Full face of make up and hair done for the gym???

[PromTwink]

Yes, I am being old and grumpy and judge before anyone says.

I've just got back to the gym after about 6m off, I stumble in with hair in a greasy ponytail and no makeup - because why would you, you're going to get sweaty and gross.

But it seems like a new species of gym goer has appeared in my little infancy gym. I swear, some of the younger women have full makeup on including lippy and contouring.

Wtf? Why? Are these Instagram people? Why would you bother? I look like a shiny tomato after the gym, doing 50 mins cardio followed by some weights.

It appears that some people now go in dolled up, do 15 minutes of fuck all, and then take photos of themselves standing with heavier weights than they used to work out.

Stop sitting on the fucking machines just to take selfies, I want to actually use them!!!

Ugh, I'm so old and grumpy.

I have makeup on if I go from work, but I wipe the foundation off cos it clogs my skin. I look rough as fuck after a workout though. Although I only do the classes, so I work harder cos I'm being shouted at. And it's friendlier. Although I did see my arse once at the 3 girls who turned up to a weights class, giggled all the way through and talked over the instructor. He's a really good instructor in a well attended, busy class. They were twats.

The one you're talking about have been around for a while. They don't do classes. They sort of drift around the machines. The opposite sex do similar, but without makeup. It makes using the machines feel like you're walking into a 6th form common room. In my day, we just went to pub.

The taking selfies thing happens everywhere.

I’ve noticed it too over the last couple of year but god I say good on them. When I was that age I was smoking and drinking white lightening in the park or any pub that would serve me so I’m all for getting dressed up and doing something that actually might be better for your body. It’s great to see people doing things that might actually prolong their life rather than what I got up to as a 18 - 20 something
That being said I do find it at bit sad but probably just showing my age

Get ready to call me a bitch again, but I genuinely find it quite sad the lengths women go to these days to look a certain way, it seems so much hard work with lots of make up/contouring/eyelashes/completely covering and changing their own skin tone and appearance. I often look at young women and think I bet they'd look lovely without all that camouflage.

But what do I know, I'm old and invisible.

This is probably the equivalent of when my mum used to bemoan me wearing jeans/dungarees and say I'd look lovely in a nice ladylike frock.

There's a massive difference between someone going to the gym with their 'work' hair and makeup intact and someone who's made the effort to freshly apply a full face of makeup and do their hair as if they're going out out, just to pose on the machines at the gym
Completely, and this is what some people seem to be missing.
The women who go to the gym after work will go to the gym after work, they may or may not wear make up, they'll do their workout and then go home. I used to do that, quite a few people on this thread do that. Nobody would notice us because it's just a lot of average women going to the gym and exercising.

@PromTwink

Get ready to call me a bitch again, but I genuinely find it quite sad the lengths women go to these days to look a certain way, it seems so much hard work with lots of make up/contouring/eyelashes/completely covering and changing their own skin tone and appearance. I often look at young women and think I bet they'd look lovely without all that camouflage.

But what do I know, I'm old and invisible.

This is probably the equivalent of when my mum used to bemoan me wearing jeans/dungarees and say I'd look lovely in a nice ladylike frock.

Agreed. There are so many teenagers/early twenties women on Tiktok with extensions, fake eyelashes, luminous unnaturally white teeth and so much makeup that an entirely new face has been painted on with a brush over their real face. Watching makeup tutorials reveals the sheer expense, time taken and skin damage created by layers and layers and yet more layers of makeup. It is sad.

And of course so many of them are on Tiktok advertising their OnlyFans.

Feminism is needed more than ever but has been watered down into a 'you go girl' slogan about women supporting women vy conveniently becoming the sex objects men have always wanted them to be.

It’s great to see people doing things that might actually prolong their life rather than what I got up to as a 18 - 20 something

Tbf they showing tremendous foresight as they won't get a state pension until they are probably 85!

But the gym is now the equivalent of the pub for some. It’s not about sweating it’s about wondering around looking good and doing the occasional instagrammable move. As I say it’s not necessarily a bad thing when you consider what previous generations were up to

Haha so true @wowhie!

@Whattheactualfk

Yes indeed. ☹️

There could be all sorts of reasons for it. I often use my phone to time myself, record what I've done, track progress etc, they're probably not just scrolling through Instagram. With the make up, they could be coming from somewhere else or maybe they just want to look nice in front of the full-length mirrors and not like a dying tomato (like me!). I agree with you about hogging the equipment, but if you want to use it then maybe just try asking them if they're done? There's no need to be so disdainful of other women just trying to get on with their days.

