Here are Max and I today. He is wearing outfit 189 in his plan and I am wearing a modified 152 in my plan (need a neutral skirt… and some completer pieces).
Today I would like to talk about products for white people verses people of color. We currently have a child in our care that is of a darker race then I am. That isn’t saying much as on a good day I might glow in the dark! Anyway, I have learned with said child that there are certain things that she needs that I don’t, and my boys don’t need. So lets look at a price comparison
Lotion – I don’t typically use lotion unless it is the winter. My boys rarely use the stuff. However on a typical year we may use half a bottle (that may be overstating how much we really use it, but lets just say that is what we do). Eucerin is a brand that many doctors recommend, so I am going to use that for my purposes here. Often I get other brands… I have some Aveano in my house right now for example. Anyway Eucerin is $9.69 for 16.5 oz at Target. That brings our total cost for the year at $4.85 for a year for 2 children (one of whom is rather tall!).
Now lets look at a good product for someone of color. I use Palmers Cocoa Butter on the child in my care. On average she uses 3.5 oz a month. She basically gets dipped in after every bath from head to toe. She also gets it if she gets scuffed or looks otherwise dry for any reason. Target has 3.5 oz container (tub not bottle) for $5.39. Bringing her yearly total (assuming you don’t find it in larger size) to $64.68. That is a difference of roughly $60 a year and that is just skin care!
Hair Care – Now this one is more tricky. I only have boys and foster is a girl. So I am going to base this off of previous placements of girls that were of simular age but not ethnic background. I have never had to purchase a product of for them. I may have purchased things to tie hair back though. So lets assume that they loose hair ties at a fairly good clip. Here is a package of 45 for $2.89. If they loose a WHOLE package once a month… (I would have to start questioning how I was tying the hair!) that would cost $34.68. Said child would also need shampoo and conditioner but that would likely be the same as I would use. So lets say that I would increase what I normally spend by one more bar of each during the year. So that is $25. So the total for this hypothetical child for the year in hair care is $59.68.
Now lets look at someone of color. Our current placement just has an afro. She needs special shampoo for her hair. This is what we use and she will likely go through about 1.5 bottles in a year. That is a total of $13.13. She also needs deep conditioning once a month (sometimes more). This is what we use and she will likely go through maybe half in a year. That is a total of $ 4.75. I also need to put moisture in her hair daily. So I use this. If I am lucky this will last 1.5 months. So that is $31.96. I also need to spritz her hair with water that is mixed with coconut oil. We use the coconut oil for other things so I would say maybe $2 is going to that. So all told she has a cost of $51.84. That cost is obviously going to rise when she is gets to be older and have longer hair (her hair is shorter right now.)
Sunscreen- This one got to me this weekend so I am sharing. Yes people of color can use any sunscreen, however if they don’t want to have a whitish sheen to them, they have to have one that is made for them. I thought that might be the case but as a white person I didn’t know where to find one. So I got the kind that I normally get when it was on sale. I got 6 fl oz for under $6. Then I found out about one that is meant for children of color. I thought it only right to get that for said child. I paid $14 for 3 fl oz. Yes you read that right. It was more then double the cost! Oh and you can’t just go anywhere and find it. It is only in select stores. So I had to get it online.
My point with all of this is that products that I use shouldn’t cost less then products that someone else might use. If a lotion is good for ___ then it should be good for everyone (it is, we just have cheaper options so we don’t care). It is also insane that stores don’t carry products for everyone. Sunscreen should be just as available for people of color as it is for us whities.