Home Grooming Tips for the Teleworker
If you’re anything like me, working from home has become the new normal. I changed my morning routine drastically. I was so accustomed to waking up, spending at least 30 minutes on make-up, planning my outfit for the day, then heading out for a day in the office. I loved being fashionable at work. Walking down the halls in my heels, dresses, suits, monochrome outfits and my face beat to the Gods. Your appearance on the job totally matters. I learned very early in my professional career that people take you more seriously when you care about your appearance.
Teleworking from home full-time has been a huge adjustment. In all honesty, I absolutely love it. I adapted very quickly to the change. Home is comfortable, convenient, and for me, less stressful than dealing with daily traffic, road rage, and driving in extreme weather conditions. Working from home, behind a computer no longer required me to have major concerns about my professional appearance. I stop wearing make-up, kept my hair in a headband or satin scarf, and my most favorite, months of wearing comfy cloths. Sweats, tee shirts and turtlenecks became my everyday outfit. After adapting to the first 6 months of work from home and meeting with co-workers via Zoom, televideo conferences, I started to feel bad about my appearance which affected my mental health. I didn’t feel like myself. I felt like I was falling off and not living as the stylish, well-put together professional queen that I am. I knew if I looked good, I felt good at work and it was time to adopt new Home Office Grooming habits.
Now , if I have meetings scheduled, I make sure that my look is professional, yet my clothes are still comfortable. Instead of a full beat, I go for a no make-up, make-up look. Let’s be real, televideos only show your face and the first half or your body. Depending on the meeting and who is attending, I may add a bold lip, wear a nice blouse, add accessories to my loungewear set and make sure my hair is styled extra nice. On Casual Friday’s, I might wear a stylish, casual hat and glasses to complete the look without appearing as if I just finished a workout or just rolled out of bed. Below are some tips to level-up your work from home appearance and maintain a high level of professionalism while teleworking.
Level-Up Your Professionalism While Working From Home
Working from home doesn’t mean you stop caring about how you look. It’s very easy to get caught in the work-from-bed habit when you first wake up, or head to your workspace in PJ’s then start firing off emails. Before you know it, it’s 11am, and you haven’t even brushed your teeth (I hope no one is guilty of that!). Failing to get out of bed and adequately preparing yourself for the day ahead can leave you feeling just as unkempt as you look.
1. Get Up and Get Ready
Get Up and Get Ready: Wake-up, shower and put on a comfy outfit. A healthy routine that involves getting up and getting dressed is key for working from home.
2. Put on a Comfy Outfit
When you feel like you’ve made the effort to get dressed and put on something you feel good in, then you’ll be more likely to approach your day with confidence and with purpose. People underestimate the power of clothing and how it can make you feel – good or bad. So, I would absolutely be encouraging people to make the effort.
- The Loungewear Set. My daily staple. Soft Breathable Cotton fabrics are essential. Ultimately, you want to feel comfortable. But you want to look cute at the same time, right?
- The Tracksuit. We’re at home, the deliveries are at the door. We have to run out for errands and return back home before the lunchbreak is over. A tracksuit is perfect for in and out of the home during the day.
Overall, loose-fitting garments in soft fabrics are the way to go. You want to be comfortable, but you also want to present yourself professionally.
3. No Make-Up, Make-Up
My skin is in the best condition it has been in years. I’m more than convinced it has a lot to do with taking a break from wearing make-up every day. I’ve come to love an appreciate my natural look. A world without makeup would probably be less interesting, and it would definitely be less fun. Though we might be biased, we love the ability makeup has to transform a face, as well as the more low-key ability it has to make us appear chipper and wide-awake even when we’re not. To add that special touch needed to appear bright eyed, bushy tailed in those crystal clear high definition televideo conferences, the no make-up, make-up look is my happy medium between healthy skin and a flawless look. I’ve broken down the best tips and tricks for this natural trend as well as rounded up my favorite products to get you there quick and easy.
- Skin First: Make sure you have a healthy skin routine. Healthy skin adds natural glow, smooth, soft, youthful appearing skin.
- Primer: When you’re going for a minimal look, a primer is the easiest way to get a smooth base. Primer choice depends on the look you’re going for.
A pore filling primer will smooth and fill any pores without clogging them the way a thick foundation might. 
An illuminating primer will add that glow and make you look extra hydrated.
- Lightweight Concealer: If you’re still not used to letting your blemishes or dark circles go uncovered, use a lightweight, hydrating concealer.
- Brows, Brush, and Shape: The Brows can make or break a flawless no make-up look. Bushy, unruly brows are both accepted and encourage. Enhance the beauty of your natural brows by simply using an ultra slim brow pencil and brow mascara with fibers and brushing them up and into place.
- Lustrous Natural Lips: A smooth buttery natural lip is so sultry and sophisticated. A nice natural tinted gloss will give you that look.
4. Add Accessories
From the chest up, no one actually knows what you’re wearing in a televideo. Adding nice accessories to a casual loungewear outfit, cardigan set, or tracksuit can enhance your look from basic to classy, casual professional.
Choosing what accessories to adorn your comfy casual look with becomes part of your own fashion signature, enabling you to stand out and be unique. They don’t have to break the bank, they could even be items you already own in your closet but are waiting for the perfect opportunity to be shown off. There are many great accessories that can add a really unique finishing touch to any outfit. Chunky necklaces, rings, earrings, and scarves are just to name a few. The Options are Limitless.
- Brooches: I started collecting brooches and pins long ago. I would admire women like my mom, ladies of the church, and fashion magazines that accessorized basics tops, dresses, hats and sweaters with brooches. Brooches add a personal touch to your style and are so wide in variety, you’ll never get bored wearing one.
5. Do Your Hair and Nails
Think of it like this, nothing has changed other than your environment. As we discussed earlier, when we look good, we feel good. Our attitudes determine our altitudes. Meaning, when we take the necessary steps to ensure our mental health is in tact and we have a positive attitude, we become more productive. Working from home is no easier than working in an office. If anything, its more demanding, requiring patience and lots of attention to detail. Therefore, we have to exercise these same ethics with our grooming habits and the way we present ourselves at work.
Working from the comforts of our home doesn’t mean we have to look like it. I hope these tips will help you as they’ve helped me adapt to teleworking full-time, to adopting new habits and behaviors that make me feel good and enhance my professionalism. What will you do to level-up your day-to-day at home work appearance?