I go to the gym at 6am before work and have to have my make-up done before I go to the gym because I go straight from the gym to work.
I avoid cardio so that I don’t sweat and I just do weights. I get time to have a quick body shower before I get changed and then I leave for work.

PromTwink - that's where our opinions diverge. I think fun with make up can be a great thing if it gives someone a boost. And following fashion is nothing new - my mum could talk at length at the masses amount of hairspray and time her beehives needed. And women of all ages wear lots of make up. Investing in yourself and a bit self care in whatever form it takes can be important. It's also an easy way to experiment.

Also they don't call it war paint for nothing. I can't imagine being a young woman right now is especially easy or forgiving.

I can go weeks without make up but I'm not going to knock women who do enjoy it.

Going swimming with make up and loads of jewellery (several chains and earrings) either chatting to their similarly adorned friends at the end of a lane or doing slow breaststroke with head and neck out of the water like a turtle sticking its head out of the shell.

We have a few of these types at my gym. The ones with their long (probably extensions) hair down, freshly straightened, make my teeth itch. How can you work out with your hair getting all over your face and making your neck sweaty? I have long hair and that would drive me bonkers! It’s not them hogging the machines in my gym though. It’s older men who who sit/stand next the one who’s sitting, chatting to each other and get seriously affronted when asked if they’ve finished after 20 minutes. Drives me crazy especially as half the machines are out of use due to SDing!

I must admit I have a shower before the gym as I can’t leave the house without one and I generally go in the morning. Have another when I get home. I also put on waterproof mascara, eyeliner and a coloured lip balm just because I don’t leave the house without the basics on. I also wear coordinated kit and look clean and presentable as I would in any public place.

I gave up wearing make up when I was 19. I decided I preferred an extra ten minutes in bed. Now I wear lippy fairly regularly, and most other things only get pulled out the drawer if I'm going to a wedding or another formal event.

I do endeavour to not look horrendous when I turn up at the gym (usually the pool in my case). But then I pound out 75 lengths at top speed and am a soggy red mess by the end of it so I don't think I'll be winning any insta-fans. Maybe I need to start a "what I really look like" Vs "insta-gym" Instagram.

Not RTFT but I take photos at the gym. Some times it’s to log the weights so I remember for next time (memory like a sieve) and sometimes it’s for Instagram. I’m not thin or fit or an influencer, I hate the gym. I feel inferior and judged and like people are sneering at me as I fumble my way through… clearly they are 🤣

The reasons I take photos for Instagram is because I’m running a marathon for a charity and want people to realise the effort emotionally and physically I’m putting in so they donate to a good cause.

Sometimes I have make up on if I’ve been to a meeting first, sometimes I look hungover, because I am.

This is a really nasty thread. Before I get jumped on for being one of the species that is hated and ridiculed- I don’t wear make up to the gym. Heck I haven’t been in over 6 months due to a current high risk pregnancy. Also go weeks and weeks without wearing make up but never would I ever judge or criticise another woman for wearing make up or doing their hair.

It’s the same way I would not judge a woman for not wearing make up and not doing their hair (me nowadays)

So why do you feel that you can look down/judge /critique -whatever word you want to use to justify your statement - another woman who clearly does prioritise and enjoys taking care of herself in that manner?

I hope you can walk away from this thread having learned something positive. No need to pick on women who don’t live exactly like you or value the things you do. Doesn’t make them wrong or give you the right to judge them.

I hate the feeling of wearing make up whilst working out but each to their own. I just think good on anyone for being in the gym, there’s a good intention there. Maybe that’s the only way they can enter the gym by putting their face on re confidence? Or maybe they like to preen and pose? Life is too short to worry but good on you for working out

This doesn’t affect you at all. Why do you care?
Maybe they’ve come from work, lunch with friends or maybe they just want to wear it. They pay their membership too so it’s their decision to leave after 15 minutes if they want to. Surely a good thing for you.

I wear makeup to physiotherapy, which is partly in a gym, precisely because if I didn't my face would look like a tomato within the first 5 minutes, and I find it embarrassing. I can't wear eye makeup but I have foundation, blusher and a bit of gel to make my brows less grey. I don't have the chance to pose and take photos because my physio works me too hard!

So do you @Beannag to be honest lol

@LadyRenoir

So do you *@Beannag* to be honest lol

At least I didn't start a thread moaning about women at the gym, that's pretty sad.

I get time to have a quick body shower before I get changed and then I leave for work
We are not allowed to shower or get charged at our gym yet,😩