My Dressing Your Truth® Review: Type 1℠ Before and After

Following the Dressing Your Truth Program has been a lot of fun, and has given me a new insight into who I really am. Check out my review, my Type 1 before and after pictures, and how I profiled myself. 

A couple of weeks ago, I introduced to you the Dressing Your Truth program, and why it caught my eye as a way to dress to look and feel better about yourself. If you aren’t familiar with it, you really should check out the explanation of the Energy Profiling System on their website that better explains the program and why it could change your life.

At first glance, it may appear to be merely a system for how to dress, or even a personality profiling system with a what-to-wear component, but it really is more than either of those.

What is the Dressing Your Truth Program?

The Dressing Your Truth program was developed by Carol Tuttle, author of the best selling book The Child Whisperer, based on her Energy Profiling system that evaluates everything from your facial features and personality traits to the way you move and the way you doodle (or don’t!). The idea is that there are 4 main energy movements that each person expresses and that each of us has a dominant expression which will be our main energy Type.

Dependent on your dominant energy Type, certain types of clothes, colors, makeup, and hairstyles will look best on you. A lot of the information can be found for free on the Dressing Your Truth website, but to really find out the specifics of the types of fabric, cuts, colors, and other information that will work best for you, you should take the Dressing Your Truth course. When you sign up for the course, they will send you style guides in the mail with a selection of colors that look best on each Type. On the back of the bigger style guides, you’ll find a mini cheat sheet that will remind you of the types of things to look for when shopping. They also send you pocket sized style guides that can be easily carried around with you in your wallet for easier shopping while you familiarize yourself with the best colors for you.

If you are interested in figuring out your dominant Type, you can check out the Dressing Your Truth Energy Profiling System that is now free on her website. If you need more help deciding your Type, she also has written a book, Dressing Your Truth, Discover Your Type of Beauty, that is often free in the Kindle version on Amazon and will give you more insight into understanding each of the Types. Another option is to buy her It’s Just My Nature book which she says gives the most comprehensive view of all 4 Types.

How I determined my Type of Beauty

Last time, I told you that I profiled myself as a Type 1 with a secondary Type 4℠.

To be honest, it took me a while to come to the realization, but a few things really tipped me on to knowing that I was a Type 1.

1. I totally relate to all of the types, and could mostly see myself as being any of them. That’s actually a Type 1 characteristic! I did rule out Type 3℠ almost immediately, mostly due to the fact that I’ve never liked geometric shapes, and also because I have a hard time getting things done. If anything, despite my admiration for them, I have to admit that I often find Type 3 women intimidating.
2. Type 1 women tend to be creative, and often have a hard time finishing projects. When working on my blog, I never run out of ideas, but have a hard time stopping to write them all up. I always have lots of projects started all over the house, and have a hard time commiting to just one thing. My hobbies? I love cooking, photography, stained glass, painting, jewelry making, DIY anything, hiking, playing the guitar,.. Well, you get my drift. My favorite activity changes by the minute. 🙂
3. My facial features mostly fit the descriptions in the Energy Profiling System. I have circles around my eyes. I have a big forehead, so much so that my husband often likes to tease me about it; in a nice way, of course. 😉 My eyebrows are asymmetrical, with one being higher than the other. I have apple type cheeks when I smile, and a pretty big smile. I also often get told that I look younger than I am. I’ve even had people say I looked like an adolescent, or that I looked like one of the students when I was teaching a few years back. Ha!
   
4. I have short, stubby, Type 1 hands; something that never came in handy for playing the piano or the guitar. It also kept me from fulfilling my dream of becoming a hand model. (OK, maybe that was never my dream, but I did always wish for longer, thinner fingers and longer nail beds.)
   In the end, having small hands hasn’t been too bad. It’s what got me into playing the ukelele, something that I happen to love!
   
