“Boob jobs in Korea are half the price of Los Angeles.”
Part 1 of Feed Me's beauty and wellness treatment survey.
A few weeks ago, I sent out a survey to all of my readers to learn more about how they invest in beauty and wellness treatments — what they regret, what was worth it, and what they’d spend money on with an unlimited budget.
466 people contributed to the survey. Most of them live in New York City, after that Los Angeles, SF, Chicago/Boston/London. Most of the respondents (90%) were women, but the men who answered were quite thorough and their answers varied drastically from women.
I gave my friends Alec Ginsberg (owner and COO of C.O. Bigelow) and
(a 22-year-old student at Yale and brilliant writer) an early look at some of the data and had them contribute as well.My suggestion for this type of Feed Me letter: read it when you have time to lock-in; it’s a lot of information and I anticipate everyone will have their own takeaways. The responses to these types of surveys have gotten larger each time I send them, and there is probably someone reading this who is a data expert who could help me on the next one.
Excited to read the comment section here in a few hours.
AT A GLANCE
Word count:
Botox: 468
Lymphatic drainage: 60
Acne: 47
Pilates: 31
Hair plugs: 26
Red light: 25
Fraxel: 15
Lip flip: 12
Gel manicure: 7
Nasolabial: 4
Injectables:
17% of respondents have gotten filler. 24 received lip filler, 8 received eye filler, 12 received cheek filler, 11 received chin filler.
37% have gotten Botox. 6 received masseter Botox, 7 got lip flip, 32 received Botox in their forehead.
A standout quote: “I love Botox, I think you should get it if you like how you look with it. It goes away — like a new haircut. I think filler is for absolute idiots. I think you should spend as much as you want as long as it’s your parents money”
Fitness:
51% of respondents workout a few times a week
7% of respondents workout daily
32% of respondents workout most days of the week
8% of respondents never workout
I asked all the respondents what they’d spend money on with an unlimited treatment budget:
17% of respondents said a personal trainer
5% of respondents said liposuction
6% of respondents said a private chef
A standout quote: “So here's the thing... I could easily double my budget to $20k/year. I'd get my nails done more often, Sakara-like meal service, private pilates, better hair treatments, and more invasive facial treatments like microneedling would definitely be in the rotation. But I'm more concerned about the time this all takes — I'd pay extra for people to come to me. It's like having a part-time job going to all of these appointments. I'm currently saving up to get an outdoor sauna and cold shower/plunge in my backyard. That'll save some time, right?? (lol)”
I asked all the respondents how much pain they were willing to tolerate to look good. The most common answer from men had to do with soreness from workouts.
Weight-loss drugs:
11% of respondents have taken Ozempic or weight-loss drugs
70% of respondents haven’t
19% of respondents haven’t, but have thought about it
A standout quote: “I've been plus size since childhood and had a mom who was anorexic and would try to push her habits onto me as a child. I'm body positive/neutral and do not wish to lose weight — I just exercise to exercise/feel good. The presence of Wegovy and Ozempic everywhere is scary to me and very depressing as someone who is fat and has some friends who hate being fat. In general I think body modifications are perfectly normal and I'm not going to shame anyone, but weight loss surgery and drugs scare me and don't seem sustainable. It's pushed me to log off of some social media because of all of the ads and the discourse.”
TREATMENT REGRETS
69% of respondents don’t regret any procedures they’ve done, but many of those respondents had caveats: