❌ More Newbie Gyaru Mistakes & How to Avoid Them 🚫

Hello angels. Today I have woken up and chosen violence as I was thinking about my last post on 5 Newbie Gyaru Mistakes & How to Avoid Them, and I realized that there were definitely more than the mistakes I listed being made.

Today we'll take a look at another batch of very common mistakes that most newbies can experience and how to avoid them so that you can make the most of your gyaru journey. 

Again, these points are in no particular order. All images are from google unless otherwise specified. I'm not going to apologize for my attitude in this post because some of this behavior is downright inconsiderate and entitled so if you feel offended by it then maybe you should consider being better 💖

1. Assuming that gyaru clothing is unaffordable
This point ties into a lot of the points I made in my first common mistakes post. I've been seeing an increasing amount of newbies ask for places to buy "affordable" gyaru clothing and this is one of the most frustrating things to address.

Unless you are speaking about specific statement or Japanese brand pieces (like a d.i.a belt or alba rosa coat), "gyaru clothing" is just clothing!!!! There isn't anything special about it other than the fact that is is styled to look gyaru (aka with the hair, makeup, etc).

This full D.I.A setup would be considered gyaru
clothing as it is unique to the brand and most 
places don't have pieces that look like this

✨ Tips:

• Go back and learn the fundamentals of gyaru
• A lot of this misunderstanding comes from not having a grasp on the fundamentals of what gyaru is. Please go do some research, look at magazine scans, look at how the gyaru models style themselves on instagram, etc, before asking questions that could be answered if you just knew what gyaru was.
• If you are strapped for cash, avoid shopping from overseas second-hand markets
• It is really popular to go online and shop for clothes via mercari, fril, yahoo auctions, rakuten, etc. You can find a lot of really cheap things there sometimes and it's the go-to shopping destination for a lot of gyaru in the western community HOWEVER import fees, shipping, and customs can really add up so your $25 purchase of 5 items can easily total up to $75 or more.
• Remember that a lot of these sites require a shopping service so you are doubling up on shipping costs (once to the warehouse, and once to you). Think about this before you make a purchase.
• Learn how to break down outfits to their core elements and find substitutions accordingly
• I touched on this in my previous post, but the easiest way to recreate outfits you see online/on models is to break it down into key points and find pieces available to you that are similar enough in silhouette, patterns/texture, and color.
• You can always DIY your existing items to make them more like the items you see online (ex: adding chains and bling to your belts)

2. Not understanding the difference between Nanchatte and Kogal/Kogyaru
I am not going to write a whole rant about this because my dear angel Ray has already done so on the gyaru amino. Instead I will copy and paste what he wrote here.

Hiya guys.

I noticed an influx of people recently coming into gyaru communities with the express and sole interest of “becoming a kogal”. I think it’s awesome that there are many new people interested in gal, but I also am having the feeling that there may be a misunderstanding.

I am getting the feeling recently that many people are coming in with the misconception that “kogal” is any school uniform worn in a cute stylish way for fun, when this is not the case.

“Nanchatte” is the style/hobby of fake school uniforms for fun. This covers any and all styles of Japanese school uniform as daily clothing for fun, from realistic to colorful or pastel, etc. The term basically means “just kidding”, so this style can also be referred to and searched for as “JK”.

Kogal is a shortened nickname from “Kōkōsei Gyaru”meaning specifically *gyaru* who are in high school. This is more of a label placed on high school gals and can apply to them even when they’re not wearing their uniform.

There is such a thing as JK gyaru, but this is specifically people who ARE gyaru wearing JK, not just JK style itself. This can be referred to as kogal as well. Importantly, in order to be kogal, there HAS to be the gyaru element underneath. Even if you took the uniform off, you would have to still be identifiably gyaru, so if your entire look and interest is based on the uniform outfit, it’s actually general Nanchatte you want to go for, not gal!

Please live your truth and do what makes you happy, even if it’s not gal that’s going to do that for you. 

(Side Note: it would also be a better fit for those of you who don’t know how to do makeup well, don’t like to wear makeup, or don’t want to make other permanent changes like dye their hair or trim their eyebrows.)

3. Not reading pinned messages or using the search functions in a community space
This is really self explanatory and extremely irritating if I'm being honest. There are lots of people in the community, myself included, who spend a lot of time creating and collecting resources and making them as easily accessible to you as possible. 

my face when you guys ask a dumbass fucking question
that was already answered 293472983 times in the pinned messages

It is extremely insulting and infuriating when you don't make a reasonable effort to search for information because we have literally answered the same questions to death on every available platform. 

