This morning on "Good Morning America" there was a story about Britney Spears's spending habits. Although it was not the focus of the story, they mentioned that she spends around $2,595 per year on hair and makeup. This reminded me of a story from a few months ago on how much Kate Middleton spends on her look. I became intrigued by how much celebrities spend on their hair and makeup alone. I'm not including their personal fitness training fees or their diets. Check out some of these figures:
Celebrity Yearly Expenditures on Hair and Makeup
Britney Spears
$2,595 - hair and makeup
Total: $2,595
Kate Middleton*
$18,760 - hair (blow drys, low lights, and cuts)
$1,206 - makeup
$4,000 - skin care
$3,484 - nails
$2,832 - spray tans
*I think to assume that she wears the same fragrance every day is misleading, so I did not include that expense. Also, her orthodontic treatment was a one-time occurrence, so I didn't include that either. She probably gets regular whitening treatments, but I haven't found a story on that.
Total: $30,282
Kim Kardashian*
$13,918 - hair sessions (Philip Wolff is her stylist and she has to keep her extensions "in tip top condition." Let's assume that she gets her extensions fixed every three weeks: $13,918 per year.)
$1,285 - 24-karat gold facials
$9,636 - Fraxel laser treatment (I couldn't get a good idea of how often Kim gets these, but on this Cincinnati Fraxel site, it says that "3 to 6 treatments spaced one to two weeks apart" should do the trick. Let's assume that Kim only has 3 treatments at $3,212 per treatment: $9,636.)
$1,500 - eyelash extensions (Kim did confirm that she wears permanent mink eyelash extensions.)
$4,224 - body scrubs at the Four Seasons spa
$3,360 - mud wraps at the spa (I assumed that Kim has her mud wraps done at the same spa as her body scrubs. This is the "Body Treatments" page with prices of the Four Seasons spa site.)
$3,672 - nails (The site I cited at the beginning of this says that a nail session is 95 pounds. Assuming she goes for bi-weekly sessions, the yearly total would be $3,672.)
*I used the Google conversion calculator from pounds to dollars, since this site is in pounds.
Note: This doesn't include any makeup products or makeup sessions, which, according to this site can apparently go for $4,000 each.
Total: $37,595
Jennifer Aniston*
$7,973 - hair sessions
$49,206 - makeup (I did the math with her getting only one professional make-up session per month and buying the products three times per year.)
$10,704 - skin care (facials and "Purple Bag" products)
$1,920 - eyebrow treatments (I did not include the initial $120 fee, because I assume she has already had it. I assume she goes for an $80 treatment biweekly.)
$1,080 - spray tanning
*I did not include the speculative nose job costs. They weren't concrete, and they also are a one time occurrence. Well, I guess a two time occurrence for her!
Note: Manicures weren't mentioned in this article, and I couldn't find out where Aniston gets her nails done.
Total: $70,883
The grand total of these four celebrities' hair and makeup costs is...drumroll, please...$141,355.
This is absolutely fascinating to me. I decided to look at what I spend per year on my own hair and makeup.
$180 - hair ($30 per haircut. 6 per year.)
$4 - Herbal Essences styling mousse
$4 - Maybelline mascara
$9 - L'Oreal eyeshadow
$5 - Revlon eyeliner
$36 - Neutrogena concealer ($9 each. 4 per year.)
$36 - Maybelline Fit foundation ($6 each. 6 per year.)
$59 - Clarins moisturizer (I use it every other day at most, so it lasts forever!)
Total: $333
I am amazed! I had no idea I spend this much on my looks. I don't get my nails done (I got acrylics done 5 years ago), I don't dye my hair (again, only once in my life), and I don't pay for eyebrow treatments (another one of those things I tried once).
It is obvious that I am not "required" by society to look the way celebrities look. Whenever they show up on the red carpet, or anywhere else for that matter, they're expected to look a certain way. If they didn't, they would get completely destroyed in the media. But is it worth spending over $30,000 per year on hair and makeup? Does it make a difference? I think this might be the topic of my second social mini-experiment sometime soon.
I think this is something that "normal" women and girls really need to realize: we don't have $30,000 every year to spend on our looks. So why do we put ourselves under so much pressure to look like celebrities? If it really does take this much money to look that good, then why do we even try to compare? Magazines are full of "Get This Celebrity's Look For Less" articles, but most of those still cost a significant amount of money. For example, this Camilla Belle "Look for Less" was still about $92.
Look at yourself in the mirror today and smile. You look great!
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi
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