How do you define a beauty splurge? A Bliss spa treatment? A Dior lipstick? After seeing this article on extreme beauty regimens, you might have to rethink your definition.
The story begins by introducing a real estate agent who spends 10 hours and $1,000 a week on beauty treatments—and the wild part is, she says her routine is minimalist by LA standards. But she and the other people profiled are typical of many upper-middle-class women, says Lisa Oliver, the head colorist at The Salon by Maxime in Los Angeles.
“Depending on how much Botox and the pricier stuff you get done, when you add in hair care, nails, face and body, it’s got to be between $2,000 to $3,500 a month,” Ms. Oliver said. In Los Angeles, she added, such grooming is considered basic maintenance.
“If you are high maintenance, you could spend a lot more money,” Ms. Oliver said. “I can think of a couple of people where $3,500 a month might be low.”
Boy, do I feel like a penny-pincher in comparison! Don't get me wrong, I like to look my best and I splurge occasionally, but I don't know where I'd find the time (much less the $1,000 per week!) to have that many beauty treatments. I'm curious: How much do you spend every month on looking good? Is there a point when it becomes too much? And would you want to trade places with these women?
French Connection
Lom Bok
by Terry
I can't even gauge how much I spend a month. It depends on whether I get my hair done. But probably about $10-50/month. If I get my hair done then, about $100-200. I usually can't even afford to get my hair done. I wish I could spend a little more, but not $3500/month.
I would only want to trade places with these women so I could have their cash. I would not like to spend that much time primping and trying to look beautiful, what a waste of time. After working and primping, how do they have time to enjoy the fruits of their labor?
1I would say I spend $1,000 every 2 months
2luckily i work in a spa... and my mom's and esthetician. So i get my massages and facials for free or trade. and i get my hair done at cost.
one massage = 120
facial = 150
hair cut with color= 200
so i save 470 a month/every few months by being a massage therapist part time
heehee
I do spend about 100 on mani pedi though every month... its the only time i sit still.
3I would say I spend about $400 a month with hair care, makeup, nails, face & body. I go to the nearest drug store to get my hair care, makeup, face & body products because it's a lot more affordable. I do splurge occasionally and buy some of my products at Sephora or dept stores. Of course if I had that kind of money to spend $3500 a month hell yeah I would. I would love to pamper myself like that.
4I maybe spend $100 a month. I am a poor college student. Luckily, my family friend is my hair stylist so that saves me alot of money. Other than that I try to make everything last a long time. I definitely go for a pedicure ever 2-2.5 weeks.
5bookgirl you took the words out of my mouth!!
6i would say $200-300 a month, if i color my hair (which i do myself) and i need to buy all new products. i buy my makeup at walmart or heb, never in the mall and we don't have any specialty makeup stores, otherwise i probably would. BUT i did just get married to a solider in the army, so now i can go to the PX on post and buy stuff, and they have tons of name brands in clothes, perfume, and makeup for less, so we'll see
but i do spend alot on clothes and we
don't even have any high end stores here
7my makeup and hair stuff lasts a while. i'd say i spend $50 every 3 months. i dont get regular manicures or pedicures - i try to do my own. and just get eyebrowns done once a month for $7.
8With acupuncture and personal training sessions, I spend about $1300 month now. The personal training sessions end mid-July though.. So then it will be about $700 a month.
9I just can't imagine spending that much. I guess if I was in a higher tax bracket maybe it wouldn't seem so crazy, but I think I could find a better way to spend the money than on beauty treatments. And all that time and effort?!?! I guess I should be glad that I am not in their "circle" 'cause I would be the drab/wrinkly one for sure! No way would I do all the stuff those women do.
10I probably spend about $50 the months I don't get my hair done and $100 the months I do. I just bought a house so I really budget myself. I used to spend waaaay too much at drugstores and Sephora. I was pretty much a product junkie and I'd buy anything new, just to see if it lived up to its' claims. Now I stick to Benefit, Mac and Bare Essentials and they suit me just fine!
11Let's see, between makeup, hair products, cheap manicures, tanning lotion, I probably only spend about $75 a month. Every few months I color my hair, but I can't afford to have it done in the salon anymore so I do that myself. The cut costs $70, but I have long hair, don't get it cut more than every five or six months.
