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From time to time, people ask me: Where can I get washable suits for women?
As you may expect, there aren't a TON of places out there making washable suiting, at least for the entire suit — but there are a few — so we thought we'd round them up!
Before we get to all the advice on washable suits, though, here are our latest favorite washable suits for women:
Table of Contents
Where to Find Washable Suits for Women
Specific Washable Suits for Women:
- The Best Washable Suit Overall: Ann Taylor (shop / read our thoughts)
- The Best Affordable Washable Suit: Banana Republic Factory (shop / read our thoughts)
- The Best Washable Suit to Splurge On: Hobbs (shop / read our thoughts)
- The Best Trendy Washable Suit: Madewell (shop / read our thoughts)
- The Best Plus-Size Washable Suit: Lands' End (shop / read our thoughts)
- The Softest Washable Suit: Brooks Brothers (shop / read our thoughts)
Where to Find Washable Suits for Women
In general, there are a few noteworthy brands making washable suits for women in the past few years:
- Ann Taylor – in fact almost all of their basic suiting styles are washable! (Here's our last discussion on the best Ann Taylor suiting line…)
- Banana Republic
- Banana Republic Factory
- Brooks Brothers
- Hobbs (also at Bloomingdale's)
- Lands' End (regular and plus sizes)
- Madewell (regular and plus sizes)
- M.M.LaFleur (select styles up to size 20) – their OrigamiTech line is all washable, but note that many of their blazers are not washable
- Ministry of Supply
- Paul Smith
- Talbots
If you're just looking for washable parts of a suit (such as pants), you can find those at more places — but do note that it's in your best interest to launder both pieces together (and at the same frequency) so the color and fabric doesn't fade unevenly. (We've got more tips in our post on everything you need to know about drycleaning women's suits.)
Washable AND Travel-Friendly Suits
We have a separate roundup of travel-friendly suits — in general these are all machine washable as well, but travel-friendly suits may have additional properties such as wrinkle resistance, moisture wicking, UPF-rated materials, and more.
Hunting for travel-friendly suits for women or lightweight suits? As of 2024, some of our favorites include these brands/lines: 1) M.M.LaFleur, 2) Ministry of Supply, 3) Paul Smith, and 4) Talbots. (Not pictured: Eddie Bauer and Suitably! Brooks Brothers also occasionally has suiting in their BrooksCool line, and Uniqlo occasionally has Airism suiting. ) You may also want to check out our roundup of washable suits for women!
Washable Workwear in General
Hunting for more machine washable clothing? We feature some trendy washable workwear every Wednesday at CorporetteMoms, have listed the best brands for washable workwear, and occasionally do roundups of just washable basics for work outfits!
How to Wash Washable Suits
As noted above, you really want to launder all the matching pieces of a suit together so they wear evenly. General tips for good suit care include:
- hanging the pieces up when you've taken them off for the day, both to air them out and prevent wrinkles from setting in
- use proper hangers for them — for most suit jackets I prefer hangers that have sculpted shoulders instead of the velvet-covered hangers that save space
- spot cleaning as needed
- spraying vodka or another deodorizer as needed
- (in general, this is a big reason why I prefer sleeved tops under suits instead of sleeveless tops — the more your bare underarms are touching the suit the more it's going to get smelly)
When you wash your suit, be sure to follow all washing instructions carefully. I would probably opt to air dry the suit regardless of what the instructions said, but if it said tumble dry I would possibly put it in for 15 minutes at a normal setting to get the wrinkles out.
Once your suit is out of the washer, shape it immediately — put the blazer on a shaped hanger and smooth out the lapels and pockets.
Ditto for your pants — help any creases or pleats find their way back into the pants. I often like to take a pants hanger and hang them upside down, both so the clips keep the pant hem smooth and taut and so the waistband of the pant pulls the rest of the pants taut.
Specifics: Some of Our Favorite Washable Suits
We've mentioned some of the best brands to know, as well as (at top) our latest favorite suits — but let's take a look at some specific suiting styles.
The Best Washable Suit Overall
Ann Taylor
It's hard to beat Ann Taylor when almost all of their major suiting lines are washable.
Both their seasonless stretch line and their bi-stretch line (pictured) are machine washable, stretchy, and great year-round — they're classic cuts in neutral colors, perfect for interviews.
Meanwhile, their double knit line is machine washable, wrinkle resistant, and comes in seasonally fun colors as well as neutrals. If you want something drapier or airier (and with mostly seasonal colors), check out their fluid crepe or lightweight weave lines.
The Best Affordable Washable Suit
Banana Republic Factory
Banana Republic Factory seems to (for the moment at least) stopped their hugely popular line of washable wool suits — but a lot of the suiting that remains is still washable.
Banana Republic Factory is known for its sales, of course — you can regularly find suiting pieces for under $50 here.
Their Sculpted suit blazers and pants are all fully lined and machine washable — and they tend to come in trendy cuts and colors.
