to want to meet some fellow scruffs?

[IntergalacticHussy]

Maybe I'm just having a bad day, but lately i've started to feel like i'm the only person in the world who doesn't look like they've just stepped out of a catalogue

I mean, not that there's anything wrong with that, if it's what you want, but didn't there used to be other ways of looking?

I was going to this meetup, (i'm new round here) organised by the Other Place, and i'm afraid I just bottled it. Probably says more about my judgypants than anything else, but my heart sank when I saw everyone else turning up, perfectly groomed in brand-new looking clothes, immaculate and pushing buggies that looked like they'd been purchased yesterday. I just suddenly felt like i'd spend the whole time feeling apologetic and uncomfortable so i sort of skulked away feeling crap.

It's not that i look terrible (i hope), i just don't mind if my jeans are a bit faded, or i'm wearing a top I bought two years ago, or if dd's going around in a pushchair that's seen better days. I quite like having things with a bit of history to them; second hand stuff/ the odd vintage thing. I avoid ironing if i possibly can and think dd2 looks perfectly ok in dd1's slightly worn hand-me-downs, unless we're off to a wedding or something.

And please dont' think i'm just having a go at other mothers, it's bloody everyone; all dads under 45 seem to dress the same way, all teenagers have the same floppy, assymetric haircut... when i were a lass we had actual subcultures; grungers, skater-punks, indie-kids, goths, trendies...

i know it's ironic to be a non-conformist wishing she knew some other non-conformists, but i can't help wondering if anyone else feels the same?

[Woodlands]

I'm a complete scruff. I live in jeans and T-shirts. I feel a bit bad really, my DH took me shopping the other day and picked out dresses for me to try on - I know he'd like it if I was a bit smarter. However I just can't do it. I have plenty of dresses and skirts but they just aren't practical for sitting on the floor or in the park playing with my 14 month old. And what other trousers do you wear at home other than jeans???

[diddl]

"What I'd love is an identical twin who loved clothes shopping"

OMG-me too.

I loathe it.

[diddl]

"and nobody cares how groomed I look for that."

Are you sure?

[marge2]

My clothes look quite smartish at work, but I arrive in jeans and workboots having come straight from mucking out the horse, Get changed into my (one and only) work outfit in the loos and get changed again at the end of the day before I go to pick the kids up from school. I leave my work stuff in a bag under my desk. Make up? A bit of lippy if I remember but none otherwise, I feel dirty wearing make up. Hair? Lucky if it's brushed let alone styled. Right now, I am shirking working from home in jeans, t-shirt with DH's sweatshirt on (which I will have to take off before he gets home)

[ouryve]

I'm quite particular about what I wear.

It has to:

1. Not be too small
   
2. Be clean (as far as anyone can see)
   
3. Have no holes in it (that anyone can see.)
   
   So yeah, I'm a scruff :o. Dressing up for me is putting a pair of decent jeans or unfaded jogging bottoms on. I keep my coarse, wavy hair very short so it's easy to care for (I tried to grow it when I was younger, but it grew outwards instead of down and never grew long enough to actually tie back).

[garlicnutty]

look like they've just stepped out of a catalogue - That's the exact phrase I used when I moved to St Alban's! It was a short-lived experiment: very nice place but I just didn't feel I'd ever 'fit' there. I'd been living in a naice part of London, working in the West End, so it wasn't as if there was a massive culture shift or anything - just a very 'glossy' local uniform standard.

In my current backwater location, most people are even scruffier & more downtrodden-looking than me

[pyjamasinbananas]

Today I've straightened my hair, it's now frizzy. Put on mascara then rubbed my eye so it's smudged and put on clean jeans that now have a small tomato sauce handprint on them I give up

[projectbabyweight]

Low-hassle hair is really important. Luckily mine's dead straight so I barely have to brush it.

I do get it highlighted three times a year, but the hairdresser comes to me (joy). It's worth it because, with ok hair, it's easier to mind less about my inability to "do" clothes.

I envy men's clothes (the straightforward type, not time-consuming fashionable, god forbid!)

[mouldyironingboard]

Scruffy and proud of it! I can only wear flat lace up shoes (due to health issues and needing to wear orthotic inserts) so that seriously limits any glamour opportunities.

[YankNCock]

'And what other trousers do you wear at home other than jeans???'

Cargo trousers from Sainsburys. Mine used to be black but they've faded to grey.