✨ Tips:

• Use google. Again this is not a request.
• If you are in the gal discord, use the search bar to look for relevant terms.
• READ THE PINNED MESSAGES IN THE CHANNELS!!!!!!!!!!!
• If you are on the gyaru amino, read the featured posts.
• When you fail to do any of the above, be prepared to be met with a lot of attitude. We're not responsible for spoon-feeding you, and you are not entitled to anyone's help or time.

4. Taking low quality or poorly angled photos for concrit
I am genuinely pressed by the amount of people who take selfies worse than my 65+ year old dad and then have the audacity to ask for concrit with said photos. Tell me, what are we supposed to crit, the flare of your nostril? The side of your temple? The three pixels in the dark that vaguely resemble an eye?

Please if you are going to ask for concrit, take clear and forward facing photos so that whoever is giving you crit has something to work with.

✨ Tips:

• If you don't have a good lighting set up, stand and face the brightest light source you have. This could be a lamp, ceiling light, a window with sun coming in, etc.
• I mean literally, stand with your face directly in the direction of the light (you want to be facing the white cone in the image below)

• If you are using your phone, don't use the selfie camera for a photo use the back camera. The quality is better with this camera.
• If you are having a hard time taking a picture this way, use a mirror so you can see the preview of the image on your screen while you are taking it

5. Mixing styles or doing "casual" variants without having an understanding of each style's core elements
I can't count the amount of times that someone has posted a picture of themselves mixing conflicting styles with each other or doing casual/toned down versions of extreme styles with whatever they had in their closet and it just came out horribly wrong.

No hate to this person (img from google)
or the people who do these kinds of aesthetics
but while these outfits are cute, this is not gyaru

Here's the thing about style mixing or making things more casual: you need to have an extremely strong grasp of the style(s) you are using for this because if you don't it will end up worse than if you just went with the original styling. Why? Because you are taking away elements that would help refine the overall look. This is the same situation as doing gyaru makeup without lashes, lenses, or eyeliner.

You are now taking something super elaborate & detailed and boiling it down to their core elements. By removing all the "extra" stuff, you are now left with the most basic of basic elements that make up a style and if you don't know what that is it will REALLY show. A lot of people can do this and the best way to find success in doing this is to make the remaining elements pop and shine as much as you can to offset the fact that you've taken away a bunch of things.

✨ Tips:

• Yes, you can do gyaru without lashes or lenses and sometimes even eyeliner. This is however VERY DIFFICULT especially for those of you who do not have Asian or Asian-like features. You will have to work extra hard on the remaining elements to make your look gyaru because there is a fine line between that and like, normie makeup.

example: Parupochi looking very gal here
without lashes or eyeliner, but you see
she has a heavy tan, her hair is styled
and her makeup is still heavy besides her eyes
(yes she edited this pic with smoothing, etc
but the gal elements are there and
they are doing overtime)

• Go look at gals (like Parupochi above) and see how they've accomplished the "toned down" or wearable gyaru look. See what they've taken away and what they've enhanced to make the look still undeniably gal and try to apply this to your own look.

6. Underestimating the work that goes into being gyaru; it's more than just an aesthetic, it is a lifestyle choice.
Some would consider gyaru an aesthetic and maybe with the rise of tiktok and trendy aesthetics like egirls becoming popular, one would think gyaru falls into the same category too. There are definitely some people out there who use gyaru purely for aesthetic reasons; they dress up for content and after that, go back to their normie or usual styles. For a lot of gyaru though, it's a lifestyle, and a high maintenance one at that.

This may be a really difficult thing for some of you to hear but I'm trying to be honest and straightforward with you. Gyaru is not for everyone. You are free to do what you like and to be who you want to be, but at the end of the day, gyaru has core defining elements and if you lack those you are not doing the gyaru name justice.

It's the same with any other fashion community. You wouldn't walk into lolita spaces with sweats on and a bow in your hair and tell them you're the shit. Similarly you wouldn't walk into goth or egirl spaces decked out in full BTSSB or Angelic Pretty. Having standards is not gatekeeping. Please respect these community spaces and the people that are in them. 

