Whether you’ve heard it on TikTok or Instagram, the term clean girl has been circling around social media for a while now. The concept of there being a new ‘category’ of girls isn’t new. There has been soft girl, skater girl, e-girl, etc. The clean girl aesthetic is defined as “a beauty, fashion and lifestyle trend based around a look that’s intended to appear elegantly casual but also minimalist and effortless.” I think it’s an appearance almost every girl wants: to effortlessly look put together.
How does one become a clean girl? According to TikTok, it’s having your nails done all the time, preferably painted with some variation of bubble bath, or ballet slipper pink. Your hair must always be done in braids with ribbons, slicks back bun, or weirdly shiny and straight. Makeup has to be very simple but includes the basic cream blush, highlighter, contour, brow gel, mascara, and lip oil. This lifestyle is supposed to be effortless, but is more work than what meets the eye.
Outside of appearance, you need to have a clean girl lifestyle. A simple and effortless morning routine includes waking up at six, going to morning Pilates, making a green smoothie, having chia seed pudding, doing your morning affirmations, and journaling all before 10 am.
Although I think the clean girl can be a great inspiration for a life you may want, it’s unrealistic on multiple levels. As a broke college student, I don’t have the funds to support a clean girl lifestyle. I do what I can, I purchase a Starbucks matcha from time to time and enjoy a slick back ponytail when my hair is too greasy. I do get my daily physical exercise but from the gym membership the university provides me, not a Pilates reformer class. Don’t forget that the clean girl does not smoke, drink, or partake in any drug activity.
Of course, there’s an opposite to the clean girl aesthetic: the dirty girl. It’s exactly what it sounds like. The Dirty Girl might not have a twelve-step morning skin routine or think about fashion, they think about function. If a mismatched, thrifted sweat suit is going to help them function throughout the day then that’s what they will do. Instead of an iced vanilla latte, they prefer a watermelon Red Bull. Think messy makeup, messy hair, and a messy outfit. A girl who sleeps in until ten, skips her Pilates and UberEats McDonald’s breakfast instead. Since they are completely different lifestyles it feels as if you can be either one or the other, which I completely disagree. I think there is a spectrum.
On one end of the spectrum, Tana Mongeau represents the dirty girl aesthetic. No disrespect to Tana but she even proclaims herself as a dirty girl. On the Clean Girl aesthetic spectrum, the best representative in my opinion would be Matilda Djerf. I think Alex Earle would be the perfect representation of a balanced dirty and clean-girl ratio. If you are somewhat of a fan or follower of hers, you’ve seen her outfits, makeup, and lifestyle. Her life from the outside seems to be effortless as she flies from influencer event to influencer event and back to Miami to attend school and frat weddings. At the same time, she makes countless videos of the state her room, which would be against the clean girl aesthetic of having a clean environment.
I, myself, would stand in the middle ground between the clean and dirty girl aesthetic. I love to look put together, have my hair in a cute hairstyle, and a simplistic outfit and natural makeup is my go to look. Some days though I just want to wear my sleeping shorts, an oversize sweater with my Crocs, and call it a day. I also care about my health, I go to the gym six to seven times a week, drink my water, and eat a balanced diet. That is not to say I don’t enjoy having a drink and smoking a little weed.
I think there is such pressure to have a certain aesthetic and not change from it. These aesthetics get categorized in music taste, personal appearance, fashion and lifestyle choices. If you are anything like me and have an identity crisis every four to eight weeks, then your aesthetic also changes every four to eight weeks.
To every clean girl at her core, she is a dirty girl because at the end of the day no one is perfect, and these aesthetics should just be an inspiration to a version of life we want. Not an expectation on ourselves to dress and act in this certain aesthetic for the rest of our lives.