[garlicnutty]

I never did understand how all those St. Alban's parents managed to stay so smooth & pristine, with armies of perfectly clean children in delightfully furnished buggies! Do the DC never smear yoghurt over everything, spray their parents with juice or fall down in puddles? My friend said they all wore Teflon. I thought it was a joke, then discovered you can actually get Teflon-coated clothing

I was pushing a pair of toddlers around in a double buggy. Didn't matter how perfect we all looked on exiting the house, we were a shambles by the time we got to the town square.

St. Albans MNers ... HOW do you do it???!?

[greenzebra]

I think alot of it is state of mind, I have a friend who buys all her stuff in second hand stores and well her clothes are not amazing but shes just so comfortable in her own skin that people think she looks amazing. I think it has more to do with walking tall and being confident than wearing the new fashion or co-ordinated outfits.

[Ragwort]

Another total scruff - jeans/t-shirts/fleeces - 99% of the time. My 'posh' dress for weddings/parties etc is over 20 years old - a vintage Monsoon, I am happy in it - except that every photo of me at an 'occasion' is the same outfit .

I am totally uninterested in clothes, and if I am being honest think is it incredibly self-obsessed and shallow to spend a lot of money and time on your 'appearance'. I happily dress myself and my 10 year old DS in charity shop stuff - shoes included.

[GrungeBlobPrimpants]

As my mnet username suggests, I am a state registered scruff

Grooming is for show dogs only

[WoTmania]

I'm a scruff - I can't help it. I even make smart clothes look scruffy. Currently wearing t-shirt and alibabas (I live in them) holey, odd socks,and my dreads are being really wild at the moment.

[shuffleballchange]

I'm a bit of a scruffbag but do try to be a clean scruffbag. I only wear make-up for work two days a week and I dress smart then too, which is nice as I get to play dress up then! Six year old DS1 calls me MummyScrummy, so I can't be that bad!

[stressheaderic]

Another scruffbag here.

Thing with me is, Im quite skinny and I feel the cold. So I'm always a bit hunched over, and freezing looking, wearing 5 mismatched layers and usually a trusty gilet and some scruffy flat boots. Plus, I'm so pale that most make-up makes me look orange and I hate the feel of lipstick/gloss.

And to make matters worse, I live in Liverpool, the (self-proclaimed) capital of high fashion, where it's massive curly blowdrys and thick black eyebrows a-gogo. I've never quite fitted in...

[lisamaria]

It's the person not the clothes that counts! As long as clean and personal hygiene is great- who cares about those who judge just because you don't wear boden or put straightening your hair before spending time with your kids over breakfast?!x

[WoTmania]

stresshead - you sound like (except I love the cold weather). I winter I get indoors and take off half a dozen layers, shrinking in the process. i wouldn't be without DMs or clumpy flat boots (surely high heels must be freezing? Think of the chillblains) and my lovely (oxfam find) gilet

[dawntigga]

Erm, I'm a fashion student and you surely would NOT know to look at me.

WondersIfThatMakesMeTheUltimateInScrufferyTiggaxx

[bringmesunshine2009]

I like to look polished. I make an effort to meet, friends and leave house on account of having no other social life. But scruffy is a word I'd use. Greying bras (hidden under clothes) clothes can go up to 5 short term wears without comingnear a washing machine. Painted nails a month ago. Polish all chipped off save for ragged circles in the centre of each nail. Eyebrows, unkempt, feet are a disaster, jeans are too baggy but in skinny style so droop over knees, gather at ankles and hang like curtain over bum. Bras are unsupportive, make up consists of under eye concealer.

I lost my hair brush 3 days ago. Haven't brushed my (very long) hairsince. Can't say I don't care or amproud though. Feel like I lost myself and am too bloody tired to do anythingabout it.

[wandawings]

Scruff of Essex signing in. :o

[gramercy]

One problem of being scruffy is that the look does not age well.

For years you feel you are bohemianly grungy, and then one day you catch sight of an old bag lady reflected in a window and realise that it's you.

For years I have happily done the rock chick look, but now sadly realise that all that black makes me look like a bedraggled crow.

[Shutupanddrive]

Another scruff here! My kids are usually not too scruffy though, I spend all my money on their clothes instead these days!
DP gave me some money and said 'for gods sake go and but some new clothes, I'm fed up of seeing you in that bloody jumper!'

[StickyGhost]

Glad I'm not the only one who cuts their own hair! Do any fellow scruffs want to form a 'Yes, I do cut my own hair' gang? 'I thought it looked alright when I did it, but now I've seen it in daylight.......' ('But despite this I will be cutting it again and trying to kid myself it looks fashionably messy')