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Achieving certain standards of beauty takes time, a lot of time… Men and women spend an average of one-sixth of their lives dressing up, according to a study by a group of international researchers. Personal hygiene, make-up, facial and hair care, diets, clothing style, physical activity… ‘being beautiful’ takes time and just as much energy. Explanations.
As subjective as it is, beauty is everyone’s business, men and women alike, whether it’s boosting self-confidence, pleasing others, or trying to reach certain standards. And if some people claim to spend only a few minutes a day prepping, it is clear that the time devoted to treating or improving one’s physical appearance is in fact much longer. Scientists from around the world looked at the question, analyzing data from 93,158 people aged 18 to over 90, from 93 countries, based on specific behaviors such as personal hygiene, make-up, use of cosmetics, hair care, clothing style, physical exercises, or even following a diet. All with the sole purpose of improving his appearance, and not to work for his health. The results are surprising…
Mirror, my beautiful mirror
Published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, this work reveals that 99% of participants devote at least ten minutes a day to all types of behavior aimed at improving their physical appearance. But this duration is actually much longer. According to the researchers, women spend almost four hours a day primping themselves, while men do it for 3.6 hours a day. Not only does the study tend to show that these behaviors are universal, but that they are also not necessarily the prerogative of women, although the latter spend a few tens of minutes more daily to make themselves beautiful.
However, scientists note disparities according to age, especially among women. Middle-aged women, including those in their 40s and 50s, are the ones who devote the least time to their beauty. In detail, 18-year-old women spend 63 minutes more a day on their physique than 44-year-old women, while 60-year-old women spend 30 minutes more than 44-year-old women. But age is far from being the only predictive factor to take into account when adopting these behaviors.
The role of social networks
The fact of not being involved in a serious relationship, of having self-confidence – or on the contrary, of not having self-confidence at all, or even of having a higher socio-economic status, would be associated with a longer duration higher past to improve his physical appearance. However, according to the researchers, the two most convincing criteria remain the time spent in front of the television, and even more so the time spent on social networks. “Most researchers agree that the media often convey unrealistic physical ideals, which are also often unattainable for ordinary mortals. Confronting your body with the photo-retouched silhouettes of models can trigger many negative feelings and behaviors, including anxiety, depressive symptoms, body dissatisfaction and eating disorders“, explain the authors of the study.
A finding that corroborates the results of a previous study, published in February 2023 in the journal Psychology of Popular Media, revealing that young people are much better off when they stay away from social media. Led by scientists from the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, this work taught us in particular that limiting the use of social networks to 60 minutes a day among 17-25 year olds improved the perception of their weight. and their general appearance with respect to unrestricted use.