I’ve worn glasses since I was in elementary school. I’m pretty much blind without them or contacts.
But, I go to great lengths not to wear my glasses in public. In four years at my job, I’ve worn them to the office three times. Once I was sick, one I was “not feeling so great” and the third was after New Moon and three hours of sleep.
I primarily wear them only around my house. Only a handful of my friends has seen me in them and most are surprised when I tell them that I do.
I’m not embarrassed by them, but for some reason, I just don’t like people see me wear them.
I blame it on a cruel adolescence where kids at school called me “four eyes” and a man at the mall I worked at chanted, “guys don’t make passes at girls that wear glasses.”
Charming, especially for someone who is self conscious and dying for a boyfriend.
Yes, my past glasses were not…flattering, but they helped me see and “hide,” so that was good enough.
My first boyfriend knew me in glasses, and I remember thinking (as he hit on me while talking about Titanic), what is wrong with him?
Even now, a guy was giving me the flirty smile one weekend, when I was hungover as sh*t and sitting on the bus, feeling like a bloated sea lion and wearing my glasses, and I thought again, what the h*ll is he doing? I’m wearing my glasses, why is he hitting on me?
Fortunately, people are nice enough now to tell me I look good in my frames, which I think may be because I’m their boss, but part of me still doesn’t like people to see me in them.
However, thanks to a recently sucky contacts prescription and the need for a good eye doctor in Chicago, I’ve been wearing my glasses more…and more in public.
I can’t say that I’m totally comfortable with it or how I look in them, but I need to get over this anxiety about having people see me in them, because when contacts dry out, that sh*t is UNCOMFORTABLE. And my eyes never bother me in my glasses, so that’s good enough :)
What about you? Do you wear glasses or feel uncomfortable in some of your accessories or clothing?
Does anyone have fun or exciting long weekend plans? I can’t believe it’s almost Labor Day!!
i wear my contacts all the time, i also can’t see without mine in and am almost blind.i rarely wear my glasses, but i got a new pair in april and now i’ll wear glasses out more and more. the only reason i don’t wear glasses more – i wear sunglasses constantly! and i know i could get prescription sunglasses, but don’t feel like i can see as well in glasses.
but i love it when a guy wears glasses!
I’ve worn glasses since the 5th grade and have not really enjoyed them till this year. I like wearing my contacts cause I feel prettier but I am growing to like my glasses more and wear them 90% of the time.
I’ve worn glasses since I was 5. They’re basically coke bottles at this point. Luckily, new fangled lenses come with some fancy option that makes them look thinner than they actually are, because I’m sure that otherwise I’d STILL get teased.
I thought about contacts once, but didn’t go through with it. Now, I feel like I’m too low maintenance to deal with the extra 30 seconds that contacts take.
I think glasses are making a comeback. They’re so cute these days and I notice more and more people wearing them just because. Sometimes, I do wish I didn’t have to wear them, but I remember how lazy I am and forget it :-)
I feel prettier when I wear contacts, but I (1) am lazy and (2) battle with dry eye, so I wear glasses most of the time.
If you’re looking for a new eye doctor, I highly recommend Dr. DeLee at Dean Optical. He’s at 209 S. LaSalle. You can find more info here: http://www.visionsource-deanoptical.com/.
I have glasses but I only ever wear them when I am really tired or remember to take them somewhere with me (which is never)!
I don’t feel too self conscious about them but I’m vain and if they don’t match my outfit I don’t wear them haha.
Ha, funny that we were just talking about this the other night. I feel blessed not to have to wear contacts or glasses. Hopefully my sight holds out until the day I die. Unlikely, but a man can dream.
I’ve been wearing my glasses for over a week thanks to some eye issues. Can’t wait to wear my contacts again! I feel the same way about glasses, but agree with the comment about updating frames. Covering glasses with insurance is usually the better deal vs getting contacts.
I’ve worn glasses since I was in elementary school–there have been periods of contacts, but I really, really hate dealing with them, so I usually end up back in my glasses.
