What 'grooming' would you describe as high maintenance? What's just basics?

[PosyNarker]

That's it really. I've been doing a lot of business travel and always feel like a bit of a state compared to my peers in our London office who seem to all have immaculate gel nails, expensive salon dye jobs and never inadvertently expose a slightly hairy armpit.

By contrast my friends outside of work would probably say I had a high maintenance routine. . (I still feel like a ratbag though as I am just not one of those people who looks effortlessly put together.)

So waxing, manicures, salon visits, facials, gyms whatever - just part of the routine or high maintenance / luxury?

If I had the budget though I'd get regular facials and manicures etc. I'd love to be more high maintenance Although not to TOWIE standards

Routine for me:
Eyelash extensions every 2 weeks
Eyebrows tattooed every year
hair cut every 6 weeks and coloured every 12
gym 3x a week, with use of sauna, steamroom and hot tub afterwards.
Brazilian wax every 6 weeks
shaving legs/pits every few days

I don't bother with my nails as I wear latex gloves for work.

My basics are shower, hair wash, shave legs, arms and bikini line, moisturise everywhere, exfoliator once a week, deep conditioner for hair once a week and face mask once a week.I wear make up most days and paint my finger and toe nails.

That's about it for me, I can't have massages due to a medical condition and am allergic to wax so have to shave.

Oh, I forgot, I also home colour my hair as well, usually once every six to eight weeks or whenever the roots are unbearable

God be with the days when I went to the beautician once a week (alternated nails, facials, massage) and got my hair done every 6 weeks.

I have recently started getting my hair professionally coloured every 8 weeks again as it makes such a difference.

Speaking of a boss intervention - several years of ago I had a member of the team who had terrible BO and not well groomed - very young girl, first job, who was very bright and capable - so I told her and explained what the basic standard of appearance/grooming needed to be in a professional workplace - it was in all honesty the worst thing I have ever had to do as a line manager (worse than sacking someone - shudders). She improved overnight though and was promoted very quickly (actually I think she worked her arse off to get a promotion and get into another team and away from the daily horror of having to see me following THAT conversation)

I think similar standards are applied to men and women in my office. I've a new guy in my team and he is so scruffy, shirt hanging out of trousers, unwashed hair. my male colleagues make an effort with smart suits, clean shoes, trimmed hair etc. Yes, women wear make up, but we get more flexibility with what clothes we wear.

my basics are a clean face, clean nails and clean hair. I like to straighten it, but if it's a rainy day I'll wear it curly but styled.

I don't wear nail varnish, but my DSis has a sales job and gets a shellac manicure every fortnight. I can't be bothered!

I get my hair cut and coloured every three months. It's long so I can get away with this.

I do home hair masks, face creams etc.

pedicures once it's sandals weather.

smart dress, scarf and jacket for work. Always freshly washed.

I wear make up for work, just the basics, but it makes a real difference.

outside of the office, I dress in comfy skinnies etc. I think good posture, well shaped eyebrows, a scarf and a smile can cover a multitude of other sins

I think boss intervention would be bloody difficult these days unless someone had a serious hygiene issue. I would absolutely love to have an intervention with one of my staff who is perfectly well groomed (moreso than me as it goes) but wears clothes far too tight and it just looks awful - all lumps and bumps and double boobs / buttocks. Unfortunately since I couldn't take a slim woman aside for the same dress, there's not a whole lot I can say. (FWIW I am a bit overweight myself so no axe to grind there).

wow.
I shower and wash my hair I cut my nails short and neat. I wear clean clothes and deodorant.
I pluck my eyebrows once every few months. I last shaved my legs/armpits over a year ago. I wear mascara and blush if I'm going to a fancy function. I've been to a hairdresser 5 times in my life. I last painted my nails when I was a teenager...
But I'm a freelance "creative" I guess we get away with a lot. (and often I wear my pjs to work at home)

MrsCampbell I took it the same way. I do know of one office (my ex was the guy's boss) where they did exactly as you say, but I knew the guy and he was not clean. He was also in his late 30s and still wearing sweat stained white shirts from when he was at school. I don't think anyone enjoyed making the intervention but his colleagues were actually suffering from his odour (office had no aircon so warm in the summer) and they had to hide him when customers came to visit.

Oh and I've never done anything to my 'bikini line' apart from getting rid of stragglers when I go swimming!

silly I have trackies when I WFH. I still have awesome eyebrows and at the moment great nails, but trackies nonetheless

DH has had to send some males home before to shower and change - I think with some people its that they don't dry their clothes properly so they have that horrid musty smell.

