So, how much are we spending exactly? It's a little scary, so I'll ease you in with a recent figure for British women: $6,000 to $8,000 a year on beauty and maintenance. U.S. women? Ahem, $12,000 to $15,000 every year spent on products and salon services. Look at that number. Think about it. Try not to throw up. That could pay off your student loans, cover your past or future wedding (as long as you’re not, say, TomKat), give you a down payment on your first home, or —- better! —- it could start a sizable investment account, which could yield thousands more if invested properly. Ah, but that's just it. Not only do women spend too much, but we pretty much suck at managing money, too.
Yeah, it's tough to hear (and if you're an exception to this rule, we salute you!) but the evidence is incontrovertible. When it comes to retirement saving, for example, the U.S. Department of Labor reports that in 2005, fewer than half of all working women in the United States contributed to or had some kind of retirement plan. Fewer than half. Where’s it going? You might want to check the till at Sephora.
I wanted to make excuses particularly for the second paragraph, because there are more single moms raising their kids than there are single dads, and it's tough to save for the future when Mom is the breadwinner and baby needs a new pair of shoes. But then, that doesn't fit very well with the first paragraph, does it?
There is the fact that we all know that there are just lower standards for male appearance than for female. It's not fair. Neither is life, so get over ourselves already.
But still- over 12 THOUSAND dollars per year on beauty products? I don't think I spend one, but then, I am old and ugly. How my lovely daughters? There is no way they spend as much as one thousand dollars a year on beauty supplies, and that would include razors, deodorant, shampoo, and nail polish (I don't do nail polish, but most of the girls do a little).
I can't imagine- how does anybody spend 12,000 a year on beauty supplies? What do people buy? Pin It
I spend about 100 a year...this 12,000 a year figure shocks me. And if they are including me in that average, then does that mean there's someone spending hundreds of thousands on the other end of the bell curve? My mom buys Mary Kay (I shop at Wal-Mart and Target for makeup) and I don't think she spends more than 500 in a year. I know spa treatments cost ridiculous amounts of money, but just how often do they go? In my world a day at the spa would be something for your birthday, if at all, not twice a month, and if they're spending 12K, they must be going at LEAST that frequently. Not to mention, I MADE less than 12K last year...so how someone could be spending more than I MADE on beauty products alone...it makes me sick!
ReplyDeleteI consider myself a woman who makes an effort to wear makeup, have attractive hair and even likes her toes to be painted at all times, but this really is insane. I buy drugstore or Avon cosmetics as they are vastly cheaper and I don't see what the motivation to buy 1 shade of eyeshadow for $25, which is considered normal at a department store.
ReplyDeleteI cut my own hair, and I have no training and get compliments. I paint my own nails too. A bottle of nail polish costs $10 for the high end stuff and will last a year, but my mom and lots of other women feel that it is a life essential to get a manicure/ pedicure for $50 or more per month. I also happen to know of many women who will feel desperately sorry for themselves if they can't spend $100 a month at the hair salon to get the services they "need".
In fact, I have been shocked at how many seemingly reasonable women think these expenses are justified. There are ways to look cared for without buying into the beauty industry insanity.
Think I'll pass this on to my husband, who probably doesn't appreciate the fact that I'm saving us almost $15,000 a year.
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, I'd love to know how these figures were reached and what they include---they seem so impossible. If I spent anything near that amount on hygiene and "beauty", we would be nearly destitute.
I was stunned by the figure at first, but I can kind of see how it can add up to several thousands: mani/pedi every two weeks, hair taken care of every six weeks, plus all the products that go into maintaining that sort of lifestyle, it definitely adds up, especially in big cities where the prices are hiked up even more. But still, 12 grand? It hurts just to think about it. I've never been so grateful to dislike make up (and am best friends with a stylist who cuts my hair on her porch).
ReplyDeleteIt seems ridiculously high to me, too. I wonder if they are counting in plastic surgery, too.
ReplyDeleteI think the $12,000 must include cosmetic surgery, at least Botox and such treatments if not nose remodels and silicone implants. Otherwise, it's hard to imagine how anyone could spend over $1000 a month, even at ridiculous prices.
ReplyDelete$100 haircut, two manicures at $50, two pedicures at $50, $100 for a perm or dye job, $50 lotion, $50 wrinkle cream--and we're still only at $500. Plus, this $12,000 is supposedly an average, not a high-range number.
Golly, who knew we were so frugal?
