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/

its not a question that actually implies judgement in either direction either.

I'm sure I receive a lot of judgement for cutting my own hair and not wearing makeup. I'm sure people who wear a lot of makeup get judged for that too.

I'm just wondering why such extremes are both products of the same multi-billion pound perpetual confidence undermining campaign (orchestrated by the cosmetics industry in case its not obvious)?

My Mum is a hairdresser so she does my hair for free- useful. I’ve never had my nails, eyebrows, eyelashes, fake tan etc done and never had a wax. Sounds like I save a fortune .

What if there is no pointedness...what if there is just excessive defensiveness?

The only thing I do regularly is Hollywood waxing (but this is once every two months as the regrowth has really slowed) everything else hair cut, hair bleached, eyebrows, manicures, face masks etc I do diy at home after lots of practice and hours watching YouTube I do a pretty good job now and it doesn't cost much at all. If I had the money to pay someone to do it but there is a few debts to pay off and then we want to pay down the mortgage ASAP.

I get my nails and eyebrows done regularly, that's it.
I have acrylic overlays with shellac on my natural nails (used to have extension tips but I spent 6 months growing my own nails out underneath and now I don't need tips as my own nails are long), they cost £25 and I have an infill every 2 weeks.
I get my eyebrows waxed also every 2 weeks, it costs £5.
I spent £60 per month on it. But it's all I have for myself as I never go out or anything so I don't mind paying. I love long nails and perfectly shaped eyebrows. Plus it's my couple of hours me time a fortnight, I look forward to it.

I've started making regular trips to the salon as my income has increased however I don't spend too much.
I get my nails done every month £26 and my hair coloured £35.

The rich men running the media tell women that they need to look a certain [barely attainable] way and are encouraged to spend tons of money on trying to do so. They have to KEEP spending that money repeatedly to maintain the look. And the rich men running the fashion and beauty industries get richer and richer. And the cogs keep turning.

My underactive thyroid has played havoc with my eyebrows too.

However I can honestly say that it's never occurred to me to shave what's remaining of my eyebrows off, and have a tattooed replacement.

A quick google tells me that "microblading" is what gives the caterpillar eyebrow look. Or "sharpie eyebrows" as my teenage DD calls them. They look so, so unnatural.

But then, in my mid 40s I have no desire to look like one of Little Mix, a Kardashian, or someone off Love Island.

My haircut costs £12 every 5 weeks and i colour my own hair so £6 a box every month. That's it I don't do anything else. Mine you my nails are shocking but I work in the nhs and constantly wash my hands or use alcohol gel on them. If I Could I would love to have my nails done regularly.

Grooming standards seem to have got ridiculous recently!

Even just ten years ago I’d feel good on a night out with normal-length real hair that I’d curled or straightened myself, mascara rather than false lashes, self-painted nails and so on. Everyone else was the same. Now it is totally the norm for everyone to have professional brows, lashes, extensions, nails, tan and so on.

donkey but it has now....I mean how will you resist the temptation?

TBH I don't think you HAVE to have a slug brow with the microblading, I think you can have something refined and elegant. I think there just may be a significant correlation between people who are into slug brow and people prepared to undergo microblading that may make it seem at first glace as if the two are inseparable.

I'm with M3lon. It's all so...empty. Who do you do it for? Yourself? Surely learning to love the actual you is the first step?

I don't get anything done. Now and again I'll paint my nails but I don't like it really, so it doesn't last long. When my hair gets too long I'll high ponytail it and lop a few inches off. It always looks nice and I'm complimented on it.

I would never get tans, teeth whitening, eyelashes etc. Shudder. It all looks so fake.

I get someone to my house for a wax before I go on holiday. I do lumea though so it's a 15 minute job.
I dye my own hair
I get my eyebrows threaded
I don't like my fingernails done
I'll paint my toenails myself if I'm going to wear sandals.
I will spend £50 on haircuts every 4 months.
I'm a moisturiser fiend though. I get through a big pot of Nivea every couple of weeks.

Dsd spends a fortune, and she's young and pretty and doesn't NEED anything doing. She gets eyelash extensions, hair extensions, nail extensions, HD brows, the works. It must cost a fortune.

There is only one single thing that the average women on the street can do to stem the tide of body image and self-esteem damage being levelled against us (and our children) by the cosmetics industry.

STOP FUNDING THEM.

You are literally paying them to undermine the mental health of future generations.

I only spend money on my hair (quite a lot) do my own nails, eyebrows etc but usually splurge before a holiday. I had eyelash extensions recently for an occasion (as I've done in the past) but don't want to do them on a regular basis. If people can afford it then why not.

It is indeed all so empty and fake.

Makes me wonder where our drive for equality has gone as women see to think they have to do all this in order to be desired or accepted...

Eyebrows - £9 every 6 weeks
Nails £31.50 every 2 weeks.
Skincare wise I love my coconut cleanser and a bit tub of astral so not expensive.

I like to look nice, I dont judge people who spend a lot, and I dont judge people who spend nothing, as its nothing to do with me.

Doesn't everyone have different interests and priorities OP? So these ordinary people may prefer to spend disposable income on beauty treatments whereas other ordinary people might spend their disposable income on alcohol, smoking, TV packages, clubs and hobbies, save it etc and that's why all this grooming may be possible for the people you are thinking about.

l couldn't eat if l did any of that. l get my hair dry cut every few months, it's £7.50 and l tip £2.50.
That's it.

Don't you worry about what you are teaching your daughter, if you have them?

I get my haircut once a year (£15)
Pedicure once a month
Fake tan I apply myself
Manicure I do myself
Shaving, eyebrows, I do at home

I spend a fortune on clothes and shampoo though

Eurgh..can’t be arsed, hate having to go and do the ‘Essentials’ even, which to me is just haircut and eyebrows shaped and dyed (can’t do myself) I begrudge that tho 🤣 Just really not into treatments etc and don’t find them relaxing at all. Other than that it’s make up (pretty natural) and perfume when I can.
I think (hope) that awful full on lips, eyebrow, fake look will come full circle and people will start to get very bored of it eventually.

I spent £11 on getting my eyebrows and lip waxed this week.. £5.50 each.

They look so, so unnatural

If thats the look people want to achieve Im sure its possible but like everything else there are variations on a theme and looking very natural is the way to go.

Do people have their eyebrows shaved off for microblading? Not that Im aware of. Im under the impression a persons own eyebrows are used as a template for what you eventually end up with. Mine are rather lovely and no one has yet guessed what I've had done.

Supermassive, well you would be, wouldn't you? You do nothing to groom. Fine and dandy, your choice. Nobody is judging you for it, why are you judging other women?

How dare you question what any woman is teaching their daughters? Who do you think you are? I know that my own daughter will live her life without paying undue attention to anything that any man or women tells her about her own bodily autonomy.

I won't be so rude as to question whether you have children, not express faux-concern for them.