How much time do you spend getting ready for the day? I clock in at about an hour, although that time is divided between the night before (when I shower and dry my hair) and the morning when I fix my now pillow crimped, weird hair, and put on a minor amount of makeup. About an hour. Sometimes more, sometimes less but if you were to round it out I'm gonna go with an hour.
According to my totally informal, unscientific and possibly grossly inaccurate Facebook poll, that's about the same amount of time a lot of you devote to getting ready every 24 hours. Unless you're Wendy Ann who says it "Only takes 10 minutes, when you have fine hair and don't wear makeup or jewelry or clothes". But I think she's the exception.
One of my sisters on the other hand takes almost twice that amount of time (although that includes her sitting with her coffee waiting for her hair to set or some 1950's thing). The other sister is less high maintenance but still wakes up extra early so she can clean. Who ARE these people of mine?
The two hour sister and I were talking about the amount of time we both spend getting ready, she 2 hours, me 1 and thought wouldn't it be fun to calculate how much time in our lifetime we lose by showering, doing our hair and putting on makeup.
That's some amusement park level fun for middle agers right there.
We both started doing quick calculations in our heads but because we're both more linguistically skilled than mathematically we mostly just stared at our fingers as we tried to remember if we'd counted that one already.
Out came the iPhone. Let's see. We start worrying about showering and doing our hair at around puberty, although honestly, I didn't wear a stitch of makeup until I was out of University, much to the chagrin of Betty who was constantly chasing me with "rouge" and lipstick.
But let's say most people start taking care of their appearance and start a daily getting ready routine at around the age of 14.
Canadian women have an estimated life expectancy of 82 years, much longer if you're healthy. Let's go with 82 though for the purpose of this very scientific study. Assuming you maintain the same level of "getting readiness" throughout your lifetime, that's a total of 68 years of waking up and getting ready.
Just a pic of me in my shower cap which I wear when I want to save 30 minutes of my life by not washing my hair.
An hour a day every year is 365 hours per year of getting ready. That works out to 15 days a year GONE to showering, hair and makeup. And I mean full days. A full 24 hours each.
Multiply that by 68 years and it's 1,034 days of getting ready in a lifetime.
What does that mean?
It's almost 3 years.
If you didn't shower or get ready you'd have enough extra time in your life to become half of a doctor.
3 years of beautiful dreams, laughing out loud, hugging your friend, reading a book, listening to music, watching the birds, walking in the grass, eating ice cream, relaxing at the cottage, yawning, crying, talking, listening. ALL gone. So you don't stink and have good(ish) hair.
I don't have a solution. No fix for it. It's just a reminder to pay attention this weekend to enjoying things because 3 years of your life is going down the drain.
Have a good weekend!
Mary W
I have short hair - just blow dry and so liberating! I can NOT get into bed without a shower - it is impossible as I sweat or lean on dirty counters or other regular life stuff during the day and my bed is a sanctuary for me. I absolutely love the experience of climbing into cool, clean sheets with the AC turned down and a light quilt on top. I sleep well in my little haven so it can't be littered with sticky life stuff. The shower is 5 minutes tops. I wash my hair every night and dry it. So 15 minutes for bedtime routine. Five minutes in the morning to make my bed and get ready as I wear no make-up except a smile and only 'adjust' a flattened area on my head with a little damp sprinkle and dry then out the door to face another day. But my kitchen? that is another story - full of art stuff and dirty bowls and grandkid experiments. I love my life!
Eileen
I love learning how many others have stopped the daily shower and hair wash...also the leg shaving goes by the wayside in winter. Cuts down on water use too!
I spend the extra water (and then some) on the garden during the now regular summer droughts. *sigh*
Loralee
We lose almost 3 years of our life showering & getting ready... that's more time than selfies and finding the perfect Instagram filter combined.
Hahahahahaahahahahahahaaha! As a social media specialist with IG being my primary platform, you couldn't have chosen a better comparison. ;)
I love this Seinfeld-ish feel post.
Karen, you must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.
I've been mostly a lurker on here for years (possibly the first blog I ever followed?), but I pipe up every once in a while to make sure you know you are appreciated. ;)
Karen
Thanks Loralee! I may be looking for a social media specialist soon so I'll keep you in mind. :) ~ karen!
