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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be irrationally annoyed by women putting their make up on on trains?!

156 replies

stillstanding · 23/09/2009 09:57

There is a woman who gets the same train as me in the mornings and every day she spends half an hour gazing into her mirror applying her make up and generally having a good look at herself. I find it incredibly annoying but I'm not sure quite why ... I just find grooming like this in public quite off-putting.

I mean, I know that it can be a huge rush in the morning to get out the door and I for one have certainly left the house with a naked face in my time but I then go to the loo at work and sort myself out. I wouldn't dream of doing it in front of a carriage load of onlookers and certainly not as daily ritual.

Anyone else feel like this or am I alone in my irrational pet hate??

OP posts:

happystory · 23/09/2009 09:59

Not only that (cos I find it vile too) why would you want to touch your face with your not very clean hands that have also touched ticket barriers, door handles etc?

yeuch

CatIsSleepy · 23/09/2009 10:01

oh i hate it too but am not sure why
it seems such a personal thing to do in public

always surprised by the amount as well
would be quicker to get a trowel out

saadia · 23/09/2009 10:02

I'm sort of mesmerised by people who do this. There was a woman on the tube yesterday doing this and she was applying some sort of blush/powder, with a brush in very frantic movements over her cheekbones, nose and forehead - she ended up looking very reddish. I found it quite amusing. But, YANBU to be annoyed - it is odd.

NellyNoKnicks · 23/09/2009 10:04

I've seen women who get their mirrors out to have a look at the spots they're going to squeeze bleurgh, and then reapply make up.... now that's revolting.

BornToFolk · 23/09/2009 10:04

It annoys me too, but I can't quite put my finger why. I think it's because if being made up in public is important to you, then why not do it before you leave the house?

Maybe it's just a way of passing the time on the train, instead of reading or listening to music? But yeah, I find it odd.

Bucharest · 23/09/2009 10:06

I don't hate it, I am a bit fascinated that anyone could be bothered to that extent...I am on the train for 35 minutes...35 minutes of me time, the only me time I'm going to get until the 35 minutes homeward journey, 35 mins to read my latest book -hurrah- I sure as chuff am not going to be plucking my eyebrows and putting my liptint on. (that was done in 30 seconds flat on my way out of the house )

Original poster

stillstanding · 23/09/2009 10:08

It is mesmerising, isn't it?! It's such a personal thing in some ways and I'm always intrigued by the different ways people do this or that. Quite want to have a good look at the process but it feels like you can't look and then I never know where to look etc etc.

Sometimes I think that it irritates me because I don't spend very long putting on my own make up and watching someone spend ages doing it in such a slow, laborious way feels very vain to me in some way. But mostly I just think that it is something that one should do in private. A bit prissy I know but I can't help myself!

OP posts:

TheDullWitch · 23/09/2009 10:10

It s annoying because it represents a total disregard for anyone else present. They are taking over a public space with their very private toilette, as it were. Just like eating smelly food jammed up against barfing fellow passengers.

I loathe people filing their nails, making horrid noises with emery boards.

kathyis6incheshigh · 23/09/2009 10:12

I do it if I'm sitting somewhere by myself on the train where I'm not overlooked - wouldn't if there was someone sitting next to me for instance. And I see putting make up on as different from plucking eyebrows, cleaning nails, etc.
The reason is quite simple - I have a 2 year old and a 4 year old who won't leave me alone while I'm doing it and who also like to be kissed when I leave the house.

bangandthedirtisgone · 23/09/2009 10:13

I put a bit of make up on on the train last week. I made sure I sat in a practically empty carriage so there was no one to be disgusted by me - otherwise I normallly go to the toilet to do it.

The reason I didn't do it when I got up is because the journey to my meeting takes 3.5 hours and if I put it on before I leave and have a good snooze on the train it ends up rubbing off before I get there. I have literally no time before I go to my meeting to do it when I get there.

Frankly I couldn't give a shit if that annoys you.

CMOTdibbler · 23/09/2009 10:17

I frequently put on makeup on planes on my way to meetings, just because I have the choice of taking 10 minutes to do it then, or 2 minutes flat when I have just woken up.

