Why do I need to change?': the women resisting pricy bridal beauty treatments

"Immediately, I started imagining how I would look at my wedding. The woman who appeared in my mind had different hair, different teeth and a completely different body than me. I will transform my arms by the time of my wedding, I kept thinking, though I did not take any action to transform my arms. It was inconceivable that I would show up to my wedding looking like myself."

"Each social media app fed me wedding prep recommendations, including dieting (rebranded as eating clean), working out five times a week, regular laser treatments and facials, red light therapy, lymphatic drainage massage, teeth whitening, Russian manicures, eyelash extensions and multi-step hair routines. I saw an essay by a woman who wrote about spending $30,000 on her physical appearance."

"When I called my local med spa in San Francisco to get a quote for skin treatments I had heard about in bridal forums, the receptionist told me that a single session of BroadBand Light laser would be $550, plus $1,200 for microneedling. Those are typically done in a series, she said; the salon sold laser treatments in packs of three and five."

"But when it comes to adding thousands of dollars of treatments on top of my already-extensive hair care and skincare routine for my wedding, I have to ask: who would all of this be for? Presumably, every attendee likes me, regardless of my skin luminosity or upper arm circumference. So what plus one or random social media follower am I trying to impress?"

After an engagement, imagining a different self for a wedding leads to expectations of physical transformation without taking action. Social media platforms provide wedding-focused recommendations that combine dieting, frequent workouts, laser treatments, facials, red light therapy, lymphatic drainage massage, teeth whitening, manicures, and elaborate hair routines. A personal account of spending $30,000 on appearance makes the scale feel plausible. A local med spa in San Francisco quotes $550 for BroadBand Light laser and $1,200 for microneedling, typically sold in multi-session packs. The cost adds to existing hair and skincare routines, raising the question of who the treatments are meant to impress when attendees already like the person.

Read at www.theguardian.com