Giving someone a gift for the holidays doesn't always have to be a physical transaction. With everything that's happened in the last year — the COVID-19 pandemic [1] and the economic uncertainty it's caused, America's racial reckoning [2], etc. — many of us have been reevaluating what matters and are in more of a giving mood than ever. For anyone who's in a position to give, this holiday season is the perfect time to do so, and there are tons of brands and organisations out there that support charitable causes.
If you're thinking about giving back in lieu of buying a physical gift for a loved one this year, read ahead to check out a few charitable beauty gifts you can give this holiday season.
Donate to a Beauty Organisation
If you happen to have any new or unused beauty products laying around that you don't plan on keeping or using, a good way to get rid of them is to donate them. Organisations like Project Beauty Share [3] distribute beauty and personal hygiene products to non-profit groups dedicated to helping people who are homeless and/or overcoming other obstacles like addiction, abuse, or poverty.
Other groups like Donate Beauty [4] provide, skin and hair-care products, creams, hand sanitizers, and more to healthcare workers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Alternatively, if you don't have any products to give away, you can also donate money to some of these same organisations to support their causes.
Sponsor Someone's Cosmetology Education
While beauty school likely wouldn't cost a person as much as an undergraduate program would, it's still pretty expensive and could cost anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000 [5]. If someone in your life is planning on pursuing a cosmetology education, a donation to their tuition fund may make the perfect gift for the holidays.
Even if you don't know someone going beauty school, you could sponsor a portion of stranger's beauty education on behalf of the person you're gifting by donating money to a scholarship organisation like Beauty Changes Lives [6].
Support a Brand Pledging to Fund New Black-Owned Businesses
Over the summer, dozens of fashion and beauty brands showed their support for ending racial inequality by announcing grants that would help fund Black-owned beauty startups. Glossier set aside $500,000 for grants [7] that were later distributed to 16 different businesses while SheaMoisture later invested $1 million in supporting women of colour entrepreneurs and small businesses.
By buying from companies who have started similar programs, you wouldn't directly be donating to these grants, but you would be contributing to the bigger picture and helping them make enough money to help more smaller businesses in the future.