How Your Beauty Addiction Might Just Be Your Hidden Superpower
Main image – Ohlamourstudio/Stocksy
If you’re here on the pages of Live That Glow, let’s face it, it’s probably because you love beauty. And let me be the first to assure you, you’re not alone.
But while beauty means so many different things to so many of us (self-care, a sense of routine, a hit of confidence…), it may not immediately be the thing that jumps to mind when you think of giving back.
Because in a world where a seemingly endless stream of bad news can often make us feel pretty powerless, we can be forgiven for sometimes feeling like making time for our own self-care is somehow “not useful”.
But you might be surprised to learn just how much your beauty fandom might just be about to become your hidden superpower (yes, really).
Here I speak to Jo Jones, co-founder of beauty charity Beauty Banks to find out just how much power the beauty community actually has to make a real difference to people’s lives.
The women behind Beauty Banks
Now, full disclosure: I’ve actually known Jo Jones for a long time. When I first met her, I was just starting out as a humble beauty assistant at Glamour, and she was a senior PR. I looked up to her as the oracle of the beauty industry and, frankly, someone who always seemed to have her s**t together.
Jo Jones. Image – @Joljones/Instagram
Fast forward 18 years and she’s still that same inspirational PR and brand building expert. Only six years ago, she added co-founder of Beauty Banks to her title, an organisation she runs with mega-star journalist Sali Hughes, which supports people in the UK who can’t afford to be clean.
Beauty Banks’ aim is to put a stop to hygiene poverty by distributing hygiene essentials like toothpaste, soap and shampoo, to over 450 UK-based charities. It’s a bit like food banks, only for basic self-care and a crucial concept that, shockingly, no one else had given much thought to before.
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“It’s about giving people access to basic hygiene we all take for granted and reducing shame,” Jones told us. “Hygiene Poverty can easily happen to anyone, and it can affect how you feel and perform at school or work.”
Here, she tells us how the idea for Beauty Banks went from one simple conversation at a lavish fashion event to hopefully changing the face of hygiene poverty for good.
A light bulb moment
Jones says the idea for Beauty Banks all started at an opulent fashion event for Roland Mouret. “Sali and I were guests and we thought, ‘how fortunate we are to be invited here?’” They chatted about what they’d been up to that week and realised they had both been doing charity work.
“Sali had been at a homeless shelter in Cardiff, and she’d seen packets of airline toiletries lying around and asked what they were for,” she explains. “They said they were for homeless people who had transient lives and needed hygiene products while they were moving around. I’d also been volunteering at a food bank and saw they were giving away sanitary supplies as well as food.”
This is when the light bulb moment happened. “We were there at this amazing event thinking ‘there is so much product in the beauty industry but many other people still have nothing’,” she says. “We’re both doers and we were both in an angry place with the world and the way it was then six years ago just after Brexit and this was our way of channelling it.”
So they did something about it. “We decided to do something that helped redistribute from the people and brands that have to the people who don’t have,” she says. “We chose the name Beauty Banks so people could understand really easily exactly what we do.”
And it’s amazing what effect a simple post on social media can have. “It was really basic,” Jones says. “We launched on Sali’s Instagram with an Amazon wishlist shopping page and we were inundated with product from day one.” And now? They’re a registered charity.
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“Neither of us ever thought we’d be running a charity. We did this thing with the best of intentions and then it got much bigger than we expected, and we had to learn on the job,” she continues. “We now thankfully have a small team of three paid for by our corporate sponsors, not by people’s donations. 100% of what people donate goes to products. Neither Sali or I draw a salary or expenses.”
How it works
This is where beauty fans come in; it’s through a combination of donations of product and money from members of the public, as well as donations of overstock product from brands that Beauty Banks is able to help so many people.
Many of the products donated are dropped straight into in-store collection boxes by people who, while doing their own self-care shop, are thinking of others too.
“We take donations of money and product and distribute them to charities across the UK who can give them to the people most in need,” Jones says.