I read the article more closely, and they are including microdermabrasion and Botox. I was surprised they included Botox in their things that 'most women' do. I know it's been advertising on television a lot lately, but I hadn't realized it had gone that mainstream. Microdermabrasion can be done a couple of times a week at home (less often professionally, I think), so that adds up. Botox appears to be an every 3-6 months thing, generally over $300 a session.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention in my first comment, I used to get my hair chemically straightened, which cost $285 the first time (including hair wash/cut), and cost almost as much each time I went in to get my roots touched up (roughly every 18 months). And those were discount prices at a friend's salon, most others charged over $100 more. Temporary chemical straightening costs just as much, but to be maintained has to be done much more often.
In other words, the more I think about it, the more I can see how they arrived at their sums.
That number sounds impossible...it reminds me of the $100,000+ you hear that it takes to raise a child. No way.
ReplyDeleteDo people really get their noses done on a yearly basis? I mean, other than Michael Jackson?
ReplyDeleteProbably not, but if they are adding cosmetic surgery for women in a year and then divvying it up by number of women, maybe that's spiking the numbers?
ReplyDeleteKaren, if you include the parents paying every penny of their (private school) college education and a car, I might believe the 100K to raise a kid spiel, but that is by no means typical.
ReplyDeleteWhen I worked at a grocery store, I always had manicures with acrylic tips because otherwise my nails were so brittle with all the rough things I was doing that they broke all the time, and even for that six month period I think I might have spent 300 dollars on it.
This must be an average of all women, because when you consider that botox is involved and the very chi-chi women with excesses of money vs us frugalists, 12K is probably possible, but is a true average, which means its not really necessarily normal at all. Just as when you have a class of 30 students and 20 make a 60 on a test, but the other 10 make a 100, the class average swings up to a 73, 13 points above 66% of the class.
I hereby humbly and nobly offer my self as a living sacrifice for you all. Can I have 12,000 just to see if I can spend it all???? :) Seriously I think $200 a year is pretty accurate for myself and I consider myself well groomed, but 12,000????? Ouch.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget the price of products. Many ladies buy products at the salon they go to, and there are many more who "treat" themselves to purchases at department store makeup/perfume counters, as well as stores like Ulta and Sephora on a regular basis. There's also the cost of spray tanning, waxing, flat irons, etc. It's conceivable that wealthier ladies in Dallas or other metro areas would easily spend $1000 on monthly spa treatments, massages, getting their hair "blown out" every day, along with the things Anne Marie listed. Some woman on that Real Housewives show bought new wigs to wear every couple of days, which were more than $200 a pop! Wigs alone!!! And she paid a guy to put them on her head!!! When you average out big spenders like that with the likes of women replying here, $12k really could be average.
ReplyDeleteI believe 100k to raise a kid easily if it includes college or high school tuition. The college I'm going to next year has a sticker price of $50,000 a year (including room and board). Now, no one actually pays that, but still.
ReplyDeleteA good friend of mine goes to a junior high/high school where tuition is $20,000 a year. When he graduates, he'll have spent six years there. That's well over $100k already.
My first reaction when I read such obviously ridiculous statistics like this is to wonder who paid for the article. I think the message here is "Hey, you're WAY below average, so lighten up a little, and pry open your little wallet and SPEND, girl!" I bet someone with an interest in inspiring women to spend more had something to do with it.
ReplyDeleteSame thing goes for the "100,000 per kid" myth - someone has something to sell. Sometimes kid junk, sometimes abortions, either way, it is meant to be persuasive.
I see the same think re pets " the average American spends xxx on pet supplies - so go buy your dog a new outfit, you don't want to be behind the times."
Excellent point, Tami. Another example is the home dec magazines with budget kitchen renovations at $70,000. I remember the day I realized that the point of those articles is to make me feel virtuously thrifty while responding to an ad for granite countertops.
ReplyDeleteThis may sound like it's coming from left field, but I wonder how cultural differences factor in. In college, most of my friends were black women. One of the things I learned by hanging out with them is that they spend a LOT on their hair. Braids, weave, rinses, straightening, etc... it seemed like they were always getting their hair done , and it wasn't cheap. I remember being shocked at how much they were willing to spend on a part of my body that I'd never given a second thought to. Also, most older ladies I know get their hair dyed, permed or styled fairly regularly. My grandmother is frail enough that she goes to a salon to get her hair shampooed. Now, I don't think they spent $12,000 a year, but they were certainly closer to it than I was (I'd say I spend well under $100 a year).
ReplyDeletehi $500 a month is really not frugal......if you put that into an investment over 10 years even without interest adds up to a pretty penny of around $50 000 , I am sure this would come in pretty handy in ten years...look at the last 10 years of your life, do u have nay savings.
ReplyDeleteHazel - from South Africa - e-mail me if u want at : hazel.parasaraman@za.man-mn.com