Clients always ask me how they can appear stylish and I have a number of tips to help them, but one of the critical ingredients is grooming – the topic of this post.
Grooming is the first thing that goes when we are sick or tired. How much do you want to do your hair or apply makeup when you’re not feeling well? I know from my experience that this is something that it feels like a huge effort and if I’m not feeling great, it’s easy to make the decision not to groom.
Grooming encompasses not only personal hygiene:
- Teeth
- Hair
- Fingernails
- Toenails
- Showering
- Hair removal
But also the appearance of your clothes:
- Wrinkled or ironed
- Stained or clean
- Faded or fresh
- Scuffed or polished
- Pilled or smooth
- Hanging threads or not
When you see someone whose clothing has threads hanging off, it’s covered in pills and stains and is wrinkled, their grooming is ‘unwashed and worn’ it doesn’t leave an impression that they are together, efficient, care about quality or details.
Discover the average life span of your clothes here.
The saying “down at heel” refers to having shoes that are worn down…. and what does it mean? That you’re not successful, that you have no money to repair your shoes. Now you may not think it’s important, but as you leave the room, others notice the state of your shoes.
How about “To dress someone down” meaning, to tell them off… so dressing down is a negative, not a positive.
Jennifer Aniston is a great example of someone who has a relaxed style, but is still groomed
10 Easy ways to improve your grooming while watching TV
- Polish your shoes
- Snip threads that are hanging from seams
- Iron your clothes
- Mend hems or small holes in garments and sew on missing or loose buttons
- De-pil your knitwear
- Give yourself a manicure and pedicure
- Clean out your handbag
- Put in a face mask
- Do a hot oil or hair mask treatment
- Whiten your teeth
Self-care is important. It’s part of your personal brand, and tells the world how you want to be treated.
Good grooming makes you more attractive, and there are countless studies that show that attractiveness helps you earn more money, get a better job, find a mate etc.
Gwyneth Paltrow
Eva Longoria
If you look at these celebrities you can easily see that a little bit of grooming and makeup goes a long way to them becoming the beauties that they are. And of course companies will pay them big dollars to use their groomed images to sell products.
So is it time you took a few minutes to upgrade your grooming routine? Maybe learning how to quickly apply makeup in under 5 minutes a day would make you look and feel more stylish and groomed.
If your hair is an issue for you, talk to your hairdresser about how you’d like to appear and how best to work with your hair to achieve this in as little time as possible.
Get your grooming under control and reap the rewards.
More Grooming Tips
8 Causes of Bad Breath and How to Tell Someone They’ve Got it
7 Beauty tips I wish I’d known a long time ago
Style checklist before you leave the house
Grooming -is there a bare minimum?
Finding a style icon to improve your style
Some good tips there Imogen, especially no.7! I know I need to clean mine out, as it has sand in the bottom of it, yes sand! I went to the Barwon heads fair by the beach in March, where we ended up walking & having a sit down while the kids mucked around in the sun, hence my handbag getting sand in it!! I shall vaccum it out when I vaccum next!! It should be before next March!!
Joanne – that was a while back! At least empty it out and shake it out outside!
I tried watching the video and it said an error occurred. Is it me or is something wrong with the video?!
Mary – have redone the link to the video so all working now thanks!
You are so right, especially the shoe tip. It’s one of the first places I look when getting to know someone.
These are some great tips. Grooming is very important and has a lot of benefits. Oh and looking at the photos, makeup really does go a long way!
Very good advice – grooming makes a world of difference.
One point though: I think “care for your teeth” or “have them cleaned professionally” would do. I live in Europe and we do not share the American passion for blindingly white teeth. Thinking of myself, my teeth have never been completely white and subsequently, any dental work done in the 90s has followed my natural tooth colour. If I had my teeth whitened, I would have to have all my dental work removed and replaced to match which would make me pay dentist bills for the next 10 years. Frankly I would like to use my money on more important things.
Thanks a lot for this tips. Grooming makes a very big difference, because it will change the perspective people look at you with and it might also be something that lands you the success that you need, for instance a job or a nice guy.
I think a little over-the-counter teeth whitening isn’t so bad and can help remove stains that brushing cannot. I, too, hate the Hollywood tombstone teeth look, but I drink tea every day and it shows. Last winter I saw a photo of me where my teeth were clearly turning yellow. I cringed, and since then have been using an drugstore whitening tray occasionally to keep them what I think is their natural off-white color instead of stained.
These are all good tips. I tend to not pay much attention to the state of my clothes or shoes, and I’ll easily wear a favorite item for 10+ years. Every season, I do try to give a critical eye to worn items, but I need to do better. I move to Europe soon, enforcing a much needed downsizing and clean out – I will not bring with me anything shabby, no matter how beloved! I would simply look to investing in clothes there, but, alas, I’m short and it’s hard to find quality petite sized clothing in northern Europe.
v65 – yes, not that super white teeth – but just teeth that are not stained with tea, coffee, red wine and age! Can make a huge difference.
I’m really bad about letting my eyebrows go. I prefer to get them threaded as I have sensitive skin that is irritated by plucking or waxing. I will get busy with life, and then the next thing I know they are all messy (my eyebrows are sparse and unshaped naturally (not terrible but not nice either), and then I have tanned a little from running around outside, and then what get them done and have my super pale skin shining just there?
Maybe you should book in future appointments each appointment you have so that you don’t let them get out of control?