THE KIDS ARE NOT ALRIGHT

HYGIENE SHAMING

Our research shows just how widespread hygiene poverty and hygiene shaming is - and how it’s getting worse because of coronavirus. One in three teachers anticipate a rise in hygiene poverty due to the coronavirus pandemic.

44% of teachers have witnessed children being bullied because of hygiene shaming
39% has witnessed children’s mental health suffer due to hygiene shaming
38% of teachers have offered pupils hygiene items like deodorant and toothpaste

Shame makes children and adolescents feel small, humiliated and bad about themselves. The effects of shame are connected to depression and anxiety disorders - all of which make learning harder and friendships more challenging.

These matter hugely in a child's life and consequently, in a teacher's. We cannot in any good conscience allow children to feel life limiting shame over a lack of deodorant, toothpaste and soap. We need to help teachers to give kids the hygiene essentials they need to thrive



We identified the term hygiene shaming as shame is at the root of modern-day poverty. If you can’t afford to be clean you can be stigmatised, victim-shamed and bullied and that stigma, that shame is internalized, and you shame and blame yourself. It’s a catastrophic barrier to learning. There are two main factors behind hygiene shaming.

Self-shaming: the shame a child feels because they can’t afford to be clean. 
Peer-shaming: being shamed and bullied by peers because they can’t afford to be clean. 

Donate today to help us in our mission to end hygiene shaming for good.



About Beauty Banks

Our mission is simple - to ensure no-one has to suffer the indignity of being unclean. Right now the UK is a country where millions of families and individuals have to make the choice between buying food or being clean. Where school children are going to school unclean and where mothers ration their babies’ nappies. We don't think this is right or fair. So, our mission is to serve those in hygiene poverty with products they desperately need whilst lobbying government for change. Ours is beauty with purpose.

The research referenced above was carried out by Mortar Research which conducted an online survey among 263 secondary school teachers across the UK. The sample of adults was randomly selected from our survey panel. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability at the country level was  +/- 6.2% at 95% confidence limit. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding. The research was conducted between 13th and 17th August 2020.