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Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall


A lot has been said about perceived beauty standards. Also, the role of the media in setting unrealistic expectations cannot be entirely ignored. However what always manages to flummox me is the audacity of random people that you come across in everyday life passing almost rude comments about your physical appearance. And when these comments are made by the so called “beauty experts” it’s no longer plain annoying, it’s time to call them out on their complete lack of ethics while focusing completely on commercial gains.


On my last visit to India in pre covid times, I went to my local beauty salon in Mumbai for a haircut. The stylist spent half of the hair cutting time on commenting about how dry and frizzy my hair is, when was the last time I had a haircut, how I can greatly benefit from xyz treatments and on and on and on. I looked him straight in the eye and informed him that based on his very helpful (not!) observations, he should be able to prove how skilled he is because come on, why would someone with picture perfect hair go to a hair salon except maybe to model? Now that shut him up. 


On another occasion, I went to a different beauty salon for mere threading of eyebrows and the beautician lectured me on how my skin needs help and what treatments they can offer. Without batting an eyelid (also because my eyes were shut as a consequence of the eyebrow threading) I told her that I am quite happy with the state of my skin thank you very much and that I will consult a dermatologist in case I ever feel the need to rescue my skin. And no, her dodgy gold facial is not something I am interested in.


Don't worry, I am not making you privy to my beauty regimen (or lack of it) but drawing your attention to a nasty sales technique of upselling that beauty salons use by making the client feel so inadequate that they will in a moment of vulnerability, fall prey to one if not all of the "saviour" treatments recommended by the salon employee. I am happy to report that I wasn't a victim to this ridiculous business. Being a HR professional with a sound grounding in Psychology helps me see through their BS fairly quickly. I thought the whole point of visiting a salon was to get a boost to one's self esteem no? Did I somehow miss the memo? What was I doing? Obviously not "beautifying"? myself. Whatever that means! 


To think that this sales tactic relies upon belittling an individual's self esteem is infuriating to say the least. Don't we have enough media influencing definitions of beauty that we now need our local beauty parlours and salons to jump on the bandwagon? Honestly speaking, they are just reinforcing these ideals of beauty and in the process doing more harm than good to women's mental health. A beauty magazine will tell you what the standards of beauty are but your local salon will confirm that sorry, you don't meet any of these standards but hey try the gold facial! (see what I am doing here?)


So, the next time you visit a salon and find yourself being the target of this upselling nonsense, remember that the employee is doing his or her job, as it may very well be that their job depends on it. I sincerely hope it isn’t for some warped sense of sadistic pleasure. 


In conclusion then it’s safe to say the concept of beauty has always been a sensitive topic and to see it being abused to this extent is failing its very essence.




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