The Best Washable Suit to Splurge On
Hobbs London
Hobbs is one of the first brands that I noticed making washable workwear — and the London-based brand is great if Kate Middleton is one of your style icons.
You can find some Hobbs storefronts in the US, but they note that shipping starts at $10 and you have a one-month return window. Note that the brand is also available at Bloomingdale's, though!
The Best Trendy Washable Suit
Madewell
Madewell has a number of suiting materials that are machine washable, and the brand in general is a great option if you're looking for a special size like petite, plus, or tall. The brand has a much younger, more casual vibe in general, which may not be appropriate for interviews, presentations, or appearances — know your office!
Specific lines that are machine washable include their Drapeweave line (pictured), their Easygoing Crepe, and their Softdrape line.
The Best Plus-Size Washable Suit
Lands' End
Lands' End has had a suiting line in washable wool blend for years — trendy, no, but it is one of the last places you can find details like fully-lined blazers. They have a limited selection of a few blazers, skirts, pants, and even dresses all available in regular, petite, and plus sizes (up to 34W).
(Whoa, they also have matching maternity suit pants — those are really rare these days!)
The Softest Washable Suit
Brooks Brothers
Brooks Brothers is known for their easy care blouses and shirts, of course, but they only recently got a line of suiting that is easy to care for — their Soft Icons line.
As they describe it on the product page, “We revisited some of our most sought-after women's pieces, including the navy blazer, the pleated chino, the button-down shirt, and reinterpreted them in a soft, flowy Cupro-blend fabric that drapes and tailors like washed silk, and is easy to care for.” Nice!
The Best Washable Blazers for Women
Sometimes you don't want an entire suit — you just want a blazer that you can wash.
As of 2024, these are some of the reader favorites that are also machine washable blazers…
Readers, which are your favorite washable suits for women?
Anonymous
I feel like I am going to be Rapunzel by the time I get back to the office (aka when zoom school ends and they go back into the classroom). Yulia Timoshenko wrapped braids? I worry that I will just look like a bad country music singer. I am conditioning a lot and obviously not heat styling. But it is so long it was distracting me b/c I could feel it on my arms/back when wore a tank top yesterday.
I am tempted by buy some Pony-Os and have tried some sock buns, but my skills are not in doing my own hair (I can do hair of others just fine if anyone wants to trade off with me).
Ugh.
Anon
Pull hair into a low pony tail with your hands, no elastic. Twist upward and secure with a claw clip. If it’s super long after twisting you can do a u-turn and point the ends down before clipping.
Or you can do a Star Wars Rey thing and claw clip the crown of your hair like a half-updo, then separately twist and clip the bottom half.
This is what I do when my too-long former bob is driving me nuts.
anon
Most of the women in my office had very long hair even before the pandemic, and I would say the 2 most common hairstyles were a plain ponytail and half-up in a barette. I prefer the barrette, and I part my hair for it by leaning back a little and then running my fingers straight up from behind my ears. These summer days WFH, I also like the barettes because I can use a scrunchie or butterfly clip to messily tie the rest of the length up in a knob at the back of my head, which gets it up off the back of my sweaty neck, but it still looks professional around my face.
NY CPA
I have very long hair and these are my 2 go-to options. I was actually planning to finally cut my hair in March, but obviously that didn’t happen and so it’s still growing…
Anonymous
I like the Invisbobble for a pony or sort of a top knot. They grip well and don’t break my hair. I feel you though. I miss my hairstylist so much.
Anonymous
Why don’t you just go to a hair dresser?
anon
Litigator here wanting to be a not-litigator. When I think about other practice areas that sound interesting, I’m left wondering what the work actually entails. (I’ve posted before asking about other practice areas if this question sounds familiar.) Today’s areas of curiosity are privacy, healthcare, and regulatory (particularly anything pharma/FDA-related). What does a typical work day/week look like? Research/memo-writing? Drafting? Lots of client interaction? How much, if at all, do you deal with opposing counsel? Is there a quasi-litigation component to any of these? Overall level of animosity/stress? How predictable is your schedule? Also, if you are at a firm, do you see many opportunities to move in-house, or to government or another non-firm setting? Many thanks to anybody who is willing to share!
Anon
Would employer-sponsored healthcare interest you? (To the extent that it still exists a decade from now…) There’s privacy, regulatory, and litigation work there. Lots of “Can we do this?” questions from clients, so it tends to be low(er) stress.
Employment/privacy/regulatory
I do employment advising and privacy issues. My typical day/week look like: answering calls and emails. Drafting policies and letters. Lots of 1-4 hour projects, very few multi-day projects. I might spend 20 hours over a two week period answering an agency action, but that’s rare. Tons of client interaction, but spread out over a lot of small-to-midsize clients (instead of having a few giant clients or a few big cases all at once). If I do have a big case or major issue, like a sexual harassment investigation with 20 witness interviews, I add that on top of all the small and short calls so that means it’s a big week. Days are totally unexpected and hard to predict.