I had a similar dilemma. I have very sensitive eyes, and they are also light-sensitive. I wore reading glasses as a kid, contacts thru highschool, mostly contacts in college.
When I was in my mid-20s, my eyes were just too sensitive for contacts all the time (no matter which brand). They just felt better in glasses.
But I always felt like when people saw me in glasses, they didn’t see “me”. I’m not a glasses-person, if you know what I mean.
Hubby got Lasik befor our wedding in 2003, and they told me I needed to be done having kids and nursing before I got it done. So I waited….and waited…and waited….all the while wearing glasses and not feeling like me.
Finally last year I got Lask, and I really feel like people see me for me again. And I’m not getting mad at my kids for beding/scratching my glasses all the time. :)
It’s funny, how a simple thing like wearing glasses can become A Thing.
I hope you can get more comfortable in your own (maybe have someone really honest and stylish help you pick your next pair?) and maybe even some day get Lasik.
I got glasses really late in life, only in the past 5 years, and I’ve *always* wanted them, even when I was little. I got contacts this summer so I can change it up and I really enjoy having their flexibility but I can’t see myself getting laser surgery or anything, I love the look of frames too much.
I really think of glasses as jewelry- I wear a pair for about a year and a half and then my style changes so I get something that’s more “me” and that works with the earrings and necklaces that I’m wearing most. Maybe you just have to update your frames a little? :)
You know what’s funny? Up until I started working out of school I never let ANYONE see me in my glasses unless I was in a lecture hall where I absolutely could not see the front board/screen or was driving somewhere I’d never been and needed to read street signs (ha, that’s safe!).
After graduation my mom bought me my last “i’m still on mom and dad’s really good insurance” pair of glasses which EVERYONE at work has seen we wear EVERYDAY. People probably describe me as a girl wearing glasses even though I don’t see myself that way at all. This fall I may test out contacts for the very first time because the thought of being described as a four eyes is finally starting to settle in. We’ll see how that goes…
I got my first pair of glasses when I was in the 3rd or 4th grade. I then had contacts in middle and high school. I wore my glasses a lot though. I was close to being legally blind so I LASIK and I’ve never looked back. Get the surgery. Its amazing and well worth the money (its covered by some vision plans, but for others its considered cosmetic). I had the surgery about 7 years ago and my vision is 20/20. Its crazy to think that a procedure that took less than 10 minutes basically changed the way I see things. =)
I tend to wear my contacts most of the time … I wear my glasses if I’m just hanging around the house.
I’ve had to wear glasses since 4th grade. I went to contacts towards the end of 9th grade and kept those until last year when I ran out of contacts and had no money to buy new ones. Since then, I’ve stuck with the glasses since I like the way they look on me moreso than without. They feel like they fit my personality more.
There are days when I contemplate going back to contacts and I might do that sometime in the future. Mainly because I want to wear sunglasses but don’t want to pay an obscene amount for prescription ones! ;)
I definitely don’t feel like myself if I’m without my glasses. They’re a part of me. My dad told me that Dorothy Parker line too when I was younger, but I just rolled my eyes :)
I have gone through phases.
Like you, I am practically blind without some sort of seeing help. When I first got glasses in Grade 5 I was mortified and I refused to wear them no matter how hard it was to see the board at school (but i did become great at taking notes from lectures instead!). When I was deemed old enough to get contacts I never let anyone see me in glasses in public.
It wasn’t until I had been married about a year that I decided to give up on the daily contact routine for a while. I got some styling frames and that was what I wore all the time. I returned to university for a second degree, had 2 children, started a job (not a career) and got divorced before I returned to the land of contacts.
Why did I go back to contacts? Well… I was suddenly back in the dating pool! I had been haunted by the “men don’t make passes at girls who wear glasses” thing, so when I decided to start dating again I ditched the glasses. Didn’t hurt that my glasses were so scratched up that I could barely see out of them anymore and it was cheaper to just buy 2 years worth of day/night contacts than replace the glasses!!
