How to Look Good on Less than $3000 a Month

by Valerie Gladstone — August 17, 2007

I was inspired to write this blog by an article that appeared in The New York Times on June 28, which described the beauty regimens of three women over 45, in Miami, Los Angeles, and New York. And $3000 a month was about what each of them spent to "maintain their appearance." Indeed, in the photos, they looked pretty good (though not amazing; not Angelina Jolie) but I do sort of wonder if close up all that work doesn't show. It's not that I didn't know about these kinds of excesses: the man who cuts my hair (he comes to my apartment and gives me a deal) works in a Madison Avenue salon where many women spend about $1000 a week on their hair. Besides cuts and color, they get blow outs, which I'm still not sure I understand. They seem to require them before parties, often twice a week. He told me most of them have never washed their own hair--at least in years.

It was just seeing all this extravagance laid out so blatantly in the Times that made me sick and angry. Besides manicures and pedicures and facials, these women required eyebrow shaping, hair straightening, hair color for a hefty $120 to $450, and depending on the woman's taste and needs: supervised hiking with a trainer for 2 hours weekly ($150 in LA), thermage skin tightening ($2000 yearly in Miami), and all of them also indulged in regular Botox injections, tucks, thread lift surgery, with the New Yorker requiring twice weekly sessions in a hyperbaric chamber--perhaps that's a little like getting stuck in the subway during a heat wave. Sounds a little claustrophobic to me.

All I know is that for what they spend on themselves--and that's not figuring cosmetics--could feed many American families of four for a month, send hundreds of poor kids to college, and provide crucial transplants to heart patients. I'm sure you too can figure out just as many far more worthy ways they could spend their money.

It's not that I don't like to look good or that I'm not frivolous with money from time to time. What I find shocking is that they feel no shame or embarrassment about their self-indulgence. They say their lives and/or professions demand they look younger and near perfect. But anyone could say that, from the woman starting out in a clerical job to the college teacher.

I decided I better do a little self-examination myself and figure out what I spend monthly. It adds up to about $220, including hair cut, hair color, and things like shampoo, conditioner, foundation, moisturizer, concealer, lipstick, and eyeliner (none of which I run out of monthly). I didn't add in my gym membership of $100, so I guess I'm up to $320.

So that means, if I were them, I'd have $2780 left over to just fool around with--maybe even send a couple of city kids to summer camp or provide health care for a family without the resources. But then if I spent it all on worthy causes, I might not look perfect when I wrote my next blog. What a dilemma!