Laurie
This probably explains why there is such a plethora of beauty supplies on the market for us to enjoy, especially since we're glued to the mirror anyway.
And I'll admit, those DIY spa days are fun.
PS> Think carefully before adding too much herbal foliage to your bath if you are also your housekeeper! :)
Kat - the other 1
Tie the herbs up in cheesecloth or old panty hose or something. Use it like a "tea bag," for the bath! :)
susan
The getting ready part of your life is as long or as short as you want to make it. Or dependent on your maritial status lol. The time-sucking, life-wasting part of my life that drove me crazy was the commute. You had absolutely no control of the duration and it could go from long to longer to OH NO THERE's AN ACCIDENT half a day longer.
So I sold my house, gave away my car, gathered up my dogs and moved to PEI and bought a convenience store.
Madeleine Whitfield
I'll visit you when I go on vacation there. I've been planning to do it for about 15 years, so it will probably happen fairly soon!
Madeleine
Leticia
People all around you are happy you didn't find a solution for this problem. :)
I am a Brazilian, I cannot go outside - even to the store to buy milk - unless I've had a shower. It's for everybody else, not for me.
Ann
I may be odd, but I have never been able to stand the feel of make up on my face. So that has never been a time eater for me.
Then as I got older, I learned that taking a shower daily is not great for my skin or hair. So summer time I shower every other day unless going somewhere in public. I won't get into bed with dirty feet or such so I do spot clean if necessary.
Winter I can go 3 days, unless again, there is public involved.
But anything more than this and I itch constantly. And no lotion or moisturizer can work enough magic for the itch to stop. One can take a quick sponge bath nightly to hit the trouble spots but otherwise we would all benefit, including our planet, if we showered much less than we do now.
Oh-and I choose to use my unwasted time out getting dirty in the garden, LOL
Lynn
I hear you, I am not an have never been much in to makeup either. My skin has been healthier because of it, I am sure same with all the smelly stuff . All it has ever done for me is give me headaches.
Spot clean with a good bath soak with Edson Salts on the weekend. Fine thick hair with Cow licks , learned early keep it short an brush it often forward, backwards keeps it clean an tame. Hair product just acts like a weight ,even hairdressers found my hair impossible to put products in that didn't make hair go flat in less than 10 minutes.
As result 15 minutes an I could be out the door with my coffee . Never understood people that wasted a hour or more ...
Joslynne
I'm on the other side where I enjoy a bath every night to relax and restore. Morning is super quick - 5 minutes tops on face and hair - I hate needy hair!!
Dianne Drew
Totally agree. I can get away with not showering or washing my hair for 4-5 days and I do! One can always wash certain parts easily and quickly enough if needed and I lived in Italy for awhile and that's what everyone did, they just used a bidet or washed in between a full shower/bath. You can 'train' your hair not to be dependant on an everyday wash.
*high five*
Alena
I think it depends on the type of hair you have. Try training very fine hair (which defaults to greasy). I have many days when I waked up in the morning and my [short] hair (washed the previous day in the morning) is such a mess and sticks on all directions that I simply have to wash it to be able to go to work. I really wish I didn't have to wash my hair every 2nd day but it seems to be an unattainable goal.
Helene
a) I work from home, b) I don't own make up, and c) children. They prevent showering for years. So for now, I'm good. I'm saving time for the rest of my life! ;-)
Beth W.
A couple of years ago, I made the challenging decision to get back to washing my hair only once per week like I did when I was a kid. I shower as necessary but only get my hair wet and wash it once a week. It was a greasy process getting from washing every day to where I am now. I sometimes might have to use dry shampoo to get me through day 6, but my hair is much healthier overall. Washing and drying my long, thick hair is torture for me. I feel so much happier spending 5min a morning putting my hair up and brushing my teeth, then showering after work when I need it, and washing and air drying my hair on Sundays. I highly recommend it!
Nancy W
The other, less high-maintenance sister gets up early to clean WHAT?
