I had never understood why product categories call it Health & Beauty / Beauty & Personal Care. A few days back, I suddenly realised that health and beauty do come hand-in-hand.

Health is a state of physical, mental and social well-being in which disease and infirmity are absent.

Wikipedia, WHO Constitution

Since health is so subjective, it is difficult to place a value on it. I learnt how health is so hard-earned. And that beauty comes with a price.

Here is an estimated cost of how much I spent over a year:

• $1,000 on facials
• $4,000 on three months of scalptial
• $600 on monthly scalp treatment at a hair salon
• $200 on fringe rebonding and haircuts
• $300 on skincare products (masks, toner, mosturiser, cleanser, eye cream etc)
• $100 on hair products
• $200 on makeup products
• $100 on body products (feet cream, lotion, perfume etc)
• $100 on massages

A total of $6,600 per year!!!! :O

(And I’m pretty sure this is an underestimate.)

Spending this much on my health and beauty is no joke! I would never have expected to invest so much in this category. But I have to admit, the more expensive products does work wonders within a short time! Thankfully, as a working adult, I am able to afford this lifestyle.

Growing up, I don’t remember being taught explicitly on health and beauty. I wasn’t too hung up on it either. There were a few makeup and wellness classes here and there, but the beauty products itself were pricey as a student. I wasn’t bothered at maintaining my health at all. I figured, I was already playing sports, that should be enough.

I think I failed to consider that beauty is in health itself.

Of course, inner beauty should also be taken into account. This includes inculcating positive values of trust, humility, loyalty, positivity, as well as being a devout Muslim (or whatever your religion is). Which I clearly am still working towards (must stop putting God aside ya know! Stop sinning!)

Also, from all my consultations, they all say the same thing – my issues come from stress and poor blood circulation. Inner beauty is already tough enough, how to manage your external beauty?!

So, the real question is..

Should we be educated on this since young, in school? Is there already an existing class or programme that focuses on the overall concept of health and beauty? Is there even demand for this knowledge?

I think I would like to learn about it, if I could afford it back then.

But I would have also asked myself if it was necessary, and assumed that all this is just because of capitalism and consumerism. Answers to such questions are never black and white, it is a mix of many factors.

At the end of the day, only you can make that decision whether to work on your overall health and beauty. At this point in my life, I choose to.