We are very pleased to publish the seventh book in the Studies in Social Harm series. Our series, which began in 2014, aims to provide novel and cutting edge analysis of the serious harms that affect society. Transversing disciplinary boundaries, the series aims to highlight some of the most damaging harms which evade legal sanction and often public scrutiny too. These harms affect human and non-human species and increasingly the planet and environment. Employing different theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches and novel investigations, the book series addresses key questions relating to what harms, how, and why. Ultimately, it is through the posing of these questions that we can address how harms can be mitigated.

Sam Barnes’ Harms of Beauty presents a fascinating account of the wide ranging harms associated with the burgeoning beauty industry. Seeking to move away from an approach which labels young people as deviant, Barnes’ investigation involves a rich ethnography to better understand young people pursuit of beauty. Although the desire for beauty has been ever present, Barnes’ book explores how this obsession with beauty in capitalist societies has become associated with hyper-individualised competitive consumer culture fuelled by the rapid proliferation of legal, illegal and counterfeit beauty markets. Barnes’ definition of beauty products and services is broad, encompassing “skincare, haircare, and make-up products, cosmetic injectables, perfume and aftershaves, weight-loss drugs, teeth whitening products and procedures, and anti-ageing and tanning products … fitness and healthy eating regimes … so-called ‘health and wellbeing’ products”, as well plastic surgery and health tourism.