I don’t deal with opposing counsel often, I joke that I solve problems and tell people what to do all day. In reality, I give people options all day, but it often feels like talking people off cliffs (“i want to fire Jane!” “Well, you can legally do that. The risk is XYZ. You could mitigate risk by ABC or you could chose to 123 instead.”)
Quasi-litigation – yes, I deal with administrative law (EEOC/DOL complaints, etc.). Tons of regulatory analysis. There’s also actual litigation, I hand those cases to a colleague who only wants to litigate. I have an extremely high level of stress tolerance. The only things I tend to feel anxious about are a) risk of employee suicide, b) major, unexpected layoffs due to major business issues, and c) major data breaches where the entity may not survive and any ‘wrong notice’ could result in huge fines. Upside is I rarely get surprised. Downside is I’m a cynic. Having seven embezzlement investigations in one year does that to a person.
My schedule is fairly predictable but COVID has f*cked it in a big way. See above re: mental health and layoff issues. I don’t do much data breach work, I usually leave that to the firms that are available 24/7 and only handle those issues, but I am here for smaller businesses that don’t have insurance or funds to handle those issues, and only in conjunction with an IT consult.
I’m currently at a firm, moved to private practice from in house. I think I could move to government and definitely could move back in house or to an HR position at a company (non lawyer capacity). If I had a computer science background I’d say I have more privacy-related move options, but I don’t.
Anon
I do a combination of healthcare operations and litigation. Several attorneys at my firm just do operations.
Operations has a large quasi-litigation component. Normally, these are emergencies– hospital needs to do ECT on a child, transfer a patient without capacity to consent, get a conservator for someone who’s being abused, etc. These all require court filings and appearances in court. These are pretty short term– like file something, get heard the next week, then you’re done. The other attorneys that work in this area are pretty close-knit, so it’s very collegial. It’s also very rarely adversarial– everyone is working towards a good outcome of the patient.
As an example of how the workload is, one of the associates in this area had the flu last year, so I picked up his work for a week. I ended up billing 35-40 hours of extra work that week (I’m at a small firm and was the only one available to cover, which is unusual) because everything had to be done that week. But, when he came back from the flu, he had little to no work to make up.
Lots of client contact. It’s almost like pseudo being in-house. Most of it involves being on the phone with other attorneys and counsel. Lots of “how do we do this?” questions that involve research. A lot of problem solving– mostly regulatory. Very little writing long memos, some drafting pleadings. Very fast-paced.
Level of stress is moderate but pretty constant. Very few days where you can just sit and do analysis, write a memo, not talk to anyone. But also very few days where you’re going to have a trial type thing, etc. Occasional emergencies happen over the weekend– but it’s typically a real life or death emergency, not a “partner wants this done by Monday but forgot to assign it until Saturday” thing. Covid obviously has extended our work hours a bit just because of all the crazy things hospitals are dealing with right now.
anon
I am a healthcare lawyer, which sometimes involves privacy issues (HIPAA). I am also a former litigator. I work in a small to midsize law firm (approx 40 attorneys). I have a fairly general practice–regulatory, transactional, and corporate, in that order, but exclusively for healthcare clients.
A typical work week involves a fair amount of client interaction–emails and phone calls to clarify what they’re trying to accomplish, or giving advice on how to structure something, etc. I deal with “opposing” counsel at least weekly, but most of those relationships are non-acrimonious because everyone wants to get the deal done. I do a fair amount of research (maybe 25% of my time), and the research often involves delving into the details of regulations and sometimes into the regulation’s preamble. I write memos, but they’re different from litigation type memos because the audience is almost always a non-lawyer. I also write a lot of emails and phone calls because not every question calls for a full memo. I draft and redline a lot of contracts and corporate documents. Typically, I bill on 3-5 different matters on any given day, and there’s a pretty big variety of actual tasks and areas of law.
My schedule is extremely predictable. I work as close to a 9-5 as a firm lawyer can get. I rarely get calls at night or on weekends. There are really very few emergencies. (I’m not the healthcare lawyer you’d call if the FBI showed up at your office, though I advise clients on how to keep that from happening.)
My in-house opportunities are somewhat limited unless I want to move because there are only 2 hospital systems in our area. I’m not interested in state government because of the low salaries in my state, and I’m not located in an area where federal government opportunities are plentiful, especially in healthcare and for non-litigators.
anon
Thanks for the thorough responses! I’m hearing some things that sound appealing in terms of the variety and work flow of healthcare work. I hadn’t considered employment, so thank you also to the employment/privacy atty for bringing it up. This is really helpful and gives me some things to think further about/ask as I try to move into talking to people IRL about making a switch.
Law
Try the Top Law Schools forums. There’s a careers board with a thread full of “I’m a ___ lawyer and this is what I do all day.” It would have been really helpful when I was deciding what to do!
