Being Observant

[Sara Jessica]

I read another thread and was reminded of something from the other day that at that I thought might be halfway interesting enough to warrant it's own thread.

No matter how we self-identify, and assuming that a common goal is to emulate the look and mannerisms of women, people watching is crucial. The little things we can pick up are often priceless in taking our presentation to another level.

So the other day I'm stopped at a light. I observe a young woman, perhaps in her early 20's, standing on the opposite corner waiting for the light to cross the street. She is on her phone but instantly I see her adjust her top, then sweep the bangs out of her eyes and it occurred to me. I'm often self-conscious about how often I feel I'm doing these things, like there must be something wrong with how I'm putting myself together if I'm feeling like I always have to fix something. So I started counting over the course of the next minute or so. With her free hand, there were flips of the hair, sweeping the bangs, adjusting the top at the shoulders, then at the hips, even a little tweak of her long skirt and a smoothing of her front, looking down in apparent approval of her own presentation. When all was said and done, she made no fewer than 9 of these moves.

Now granted, there was a little breeze, enough so that I would have been messing with my bangs if they fell into my eyes but still, it amazed me to see so many of these moves in such a short span of time. Lesson learned, such adjustments on my part will no longer be met with any kind of self-consciousness at all.

[Kim_Bitzflick]

I have been watching women as well so I can learn. I know exactly what you mean. I also watch how they walk & you get all kinds of walks from GG's. I prefer to try to emmulate the nice swing of the hips, but not the runway model exageration of that.

[Angiemead12]

I only wish I could move like a woman, I apparently dont have any hips! Its a disaster, but I wont give up! I love how women can dance!

[sandra-leigh]

Somewhere, and I don't recall were, I read that one of the give-aways of CD'ers is that they touch their hair more often than GG's would.

Obviously the amount of hair touching is going to be situational (e.g., wind). For CD'ers, part of the touching is likely to be checking or adjusting their wig. For me, with my long natural hair, it is too long in the front and sides and flies into my eyes and mouth: a GG would probably get it trimmed (I do have an appointment scheduled, but had to wait close to a month for it.)

[Tess]

I very recently read a book about femininity and one of the author's observations was that women move their hands doing things like touching their hair, jewelry, etc. This thread makes me recall a GG I knew with gorgeous long blond hair and it seemed as if she couldn't keep her hands off it. Everyone has their personal mannerisms, so I guess it comes down to how you wish to portray a woman without over acting or what type of woman you try to portray...one with nervous hands or with a little less hand motion.

[Sara Jessica]

I get that when one is wearing a wig, especially if it's only worn every so often, it seems like there are always fly-aways which cause enough itching and such so that it seems we are always touching our hair. Not to mention self-consciousness about shifting and such.

However, I'm not sure that I buy in to this being one of our "giveaways"...gosh knows we have enough of those which are more telling. As I started to write this at Starbucks, I looked up at a young woman who walked through the door and what was she doing? Fixing her hair!!! Spend some time observing any woman with long hair, she will frequently put it behind her ears as it invariably falls from that position.

[KayleeDahl]

Having long hair = adjusting it.

As you grow out your hair, you get accustomed to these movements, and probably make them more efficient (to have to do fewer). If you are just putting on a wig every now and then, you probably aren't as proficient at fixing/adjusting your hair, and may perhaps play with it a little more.

I wouldn't worry that its going to give you away though, someone would have to be watching you for a bit and counting, and people usually just don't care that much.

Hugs
Kaylee