'Girl Math,' Explained: How Women Are Justifying Any and All Self-Care Costs

Anyone scrolling through TikTok has probably already heard of "girl dinner," but there's now a new trend taking over TikTok: "girl math." After sharing their minimal-effort meals, which also sparked a "boy dinner," trend, women across the globe are now revealing the mathematical equations they use to justify their purchases.

The girl math trend was sparked last month after New Zealand daily morning radio show Fletch, Vaughan & Hayley (FVHZM) read a letter from a fan who purchased a $1,000 Deadly Ponies Mr Molten Tote bag. The sender asked for help justifying the purchase, leading to the female radio hosts breaking down the purchase to reveal how much the buyer actually saved, a trend that his quickly spiraled.

@fvhzm

Big fans of girl math 🫶💁‍♀️ #girlmath

♬ original sound – FVHZM

"Here's the maths, I have a Deadly Ponies handbag. I've had it for five years, so now we're at $200 a year, you're less than a $1 a day," Hayley explained before a guest presenter noted, "How many ways can you use a tote, the supermarket, shopping, going away bag, airplane bag. Divide that by four, it's $250 per bag, and we've got four designer bags there."

That video, which has gained more than 750,000 views and nearly 100,000 likes, immediately sparked a "girl math" trend, with FVHZM continuing to promote it with a "girl math" segment. In a recent video, the hosts helped a woman named Andrew who called in to ask if she could justify spending $400 on extensions for her wedding. According to girl math, she absolutely could. Hayley explained that if Andrea chose to save the $400 now, and forgo the extensions, she would look back on the photos and regret the decision, so much so that she'd ultimately have to redo her wedding to get new photos, which could cost upwards of $40,000. By splurging on extensions now, Andrea would be saving $39,600 in the long run. One of the show's producers did some girl math of their own and revealed that Andrea would only be paying $1.40 per inch of hair, making it "basically free."

@samjamessssss

just girl things #girldinner #girlmath

♬ original sound – samjamess

The girl math trend has since spiraled, with other women taking to the video-sharing platform to reveal their own girl math purchases, breaking down the price on the tag to the products use over a long period of time and even how refunds from returns essentially equates to free money. One woman explained that her recent Lululemon shirt purchase, which had a $68 price tag, actually only cost $6 after she exchanged it for a shirt with a $58 price tag, which meant she got a $10 refund. As the woman explained, "so I go to Lululemon. I don't spend money, I get money." She then used the $10 of "free money" she got back to purchase breakfast.

"Girl math is fun logic. It's not about good vs. bad financial decisions. It's meant to be lighthearted," Samantha Jane, a 28-year-old real estate developer and content creator who went viral with her girl math explanation of how "anything under $5 feels like it's pretty much free," told Buzzfeed. "If buying a new dress you feel good in brings you joy – do it! We can justify things however we want to in our heads – we can make our own rules. Girl math reframes the narrative and takes away the shame around spending money. Girl math also isn't gender specific – if it resonates, it's for you!"