How You Can Be Elegant When Your Job is Not

I work in a male-dominated field (oil and gas, geology, and petroleum engineering). I love it and do not want to do anything else. I used to work on drilling rigs and currently work on research boats. I’ll share things I do to be elegant while doing technical/dirty/sweaty/“unfeminine” work:

*Behavior

*Skin

*Nails

*Eyebrows

*Hygiene

*Tap into femininity on time off

The most important element of being elegant is behavior. Be and speak like a lady. I don’t use vulgar language, make vulgar jokes or speak loudly. (Of course, I’ll raise my voice if I need to for people to hear me across the rig or boat, but I mean not in general.)

As far as appearance, I stay on top of my skin and nails, and I believe these are the most important details. Especially when you work in an environment where you must wear coveralls, steel toe boots, a hard hat, safety glasses, sweat and can’t wear jewelry. Wear gloves appropriate for your job tasks as often as possible to protect your hands and the skin of your hands.

I keep my cuticles moisturized and pushed back, nails short and filed with a coat of clear polish, which only takes minutes a week.

I stay on top of skincare. I had cystic acne for 18 years, so in 2017 did a 6-month course of isotretinoin which eradicated the acne. Now all I have to do is wash my face twice a day. After washing in the morning, I apply a moisturizer with sunscreen and at night I apply tretinoin cream. That is enough to keep my skin clear. This requires a few minutes a day if that.

Besides that, I just bathe daily, use dry shampoo in between shampooing to control oil, and make my hair smell fresh and have more volume.

I don’t do this every day, but sometimes I use powder to fill in my eyebrows and set them with clear mascara. It makes a nice difference, but doesn’t scream “makeup!”, and sweating doesn’t affect it.

Outside of work, I make sure to “balance out my energies” by doing activities I enjoy that are traditionally considered feminine, such as belly dancing, pole dancing, mobility, and flexibility exercises. I also enjoy wearing feminine, figure-flattering clothes and wearing perfume and eye makeup.

Hopefully, this at least helps you come up with ideas of what might work for you.