Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Style and beauty

Looking for style advice? Chat all about it here. For the latest discounts on fashion and beauty, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

what is it that makes European women so groomed?

216 replies

frazzledoldhag · 04/02/2010 19:00

Message withdrawn

OP posts:
Romanarama · 09/02/2010 07:21

trixy I've always found that Italians are massively unoriginal, but they are groomed though.

(I'm not sure how they managed to be successful in the design field in view of the apparent total absence of creativity or innovation that you can't help noticing when you're there. Maybe I haven't been to the right places.)

StillCounting · 09/02/2010 09:34

Interesting thread

I think one of the main cultural reasons is that we Brits lavish our income and stylishness on our homes and not so much on our clothes.

Average Belgian/French homes tend to have very basic kitchens and bathrooms. Am generalising but they don't entertain at home - don't tend to invite friends or strangers in if they can help it - and as many more people rent rather than own property - there is no real incentive to do expensive home improvements.

They have a different outlook on the private v public "face" you show to the world. Brits are more open/North American in this sense ...

frakkinaround · 09/02/2010 09:40

Hurrah for groooming! Did you repeat the experiment today?

frakkinaround · 09/02/2010 09:40

Hurrah for groooming! Did you repeat the experiment today?

Scotlian · 09/02/2010 10:10

Brilliant thread!!!

Franca, Romana, pmsl at your posts and then got all sentimental. Was brought up near Pavia where every female over 27 seems to wear fur coats all winter, now live in VERY remote Scotland where every male over 12 wears blue boiler suit and wellies everywhere. Women wear wellies, jeans and fleeces, also blue.

I am afraid of becoming one of them (scared emoticon)

Shitemum · 09/02/2010 10:25

I lived in Spain for 19 years.
It was demoralising living among perfectly groomed women and I did try to fit in at first by wearing shoulder pads etc. (was early 90's!).

But then gave up trying to look groomed.

In Spain the women:

-Wear makeup and their colouring allows them to wear redder/darker lipstick and more foundationso they look more 'made up'.

-Have their hair washed and blow-dried every week or so at the hairdressers. There are loads of hairdressers and many of them have regular customers booked in every week and don't actually ever have any spare slots for one-offs.

-Wear heels and walk tall.

-Wear suits, but not only dark colours.

  • they are taught from an early age to groom themselves. The 4 - 6 yo children in DD1s Spanish infant school always had their hair neatly cut, brushed and combed with little clips or hairbands to keep it neat. Some of the boys used gel.
Here the girls in DDs class mostly have their hair loose and a bit straggly looking...childrens' hair is wispier here and the wet and windy weather doesn't help.

Meditteranean women have better hair than us and the light is different - it is warmer toned so it somehow bounces off your face and disguises blemishes - in the UK (and even more so Scotland where I live now) the light is whiter and shows every single pore and flaw in stark detail.

Also I think Spanish women are more coquettish and dress for men rather than for themselves or for comfort.

frazzledoldhag · 09/02/2010 10:31

Message withdrawn

OP posts:
Shitemum · 09/02/2010 10:53

Good going frazzled!

I've just remembered i once did an experiment while living in Spain.
I wondered if the women had great hair because they went to the hairdressers so often, i mean that going to the haoirdressers somehow improved their hair so that even when they hadnt just been it looked good.
so, i went 3 weeks in a row and had it washed and blow-dried.
Didnt make any difference, just dried it out and made it go all frizzy.
I mean it looked good for a couple of days but then when I washed it it was worse.
If I'd gone every week it would have looked ok but at the same time the viscious blasting with the dryer and pulling with the brush would have damaged my hair.

Dumb experiment, they just have better, stronger, thicker hair than us and go to the hairdresser very regularly...

Shitemum · 09/02/2010 10:54

Good going frazzled!

I've just remembered i once did an experiment while living in Spain.
I wondered if the women had great hair because they went to the hairdressers so often, i mean that going to the haoirdressers somehow improved their hair so that even when they hadnt just been it looked good.
so, i went 3 weeks in a row and had it washed and blow-dried.
Didnt make any difference, just dried it out and made it go all frizzy.
I mean it looked good for a couple of days but then when I washed it it was worse.
If I'd gone every week it would have looked ok but at the same time the viscious blasting with the dryer and pulling with the brush would have damaged my hair.

Dumb experiment, they just have better, stronger, thicker hair than us and go to the hairdresser very regularly...

Romanarama · 09/02/2010 11:30

Oh yes, in Rome having a blowdry was about 10-15 euro depending where you lived. So much more accessible than in eg London (though maybe if everyone did it in London too then cheaper options would start appearing.

Shitemum · 09/02/2010 11:45

Romanarama - same in Spain, not expensive and a couple in every street...

Scotlian · 09/02/2010 12:03

Hurray Frazzled! Cheers and applause for you!

Francagoestohollywood · 09/02/2010 12:54

Hello Scotlian, what brought you to Scotland? (sorry, nosey Italian woman alert)

Romana, you said "I'm not sure how they managed to be successful in the design field in view of the apparent total absence of creativity or innovation...". I agree to a certain extent. In fashion Italians were known especially for their ability to sew, for the incredible skills they retained in dress making and the quality of the fabrics used, the proportions etc. Yes, I agree not much innovation in the last 10 yrs, still, even the trendiest designers still source their fabrics, leather etc here.
In the design field, is more or less the same. Italians are known for their skills especially on high end products, think Cappellini or Edra, or DePadova etc.

Romanarama · 09/02/2010 13:15

I didn't mean to sound anti-Italian btw Franca. It just seems so conformist and change-phobic as a society that it doesn't fit very well with being at the avant guard of design. I guess that the sound manufacturing base that you talk about, combined with a creativity that some have, but that isn't really reflected in society as a whole, is anough to keep Via Montenapoleone et al going!

Francagoestohollywood · 09/02/2010 13:39

Not at all Romana (and I didn't want to sound parochial !!!) I totally agree that the majority of Italian society is very conformist and change phobic. And Monte Napoleone sucks!!!

Scotlian · 15/02/2010 17:44

It's ok Franca, I am a nosy Italian woman too

Half Scottish, half Italian, brought up in Italy, Uni in Scotland, travelled the world a bit, married hunky scotsman , settled in Scotland for a while. But "here" is beginning to feel FAR too Northern and am pining for Italy (the dizzy Southern depths of the Po valley!) so who knows where we'll end up.

What brought you to the UK? Was it London?

Today I overheard 3 fishermen discussing what colour their Sunday Best wellies are. Made my day. I can't even remember ever saying "wellies" in Italian.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page