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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To do my make up on the train?

317 replies

northchesterforest · 16/07/2024 08:05

Does it bother you when you see people doing this? If so, why?

OP posts:
Ontopofthesunset · 16/07/2024 14:39

It doesn't bother me, in that it's not something I spend lots of time thinking about or worrying about. But I don't much like it when I see it and it makes me feel quite uncomfortable.
A number of reasons:

  1. To me it seems like an intimate act of personal grooming that is inappropriate in a public situation. Obviously lots of people don't see it that way, so could just be my age and upbringing.
  2. Make up is essentially subterfuge and disguise, so to see someone creating the disguise is discomfiting.
  3. If it bothers you how you are seen, and you think make up improves it, why do people on the train not exist for you? It seems somehow discourteous and makes the applier seem obvlivious to social norms, while at the same time caring intensely about themselves and their appearance.
  4. Why are you doing that to your face anyway? Someone earlier in the thread said: 'No one wakes up beautiful'. I dispute that, and I certainly disagree that a full face of make up makes you look beautiful in a way I recognise.
  5. Why are no male commuters putting make up on on the train? Why do women spend valuable time in their lives doing this? So many people talking about time saving and not having time before you leave the house. Just don't do it. It's immensely liberating.
Cinocino · 16/07/2024 14:34

It’s interesting how many people’s main complain it it’s lazy. It’s interesting how people view productivity and free time.
Imagine getting wound up that someone else is lazy because they choose to use a free window of time already in their day rather than wasting it and getting up earlier on top. Seems completely counter intuitive.

Do the same people take issue with a coffee and croissant on the way into work because the person may have had an extra 10 mins to chill before they left??

DPotter · 16/07/2024 14:20

used to travel into work on the Bakerloo line - very juddery ride between Paddington and Charing X. Often would sit opposite a woman doing her makeup. Was in awe of her steady hands doing her mascara & eye makeup

bostonchamps · 16/07/2024 14:18

Everyone calling people who do this lazy; what part of waking up mega early (4.45am some days) to catch the first commuter train to go and work all day until I catch a train home ten hours later, if I'm lucky, is lazy? The bit where I don't want to wake up at 4.30am?

socks1107 · 16/07/2024 14:17

Krumblina I disagree I had powder/foundation all over my clean top and shoulder from a lady doing her make up on a train.

Krumblina · 16/07/2024 14:13

MillyNair · 16/07/2024 09:51

Why do you have to do it on the train? Can't you wake up a little earlier or something?

I would find it odd to see a man shaving on the train.

I'm not sure why I don't like it, but it makes me feel uncomfortable.

People who put their makeup on during train journeys seem oddly vulnerable. It feels as though they are either narcissists (it is like a performance) or not that well organised. It's kind of annoying.

Shaving would leave a mess. Not equivalent

Workaholic99 · 16/07/2024 14:08

I'd just say it's not the applying of make up that I find unhygienic it's the train or public transport itself that pretty gross. Just think of all the people who sneeze and cough and put their feet on the seats and clip and file nails 😷 why would you want to do it is more the question?

HermioneHerman · 16/07/2024 14:04

My goodness, MN can be such an unnecessarily nasty and judgemental place sometimes! 🙄

I sometimes do my make-up or part of it on a train, not because I'm lazy, self-absorbed, performative, slutty or lacking in class but because I'm extremely extremely busy and it's something that can give!

I'm a mum of 3 (including a toddler and 2 primary school aged kids), a mature full time student on a very demanding course and have to run my mornings like absolute clockwork to get everyone dressed, fed and to the right places on time, including myself. I have a 10-15 min walk to the train station, a long commute to uni and at least half hour gaps between trains so I have to make the one I need. If I've rushed then my part done make-up may need a touch up or I may just have run out of time to start or finish it in the first place. So I spend 5 mins or so putting on a little bit of confidence boosting foundation, concealer, eyebrow pencil and mascara, nothing over the top or wafty/spritzy. My skin isn't wonderful and it just makes me look a bit more put together and ready for long day of study and placements.

You just don't know what people have going on in their lives to judge them as lazy and vain, when it doesn't even affect you in any way for goodness sake.

