The Financial Horrors: Beauty Industry

There was one point in my life where I was so insecure with myself. I had cystic acne back then and as someone who constantly travels for school, under the scorching sun and doesn’t know the concept of sunscreen, I can say that my skin was on the darker side. 

It’s becoming apparent to me how brands use our insecurities to make quick bucks out of us. The market is so diversified and brands want to “label” us and use that label as a marketing scheme. 

I noticed how the brands categorize women and yeah, it’s better than a generic one but does this classification really take out the “cookie cutter” mentality - that each of us can fit in a mold or does it just make another mold which people strive to fit in again?

Here are some of my observations at how brands uses our insecurity to for the boost of their sales:

(Disclaimer: This is not of course to generalize brands and I know that some brands are really aiming for empowerment. This is just a view of what I observed)

Beauty = Fair Skin

This has been a beauty standard for the longest time and the amount of beauty products that contain whitening ingredients are enormous. From soap, facial wash, lotions and even in the salon which promises you instant 2 shades lighter in an instant. This even had health implications when some women would risk their life to get skin bleaching just to fit in the society. This even extends to vitamins and intakes which will promise you lighter skin. 

Now, I’m not judging anyone who wants lighter skin, if it’s your choice and you feel empowered with it, you go girl! I just don’t like it when that becomes your standard of beauty, when you treat beauty as shades and the darker you go, the more unattractive you become or vice versa. 

I hate it even more when brands create this stigma using their advertisements and capitalize out of it. If you watch the tv or Youtube ads, have you noticed how brands only use fair-skinned models? And the thing that pisses me off is that being fair signifies a healthy skin? Like what?!?! So I can't have a healthy skin if my skin isn't fair?

I still think that some brands does this unconsciously as it becomes wrapped in our beauty standards but we have to make a conscious effort about our advertisement and how we shape the definition of beauty.

Body Shapes

We just came from an era of anorexia and under-eating and we realized how unhealthy it was. It messes up our relationship with food and a lot of eating disorders arise.

Now we’re in a phase where we want to eat our heart out, especially with the rise of Mukbangs, Youtube cooking tutorials and #foodtok. A lot of people find joy in cooking and along with it, eating the food they cooked. 

Our worry now shifts to overeating and gaining weight. Here comes the era of detox! Magic teas and juices which help you lose 5 pounds in a month, mind you most of this are not even FDA approved. In losing weight, proper diet and exercise is really the key. It does the work but also a very sustainable one. 

When a brand comes and advertises that you don’t need exercise, just drink this and that, this is where it becomes problematic. First, a quick buck from us, yet again and another thing is exercise is a vital part of life. Especially now, we don’t engage in much physical activity due to lockdown, we should be more conscious in our exercise. 

Personalized vitamins

I just don’t get this. Like…. I try to but I just don’t. 

So right now, there are sites where when you order you will need to fill out some questionnaires and after that you will get the recommended “personalized vitamins”. They take the data that you input and basically make a prescription out of that. I haven’t seen this in the Philippines yet but in the US, it’s becoming a thing, along with personalized shampoos and body soap.

I’ll let the personalized shampoo and body soap slide but personalized vitamins? Isn’t that a doctor's job? Should you just go to a doctor, get a general check up and ask for a prescription?

Isn’t this straight up capitalism in our face and when we buy this we feel so special because we have “personalized vitamins”. I just don’t get the logic of this. 

Skin care routine

Skin care has become a hot topic for a while now. For me, I have been a bit obsessed with it for some time, especially during my cystic acne phase. I tried lots of products, especially over the counter ones. Honestly, I have toned down a bit. My skin care right now is just super basic, a cleanser, moisturizer, vitamin c serum and sunscreen. 

I am just amazed at how people have this 7 step skin care routine and most is just a spin off of a basic one. The best example is eye cream, many argue that this is just overpriced moisturizer and if you put enough moisturizer under your eye, it would suffice. And who have the time and energy for a 7 step skin care anyway? I mean, if it would make you feel good about yourself and this is your me time, it’s okay. But who does this everyday?

Sometimes the social media expects us to do this everyday and to always have that instagram perfect skin. And I swear, having this glowing perfect skin isn't cheap. I t does not just stops with skin care regimens, most would go to spa and aesthetic centers and to be honest, most of this influencers with a perfect skin have brand sponsorships.

They make it seem like it is part of their lives and they can afford it but in reality it is sponsored. They forget to put on a disclaimer that not everyone can afford it and we should not expect everyone to be able to go to this aesthetic centers.

I have read in one article, which I forgot who authored (I'm sorry), "the best skin care routine is money". It just breaks my heart that brands would continuously point out your flaws and make money to "fix you".

In an era of empowerment, I think branding and advertisement should also changed how they present themselves and think of the customer and their impact instead of their profit.

But no matter how much I rant here, capitalism is something that is a big part of the economy and global markets. Let's see if there would be a change in the future regarding how we brand and advertise beauty products.

Lead image: Photo by kevin laminto on Unsplash