Women: How much do you pay, on average, each month for personal care?

[Writer]

As I was making a couple of appointments this week, it occurred to me to what lengths I typically go so I can "clean up." The amount of money I spend on this is preposterous given how little an impact it truly has on my life these days. How much money do you think you spend on personal care every month? For skin care, hair cuts, nails, waxing, electrolysis, etc.?

[azmouse]

1. I splurge on a good haircut and color ($125 every 6-8 wks)

because I don't spend a dime on my nails or waxing or anything like that.

I do like good skin care products so I spend extra on Estee Lauder.

[Left Is Write]

2. I don't know...

My foundation makeup costs $25, but lasts at least six months. Mascara, about $7, lasts three months. Eye shadows and blush last me a year or so (Bare Minerals). My biggest makeup indulgence is lipstick - MAC, costs $14.50 and I buy about six a year.

I use Oil of Olay Daily renewal face wash and cream; not expensive, maybe $10 apiece and last quite a while. I also use Neutrogena Healthy Skin Anti-Wrinkle Anti-Blemish cream, $10, lasts about three months.

I get my haircut about every six weeks and colored every other or every second visit. The haircut alone is $28 plus tip, and the haircolor adds $35-$40, depending on what I have done. I spend very little on nails - a professional mani/pedi about once a year; the rest of the time do my own nails at home, and I rarely ever put color on my fingernails.

I don't really know how often I replace shampoo, conditioner, bubblebath, body wash, deodorant, hairspray and toothpaste. Most stuff lasts a good while for me. I'll have to add it all up, I guess.

[Phillycat]

3. You know what, I voted 21-50, but it's really the next one up.

I forgot about makeup, and I only use Bare Minerals, which is expensive.

[blogslut]

10. Try this place

http://www.mineralbasics.com

[BarenakedLady]

4. I'm extremely low maintenance

and even more than that, just plain lazy.

[liontamer]

8. same here

I've totally embraced natural beauty.

[Ariana Celeste]

5. I'm also pretty low maintenance.

I do buy hair dye and bleach now and again but I do my own hair and the kits I buy are generally $7-10.

On edit, I forgot to mention that I haven't gotten a professional haircut since I started high school. I had my mother or sister buzz my head and I have trimmed my own hair since I started growing it out.

[lildreamer316]

6. It depends on the month...

because several of the things I use daily I buy once or maybe twice a year.
If I average it out, it's about $100 or so a month.

[lizziegrace]

7. Divorced, under-employed with a child in college -

a haircut is a luxury. I can't imagine having a manicure or pedicure. Or buying high-end makeup. My hair needs highlighted desperately to cover the 75% gray I now have, but that will have to wait until at least January.

[blogslut]

9. Never really added it up

I work at home so I don't do the makeup thing that often. I am a retired cosmetologist so I cut/color my own hair. I think electrolsis is evil, so that's out. I shape my own eyebrows and manicure my nails myself. I shave my legs when I friggin feel like it. I make my own perfume. My skin is in great shape because of genetics and staying out of the sun all my life.

I'm gonna guess at most $50.00 per month.

PS: Little hint about skin creams. The skin can absorb only two things: Water and small amounts of collagen. All the rest is topical. If you want plump, happy skin, apply your cream while the skin is still damp. Me. I use St Ives Collagen/Elasten.

Also, if you have a tendency towards dry skin, invest in some Squalene. Add it to your lotions and creams. Squalene is the closest thing to sebum.

[NewWaveChick1981]

11. I get my hair trimmed regularly (every five or six weeks) and

color it, and I usually do an at-home manicure and pedicure weekly. Every once in a while, I'll splurge on getting my nails done at a professional salon, but that's not always the case. I use some great but expensive skin care products. On a monthly basis, it's somewhere around $100-120 total. Some months are less, but others are more.

Yeah, I know how much that is.... :) But I like pampering myself.

Edited to add: If you add makeup to the costs, mine go WAY up. I have a high-end makeup fetish, especially lipstick. :P

[Dora]

12. Would if I could, but cuts and color aren't in the budget.

I get a haircut maybe once or twice a year. The days of regular highlights and monthly massages are loooong gone.