The extra time you spend getting ready because you wear vintage.

[Miss Sis]

Does it take longer to get ready for me wearing Vintage? Yes, quite alot longer! I wet set my hair the night before which takes about 45 minutes and sleep on it, then I have to tackle it once the rollers are out, which means combing and brushing it into shape. This alone can take 20 minutes. However, I plan all my outfits the night before, so everything is ready and waiting for me.

With modern wear, I'm so low maintenance I'm ready in 20 minutes from getting out of bed to getting out the door. Yes, I don't always wear vintage full on but when I do, I do it properly. Also, it's not so much the ironing the takes up all my time as the mending. I always have huge piles of mending!

 

[Amy]

For me, no. To achieve a natural and modern look takes forever (and a million products on my face and in my hair). But a couple of combs in my hair, some black eyeliner and red lipstick is almost instant, and look pretty groomed, in a vintage way. Actually putting on my clothes takes the same time, I think. Perhaps quicker to slip on a pair of heels than socks and trainers, which need to be laced up, etc, etc. Walking to the train station takes longer in nice shoes, so I usually wear a pair of ballet-pumps and change them later if I'm in a rush!

 

[Deco-Doll-1928]

To the OP, you should see me in the morning when I have to go to a vintage type event. I am a total mess! I spend so much time running around the house and freaking out about if what I am wearing looks okay. I have one of those days coming up too. lol! One year I managed to rip the dress I was wearing prior to going to the event that I was heading to in a couple of hours!

 

[Clabbergirl]

It takes me longer to prep vintage than modern because of the hair, never mind the clothing.

With natural curls, I put a styling product in my hair and let it air dry straight out of the shower, not touching it again while I get dressed and do makeup (which doesn't take long at all whether vintage or modern).

On a vintage morning, having set it the night before, I then must brush, brush, brush, brush, and brush the next morning. Work it into position and spray, spray, spray. Even on a good day with minimal frizz or a curlier style, the brushing is something I just don't have to contend with on a modern morning for my hair to still look great and quite presentable. I find that I spend more time during the day 'checking' my hair in the mirror to see if it's holding its shape too.

As for modern dressing, I hate pantyhose and have always leaned toward stockings and a belt if I needed to wear something on my legs. I don't wear stockings in the summer because it's hot and humid here and I'm just too old to deal with that frustration, so...clothing-wise a vintage morning v. a modern morning doesn't differentiate much time-wise. I sometimes wear stockings in winter and that adds a few minutes. If I need to wear a corset for something, however, that adds another 5 min or so onto the routine. It's not much, but every minute counts at 6 o'clock in the morning during a workweek. For these reasons, I usually save my vintage looks for weekends or outside-of-work events.

 

[Black Dahlia]

Hey ladies,

It doesn't take me any longer to get ready, actually less time now than with my previous "look."

I've been wearing vintage/vintage repro clothing all the time since about 2003, before that I was....well, gothic I guess you could say! I wear way less make up now, not much except lipstick, mascara and a bit of powder. Before...way too much make up!

I no longer colour my hair either, or straighten it like I use to. Now I just let the curls go wild!

X
BD

 

[Grant Fan]

Only in the summer does it take me longer to go vintage.If I do modern in the summer I usually just wet my hair and pop it in a braid on the side. But because I have naturally curly hair it all takes a lot of time I usually spend about 20 -30 minutes on my hair. But a small disclaimer I am better at hair then most hair dressers so I can move quickly when I do it. Makeup takes me about the same, and of course if I am getting formally dressed up then it takes much longer.

 

[KC Sweetie]

Not too much...

Mostly dressing vintage requires more planning, because I have to set my hair the night before. That only takes about 20 minutes. In the morning, I just pull the rollers out, run my fingers through it and put in combs or a barrette. My hair takes naturally to waves, so it pretty much just does what I want.

The clothes don't really take any longer than it takes to change my purse.