✨ Tips:

• You will stand out. You will look different. You will get stares and comments. People will talk about you online. This comes with the territory and you need to be ready for that. If this is something you can't cope with then gyaru might not be for you.
• The gal spirit is all about not giving a fuck. If you are self conscious, don't want to stand out, afraid of being stared at, don't like the criticism you get from family/friends, etc etc you are completely missing the point and this is definitely not for you.
• Keeping up the bare minimum for appearances in gyaru can get really expensive very quickly, especially if you keep up multiple beauty habits. You can do a lot of these at home by yourself to save money but not everyone is skilled enough to get the optimal results and it will end up costing you a lot to get it fixed by a professional. I won't list them all but here are some of the things that I would consider the bare minimum for gyaru and while there are low cost or budget friendly alternatives, not everyone is willing to put in the time and energy to do it themselves/want it done right the first time. I just want to stress that professional prices are 1000% worth paying for because of the previously listed reasons, so I am in no way insulting the process because I am someone who religiously pays for these services whenever necessary. I just want you to be aware that if gyaru were to be considered "pay to play" it would be here and not in clothes or makeup.
• Tons of gals rock platinum blonde or fashion colors for their hair. Getting this done right and professionally costs a lot of money. To put it into perspective, my hair costs about $450-500 every time I go to the salon for a touch up, then I'm spending maybe $25-100+ a month for upkeep depending on products. If you do the math that is over $1000 a year just to maintain my hair.
• Hair costs only go higher when you consider stuff like wigs or extensions, which are also popular among both western and Japanese gals.
• Many of us also go for OTT nails. That price may vary for you based on what you have available but for me, each salon visit is about $75-120 depending on the design. I usually go for a fill or new set every 3-4 weeks (pre-covid). 
• I currently do my own nails at home and while I am not a professional, I learned a lot from my tech and youtube so I can now do them to a level that I am comfortable with. Still, investing in the proper equipment and materials to do this at home cost me a pretty penny so prepare for that.
• I also cut my own hair but I have an education in hairdressing, so while I am not a licensed professional I do know what I'm doing. Most gals won't be this lucky and a trip to the salon for a cut could be pricey too if you're trying to upkeep your layered cuts.
• Some gals get lash extensions and that ends up being pretty pricey too considering you may need fills anywhere from 2-4 weeks after application.
• For our tanned gals, there's home tanning or salon tanning. Both of these add to the cost and home tanning requires a lot of prep & work to get it right.

7. Not knowing the difference between participation and admiration
All of the above brings me to this point. There is a giant difference between participation and admiration. Just because you like a style or aesthetic, doesn't mean it is for you and that's ok! Some of you are not going to like hearing this but it is the honest truth and you just have to remember that it's not personal.

Maybe you live at home with very conservative or strict parents. Maybe you're a student and don't have time to dress up or do your makeup. Maybe you have features that are difficult to work with for gyaru. Maybe you just don't like wearing makeup. All of these may be signs that gyaru is just not for you and that is ok.

If you are not in a place in your life where a commitment to this lifestyle just doesn't mesh well with you then you do not need to actively participate in the style. That's it. You can still enjoy it from afar, but don't feel this weird need or pressure to like attempt something that just isn't you. I'm not trying to tell you what you can and can't do, but you're gonna have a really hard time with this style and the community if you can't commit. If you're always finding ways to water the styles down or avoid doing xyz with your face, maybe it's just more work than it's worth and you're not being very considerate of everyone's time and energy to help you with this.

Should you later end up in a place in life where you have more freedom whether financially or just in general to do this then by all means go for it with your best effort! A lot of us got into gyaru during our teens and high school/college years, took a break to focus on our personal lives, then came back as young working adults to revisit the style. This is a totally valid gyaru journey and honestly, it is so much easier jumping into gal when you have all of your other shit figured out.

I promise you gal will be there for you when you're ready for it. If you're just not in the right situation for it right now it is completely fine to just admire it. Saying "this is not for me" right now doesn't me you are saying "this is not for me" forever.

So now we come to the end. Thank you so much for reading my angry ramblings and I really hope this helped you. I'm sure I might've missed a few things here or there so I might have to do some minor edits but most of what I want to say is there I think lol.

Like I said in my last post, the main takeaway here again is: don't be that bitch. Please do your research and understand what you're getting into and who is occupying the spaces you're trying to be a part of. Be respectful of the fashion and the communities and stop whining in gossip spaces when you're called out for missing the mark.

As always, I wish you the very best on your gal journey. I really hope I don't have to keep making more of these because I feel like I just get more aggressive with each post LOL this one really activated my fight or flight but I do it out of love for gyaru and the community members who are genuinely trying.

See you next time 💖