Beauty in darkness: a “look” on the consumer experience of visually impaired women in beauty and aesthetic services

Abstract

This work aims to report results of a survey that aimed to investigate the universe of the visually impaired, specifically women who are visually impaired, as consumers of beauty services and aesthetics. The qualitative study and “ethnographic inspiration” theoretically grounded to us visually impaired subjects, consumption and experience in consumer services in order to discover the symbolic aspects portrayed on these issues and how visually impaired women experience their experiences and build their meanings. It can be seen in the discussion of the results that the consumption of beauty services and aesthetics is a kind of credential that enables women with visual disabilities usually live their routines at the same time allowing them showing own tastes and styles making them visible to society. These considerations reinforce the idea that each social group has its own forms of (re) construction and manipulation of meanings, in sum, the same product or service can (and always has) meanings constructed socially and culturally otherwise. Keywords: Visual Impairment. Consumer Experience. ConsumerCultureTheory. Beauty.