Ladies, tell me about your standard hair and beauty routine and how long it takes.

In My Humble Opinion
1

Mods, not sure where the best place for this was, so please move if necessary!

Inspired by this thread, which I haven’t participated in, partly because only male opinions are sought, and partly because I tend to agree with the women claiming that men do notice, but don’t know they notice, I got to wondering about what is a “normal” amount of effort to put into hair and make up. I get the impression that some men seem to think we’re slaves to some inordinately complex beauty routine, but with the exception of one woman who regularly resembles a tiny little drag queen, that just isn’t the case with the women I know.

So - and in the full knowledge that the Dope isn’t entirely representative of all womankind and a lot of you don’t really have one as such - what is your standard hair/make-up/beauty routine? (I’m not asking about shoes as I think the high heels debate has been done to death!) I mean the stuff you do generally most days, rather than for special occasions.

This is mine:

Hair: Shoulder-length, naturally curly. Gets a trim and a semi-permanent colour (to hide the grey) once every 3 months or so.
Gets washed and conditioned about 3 times a week. When freshly washed, I scrunch a curl cream through it and leave it to air-dry - end result looks like this. This takes about 10-15 mins - most of that time being taken up with detangling the curls. When it hasn’t just been washed, it gets bundled up on my head with kirby grips, with a few curls left down to frame my face - like so. This takes about 2 mins. Neither of these seems like an excessive use of time to me.

Make-up: Always foundation or tinted moisturiser, brow pencil, blusher and mascara, sometimes lipstick/gloss or a bit of eyeliner. Either way it takes no more than 10 mins to do. I’m wearing make-up in all of the photos above - by comparison, I’m not in this one, but I have do a tan (and a tortoise!) which I think makes the difference. The tan, not the tortoise.

Beauty: I shower daily, take off my makeup with basic wipes before bed, and use an eye cream and an anti-aging cream every morning. Total time, maybe 15-20 mins. Once a week I try and exfoliate face and body - about 10 mins - and moisturise all over afterwards - another 5 mins. I rarely paint my fingernails, but I do keep them neatly filed and buffed - which takes maybe 5-10 mins once a week, usually done whilst watching TV. Toenails get trimmed once a week (2 mins), and painted weekly or thereabouts in the summer - 10 mins, maybe. Lastly, I shave legs and other hairy bits every other day in summer (10 mins), less frequently in winter.

Writing it all down like that it seems like more time than I’d realised, but not too much time, bearing in mind I’d feel unattractive and lacking in confidence if I didn’t do it. The point is I’ve never done any of that stuff thinking men might notice it - it’s just basic grooming and it makes me feel good. For a date, or to impress someone special, yes, I’d make even more of an effort (whether they’d notice it or not!) - I’m not trying to claim I don’t like male attention - but the day-to-day stuff, that’s just for me.

I’ll be interested to see how I compare with the rest of you!

2

My hair is straight and has no gray yet - I get it cut whenever I notice it’s getting really ratty. Usually every three or four months or so. I shower and wash and condition my hair every day. I don’t put any product in it when I’m done.

When it’s warm enough to wear sandals and I’m in the US, I like to get a pedicure about every six weeks too, but it doesn’t always happen. I don’t often get a manicure; when I do, I get my nails buffed. I don’t like to wear polish on my fingernails.

I have pretty serious eyebrows and ideally I get them threaded or waxed every three weeks (this totally doesn’t always happen), or they begin to take over my face.

I usually don’t wear makeup, but that thread inspired me to do so! I used to wear it regularly but then I stopped working and went to grad school a lot of my routine went by the wayside. Wearing makeup seemed silly when I was wearing jeans and sneakers as opposed to nice slacks and heels like I used to in the office.

3

Hair: Long and layered, gets cut maybe three times a year at a cost of about $35 bucks each time. Washed and conditioned daily. Takes literally one minute to style; I hit the bangs with a blow dryer and run a comb through it. Sometimes I remember to brush it later, but generally not. Oh, and sometimes I use anti-frizz serum, to little effect.

Makeup: Eyeliner, shadow, concealer, powder. Blush if I’m looking sickly. Less than ten minutes.

Nails: No polish, ever. I can grow them to extreme lengths, but usually keep them short, neat, and clean.

Beauty: I wash my face morning and night, shave pits daily, legs almost daily. Moisturize as needed.

It’s always my goal to be low-maintenance, although playing with makeup is fun. I don’t wear any jewelry beyond my wedding ring either, except for special occasions.

4

Hair: A few times a week I blow dry. If I have a late morning (I’m a student and work part-time but have a lot of days that start late), sometimes I’ll blow dry it before I go out and then wash it the evening of the next day. Otherwise I’ll do it the night before. Then when I wake up the next day it’s just brush and it basically just looks good on its own. Blow drying takes about 20-30 minutes. (Twenty mins is more the minimum.)

