Most people would rather you didn't powder your nose on the Underground
If you’re in the habit of saving time in your morning routine and applying beauty products during your daily commute, you may want to reconsider: a YouGov poll of Londoners has revealed a high level of public dislike of the habit. Almost all preening activities are seen as inappropriate by over 70% of respondents, with almost three quarters of Londoners claiming never to have done any of them themselves (73%).
We asked Londoners whether various beauty rituals, ranging from applying make-up to shaving, are appropriate or inappropriate to do whilst on public transport.
The only activity to gain more than 30% approval was applying make-up, with 44% of respondents saying it was generally appropriate. However, a still larger group found it inappropriate (47%). This varied between age demographics, with two-thirds of 18-24 year olds (66%) compared with less than a quarter (24%) of over 60’s seeing it as acceptable. Interestingly, a quarter of women admitted to applying make-up on public transport (25%), whilst almost a half of female respondents saw it as inappropriate (48%).
A quarter of respondents thought spraying perfume or aftershave was acceptable (25%) with only 13% thinking the same for deodorant. However, 12% of respondents said they had used such cosmetic products whilst travelling in the Capital.
An overwhelming 72% of women thought applying nail polish was inappropriate compared with only 56% of male respondents, despite more than one in ten of female respondents under 40 saying they had (11%).
Shaving facial hair, spraying deodorant, plucking eyebrows and cutting finger nails were the most objected activities, with all being seen as inappropriate by over 81% of respondents. Less than one in twenty respondents thought shaving facial hair was acceptable (5%).