Anon
I was in private practice for eight years doing telecom regulatory work, and now work for a federal agency. When I was in private practice, I spent A LOT of time drafting – regulatory proceeding comments, etc. I also spent a lot of time directly counseling clients/working groups on strategy. Basically, a lot of research/pleading writing…lots of client interaction. In my practice, there wasn’t really “opposing counsel” as such. There are a lot of voices on an issue in the regulatory space – and you agree with them some of the time and disagree with them the rest of the time. I spent a lot of time working with other groups/entities that we could partner with on various issues – but it wasn’t often an adversarial relationship. Overall level of stress in private practice was high – lots of deadlines, lots of “bet the company” issues. But that likely had more to do with my type of client. Now that I’m a government lawyer, I’d never go back to private practice.
Anon
That suit is gorgeous (and 20% off). How roomy is the fit through the hips and thighs?
Anonymous
Hobbs is good in that area, like Basler.
No Face
Low stakes shopping questions.
Help me find some casual pants for fall/winter. I own jeans and athletic leggings. Joggers look terrible on me. Any other comfy pants I should look into?
Anon
https://www.marinelayer.com/collections/gals-bottoms/products/allison-pant-black-6
Anon
These are similar and higher quality, but the elastic wasitband is bigger and I think looks less refined https://www.everlane.com/products/womens-italian-goweave-easy-pant-surplus?collection=womens-bottoms
Anonymous
I like the Marine Layer ones! Washable, too!
No Face
These marine layer pants look intriguing. The everlane ones are wool and that doesn’t fit my little kid lifestyle.
Coach Laura
The Mom’s board has Nic + Zoe wonderstretch pants featured today. On sale at Nordstrom. I just ordered them and they have good reviews.
Anonymous
I have and love a couple pairs of those but wouldn’t wear them casually.
Anon
I have them and like them but I think they look more like work pants in person.
NY CPA
I just ordered these. Will report back if they’re super comfy! These are plus size but Talbots looks like they have lots of comfy pant options now.
https://www.talbots.com/plus-size-knit-jersey-straight-leg-pants/P191033864.html?cgid=apparel-pants&dwvar_P191033864_color=INDIGO%20BLUE&dwvar_P191033864_sizeType=WO#prefn1=size&prefv1=2X&prefn2=sizeType&prefv2=Plus&start=1
Anonymous
I resist podcasts…But it seems like all my friends love them. So. How did you get into them? Did you start by listening in the car, doing laundry, what? I spend a lot of time in silence (grew up without TV) so I think I’m not used to it. I read fast so listening to someone never appealed much, but I’ve heard you can speed them up. I want to try them but I’m overwhelmed by the world of podcasts and not sure where to start/when to listen.
JTM
The first podcasts I listened to were actually NPR shows – do you listen to any radio at all? I really enjoy shows like This American Life, Radiolab, etc so I found podcasts to be a way to catch the episodes I’d missed on my local NPR station. From there I branched out to topics that interested me, for example, I love history so the Stuff You Missed In History Class podcast became a favorite of mine, because I could learn something new with every episode. Some people like podcasts that are more like talk shows, with the hosts just bantering. Other people prefer a story or some type of plot. Other people like an interview format, like in the How I Built This or Fresh Air.
Anon
In this vein, I love the Moth Radio Hour. I get sucked in whenever I’m in the car and come across it.
Senior Attorney
I listen while I’m taking my 10,000-step walks. I also listen in the car during my (short) commute, but I zone out a lot in the car. I really like the ones that tell a single story in depth, like Serial, or S-Town, and so on. Both seasons of In the Dark are just great. And my all time favorite is Dead Eyes, the story of how an actor was fired from a small part in the 80s miniseries Band of Brothers and decades later decided to find out why it happened.
Senior Attorney
Oops nesting fail.
Anonymous
With you on generally preferring silence to noise! I tend to listen on long car rides (for shorter distances, like a commute, I prefer quiet), and on longer cardio workouts.
Anonymous
I’m the same as you, I’ve tried a bunch of them and have never been able to get into them. Like you, I read fast and I prefer to listen to music while exercising or driving. There’s something that’s just very unappealing to me about listening to someone talk about themselves, even if it’s a person I admire or whose opinion I’m interested in. I LOVED Michelle Obama’s memoir, but I listened to a few episodes of her podcast and found it very blah. I guess I just prefer someone talking about themselves in written form? I don’t know, but when I couldn’t get into the Michelle Obama podcast I finally accepted that I am Not A Podcast Person.
anon
I can understand that! I like podcasts, but I’m drawn to those with dual hosts. I, too, don’t love the single narrator format. Don’t even get me started on audio books … I have tried to like them, and I just don’t. I can read faster than I can listen, and the whole experience is just different and not what I want from a book.
Anonymous
I listen to a ton of podcasts, but I am a person who really doesn’t listen to a whole lot of music – I far prefer audio books and talk radio, or any broadcast of a sporting event over listening to music. I view them as a way to learn more about topics that interest me or a deeper dive into stuff I already like. I started with listening to them to help me fall asleep. I have a lot of trouble falling asleep with too much going thru my head/thinking too much, that for me it’s almost like a bedtime story. I listened to podcasts that don’t really discuss serious topics. I really liked How Stuff Works, which then lead me into also listening to Tech Stuff, where I learned a ton about technology, the stories behind some large tech companies, stuff like that. I also listen to them while doing chores, and now will download some for car/plane trips.
