I doubt she spent a lot of money on those long eyelashes
Have you ever had the occasion to meet someone who seemed really nice, but clearly had a very different worldview than you did?
I had this happen on a recent weekend on which I went out to eat. We went to a family-oriented place, a chain but it has decent food and an atmosphere that’s comfortable for kids and families too. There you go, life in the suburbs!
We got the menus – both for grown ups and for kids – and spent a few minutes trying to figure out what we were going to eat. You know, just like any other trip to a restaurant. Soon enough the waitress came by to take our order.
She seemed quite nice, and spoke sweetly to kids. I always appreciate when someone has the patience and understanding to be extra nice to kids, whether mine or anyone else’s. Anyway, she looked at one of my kids and extended a compliment about eyelashes. As in (paraphrased): “Wow, what beautiful lashes! Lots of grown women would love to have lashes like that!”
This isn’t the first time I’ve heard that, more like the 30th. Women, usually total strangers, will make nice comments like this. Even though I have never paid attention to another person’s eyelashes, I appreciate the nice words to a kid. As a side note, this must be some inherent difference between men and women – I couldn’t care less about another person’s eyelashes, but the ladies seem to notice these things very easily.
Anyway, after I said thanks, she proceeded to say something to the effect of: “Women will pay like $400 a month to have eyelashes like that! How lucky to have them naturally!”
I’m sure my own eyes opened wide when hearing that, along with my jaw dropping to the ground. That sounded insane! Almost instantaneously, I stated: “$400 for eyelashes! WHY? Don’t these people want to retire?”
Then, you could see by her facial reaction that my words might have hit a nerve. She blurted out that she had “worked somewhere that did those, and I’m one of those people, but I got a discount”. Then, after I asked “Why would anyone pay that much?” She said “oh, well they TOTALLY make your eyes stand out!”.
I then decided that since we will be consuming food that would be served by her, it might be a good idea to stop that conversation and just get back to getting our order in. And, be nice to her 🙂
This got me thinking, really, why on earth could anybody find it worthwhile to spend $400 in a month on eyelash enhancements? No matter what income, especially somebody making what I imagine is a modest income as a waitress. Good, honest work of course, but if a person ever thinks about how many hours of work it takes to buy something, it’s clear that it would take a lot of hours to earn those lashes. Aren’t there better uses for money?
How about planning for retirement instead of spending $400 on eyelashes in a month? Why even spend $50 on eyelashes? It won’t have any impact on a person’s life at all. I can assure you that this wouldn’t have impacted her career or job efforts.
On the personal front, I can assure you that no man (that I know of, anyway) cares one bit or would even think to notice a woman’s eyelashes. There are a few other obvious things men notice, but eyelashes are nowhere on the radar screen. Is she just doing it to feel good about herself, or compete with other women? Total waste, unless there is some medical condition.
Let’s do the math here, and let’s cut the cost by 50%, to $200 per month. That’s $2,400 based on doing this each month. Over 5 years, that’s $12,000. What if someone took that $12,000 and invested it over 30 years. Compounded annually at an optimistic 10% rate of return, the person would have over $200,000.
So, are expensive eyelashes worth it? You could substitute whatever other inane expense your heart desires, but you get the point 🙂
Retirement or nice eyelashes?
Anyway, when it came time for the tip, I had wave of sympathy for the lady. With that worldview, I wish her all the best. She was nice, and I gave her a 25% tip for the meal.
My Questions for You
Have you ever come across some expenses people regularly take on, and been really surprised?
Is this just a matter of me not understanding how important this fashion/style attribute is, or is it as much of a waste of money as I think it is?
Ha funny that you say this because I was recently looking into getting my eyelashes done. I called some places and they said it would be $350 every 3 to 4 weeks. INSANE. I will never do that.
Michelle – GREAT choice to never do that! Spending $4,000 or close to it annually, pre-tax, just on eyelashes? Again, I applaud you for instantly making that choice. Separately, what’s the motivation for getting eyelashes done in the first place? Might be a male/female difference of thinking here, but the concept of working on eyelashes just escapes me since it’s not something I ever think of or notice on others.
Wow. $400/month is more than my grocery budget on a monthly basis! I can’t imagine spending that amount on something so.. frivolous!
Tushar – I like that comparison! For the cost of a grocery budget for a month, some people find it to be normal to spend money on eyelashes. Hard to imagine this line of thinking, right?
Would a woman please comment and explain exactly what is done when eyelashes are “done” professionally? I can’t imagine.
You’re right: It’s as much a waste of money as you think it is, I guess unless you’re getting paid $1,000/hour as a face model or something like that. TOTALLY a waste! 🙂
Does make me feel bad though to think what sort of pressures young women must feel in today’s society that let’s them justify such a expense.
Kurt – I agree that it’s totally a waste, we’re on the same page. As for your last point, I think it’s a really great one. Glad you brought that up, as it’s something that really makes you wonder. It’s simply out of my sphere of thinking that spending this kind of money on eyelashes could be worth it for someone, just for vanity. If somebody is delusional enough to think that these things are needed (when men don’t care one bit about eyelashes), then somehow they’re tying their self-confidence and/or value to appearance. As a parent, it’s things like this that concern me. Ultimately, it’s the human being herself and her character that matter most, and I hope as a society we can make sure that young women don’t feel undue and entirely unnecessary pressure. The money is totally wasted of course….I think you’ve touched on a really important point here.
So first thing, if someone has enhanced their lashes in anyway you shouldn’t actually notice their lashes but what it does do is make your eyes look bigger, and it makes you look more awake, Here’s an example of a before and after. It’s not that you notice the lashes, it’s what the lashes do for the rest of the face. This is the main reason that if you look through the mascasra aisle you’ll see words like full and volumizing.
So here’s a rundown of the different types of lashes:
Semi-Permanent lashes are what she was referring to basically a technicial goes in and glues lash extensions to your existing lashes, this process requires someone to be certified and trained. It also requires maintenance. A place I go to in Kansas City charges $200 for the initial application and $60 for a fill. These are the most natural looking option options for false lashes
Falsies are a category of lashes that are glued to the skin along the lash line. These are what you can buy at the drugstore. You can apply them yourself and you take them off when you take the rest of your make up off. I’m a stage performer and I wear these for shows and occasionally for a night out. I can usually get 5 to 7 uses out of a pair of lashes and I buy them for anywhere from $1 to $10 a pair but they do go up from the price I’m willing to pay. You can also get falsies that have feathers/jewels/glitter or other decoration.
There is actually another option for lash enhancement which is a new category of lash enhancers these are products that encourage the growth of thicker, darker lashes (but pretty much the effects are gone after you stop using the product. There is an FDA approved formula called Latisse that can be aquired from an eye professional (but it might change the tint of your eyes) and there are numerous products costing from $5 to $100 that can be purchased off the shelf and may have varying degrees of effectiveness.
Personally, I’m comfortable using mascara day to day ($5 every 3 months not counting what I use for performances) and falsies as needed. For a number of women their self-confidence is tied to their appearance, and a lot of women just like to look nice. The thing is we all (should) have a budget and we get to decide what we fit in that budget. It’s easy to make snap judgments about someone else’s choices and lifestyle.
Hi Margot –
Thank you for the detailed description of different options people could have. Needless to say, this is an area that isn’t my specialty!
I can agree with what you say about how we should all have a budget and make our own decisions. Having said that, I have a really tough time seeing how spending hundreds of dollars each month on this stuff should be a priority over other expenses – or even true needs (retirement, debt reduction, etc). It seems like you’re voting that way based on spending $5 every few months, and that’s great!
As for spending a lot of money just to look nice, I think that’s a want and not a need. If one is absolutely wealthy, I suppose it won’t hurt. But I suspect many of the people throwing big money each month on these things have other much more important uses for their money, but have somehow convinced themselves that upgraded eyelashes for vanity’s sake are a real need. Mind-boggling, and an example of how there are so many folks (not you) who are financially illiterate.
It’s shocking how so many of us sabotage a comfortable financial future through poor decisions and bad habits. Smoking is another example. Around 20-25% of the population find the money to smoke! Depending on how much you consume, that could easily cost $400 per month. It really boils down to an either / or scenario – either enjoy another pot of money in a Roth IRA (for example) OR spend your discretionay income and watch it float away on consumables.
Hunter – great points. People are potentially sabotaging themselves financially by throwing away money on things like this, particularly if they’re not big earners to begin with.
I have a good friend is very well of, but keeps a balance on her credit card. I never understood it because I hate paying that kind of interest.
I love looking good, but I couldn’t ever drop that amount of money on something like eyelashes. You can get fake eyelashes for $4 at the drugstore. Why would you need them permanently? Wouldn’t you get sick of them after awhile?
What I think is worse is that medication that makes peoples eyelashes grow bigger – but a common side effect is that it can change eye color. Seriously? People pay to put drugs in their eyes that has that big of a side effect? I even refuse to get lasik surgery because I think it is insane to get a laser put in your eye. I think $400 for that eyelash treatment is nuts too.
Hi, interesting post.
Ok, Im certainly amazed that some women spend that amount of money on looks. I think they do it to compete with other women and to boost their self-confidence. They don’t do it for us men, thats for sure, they couldn’t care less what we think about them
Similar to this wasteful eyelashes stuff, I could mention how we males waste tons of money on unimportant stuff. No, I have never done this, but know quite a few guys waste too much money on their car. They buy alumminum rims and all sort of last generation audio equipment. Yes, car tunning is so expensive. And it is mainly to make your car look better. How much it cost a pair of alloy rims? I don’t know as I have never bought any, but I guess they are quite expensive. What about Xenon lights and all that stuff?
Im male and while Im attracted to great looking cars, I wouldn’t spend any extra money on my car, no more than a regular wax service each 6 or 12 months.
I think women could complain about us wasting so much money on cars and they are right.
I consider wasteful eyelashes as bad as wasteful allow rims for your car