I only WISH I had the kind of income that would afford me to spend $3,500 a month!
12ditto heatherann
13Maybe $20/month. I am very low maintenance. I get my hair cut about twice a year. Manicures consist of nail clippers with the occasional nail polish in the summer time. I use Neutrogena on my face and fructis on my hair. I would love to be able to afford brands like Fresh and Bliss, but even then I would still stick to the basics.
14Maybe $100 a month, sometimes more- sometimes less
15Lets see...I'd say about $5. I cut my own hair, do my own manicure/pedicure, don't get special spa treatments. My only indulgences are french shampoo (2x year) and skinceuticals sunscreen. Do those even count? It's not that I can't afford it. I just hate high maintenance. I like my own natural hair, and facials only mess up my skin.
16I love beauty products but I couldn't imagine spending that much money.I spend $100 a month buying beauty products, getting a manicure and pedicure and getting my eyebrows waxed.
17Probably around $25-30/month, most of which goes to sunscreen in the summer. I'm pretty low maintainence.
18my hair is $100 - $150 every 8 weeks
I do not get manicures, pedicures or waxing at salons anymore because i get so grossed out how unhygienic they could be. they really need to regulate that stuff. i know i am neurotic.
so the rest of my expenses would be for home stuff; maybe an additional $20 a month. so less than $100 a month total.
I live in LA and i do not feel the need to keep up with botox, facials, massages, tanning, waxing, mani & pedis, or any other cosmetic treatments.
19I'd love to have enough money to even consider spending that much money.
There are only three things on a regular basis: I get my hair done and bikini waxed every 6 weeks or so ($60), I buy a new mascara (or two) every 3 months. I have some bobbi brown and philosophy face stuff that needs to be replenished a few times a year.
Manicures and pedicures all happen on the living room floor while watching old episodes of scrubs, and when DH is out for the afternoon I may give myself an impromptu home facial - egg whites are the best face mask ever!
20I spend a lot of time on myself, but I'm low maintenance. I give myself mani/pedi's, trim my own hair (don't color it anymore...too damaged) and when I replace any makeup or skincare, I go for the drugstore deals. So maybe...$20 a month?
21I spend $20 a month on Accutane and that's all I use for skincare.
I get my hair done every 2 months I guess.
I don't buy makeup.
I do my own nails and toes.
So, that's it
22Virginia Woolf once said that with all the time women spent getting ready, they could learn greek. I know it's hypocritical of me to say that as I'm on bellasugar right now and heaven knows, I can take a long time to get ready, but that quote just popped into my head when I read this
23See, the trick is to get a teach-yourself-Greek audiotape, which you can listen to while plucking your eyebrows.
24whoa! $1k a week! would love to have that extra $3500! i spend around $500-$750 a year on myself. i occasionally indulge but not too often.
25Very true bellasugar!!! I'm a multitasker!
I'm with the majority of you on here, I would love to have the money to spend like that... but don't know if I would really do that much. I do have the money to do more than I do, I just wouldn't feel right spending money on it, and I'm a HUGE sephora junkie. That is kind of vain.. 10 hours a week!!!! DANG!! maybe like 4 or 5 hours MAX week would be nice. Any more than that would be a pain to fit in!
I don't get mani's or pedi's (maybe once a year if I'm in a wedding or something) and I don't do them on myself. I'm a RN, so it wouldn't last long or help that much. I wash my hands about 50 times a day.
I do buy department brand/sephora makeup and hair products... but still with that, I only spend about $40 a month. And if I get my hair highlighted that month (every 3-4 months) it will add an extra $90. I only get my hair cut about 3 times a year, that is around 40 to get a cut.
I like hearing what you girls do! Its interesting to see what you all spend a month!
26Some hair cuts and blow outs can cost $100 plus. I definitely do not have that kind of money. I usually only go all out on special occasions and that does not come anywhere near that amount of money.
27It depends - maybe $100 every ten weeks?
