In the movie Tootsie, Dustin Hoffman plays an actor who impersonates a female actress in order to get an acting job. He has just come home from a shopping spree where he has purchased all the accoutrements he needs for his role as a woman: wigs, hair rollers, makeup, nail polish, jewelry, shoes, handbags, etc. As he is putting on his wig and makeup, he comments to his roommate that he never realized how much time and energy and money women have to spend just to make themselves presentable. Boy, isn’t that the truth?

There is no doubt about it, women in our culture are high-maintenance. I decided to take a cold hard look at the routine I’ve always gone through to be presentable. I came up with some specific things women can do to get to low-maintenance, and I’ve included them in this separate section, written just for women. Men, for the most part, are already low-maintenance.