Over the last five years, we saw the emergence of global self-care trends and the pandemic accelerated them. In the future we will see a more holistic and forgiving approach to self-care. People are increasingly making the connection between lifestyle and the impact on their skin.
The pandemic and the Zoom-lens we have lived through has also increased the acceptance of the unfiltered us. While we might blur our backgrounds, the emphasis has been putting our best, unfiltered skin forward. Pimple patches on Zoom calls, in-between meeting ‘tweakments,’ are signs of a more natural and care oriented vs. cosmetic approach to our skin in the future.
The growth of the skin and acne positivity movements are examples of this forgiving and rejection-of-perfection shift.
The significance of the COVID crisis caused a lot of people to reflect on, reassess and re-evaluate their lives, what things were important and what changes they might make once they re-emerged.
In our Patchology Self-Care Survey (August 2022 USA) we asked respondents what importance they were placing on self-care now vs. pre-pandemic and into the future , as well as what aspectsof life they were now placing more importance on now vs. pre-pandemic. These aspects of life are related to our sense of self (mental and physical health), our sense of belonging (friends and family) and our relationship to the elements around us (our personal space and the wider environment).
Our study revealed that some respondents had, over the COVID period, been through a process of self-realization, placing more importance on the aspects of health, close relationships and their relationship with their immediate and wider environment than they had prior to the pandemic. This same group of people were also significantly more likely to place more importance on self-care and investment in themselves – achieving self-actualization.
We also found the reverse to be true. Those placing less importance on the aspects of life also spend less time and effort on self-care when compared to pre-pandemic times. However, when looking at future intentions, both of those who increased and decreased the importance placed on self-care during the crisis planned on increasing their efforts in the future.
The chart below illustrates the fact that those who, post-pandemic, had developed a higher appreciation for facets of life we often take for granted were also much more likely to be invested in self-care now and in the future. Inversely those who hadn’t were less likely to be investing in their self-care now and into the future