5. I tend to walk with a bounce, and smile and laugh a lot when I’m talking to people. Ironically, I have a hard time laughing when people tell jokes, but naturally laugh a lot in normal conversation. I also love to use smiley faces and emojis!! 🙂 😉 I often find myself erasing many of them because I think it’s too much. (The Type 4 in me, perhaps?)
6. I think my doodling is pretty characteristic of a Type 1. Here’s an example I found from when I was talking on the phone with someone:
   
7. I like change and new experiences, and also like cheering people up if I can. I was even a cheerleader in high school and wore a pony tail high up on my head. 🙂
   
8. I’m always looking for ways to make healthy food fun! That was the entire premise of the recipes on my blog. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have some “normal” recipes here, but my favorite type recipes are the ones where I can play and let my creativity shine through. Not many other healthy bloggers in the groups I’m in had that same need to put hearts and roses on their salads! Nor were they working hard to make healthier fortune cookies, marshmallow peeps, and magical, color changing food coloring. 😉

Dressing Your Truth Type 1 Characteristics:

• Bright
• Animated
• Fun
• Light
• Creative
• Bouncy
• Open minded

Dressing Your Truth Type 4 Characteristics:

• Precise
• Balanced
• Perfectionist
• Poised
• Calm
• Introverted
• Critical

The Type 1 and Type 3 energies are more extroverted, where the Type 2 and Type 4 energies are more introverted. Knowing that made me doubt if I was really a Type 1 woman.

Can a Dressing Your Truth Type 1 women be introverted?

Carol addresses the issue in her book, Dressing Your Truth, Discover Your Type of Beauty. She explains that the Type 1 energy is extroverted, generally moving outward before moving inward, and there is a difference between extraversion/introversion as personality traits vs. an expression of movement. Despite that, I still had a doubt. You see, every time I’ve taken a personality test, I always end up being classified as not just an introvert, but as a pretty extreme one.

When I was a kid, I remember that I took a kid’s test that measured extroversion vs. introversion, and ended up with a score that classified me as an extreme introvert. For some reason, at the time, that really bothered me. It bothered me so much that I even re-took the test rethinking most of my answers.

Do I like to do puzzles? Hmmmmm, maybe I don’t like puzzles as much as I thought. 🙂 (Yes, I tried to change as many answers as I could to get the results I wanted, but I still ended up being an introvert.)

Perhaps my inner rebellion has to do with the fact that I don’t really fit the idea of what most people think of when describing an introvert.

Most people think of introverts as being shy and withdrawn, and avoiding people at all cost.

On the other hand I loved going to parties, and talking to people. I love having a good time. Those are all traits that people normally attribute to extroverts.

Still, there is no doubt that I am an introvert.

I think what sets introverts (as a personality trait) apart is more about what gives us energy and what takes it away from us. I’ve gone to parties with extroverted friends, and while we both have a really great time, I’m usually exhausted afterwards and ready for some alone time, while my extroverted friends seemed to have a new boost in energy and are ready for more!

Outgoing extroverts: the Type 1 introverts

I think a lot of us introverts are outgoing introverts who are often mistaken for extroverts. We likely hate small talk, and don’t like talking to people who don’t interest us, but when you get us in the right situation, it’s hard to shut us up. 🙂 Our faces light up when we talk about what we like to whom we like, and we may not be the life of the party, but we definitely bring a lightness to things.

Have you profiled yourself correctly?

So, the more I thought about all of those things, the more I realized that I’m pretty sure I profiled myself right. Ever since I’ve been wearing Type 1 clothes and makeup, I’ve felt more like myself. I feel lighter and happier. If you try wearing the right clothes for your Type of Beauty, and feel uncomfortable or even like you’re living a lie, there is a good chance that you may have profiled yourself incorrectly!

How did I decide my secondary Type?

The Type 4 energy seems to conflict with the Type 1 energy, but it appears to be quite common to have one be your primary and the other your secondary energy. I like to think of it as the little angel and the little happy, mischievous devil playing around in my mind. 😉

I was actually a very well behaved kid. I don’t remember people telling me to behave or calm down. I’ve actually been told many times that I’m poised, a Type 4 characteristic, even though I have an animated quality and a bounce in my step. This depends a lot on my environment. I even won the “most poised” trophy in the one beauty pageant I participated in as a kid!

