Beauty Banks tackles childhood hygiene poverty

Throughout the school holidays Beauty Banks has been providing care packages containing essential personal care products for children affected by hygiene poverty.

A growing crisis in the UK, hygiene poverty is experienced by millions of families who struggle to afford basic items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, body wash, period care and SPF. Beauty Banks reports that during the course of 2024 demand for these items has ‘surged by 141%’ due to the cost of living crisis.

The Stay Fresh Holiday Hygiene Appeal has distributed 420 personal care packs to school-aged children across the UK, designed to cover them for the entirety of their time off and help them feel ‘clean, confident and healthy when they should be enjoying the holidays’.

It is Beauty Banks’ mantra that ‘every child deserves a clean start’, with basic hygiene being ‘fundamental to a child’s development and wellbeing’. “Without regular access to hygiene products, children’s mental, physical and emotional health is at risk; they can be the target of bullies or self-isolate due to shame, embarrassment and anxiety,” says the charity.

Jo Jones, co-founder of Beauty Banks, says the campaign exists to ‘support children in low-income families during the long school summer holidays so they do not have to live with the added burden of poor hygiene’.

In June and July Beauty Banks also provided 300 food banks and homeless shelters across the UK with bulk deliveries of essential hygiene items.

Now, as students begin to return to school, the charity hopes to maintain a consistent level of aid and is calling on industry to back its efforts.

Having reached £5,844.00 of its £20,000 target, Beauty Banks is looking to brands to contribute to its ongoing work by way of donations: £20 would enable the charity to support two children with individual Stay Fresh wellbeing kits, each lasting up to eight weeks; £100 would cover five children; and £200 would help 20 children.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to facilitate the donations process, and all companies which contribute to the fund will be publicly acknowledged on Beauty Banks’ website and social media.

By Rosie Greenaway, editor