 

[kymeratale]

It takes me a fair bit longer than my non-vintage look, which is pretty low maintenance (read lazy), mainly for the time to do my hair. Naturally wavy/curly hair which for non-vintage gets some product, scrunching and then a brush through when dry. About as basic as it comes. I have got doing a wet set down to 45 minutes (I have had it take me 1 1/2 hours when I was still figuring stuff out), which isn't really that much worse than doing a hot set if you include the time waiting for rollers to cool. I'm pretty quick with my makeup either way, but doing a good job of red lipstick does take a couple minutes more.

I suppose the clothes do take more time for ironing, especially 50s style skirts and dresses. But that is a bit of a cheat, because the non-vintage is falling back on jeans and t-shirts or sweaters (again, lazy).

I do wish I could get more days out of a wet set, but given my oily scalp, 2 is really all I can stand. Lately it's only 1 day because my hair got kind of fried and now goes to straw when I brush it out the next day. *Sigh* oily scalp, dry rest of it.

So for me, vintage is definitely more maintenance, but so worth it. I feel lots better in my vintage looks.

 

[KC Sweetie]

Wow! That's great that you can get more than one day out of a wet set. It varies for me. Sometimes it will last two days, but most of the time the second day is a pretty bad mess. I have had some luck extending a wet set by rerolling it dry before I go to bed. It will retain the curl through the second day, but I have to get the curls pretty much in the same way as the original set. Doing a dry set two days in a row is nearly impossible.

 

[kamikat]

Vintage takes much less time for me than modern. The make-up is the same (I've been wearing vintage style makeup since high school no matter what I'm wearing), but modern hair is so much more hassle. I recently got a haircut that doesn't lend itself to vintage styles because I thought it would take less time. My hair is really thick, coarse and stick straight. In order for it to look nice, I have to wash it every day and blowdry it with a round brush, which takes nearly 30min. When I wear vintage hair, I pincurl it at night and can get 2 days, then on days 3&4, I can wear it in combs and a snood, which takes less than 5 minutes to put up.

 

[Isis]

I have found that my middy-cut really is the best hair cut I have ever had. looks great curled, of course, but even if I just let it airdry my natural curls behave very nicely due to the layers. My excellent retro hairdresser told me that modern haircuts are so complicated that you have to style them or they won't look good. I think there is a lot in that.

 

[Miss sofia]

Actually i find a modern look takes me far longer than a vintage one. I have to wash, blowdry and straighten my hair daily, if i do modern hair, as it is very fine and lank, and that would take me at least 45 minutes or so to do that. With a vintage look i tend to set my hair the night before with rollers or pincurls which takes me about half an hour the first night i set it and then about fifteen minutes or so the following evening when i chuck in a few pincurls before bed. Brushing out and poofing about with my hair probably takes fifteen minutes tops, so i have saved half an hour each morning, hooray!!

The fact i can get two or three days out of a set is a blessing as i hate the fact my hair needs to really be washed daily if it's straight. (I do wear a rosie scarf or a turban quite alot which also cuts down on time too).

I can also get a vintage face on pretty quick too for work. I use a bit of base and powder, cream blush, brown eyeshadow, false eyelashes trimmed down so i don't look like a drag queen and a bit of mascara and a pencil eyeliner. I put my lippie on in the downstairs mirror while i'm doing a last minute dash around the house and i'm done in about ten minutes. I don't do cat's-eye liner except for evenings as i could spend hours fiddling around.

 

[Penny Dreadful]

If you don't count hair setting the night before, I spend less time. I can be ready in 15 minutes flat if my alarm didn't go off and the cat had to wake me, which has happened twice now in a few weeks. Brush hair, throw on a dress, red lipstick and done.

 

[ButteMT61]

Interesting thread. It seems to me to address one the "why" questions as to why don't people dress well these days (in general terms).
It does take more time and effort to look good like my grandparents used to do. I often see older folks at the grocery store and doing other mundane tasks dressed up in a sport coat and tie and it takes me back. But given that life is indeed more rushed and filled with all the modern tasks, I think folks just don't have the time, or want to spend the time, to look good in public. I have nothing against casual wear - it's my normal daily look - but it's kinda nice to see folks "done up" just because...but I don't see a mass change anytime soon. Folks are too stressed and stretched to go the extra mile(s).

