/ Lisa Katayama / 9:46 am Tue Jun 1, 2010

Study finds women try to look better on Mondays

A new study has found that women spend four times longer to get ready for work on Mondays than on Fridays.
On average, women spend 76 minutes getting ready on Mondays -- with almost a third of that spent on their hair -- 18 minutes on make-up, 16 minutes trying on different combinations of clothes and the rest taken up by showering and washing.

This is reduced to 40 minutes on Tuesdays and continues to decline as the week goes on, falling to 19 minutes on Fridays.

"Make the most of looking at your work colleagues on a Monday morning, because that's as good as they're going to get," said Debenhams spokesman Ed Watson.

Do your colleagues look better on Mondays? [Reuters]

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  1. Really? I find I spend less time getting ready on Monday, mostly because my body is still in weekend mode and wants to go back to sleep.

    Then again, I was never big on the whole makeup and hair deal. ):

    1. Being in weekend mode is probably why some women spend more time getting ready on Mondays — because they’re moving more slowly, thinking less quickly, and are managing their time less efficiently overall.

      I don’t wear make-up, so my morning distractions are usually checking emails, etc. I do suffer from that mysterious “I have nothing to wear!” neurosis though.

      1. Sorry, I meant less time applying makeup, trying on outfits, etc. I take a long time showering, brushing my teeth, etc. on Mondays, though.

    2. I suppose they didn’t specifically control for ethnicity… it takes African American women much more time in general, to do their hair!!!

  2. “Make the most of looking at your work colleagues on a Monday morning, because that’s as good as they’re going to get,” said Debenhams spokesman Ed Watson.

    In my experience, 18 minutes of makeup does not usually make people look better. I’ll take them as they come, thank you.

  4. I can’t believe that you’re reprinting a press release from a British department store. Debenhams has a habit of this sort of thing (more forks sold than knives, divorce lists more popular than wedding lists, even parents spending hundreds of pounds on nativity play costumes!). All credit to Ed for getting his PR puffery onto boingboing but really …

  5. I call this the “F**k it” effect. While you may have the energy to get all spiffied up right after the weekend, after another long week of drudgery you look at your assorted accessories and go, “f**k it.”

    :p

  6. adamcreem is right.

    British P.R. is a one-trick pony. All they do is sponsor stupid fakey polls or “studies” and plant the results in media outlets that are either lazy or just desperate to fill pages/airtime and are only too grateful for the fodder.

    If you start looking for it, you’ll be amazed how prevalent it is — “Here’s a fascinating-yet-fluffy survey on the pet preferences of highly-sexed single women, and oh look, it’s sponsored by the London-based pet-food company prominently mentioned in the second graf.”

  7. Good thing I don’t listen to “women’s” magazines or department stores telling me how a real woman acts.

  9. If this is true, the obvious trick would be to invert your schedule. Rather than trying to compete on mondays, just look good on fridays when everyone else has stopped caring. :-)

  12. Try to look better? I’m glad I don’t have to worry about make-up (well, for that matter, only those who think they should, do). I have to try at least four times harder just to turn up come friday…

  14. Assuming that their statistics on the amount of time women spend getting ready for work on each day of the week are correct, that still doesn’t necessarily support their conclusion that women are any more concerned about their appearance on Mondays than they are on other days of the week. It could just as easily mean that women are slower, more sluggish, and more reluctant to drag themselves out of the house on Mondays. I’ll bet that most men are the same way.

  15. What do they mean by “getting ready for work”? I’m out the door roughly an hour after I get up, but about half that time is spent reading while I eat breakfast. I spend about a minute on my hair on a bad hair day and usually none on makeup, but, overall, it IS an hour total.

  16. @ #5 & #8

    Absolutely agree with you. Twice yearly (may and august, slump season for the chocolate industry (vtimes,easter,halloween,christmas being the busy time)) you’ll see some study about how choclate improves your complexion, is high in antioxidants, improves happiness and makes you fly through the air.

    Two to three times yearly you’ll see a study about how the health benefits of one glass of wine a day will remove foot odor, whiten teeth and triple your salary and double your IRA contribution.

    Three to five times yearly you’ll see a study about how beer is low in fat, is a vegan food, promotes a healthy lifestyle and lengthens how long your tan will last.

  17. I’m wondering how much of that “applying makeup”, “fussing with hair” etc time is spent staring vacantly into space, into the medicine cabinet, and so forth, while your brain temporarily goes back to sleep.

    I can spend twenty to thirty minutes trying to get out of bed on a bad morning, as I get the covers off then zone out, sit up and then zone out, turn so my feet are finally off the bed and then zone out… and other mornings I’m up and out of bed and into the bathroom in about 30 seconds (nothing quite like waking up having to pee to motivate you…)

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