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Those donations then get sent out to via local charities who are able to distribute them where they’re needed most. “We work with nearly 400 charities, including food banks, domestic violence charities, homeless charities, schools, youth facilities, and care associations.”
“Charities can apply via our website and they have to be a registered charity,” she explains. “We haven’t yet had to turn any away and we send bulk donations to each of our charities. Basically we ask them what they need and then we send it in bulk. This helps reduce packaging and storage costs too so that more of the money people donate actually goes to where it’s needed.”
And it’s important to Jones and Hughes that people know where their donations are going. “We wanted to build a movement that helps people directly, so we like to go into deep dives on social media showing people where their donations go,” says Jones. “We also endeavour to keep it local to whoever is donating to us, so that if you donate products in Manchester they will be distributed to people who need them in your community by a local charity.”
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And she says that sometimes, Beauty Banks can even step back and just let the ‘pay it forward’ magic happen. “Knowing that what you’re donating is staying in your local community makes it even more appealing for people and often we then create connections between a person and a charity where we then no longer need to be involved,” she explains.
“We’ve introduced them and created a connection and then they don’t need to go through us anymore, which is great. As long as the product is getting to people, we don’t need it to necessarily always be through us.”
How you can get involved
When it comes to helping those in need, let’s face it – the more the merrier (and don’t worry, you don’t just have to be from the UK to help out at a beauty charity. More on this below).
Cash is the most cost-effective method for helping though, according to Jones. “The most helpful thing you can do is donate money because it enables us to spend it on what we need at that particular point, for example buying large quantities of period products for charities,” Jones says.
“You can donate products directly at our drop off points too, but when people donate products directly, we also incur storing and packing costs, while with cash we can buy what’s needed and then send it to a charity directly.”
If you’d prefer to donate product though, there are plenty of donation points. “Superdrug have drop off points across the country in their flagship stores and you can donate products there directly in most major cities across the UK,” she adds.
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“Every store is partnered with a charity in their local community and you don’t have to buy the products you donate from Superdrug. We mainly want the basics like shampoo and shower gel. We always say to people, “just imagine the products that you almost don’t even notice that you’re using; that’s what we need the most of.”
Can people volunteer? “They can but we only have two spaces, one in Croydon and one near Manchester. If anyone has a special skill like being a driver or photographer and can donate their time that can be really helpful for us.”
And if you’ve got a group of pals with stacks of unwanted, unopened products, listen up. “People can also set up a beauty bank among friends or at their place of work and then we can connect them with a local charity.” Genius.
You can get involved with Beauty Banks either from the UK or by donating money from anywhere else in the world on the Beauty Banks website.
For those in the US, there are similar charities helping those in need right across the country. Check out sites like Project Beauty Share and Beauty Bus for more information.
Beauty Banks’ proudest moments
Remember when the world went into lockdown during Covid? (How could we forget?) Jones says this was a crucial time for Beauty Banks. “Over Covid too we raised £100,000 to give elevated beauty products to overworked health workers. It’s the quality of the products we’re often able to give that makes a whole new level. We receive donations of product from companies like the Estee Lauder group and being able to give these products to people can often make them feel even better.”
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And in 2024, Beauty Banks launched its Stay Fresh campaign, helping school children. “We sent out lots of hygiene packs to people who would have otherwise been getting free school meals and support in schools,” she explains.
She explains they raised £20,000, “to give school pupils enough shampoo, shower gel and deodorant to last over the summer.”
The takeaway
Sadly, hygiene poverty is a thing. Whilst buying a bar of soap or bottle of shampoo might seem like a chore to you, it’s a genuine luxury to many. A luxury they cannot afford.
So donate if you can- money will go further- but if it’s products you can give then don’t hold back.
Everyone is worthy of basic self-care. And thanks to charities like Beauty Banks and beauty fans like you, denying anyone’s right to be clean just because of their financial status could soon become a thing of the past.
Get Glowing!