After the 2016 election, I was really searching for more discussions about what happened and what to do next. So, I started listening to ALL the Crooked Media podcasts, along with NPR politics podcast. I’ve cut waaaay back on that (it was too much). Currently, I listen to the NPR Up First podcast while getting ready in the morning, and am listening to a few different podcasts about the TV show The Office, and I will listen to the 538 Politics Podcast about how they build their election prediction models. I enjoy the show The Office, so I listen to these as I’m falling asleep as my “bedtime story” podcasts that wont’ keep me up at night. For chores, I’ve been listening to the Dream podcasts about MLM’s and the wellness industry. I also liked the Gangster Capitalism podcast about the college admissions scandal and the NRA investigation – these are two topics where I was only reading headlines, and the podcasts let me learn more while also doing all sorts of outdoor lawn/yard work this summer.
Anon
Are you me? We are the same. Since we like all the same things, you might also like The Daily. I also just finished Nice White Parents and liked it.
Carmen Sandiego
I’m similar. Prefer silence to noise. I hate having the TV on for background noise because I grew up not watching much TV, I would much prefer to read a book in silence. I’ve had a difficult time getting into podcasts in the past, but lately I’ve been listening to Brene Brown’s podcast on my commute to and from work and I’ve been enjoying it. The topics and guests have been pretty timely and on-topic for me, and since they are usually on something that I’m actually interested in, I find that I can pay attention to it (which has been a problem for me in other podcasts). I think it also gives me the feeling like I’ve talked to someone even though I’m just listening. The podcast just started this year, like the week that the pandemic really got started in the U.S., and so I’ve been catching up on the old episodes, and so far they’ve covered grief, comparative suffering, emotions, loneliness.
Z
I started in the car when I had a long commute. Serial (season 1, might send you down the True Crime rabbit hole) and Stuff You Missed in History Class mostly.
I listen to mostly political podcasts now. Pod Save America, Pod Save the World, America Dissected.
There’s some really good ones through The Washington Post – Presidential (started in 2016 in the 45 weeks leading up to the election, covering a president every week), Constitutional (covering amendments in the Constitution and their impact on society), and Moonshot (about the space race, very interesting to me). They’re all hosted by Lillian Cunningham, who is excellent.
anonshmanon
I also got hooked when Serial was big everywhere. And This American Life. I like podcasts like this that do storytelling, but also the ones that teach me a new thing (Radiolab, Planet Money, Freakonomics). I’ve liked some, but not all of the podcasts that totally nerd out about one topic (there are tons that hyperanalyze a TV show or book, or quirks of the English language, or cheese). There are also a lot that are just banter or comedy that I love. I also tried a few work-related ones and hobby ones.
I play them when I cook or clean or work in the garden. Also used to listen on my commute. But if you prefer silence there is nothing wrong with that. I don’t think they are so different from putting on the TV, streaming platform, or a youtube channel, or the radio. It’s just one more thing to choose from. Due to to format, there is a low barrier to producing a podcast (just need a decent mic) and to distribute it, which leads to a giant selection for consumers.
Anon
Silence is also my default state. I started with podcasts by using them to drown out anxious/depressive ruminating that happens when my hands are occupied but my brain is not. Best times are on long highway drives, while cooking, and on walks. I need upbeat music for working out, but I do a 30-60 min podcast walk most evenings. Started with Radiolab. I love history podcasts, favorites are Revolutions, Hardcore History, and You’re Dead to Me (which is half comedy). Tides of History and In Our Time really bore me, despite my best intentions. I listen to podcasts in my foreign language for practice, and I also like podcasts that do deep dives into my favorite books/shows/movies, this is especially good for downing out the Bad Thoughts. Shoutout to Podlander Drunkcast (Outlander) and the Bakedown Podcast (GBBO). Half-Size Me is IMO the best one out there about weight loss/maintenance of weight and healthy habits. Eminently reasonable viewpoint. Now I’m listening to this Off Menu one with British comedians that is sort of about food, and I enjoy it, even though I don’t usually like banter podcasts. Tried the Splendid Table (more informative, actually about food), but that one bored me too. I think a lot of the British comedians that do panel shows also do podcasts (or if they didn’t, they probably do now), so I’m going to expand in that genre once I run out of Off Menu.
anonshmanon
I just gasped to learn about the Bake Down podcast! Am excited to give it a try!