But personal hygiene is definitely different to 'make yourself look pretty love' which is what Lavendar's sounded more like.

Every day I shower (obviously!), use body cream, wear make-up. Most days I use a body scrub, and wash my hair too. Every evening I take off all make-up with an oily hot cloth cleanser, and use a facial oil and a night cream.

I have monthly haircuts, a 3 weekly manicure and eyebrow shape, and colour my own hair once a month.

If money (and time) were no object I'd have a massage every week (at least!), a salon dye-job and a facial and a pedi every 4 weeks.

I know I'm higher maintenance than some, but also lower than some, and that suits me.

Plum let's face it - we'd never get out of the salon if we had the budget

I could then join the group of women my beautician was telling me about who moan to her about how stressed they are as they have to pack for yet another holiday, honestly, its a jolly hard life for some

I don't do bikini stuff either, unless I am off on hols and find swimsuit sits higher than I'd like. Then, DP does the hot wax tidy up, but it is just a tidy. For some reason he finds this amusing and I keep threatening every time to wax his back

For me, basics are shower or bath everyday, sometimes twice a day! Full body wash and hair washed and conditioned. Body lotion. Armpits shaved everyday, legs about every 2-3 days. Cleanse face and moisturise. Make up. Blow dry and style hair. Hair dyed every 6 weeks ish. Eyebrows threaded every month. Hair cut every 12 weeks or so.

Treat stuff I have done occasionally is things like facials, professional mani/pedi, bikini wax before holiday rather than DIY. I'd love to have stuff like this done more but time and money are against me!

I am very low maintenance.

Daily I:
Shower
Shampoo and condition hair
Brush hair (very rarely more than once a day)

Weekly I:
Shave my armpits

Fortnightly I:
Cut my fingernails and toenails

6-12 monthly I:
Get a haircut

My legs are not shaved in the winter but get shaved once every couple of weeks in the summer. I also wear suncream and aftersun on sunny days in summer. I don't wear make up or moisturise.

I consider anything involving outside help (a beautician, hairdresser, whatever) to be a luxury.

I Veet once a week..shave in between. Not into waxing.

I used to get a Shellac every two weeks then discovered Maybelline 7 day gel in a nude shade.. that is going to save me a lot of money.

I tint my brows at home but a luxury is getting HD brows in salon.. lovely.

Tan once a week.

Don't get hair done very often. I like it in a messy style. Haven't need to colour yet. getting to that age though

Plum I love a good Swedish massage (albeit not always at the time because my back if not always great). Don't know why I get the guilt about them. DP is always saying my back's a state with knots and I should just make a fortnightly 30min appointment, rather than the 60min monthly I do now.

A facial I find more of a luxury, but a really good one is a great 'pick me up' when you've been travelling & very relaxing. It's nothing more than that though (unless it's some kind of medi-facial, peel, whatever.) I don't kid myself that it's doing some great unseen good.

Oh, I do wear deodorant daily too :)

I do my own shellac, and its so easy - much easier than getting a good result with normal nail varnish.

I'm very low maintenance - my only salon stuff is an eyebrow shape every 5 months or so when home maintenance isn't working and a haircut every 3 months. I have currently got a 'natural' half set of eyelash extensions in which I really like the look of, but only have done for high profile events

Basics:
daily shower,
hair wash every 1-2 days, blow dry.
Shave legs and armpits every second day.
Haircut every 12 weeks, home colour.
Pluck own brows.
Clean teeth about three or four times a day. Never had them bleached.
Cleanse and moisturise daily with basic natural makeup - tinted moisturiser, mascara, lipgloss and light blusher. I'm fair, so any less makes people ask if I've been unwell.

High maintenance: spray tans; salon hair colour, salon manicures and pedicures, salon brow threading and tints; regular facials; bikini waxes; all extras such as botox, anti-cellulite wraps, fish eating your feet etc.

Cmotdibbler - what set do you use to do your own shellace?

In an ideal world I would find an 8th day and spend half of it having massages and pedicures etc

The last 2 occasions that someone has been told to smarten up, were both dress down day related. One was a woman who had taken to wearing to wearing trackies to the office and the most recent was one guy who just looked a total scruff bag. Thankfully I didn't have to have either conversation. Liberty's tale sounds excrutiating.

Essentials: shower & hair wash. Wear clothes. Sort errant facial hair (mostly eyebrows). Shave under arms. Most days I do also get time to brush my hair, which is fairly short.

Try to make time for: legs shaved, mascara, powder. face mask.

Luxuries: wax legs, hair mask. Hair cut occasionally.

Nail polish, no chance with a newly walking toddler.