We’ve Found Out Which Cities in the UK Are The Most Glamourous…

We’ve surveyed women all over the UK to find out how long they take to get ready, uncover the nitty gritty of their getting ready routines and find out, officially, where is the most glam city in the UK…

Have you ever wondered whether northern girls or southern girls care most about fake tan? Or which UK city cares the most about how they look? Well, we’ve done the digging for you and created a definitive ‘glam ranking’ of UK cities

From how long it takes to get ready, to how important it is they look good, the survey deep dives into the getting-ready routines of 1,000 women. It’s safe to say we are SHOCKED by which regions and age ranges spend the most time getting ready…

I’m sure we’ve all been accused of taking too long to get ready or looking at the clock only to realise you’ve spent a whole 30 minutes on perfecting your smokey eye… on one eye.

It’s an age-old stereotype that women like to take their time getting ready and it’s probable that your getting-ready-routine has changed considerably from when you first picked up a lipstick and some curling tongs.

This got us at SilkFred thinking… What is the average amount of time it takes for women to get ready? How does this differ for women across the UK? And what about different generations? 

So, we put our questions to the test and carried out a survey on 1,000 women to discover Britain’s getting-ready habits, from whether they prioritise hair or make-up, to which city takes the crown for longest routine. We’ve even shared some top tips from our resident Head Stylist Megan Watkins, who has revealed three simple hacks to shave some valuable time off your getting ready routine.

First things first, which age range takes the longest to get ready?

For years millennials have had to put up with accusations of being overly-concerned with how they look and have even been officially hailed as the ‘me me me’ generation. But, how does this compare with their younger, more social media savvy counterparts, Gen-Z?

We can reveal that Gen-Z officially takes the longest to get ready out of all age groups! On a regular weekday Gen-Z takes roughly 1 hour and 13 minutes to get ready, and 1 hour 45 minutes before a night out, nabbing them the top spot.

However, after all their time getting ready, Gen Z are also the least likely to think it’s important that they look good when compared to older generations of millennials and Gen-X. We spoke to Gen-Z 23 year-old Lydia Ahmed about why this might be:

“I think now that I’ve established my own look when it comes to hair and make-up which I don’t really stray from, I’m not as worried about how I look on a day-to-day basis.”

“I used to care a lot more about my appearance but now I’ve accepted that I am who I am and I feel more confident in myself and so it doesn’t matter to me as much anymore.”

Interestingly, the age group that cares the most about their appearance after getting ready are those aged between 45-54.

Following closely behind, millennials came in second, taking 1 hour 6 minutes to get ready during the week and 1 hour 34 minutes to get ready before a night out.

The generation that takes the least amount of time to get ready is the 55+ year olds – otherwise known as Boomers II – at 39 minutes during the week and a mere 1 hour before a night out.

Deciding on what to wear takes millennials the most amount of time (16.46%), whereas when it comes to painting nails and fake tan, Gen-Z takes the most amount of time at 4.03% and 4.84% respectively.

Our Head Stylist Megan Watkins, comments: “It’s particularly interesting how despite spending the longest time getting ready, Gen-Z finds it the least important that they look good after getting ready in comparison to other ages.”

“This perhaps indicates that whilst Gen-Z spends more time and care in getting ready, they are less worried about their appearance and perhaps feel more confident in their make-up and styling choices in comparison to older generations.”

Which UK city cares the most about how they look? Well, we’ve done the digging for you.

Now, which cities take the longest to get ready?

For most of us, getting ready for a night out can seem like a chore and the boring middle-man between you and getting on with your plans. However, our survey has revealed that over a third of women in the UK get ready for a night out in less than an hour.

Whilst you might not be mistaken to make the assumption that they love their fake tan in Newcastle, their bouncy blow dries in Liverpool and uber-glam make-up in London, our survey has shown that the ladies from Sheffield actually take the longest to get ready, with an average time of 1 hour and 21 minutes.

This is a whole 19 minutes longer than their closest runner-up, London, who clocked in at 1 hour and 1 minute. 

The city that has the quickest turnaround when getting ready is coastal city Brighton, whose women either prefer the more natural look or are just super-speedy with their baking routine, at a snappy 52 minutes… Brighton, let us in on your secrets!

Most interestingly we found that London women spend more time fake tanning on a night out than Liverpool women and that women in Plymouth care the least about looking good after getting ready.

Lastly, which city ranked the highest on our glam ranking?

Once we had a look at all the data from different cities, it got us thinking… Which city in the UK is the most glam and which is simply not fussed?

To calculate each city’s glam rating, we looked at

• How long it takes women from that city to get ready – both in the morning on a weekday and before a night out
• How important they think it is they look good after getting ready
• How long they spend on make-up during their getting ready routine
• How long they spend on hair styling during their getting ready routine

After collating these findings, Belfast scored the highest glam rating in the UK, followed by Leeds and London. 

Interestingly, the cities that scored lowest were Plymouth, Newcastle and Southampton. Notably two of these are seaside towns, perhaps indicating that living by the coast encourages a more easy going lifestyle, with women embracing a more natural look.

What else did we find?

We wanted to get the full scoop on Great Britain’s getting ready habits, and the results may surprise you…

Although you may suspect that single women are more concerned with how they look when getting ready, we found that women in relationships care the most about how good they look after getting ready.

Although we know that they spend the most time getting ready, we found that their main concerns are not evenly divided between hair, make-up and outfit choices. It turns out that Gen-Z cares the most about make-up when getting ready.

16% of women claim they don’t get ready for a night out, which is giving us some serious time envy.

As a city, Brighton came in last with the amount of time they took to get ready. However, we found that women from Brighton spend the most amount of time choosing an outfit, which is no surprise considering Brighton’s serious fashion creds.

So, how do we get ready more efficiently?

Yes, an hour does seem like an excessive amount of time to be looking in the mirror. However, we asked Megan Watkins, our Head Stylist here at SilkFred to share her top tips on how to make our getting ready routine more proficient:

1) Plan your outfit in advance

“One of the biggest reasons our getting ready timings get thrown out the window is struggling to find something to wear at the last minute. It’s all too easy to spend all your time perfecting your hair and make-up and then when it comes to getting dressed panicking that you have nothing to wear.”

“Getting dressed should be the quickest part of your getting ready routine arguably, and so to prevent any last minute outfit choosing disasters making you late, I would always recommend planning and trying on your outfit in advance of getting ready.”

“Even for everyday events such as going to work, you’ll find your morning routine much more stress-free if you decide what you’re going to wear the evening before and have this neatly hung or piled somewhere ready for you to throw on in the morning.”

2) Don’t experiment with hair or make-up at the last minute

“Another cause for getting ready routines taking longer than expected is when you try out a new or bold hair style or make-up look. This often results in you later deciding it isn’t quite right and having to start all over again.”

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to get creative and experiment, but I would recommend doing this in your spare time to understand if you like the look and perfect any new techniques so that when it comes to getting ready for an event, you know exactly what you’re doing and how long it will take.”

3) Invest in multi-use products

“Consider using multi-use products like a tinted moisturiser that also works as a sunscreen, or a lipstick that doubles up as a blush. This will not only save you time during your getting ready routine, but also save you money and space in your makeup bag.”

Methodology

The research was conducted by Censuswide with a sample of 1000 Women, nationally representative, Aged 16+. Quotas were applied to nationally representative proportions for age and region. The survey fieldwork took place between 22.03.23 – 24.03.23. Censuswide abide by and employ members of the Market Research Society which is based on the ESOMAR principles and are members of The British Polling Council.