Anon
Definitely no pressure with podcasts. Don’t listen to them if you are not interested, especially if you’ve given it a few goes. However, if you want to try it again, there are so many options. If the voice is too slow, see if the x1.5 option is comfortable. Faster than that tends to be super awkward. I work in health care, so I like health and medicine podcasts (think emergency cases, clinical scenarios, etc.). I also listen to women and leadership podcasts (think Tilted by Lean In, or even radical candor, etc.), and I am Christian, so also enjoy a variety of short sermons and services (10 minutes to 60 minutes, depending on my mood). Some friends like listening to novels or fictions, but similarly to you, I’d rather just read the book or hang in silence. I vary between silence, Apple music, and podcasts use in the car, while taking a walk, or durning extensive cleaning sessions. Depends on my mood. I grew up without TV, and in a large family, so silence is amazing to me. However, podcasts can be nice if you enjoy it! To each their own. Hope this helps!
Anon
I like the idea of podcasts and occasionally listen, but I keep getting stopped by major decision fatigue. There are like 3000 podcasts for each topic I’m interested in and then each has a million episodes. I also get irritated with ads (especially long ones) that I can’t skip easily while I’m driving. I’ve just accepted that the whole podcast process isn’t REALLY for me, but now and then, I’ll listen to something that is light on ads and interesting.
Anon
My favourite style of podcast is walking shows. Someone walking somewhere interesting, in real time, with historical facts, descriptions and stories, and traffic or nature noises in the background. Pre-Youtube I also loved the Maanchi cooking podcast.
I can’t podcast that are set up like talk shows, though. Or anything with background music or musac.
I also read too fast to enjoy a lot of audio books, but I’ve found that old favourites are great. Comfort reads, read by a voice artist with a voice I truly like, and a story I already know so it’s all right to dip in and out in terms of paying attention. One favourite series is the P.G. Wodehouse Blandings castle books, superbly read by Nigel Lambert or Jonathan Cecil.
Elderlyunicorn
It took me a loooong time to come around to podcasts … there is something about hearing people talk that I just really dislike – NPR, radio talk shows, etc. But I thought, I’m probably missing out on a lot of great content. After trying a few, I’ve found that I really enjoy interviews with people I really like listening to, so for me, that’s Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend and I skip the banter with his producers. I like to listen when I go hiking / for a long walk because I can really concentrate on the conversation and I’m not relying on it for motivation the way I am when I’m running. I’ve tried having a podcast on in the background while i’m cooking or doing something else, but then I really tune it out and miss most of it.
Anonymous
I’m a total podcast fan. But, and I think this is key, listening is how I best absorb information. I know that people are always talking about being visual learners, but I don’t process things that way. I’ll never remember what a page looked like but I’ll be able to almost replay a voice in my head, if that makes sense. So for me, it’s just this amazingly easy way to learn things or hear stories. There is so much ease to it that I just feel like a whole world opened it when I got into podcasts.
All that to say- it’s probably not your thing because it’s not your preferred medium and that’s totally ok!
Anonymous
This is how I see it. I do feel like I’m missing out on podcasts that don’t have transcripts (seemingly nearly all of them??).
NY CPA
I listen to them in the car, while doing laundry or cleaning, and while grocery shopping.
I started by listening to Up First from NPR. Then I delved into others based on interest. Still can’t really do long involved ones most of the time. I prefer 30 min or less.
anon
I am not a big podcast/audiobook person, but I’ve been embracing them more in the last couple years for two reasons that no one else has mentioned: 1. the fact that DH & I can’t agree on road trip music, but can easily find a book were both at least semi-interested in.2. my office job (and, tbh, my phone) gives me eyestrain.
Sloan Sabbith
I am not a podcast person, but I am definitely an audiobook person. The only podcast I like is What Should I Read Next. I also liked Serial because it felt like a story in podcast form.
I’ve just accepted I’m not a podcast person and always have an audiobook in progress.
Sloan Sabbith
Oh, and I guess I like Great Courses, too, which are kind of podcastish. I like deep dives into one topic.
Anon for this
Anon brag: I’m a mid 30’s full time working mom of 3 little kids who has been going slightly crazy with quarantine.
I decided to focus on my weight and fitness and prioritize that as self-care. Well, just this morning, I weighed in at the same weight I was before kids, AND my husband pointed out that (for the first time in a long time) you can see real definition in my arm muscles. I’m really proud of what I’ve accomplished but also how strong I feel.
Also, after lots of weird diets over the years, I’m slowly discovering that if I focus on protein in the mornings, I feel much better.
Anonymous
woo woo!
Anon
Nice!! Have you been focusing on strength training? I keep meaning to do more of that but it’s been hard to get started.
Op
Thank you!
Focus shifted from steady state cardio to lots of intervals with some strength in there.
(Also, taking care of 3 little kids is a TON of lifting and squats.)
Anonymous
Congrats! Interested in your arm work out routine? I’d love to have stronger more defined arms.
Op
Peloton stuff mostly (app and bike) but also lots of higher intensity cardio followed by bursts of moderate lifting (higher reps, moderate weight) seems to be what my body responds to.
Anon
Wow, good for you!! I’m the opposite, I just realized today that I weigh as much as I did the day before I gave birth. I had lost all the baby weight, but it came back on gradually. Fingers crossed that daycare actually stays open this fall and I can get back into something resembling a workout routine.
Vicky Austin
This is inspiring – if you can do it then I can go for a run today!
