Handbag placement - YouLookFab Forum

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Handbag placement

minimalist

Veteran

Where do you set your handbag when you're not holding it? Does this differ depending on the bag?

"Here, let me take that for you, and put it there." The hairstylist about to do my quick blowout was looking at the bag in my lap and pointing to a low locker at her station. I felt like the bag would be fine under the cape, but figured she was offering an even cleaner option, so complied.

She deftly set the handbag on the floor in front of the locker. I said, "Oh, I never set it on the floor, I'd rather keep it in my lap." She gave it right back to me, with a look I read as genuine surprise.

So it seems there are different schools of thought on handbag placement. Tell me how your system works!

General

28 replies

Latest reply was from Gigi

Anonymous

I like to carry a clutch because I like to hold it in my lap. Lately I have been wearing cross-body bags and not taking them off...one reason I like cross-bodies. My hairstylist lets me set my bag on a section of counter far enough away from the action not to get hairy.

Gaylene

Veteran

I use a clutch for restaurants and the theatre so I can keep my bag unobtrusively on my lap. My crossbody bags stay on my body or get tucked beside me. Like you, I'd never set my bag on the floor--too dirty and likely to be kicked around!

I don't carry satchels or large bags because I find them too heavy and awkward. Not being able to stash one on my lap just gives me one more reason to avoid them.

karen13

Veteran

I don't often carry a handbag, but when I do it is either a small cross body which I hang on the back of my chair, in a restaurant, or a big Franco Sarto tote with little feet on the bottom, which I also try to hang from the back of my chair, or put on the floor if I have to.

I have been casually looking for a replacement for the tote and have rejected many because no feet.

Diana

Veteran

Frankly this is one reason why I like dark colored nylon handbags for everyday. A lot of times I'm carrying a pretty big bag (with heavy stuff inside like a laptop) that would be awkward to hold in my lap. Although of course I prefer to set it on a table or chair or whatever, sometimes it's unavoidable that I have to put it on the floor. Just today, I stuck my le pliage on the dirty floor of the bus between my legs while I was standing and hanging on for dear life in Red Sox game traffic. It was either floor or wreck my back and shoulder, not to mention being rude and smacking the people around me with it. I can't really deal with such preciousness in my day to day life.

I'd draw the line at a floor that was wet or sticky though!

ETA: My hairstylist has a coat rack with hooks that you can hang bags on as well as coats, plus chairs in that area that you can set bigger bags down on. I don't think she would like putting bags on the floor because they would get in the way of sweeping/cleaning.

CocoLion

(website)

Veteran

I've had the same awkward moment with a hairstylist, in fact just today. Some of them have no good place to put your bag. As for things on your lap, I know they always want you to uncross your legs, not hold anything, so that they can cut straight. It's easier at a restaurant where you can hang the bag over the chair or place it on an empty chair. It surprises me that some stylists have no places to put things like coats or bags. I went to get my haircut today and had this very issue. Next time I'm just bringing keys and cash. I really hate putting my bags on the ground, anywhere, unless it's something I consider luggage.

Sisi

Veteran

Hehe, funny hairstylist! Putting a client's bag on the floor - a bit weird, I'd say. My hairstylist has a chest for this purpose (or you can hang your bag at the hooks of the coat rack). Another hairdresser I know has hooks under the shelves in front of which you sit. I avoid to put my bag on the floor as far as I can. At work I put it on a chair. At the restaurant I hang it on the chair's back or I keep it on the chair, behind my back. I admit that I am not a bag fan (first time I confess this on YLF) so I often go out and about with just some banknotes and my lipstick stuffed in my pockets!

Author Linda

Veteran

I love handbags and only put my big totes on the floor at my sister-in-law's house, where the floors are so clean I would, honestly, eat off them. That clean. But nowhere else.

I crusade for purse/jacket hooks at the offices of medical and dental professionals. The first time I visited my periodontist for a dental implant, I had nowhere to put my purse in his examining room, so I kept it in my lap. "You should really put up a purse hook, right there." I pointed at the wall opposite the chair. "Women will thank you." On my next visit, there it was. A nice sturdy double hook. He'd put one in each of his little rooms. Doctor and I are old friends now, a few implants later, and he's let me know the hook is popular with his patients and that he's passed the idea along. It's just a tiny piece of inexpensive hardware, but having one makes an examining room or bathroom ever so welcoming.

My hairdresser, though... I go with keys and her fee and tip tucked into my pocket. Just easier that way.

BlondeAmbition

On the floor? How rude. Some people have a high tolerance for dirty things I suppose.

When at a restaurant I prefer to place my purse on an empty chair next to me. If that's not available I hang it on the back of the chair next to me so I can keep an eye on it. Last option is to hang it on the back of my chair but these days I'm shocked at how inept chairs are at holding purses. Rounded backs with no way to make a strap hold in place.

Furthermore, I never place anything on my bed. Clothes, jackets, purses, nothing. It took me a long time to teach my hubby not to chuck keys, wallets, papers, mail, and jackets on the bed. My bed is holy to me, it is not a place for holding things during the daytime. And I wouldn't dream of putting a purse on it.

anchie

Veteran

In my country there is a superstition that if you keep your purse on the floor you will never have enough money

I also don't like to leave my handbag far away from me like some hairdresser ask me to leave it on the shelf close to an entrance that is not really well attended.