I can see why eyebrow plucking/spot squeezing in public is euurgh, but makeup application isn't that personal is it ?

Ewe · 23/09/2009 10:18

YABU

I do my make up on the train every morning - granted it's not for 35 mins, about 5, I sleep the rest of the way!

It's an extra five minutes I get to spend with my DD in the mornings and frankly that is way more important to me than anything else. If you don't like it, don't watch, it's not like it actually causes any harm or mess.

Nancy66 · 23/09/2009 10:18

I sometimes put on/touch up my make up on a train or tube. If I'm doing so it's because it's the only time I've got. It doesn't bother me what people think, I'm never going to see them again. Surely it's ruder to sit there gawping?

MarmadukeScarlet · 23/09/2009 10:19

Well, I was one of those irritating women!

My train journey was 60 mins minimum, putting my make up on took less than 5 minutes (I did not wear a great deal as in early mid 20's when a commuter, wear more - if I wear any - now that I am ancient).

I was often going straight to meetings so couldn't do it in the loo/wherever and NO I couldn't have got up any earlier, I had already fed, watered, let out and picked out 3 horses and walked my dog, including dropping him at the dog minders on the way to the train station.

I would rather watch someone do this than have to listen to loud, often pointless, telephone conversations.

makingamove · 23/09/2009 10:21

I absolutely HATE people filing their nails on tubes. I can't stand watching all that nail dust going up into the overcrowded atmosphere. We have to breathe it in - yuk. And I hate the noise. It really really grates on me.
I watched someone once filing every nail and then picking the gunge from under the nail and flicking it, wiping it on the seats. I was absolutely disgusted. She looked perfectly nice and normal and she obviously thought it was an ok thing to do. I couldn't believe it. Does anyone else think that's yuk??

supagirl · 23/09/2009 10:21

yabu - does it really affect you that she puts her make up on on the train? Seriously?

Perhaps she doesn't have much time in the morning, perhaps she feels she may as well spend the journey doing something productive for her....whatever! Each to their own, surely you have more important things to get stressed about, like the recession, people starving.....you know IMPORTANT things!

Sorry, this might sound harsh but it seems a bit petty to me.

duchesse · 23/09/2009 10:21

I hate it too. It's a bathroom activity asaic, ergo if you wouldn't sh1t in public on a train, then you probably shouldn't be applying your face either. I thought the whole point about make-up was that it was one's public face, so how can people go down the station and board a train full of people without it? Unless they feel that their fellow commuters are not human beings.

kathyis6incheshigh · 23/09/2009 10:23

I think shitting and putting make-up on are very different.

duchesse · 23/09/2009 10:23

I should add that I was once tail-gated by some bint applying makeup with both hands and then sorting out her hair along a busy road lined with schools. Both hands off the steering wheel. Mesmerising it was.

Original poster

stillstanding · 23/09/2009 10:23

Goodness, bang - you're a bit of an arse this morning. I don't care if you give a shit or not. But tbh it sounds like you do - otherwise you wouldn't take care to sit in a practically empty carriage or to go to the loo to do it.

No one is saying that anyone shouldn't do it. It was more a discussion on why it was so irritating.

OP posts:

OrmIrian · 23/09/2009 10:23

I would be too embarrassed. Have done it in the car when waiting at traffic lights though.

OrmIrian · 23/09/2009 10:23

I would be too embarrassed. Have done it in the car when waiting at traffic lights though.

Ewe · 23/09/2009 10:23

I couldn't care less if a train full of people see me with no make up on but I will not go to see one of my clients without any make up - it's unprofessional! Surely you can see the difference?

OrmIrian · 23/09/2009 10:24

Actually I find it fascinating wathcing other people put make up on. They always seem so deft and absorbed.

Neon · 23/09/2009 10:24

I don't see the problem (tweezers and squeezing spots is grose). I often put make up on the train as it's a half hour commute and no time at home - it's the perfect time.

I can't stand someone staring at me whilst I do it although I guess I stare too!

Don't look if you don't want to see it I guess!

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