The research investigated the trait predictors of the propensity to use two beautification procedures that have the potential to harm health -the propensities to tan and to obtain cosmetic surgery. The results of a survey of 231 adult consumers revealed that a different combination of hierarchically arranged traits was predictive of the two procedures. These results suggest that different strategies are required in order to market or demarket tanning and plastic surgery. The research also made methodological contributions by revealing that two forms of vanity identified in the literature -physical view vanity and physical concern vanity -represent two different constructs rather than two dimensions of an underlying construct.