Female Business Owners Were Cut Off At The Knees (Metaphorically, Don’t Worry)
In 2020, research showed that female skincare specialists make 290.6% as much as male skincare specialists, and skincare was listed as the number one job where women get a juicier cut of that sweet cash flow. While this is a pleasant fact on its lonesome, for many years, women’s success in the skincare industry was about as stop-and-start as The Fast and the Furious franchise. But that’s not due to a lack of women ready to capitalize on cold creams.
As the flapper look took over in the 1920s, and the concept of being a “painted woman” became more mainstream, a lot of women ran small companies selling skincare products to friends, neighbors, and enemies alike (go ahead and rub that arsenic into your eye, Cheryl). But when the industry grew, those small female-owned companies got swallowed up by larger corporations due to “changing business models” (the ultimate dog whistle for a soulless takeover).
Basically, in order to stay in the game, you had to wholesale bargain with male-owned chain drug and department stores, and they mostly didn’t want to work with women. So by 1930, a small handful of companies had control of 40% of the cosmetics and skincare industry. This shift in business dealings had effectively knocked back the women who were in on the ground floor of the industry, and while it’s impossible to know how differently things would have grown, the economic impact of more women with that mobility would’ve been compelling. After all, if women are going to see ads that tell us to set ourselves on fire, melt our faces off, and get strapped into Clockwork Orange captivity in order to keep up our glow, then we should absolutely get paid in full.
Suffice it to say, the skincare industry has been a nightmare for a long time, but that doesn’t mean it can’t still be dreamy too. Sometimes, you just need a bird to shit on your face in order to feel your best, and we’ve got that easily available now.
Top image: Jllm06/Wiki Commons