Resilient beauty and the consumer desire to ‘bounce back’ in 2022

What is resilient beauty? 

We know our skin and hair are challenged everyday by various factors including damage from our personal care routines and the impact of our lifestyle choices. As a result, consumers have long looked for ways to repair and care for their skin and hair.

Following almost two years of unprecedented change and a greater focus on health and wellbeing, we, as consumers, have developed new coping strategies and are looking for beauty solutions that help facilitate more resilient hair and skin. This has shifted our personal care priorities and routines, putting the emphasis on feeling rather than looking good and influencing the choices we make when selecting beauty products.

Why has this trend emerged now? 

As mentioned, the pandemic introduced the notion of resilience to many consumers and, as it turns out, lots of us have found this resilience rewarding (Mintel, 2021). This has facilitated a ‘build back better’ mentality, making us consider both our own health and wellness, and the future of the planet. We have greater appreciation of the impact our choices can have on our hair and skin and have been empowered to find tailored personal care solutions that help them to be resilient. Key aspects of the trend include: 

Self-care

Self-care has been the mantra of the COVID-19 pandemic, with many of us realising the importance of taking care of ourselves to enhance our resilience against difficulties. With the stress and uncertainty we have been facing, our hair and beauty regimes have offered a chance to relax, restore normality and provide relief. In fact, research shows that in the UK 45% of 16-34-year-olds have undertaken more beauty and personal care activities to reduce stress and anxiety since the pandemic began. (Lightspeed/Mintel) This trend has not just been seen in consumer behaviour. The personal care industry has been advocating self-care and wellness in recent years and there is no better time than now to deliver that message and encourage consumers to look and feel their best. Brands can tap into this growing beauty space with ingredients and products that promote relaxation and relief. 

(Mintel GNPD, 2021)

If you’d like to read more about the trend for self-care and simplicity, head to our recent blog article, ‘Beauty in simplicity – less is more’. 

Sustainability

Another element of the resilient beauty trend is about building a stronger and more sustainable future. Recent shocking scenes, such as how clear the water in Venice is when not polluted through excessive tourism, have demonstrated the resilience of the world and highlighted the power that we hold in the choices we make every day. 

This, along with the ‘build back mentality’ mentioned earlier, has galvanised many consumers. Many of us are now looking to take on social responsibility and protect the environment just as we protect ourselves. We expect the beauty industry and innovations to support this with sustainable solutions that do good whilst boosting morale. 

The Beauty and Personal Care (BPC) industry has recognised this and eco and ethical claims are seeing continuous growth in all regions:

(Mintel GNPD, 2021)

How can you meet the resilient beauty trend?

With innovative ingredients and formulations, we can help to build resilience against some of the challenges we put our hair and skin through every day. For consumers this is not just about aesthetics. We have a greater focus and understanding of areas such as the scalp and the skin microbiome, and how these can help to maintain the look and feel we all strive for without compromising on the health of our hair and skin. 

Our new trend presentation explores some areas to consider within resilient beauty to help hair and skin keep bouncing back, including: 
• Scalp care
• Anti-colour fade
• Pro-ageing
• Sleep-time skincare 
• And more…

You can also explore our extensive range of quality ingredients and large library of on-trend guide formulations, helping you to design inspirational personal care formulations that satisfy the resilient beauty trend. Explore some of them below.