When you’re self-conscious about certain parts of your body, which most of us ladies are, it’s a miracle you can ever find anything to wear that you feel good in. When you look in the mirror and all you see are areas of your body grotesquely staring back at you, it’s difficult to get too excited about buying something new that you’ll likely not be happy with anyway.
However, shopping doesn’t have to such a nightmare event. Sure, it may never be top on your list of favorite things to do, but it also doesn’t have to be something so dreadful and panic inducing. It may even become slightly pleasurable if follow some simple clothes shopping guidelines.
What guidelines are those? So glad you asked. Let’s begin with number one, shall we?
Pain-Free Shopping Guideline # 1: Pretend you’re an accountant
What do I mean by this? Focus on playing up your assets (your favorite body parts) and reducing your liabilities (those areas of the body you’d just as soon never see in the mirror again).
One of the main reasons that clothes shopping is so painful is that it is a huge reminder that you’re not where you want to be weight-wise. It’s a fact you just can’t ignore when you’re surrounded by six dressing room mirrors, all showing you up close and personal all the areas of your body you detest.
If you want to ease your discomfort in the dressing room, you need to shift your focus from the body parts you don’t like to the ones you are comfortable showing off. Spending time accenting areas you love is tons more fun that trying to play Houdini with your butt or thighs.
If you have a nice chest, choose shirts that show your girls off. If you’ve got a curvaceous bottom, buy pants that sing when you walk. Besides, if you put your assets in the spotlight, no one will bother to look for the liabilities you left in the dark.
Pain-Free Shopping Guideline # 2: Wear flattering undergarments
Ever go shopping and enter the dressing room just to remember that you are wearing your holey underwear or a bra that it is built for comfort not for beauty? And, how does it make you feel when you look in the mirror? Disgusting, right?
If you want any chance at all of walking out of that store with new clothes in hand, you need to take proper precautions that morning by deciding to wear a cute little bra and panty set that makes you feel good. After all, it isn’t always the clothes on the outside that determine how you feel about yourself. That’s why stores like Victoria’s Secret are so popular.
Pain-Free Shopping Guideline # 3: Take an honest friend with you
Are you wondering how taking an outspoken tell-it-like-it-is friend shopping with you is painless? Well, it’s not so much the shopping itself that’s painless, it’s the fact that you’re diverting yourself from buying the wrong style clothes that you’ll likely just end up returning anyway.
Now is not the time to have a friend that can’t give constructive criticism. Heck, it doesn’t even have to be constructive as long as it’s honest. You need someone who will tell you when your pants make your butt look frumpy and your shirts look like they belong to your grandmother.
You might not always like what your friend has to say, and you may not even agree, but having someone else there that may see things you don’t is always a plus. Well, that is unless she has no sense of style whatsoever which would beg to ask why you would take someone like that clothes shopping with you anyway?
Pain-Free Shopping Guideline # 4: Choose a wide array of sizes for the dressing room
There’s nothing worse than getting in the dressing room, stripping down to your undies and finding out that the pants you want to try on aren’t going to fit. You can avoid the whole scenario of getting redressed, finding the rack they were on, getting a new size and going back just to find your fitting room is now taken, if you just grab a couple different sizes with you when you go in the first time.
Of course, if you have your outspoken friend there with you, you can always send her to get a new size. But, really do you want to stand there and stare at every dimple and crevice until she returns five minutes later? I don’t think so.
Pain-Free Shopping Guideline # 5: Look for people with similar body shapes and sizes and see what they’re wearing
Become a keen people observer while you’re out and about doing business or running errands. When you see a woman who looks to be your size and build for the first time, where do your eyes initially go? Try to figure out why. What is she wearing that draws your attention?
Sometimes you can pick up the best clothing tips just by seeing what works and what doesn’t work by looking at other people who have your body qualities. And, if you already have an idea of the style that may work best for your shape and size, you can save yourself tons of time in the dressing room putting on and taking off clothes that clearly aren’t going to do you any favors.
Pain-Free Shopping Guideline # 6: Go shopping after you get your hair and/or nails done
When you feel good about yourself it’s much easier to find clothes you like because you’re happy with what you see when you look in the mirror. So, if you’ve just went through some sort of beautification process, such as getting your hair or nails done, that makes it a perfect time to try on some new clothes.
Imagine yourself as a super model who is getting ready for a photo shoot. You just left hair and makeup and now you’re just trying to find something really great to wear. It’s really just a state of mind, but if it helps then you should use it to your advantage.
Pain-Free Shopping Guideline # 7: Shop before you eat
This is probably the most important guideline you could ever follow when it comes to shopping happiness. Never, ever, ever eat before you go try on clothes. If you think you felt bad about your weight before, try going in the dressing room and getting naked when you have an extra few pounds of food churning in your belly and you’re starting to bloat from all that diet soda.
If you want to make clothes shopping easier, it’s best to go on an empty stomach. You feel sexier and thinner and are much more likely to find something that you feel good in. Your jeans will button easier and your shirts won’t feel so restrictive from a belly that’s been just filled to the brim.
Walking into the fitting room doesn’t have to feel like a walk to the electric chair. You can make it feel like a walk to the royal throne if you know how; and now, you know how.
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