face.value

Talk To The Hand,‘ coz The Rest Of Me Is Expensive...

As a woman, I rarely bother to stop and think about how much it costs to keep up appearances, literally. That is, until a few days ago, when I popped into the drug store to pick up some makeup that had run out. Now, I will start by saying that I am a student, I am perpetually broke, and I am pretty cheap frugal. I start with that qualification, because buying drugstore make up is the economical route to take. Most women I know (bless their real, grown-up jobs) opt for higher priced department store brands or high end, small-batch natural products. I wish.

I don’t use a lot of make-up in everyday life. I’m not trying to be virtuous with that statement, it’s just my lack of skill that discourages me from trying anything more glamorous, because I always end up looking like a drag queen when I try my hand at it. Still, I have a cosmetics bag full of products that I attempt to use every now and then. I consider myself at the low-end of the scale, and still the final price is shocking. This is what I have in my bag, and how much it costs:

Foundation:           $32

Bronzer:                  $32

Glow stick:              $24

Mascara:                 $13

Eyeliner:                 $15

Eyebrow pencil:   $12

Lip gloss x 2:         $30

Lip Balm:                $4

Eyeshadow:           $20

TOTAL:      $182

Most women I know have a suitcase full of various makeup. Imagine the cost of all of that!

All this stuff runs out every 1-2 months. So, even being conservative, it’s about $100 a month to look presentable. Now add to that the rest of the beauty supplies I, and every woman, uses, and at the bottom of the price range you are looking at:

Face wash:      $12

Toner:               $12

Moisturizer:    $25

Eye cream:       $30

Body Wash:     $12

Body Lotion:   $15

Razors:             $20

Shampoo:        $10

Conditioner:   $10 ($30 per liter of each, lasts about 3 months)

Hair product: $15 (3 products @ $10 each, lasts about 2 months)

Deodorant:      $10

TOTAL: $171

Then there are the millions of little things that are purchased every now and then like:

Tweezers: $15

Make-up brush sets: $50-$300

Bronzer lotions: $20

Nail polish: $7-$20 a bottle

Face masks: $20

Perfume: $50-$200

Scrubs: $15

Straightening irons: $100- $300

Curling Irons: $30-$100

Nail polish remover, cotton pads, nail files, foot files: $20

etc, etc etc!

TOTAL: God only knows!

I’ll bet that most women have at least $500-$1000 worth of  “beautifying stuff” in their homes. I have 3 full drawers of accumulated paraphernalia that promises to make me a better prettier person.

Most women also recruit some outside help every 3 weeks or so:

Hair cut and color: $130-$300 (The $130 being a Supercuts price)

Manicure: $40

Pedicure: $40

Gel Nails: $40-$75

Eyebrow wax: $20

Facial: $75-$100

How can a student afford all of this? Well, I can’t. I get gel lacquer done every 2 weeks, but I cut my own hair (no joke) and don’t color it. I butcher my eyebrows, and don’t get facials unless my very busy esthetician friend can do one for me after hours, in exchange for some baking. When my feet start to look like a man’s, I grudgingly take an hour every few weeks to fix them up.

I am going to informally estimate that most women spend about an hour a day getting dressed and made up (that is, just choosing and putting on an outfit, doing hair, and applying make-up). They probably spend about an hour a week “in the chair” getting hair and esthetics procedures, and another hour a week driving and waiting to get to and from appointments. We then spend about another hour a day grooming (shaving, plucking, masking, brushing, whitening, painting, poking and prodding in general).

That’s about 16 hours a week that we spend on our looks, and a minimum of $300 a month on products and services. Yes, there are some women that manage with less, and most that rack up A LOT more. But you get the idea! Money aside, if I only had to groom as much as a man, I would probably have at least 10 hours a week of spare time. I could learn a new language! I could start a career in politics. I could volunteer. I could dedicate more than an hour a day to any hobby or activity I want! But instead I am making sure that I uphold the socially prescribed standard of what a woman should look like. Worst part is, as I age, the time, energy, and cost of looking good will increase.

Why am I telling you all this? I mean, it’s not like I’m going to stop! I am familiar with the biological underpinnings of reproductive appeal. I am aware of the social benefit that beauty affords. I am aware that the “choice” to stop beautifying is not a choice at all. That I am trapped in a social construct partly based on biology, but fueled by economics and the ruling patriarchal order, that keeps me glossed and glazed. I am telling you all of this because it was fun for me to calculate “what my face is worth”. And I hope it will be interesting for men to come to understand how much time and money it takes for women to look the way they do. I talk about all of this because, like one of my English profs used to say: “I’m not telling you WHAT to think, I’m just telling you TO THINK.”