Budgeting
Adulthood is just you, budgeting, unplanned expenses, regular stressors, and endless debit alerts.
Bills!!! Your rent is giving you the side-eye. The electricity bill is clearing its throat. Transport fare is choking you. Amidst the chaos, your braids are rough, your nails are lifting, and your wig looks like it’s reporting you to every stranger for overtime.
Now, the big question is, how do you choose between looking like your life is together and actually having your life together?
You Should Look the Part
For many women, this isn’t a trivial conversation. Hair and nails are part of their identity and regular routine. However, without proper budgeting, it often feels like you must pick between self-care and being prudent.
This conversation is not to shame you out of your soft life. Instead, it’s here to help you build a budgeting system that caters to both your bills and beauty.
Beauty Is Not a Waste of Money
Firstly, spending on your hair, nails, and grooming is not irresponsible. Appearance is everything, because it is the first thing people notice about you. Moreover, the world doesn’t make excuses for women. We are expected to look good irrespective of what we are going through or what is going on in our lives.
So, the problem is not that you want a neat hairdo or fresh manicure. The real issue is spending without budgeting, then acting surprised when the bills land like bad news.
Know Your Numbers Before Budgeting
First, before we start drawing fancy budgets, you need to know what you’re working with.
Grab your bank app or SMS alerts and check:
- How much is your income monthly (salary, business, side gigs, allowance, and stipends)?
- Identify your fixed expenses like rent, food, transport, utilities, subscriptions, and data.
- Your miscellaneous expenses like eating out, random snacks, impulse shopping, hair, and nails.
Next, create a budgeting structure for your basic needs. Everything else, including beauty, must be planned around them, not the other way round.
Beauty vs. Bills
Without a budgeting plan that includes your reality as a woman who likes looking good, you will be sucked into an endless cycle of bills.
You don’t have to jump on every fashion trend or book a nail appointment every 2 weeks. Meanwhile, your reality has an unexpected family request that can scatter your whole month.
So, instead of seeing yourself as irresponsible for wanting pretty braids, try to see how the braids fit into your budget without threatening your savings. The problem isn’t your desire to look good; it’s trying to fund a champagne lifestyle on a garri budget.
Building a Beauty-Inclusive Budget
You can try a simple budgeting method with percentages you adjust to your reality.
- Essentials (Rent, food, utilities, transport, data, loan payments)—50–60%
- Beauty & Self-Care (Hair, nails, lashes, occasional spa, basic skincare products) -10–15%
- Savings & Goals (Emergency fund, contributions, investments, long-term goals) -15–20%
- Miscellaneous (Eating out, gifts, small enjoyment, random cravings) – 5–15%
For example, if you earn ₦300,000 a month and decide beauty gets 10%, that’s ₦30,000. Suddenly, making your hair is not an impulse; it’s part of the budgeting plan.
Looking Good Without Going Broke
There are still ways to look put-together without constantly donating your salary to your stylist.
- Choose long-lasting styles like braids you can style different ways or simple, neat cornrows you can wear under your wig. For nails, neutral colors and shorter lengths often look okay for longer, even when they start growing out.
- Find a pocket-friendly plug that offers their services at affordable prices. Your account balance might be telling you to “support small business” and leave the Instagram-famous salon alone for now.
- You can ‘DIY’ some things yourself. The internet has tutorials to put you through how to apply a press-on nail, make home deep conditioning treatments, and a million others. However, if your DIY attempts consistently end in tears, bald patches, and regret, please abort mission and budget for a professional to save yourself stress.
You Deserve Soft Life and Paid Bills
At the end of the day, you don’t have to choose between being a “fine babe” and a “responsible woman.” You are allowed to be both. You can love braids, lashes, and glossy nails and still have a structured savings plan, an emergency fund, and paid rent.
The goal is not to suppress your indulgence; it’s to make it sustainable.
So, here’s your challenge:
- Review last month’s expenses and determine the amount allocated to hair, nails, and miscellaneous items.
- Prepare a budgeting plan and allocate funds for your hair and nail expenses before the money is received.
Because at the end of the day, the real soft life is when your bank account and your lifestyle are flourishing at the same time.
