Going Back To Wearing Whites and The Cap!

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Yeppers......strongly thinking about it!

There's a nurse on my unit who wears her starched white nursing dress, white stockings, white shoes, and her nursing cap every tiime she works.

Everytime I see her, something in me gets "quickened"...so to speak. I start reflecting back to when I first donned my nursing attire as a nursing student all excited about my first day of clinicals. I never tired of dressing for my clinicals throughout college.

Once I graduated and landed my first job, I got to experience that thrill all over again but of course at that time the only ones NOT in whites worked in ER, L&D, and the various ICUs of the hospitals I worked in.

Then, I started seeing less and less white uniforms and nursing caps over time to the point I hardly see any anymore.......until I saw the nurse where I work. I'm impressed by the way she dresses, the way she carries herself, her assertive manner, her take no crap style, and her dedication to all she went to school for and her pride in earning her cap and uniform to this day long after finishing school. I don't know how old she is, but if I were to guess, I'd say she was mid-thirties or 40 maybe. Hope I'm not wrong......she's a great person. Maybe I'll ask her how old she is, and tell her how much I admire her "style" as a nurse.

I have loooooonnnnggggg lost my nursing cap. I cannot remember what I did with it. Probably got lost in all the moves I have made over the years. Now, I want to return to my Alma Mater's bookstore and buy me a nursing cap with full stripe and wear it again. I don't even own a white uniform anymore. Alllllllll scrubs of various colors and prints.

I'm just wondering how many nurses posting have felt the need or desire to don that cap and uniform again....if only just for a shift or two........ya know....like "dressup Friday"?????

I already can hear the millions of voices saying already "NOOOOOOOOOO WAY........those days are history"........so I respect your point of view on that, too. But, how many of you even think about wearing your cap and uniform on occasion?

Thanks for ALL replies! :nurse:

Specializes in Community Health Nurse.
Originally posted by stevielynn

If you do decide to wear whites, post a photo. I'd love to see it.

steph

steph....here's a gradpic of me many moons ago, of course I've gained another human being since then. :chuckle

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Specializes in Telemetry, Case Management.

A. I have enough problems making my hair behave, let alone add a danged hat to the mix.

B. I am a slob. Can't help it, I spill everything, don't care what it is, where it came from, why I have it. It lands on my clothes.

C. Patient care is not a clean job.

D. Dirty white uniforms look nasty and gross. I feel nasty and gross when I wear them. NOT Professional and Wonderful.

E. YOU can wear white if you like, and I am happy you can. I cannot and do not want to. Or hats either.

F. I was never so happy as when I was able to wear colored and print scrubs. I would not trade them for anything!!!!!!!!:D :D :D

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Steph, thanks! It was actually a smart ass reaction on my part. I was tempting at a LTC facility who's rules were that all nurses had to wear caps. The fact that I was male didn't seem to matter. So during my lunch hour I ran out and had that hat made. I was not required to wear a cap after that. ;) Come to think of it, the policy was changed shortly thereafter.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

I agree that whites do make a nurse look crisp and professional. Too bad that they are also impractical in the modern healthcare setting, and make those of us who are NOT fashion model-sized look like potential mates for the Michelin Tire man. I haven't worn whites since graduation, and am grateful for the many comfortable, colorful scrubs and uniforms we have to choose from nowadays!

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Specializes in Hemodialysis, Home Health.

Go 4 it, Renee ! What the heck, if it makes you happy, why not? Seems like we don't have a whole LOT of choices left in nursing, anyway, and if this is one area where we still have a bit of choice, then take advantage of it and do as YOU please ! :D

Don't think I'd ever be comfortable wearing a cap, but have always preferred whites.. even where I work, and we deal with a LOT of blood ! I have some printed scrubs, but hardly ever wear them. Pretty much stick with white pants and white warmup, differents styles, etc. over a solid top of any color. I also like all navy with a white warmup or labcoat. Don't think the dresses/skirts are practical at all, but, they do look nice... perhaps for an office nurse, school nurse, etc.

I always have thought white does look more professional, regardless.

