The Cost of Skin Care

How much do you spend on cosmetics and skin care? Do you even want to know? I’m not so sure, so let’s focus on what other people do. There’s some interesting data coming in about the average consumer expenditures that are making interesting waves, and we thought it’s a good time to chime in.

According to a SkinStore survey, American women spend an average of $8 a day – $5 towards skincare products and $3 towards makeup. This amounts to just under $3000 a year. Over a lifetime, it’s $146,000¹ or about 10% of their income earned over their life.² It’s clear that women are willing to back up their skin with their wallets. Whether you view it as a severe cultural problem or a sign of freedom and empowerment, it’s clear that skincare products are becoming more varied, sophisticated, and plentiful. According to the survey, 85% of the sample women regularly use 16 skincare/cosmetic products. The most popular products, in no particular order, are:

Reasons for Purchase:

1. Skin Concern Related
2. Recommendation from a third party
3. Ingredients

Some data:

• Women on the East Coast seem to spend more – New York – not surprisingly, but also in West Virginia and Connecticut are also high at $11 a day.
• The average time used to go through the morning routine seems to be about 10 minutes. Californians don’t waste time, spending just 3 minutes, while New Yorkers spend an average of 21 minutes.
• The distribution is $5 towards skincare products and $3 towards makeup.
• Only 15% of customers remain consistent with one brand.

Speculation:

First, take the data with a grain of salt. It’s from one store, doing an informal survey. This is not a scientific study. This said, it is fun and does provide some insight into our behaviors. It’s impossible to speculate with any accuracy exactly how much each person spends on cosmetics/skincare, but it can be fun to think of what’s likely the case.

• It’s quite likely that a relatively small percentage of people skew the averages much higher than the median. Similar to income distribution, people with a lot of money likely spend extraordinary amounts on specialty products that are priced far above what most people spend.³
• Brand loyalty seems to be lower than expected and is probably a sign that consumers are becoming savvier.
• The number of product types probably are on the increase. In recent years, Korean skincare has become a hit in North America, and their routine involves a lot more….steps and products. This is likely a continuing trend with marketers going further and further to push this envelope of increasingly sophisticated routines.

Does the data surprise you? While this is hardly a scientific study, it can be interesting to see where you fall within the sample. Do you spend far more or far less time and money compared to other women?

Use #AskDermLetter to ask us skincare questions on Twitter. Follow us @SkinExpertsTalks for daily tips and articles on skincare.

¹At 50 years, although the spending is not linear over time.
²Comparing two averages like this will probably give you an inaccurate picture overall, but what is clear is that skincare and cosmetics are a priority for the average American woman.
³If the assumption holds, it’s likely that the “average” person probably spends a lot less than this on cosmetics/makeup, even if the average expenditure seems high.
⁴The other UV spectra are entirely absorbed by the atmosphere.