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How Much Does Beauty Cost

Submitted by Marjana on Mon, 02/07/2012 - 16:35
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Industry of beauty is one of the most profitable businesses nowadays. Beauty market suggests females a wide range of products to keep their skin silky, body in shape, face always young and fresh. A woman can find almost everything she needs to keep her well-cared-for. But the question is: does she really need it?

They say, “Beauty is measured in money you invest in it”. If we think well about this phrase we realize that it means that if you do not spend money on beauty parlor and do not leave a pretty amount in the brand shops you cannot lay claim to be beautiful. So it looks quite logical that ladies waste thousands of dollars per year on makeup, perfume, beauty parlor, spa, and fitness etc. to create at least a minimal copy of the images they can see on TV and glamour magazines. Imagination of beauty was gradually distorted in the last century. Women believe that they need plenty of things to keep themselves in shape “to be like a girl from a cover”. Women waste thousands of dollars in order to be in keeping line with celebrities.

The American Academy of Dermatology reports that the average adult uses at least seven different skin-care products each day, including sunscreens, makeup, perfume, aftershave, shampoo, skin cleansers, moisturizers and deodorants.

If you have ever stopped to add up all those receipts for cosmetics and beauty products, the final amount may have surprised you. In fact, the average amount of money women spend on makeup has surprised the nonprofit YWCA too. In a recent report, they found an increasing ‘obsession’ with being beautiful, no matter what the cost.

The report, Beauty at any Cost, noted U.S. women spent some $7 billion a year, or an average of about $100 each, on cosmetics and beauty products.

That $100 a month, if saved and invested for five years, would pay for a full year of tuition and fees at a public college, the report calculated. (how much do you spend on makeup)

Notice that this note is dated 2009. So it is possible to suppose that the numbers could be increased since then.

No one can deny the fact that the culture of artificial beauty and distortion of natural looks was imposed on women through media and advertisement. We see celebrities always shining, in a perfect shape, beautiful and happy. When we see the advertisement of cosmetics or shampoo we see a beautiful shining lady with perfect features. Advertisement is speaking to the mind of a woman, “buy it and you will be like her”. Marketing is a science which was created to make people buy goods. And it works well.

Just a century ago women didn’t know what depilation cream or lotion is. Today there are all varieties of cosmetics: skin care products, hair care products, body care products, makeup, etc. One woman can have products of a few different brands, of course a few lipsticks, some colours of eye shadows for all occasions, some tone perfection cream or powders, blushes, some different lipliners and eyeliners and so on . And the funniest thing here is that the rest of women are sure that they really need this bag of make up to be beautiful.

Or it is better to say they fall into dependence of some types of cosmetics after using it once and just have to go and buy it again and again. A bright example is hair-dye. The rest of women are sure that their natural hair colour spoils their appearance. In order to change this unpleasant fact they buy hair-dye to change their hair colour. At first it can look shiny and bright and to be a source of happiness for its owner. But in a few weeks hair become stressed, the colour looses brightness, and the obvious signs of the fact the lady has a fake hair colour can be noticed near the roots of her hair. The lady has two choices: either to dye once again or to leave it ugly as it is and wait till her own hair grows.

Artificial beauty is everywhere around. It is obvious that there is cult of artificial beauty and distorting naturalness. Artificial bodies, artificial faces, artificial hair, artificial nails, artificial eye colour – everything is investment in your appearance. Does a person have time to invest in his soul being busy with creating artificial beauty, running for the latest fashion?

The concept of beauty itself is mispresented. “Beauty is measured in money you invest in it” is absolutely wrong conception. But it plays well with minds of women: “You Can Buy Beauty; the more you pay the better you look”. This idea sits deep in the mind of many women, especially young girls. It is not their own choice to waste fortune on cosmetics; this idea is imposed on them by those who are interested in profit.

I don’t want to say that the best way is to stop spending money on cosmetics at all. But I suggest just thinking about the idea I have mentioned above, just trying to calculate the real money you present to someone like hypnotized for things which you do not actually need.