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/

I pay 25 for acrylic & gels every 3 weeks.
45 if I have my toes done but they can be done every other visit.
50 if I have a pedicure.

Eyebrows & lip threading is 9.

I travel back to my local hairdresser where I grew up so that's 20 petrol plus 30 for a basic wash/cut/blowdry & straighten.

I dye my hair myself with a box dye, normally 2 for a tenner from boots.

I pay 28pm for the gym that has a pool/sauna/steam.

I think that's it for basic grooming, I don't think that is excessive.

I'm very low-maintenance. I have my hair cut and coloured by a mobile hairdresser every 8 weeks for £50.

I have never had brows done, gel nails, fake tan, botox, fillers, waxing or any of the rest of it. I suspect a lot of the orange, caterpillar browed women in Glasgow are spending a lot on their "grooming" and most of them look ridiculous.

Oh and just to add, we are not struggling for cash by any stretch of the imagination. However, I can think of a zillion other things I'd rather spend my money on.

It’s less than 1/10 of my net income and less than 1/8 of my disposable income.

I don’t have a partner so I don’t really holiday at the moment. I have a reasonably small mortgage and no debts/no expensive hobbies. I know this might make me sound a bit of a loser but I don’t have much else to spend my money on! If I had to pay for other things then maybe it wouldn’t be so much but since I’m ASD and often lonely, I find the beauty treatments good for getting me out of the house in the evenings and having some social interaction.

I've just googled microblading...ffs people...are you actually serious?

Eyebrows threaded once every 3 weeks or so £2.00 each session, dye my own hair once every three months at £7.50. Do my own nails, dont do acrylics etc just a simple file down. Thats pretty much it. I think it pretty much depends where you live and what your lifestyle is like.

My 19yr old student niece spends all that on grooming then complains she's skint, my sister just says "well you'll be working next year" we were brought up very poor so I'm always a bit at my sister.

My sisters a bit the same though, although not to that extent.

I prefer to send my money on holidays.

I've just googled microblading...ffs people...are you actually serious?

Obviously we are if we've mentioned having it done.

I used to be a bit (quietly) smug about how much I save by not doing any of this (except hair).

Now I'm older, I realised I was just lucky that a- I was conventionally attractive naturally (I can say this as it's all going downhill now) and b- I'd read the Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf at an impressionable age and had unattached my self-worth/feeling good from my appearance.

I know that's going to sound wanky and judgemental, but I genuinely think it was pure dumb luck. It was in my 6th form library and I just read anything I could get my hands on at that age (pre-internet!)

I have my hair cut about 4 times a year at £50 per visit.

That's it. Oh, I had a pedicure the summer before last which I quite enjoyed but can do almost as good a job at home.

so you pay to have your eyebrows removed and then pay to get fake ones tattooed back on after?

This must be a joke, I mean they must have been shitting themselves laughing at cosmetics industry central when they dreamt that crap up!

M3lon I've yet to see a more smug and pointlessly boastful post.

Then again, self-esteem just can't be bought, can it?

fothering I'm at the other end of that spectrum...I think being really ugly helps with not bothering to spend money on pointless turd polishing activities.

I look how I look. If you are going to judge me on it then crack on with it and we will talk once you've got over your shock that ugly women can be smart and successful too.

so you pay to have your eyebrows removed and then pay to get fake ones tattooed back on after?

I don't have any natural eyebrows due to a health problem.

This must be a joke, I mean they must have been shitting themselves laughing at cosmetics industry central when they dreamt that crap up!

Its nice when people are happy at work.

Im also loving your outrage.

lying boastful?

Gosh, glad I am low maintenance then.
Box dye for my hair (lot of grey - even at 35!)
Paint toenails myself
Don’t bother with finger nails - keep them short and neat

And that’s it really! I wax my own legs and use a razor for other areas!

@Sparkles57 you do what you like, if you enjoy it and it gets you out of the house then that's great.

The discussion is about how some people afford it. Personally I find beauty appointments tedious, but we can all do what we like with our own money and you don't have to justify it.

oh spending money on education is boastful?

hmm well I only spent about 1000 quid...I'm just guessing there may be people who never spent on their education at all.

i was a bit surprised recently to find out that my younger work colleagues spend an awful lot on grooming - gel nails every 4 weeks and the like! They spend so much of their disposable income on beauty ...

I have given up with grooming. I am now lucky to get out to work without stains or stickers on my clothes

Yes, M3lon, pointlessly too. I mean, just what is the point of saying that you spent £'000s on education - and then post as you do? Surely that education would have given you the necessary skills to deduce that people do things differently sometimes?

I don't do half the things on that list. I don't 'wonder' at women that do, I don't give it a thought other than to think 'good for you''.

I don't understand women who can't stop themselves from judging people (other women) for the most benign things, in as nasty way as possible.

Whatever you spent, M3lon... I don't understand your pointedness at what other women do/don't spend on the treatments they want.

I would never, ever judge a woman for doing all this. I hate the pressure put on us to look perfect, so whatever response a particular woman has is totally fine.

It's a bit People's Front of Judea for us to criticise each other

Brows - £4 for threading.
£16 for full face, chin, tache, etc, waxed/threaded and a sympathetic pat on the shoulder and a cup of tea when your eyes are watering

Body waxing - up to £45 depending on how many areas.

Manicure & polish - £17
Pedicure & polish - £12

Haircut - £25 (including wash, condition and blow dry).

London prices, too.

I head for salons that are owned/frequented by Middle eastern/Indian clientele. Fewer fancy brand names, just pleasant, competent staff that know what they are doing.

No nail bars with the overwhelming stench of cyanoacrylate and buzzing files, either.

If people pay all those prices and go every month, I generally think

a) good for them, they obviously have more money than I do
b) they look a hell of a lot better than me
c) it must be great to wake up in the morning and know you look good.

I'm not well and am planning for some of my redundancy pay to go towards stuff like that - DP with a pair of sharpened scissors in the kitchen isn't my preferred environment for a haircut and manicures/pedicures help ease the pain in my joints. I might still feel like shit (hoping Humira does the trick, though), but it would make a pleasant change to not look like shit as well.

I'm genuinely puzzled as to how the same society could produce people who care so very different amounts about their appearance.

Sorry if that's not an ethically approved question.

I don't understand your pointedness

I think they're only posting to entertain themselves.