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Body Language of Unkept or Dowdiness

Cue: Unkept or Dowdiness.

Synonym(s): Rumpled, Sloppy Dress, Dowdiness, Un-groomed, Rumpled Appearance.

Description: A nonverbal term referring to a person’s dress that is wrinkled but otherwise fairly clean, shapeless, outdated, bland, messy, unflattering, out-of-date, out of style and well worn. When a person lacks attention to personal care, cleanliness, rumpled, dirty, or un-kept attire, unwashed body or hair or malodor. It may include clothing that is far too casual for the occasion.

In One Sentence: Being unkept is can be a sign of many underying factors including a low socioeconomic background, that a person is artistic, intellectual or is an absent minded thinker, is preoccupied, sloppy, un-caring of his impression and at worst, dirty and unpopular.

How To Use it: Being unkept is a negative nonverbal signal and should be avoided in almost every situation. Even in the comfort of one’s own home, where it is likely to receive the most tolerance, being dowdy remains a poor reflection of the mind.

Married couples can suffer from overall dowdiness which only drags down romance further. Being unkept says two things. One, that a person is comfortable in their relationship and is not concerned about their outer appearance, and two, that, one is not concerned about the impression they are making in their counterparts. Unfortunately, these are two conflicting messages, which, if not remedied, can create resentment. One should be particularly conscious of situations where one dresses-up for work but quickly down-dresses after work. This tells your partner that the impression you make in others is more important than the impression you make in them. This might work sufficiently in friendships, however, looking ones best is highly important in intimate relationships.

In business, one should always be cognizant of making a good overall outer impression and this includes a lack of dowdiness. While it is moderately tolerated by acquaintances, friends and partners, one is unlikely to receive the benefit of the doubt in more day-to-day encounters.

Overall, however, if you wish to create and maintain positive impressions, avoid dressing dowdy as no positive attributes are universally realized from this condition.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m clean, but my mind is too busy to care about how I look on the outside. I value my thoughts over my clothing and don’t care to be judged on my outside appearance. That’s why I permit my clothing to be outdated and sloppy.” “I’m suffering from mental illness or depression, that is weighing me down which is why I lack basic motivation required to keep my body clean and clothing presentable.”

Variant: See Grooming and Preening.

Cue In Action: a) The professor was brilliant and creative, but his clothing hung off of him, it was outdated and nothing matched. While his student respected him for his thoughts, they rated him poorly on character. b) The teenager kept his room in an un-kept state that blew over to his physical appearance and clothing. He habitually wore jogging pants and a soiled shirt and barely fed himself proper meals. He habitually lazed around the house, waking at noon or later. His parents feared that he had fallen into depression.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Being un-kept with poor fashion signifies a low socioeconomic background, that a person is artistic, intellectual or is an absent minded thinker, is preoccupied, sloppy, un-caring of his impression and at worst dirty and unpopular.

Preening includes anything done to maintain our physical appearance such as fixing our hair, washing our bodies, wearing clean, matching clothing, brushing our teeth and so forth. In an evolutionary context, preening signifies that we are healthy and in a good state of mind.

It has been noted around the world that when people suffer from illness personal grooming is usually one of the first aspects he or she neglects. When minds are busy with more pressing matters it quickly turns away from personal hygiene. Homeless people and the severely depressed will wear un-kept hair, dirty clothing and ignore showering. They will lie around for hours on end but when they do finally take foot, their posture will be slumped, shoulders rolled inward, torsos bent at the waste and their head will droop as if they carry the “weight of the world upon their shoulders.” They will succumb to the forces of gravity rather than defy it such as what we see with the exuberant that seem to have a “bounce in their step.” This is why it is so vitally important to keep a well cared for appearance to signal to others that we have proper mental health (unless you can get away with it!). A lot can be surmised about a person from wearing torn and soiled clothing, especially in public. Like manners, preening tells others that we respect their thoughts and opinions, and that we wish to belong to a functioning society.

In other cases, an un-kept appearance serves to illustrate that a person does not wish to conform to societal norms and is not seeking approval from the culture at large. We may see this in fringe groups such as feminist who keep hairy legs and arm pits. There are other subgroups such as “nerds” who are social outcasts who will choose comfortable clothing over stylish clothing. Some people are also not attuned to the societal norms at all and keep a rather laissez-faire approach to their upkeep. How one maintains their appearance give us clues to their overall thoughts and beliefs.

Cue Cluster: Someone who is dowdy in dress will usually have other odd characteristics of manner. They might be social awkward, use highbrow humour or humour that is dry, commit other social faux pas like encroaching on other people and lack good eye contact. As this cue can signal degrees of mental illness, be watchful for additional cues to decide on its relevance. A general malaise might be low level and only result in an un-kept room, or body odor, but might spill over to general attire, grooming, mismatched clothing, overly casual or dirty clothing. When this spills over to bad body language such as slumped shoulders, expressionless faces, unsmiling, lack of affect, lazy appearance, cowering and desire for isolation, this can spell more serious matters such as full blown mental illness.

Body Language Category: Adornments, Arrogance or arrogant body language, Depressive, Low confidence body language.

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