And now? Now I am considering bringing glasses back to my life — getting frames to wear sometimes so that I can give my eyes a rest. I’m 36… hell… chance are that guys will date me either way if they are interested…
I’m a 100% glasses girl. I’m absolutely blind without them. I tried contacts many, many years ago but it was when they were rigid and I hated them. Hasn’t been that big a deal to me to retry the squishy ones.
My glasses are an extension of my personality, I think. I always get a cute pair in purple or blue. My current ones have a bit of “bling” on the sides! I’m thankful to have my glasses. It boggles my mind that if I lived in a time or place where glasses weren’t available, I would be helpless. It’s a strange thing to ponder.
Wear those glasses with confidence, lady! You look cute in them (as one of the lucky few to have seen you in them…midnight movies FTW!)
I wore my glasses to get coffee this morning – my hair was a mess, not a lick of makeup on and I got chatted up by two guys in my building. Perhaps it was the fact that I was wearing my PJs and tank top with no bra…but I like to think it was my glasses ;)
I’ve never worn glasses or contacts, so I don’t know your pain. But I know a lot of people who do, so I have seen the hassle it is to deal with either. Now there are a lot of fun and cute frame styles out there, so often times I see people in glasses and think they look really good. But maybe that’s because I’ve never had to deal with them before.
If you can get lasik, I’d go for it. T got his eyes done in June and has never been happier about not having to deal with glasses or contacts anymore.
I have glasses and contacts. I actually started with contacts in eighth grade or so and didn’t get the glasses until high school, just to have another option. I don’t need to wear either unless I’m going out and need to drive or see a movie screen or somesuch. Because I don’t wear them often, my contacts last a reeeally long time. I just ordered new ones because my prescription changed, but before this I hadn’t ordered any for three and a half years. I’ve had the same glasses since high school and still like them–plus the cute frames at my eye doctor cost hundreds of dollars and I am so not down with that.
I am at piece with my glasses. I didn’t get contacts until I was 30 and it was awful learning to get them in. I wear my contacts mostly but on Sundays and days when my eyes bother me or I am not leaving the house, the glasses come out. I look better without them though, I think.
Some of us have been wondering what the update is with online dating.
I LOVE glasses! I have 15 pairs I change them like jewelry, they are part of my personality. I only started wearing glasses in college, but at age 40 I can’t imagine not wearing them – they are so fun!
I rarely wear my glasses. I had to wear them for a few months earlier this year and while I got used to it, I was so happy to get my contacts back!
Part of my problem is that I have a little tiny head and face. My current glasses are kid’s sized (Nintendo brand FTW). Which means that trying to find a decent pair is quite a challenge.
I really don’t like the way I look in glasses. They make me feel frumpy. However, my allergy eye issues have me resorting to glasses more and more often. At least I love my frames so at least there is that.
I think I got my first pair in fifth grade and had contacts since 8th grade.
I don’t buy glasses regularly and just got a new pair.
I also go to great lengths not to wear my glasses in public, but my husband LOVES them. He’s always trying to get me to wear them more often.
I have been wearing glasses since second grade and contacts since freshman year of high school. my best friend in college knew me for a year before she saw me wearing glasses and her exact reaction was “You WEAR GLASSES!??!!” so i totally understand the only wearing them around the house attitude although i am trying to be more confident about wearing them in public, its just they are so irritating (at least to me!) good luck. Have a fantastic weekend! our plans are to avoid a hurricane, baseball games and our one year wedding anniversary!
I was totally the same way in my glasses – where I was completely confident in contacts, I got super insecure in my glasses… it was like a flashback to adolescence. It didn’t matter that the frames were imported from Denmark and cost half a paycheck – I still flashed back to my 7th grade self in purple paint-splattered glasses when I wore them.
So when my eyes started acting up and getting infected all the time from my contacts, and I was faced with wearing glasses ALL the time, I bit the bullet and got LASIK and it’s been the best thing I have EVER spent money on. No lie!
I have and wear glasses, but mostly to work. Sometimes to the movies. I have issues with distance and lately, computer screens. It’s no fun at all but I get really awful headaches otherwsie. AND I’m afraid to touch my eye or put anything in my eye, so glasses it is! I need some new frames though, for sure.