Makeup: Moisturizer, eyeliner, foundation, lip gloss. About four or five minutes.

Beauty: I get my body hair waxed off. (Eyebrows every two weeks, underarms every 2 weeks, arm/leg every three weeks.)

5

Hair - I have very long, thick, coarse, frizzy, kind of curly but not pretty curly, graying hair, which I hate. I get it colored every 5 weeks (would do it every 4 weeks, except trying to save money). I wash it 2-3 times a week. For work (or going out), I flat iron it. With the blow dry and the flat ironing, it takes about 45 minutes (I have a LOT of hair). Flat ironed hair lasts 2-3 days. When I can’t be bothered, I just twist it up and put a clip on it (5 minutes, tops).

Eyebrows - not too bad, get them professionally done every couple of months, do touch ups myself.

Make up - none, unless it’s some super fancy occasion. I hate applying it, so if it’s a really fancy occasion, I get my make up done. When I have to do it myself, I just do eyeliner, mascara and lip stuff (I can never make blush look right, so I give up).

Body hair - very little body hair, shave legs/under arms once a week.

Nails - fingernails trimmed as needed, toemails get a pretty pedicure every 6 weeks or so (I live in San Diego, so I wear a lot of sandals).

I have pretty dry skin, so I use a lot of moisturizer.

6

Hair: Short. I get it cut and highlighted every eight weeks or so. I have a stylist I always see. I shower, shampoo and condition every morning. Out of the shower, I use a leave-in conditioner and some gel. Total average time: 20 minutes.

Makeup: Usually, powder foundation and blush. If I’m feeling fancy, I’ll use liquid foundation, blush and powder. I tweeze my eyebrows at home. Usually, I do eyeshadow and liquid liner. Gloss on lips. Total average time: 25 minutes.

Nails: Always longish and shaped, but rarely polished.

Beauty: I shave legs and pits every other day. I moisturize and wash my face daily daily. I exfoliate once a week. Once and awhile, I’ll buy a face or hair mask and have an evening wearing the goop.

I sound a lot more high-maintenance than some other people. I didn’t use to be this way until I moved to New York City.

7

I’m pretty low maintenance.

Hair: Very long & thick (below my waist currently, time to get 4 or 5 inches lopped off.) A bit of grey if you look closely, I’'m calling them highlights :stuck_out_tongue: Never had it colored. It usually stays braided, though I’ll leave it down if we’re going out somewhere casual. Wash at night, braid, sleep on it, brush out next day. 10 min, usually less.

Makeup: I don’t wear it, don’t own it. Slap on some moisturizer and I’m good to go. 2 min.

Nails: clean but short an unpolished. I do a lot with horses, nails get in the way and I hate the feeling of polish on them anyway. That goes for both fingers and toes.

Misc: Shower most evenings before bed, hair washed every other day, except in the real summer heat when it has to be at least rinsed daily. Shave as necessary depending on season and current plans.

8

Hair: shoulder-length, naturally curly, blonde to hide premature gray dating from my late teens/early 20s. Every five to six weeks the hair is either colored and trimmed/cut, or just colored.

I used to color it brunette (my original hair color), but as I’ve always had phenomenally-fast hair growth, and coupled with bleaching my hair for a stage role some years ago, I just left it blonde after that. I quickly found out it was much easier on my finances, extending the life of the color job considerably.

If I do the whole wash, blow-dry, and straighten thing all at the same time, that’s a good hour and a half to two hours of work, even using a professional flatiron. Expensive but worth every penny when you have this kind of thick, curly hair and the best investment I ever made for maintaining my appearance.

I usually only wash my hair about every two or three days, since it tends to dryness. Twice a month I pack a goop called Cholesterol on dry hair and put a plastic cap over it for about 30 minutes or so while I’m in the tub. The dry hair sucks up the cholesterol (better than applying it to wet hair), and becomes less brittle and more resistant to heat damage from a blow dryer, etc. Reduces breakage and frizz, too.

If it’s a morning where I need to do just a touch-up of overnight bed hair with the flat iron, that’s maybe ten minutes. If it’s a case where I didn’t want to bother with the straightening business and went to bed with a wet head the night before, I just re-wet the hair, scrunch it with curling foam and slow-dry it. Maybe 20 minutes tops.

Makeup: Eyeliner, shadow, a spot or two of concealer if warranted that day, mascara, powder. No foundation unless it’s for a formal evening event. Blush always, otherwise I look like an extra from The Walking Dead. Less than fifteen minutes.

