Are you (and your sisters) more or less groomed that your mother/grandmother?

[Anna8888]

Are we getting more or less fussy about our appearance through the generations? Why?

In general, I am more groomed than my grandmothers would have been - they both grew up on farms, worked very hard - I work in an office!

But on Sundays they would have gone to church immaculately dressed and never without a hat, whereas I slope along in my jeans (it is a very anything-goes sort of church, to be fair).

My mum spends more and takes more care in her appearance than I do, and I think she probably did when my age too.

I try to look nice, and always lok presentable at least, but anything over and above that is rare.

Less.

My mum has gone to seed a bit now but 'in her heyday' was a beautiful Jackie O lookalike.

I take after my Dad, wild uncontrollable hair, grooming is an uphill struggle. 'Il faut suffrir pour etre belle' as my mother said..

My grandma always went out with a hat and coat and wore a pinny for housework.

My nan thought make-up was evil and once caned my mum when as a little girl she pretended to put on lipstick using a red Smartie.

My mum is pretty well-groomed and my older sister is the kind of person who won't even pop to the newsagent without putting a full face on.

I, on the other hand, am a total scruffbag and haven't worn make-up since I was about 20 (not because I don't need it, sadly -- I just can't be arsed).

Less.

Maternal gran has never washed her own hair - always goes to the hairdressers and has it washed and set. Always 'well dressed' in a skirt and thin jumper kind of a way.

Paternal gran was fascinating to me, with her make-up bag with lippy (mum never used that), face powder and magnifying mirror...

Mum always looks smart, would never wear jeans, wears very little makeup but is always tidy and neat. Would always get changed to go to the shops looking smart!

Me - jeans and t-shirts and flat shoes, may dab on a bit of mascara but struggles with anything more.

I grew up in a household where 'tarting yourself up' was thought amusing (ie silly) and a bit shallow. So I can't bring myself to wear much makeup, and think spending more than £20 on any item of clothing for me is a crime.

I remember wanting a 'Swatch' watch in the 80's, and my dad saying (in a disgusted tone) 'why would anyone spend £25 on a fashion accessory???'

Granny, Mum, Me - scruffy as a box of badgers and big fans of wellies and twigs in hair.

Sister - Urban sophisticate, wore (waterproof) make up through labour and gets up an hour earlier than she needs to to do ironing (clothes and hair) and make up, despite having 2 DCs to get ready for school and a half hour commute. I think she must have been swaped on the maternity ward.

I've been thinking about this since starting the thread, and reading all your answers.

One big difference between my grandmother's generation, my mother's generation and mine is hair. My grandmother went to the hairdresser religiously once a week, where her hair was washed, coloured from time to time, and put up. She did nothing to it (apart from sleep with it in a silk scarf) until the following week.

My mother washes her hair, sets it by putting it in rollers and drying it every three days or so. She has the colour/cut done at the hairdressers once every five weeks or so.

I wash my own hair every day, with the very best shampoo and conditioner I can find/afford, and blow dry it myself. I value a natural, healthy and very clean look; it is a different sort of grooming to my grandmother's, which was high in artifice. My mother is somewhere in between the two. But I suspect at the end of the day we all three of us spend a similar proportion of our budget and time on our hair.

yes that is interesting, the not washing it yourself thing

MIL is like your mother - washes and sets it herself on rollers every three or four days

My own mother values cleanliness above all else so will wash it every day even if it means going out in a rush with it wet (and meant I was forced into a harsh and unpleasant skincare routine once the teenage spots arrived 'because surely soap gets you much cleaner than Clearsil').

My DP's exW does the hairdresser once every a few days thing and never washes her hair herself, even though she is clearly of the same generation as me.

I think her grooming rituals are indicative of slightly passé behaviour in other areas of her life

My grandmother looked like she was going to the ritz for tea everyday.
Dress,full under armour,face on ,heels ,hair set until the day she died.

does she never leave the house without a brooch?
wear gloves to summer weddings?
call the nanny by her last name?

I am much fussier about hair, makeup aand clothes than my mother - my sister is an utter slouch. My maternal grandmother coloured her own hair (badly) but my PATernal grandmother was very much like me whe it comes to lipsticks and otheer fripperies - she used to sneak them to me when I was a child anyway. My mother NEER wears m,akeup.

Ooh, you are very good .

Definitely wears a lot of brooches. Quite possibly would wear gloves in summer. Call the nanny by her first name (but is called Mme X by the nanny, and they vous-voient).

My maternal grandmother was immaculate - always wore dresses with stockings, had her hair done weekly and never went out without her lipstick on. She had the best collection of costume jewellery, too (and she let me play with it! Bonus!)

My mum is naturally gorgeous, but rarely wears make up or anything other than her uniform of black trousers and tee shirts. She is an intellectual, and would rather be reading a book (or writing one!) than fussing over her appearance. i aspire to be like her, but worry more about my weight / lack of nice clothes than she ever does/did.

God yes. Mum was always dressed to the nines - didn't 'do' casual and had shoes, hat, handbag and gloves to match. She wasn't vain but was brought up during the war and the 1950s when women were a bit more glam I suppose. My dad was quite dapper too, especially in his youth. It didn't run off on any of us!

I am probably a little ashamed to say that despite my appearance of haggard bag-lady... I am more groomed than my mother, or my sister!

Family of impoverished intellectuals- appearance has never meant anything, and money should always be spent on books, not clothes or 'products'!

...but thanks for the new word Bink!

more glam than mum.

less glam then Grandma.

My Grans idea of fun was taking us round the make up counters for freebie samples .

Mum doesn't even have her ears pierced or own make up.

My Mum ia much smarter than me.
If she is going 'out' including the supermarket she will always put change.
I am quite scruffy in my dress, put prob spend more than mum on skin care and make up.

ur runecaraeppa rieht toba deirowyrecerew nae dna mMyM

!draobyek ym htiw gnorw si tahw hhO