Abby
Yay good for you! Feeling strong is the BEST feeling.
toned arms
Congrats, that awesome! For those asking about arm routines, here’s some general suggestions:
– Lift heavier weights than you think you need. A lot of women stick to small weights so they don’t get “bulky”, but think about how much your purse weighs! You do need to actually build the muscle for it to look “toned” or “defined”, which means you need to lift progressively heavier weights. If you’re constantly picking up your purse that weighs 5 lbs., you need more weight than that to build the muscles.
– Work all areas of the muscle. Having shapely shoulders is important for the appearance of shapely arms. Having shapely triceps is also important. A lot of people focus just on the bicep, but all heads of the shoulder and tricep help the perception that your arms are toned. Even building your chest and back muscles improves the perception of your arms because you have better posture and a balanced shape overall.
– To hit all areas of the muscle, change up the exercises. A mix of side shoulder raises, front shoulder raises, and shoulder presses, diagonal biceps, front biceps, and cable vs. straight bars vs. dumbbell biceps, tricep dips, kickback, skull crushers, and tricep push-ups (again, mixing it up with cables, straight bars, and dumbbells if you have access to them). You don’t need to do all of these in every workout, but avoid just sticking to a single exercise and increasing the weight. Choose different exercises, different weights, different order, and different speeds to confuse your muscles.
Moved Out
Long time lurker but struggling a bit and could use some advice from my favorite internet friends. I recently moved out of parent’s house after a temporary move back due to a brief period of unemployment (preplanned and pre-covid), since getting settled in my job and seeing that working from home was going to be for the prolonged future, I decided to move into an apartment a few times over just to get my space back. But now that I’m here, I’m feeling a bit depressed and like I made a mistake. I lived on my own for several years before this so I’m not sure why I’m struggling so much. Is it just COVID making everything feel a bit more dramatic? Or did I make the wrong decision. Its a bit too late to back out since I’m already moved in, just looking for some hope that things will get better.
anon
It’s perfectly normal to feel a little homesick when moving into a new apartment! I always get a bit sad when I’m surrounded by boxes in an unfamiliar space. Give yourself some time to get acclimated — eventually you’ll develop a new routine and start to feel more at home.
anon
Totally normal. When I was a little kid I’d spend endless time fantasizing about rearranging my bedroom furniture, redecorating, painting murals on the walls. My poor father would agree to rearrange the furniture like once/year and every time he did I always wept for the first few nights and felt like I made a huge mistake. It was so. dramatic. I just don’t like change. This carried into adulthood, and every single time I’ve moved (which has been a lot) I feel sad, regretful, and out of sorts for a bit. It doesn’t last. Once you start your new routine and get everything set up and decorated with all of your familiar stuff, it’ll balance out.
CountC
Agree with the others. I am someone who LOVES LOVES LOVES being alone, but I just had to up my dosage of antidepressant medicine because I am just a flat out mess with everything that is going on. This is a really hard and weird time.
Sloan Sabbith
I’ve been with my parents most of the time since April (high risk, mental health didn’t like being alone in March) and while I LOVE living alone, I’m anxious about going back to living alone full time and am very hesitant to do so during the pandemic although living with my parents is not ideal. Before now, I’ve never had a problem with lots of alone time. Rationally, I know that it’s because I actually get almost zero social interaction when I’m living alone during COVID, rather than the balance of daytime interaction, nighttime alone time during normal time but it seems like something I’d love.
Anonymous
Maybe engage in some “home alone” behavior. When you were a teenager and you had the house to yourself what did you do or what would you have wanted to do with your FREEDOM? Stay up late watching a movie, eat ice cream for dinner, put on some music and try out the latest dance moves … monopolize the bathroom for hours with a bubble bath/self care … etc.
Amber
I think this is a great idea!! I want to do all of that too lol! I do think your feelings are perfectly normal! You will be ok!! :)
Moved Out
Thanks everyone! I think I have been focusing on some of the issues with the apartment (you know, new place things you didn’t notice before moving in) and need to focus on what I love about living alone and finish unpacking. Getting my peloton moved in this weekend should help, but I have been ignoring my daily routine like working out while packing/unpacking etc. Going to focus on getting myself into a better routine, instead of ruminating at my desk over whether I made the wrong decision
Looking for shiny things
I used to buy from ten thousand villages stuff like bracelets and pearls. The store in my city has closed and they do not appear to have a Canada store. Can anyone suggest a shop in Canada doing the same sort of thing?
Sine
10000 Villages stores are in Canada. My local one closed a couple of years ago. So maybe they’ve all closed. They are online in Canada.
anon
If you could buy one coat for early fall, would you choose denim or a utility jacket? I have a denim jacket that needs replacing, but maybe the utility jacket is more current? Most of my casual pants are jeans or Athleta joggers, if that helps.
anon
I have yet to find a utility jacket that’s my desired length so I’d go with a utility jacket.
anon
Lol I’m back to edit this nonsense: I have yet to find a *denim jacket* that’s my desired length so I’d go with a utility jacket. Time to log off for the day :)
Anon
Same, I love the idea of a denim jacket but my figure does not need a boxy shape that ends at the middle of the hip. That’s just a big no for me.
