Ive found that washing my hair/face and drying it/fluffing it up makes the gunging feel heavier and slimier - in my recent session I puffed my soft clean hair up before clobbering it with sweet sloppy pies

It is fun to look your best befor the mess and I certainly want to be "clean" before playing with my wife.

Always best to get clean before you get filthy

Me! I love the added contrast between literally squeaky clean and dolled up, to absolute disaster zone.

Likewise, I always like to be squeaky clean for Mrs Piechap.

Me too - same reason as Candy. Showered and squeaky clean, clothes on hangers or straight from the packet then totally trashed!

Same - Always good to start off clean and fresh.
Even more fun if you maybe can't clean up too quickly afterwards too!

I shower prior to gettin' messy. It washes the skin oil so that goo sticks better.

I washed during a session, cleaned up and added more slop in which to wallow around and pour over my head. Never done that before. Added a whole new twist.

It varies for me - the couple of times I've been to gunge events with a group of people, starting out clean and fresh feels like basic courtesy, as I'd do in any setting where I'm physically close to others.
If I'm heading out for solo mud I won't always shower that morning as it seems a little superfluous but I do like to have my hair and beard recently trimmed, it just helps me feel confident sharing pics and video, and also feels good on the shaved sides of my head.