Endless Zoom calls, home workouts, home haircuts, loungewear. The long periods of lockdown during the pandemic brought many changes to daily life.
With much of the world now re-emerging from these locked-down lifestyles, there are important questions for the beauty, wellness and personal care sectors around the shape of the “new normal.” How did the pandemic affect consumers’ focus on self-care and physical appearance, and will it have a lasting impact?
Lycored undertook market research to provide fresh insights on the issue. In June, the company surveyed 562 consumers in the UK and the US. Over the previous 12 months, all had purchased a beauty, grooming or skincare product, and spent additional time at home due to lockdowns.
More than a third (35%) of consumers said their focus on looking after themselves generally had increased during lockdown, while 31% said they loved themselves more. More than half (57%) had thought about their emotional and mental wellbeing more, while 59% said they had thought about their overall physical wellness more.
The study also found that—contrary to expectations during the early stages of the pandemic—people were more focused on their physical appearance. More than a third (35%) of the consumers said their appearance had become more important to them during lockdown, while only 26% said it had become less important. Among US consumers, the figures were even more significant. Nearly half (48%) said physical appearance had become more important, while 21% said it had become less important.
One reason for this may be the so-called “Zoom effect.” More than half (54%) of Americans said spending more time on video calls had made them think more about their appearance generally. Their greatest concern was the smoothness of their skin (31%), followed by the appearance of their hair (27%), the tone of their skin (26%) and the glow/radiance of their skin (17%).
As a result of the Zoom effect, 34% of respondents said they had tried a new haircare routine and 29% had tried different beauty or grooming products. Four in ten said spending more time at home had meant they were more able to comply with a long-term skincare or beauty routine.
Crucially, this research showed that many consumers plan to do more to do more to support their skin going forward. Globally, 38% expected to purchase topical skincare products more often, with only 10% saying they would do so less often. Demand for ingestible skincare is set to increase as well, with 32% saying they would purchase these products more often.
These survey results align with previous research conducted by Lycored showing that the beauty-from-within category is now firmly in the mainstream and possibly at a tipping point. Demand for ingestible skincare products is growing by leaps and bounds, while nine out of 10 respondents to another recent survey indicated openness to skin and suncare supplements.1
As this research shows, one of the impacts of the pandemic has been to create a new awareness of the kindness we owe to ourselves and each other. It’s never been more important to find ways to proactively take care of our minds, bodies and souls—and it’s happening at levels never seen before.
When we show ourselves love, we can radiate something more powerful and more visible than any make-up. Beauty nutrition works on the same principle. By nourishing the skin from the inside out, we can create an even healthier glow than possible with a topical routine alone.
The research is published in a new whitepaper, ‘Back to life: Beauty and self-care in the post-pandemic world’.
1 Lycored 'Research reveals demand for ingestible suncare among active consumers' (2021)