 

[Flicka]

Actually i find a modern look takes me far longer than a vintage one. I have to wash, blowdry and straighten my hair daily, if i do modern hair, as it is very fine and lank, and that would take me at least 45 minutes or so to do that. With a vintage look i tend to set my hair the night before with rollers or pincurls which takes me about half an hour the first night i set it and then about fifteen minutes or so the following evening when i chuck in a few pincurls before bed. Brushing out and poofing about with my hair probably takes fifteen minutes tops, so i have saved half an hour each morning, hooray!!

For me setting my hair the night before also saves time compared to having to fix my hair in the morning. Also, this winter, it was a breeze getting dressed because I just needed a skirt and a blouse, as opposed to "a look" when I do modern. makeup takes the same amount of time for me even if it's vintage or modern so that's no bother.

The biggest hitch is that now in the summertime I ride my bike to work - 45 minutes of pretty intense biking each way - and I get so sweaty I need to shower, including my hair. So a set just isn't an potion for me right now. I just chuck my hair under a rosie scarf and hope for the best, but if my hair was just a little longer, I could put it up and that would make it simpler. Upside is that 90 min of riding a bike a day is bound to have some health benefits (and hopefully help me drop a few pounds too). Since I have to stick with the bike until Oct 22 (due to work on the subway), I really hope my hair will grow that final inch it needs over summer or else I have no idea what to do for this autumn. Ideas?

And for some reason I find it much harder to wear vintage in the summer. I mostly bum about looking vaguely 50s in full skirted dresses which I don't really like. For next summer I really need to get a few more 20s and 30s looking dresses.

 

[scarlett]

It doesn't take me any longer to get ready, it takes about an hour however I dress. I always wear lip and eye makeup and do something to my hair (curl or updo). What may take longer is the prep and care of the clothing the rest of the time. Hand washing, pressing, minor mending. It is a bit more work than just throwing on a pair of jeans and a tee, but well worth it.

 

[therizyflapper]

i wouldn't say it takes that much more time to get ready dressing vintage, maybe 20 extra minutes i dress in mostly 1920's and 30's style and i sometimes wear some 40's and I'm very obsessed with being historically accurate, i wear everything the stocking, girdle, garters, etc. and i also never leave the house without gloves and a hat (accept when i take pictures i only wear my gloves in some of them so i don't show them all off at once hahahaha) but i always have my hair set in pin-curls and i have my red lipstick on everyday and my charcoal on my eyes but honestly it depends on the occasion as well, because i cant take much longer if the occasion calls for it hahaha

 

[MissNathalieVintage]

I do notice it does take me an extra hour to get ready depending on my hairstyle (1930's-1940's). There are times were I am to tired to roll my hair and I pop in hot sticks in the morning for twenty minutes. It also depends on the weather. It has been so hot here I could not roll my hair at all. Good thing is I know of a few vintage hair styles I can do on non-curled hair (my hair is naturally medium thick with a little wave).

 

[Stanley Doble]

Perhaps we should distinguish between every day and dressed up. Many women in the 30s and 40s wore little or no makeup in the daytime. Dress and hair styles simpler too. But getting dressed up to the nines for an evening out could be quite a bit more complicated starting with a visit to the beauty shop for an hour in the afternoon.

 

[C-dot]

It doesn't take me any longer to get ready, it takes about an hour however I dress. I always wear lip and eye makeup and do something to my hair (curl or updo). What may take longer is the prep and care of the clothing the rest of the time. Hand washing, pressing, minor mending. It is a bit more work than just throwing on a pair of jeans and a tee, but well worth it.

Co-sign. As long as your clothes are in great condition, it's easy to just throw an outfit together on the spot, too. Wearing eye makeup and lipstick is just second nature to me, and because I wear it daily it takes me no time at all to apply.

Another thing that makes wearing vintage easy is the fact that I don't really own anything else! It isn't an option for me to wear sweatpants and/or an old t-shirt because, well, I don't have any. (That must have been the position Golden Era women were in, also.) Things always seem harder, or foreign, when you have something else to compare them to, and dressing vintage in modern times is no different.