You and I both! People pay a fortune to decorate their bodies, GGD has had her (fake) fingernails done regularly since she was 12 years old, she is 18 now - all that money spent would be a tidy sum, and then add hair extensions ans coloring to that, she could take a cruise around the world for that money.
I am so glad I live in the boondocks, jeans and a t-shirt is my regular wardrobe and my hair is what it is, my fingernails - we don't even mention them.

You are not alone, I also belong to the fashion challenged people. 300 bucks for my hair? That's two years of haircuts, including the tip!

Several years ago, I agreed to hire an intern. She loved the finer things in life, such as silk undergarments, designer hats and shoes etc..She had style and looked great every day. But she was as poor as a church mouse.

She lived in the laundry room at a friend's house and most of the time, she did not have money for lunch.
She was a great worker and a lot of the students identified with her.

Lol, I did not identify with her life style all, but in the education field, it is important to reach as many students as possible so she was a valuable assest to the program.

I suppose it's all relative. I live in an Appalachian county. If you can even find a job, if it pays $10 an hour, you'd consider youself doing OK. If it paid $15, you'd think you were blessed. I don't think a $300 touch up would fly here, so it likely is considerably less. Perhaps she comes from someplace with a very high per capita income level. I haven't always lived near my birthplace, and have made much better wages working in a metropolis. I don't think I was any better off at the end of the day, because everything was equally as expensive. It was a wash as far as how far a $ would go in buying you what you would consider 'important'. I also suspect our localities help to shape what is important, or perhaps we tend to move to places where our values fit into the norms.

Prices depend on where you live.
Whether you are buying a house or getting your
nails done.
It's a rare occasion when I can get my hair done,
but when I do I pay eighty dollars for a cut and color.
In Atlanta it is a whole lot more money than that.

Hi, so when ever I hear things like that it makes me think of all the things I could do with that money. A car payment, new paint for the house,money towards a new stove and the list could go on for what I think would be a better use of 300 bucks. Maybe Im too pragmatic about money, or just used to making it stretch. I guess we all have different ideas of whats important. One thing I have learned that just because they charge big money for a product or service doesn't always mean that is what it is worth. Just a thought was this a typo and she meant 30.00? Cause this makes more sense in my frugal mind. :o)

I cut my own hair, and don't use makeup or fingernail polish. Besides shampoo and conditioner, I occasionally use a little mousse if I want my braid to stay smooth all day, and I have some oil to make hair smooth and shiny that I use in the winter to combat static. Those are the only hair products I own. In the summer it's usually braided in some way and when I'm not going to braid it, I brush it in the shower, rinse it down (not back) to put the hairs in their natural alignment, then let it drip dry, not put up in a towel which separates the strands and breaks the curls. It dries looking like an expensive spiral perm. I don't own a hair dryer or any electrical hair appliances but I do have a huge collection of barrettes and other hair decorations.

Kinda OT alert: At 43, I still get asked for my ID. I think cosmetics and the mechanics of it (all of that rubbing and wiping) are bad for your skin. And all of the money that stuff costs blows me away. No way! I don't put anything but lotion on my face. Money is too hard to come by to waste it on such trivial stuff. If people don't like my naked face, they're not the kind of people I want to hang around with anyway. Just a real person here, no fake stuff, wysiwyg (what you see is what you get.)

However, enjoyment is priceless. Just because I can't wrap my mind around spending money on such things doesn't mean other women are wrong for doing so if they have the money and spending it that way is enjoyable to them. There are also issues like scars and birth marks that can be very effectively hidden by cosmetics and help the user feel less self-conscious. So I support those people in these efforts also although they would be fine with me without it.

As far as being sheltered, I don't think I am just because I don't use cosmetics or pay people to make my hair look different. I've been around - people and places, business and leisure and my naked face and air-dried hair have been fine for all occassions from black tie to cow pie.

Another story about choices. I had to get my (old) car repaired. The ins.co. paid for a loaner, so I ended up in a car rental place.
I was looking for "transportation".

Lol, there was a fellow there, and we got to talking while waiting in line, he was looking to rent a specific car that he rents on a regular basis when he meets his clients in SF. It was a fancy (red) muscle car.
That was his choice.

I doubt $300 was a typo. The salon where I (used to) go charges $70.00 for a trim. That includes a shampoo & blow dry. I love(d) my stylist. Wonderful young woman who does killer work -- absolutely beautiful.

But...I got to a point where I had to acknowledge that $70.00 every 8 weeks for a trim was simply more than I could justify. My stylist, being an employee of the salon, didn't have the authority to lower the fees. So with great sadness I returned to my local Super Cuts. The manager wets down my hair, trims it and blows it dry for $18.00. It's assembly-line hair styling at its best. :o)

I miss my expensive salon/stylist desperately -- the posh environment, the complimentary beverages, the slightly better attitudes and customer service. But it's Super Cuts for me until my income can allow me more flexibility.

Karen

Yes, I guess it's about priorities, income and the going rate in your area. I think I've only gotten my hair cut professionally once as an adult. I've always cut other peoples hair, starting with buzz cutting my brothers hair when they were little kids. As a teen I often bleached my Aunts hair and cut my Mothers. I cut Christy's now. My own? Well, since it's long, once or twice a year, when it's wet, I part it down the middle from front to neck, comb the sides toward the front, hold them together and cut off about four or five inches of dead ends. Seems to work pretty well....for me.

DC area is considered one of the more expensive places to live, and luxury items correspond in cost, however, her price range is a little over the top. I have several neighbors (multimillionaires) who go to deluxe salons. I called two and asked: $125 or $150 for that sort of service and they each thought that their salon was among the most expensive. Methinks that either travel-lady was exaggerating to appear more impressive? affluent? special? or she was getting ripped off and happy about it.

Like others here, I have things to do with my money that give me considerably more perceived value.

My local drop-in cuttery: $15 for shampoo, cut and style (the sign says $30~45 for coloring) with an excellent stylist; my home supplies are shampoo, conditioner, a blow-dryer (often ignored) and setting gel; hair spray which has been used twice in the past two months. Thanks to superb cuts (even when I don't like it) I can do wash'n'wear, and can even go 6 weeks between trims. I've had stylists tell me that a truly good cut will look good even when it's an inch too long; I dunno, but that works for me!