I think that growing up, I pushed myself to be calm and poised in an effort to make my family happy. I wanted to be a good girl, so I tried not to fidget and tried to behave. I often couldn’t sleep at night after having said or done something “wrong,” so I would be very careful and precise when talking with grownups. I also ended up skipping 1st grade, and was almost 2 years younger than some of the kids in my class because my birthday already put me as one of the younger kids. I think I got teased as being different for being so young, so I worked especially hard to be more “grown up” and less “infantile.”

For awhile, I thought that maybe I was a primary Type 4 with a Type 1 secondary energy, but something about that didn’t feel right to me. My husband, a Type 4 who admittedly thinks the whole classification system is “stupid” (a Type 4 characteristic in itself), laughed that I would even consider myself as a Type 4. I have a very unorganized organization system, at least to his structured perspective, and am nowhere near as focused as he is. He doesn’t have my same need for keeping things light and fun, either, and is very practical and responsible. (Much more so than I am!)

This video about honoring the Type 1/4 or Type 4/1 energy really confirmed things for me. I could truly relate to both Jaleah and Kalista!

My Dressing Your Truth Type 1 Before and After photos

It took me awhile to get my after picture taken because it didn’t stop raining here until this week finally. The weather has been so crazy that it even snowed here, enough to keep snow on the ground, something that hasn’t happened since 1983! My son and I were even able to build a snowman! Fun, right?!?!? 🙂

I didn’t really have enough light coming into my bedroom, the only room in the house big enough to get the camera far enough away from me to get a picture taken, to actually take the picture!

I have to admit that I had to take a dress from my summer wardrobe and winter it up to get an after. I haven’t had a chance to get out and buy many new Type 1 clothes yet. I have managed to clear out a bunch of so-so black clothes that I didn’t love to make room for new, fun, Type 1 clothes. I set aside the few black and gray items that I didn’t clear out of my closet, and I’ve been trying to mostly dress true to my type lately.

And, no, I didn’t just suddenly get a tan. The difference in lighting has to do with the weather outside. These pictures were taken in winter with around 2 weeks between them.

I’ve brought my old pink boots out of the back of the closet, and I’ve been letting my hair do its (naturally curly) thing! I did add a few highlights to my hair, and “pruned” it out a bit to let more of the curls come through. I’m considering going a bit shorter to fit the Type 1 energy more.

How do I feel after several weeks of mostly Dressing My Truth?

I feel so much lighter and brighter when I’m out and about. I even sort of imagine myself with light bouncing off of me when I see other people. I notice them in their dark, black outfits, and just want to try to lighten up their day. I’ve noticed the bounce in my step, and rather than try to tone it down, I embrace it and let my fun energy shine through. I’m no longer that little girl who has to behave like a grown up. I am a grown up, and can now focus on having fun and being me!

I also find myself walking around trying to profile other people. Ha!

While I’m definitely not an expert in profiling, some people just look so obvious to me. 🙂 I just want to go running around telling people, you should be wearing more of this or that!

I also complimented the obviously Type 4, poised waitress who looked super sharp in her slicked back hair, stark white, well ironed shirt, and bright pink lipstick. She just struck me as totally Dressing Her Truth, and totally wanted to tell her that without looking like a nutjob! 🙂

I’ll leave you with these other before and after pictures from my blog. (Although they aren’t actually “before” and “after”; let me explain…)

The first picture was my intro picture in the sidebar of my blog up until last summer. I look like I’m dressed more like a Type 4 in that picture. I’ve always dressed more like that, and worn my hair straighter, maybe in an effort to be taken more seriously. The second picture was taken by a friend at a birthday party on the beach. I wasn’t really wearing makeup, but was looking more relaxed and felt more “like me.” I wasn’t trying to be anybody else that day, and intuitively picked that dress. Once I saw her picture, I immediately switched the picture on my blog because I felt like it depicted who I was so much better!

In the first picture I look so cold and serious looking, it just doesn’t depict who I am. So, you see, even before I knew anything about Dressing Your Truth, my own instincts were telling me something was up.

Have I convinced you to at least take a look at the Energy Profiling System?

I’d love to hear your comments, and how it goes for you!