Nails: No polish, ever on fingernails. The nails are too thin and flat, making even clear polish an exercise in futility. File and buff regularly to eliminate snags and tears. Toenails are professionally manicured and polished year-round, every three to four weeks if I’m conscientious about it. An hour or so of me time at a salon.

I wash my face twice a day, shave the important stuff daily in the shower or bath. Exfoliate once a week and moisturize after. If I’m really on my game I slap on some eye cream as well.

9

My morning routine, from the time I step into the shower till the time I’m ready to go, takes about 30 minutes.

Hair: just past shoulder length, straight. Gets washed, conditioned, and blow-dried every day, gets cut once every six weeks. I shave my armpits and my legs to above the knee every day; I do the rest of my legs and my arms about once a week. I use Dove moisturizing bodywash to do this, and it moisturizes so well that I don’t ever need lotion.

Makeup: a minimum of eyebrow gel, mascara, perfume, and long-wearing lipstick. Usually wear eyeliner and shadow too. Use Proactiv products but no foundation or powder on my face.

Nails: short and unpolished. I spend 30 second cutting them about once every two weeks. I would have a French manicure on them, but they’re weak and begin to peel when they’re polished. I do get my toenails pedicured once a month from May through October, that takes about 45 minutes

Miscellaneous: I do a round of Crest Whitestrips once a year, and often spend a few minutes before bed tweezing my eyebrows, squeezing out pores, etc.

10

Hair: Short. Get it cut about once a month. Graying near my temples but still mostly brown with red highlights. Wash it daily, hit it with a blow dryer for a minute, done. No product and I don’t color.

Makeup: None, ever (well except for that one prom night 33 years ago :D).

Nails:Trimmed, no polish, ever. I do get a mani now and then to shape them up.

Beauty: I shave legs and pits a couple of times a week. I moisturize daily.

I’m an old school lesbian in a 21 year relationship so I haven’t thought about what men like to look at in a very long time… I’m pretty sure it’s not me. :wink:

11

Hair is long, mostly gray now. I wash it every other day and let it dry naturally. I wear it loose if it’s not in my way. From glances in the mirror I think it looks nice in the back, flowing all silver like a river. If necessary I twist it up and slip a hairclip in the back. On a typical workday I wait until I am at work and dab on eyebrow pencil and a bit of lipstick. That’s about it.

For special occasions I will use mascara and/or eyeliner and go to a salon for a hairdo. The last time I did that was about 3 years ago for my daughter’s wedding.

Yeah, I’m low maintenance.

12

Hair: Trimmed 2-4 times a year, depending on how fast it grows. Right now is the longest it’s been, in part as a request from my SO. I’ll get it snipped again as soon as the weather hits consistently above 80°F. I don’t brush it, except sometimes in the shower. I shampoo and condition it 2-4 times per week, on a weird schedule, with different products. I let it air dry. When I wake up in the mornins, I either make a pony tail, put a headband, or both. My sister gave me one of those weird elastic headbands that pull the hair to the back and snap, and I prefer those.

Make-up: Sometimes I remember to wear lip-stick. I use gloss and lip balm when it gets cold and my lips are cracking. When I go out, I may put on base, eyeshadow, mascara, and lipstick. I fail at blush. I can occasionally use concealer for some zits or dark eyes.

Polish: Starting… Oh, about 2 years ago, more or less, I’ve been better about putting on nail polish. It helps with the nail-biting. :wink: And it makes me feel pretty. I do it more so over the past year, since my SO likes it. I wish I could get mani-pedis more often, but the cost of that is cost that can be used for food or drinks (food-oriented person here).

Beauty: I tweeze eyebrows (and stray facial hairs) about once a week or so. I shave under knees once or twice a week, legs above knee about once a month, and shave other areas on an “as needed” basis. Underarm gets shaved every 2-3 days, without fail.

I shower usually once daily, at night. I like to go sleep smelling pretty.

13

Hair: Short, air dry, little bit of pomade to counteract fluff. < 2 minutes. I hate hate hate blow drying and straightening my hair, it’s hot and takes too long, so I can’t have long hair. Well, long hair that I like.

Makeup: Dots of concealer if needed.

Nails: Cut 'em when I feel like it.

Beauty: Shave legs when I feel like it, will go back to waxing in summer. Swipe the armpits with a razor when needed. Shower every other day in winter, every day in summer.

Yeah, my beauty routine is about 20 minutes a day if I have a shower, and most of that is just showering. I’m lazy. I’m lucky in that my skin is pretty good.

14

I get my hair cut and foiled when I’m starting to notice a lot of greys and split ends, usually once every 4 months or so.

