How Much It Costs To Keep Up A High-Maintenance Beauty Routine

Stocksy

There’s a specific kind of woman people describe as “high-maintenance,” and it’s rarely meant as a compliment. It implies effort, expense, and excess — someone who requires too much attention and cares a little too much about how she’s perceived.

I’ve never fully identified with that label, mostly because it holds such a negative stigma, and I don’t consider myself particularly prissy or precious about my habits. I’m not demanding about restaurants, and I don’t need elaborate plans to have a good time. But when it comes to beauty, my routine is extensive. Getting my roots touched up regularly is a must. Keeping gel on my nails feels necessary. Brow lamination, lash lifts, and preventative injectables have slowly migrated in my mind from “luxury” to “normal.”

At its core, the term “high-maintenance” acknowledges that looking consistently polished requires infrastructure. So instead of distancing myself from the label, I’ve decided to lean in and...