To be shocked how much "ordinary" people spend on grooming?

[Daygals]

Let's start by explaining that by ordinary, I mean people on average incomes living not unusual lives. What is normal might also be regional, I live in a world of fake tans and long fake lashes.

I am shockingly low maintenance but I thought I might make a bit of an effort for a special occasion and have my brows tidied and nails done, so I looked up some salons and price lists and this is where my shock comes from.

I had no idea these things are so expensive. The list I'm looking at is a fairly basis salon, nothing upmarket and includes things lots of people I know would consider "need" doing on a regular basis.

The prices are probably fair from the point of view of the therapist's time but I can't imagine spending this on myself on a regualar basis.

Eye lashes £40
HD Brows £20
Gel Nails £30
Pedicure £20
Hair cut £40
Hair colour £80

That's before waxing and and more luxury treatments like facials or anti-aging stuff.

I don't know how often it all needs doing (monthly?) but I know lots of people who are always "done" like this I can't fathom how it's even possible/

Eye lash extensions. Individual £10. Strip £5.
Brows £6.00
Gel nails £25 for first visit. £20 every visit thereafter.
Hair cut £20.
Hair colour, varies according to what’s required but I usually pay £50/60

I’m in a city.
You must be in Knightsbridge or kennsinton

Cripes. I get my hair cut every 4–5 weeks for £28. That's it. I don't wax or otherwise depilate. I pluck out the occasional outlandish eyebrow hair. I paint my toenails myself and don't bother with fingernails. I've never had anything done to my eyelashes. I don't wear make-up. I've no idea what dermaplaning or microblading are.

I'm not exactly a glamazon, but children don't run shrieking from me in the street.

Oh, I buy hair colour and DP does it for me. That's about £7 a time.

Do you know how much money men are spending?

My DH is military, so a neat and tidy haircut is a caveat of his job.
He spends £12 on a haircut about every 3ish weeks, but that’s as much grooming as he does (other than shaving daily).
There are the “pretty boy”, “gym bunny” types that he works with who genuinely get haircuts every 5 days, have spray tans, body waxes etc They definitely spend more than the average woman I’d guess!

I spend my money on pension, nice holidays, theatre trips, eating out.

I don't care that others choose to spend their money on hair and nails etc. Different people make different choices for discretionary spend.

Bloody hell, Sparkles, that must be around £5k a year! And that's paid out of net income, so if you pay standard tax & NI, that's about £6.5-£7k gross.

That's massive.

I used to have a close friend who was hot on personal grooming but then she had a DC and her relationship with the DF (OH) fell apart so we went out on the 'pull' or just out.

She was forever buying fake tan, getting her eyebrows shaped and dyed and buying new outfits (Karen Millen, Ted Baker, All Saints etc). She did actually earn quite well and went to salons in the 'cheaper' part of town but where they did budget nails, eyebrows etc.

I'm no good at applying fake tan (tried a few times but failed), looked good with her doing a professional blow dry on my hair and liked (before DH and DC) to spend money on clothes and hair but always spent money on nice makeup.

I do wonder how some women afford the primped and preened look though.

I do get my mails done, £25 every 3 weeks. Hair cuts I am a bit rubbish at, so probably 3-4 times a year at £30, I don't colour it.

My one vice is decent skincare, but I see that as an investment

If you can afford it and you want to do it then do it? Why the need to judge others just because they do things differently?

Looking good helps some people feel better that’s not a bad thing surely?

Eyebrow mascara has saved me a fortune on brows.

My natural hair color ages me and full head color looks awful so my highlights are my luxury item.

I ask for beauty vouchers at Christmas and birthdays. I’m hopeless at nail care so get manicure & pedicure 6 times and maintain myself between.

If I didn’t spend a bit in myself I’d spend the money on shite for the kids.
I’m a better investment

It's whatever makes you happy!

I get my confidence from being natural. I rarely wear make up or use hair products, and get my hair cut free every 6 weeks by a student hairdresser at a local (usually very expensive) salon.

I keep my nails neat and tidy, but I wouldn't paint them. I pluck the odd stray hair and shave my legs once in a blue moon. I'm happy with me, as I am, as I age.

I prefer to spend money on travelling, but I wouldn't judge anyone for spending £££ on themselves if that's what they enjoy.