CookStrait · 16/07/2024 14:03

I suppose it could be seen as being vain. But on the other hand I kind of admire them for not caring what people think. Plus it’s making good use of their time.

LlynTegid · 16/07/2024 13:53

It bothers me that women (maybe a few men) lack the confidence to be at work or in other situations without any make up. That they are judged or feel judged without it.

Where it is applied, less of an issue.

Ponderingwindow · 16/07/2024 13:51

Sprays or powders bother me because I am extremely allergic to certain ingredients. Just flicking something with a brush can release particles into the air.

My own teenager can’t even buy whatever makeup she wants because I can’t risk it being in the house. I have to subsidize her budget so she can afford allergy safe products.

EatTheGnome · 16/07/2024 13:50

I just think its a bit lazy. Someone can be bothered to choose and pack makeup and spend time unpacking it at home, risk it all smashing up through travel but can't be bothered to get up 15 mins earlier to put it on. It's personal care, do it in a personal space.

Eadfrith · 16/07/2024 13:47

It doesn’t ‘bother’ me, but I do question why the person couldn’t make time to do it at home because it seems illogical to do it on a moving vehicle, never mind somewhat lazy.

OMGsamesame · 16/07/2024 13:40

AndILostMyShoe · 16/07/2024 09:00

But OP asked, so are only those who don’t care allowed to answer? How odd, in a chat forum.

I reread my post and can't see where I implied that you couldn't answer?

Superscientist · 16/07/2024 13:39

I do it every week. Make up bag on my lap and in 10 minutes I look alive. Every second is accounted for in the mornings. If I am inexplicably early I do prefer to start or do it in the car or in the waiting room at the station but don't fret about doing it on the train

leopardski · 16/07/2024 13:35

Doesn’t bother me at all and I get a busy commuter train so see it fairly frequently.
Once a woman was applying it so expertly on quite a wobbly train I was just utterly mesmerised! Eyeliner flicks and all.

Go for it!

socks1107 · 16/07/2024 13:31

JamSandle · 16/07/2024 13:20

I'm more annoyed by people playing music and videos out loud on phones.

Me too!

Nanny0gg · 16/07/2024 13:26

Garlickest · 16/07/2024 10:10

@Nanny0gg, I was also born in the 50s and felt quite cheeky when I ate a cookie in the street yesterday 😂 We used to get detention if spotted eating in the street while in uniform.

Don't tell me you still sit with your legs neatly crossed at the ankles and feign fascination with anything a man says?!

Well I certainly don't sit with my legs spread!

And there was never an expectation that I had to feign fascination with anything let alone a man speaking!!

SamW98 · 16/07/2024 13:25

JamSandle · 16/07/2024 13:20

I'm more annoyed by people playing music and videos out loud on phones.

Ditto plus making endless calls no one is interested in listening to or eating hot food.

kitsuneghost · 16/07/2024 13:20

I just find it funny. Not offensive

JamSandle · 16/07/2024 13:20

I'm more annoyed by people playing music and videos out loud on phones.

SamW98 · 16/07/2024 13:19

PuddlesPityParty · 16/07/2024 13:14

It is when it’s saving you time in the morning 😂 why does it offend you so much? Weird.

Agree. It’s very good time management using dead time to do something constructive.

And people comparing it to not getting dressed or cleaning your teeth in the train - ridiculous!

It doesn’t bother me what anyone does on their commute that doesn’t affect my life. Play with your phone, read a book, do your slap - seriously who really cares!

DrCoconut · 16/07/2024 13:17

Makeup doesn't bother me but spraying perfume, deodorant etc on public transport is really antisocial as it makes some people really ill.

PuddlesPityParty · 16/07/2024 13:14

NotThroughChoice · 16/07/2024 09:07

Course it’s lazy. It’s a cultural norm to get ready at home in private. Why not get dressed out of your pjs on the train too? Brush your teeth into a cup? Getting ready on a train isn’t good ‘time management’ 😂

It is when it’s saving you time in the morning 😂 why does it offend you so much? Weird.

Gingerdancedbackwards · 16/07/2024 13:08

FictionalCharacter · 16/07/2024 11:42

Putting makeup on isn’t ablutions.

See previous post.