Anon
Same, I love the idea of a denim jacket but my figure does not need a boxy shape that ends at the middle of the hip. That’s just a big no for me.
anon
Excellent points!
anon
I would go with denim, mostly because I love denim. But also because, with my hourglass figure, I prefer a jacket cropped to my natural waist.
Anon
Utility. I have worn the heck out of my Orvis one. It was a splurge for me, but I wear it nearly every day for months. https://www.orvis.com/p/river-road-waxed-cotton-jacket/2hss
Amber
Oh, I love that!! So cute and also practical!
Anon
Just bought it! Thanks for the recommendation.
anne-on
Utility jacket. I literally could use the extra pockets as I’m trying to carry a purse less and I need *functional* pockets to hold mask/keys/phone/etc. and the stupid angled tiny women’s pockets are awful.
Z
Working from home pet peeve: when people use speakerphone for conference calls so their audio has echo-y background noise. I get earbuds are uncomfortable when you’re on meetings all day, but please, I can’t hear what you’re saying over your AC roaring in the background.
Pandemic Hair Help
Why, oh why, does the box hair color I buy from the store turn my dark brown hair red and brassy? What does my colorist use and why don’t they sell THAT stuff in stores? Is there anything I can use to make my grey hairs dark brown? Can I get my hair colored outside? When will this pandemic be over?
Anon
Late reply but Madison Reed. I found their online quiz matched me perfectly, Zocca Brown 6N, did not turn me red at all, and covered about 90% of my grays. It was my first time so I didn’t know my grays were “resistant”, so next time I will add the extra 10 minutes they recommend for that. Overall I’m really pleased. I had some very grown-out highlights that were getting brassy, and the MR covered them really well. I am surprised at how much I like my color!
S in Chicago
My hair is prone to getting brassy even when the colorists do it (I think it’s the water in our house, and my stylist says my hair picks up gold tones stronger than most). My go-to is purple shampoo. I used to use Aveda’s Blue Malva, but I don’t really care for the smell of all of their products. I switched to Fanola No Yellow (Amazon carries), and I think it works the same if not better without any scent. You don’t use it every shampoo. But it keeps everything from going too red or yellow like a dream. It takes the brass away in a shampoo or two. (It’s not a big change like hair dye–more like a very slight toner that evens things out.
mascot
I’ve got dark brown hair and when I colored it (at the salon), I’d ask for ash/cool tones for highlights. Anything warm/brass/gold/caramel tended to pull red on me. So maybe do some research into those distinctions?
Also, talk to your salon about what their precautions look like. I’m an early weekday morning customer and it’s generally just me and the stylist in the very clean, high ceiling, airconditioned salon (both masked).
Anon
Ditto all of this – what she said about hair color and salon experience. I could have written it!
Anonymous
My hair salon has offered to sell me my normal premixed color that I can pick up and apply at home. Perhaps ask your salon
Cat
Just go to the salon. With both of you masked and appropriate precautions like low capacity (or if you are single process maybe it could be done outside with the exception of the wash?), this is low risk.
Anonymous
You have no idea what rates are like in her area, you have no idea how large the salon is/volume of customers through and you have no idea what her underlying health is or those around her. It’s actually not that low of risk for a lot of people. I read an article where salons were put riskier than going to an office or staying in a hotel or eating at a restaurant outside. There’s a whole heck of a lot of people not willing to do any of those things right now. Give advice, but no need to gaslight here.
anon
Yeah she obviously knows that salons exist but she’s made a choice not to go that route — respect her decision.
Anon
You can go buy custom color in Sally Beauty – if you’re brassy you may need a different hue, like an Ash, or maybe a different developer.
Sloan Sabbith
Fantastic, a client today told me (very nicely and quite pityingly) that she knows I’m in league with the devil and doesn’t judge me for it, but would prefer to work with someone non-satanic.
Happy f-ing Wednesay.
Anonymous
Evangelical? Or QAnon?
Anon
Praise Satan that you don’t have to work with that nutjob anymore!
Of Counsel
Did you let your horns show? How did she manage to figure that out?
And on a serious note – sorry! I recently ran into that with a (paranoid schizophrenic) pro per plaintiff and cannot imagine that conversation with an actual client!
Sloan Sabbith
Yeah, she has schizophrenia. Luckily she’s not a long term client (because her legal issue is not actually based in reality). In terms of things clients have said to me or called me, it wasn’t even top 5 of aggravating things. A client one time told me I should work for Nancy (Pelosi) because I’m a liberal b**ch c**t like her. I think I’d told him that I couldn’t help him sue my own employer for corruption or something similar.
Senior Attorney
I’m sorry but this made me laugh so hard that my assistant came running into my office to see what was wrong!
Senior Attorney
And now I feel bad bacause I read that she has schizophrenia…