New York Is The Vainest City: Report

New York's so vain, it probably thinks this post is about the city. Well, it is. According to TotalBeauty.com, based on data collected from the US Census Bureau, the Big Apple has the most beauty salons and its citizens shell out the highest amount for beauty products:

Sure, there are only 4.1 plastic surgeons per 100,000 people in the New York City region (compared to Salt Lake City's six), but the Big Apple outspends every other city in nearly every category -- more than $21 million on hair coloring, $32.5 million on skin care, $5.5 million on makeup and nearly $530,000 on hair growth products. According to the Census Bureau, there were more than ten thousand personal care businesses (think: hair and nail salons, day spas) in 2002 (the most recent year available) -- nearly three times the number in any other city. The state of New York also has the second highest number of hair restoration surgeons, and chances are they're centralized around The City.

Coming in second was Miami, Florida, where there are 5.2 plastic surgeons per 100,000 inhabitants and $23 million is spent on beauty products...perhaps to compensate for the city's high levels of smoking and drinking and lack of exercise.

Farther down on the list, at #8, is the fake-and-bakin' town of Charleston, West Virginia, home to 33.7 tanning salons per 100,000 people.

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Comments

[tabatha]

12:37 AM on 11/19/2009

Definitely a flawed study! They've chosen a weak indicator for vanity; bad design!

LA takes the prize for vanity!. So many of its denizens place priority on superficia­l appearance­s, and for doing and spending whatever it takes to achieve the look du jour.

New Yorkers may be concerned with good grooming; but they don't have the shallow, narcissist­ic herd mentality that leads to obsession with appearance­s that one observes in LA.

[Pleneras]

09:22 PM on 11/18/2009

Those you are referring to are transplant­s... not born new yorkers.

[MTLAUREL]

06:52 PM on 11/18/2009

yuck, hated all the emphasis on that when I lived there in my twenties. Try a nice long walk-come back and have soot on that damn makeup-New York has a lot of grime and fumes. Kinda crummy.

[Khai Gordon]

05:30 PM on 11/18/2009

What's the matter with wanting to look yourself? To alter one of my favorite lines "Pretty people do pretty things" Guess it's a lot of pretty ish going down in the Big Apple. #khaishrug

[Politiqo]

03:50 PM on 11/18/2009

I went to a bar in NYC in Greenwich and I would not believe the gorgeous people of all colors dancing to techno and disco. They all had beautiful bodies, men and women. The guys were topless, and the girls wore teeny minis. Having a good body and a nice face is a MUST in the nightlife of NYC.

IN LA, toned bodies are not a biggie for the guys (yes for the girls), but what counts in East Hollywood is to show off how much money you have. Valet parking is a must so you people waiting to enter the clubs can immediatel­y see that you arrived in that Maseratti. Status is key.

I don't belong to either group, but I have to say that NYC was more pleasant, and despite my clear disadvanta­ge against New Yorkers' perfection­, I was treated very nicely by all of them. I even got to dance with a couple that looked like supermodel­s. In LA I arrived in a Ford Tempo that was 10 yrs old, so I didn't engage in that much interactio­n.

[ladydragon]

11:05 AM on 11/18/2009

My vote is for LA simply because Hollywood is there. being an actor or actress is not about how good you are, it's about who luv's ya baby!

[2centsplain]

10:25 AM on 11/18/2009

And it pays off. What would you have thought, Detroit or Toledo?

[HacunaMatata101]

09:40 AM on 11/18/2009

Sounds like a flawed survey. Shouldn't you be looking at reported eating disorders among the general populace and other issues, not just number of 'beauty service" industry jobs a community supports?

I mean, the survery forgot personal trainers and diet centers and "insert every industry an high-earni­ng actress employs to maintain her whole "package"'­....

My vote is for LA as well.

[EmeraldWorld]

09:04 AM on 11/18/2009

Interestin­g. I would think LA or some other major California city would take the prize for that one.