Women as consumers

"dh doesn't do dishes by hand often or ever wash down the shower stall toilets etc."
Why ever not? You need to get a grip of him.

I do dishes by hand and scrub toilets etc. I hate the feel of gloves so my hands dry out from the frequent washing so I buy and use some lotion. but I buy it in bulk and certainly don't fall for marketing. dh doesn't do dishes by hand often or ever wash down the shower stall toilets etc.

This is interesting.

Does anyone actually use body lotion? | Mumsnet Discussion
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2811604-Does-anyone-actually-use-body-lotion?pg=7&order=

I'm very firmly in the "what is body lotion for ? " camp. Between the stuff I take home from hotels and Christmas presents I have years of supply. I've never bought a body lotion.

There are posters who say their skin needs it - now setting aside eczema or psoriasis sufferers has any one ever met a man who needs body lotion?

very interesting input quench thank you.
I find women's clothing more expensive than men's item per item (white shirt female vs white shirt male) socks under wear etc.
hair cuts female vs hair cuts male.
this is so disappointing.

That is very interesting Quencher. It's not something I'd ever thought about other than, if I'm being honest, assuming that as black or brown skin doesn't have the same problems of blotchiness/ redness/ sallow appearance that foundation would not be necessary.

I'd think the poorer a person is, the more they spend on their appearance. Women tend to have less money than men, and black women tend to have even less money than white women, at least that seems to be the case in the US. I call that bs.
A lot of black women go through most of the beauty regime to assimilate into a system that does not accept them. It's not about who has got more money but rather who looks more like me or the average woman walking down the street. What is deemed acceptable in your everyday magazine. The same way you find people struggling to stay slim to fit into the standard of beauty.

The average black woman spends 3 times as much on beauty products as the average woman.
Why? I think that is down to privilege under two reason. One I have mentioned above. Second one, is availability of products for black women.
Almost all products in store like boots and Superdrug is not designed with black skin and hair in mind. You would have to go to a special section to find one. And if they do have it, it will be in urban areas.
If you have one or two shelves in a whole store like boots that cater to you. You will be limited on choices and fair value.
If you live in a place like London, the choice is still not a lot. You have paks, some shops like super drugs, boots and a few other Asian or black own shops. you can buy makeup in Debenhams and house of Fraser London but you are limited on to the shade and amount of products you can buy. Most are on the expensive side. Products like YSL do dark skin but three shades I would consider dark and I am in the middle of those three. The darker one is not dark enough for a lot of people.

It's a problem that not just me your average joe person faces. I know that Naomi Campbell has talked about providing her own makeup/beauty product for photo shoots because they never provide her shade even when they know she is going to be there. She relies on her make up bag for every shoot she does. BA at Heathrow once lost it and she had a meltdown. That was why she was banned from traveling with them. To people it's just a lost baggage and a woman having attitude problems. To her it's her makeup bag that Carries her only makeup that can be used in areas that does not cater to skin. For a white Person who has lost their luggage they can easily buy makeup in boots close by or the next shop that stocks makeup.

-Black skin needs a lot of moisturising and care and you if don't, people can see it a mile away. You can tell when black skin is dry. The colour does not hide it and it not very forgiving the darker you are. The most judgmental people against other black people on how well the skin and hair is taken care off is black people. So, yes. People will spend a lot. A lot of effort is taken to make sure it's shinny and glossy. No one is born with it.
The biggest beauty expenditure has to be hair and I shall leave it there.
The above is general for most black people.

There would be a number of factors that would need to be taken into account to give a full picture to answer your question in a detailed manner.

I'd think the poorer a person is, the more they spend on their appearance. Women tend to have less money than men, and black women tend to have even less money than white women, at least that seems to be the case in the US.
What?!

I see this as a massive opportunity

If we boycotted companies that didn't have at least 50% women in senior roles, offer flex working, offer great mat leave etc then we could change the world for ourselves.

These statistics are blatantly made up. It's a marketing website

Maybe but....

www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2013/u-s--women-control-the-purse-strings.html

""Women have tremendous spending power in America today—and it’s growing. Market estimates about their total purchasing power varies, ranging anywhere from $5 trillion to $15 trillion annually. And the scope of that spending is notably vast. Fleishman-Hillard Inc. estimates that women will control two-thirds of the consumer wealth in the U.S. over the next decade and be the beneficiaries of the largest transference of wealth in our country’s history—compelling insight for anyone curious about who’s keeping the U.S. economy going these days.

In addition to handling the bulk of the purchasing decisions for consumer goods in the U.S., they’re also likely to influence or manage many other big ticket purchases—homes, autos, appliances, furniture, etc.—not to mention a large portion of the apparel, groceries and everyday purchases""

These statistics are blatantly made up. It's a marketing website!

I'd think the poorer a person is, the more they spend on their appearance. Women tend to have less money than men, and black women tend to have even less money than white women, at least that seems to be the case in the US.
(And yeah, hair care products might also be more expensive, but that's probably not all of it.)

I don't care much about my appearance, the only time when I do (have to) care is when I go to a job interview.
The less you can afford to have no job, the more you care about the impression you make.

And I think for many it is subconscious - they don't think they fear poverty, but they probably feel more vulnerable in general if they don't meet the requirements set by society.

Apart from this, though, this are interesting numbers.

If this is true, then why the fuck don't we use our power? In capitalism, being the main consumer is a lot of power.

We could threaten to go on strike. We could, for a time, only buy products that benefit women. (Food would have to be exempt, but we could try to prioritize fair trade products from women's cooperatives)

We could do so many things!

That's what I assumed - it can't possibly be 91% of all houses?

When they say 91% of houses are bought by women

It does seem an odd statistic. I note it says 'new houses' - does that specifically mean newly-built houses?

Haha typo fail. I meant BTL

Most of the singletons I knew who bought homes were female. 91% sounds high but given most new homes are flats, and small at that, I would expect more than 50% owner occupied to be purchased by single women. I guess BTW has been taken out of the figure unless most BTW landlords are single women as well?

Also I was chatting to a friends DH who is a car salesman who said something interesting. He said in a couple it's nearly always the woman who makes the decision but it's the man who wants to feel that you respect his opinion on the car. So you've got to be deferential to the man whilst actually selling to the woman.

When they say 91% of houses are bought by women, do they mean that the final choice of house is driven by women and paid for by couples rather that solely purchased by women?

I think I probably do choose virtually everything bought in my house, bar Sky sports, which I would cancel in a heartbeat and the odd thing on itunes that dh wants.

Men seem to shop for things they are interested in or have to have (like lunch or new tyres) wheras women tend to treat shopping as recreational as well as buying essentials.

I wish they would do this on the Apprentice

There was one - it might have been last year - where they were advertising shampoo. One team decided to target 'older women' - then hired 20 year old models for their photo-shoot

Oooh, it's been specially formulated to target mature hair breakage - exciting! Except if you look at the label 90% of the ingredients are the same as the Tesco value version.

devi

Do you swear at adverts as well

but it's not a magic key to a better life

I would LOVE to be in a meeting when they discuss how to advertise these products. I wish they would do this on the Apprentice.