The Rachel Cruze Show - The Surprising Cost of Today’s Beauty Standards (My Reaction)

Starting point is 00:00:05 Have you heard about Chris Jenner's recent facelift? It kind of went viral. And allegedly, it cost somewhere around $135,000. I mean, listen, she's in her 70s and she looks 35. So the price tag makes sense. But when it comes to today's beauty standards, what actually is necessary and what's not. So today I'm going to share three crucial questions to ask yourself so you can approach this part of life and budgeting with wisdom. I make sure to like, subscribe, and share this episode with a friend. All right, so in addition to the Chris Jitter News, I also saw this Instagram real breakdown of the annual cost of being a woman. Everything from doing our hair, our nails, serums, facials, like all of it. So let's take a look together and then we'll see kind of what we all think about this.

Starting point is 00:00:54 I calculated how much it costs to fit the beauty standard in America and the number is actually disgusting. Let's start with nails. If you get your nails done at about $75 a set at the recommended two to three. weeks time frame, you're spending about $1,275 a year. The average cost of a full-body wax is $200. And if you get it at the recommended four to eight week time period, you're spending about $2,000 a year on waxing. A cut in a bleach at a $300 average puts you at about $2,400 a year just for doing your hair. If you get your lashes and a facial done at the recommended intervals, it's about $1,300 a year. And for the facials at four to six weeks, 10 times a year,

Starting point is 00:01:35 $800 or $900. Now the average American woman already spends about $300 a year on makeup, $550 a year on clothing with $161 of this being workout clothing, $650 a year on jewelry and watches, $200 a year on shoes, and $900 a year on bath and shower products, which feels reasonable to me. If you factor in suggested tipping, this puts you at about $13,000. a year. That's half the poverty line for a family of four. The average American woman makes $65,000 a year, and this is about 20% of that income. Oh my gosh, y'all. I mean, it's real, though, right? Like, there's this idea of it's not even like wanting just to keep up, but the older you get, you're like, all right, what are we going to do about all of this? And the thing is, it is costing us.

Starting point is 00:02:29 And so we want to be wise when it comes to the beauty standards and what we ourselves want to do, Right. But also, we don't want to be out of control, but we want to be realistic. And so there are really three questions I want you to keep in mind when it comes to really the comparison trap of the beauty standard spending. Okay. First and foremost, what's your motivation? What's my motivation? Right. So have the idea of, okay, why am I doing this? And what is that I want to do and why am I doing it? And so I think really getting down underneath the surface can really start to, if you to answer those honestly, it's very helpful because then you can kind of start to sift through like, okay, what is it? Because for me, let's be honest, I started getting grayed y'all when I was like 33. I don't know what that means. I don't feel like I live a stressful life, but maybe it's all subconscious and I'm very stressed. I don't know. But I just, and some people pull off the gray hair early and it's beautiful and it's wonderful, but I'm not. I'm not doing that. So like I will get my hair done every eight weeks. And by the time those eight weeks marks, I've been spraying it with that Luriel

Starting point is 00:03:34 hiding, have you seen that like dye stuff you spray? I do that because the grays are coming back sooner and sooner and sooner. But that's my thing. I'm like, I don't know. I'm probably not going to stop doing that. I do my nails. Like there are things that I do for sure. But I think as we start really looking at all of it together, there is a part of taking control of your money where you have autonomy to spend it on ways that fill up your cup, make you feel confidence. And that's great, right? So like, it's not that spending money is bad by any means on yourself. But when it starts to creep into who you are, your identity, and if you didn't have it, like, where does that go?

Starting point is 00:04:11 All of it, that can be not a great scenario. So knowing your motivation, I think, is really key. But you should never sacrifice financial security because of physical insecurity. So making sure that you have the money, I think, is really, really key. Because you definitely don't want to go into debt or be stretched so thin because of, like, crazy beauty standards. That's silly. But when you have margin and you say, hey, this is what I want to spend it on because I like it and it's fun and whatever. It's not a big deal. That's fine. But again, we don't want to get caught up in this comparison cycle because that can be exhausting.

Starting point is 00:04:47 All right, before I share the next two questions, I do want to tell you about one of our sponsors, delete me. If you don't remove your personal data from the internet, it's basically like it's on a billboard for everyone to see because your name, your address, your email, even your kids' names are out there on sketchy data broker websites. And those data brokers collect your data, sell it, and that puts you at risk for scams and fraud. But the good news is, delete me, removes your data and helps protect you from fishing, harassment, and other online threats.

Starting point is 00:05:15 Winston and I use DeleteMe, and it saves us so much time and worry. You guys, your family's safety and financial security are way too important to leave exposed. So sign up for, delete me, and take control. Go to join DeleteMe.com slash Rachel for 20% off. bringing your monthly cost to under $9, or just click the link in the description. The second question to ask yourself is, where is your true identity? Meaning, all of a sudden, if you could not afford to maintain anything superficial or self-image things, would you be okay?

Starting point is 00:05:47 Like, are you okay with yourself enough on the inside that if the outside goes back all natural, how are you feeling about yourself? Like, this is a really good checkpoint. I talk about with money when I buy something, and I always say, okay, if nobody sees this purchase, do I still want it? I ask myself, like, why do I want this? Right, so like asking yourself some of these questions great. And this is a great one when it comes to the beauty standard. It's like, I don't know. If the extensions are gone, right? If the nails aren't done, if the gray hair is coming in, if I don't have fake eyelashes, but like if the real eyelashes are there, right? All the stuff that we do, if it's all gone, how are you feeling about yourself? Be honest. Like, it's a great litmus test because the moment all of that stuff starts to define

Starting point is 00:06:30 what you believe about yourself, again, in my head, dangerous territory. Not worth it. Not worth it. I mean, just think about the pilgrims, right? They all survived, right? Without all this stuff, like, we're going to be okay. If it all went away, you would. You would be okay. But don't have yourself worth and your identity wrapped up on such an external appearance. But again, I am guilty of this too, right? We are all in this together. But it's a great reminder. And the number three are what are the numbers? So looking at your monthly budget, if you have an every dollar budget, fantastic. It's my favorite budgeting app. But really add up your beauty and your self-care expenses, and ask yourself, is that number worth it? What would I want that number to go to something else?

Starting point is 00:07:11 Like, would I want that to go on maybe a trip? Or like, what could I take with all of that money and what else could I do with it? And would I rather be doing something else with it? Because sometimes these things can just become routine and we really don't stop and think about it. But adding it up and looking at your total income, I think, is like, really important. And listen, a little self-care every now and then, like getting coffee or having a streaming service or like whatever things are, you know, it does. It adds up. And so you may actually look when you do all of your expenses throughout the month and throughout multiple months and see, here's what all this stuff is adding up to. Is it, do I want this? Is this the life that I want?

Starting point is 00:07:49 And it may be like, yes. Maybe you're great with it. And that's fine. But again, it's just another litmus test question is to look at the numbers. So a lot of this beauty stuff that we've talking about like it does deal with comparison culture and so stopping the comparison cycle isn't the end of it so to learn how to turn the comparison into a wealth building strategy make sure to check out the next episode or click the link below if you're listening on podcast all right you guys remember to take control of your money and create a life you love

The Rachel Cruze Show - The Surprising Cost of Today’s Beauty Standards (My Reaction)

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