Perhaps morally and truthfully, no.
But socially and (for quite a few of us) mentally, yes. Which is enough for it to matter entirely.

Not to me. As long as you have good hygiene, I really, honestly, couldn't care less what you look like.

Matter in terms of what? Should it matter to an individual, personally? Matter to society? Matter when lounging at home in your pajamas, or when applying for a job?

Yes. It always does matter, it's a first impression, as well as what people are going to be looking at pretty much the whole time.

When it comes to hygiene and clean clothes, it does for me. but physical features, not so much.

apprantly, the reason i got my first part time job was BECAUSE i looked "Unique". one day, i took out the blue streaks in my hair--- and i got fired. XD

Only when it comes to the aspect you have control over, like how you dress or the state of your hair. As long as you can tell that some effort was put into making yourself look presentable, it shows that you may have the initiative to put effort into other things as well.

Things you have little to no control over, like the shape of your nose or the size of your teeth, should not matter one bit.

hygeine? Yes. Definetly. All the time, with hair straightened, nail polish, designer clothes? No.
I don't care for my appearance. While I do agree first impressions are important, I don't wat to be hanging out with someone who takes hours to get ready.
And if you dress up a little for a boy/girl? That's okay in my opinion. Who doesn't like to look good in front of their boyfriend/girlfriend? But if he/she really likes you, your looks wouldn't matter really.

if it gets too out of hand, then it does. if it's under control, then it doesn't.

really depends on the situation

Of course it does. Its no secret that good looking people have it way easier then those who are unattractive.

Of course it does.
You can't be a PE teacher on high heels and you can't be a car salesman in a wetsuit.

But morally; yes it does. If you look like you want to look like, you feel better than if you look like what you don't want to look like.
Someone who wants to wear sweatpants doesn't feel at their best when wearing a mini-skirt and vice versa.
So yeah, it matters.

It depends. If you're talking about someone who just wasn't born with great looks, it's not an issue for me. But if it's someone who just has no interest in taking care of themself, that's a problem.

Hygiene is all I care about. Otherwise I try not to judge on looks. Maybe with clothes, like if they're wearing something revealing. But I think people should be allowed to express themselves for the most part, and be proud of what they look like.

For the most part, looks are highly overrated.

I struggle with this situation. I guess I'm neutral upon it. I do not think someone should date a guy or girl based on their looks. If someone shoves away a person in their group because they don't wear what's cool or they don't have fabulous hair, that's terrible. Things that you could never change, your face, should not matter.

However, perhaps it matters somehow. If you go out without brushing your hair or brushing your teeth, then that's just unneccesary. Your looks represent who you are, but when you go out looking like a mess, it not only means you don't care about how you look, but then it also says you are lazy.

People unconsciously jugde others according to their physical appearance; and that includes not only genetics but also clothing, hygiene etc. It's human nature.

Okay, I'm probably not a very pretty person. But looks don't affect important things, like work performance. If a person is in a car accident, would you call the good looking but terrible doctor, or the kind of ugly, but quite good doctor? I never look for a persons looks. I have many ugly friends, but we have the best conversations.

I would never prefer a doctor/surgeon with dirty hands and fingernails, or with his shirt buttoned crookedly. It would reflect that he's probably not very sanitary and has horrible hand eye coordination.

sadly yes, but i guess thats how the world goes... ._.

Not at all, not for me. I hate how society judges people for their appearance. If you're a nice person that's what matters. A person can dress how they want, if they want to go for the Gothic style they can, girly that's fine too, sporty also fine. I dress in goth and people usually assume I'm a mean person for it, when in reality I'm that person who is willing to lend a hand to anyone. It's annoying how being overweight damns people to be teased or bullied. I like to get to know a person for what's on the inside. Beauty is overrated. Now I will make an exception if their appearance interferes directly with their health and hygiene. But choosing friends based only on look is a bit shallow in my opinion. Especially if it's something the person can help; a cross eyed person didn't choose to be cross eyed, a person with acne didn't want it. If a person chooses not to wear makeup or chooses a more plain and laid back style that's just fine. You shouldn't need makeup or cool cloths to make friends. And what about those people who simply can't afford beauty and hygiene products? Perhaps they want to wear make up but simply can't pay for it.

@pandawinx That sounds like something that would happen to me with my crazy hair dye. I'm sorry that happened to you.

@cassie But that's not necessarily how he is, well the dirty hand things probably, but the shirt; just because he wears it crooked doesn't mean he has bad hand eye.

@TangoThang What about the people who aren't born with good looks and don't prioritize beauty? I don't go out of my way to make myself all prettied up. I do enough to make sure I have good hygiene (brushing teeth, bathing, ect.) but frankly I don't feel like applying make up or treating my skin with acne treatments every single day.

No. To society, I guess it does, but that is ridiculous! People shouldn't need to worry about that. All it does is kill peoples' self-esteem and make them feel like crap, all because they don't look like some, superficial person, who cares more about looks than the personality of the person. I honestly don't care about what people look like... I just care about whether they are nice person, or not. That's all you really have to worry about.

In society's eyes yes....But I say screw society.

^ Hahaha!!! Definitely! XDD

^^ Society could kiss our arses!

I will say that it shouldn't matter, but it does matter. We all judge a person first based on their looks, and though many of us are able to shrug off those judgements, there are plenty of people who see those looks as indicative of what lies beneath them.

^ But, that's the whole trouble. People don't see people for who they truly are, because they just see what their looks imply. Like, people looked at me funny when I had to shave my hair off... I had to, because some twat decided it would be funny to attempt to shave my hair off while I was drunk. But, when I was driving with one of my friends, we got pulled over, simply because I apparently looked like a skinhead. So, yes, to some people looks do matter, but to the genuinely decent people out there, looks really don't matter.

I agree with most of what you've said, except that last statement. Decent people still regard looks as important, at least in some regard. There's a difference between developing an opinion of someone based on looks and executing actions based on it. Decent people don't profile - they don't decide what type of person someone is based on their looks - but that doesn't mean that their perceptions aren't colored by the way other people look to them. It's not a bad thing to develop a certain expectation of what kind of person someone is based on looks alone, so long as that expectation doesn't turn into action without getting to understand them on a deeper level.

^^ That's the crap I hate. My dad had a Mohawk once and they would ask me if he abused me. He never laid a hand on me. Because of his hair they accused him of being a poor father. As I said I dress in goth and people assume that I'm depressed or mean. In reality I'm pretty happy with my life and I'll be nice to anyone who is nice to me. It's shameful that wonderful people are shrugged off or blacklisted for the way they dress or wear their hair.

Racism is another good example. Being black or white is a look. People judged black people for being black. And one's skin color should not matter or affect whether or not you get a job.