Reply #10: Etiquette differs for formal occasions [View All]

There are times, at casual events, like say, maybe a baseball game, when sure, you can get away with combing your hair or putting on chapstick. At any kind of formal occasion, you do not whip out the dental floss, the war paint, or pick your undies out of your crack. You go into a private place, preferably the restroom, to take care of those things.

It shows an utter contempt for the occasion and the people around you to ignore that bit of commonly-accepted etiquette. It's indicative of complete self-absorption. "I'm going to do what I feel like doing, and none of you are important enough for me to worry whether or not this is rude or offensive. This occasion is so dull to me that I'm going to fiddle with my makeup instead."

Granted, applying lipstick is less repulsive than, for example, clipping your toenails in public. But the rule is, one does not groom oneself publicly. My mother was death on that, particularly people who comb their hair in public (she especially hated people who did it IN RESTAURANTS, because it was disgusting to get someone else's hair on your food, which it is. I don't want ANYTHING that came off someone else's body in my food).