In the last 5 years I have bought two eyebrow pencils and one mascara. I think that adds up to about 20 quid.

I might be heading to the hairdresser soon though, as I'm planning to donate my now very long hair. That will blow a decades worth of beauty expenditure though....

I wonder if it's a generational thing. I know my mum never had any of these things done except for a haircut, but I don't feel like she was as out of sync as I am when the only thing I get done from this list is my annual haircut.

As for affording it, it's all about priorities, isn't it? We all make this sort of decision.

I have Botox twice a year (£300 total). That’s absolutely it. Most people I know would consider that extravagant & while I suspect some might indulge too they wouldn’t admit to it. I don’t know anyone from my mum’s age (mid 60s) to my dd’s (18) who goes for that hyper-groomed insta/KK/TOWIE look. We all spend a lot on food/gym/yoga & dentistry though! And most people who have more cash (fewer children) than us spend a amount on travelling. And their dogs/horses.

@LakieLady I’m a higher rate tax payer so unfortunately more like 9k 😂 maybe I need to cut down.....

MrsBethel I wish mine did that, I shaved them off in the late '70's and they never grew back, hence the microblading instead of having to draw them on every day,

Wow! That would be cheap for where I live in the South East!
Here we pay:

Eye lashes £? Never had this
HD Brows £30 twice a year (I have uneven eyebrows otherwise)
Gel Nails £? Never had this
Pedicure £27 - every 2 months, but includes gel varnish
Hair cut £65 - every 6/8 weeks
Hair colour £120 - lowlights 4 times a year

Maybe I need to move?

I go to my local college, I get a great pedicure for £7 and that is a special one with paraffin wax, their other prices are very cheap too.

@EarlGreyOfTwinings - agree - there's this real competitiveness about not "wasting" money on anything enjoyable that some MNers have, most importantly, not on something for the sole benefit of the mother. Even if it's affordable. (See also, any thread about handbags costing over £200.)

I do think it's bizare that woman getting their hair cut regularly is viewed as some sort of princess behaviour, when most men get their hair cut every 5-6 weeks and it's just seen as basic maintenance for them to look neat.

I remember reading something once I think it was about the war / or recession and how businesses that offer beauty treatments remain relatively unscathed. It seems people will always find the money for something to make them feel good. Which is fair enough.

It's nuts to me as well, I'm very much a wash and go person. So long as the roof above my head is secure I'm happy.

I usually get my nails done once a month, sometimes twice. Costs £25. I also started getting my eyebrows done (never used too!) which is £15. I don't get my hair done much though, in fact it's been over a year since I got my hair done!! Which is fairly common for me!

Shellac nails every 2-3 weeks £25
Hair dyed every term £100
Eyebrows and rash de fluffed every month or so £10

That’s it for me. Over £1k a year.

It's completely down to the individual how they choose to spend their money and how they choose to look.

I think a lot of it is down to social media and people believe they have to look a certain way so are willing to spend on such things.

I consider myself to be fairly attractive but I spend £15 on my hair every 10 weeks, everything else I do myself. However I only paint nails or put on fake tan for an occasion. I've never had false lashes I fear I would look like I'm in drag!

I suppose I may get judged by my peers for not following the trend but hey I'm confident in my skin and don't feel the need to spend my money in that way.

Take all the beauty treatments away from most people and they'll look like dogs!

@Dahlietta - I wonder if our mum's generation (the babyboomers) sort of missed this, whereas my Grandmother's generation did go for wash and set twice a week etc. (My middle class grandmother went to a salon religiously twice a week to have her hair done until her altzimers got too bad, my working class grandmother would go round to her best friend's house and they did each other's hair twice a week from the 50s until a few weeks before she died in the late 90s)

Going getting a bouncy blowdry before a night out doesn't seem that different to my grandmother's generation of sitting under a drier hood with rollers in...

I get my hair cut for £25 every 6 weeks....um, that’s it really. I mean I’m not a complete troll: I do my own eyebrows, I have short, neat well shaped nails, I have nice teeth.

My girls are 20 and 21. They do stuff with fake tan and hair dye at home but they never have paid treatments. They are both very expensive looking and attractive.

So I guess we are all extremely cheapskate.