Companies could willingly sell us all mostly unisex hygiene/beauty products, but they don't as they've realized there's more money to be made by making them 'gendered' and claiming they're something special.
I remember that Oil of Ulay thing years ago, my mother had some and nobody could figure out what it was supposed to do except some idea about younger-looking skin? But there was no actual proof of that obviously, nor any statement from the company that made it about anything. If people will buy stuff that easily they hardly even have to try. *shrug*
Someone must have told some of these companies that women do most of the casual spending in the world and therefore they'd be happier shelling out more for a "female version" of something. But you don't have to for everything. Like apparently there's Bic "for her" pens and Bic normal pens... and the "for her" pens are supposed to be more ergonomic for women and are more expensive... I mean c'mon. It's a pen. Everyone can use pens, they were designed for anybody to write with. If you're gonna buy a pen because you buy into the idea it's better for your hands because you're female... well... what can I say, that's wanting to be ripped off.
And now it's ok for men to be beauty-conscious or skin conscious they've started selling specialized products to men for that and they ain't all that cheap either.
Of course I do agree the price of some essential feminine products like tampons is stupid. Those are things you need. But we do buy a lot of stuff we don't need and it's our own fault. We let companies convince us we need this stuff. I've seen those razor commercials that say the women's razors are somehow specially designed for women and yadda yadda and I've tried all kinds of razors for body hair... they all work pretty much the same. A razor is a razor - a cheap crap razor is cheap and crap, and the better ones are a certified rip off any day of the week. But there's little difference between men's and women's. Face care products are a bit different though, the men's ones are supposed to be for thicker skin and some hurt like a ----- so they're out for me for now.
I'll just buy whatever is a deal and don't pay the gendering much mind. If it's stupidly expensive and claims to reduce wrinkles I'll avoid it.