And my mom always asks.. "now you get to wear da white unforms?" When I point out scrubs to her, she wrinkles up her nose, and says "dose aren't da uniforms ! Dose are da pijammas!" :rolleyes:

But you do what tickles YOUR fancy, and have fun ! Let us know the looks and comments you get! ;)

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As far as the identity issue, I suppose I am lucky in that I have always been in an all nurse area, so there was never any confusion. None of the places I have worked at had techs or CNAs in OB, and the housekeeping staff wore a standard uniform as did RTs. I get so many compliments on my semi-outlandish prints that I can't see going back to plain.

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I never could keep that cap on my head, always in too much of a hurry flipping my stethescope off my neck and knocking it off, so I'm not going there.

I do find however that a white lab jacket or coat tends to "equalize the playing field" with many of the docs. I rarely wear white uniforms or scrubs because I got so sick of white over the first 10 years in my career. I did however keep to usually wearing a white jacket or lab coat and find that it generates a different response than when I strickly wear colors.

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Sekar - I like your attitude. Still like the baseball hat idea. I think I'm gonna have one made.

Jnette . . . I too like a white lab coat over a colored top or colored pants. Used to wear white jeans before having my last child . . . I may again when I get these thighs taken care of.

White and Navy Blue are my favorite colors together.

I'm not one for the printed scrub tops . . . I have purchased them and then just don't feel right in them. Just found one in the back of my closet . . .(I'm cleaning the closet out - arrggh - a rainy day project). It is bright orange with kitty cat faces . . . .

steph

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

White shirts ok.

White pants ok (i see myself ruining these easily).

White socks and shoes, I wear those anyway.

Now for skirts or pantyhose, i do not work well in a skirt so i'll always fight against it for myself. And i have yet to find a pair of stocking, be they skin, white, or purple, that do not fall down every 10 minutes or cut off circulation to the lower half of my body.

:stone

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Specializes in Hemodialysis, Home Health.
Originally posted by stevielynn

I'm not one for the printed scrub tops . . . I have purchased them and then just don't feel right in them. Just found one in the back of my closet . . .(I'm cleaning the closet out - arrggh - a rainy day project). It is bright orange with kitty cat faces . . . .

steph

Same here.. they get pushed farther and farther back in the closet.. might as well just put 'em in a yard sale. And even tho' I never had any BRIGHT ORANGE WITH KITTYCAT FACES :eek: :chuckle ....mine were rather demure, I still don't care for them. Prefer the solids by far.

(although I must confess to having ONE which still CLINGS to my closet hangerrod, and just WON'T let go... somehow REFUSES to be relegated to the yardsale box... it's black with all these neat, little,psychodelic-colored VW BUGS....) :cool:

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
Originally posted by mjlrn97

I agree that whites do make a nurse look crisp and professional. Too bad that they are also impractical in the modern healthcare setting, and make those of us who are NOT fashion model-sized look like potential mates for the Michelin Tire man.

:roll

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:nurse: I have to agree, I am not the cap kinda girl either. Never wore a cap, never owned one. At my school there were no cap requirements, and there was no official uniform--just white.

I never wore a white uniform at work, always scrubs and supplied by the hospital. That said, we should all wear what makes us happy and fits with the dress code of our workplace.

However, I find the white cap and starched dress disempowering for nurses, the connection between whites and the "angel of mercy" image or the "White Angel" image too strong. Its association with nursing is also an association of the doctor's little helper, and the angel who doesn't need to get paid a decent wage, or earn real respect.

On a historical note, white was not always the color for nurses. Students at Bellevue, the first Nightingale type school to open in the US (around 1870), initially rebelled against the idea of wearing a uniform because it reminded them of being a maid! Early nursing uniforms generally consisted of a colored dress, with a white bib and apron over it. Makes a lot more sense--easier to change the apron than the whole dress if it got dirty.

Judging from old photos, it looks like nurses went to all white in the 1920s. So styles do change, and just because people got used to seeing nurses in white, doesn't mean that it has to stay that way forever. Afterall, early nurses wore floorlength skirts and petticoats. That changed, to the shorter starched white dress. And now most nurses are wearing colored uniforms or scrubs. Just evolution, I say.

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