Cross-Dressing While Cleaning

The Ask a House Cleaner Show and Podcast with Angela Brown

Cross-Dressing While Cleaning Will You Be Accepted? Will You Be Successful? New trends in expression for house cleaners.

Cross-Dressing While Cleaning Will You Be Accepted? Will You Be Successful? New trends in expression for house cleaners.Would you consider cross-dressing while on a cleaning job? And how would you market yourself if you do?

Listen: Cross-Dressing While Cleaning

Watch: Cross-Dressing While Cleaning

Hey there, I’m Angela Brown, and this is Ask a House Cleaner. This is a show where you get to ask a house cleaning question, and I get to help you find an answer. You can find this and 400 other answered questions in this series on our YouTube channel.

Cross-Dressing While Cleaning

Cross-dressing while cleaning. Can you be successful if you’re cross-dressing while cleaning? We had a caller that called in and asked this question.

“I like to be dressed as a woman and do all the housework and go out as a woman, too.”

All right, this is a fascinating question and it’s about cross-dressing. I’m assuming that you’re talking about professional cleaning. Now, in my situation, and I’m a consultant, I deal with lots of house cleaners and maids, I get to navigate this conversation several times a week with different men who dress as women while they’re house cleaning.

The question is always, “Can I do it? Will I be successful? Will people ridicule me? And how do I go about doing it?”

What is Cross-Dressing?

All right, so let’s stop for a second, and let’s define what is cross-dressing? Is it a man dressed as a woman and what does that mean? Does that mean wearing a dress? Is dressing like a woman wearing a dress and dressing like a man wearing pants?

Because if that’s the case, then most women who clean houses are cross-dressing as men, right? Is it possible that you could cross-dress and clean? Absolutely. It happens in most cleaning services, right?

You Have to Clarify it to Your Customers

If we narrow down dressing like a woman, are you talking about decorative dresses and decorative aprons and decorative shoes versus utility shoes, utility aprons, and utility cargo pants or whatever? So there’s a decorative version and a utility version. Which version are you wearing?

We have to clarify because once we clarify it helps us clarify our business and the expectations of our customers.

If you’re wearing a dress and it’s frilly and fun, which is lots of excitement, lots of people like to do this, and a decorative apron, which might be a white apron with little lace or frillies on it or something like that.

What Do You Offer When You Show Up to Clean?

What is it that you’re offering when you show up to clean? Are you literally just cleaning the house? If you are, then you need to have special expectations and say, “We’re a novelty cleaning company and we wear this fun, fancy uniform when we come to entertain or whatever while we’re cleaning.”

You’ve got to make it very clear what it is you’re offering because if you’re offering something beyond, you don’t want the customers to be confused.

If you’re only offering regular cleaning yet you look delightful while you’re cleaning, why that need to be clarified and that should be also on your website and your Facebook pages and the social media places where people will find you.

It’s Very Possible to Be Successful While Cross-Dressing

Now, is it possible to be successful in the workplace? It’s very possible, yes. It’s not as common. The most common dress, the standard dress in the industry is going to be a non-interesting outfit, something similar to what I’m wearing right now. It’s gender-neutral.

It’s a collared shirt, it’s something that wicks away sweat, it’s practical, it’s stain-resistant, it’s not particularly fun to look at.

And it has great big pockets in the pants so that you can put your smartphone and your keys and your small tools, things like that.

Are You Talking Decorative or Utility Clothes?

Are you talking about decorative or are you talking about the utility? Once you clarify that and then you clarify the expectations with your customers, there are lots of house cleaners that are wildly successful and they do something a little bit fun or zany on the side. We are now in an era where that is so much more accepted than it was say 20 or 30 years ago.

I think we’re in an open environment where people are more open and more receptive to you expressing yourself whether it’s with tattoos or whether it’s with bright-colored hair or it’s a man dressing as a woman.

There are lots of different ways to express yourself, and if on the job is the way you want to do it, make sure that your customers are aware upfront and that there are no surprises.

It’s Exciting That You’re Willing to Share Fun and Zaniness

I am super excited that you are willing to go out and share some fun and some zaniness with the world because I think the world needs a brighter moment. I think that’s great if you want to do that and I embrace the fact that you’re willing to.

I would encourage all of our household owners that hire housekeepers to be inventive and to be open and to be accepting and to be receptive to the different possibilities of the people that are showing up today. We’ve got lots of house cleaners that are showing up with facial piercings.

That used to be a thing like, “Oh no, what’s going on there?” Well, it’s a creative expression. And now people are having tattoos on their faces and other fun things and it doesn’t mean anything other than these people are fun and they’re exciting and they’re expressing themselves in a way that serves them best.

Have This Conversation as Grownups

I hope that we can have this conversation as grown adults, and I hope that it doesn’t affect your business if you are the house cleaner, and I hope if you are the homeowner you’re more receptive and more open to the person who might come into your home to bless your home in a way that serves you and your family best.