Who Gets To Be Beautiful?
Image Courtesy: Harper’s Bazaar
I have resigned myself to the fact that I will never be beautiful. As an aspiring journalist, I don’t expect to make much money, so I doubt I’ll ever be able to afford monthly waxing, $200+ hair appointments, plastic surgery, detox kits, weekly nail appointments and whatever else might help me look a little more presentable. So, being a little above average will have to suffice.
The price of beauty seems to grow steeper and steeper by the day. Whether it’s a subscription to Goop pills or surgeries that blow the bank, it seems like beauty is for the elite. At least, that’s the narrative we’re told.
Scrolling through the Goop website makes me burn with anger. Gwyneth Paltrow looks serenely out into the distance, her skin glowing with natural health from products that cost anywhere from $50 to hundreds of dollars. The buzzword “clean” is littered all over the website. Unfortunately, it seems only the wealthy can afford to be clean. Us average folk will have to stick with dirty L’Oreal or, god forbid, Elf. DUN DUN DUN.
Clean beauty sounds like a good idea. Goop describes it as, “Clean, for us, means that a product that is made without a long (and ever-evolving) list of ingredients linked to harmful health effects, which can range from hormone disruption and cancer to plain old skin irritation.” That is a scary definition. No one wants hormone disruption or cancer, but women have been making their beauty products for generations, long before Goop came around. Homeopathic and herbal remedies are, by nature, clean and a whole lot cheaper than Gwyneth Paltrow’s Psychic Vampire Repellent Mist (no offense if you’ve invested in a bottle).
Image Courtesy: Goop
Besides the mysterious magic that is Goop, so many beauty and health trends require money. There’s almost an implication that if you’re not affluent and don’t have the disposable income to spend on beauty products, you’ll never live up to the beauty standards of our generation. Just to run a little test, I’ve gone on a theoretical shopping spree. Based on the price of services around Athens, Georgia, this is what one might spend to glamourize oneself. Of course, none of these prices include a tip.
Basics
Set of nails: $50
Model Citizen Salon (medium cut + full balayage): $165
European Wax Center (Brazilian + eyebrows): $75
Full set of lash extensions: $175-$200
Optional add-ons
Unlimited three-month membership at Pūrvelo: $400
Raw Generation Skinny Cleanse: $99
I’ll admit, there are cheaper alternatives out there, but the prices still add up. Without the optional add-ons, that’s $465, and with the add-ons, it shoots up to $697 (I divided 400 by three to get a monthly amount for the Purvelo membership). Of course, this doesn’t include the cost of makeup, skincare products or even the tip for all of those services.
Of course, no one is forcing people to spend money on these things. I’ve lived my whole life without purchasing most of those services, but I’ve always had a desire to indulge. So when I scroll through Instagram and see those glamorous girls with long, perfectly manicured nails and hair that never shows its roots, I can’t help but feel a little bit inferior. Even when I’m in class and I see the real-life equivalent to that, I feel like the little, mousy sister who will never be able to compete. I’m not hurting for money, but I can’t afford constantly manicured nails and Brazilian waxes.
No one should feel guilty for pampering themselves and trying to look beautiful. The issue here is the narrative influencers promote by advertising countless wellness and beauty products that are ridiculously expensive. In addition, they receive sponsorships from brands like Savage X Fenty, which requires them to promote a VIP membership program that essentially scams its users.
Image Courtesy: Vox
Don’t forget to read the fine print. Cancel by the fifth of the month or get charged $50 for nothing.
A deal that requires you to spend $50 a month for “great” deals on products that, in the end, don’t save you much money at all is not much of a deal. It either promotes the idea of overconsumption (no one needs to buy new bras and panties every month) or forces you to accidentally waste $50 on nothing.
I love spending a little extra on pampering myself now and then, but if fitting the beauty standards shown on Instagram means breaking the bank, I think I’ll stick with what I’ve got. By these standards, the answer to who gets to be beautiful is a much smaller population than I expected.
Strike Out,
Writer: Olivia Wakim
Athens
