海角大神

As a gal聽on a budget,聽there are few things more infuriating than the dreaded "pink tax." What's the pink tax, you ask? Well next time you're at the drugstore, try comparing the prices of products that are marketed towards women with products for men. Nine times out of ten, the pink ladystuff is going to be more expensive, even if the ingredients or function of the thing is EXACTLY THE SAME.聽聽

How does this happen? Big brands claim that manufacturing woman-specific products is more expensive, but they don't have much to back that up with, especially as the only differences聽between, say, a man's deodorant and a woman's deodorant聽are聽scent and packaging. On imported goods, price discrepancies can be accounted for by seemingly random gendered taxes. A聽聽reported聽that imported "men's sneakers were taxed at 8.5 percent while women's sneakers were taxed at 10 percent," for no聽logical reason.

Unfortunately,聽it seems that聽retailers are up-charging women聽not out of financial necessity, but because they can.聽Despite unfair gendered pricing, many, many women continue to buy into the cult of the pink, and if we're willing to pay more, no company is going to charge less. It's just simple economics.

So what's a frugal girl to do? In honor of this Sunday's National Women's Day, I've compiled a list of products and services you can get at a discount by just ditching the pink.

1.听顿别辞诲辞谤补苍迟

Let's take a quick look at聽, shall we? One search on their site for "deodorant" and I'm immediately confronted by harsh reality of the pink (or perhaps purple, in this case) tax: While聽聽is $2.79, women are paying $2.99 for just聽.

I know a聽20 cent difference isn't exactly newsworthy, but the fact that聽Speed Stick is totally cool with charging women MORE MONEY for LESS PRODUCT is ridiculous. I don't know about the rest of you, but I for one am not OK with being ripped off just so I聽can decorate my medicine cabinet with a pretty purple bottle and smell of聽baby powder or roses or whatever stupid dainty scent Speed Stick believes women should smell like. Like, I'm only one item into this list and already I'm in a feminist rage over 20 cents and 0.7 oz of deodorant. Excuse me while I open the window and scream.

OK, I feel better. Thank you for bearing with me. The simple solution to this problem is just to buy men's deodorant, but if you're not up for smelling like the lovechild of a pine tree and a lumber yard, you could just go the hippie-chic way and make your own. It's a lot cheaper.聽聽that uses ingredients you probably already have on hand, and recycles an old deodorant container so no one will ever have to know how thrifty and natural you really are.

2. Razors & Shaving Supplies

Sometime in the early聽20th century, Western society collectively decided that, like voting before 1920, hairy legs were a dudes-only kinda thing. Thus the women's shaving industry was born, and generations of girls flocked to their local drugstores in search of the perfect razor.

Now is probably a good time to mention I have no problem with leg-shaving as a concept. I'd never judge someone who decided it wasn't for them, but I personally love the feeling of a silky-smooth leg. What I don't love is being manipulated into spending insane amounts of money on ladies-only razors, blades and shaving cream when the stuff in the guy's section is just as effective and way less expensive.

I picked on Walgreens before, so let's see what their arch nemesis,聽, has to offer in the way of gender price inequality!聽Never to be outdone by Walgreens, CVS is offering聽聽for $9.99 (so about聽$2.50 each) and聽for $12.99 (or $4.33 each). Both of these choices are for sensitive skin and offer moisture strips, pivoting heads and three blades, so it seems the only difference here is the price and the color of the razor.

It gets even worse for shaving cream: you can get聽聽for $2.99 (roughly $0.27 an oz), but if you want聽聽you'll be shelling out $1.79 for a measly聽2.5 oz (or about $0.71 an oz). LOL.

The solution here is clearly to buy men's razors and shaving cream as they are literally the exact same聽as the stuff marketed to women. If you can't fathom shaving your dainty lady legs with a blue razor I suggest you invest in some pink spray paint and at least six months of therapy.

3. Jeans

I don't know why I thought this one would be tough to find examples of, cuz it was actually laughably easy. Behold the聽聽being sold for $78 at Levis.com. Next, let's take a short hike over to the 'Boyfriend Jeans' page in the women's聽section, and we see聽聽being sold for $98. Seriously, open both of those pages and flip back and forth. The only聽discernible聽differences in these two products are the gender of the people wearing them and the giant holes cut into the knees of the women's pants.聽$20 more for less fabric and holes?? Makes total sense, Levi's!

If you're into the boyfriend style, obviously you're gonna want to buy your jeans in the men's section, but聽that's not feasible for women of every shape and size. Men's jeans are shaped a lot differently than women's, and are definitely not built聽to accommodate a woman's curves. Plus if your go-to style is the skinny jean, you'll be hard pressed to find a men's version of that. So the next time your boyfriend, male BFF or random 聽work acquaintance says anything snarky about the amount of money women spend on jeans, kindly inform him of this ridiculous double standard and ask for $20 to even out the playing field.

4. Haircuts

When you think about it, it聽makes sense to charge a woman with long, thick hair more聽for a haircut than a man with a short, cropped style. The more time a stylist has to spend on your cut, the more money he or she should be compensated, right? Well this works in theory, but in reality, even women with close-cropped pixie cuts usually end up paying the same as a woman with hair down to her knees, and men with longer styles usually still pay the men's haircut price, which is typically聽between $10-20 less than what women are charged.

So if you're a woman with a short haircut, how can you avoid paying more than your male counterparts for the same cut? Call the salon before you appointment and explain the situation, and ask if you could be charged for a men's haircut instead. It really depends on the salon, but many will be accommodating. If you've got a hairdresser you really like, you can also try聽talking to them about your concerns, and聽you might be able to negotiate a price that works for both of you. Just make sure you speak up--the worst that can happen is they say no, and if you say nothing at all, you're guaranteed to pay more.