How Self-Grooming Impacts Your Professional Life

For many women, self-grooming is essential and requires almost the same attention level as getting in shape. This spans several factors, including outward appearance, communication skills, body language, emotional intelligence, etc. While some do it to satisfy personal demands, others heavily invest in grooming themselves to create lasting impressions in people's minds and give them a leg up wherever they find themselves. Available data says the average American working woman spends 33.6 hours weekly on self-grooming. Whatever your reason is, you probably never seriously considered the impact grooming has on your professional life. Here are a few.

Self-grooming thrives primarily on a visual impression but has lasting effects on the mental perception of yourself. Competition in the professional space is a real thing and calls for constant self-improvement to meet these demands. The improvement mentioned here refers to your appearance and how you carry yourself and how that helps you trust your abilities and professional judgments.

When you look good and have a habit of presenting yourself appealingly, it influences your brain. Indeed, there is a scientific reason that links grooming to self-confidence. According to medical research, the brain releases endorphins when you indulge in self-grooming. These are natural chemicals responsible for relieving stress and pain. About how that boosts self-confidence, scientists say the brain sends signals that confirm how well-put-together you are. Automatically, your emotions and mental processes respond by increasing your confidence.

Even though 62% of US businesses allow casual dress codes on certain days of the week, it doesn't change their stance on employees’ neat appearance. Personal grooming is more than wearing crisp business attire. Instead, it is your recognition of hygiene and how it influences others' perceptions of you in the professional space.

The fact that your company allows dress-down days in no way means you should let loose on your appearance. The reason is the tendency for clients and customers to project that into the business's mode of operation. Even though ideally, you are not to judge a book by its cover, it's still something people do. So, by all means, try your best to confirm if that will keep your customers around. Your life doesn't won't revolve around your work, so you can still maintain your unique style outside of the workplace. Fortunately, fashion labels design stylish and comfortable clothes for professional women to suit your preference and the company.

Personal grooming also involves being able to adapt to changes. As the world advances in tech and even social norms, you are at an advantage if you know essential matters. What is popularly known as being ‘woke’ could put you ahead of your peers and always be one step ahead. Being up-to-date indirectly portrays the discipline and dedication you attach to matters of importance. And why you may not be able to know everything, being in tune with what is happening in your field, at least, can go a long way. Furthermore, it earns you a silent commendation that others may not openly declare but demonstrate in their professional relations with you. In other words, proper grooming earns you a lot of respect. 

Appearance matters in every professional space and is a factor contributing to your overall professional success. When you always show up well-groomed, it creates an aura of responsibility and gives everybody around you a sense of being put together. Additionally, good communication skills always help you get your points across excellently, making it easier for people to understand you. You will have a foot in the door when your grooming is always top-notch. For a better understanding of this point, please consider this scenario. If you were an employer, would you consider hiring a job applicant with poor self-grooming habits? If your answer is a resounding no, you now know how that worker may have just lost a great opportunity.

Indeed, you can be the hardest working staff member, but if your attention to neatness is next to nothing, the chances of losing a long-awaited promotion are high. When that happens, you may begin to wonder what went wrong, especially when you're on the list of the top three best workers within the company. You may argue that grooming does not correlate with productivity, and you may not be wrong. But sometimes, it's the little, seemingly unimportant things that matter. And depending on the context, such as the role you occupy, that argument may not hold water.

Especially if you occupy roles such as a customer service person or a marketing executive, self-grooming is crucial. These two roles tend to put you in direct line with customers and clients. Therefore, being properly groomed gives you an added advantage over a colleague who does not pay much attention to that. This usually happens naturally because people gravitate more towards persons who appear neat and well-put-together. The message you send to your customers is your competency and an honest willingness to listen to them. In return, clients will trust in your capability to deliver.

If you have ever heard the saying, 'you only have one chance to create a lasting first impression,' there is more to it. Studies indicate that impressions are formed within ten seconds of meeting someone for the first time. In under one minute, people would have developed their perceptions of you.

Therefore, how you are dressed, your body language, how you approach them, and other factors would stick with the person you're meeting, so why not make them positive? For example, some of the most off-putting things are body odor and bad breath. A CNN report mentioned that 90 million Americans have bad breath. Even worse, a third are unaware of their hygiene problem. Since it can be tough to change a bad first impression, it would help to go the extra mile in finding your shortcomings and ensuring they don't get in the way of reaching your professional goals. For example, if your cuticles are not in good shape, it would help to visit a nail salon and get them fixed. 

In conclusion, if you want to go far in your career or professional life in general, there is more to it than showing up and working hard. Self-grooming plays a pivotal role than you probably ever imagined.