Christina F.

Veteran

I live in NYC. My bag *never* goes on the floor anywhere except the theatre/opera where I have no choice (usually if I've been working or out all day I don't have the option of bringing a clutch or small bag.) It goes on my lap on the subway and on a chair back or seat at a restaurant.

Isabel

Veteran

I generally put my bag on a floor ( that is not wet or muddy ). Most of my bags have feet. I also put them on chairs or hanging off the back of a chair. If my bag is small and unobtrusive, rarely, I will keep it on my lap.

I am an absolute fanatic about not putting my bags on any surface where there is food or eating or food prep. I NEVER put my bag on a table, for the following reason.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/disease/purse.asp

jill58

Veteran

I have never worried very much about putting my purse on the floor except, of course, in places like a public bathroom, public transportation, or various other obviously dirty areas. The hair salon I go to does have little hooks for purses which I began to use after they were pointed out to me.

JAileen

Veteran

I don't like putting my bag on the floor. Ewww. My hair stylist has a little counter where I put my bag. I guess I'm a germaphobe.

viva

Veteran

I used to not be very picky about this (not a germaphobe at all) but after reading Anchie here, I am never putting my bag on the floor again.

Adela

My hairdesser has hooks besides seats for customers which is very practical, and a special place besides it to put your glasses too. Come to think of it, so does my dentist. I don't like to put my handbag on the floor unless I have no other option... I'd rather keep it in my lap which is not the most practical solution either. Anchie, we have the same superstition in my country!

anchie

Veteran

Adela, I checked your profile, and it seems we are coming from the same (former) country Pozdrav

krishnidoux

Veteran

I keep mine on my lap and my stylist tolerates it - he never said anything! I never realized I could be rude to him in doing so, though.

cindysmith

Veteran

Never on the floor. Part of me wanted to type that in all caps because of an old wives tale I once heard: if you leave your purse on the floor you'll stay broke.

Staysfit

Veteran

My hairstylist has a small counter/table for handbags at her station. I also have a handbag hook so I can hang my bag off a table, or anywhere. I purchased it on Amazon. I never leave it on the floor! Yuck! If there is nowhere to hang it, it goes on my lap.

Adela

Anchie, just what I suspected! Pozdrav v Avstrijo!

UmmLila (Lisa)

Veteran

I am a germ phobe. I do not want my purse to touch the floor. At my hair salon, it either goes on the magazine table or on the window sill.

All the respect for Author Linda, telling the businesses what they need to provide for purse-bearing clients/customers/patients.

I got one of those handbag hooks that Staysfit mentions, but it does not prove up to the task of larger bags and smaller tables.

Now I want to know what country Anchie and Adela are originally from.

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

Unless I'm in a particularly grungy place, I'm fine with putting my bag on the floor. Where I won't ever put it, is on the back of my chair. I had a purse swiped once when I did that in a restaurant. (Found it abandoned in the parking lot later, sans cash and credit cards.)

Alexandra

(website)

Veteran

At the hair salon, it sits in my lap or on the shelf in front of the mirror. In a restaurant, it hangs on a hook that goes on the side of the table (I keep it in my purse so it's always there) or sits on the bench next to me if we're in a booth. In the car, it sits on the passenger seat or my passenger's lap (the price they pay for riding in my car, hehe). Never on the floor. That's just gross.

rachylou

Veteran

My stylist has a hook in her station that I use... without asking what it's for, lol. I also have one of those portable pocket table hooks. I generally like my bag in front of me where I can know where it's at. It's not dirt I worry about...

Aquamarine

Veteran

Yuck, I would never put my bag on the floor ANYWHERE. My hair salon provides shelves at each station for handbags, magazines, water, etc. At restaurants, my bag sits on my lap if it won't go over the chair back easily. I do try to take smaller bags out for this reason. I've been known to put a handbag around my neck in public restrooms if there is no hook on the back of the door.

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

Veteran

I've been to several salons that have this issue - I never want to put my purse on the stylist's table because it's where they stage their scissors, combs etc. Usually I try to just put my wallet, keys and phone in my pockets so I don't have to worry about it, or leaving my purse unattended for several minutes in a public place while my hair is washed or dye is rinsed out.

I don't have a particular issue with putting my bag on the floor, since I don't have any expensive bags - most are faux leather or fabric - but it's nicer if I can keep it on a seat or hanging on my chair.

Anonymous

I have a problem with what to do in restrooms with no hooks, so I keep it on my lap. I tote my insulin with me to restaurants and prefer not to do injections in public. So I use the restroom but where to put the bag while testing and injecting is a problem. Having raised boys, I know that those floors are not clean. Toddlers have not yet learned to aim and are in the restroom with their mothers. I often have to try to balance everything on my lap or use the sink area and do injections more openly.

Gigi

Veteran

I am surprised that she set it on the floor. I've never had that happen at any hair salon. My stylist either puts it on the counter at her station (which is reasonably clean) or else hangs it on a little hook that protrudes from the front of one of her lower cabinets.