Bronwyn David
You say the daily cleansing routine means I'll miss and average of "3 years of beautiful dreams, laughing out loud, hugging your friend, reading a book, listening to music, watching the birds, walking in the grass, eating ice cream, relaxing at the cottage, yawning, crying, talking, listening."
But I:
have had beautiful dreams (most of my thinking goes on in the shower!)
laughed out loud
hugged my friend
listened to music
eaten ice cream
relaxed
yawned, cried, talked, and listened,
All in the shower / bath / bathroom / dressing room.
I call that "two birds with one stone". No offence to the chickens!
Nancy W
Ice cream? In the bathroom?
Bronwyn David
When you are a parent of young children, needs must, I'm afraid!
Eileen
I love that side of it! Being in the shower is like that yoga class feeling(when you're done)....except you're cleaner! A little confusing.
Kat - the other 1
I've seen my sisters take pop cycles (& sandwiches?) into the shower. Huh?! Lol 😄🤔 Gotta do whatcha gotta I guess!
MrsChrisSA
I consider those hours well spent to make me feel better about myself and not have everyone run and scream at my naked face.
leo muzzin
what are you getting ready for?
Karen
LOL. LIFE! And I have a whole lot of people to impress at my community garden. I'm always, always looking my best there. I even garden in dresses. ;) ~ karen!
Tina
I'm an every-other-day showerer (and hair washer) unless I'm doing something stinky or dirty or going for my massage or to the doctor. And when I do shower daily, I don't (usually) wash my hair daily. So I guess that gives me more time to live my life. I dedicate those hours to loving my grandkids and dogs and cats. So now can I NOT live to 82? That's a little over 15 more years and I'm getting tired!
Dina
The ONLY time I shower daily is when I have so much dirt under my nails from gardening without gloves, that the only way to remove is to shampoo my hair in the shower. And I always forget the gloves because in reality, I really do like to play in dirt and have done so, since I was a wee tot.
Madeline
If one were to pay attention to the showering and makeing-up, in a zenish way, that would be a three-year gain of living in the moment...
be the shower
Beth
Love it! No makeup here - why should women have to look different than they "look"?? Men don't do that, unless they are on-stage or television. Let's change the expectations.
Dina
agree 100%...I'm who I am...take it or leave it, which reminds me, I should go to the medicine cabinet right now and throw away all the dried out Lancome eye liner pencils in every shade they had 20 years ago. LOL!
Madeleine Whitfield
I thought that was Gestalt! (Be the footpath you're walking on, etc.)
Another Madeleine
billy sharpstick
But if you didn't shower, fewer people would want to be near you(at least downwind), so what would be the point?
Slightly off topic tangent: I am so disappointed to hear that you are an iphone person. With all of your DIY attitude, you have an iphone??!! Really??!!
(This message was created on my homemade UNIX phone)
billy sharpstick
Wow! I was #3. Someday I aspire to be your #1 comment of the night.
Karen
Ha! How do you know I didn't make my iPhone? You dunno. Wait. Did I mention in my post that I didn't make it? I can't remember. ~ karen!
MartiJ
Basically if you didn’t shower or get ready you’d have enough extra time in your life to become half of a doctor.
Wow. Everything I need to know about that doctor I dated years ago. As always thanks for making me feel better about my life and all. Think I'll go outside and eat some of those extremely well-trained cherry tomatoes you got me to grow.
Karen
How are they doing?? ~ karen!
MartiJ
It's coming along beautifully. Just made it through a nasty heatwave, which always slows production. I ran twine up for three separate branches and I don't prune quite as steadfastly as you do, but this is my first try and I'm still trying to adjust to the idea that I should wack off so much of my darling tomato plant.
The first few tomatoes ripened this week; I was delighted. The bush is only about 5'3" so far, with about 6 feet upward left to grow. Plenty of room and they seem to be doing better in the stairwell, where I have a tiny bit of control over how much sun they get. Seems like the season here runs well into October, so I feel confident this is just the beginning.
Deirdre
I have to admit in the summer when I'm off (public school employee). I shower less and never wear makeup for those two months. So I'm hoping now that I've bought some extra time for myself. 😁
Holly
as I do, now retired. I have fine, naturally curly hair I have fought my entire life..1 1/2 hours right there! Now only 2 times a week vs 5 or 6!