I shop at Lush for my body/facial pre-makeup stuff, but that's only every three or four months. I haven't had to buy new makeup for a while - I bought some Clinique liquid foundation a while ago and it has lasted GREAT. I'm not one of those people who buys new eye makeup whenever MAC releases a new line, though, so that cuts costs, too.
However, I do indulge in pedicures (and sometimes manicures) twice a month with my mom for bonding - then we go out to eat and chat
I think it's worth it.
28i spend on average 20-25 a month, mostly on lotions and cleaners for both my body and face. they only makeup i wear is eyeliner and mascara which i only wear like 3 times a week, so thats a huge money saver. i read that pam anderson used to spend over 9000 dollars a day on makeup and hair!
29i wish i had that much to spend on beauty
30I get an eyebrows wax once at month at $12 a pop, a haircut every two months for $25, and I would say I spend on average $15 a month on random beauty products. So, around $40 a month.
31humm...like $200 a month
32the most!
hmm...$250 a month or so. And I'd spend more if I had it, though yikes -- $1000/mo seems borderline immoral.
Part of it is LA. For one, the prices are higher -- a blowout's at least $40 and when you get your hair cut, a lot of places charge you that to dry it. Highlights will be at least $200 most places. Secondly, the culture is just much more maintainance obsessed, because everyone feels ugly in LA with all the supermodels/actresses about. I didn't even notice how much more I was getting done until I listed all my expenses one day. Thank god I make more money in LA so it at least feels like it evens out to what I made before I moved here.
33$1000/wk, I meant.
34wow. there are so many other things i would rather do with $1000. i went to costa rica for 10 days and the whole trip was $3600! i'm sure if those ladies went there though they wouldn't be staying all budget like we did!
35the one thing i wish i could afford is to get my hair done every 6 weeks. but i usually go 2-3 months and do a bottle color every other time then splurge on salon color the nest time. i love when my hairdresser dyes my hair, but $150 is a lot and i'd rather buy clothes or shoes.
*next*
36I have to admit, I've never had a pedicure (I do them myself) or a manicure (again, do it myself). I feel so lame. I just don't really like other people touching me, and my natural reaction to anyone touching my feet is to want to kick them. I hate feet and dont' want anyone touching mine. It's surprising I even have a tattoo on one of them.
I am glad to see that I'm not as abnormal as I thought in my spending habits, I thought way more people would spend more than I do.
37i don't even think i could manage to spend $1000 per week on beauty. clothes, that's a different story!
i probably spend $100 on average a month. i get my nails done once a month and then i buy whatever supplies need to be replaced. i use all mac makeup, but that lasts a loooong time, and i run out of the different products at different times. for my face i use proactive, so that's about $50 every 6 weeks or so. other beauty products (shampoo, etc) i grab from target. i only get my hair cut once a year, and then i only spend about $15, the rest of the time i self trim off the split ends.
38my husband should read this!
39It depends, sometimes $10-$50 per month and others more. Never anywhere near $1000 or $3500, though!
40Hmmm... mani/pedi every 2 or 3 weeks, hair cut every 8 weeks, coloring (I do that myself) every 6 weeks, so somewhere around 50-100 dollars a month. I'd love to be able to spend more. But in the mean time, I'll just opt for trading lives with socalcutie.
Girl, you got yourself a
pretty great arrangement there!
41I wear make-up, hair products, etc, but it would never even come close to $3500 a month!
I do my own manis and pedis, and I've never had a massage, even though I think it might be nice.
I do make money - but I just can't justify spending that much!
42LOL bellasugar! That's why women are so great. Ingenius multitasking skills!
43I probably spend about $150 a month, and that's being generous. I get a pedicure once a month, but do my own manicures. I get a double process color on my hair along with a cut every six weeks for about $100, and I buy beauty products about four times a year when I make a trip up north to a Sephora. There isn't any way I could ever spend that much on beauty, even if I made enough to afford it!
44wow! For $3,500 a month saved away for the whole year = $42,000 that to me means a really posh vacation or a new car. It would be great to have a disposable income to spend on myself every week, I spend total a month $50.00, rarely do I get nails done, eye brows, etc..I just do it myself and save my money toward a great vacation. I can't wait for a higher salary so I can splurge.
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