if you don't go out looking as if you dressed in the dark.It would seem our hair is the main concern; mine is fine [would love thick hair, but a good friend who does have thick hair hates it!] So I can't have it short, and am too small [short] and don't have much of a neck, so the best style is a multilayered bob.I keep it highlighted blonde.However, going out on a windy day [or a drizzly day] turns it into a wavy haystack, even with hairspray.I have stopped worrying about it.