Will my makeover, takeover? WEEK THREE

This is week three of a four-week experiment to understand if, by feeling more polished and groomed, I will feel better about myself. Will people pick up on this? Will they treat me differently? And, if they do, is it because of the way I look or because of the way I feel? Will I get “addicted” to this feeling? Will the makeover, takeover?


This week, real life started catching up on me and my little experiment. The week started off quite good. Monday and Tuesday I was at work  - and I continued to wear my favourite clothes, jewellery and shoes as explained in Week Two.

But by Tuesday late morning – reality hit.

My only grooming-related appointment for the week was my hairdresser’s appointment to dye my roots and get a blowdry. This was planned for Thursday at 1.30pm which, as you may recall from Week One, is the ‘magic hour’ - the time window in between ‘work-me’ and ‘mummy-me’ when stuff that does not fall under either gets slotted in.

But by Tuesday morning an important work interview came up and the time was: Thursday at 1pm. So I had to call my hairdresser to try find another slot during the week – which proved impossible. So I pushed it to next week (fingers crossed).

“It was a reminder. An ‘Aha’ moment in the sense of ‘Aha. Yes! Now I remember. This is why keeping up with the appointments can get stressful’.”

Then, on Tuesday evening, my daughter started complaining of a tummy ache. Then came the fever. Which meant that she was home with me on Wednesday and Thursday. Which meant working from home. Which resulted in postponing the interview for which I had postponed my hair appointment.

Dominos. All plans fell through and knocked each other down.

In the light of my experiment, I embraced what was happening. It was a reminder. An ‘Aha’ moment in the sense of ‘Aha. Yes! Now I remember. This is why keeping up with the appointments can get stressful’.

I don’t like ‘stressful’. In fact avoiding ‘stressful’ is more important to me than feeling groomed. I’d rather that my mind feels put together, rather than my hair and nails.

Anyways, so when Friday came and my daughter was back in school, I could go back to work - with white roots. Which I sprayed.

“I didn’t recognise you”

This week it happened again. I was waiting outside my daughter’s ballet school on Tuesday afternoon when a person I know quite well looked at me. I smiled. She remained blank. Then it clicked. “I didn’t recognise you without specs,” she said. I got a flashback to something that happened some years ago and which I will share.

I was involved in interviewing a series of amazing and inspiring women and the interviews were published in a book called Resilient Women: Conversations About Mastering Life. Each interview lasted two hours or longer and, during that time, I connected with the women who shared personal and meaningful parts of their lives.

Then the time came to launch the book. I went with the flow and turned up for my professional hair and makeup appointment before the big event. The last time I had proper makeup done had been my wedding day.

I must admit I felt good. Until I got to the launch event and realised: that no one was recognising me. The women I had spent hours interviewing and connected with, were not recognising me.

It was like I was wearing a mask. I didn’t like the feeling. It’s nice to be seen as ‘you’.


Week three: The verdict

This week felt very “normal”. I did not feel particularly better or worse about myself. Maybe, since I ended up not having any grooming-related appointments to make me feel “special”, I did not feel any different to how I normally feel (except for the contact lenses, which I am now getting used to, and the dark nails which have now been there for a week).

Next week is the last week of my makeover experiment. So far it did not go as I thought it would on some levels. But I’ll explain more next week when I’ll share the final outcome.


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