My morning get-ready routine looks like this:

Shower (5-10 mins)
Dry off, moisturize comb hair, run product through and scrunch hair (5 mins)
Put on clothes (1 min - I pick them out the night before)
Put on foundation (1 min)
Brush teeth (2 mins)
Maybe scrunch hair again (1 min)

Total time is around 20-25 minutes, maybe 30 minutes if I wash my hair. I used to wash it every day, but now I rinse it most days and wash about 3 times per week. I usually start at 6:12 and end 6:35-ish.

15

I wash my hair twice a week and let it dry naturally. I shave bikini, pits, and legs about 3 times a week, which takes about 20 minutes. Days when I work I brush my hair and put on eyeliner and mascara, which takes maybe 5 minutes.

I get my hair cut and foiled about every 4 months which takes a couple of hours.

16

I though the whole “we’re slaves to our beauty regiments” thing was overstated in that thread.

I spent what feels like 5-10 minutes (haven’t timed it) on my daily getting pretty.

I wash my hair with cheap shampoo every night, air dry. Brush it in the morning, 1 min. tops. Makeup if I’m leaving the house, concealer, base, lip stick, mascara, eye liner, eye shadow, all this goes on in 5 minutes. I use an epilator on my legs every couple of weeks in the winter, more often in the summer. This while I’m watching tv. I dye my roots at home every 4-5 weeks, costs about $3 each time, and I cut it myself about twice a year, when it feels like it’s too long.

The result(I’m the redhead).

It’s just not that big a deal.

17

Wow. I really am high-maintenance compared to a lot of you!

18

Hair- Long, down to my bra strap in the back. Dark brown, dyed with a little lowlight/highlight action going on. I get my hair trimmed and colored about every 6 weeks or so. My hair is naturally very wavy and downright curly on the bottom.

I wash my hair 2-3 times per week, depending on what I did that week. “Normal” is shampoo and conditioner, though every other shower I do a deep conditioning treatment of some sort (I like the Henna and Placenta stuff best and it’s cheap!). I get out, blow dry (with some blow dry lotion in it to smooth/ protect from the heat, as well as root lifter), and then I need to flat iron if I’m straightening or curl if I’m curling. I also tease my hair a bit using Big Sexy Hair’s What a Tease backcombing spray and a teasing comb. From start to finish-- wash to finish flat ironing/teasing- my hair probably takes

Makeup: On a normal work day when I’m meeting with clients, I’ll do concealer, my Mac Studio Fix powder (which is powder/foundation in one), a few neutral/gold eyeshadows, eyeliner, mascara, blush, and a highligher. Oh, bronzer, too. Lipstick/lipgloss, depending on the day.

Nails- I’ve got glittery, ridiculous acrylics. I love them. Plus, nail polish slides off my real nails, so fake nails guarantee I don’t wake up the morning of an appointment and have to flip out and paint my nails super fast (which, let’s be honest: that never ever works out well for anyone).

Beauty- I get a Brazilian wax (every 3-4 weeks) and do my underarms, too. I get my eyebrows threaded (every 2-3 weeks). I shave my arms and legs (few times a week, depending on if anyone will be touching them).

So, I’m big on beauty. Do I do it for men? Absolutely not. I do it because I like these things. When I get sick of getting my nails done (happens every so often), I take them off and just make sure my real nails are nice and clean. Today, for instance, I was feeling lazy, so I’m not wearing a lick of makeup. On the whole, though, I find beauty stuff fun, so I do it for me :).

19

Your hair sounds pretty much like mine, aside from length (I got it chopped to shoulder length a few months back). If you’re at all interested in working with the almost-curl instead of trying to iron it out, can I recommend Herbal Essence’s Tousle Me Softly line? I wash my hair with it, and then use the spray gel and I end up with a nice bouncy shiny curl, rather than the poofy-wave-fro that’s my standard issue. No blow drying required, either! YMMV on that last bit due to length, but it worked really well for my previously unmanageable hair.

My routine in the morning is brush teeth, shower, wash face, moisturise moisturise moisturise, clothes, hair (the routine mentioned above). I shave maybe once or twice a week right now, because it’s bloody cold out and no one’s seeing my leghair but me and the boyfriend anyways. In summer I up the shave routine to ‘whenever I plan to wear shorts’.

I’m working on adding makeup back into the routine, but there’s a big pile of crap (I just moved) blocking easy access to my vanity right now. When I do wear everyday makeup, it’s facial primer, hair (to give the primer time to set or soak in, or whatever it does), eyeliner, eye shadow, mascara, lipstick/gloss.

I trim my nails once a week or so. My hair gets cut . . . whenever it starts driving me nuts. Before the last chop in November, I think I got it cut about two years prior. I’ve never been good at the seasonal trim.

20

At least you’re no Diosa. :wink: