“It is collectively disempowering and individualistic and atomizing and alienating to pretend this urge doesn’t exist; that it doesn’t influence our behavior; that our aesthetic preferences stem only from some pure, isolated, untouched “self” that manages to sidestep the influence of the society it belongs to [yet longs to be “expressed” via the tools of that society??? ha!].”
reminds me of my favorite Audre Lorde quote -- the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house!!!
Loved this episode. In college, the spending money my parents would give me (this is privilege) went straight to acrylic nails and the tanning booth 🙄 I’ve tried to commit that definition of feminism to memory- it’s a great litmus test.
I'm looking forward to listening for the assessment of when is something life-diminishing and when is it life-enhancing. This question confounds me often, not just in terms of skin/beauty care, but just generally.
There’s a funny push-pull when you have clear-ish* skin with a minimal routine. People will tell me how lucky I am that I don’t “need” to use more products. But funnily enough I think it’s the other way round: a lifetime of being broadly unbothered by fancy skincare, washing my face gently and sparingly, and being generally sensible about sun exposure is the source of that low upkeep skin. Every brief foray into a “routine” has made my skin worse. But no one will ever ever believe me.
I often wonder if the problem is so many of us begin our skincare routine during our teens, when skin is misbehaving due to hormone fluctuations, and then never have a long enough break in said skincare “regime” to see how our adult skin looks and functions without intervention. I feel like it’s a cycle beauty companies gladly exploit, adding more and more required products as we mature and citing “transition periods” when they cause aggravation. If only we could just prevent teens picking up that blasted St Ives scrub in the first place!!
* The phrase people actually use is “good”, but I don’t want to perpetuate it.
Loved this episode, because I'm a numbers girl through and through! I've run the annual expenses on my own beauty routine before, but I also like to tot up how much of my free time is being spent, including travel time to salons.
I find it far more motivating to see how much of my actual life I can reclaim: you can get your finances under control but still throw hours of life away in service of beauty culture.
Love the intention behind Manuka honey and water routine, but am confused about it being included as a way to spend less money. Using Manuka honey as cleanser can cost as much to much much more than purchasing a drug store cleanser or Castile soap & moisturizer or jojoba oil. Just a thought!
I mean mayyybe if you're doing a product-by-product price breakdown and not removing any other products from your routine! But if you're cutting back the rest of your products, an entire skincare routine for 6months - a year can be one jar of Manuka. Speaking from personal experience of someone who used to do 5-10 products morning and night, it is a huuuge money saver over time. (And — just as importantly — MUCH more supportive for your skin that 5-10 products focused on aesthetic outcomes.) I used to spend thousands per year on skincare. Now I spend maybe $200 a year between Manuka, SPF, and jojoba.
Also — this is not the point of the episode. It's a very very minor portion of the content re: saving $$, and the point is not to say "everyone needs to be using expensive Manuka" but to say "your skin doesn't need the dozens of products you're putting on it."
“It is collectively disempowering and individualistic and atomizing and alienating to pretend this urge doesn’t exist; that it doesn’t influence our behavior; that our aesthetic preferences stem only from some pure, isolated, untouched “self” that manages to sidestep the influence of the society it belongs to [yet longs to be “expressed” via the tools of that society??? ha!].”
reminds me of my favorite Audre Lorde quote -- the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house!!!
Loved this episode. In college, the spending money my parents would give me (this is privilege) went straight to acrylic nails and the tanning booth 🙄 I’ve tried to commit that definition of feminism to memory- it’s a great litmus test.
I'm looking forward to listening for the assessment of when is something life-diminishing and when is it life-enhancing. This question confounds me often, not just in terms of skin/beauty care, but just generally.
There’s a funny push-pull when you have clear-ish* skin with a minimal routine. People will tell me how lucky I am that I don’t “need” to use more products. But funnily enough I think it’s the other way round: a lifetime of being broadly unbothered by fancy skincare, washing my face gently and sparingly, and being generally sensible about sun exposure is the source of that low upkeep skin. Every brief foray into a “routine” has made my skin worse. But no one will ever ever believe me.
I often wonder if the problem is so many of us begin our skincare routine during our teens, when skin is misbehaving due to hormone fluctuations, and then never have a long enough break in said skincare “regime” to see how our adult skin looks and functions without intervention. I feel like it’s a cycle beauty companies gladly exploit, adding more and more required products as we mature and citing “transition periods” when they cause aggravation. If only we could just prevent teens picking up that blasted St Ives scrub in the first place!!
* The phrase people actually use is “good”, but I don’t want to perpetuate it.
Loved this episode, because I'm a numbers girl through and through! I've run the annual expenses on my own beauty routine before, but I also like to tot up how much of my free time is being spent, including travel time to salons.
I find it far more motivating to see how much of my actual life I can reclaim: you can get your finances under control but still throw hours of life away in service of beauty culture.
Love the intention behind Manuka honey and water routine, but am confused about it being included as a way to spend less money. Using Manuka honey as cleanser can cost as much to much much more than purchasing a drug store cleanser or Castile soap & moisturizer or jojoba oil. Just a thought!
I mean mayyybe if you're doing a product-by-product price breakdown and not removing any other products from your routine! But if you're cutting back the rest of your products, an entire skincare routine for 6months - a year can be one jar of Manuka. Speaking from personal experience of someone who used to do 5-10 products morning and night, it is a huuuge money saver over time. (And — just as importantly — MUCH more supportive for your skin that 5-10 products focused on aesthetic outcomes.) I used to spend thousands per year on skincare. Now I spend maybe $200 a year between Manuka, SPF, and jojoba.
Also — this is not the point of the episode. It's a very very minor portion of the content re: saving $$, and the point is not to say "everyone needs to be using expensive Manuka" but to say "your skin doesn't need the dozens of products you're putting on it."
Thank you for both your comments and the clarification! :)
I’m a longtime listener of the Money with Katie Show and I was so excited to see you come up as a guest. Great conversation, great episode!