Kara Perez: How much money do you think the average American woman spends on looking pretty every single year? I know looking pretty is a little bit vague, but think about it: getting your hair done, getting your nails done, maybe being on a GLP-1, or having a gym membership, Botox, facials, eyebrows, laminating, paying for makeup, buying new clothes... All of this adds up into how people perceive you, and all of this adds up, literally. The data tells us that beauty spending does vary quite a bit by age, with younger generations spending more.

One study from LendingTree, for example, found that Gen-Zers spend an average of $2,670 a year on beauty treatments, while millennials spend an average of $2,048 a year. I'd like to think that means that as women age, they are freeing themselves from the pretty restrictive beauty standard that we're all living under, but who knows? What I do know, and what the data tells us, is that the more you deviate from our Eurocentric beauty standard, the more money you as an individual woman are likely to shell out to amend your looks, and the less you are likely to be paid in the workplace.

Heavier women are paid less than thinner women. White women are paid more than Latina women. One study found that one in six Americans admit to spending more on beauty products and beauty treatments than they can actually afford, which means they're going into debt to meet this beauty standard. 

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