The new beautiful

How Covid-19 has changed how we take care of our skin and the resulting beauty trends

Geraldine Cupido

OVER a year into the pandemic, we’ve all come to terms with the fact that staying indoors is the best way to protect ourselves from the potentially lifethreatening infection.

Covid-19 has forced us to become more vigilant about our health, germ protection and hygiene.

Putting on a mask when leaving your home has become as normal, even more essential, than putting on a pair of shoes.

Needless to say, the pandemic has forced us to change our lifestyles on so many levels.

During hard lockdown people found innovative ways to remedy tasks that would generally involve going out into the world.

This becomes most evident on the beauty front.

People soon realised that they could no longer go to a salon to have their nails done or to get their regular facials. Hairdressers were no longer available to keep your tresses in place or your colour from fading.

Hence there was a rise in DIY beauty solutions. From homemade face masks to DIY mani and pedis, people had to make do with what they had to maintain their beauty.

Since people were no longer leaving their homes, it meant that many women stopped wearing make-up.

Now women pay close attention to their skin instead of hiding it under layers of make-up, making bare skin one of the healthiest beauty “trends” to come out of the pandemic.

Unfortunately, while we fiercely protect ourselves from the virus by wearing a mask, it is the very protective shield that has caused many people to suffer from what has now been termed as maskne.

The pandemic has changed how we take care of skin. People have become more conscious about what they put on their skin. This in turn changed the beauty industry as a whole.

Beauty is now more centred around achieving and maintaining healthy skin rather than beautifying it. With this in mind, here are healthy beauty trends we will be seeing more of in the second half of 2021.

Conscious consumers

Consumers have become more informed about ingredients and are taking the time to read the fine print on beauty products. Depending on what they are looking for in a product, people research the “miracle” active ingredients that brands are pushing before buying. There’s now a stronger movement towards natural products than ever PEOPLE want to know what’s inside the products they are using. | PEXELS before with more and more people opting to support organic, plantbased and locally sourced products. Embracing change Au naturel From barely there make-up to natural hair, there’s a definite shift away from the overcontoured faces and flat-ironed hair as with people going back to basics. People are embracing their natural hair and becoming more comfortable in their own skin. Virtual testing Since we’re still spending most of our time indoors in the strive to stay clear from possible infection, we’ve seen a growth in online consumerism. Shopping online has, however, presented challenges to those in the beauty industry. Especially when it comes to make-up products. We’re so used to stepping into a store and trying on make-up. In order to accommodate this, brands are now starting to use “virtual sampling” where a consumer can “test” a colour, be it lipstick or eyeshadow, online.

PEOPLE want to know what’s inside the products they are using. | PEXELS