Girl! I bet they really do look great! It’s funny because I used to always wish I needed glasses. I love the look. I was always fascinated when my friends told me they see blurry without glasses or contacts. I’m one of those annoying 20/20 vision people. Plus, a change in pace is always good :)
I’ve been wearing glasses since middle school. Terrible time to start wearing glasses, ugh between that and the braces and frizzy hair I don’t know how I ever survived! I’m still sort of self conscious about them though. My boyfriend didn’t even see me in my glasses until we had been dating for almost a year! Considering how much they cost, I know that its ridiculous.
Kids can be so cruel. Kids on my school bus used to tease me about my rat tail (can you believe I’m admitting I had one?!). I never had one again, though I like to think it’s more about a sense of style and less because of the teasing. ha.
I am one of *those* people who doesn’t wear glasses. At one time, my eyes became tired from working so much (i.e., staring at the computer), so I got a glasses prescription to help, but I never minded wearing those glasses … and I haven’t had a need for them in years.
I’ve worn contacts since I was 13, I got glasses when I was about 9 and refused to wear them. Once I got contacts I didn’t have glasses until about a year ago when I decided to buy a pair to rest my eyes around the house. I have never worn them in public though and would be quite weird about doing so. I don’t mind people knowing I’m seriously short sighted but I just don’t feel comfortable in glasses.
I’ve had to wear glasses permanently for about a year now, and I have been beating the guys off with a stick ever since (a terrible Aussie saying – meaning I’m attracting an unusual amount of attention)! Not that I’m interested because I have a boyfriend, but I’ve discovered that the glasses are boy magnets :)
I too rarely wear my glasses, but mostly for convenience. You don’t have to worry about contacts fogging up, or falling off, or having special Rx sunglasses. So I pretty much make every attempt to wear my contacts. Even when there is stabbing pain in my eyes when I put them in, because my eyes are dry and I forgot to put drops in the night before…I try my best to put contacts in!
I wear contacts. I have 2 pairs of glasses that are quite nice but rarely wear them unless I’m feeling very ill. Haven’t worn glasses to work in the year that I’ve been at this job. My contacts are amazing though, they never dry out and keep my eyes happy :)
I’m sure they look great on you! My boyfriend wears glasses but he takes them off all the time. It’s caused me great confusion to the point where I hold things up across the room for him to see because I think he can. He fakes it well.
I got glasses when I was 8 and contacts when I was 14. In high school I went no where in glasses but midway through college i started to wear them a little bit more. I preferred contacts not because of how I looked so much as I found glasses uncomfortable and I liked that with contacts I could see clearly in every direction. I always noticed my blurry (and i mean BLURRY) peripheral vision with glasses on. But then, I let someone take a laser to my eyes, ended up with 20/20 vision and my life changed. One of the best decisions I ever made, and more life-changing than DVR (only just slightly).
I have also worn glasses since I was in elementary school and contacts since junior high. I went through a phase in my third year of college when I wore my glasses all the time but usually it’s my contacts. I am starting to bring my glasses into work with me though because spending all day in front of a bright computer screen makes my eyes burn sometimes!
I also wear glasses, but like you, I only wear it in the house. I think I’ve worn my glasses outside of my house only a handful of times. I have a friend who always wear glasses. I barely see her in contacts. But the thing is she is soooooo cute and beautiful with glasses! When I see women who look great in glasses, I am envious. My co-worker told me once I look cute, but I’m just not comfortable…. Let’s post your photo with glasses, I’m positive you look adorable in it!
xoxo
I LOVEEEE a man in glasses. Not all glasses, but some smart ones that make the guy look like an intellectual (without being a pocket protector nerd). Seriously. Total turn on for me. Which means there are bound to be guys who love women in glasses. =) There’s hope for you!
Yep, I used to feel extremely selfconscious and vulnerable in my glasses. But then I started having trouble with my contacts and now I’ve been pretty much in glasses for a year and a half. It helps to find a pair of frames you love!