«Black-Market Body-Mods»: Socio-economic Background of a Shadow Segment of the Beauty Industry on the Example of Aesthetic Body Modification Procedures in Modern Russia

Abstract: 
The modern beauty industry is a multifaceted and rapidly evolving field that encompasses a diverse range of cosmetic and aesthetic services. Focusing on invasive and high-risk beauty procedures such as aesthetic body modifications (tattooing and piercing), this study examines the underlying motivations for consumers to engage in shadow sector beauty services and the mechanisms of consumer risk management in conditions of elevated medical risks. Based on semi-structured interviews with 17 adult consumers of tattooing and piercing services from the informal sector, the following socio-economic motivations for preferring unlicensed practitioners were identified: cost-savings, low levels of trust in the salon industry, elements of experience economy, a desire for private and ritualistic atmosphere, prioritization of artistic taste and expertise over potential risks, and perceiving medicalized risks as minimal. Consumers fear coercive risks and aesthetic expenses. Three typical scenarios of involvement in the shadow sector of body modification services include searching for a practitioner through personal networks, searching for a master on specialized platforms, and consuming body modification services in a third place. In all cases, the role of a mediator is crucial in initiating the first contact between the client and the practitioner. The reciprocal economy of body modifications performs multiple functions, including social inclusion into specific groups. The primary subjective motivations of the home economy of body modifications are cost savings and recreational activity.

Keywords:

doi: 

10.25990/socinstras.pss-26.nx07-gd97

edn: 
NQIZRT
File: 
PDF icon 2024-26-02.pdf
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Received: 
18.12.2024
Revised after review: 
20.12.2024
Accepted for publication: 
24.12.2024
  • Русский