Why Women go to Beauty Parlours

All women are beautiful. Nonetheless, more than 90% of urban women visit a Beauty Parlor at least once a month. I did a random search on “Why women go to Beauty Parlors”. Google responded in 0.8 seconds, “reinvent our appearance, enhance our beauty, boost our morale, to relax, to pamper ourselves,….” As a woman, I agree. We go to beauty salons to feel good about ourselves.

Somehow the Beauty Industry does not seem to get this simple context right. The whole industry is directed on making women feel bad about themselves. They assume that this feeling will lead to Women spend more on clothes, makeup, accessories and of course (topic for today) beauty treatments.  The minute I walk into a parlor, the beauticians give me a look of disapproval. They will instantly remark, “Your hair has become so dull! Have you been out in the sun?” or “Your skin has become so dry. You are not moisturizing it daily?”, or “Oh Madam! Did you notice? You are getting skin pigmentation!”. Obviously, all these remarks end with well-meaning advice on how I could cure the problem at hand. Years of visits to these parlors, and thousands spent trying their recommendations has made me understand the root cause behind their concern. They are just trying to generate more business for their salon. I now firmly believe that neither am I that ugly, nor are any of their cures really going to help. Yet, each time I walk in, I prepare myself to hear a new defect about myself. Honestly, if I could present myself in public without these regular visits, I would have boycotted this whole industry by now. But alas, I value my external image enough, to bear this critical analysis of my body.

Why can’t the beauty industry focus on making women (and men) feel good about themselves? That is the reason we fund this industry, in the first place. I would love to visit a beauty salon which makes me feel beautiful, not just help me look beautiful for a day. I believe I would probably spend more experimenting on treatments, clothes, makeup and the likes, if I felt beautiful inside. What the hell? I know I am beautiful! What could possibly go wrong if I tried a new thing?

In fact research also indicates that women would tend to shop more if the seller can establish a positive emotional connect with them.

I hope this blog passes a message to the industry and enables the good things of our life to focus on the good things of our life. At a minimum, I hope the next time I walk into a parlor, I do not receive a new defect list.