Trends that have ruled beauty space in 2021 and will continue in 2022

2020 was the year when everyone realised the importance of skin and hair care. Self-care & pampering trends have expeditiously emerged since last year and it has only increased ever since. Blame it on the pandemic for letting each one of us spend a fair amount of time at home indulging in self-care, which obviously turned out to be a boon for us! Certainly, we have seen interest in all things skincare peaking to new heights. We realised we had some cathartic superpowers of getting all that grooming done by ourselves…we were our own hairstylists, dermatologists, and self-care experts! We also realised the harm we had caused to the environment in the past incalculable years, due to which a lot of natural & make-at-home DIY for skin and hair care came into being. Then, with every workplace operating from home, the whole idea of getting ready for virtual zoom-sessions by putting on your last-minute lip and cheek tints while still being in the pyjamas was born...and it seems like while we have gotten out of our pyjamas, we might have not quite been able to get out of our tints! 

Then again, with the reopening of the workplaces and the unlock nationwide in 2021, what was commendable was that, while taking care of their skin, most people remembered to use natural, toxin-free products. Skin care, hair care, and body care became peoples’ priorities more than ever. People became cautious of what was being put on, and in their bodies. According to what Forbes says, “As we head into 2021, many of the trends we saw emerge last year appear here to stay, and still others remain on the horizon, especially as the world hopefully returns to some glimmer of pre-pandemic normalcy.”

In 2022, the lines between skincare and wellness, and nutrition and wellness will be getting blurred. Power gummies, multivitamins, and a lot other trends would be seen ruling the beauty space in the coming years. What started from off-the-shelf hand sanitisers with the onset of the pandemic era, went onto in-depth probiotic skincare to antibacterial haircare and a reacceptance of our own, natural self. Below are some of the forecasted beauty trends that emerged in this year and will continue in 2022.

 1. Clean, Transparent Skincare

Transparency is the key! Staying true to yourself and your consumers in terms of what ingredients your products are made of, are you following ethical practices in making them is necessary. Putting an end to ambiguous labeling and making labels as crystal clear as possible. With people getting aware of what goes in their skin, they have started paying more attention to the ingredient list on the mono cartons of what they buy. And as demands rise, so does the supply! Therefore, more brands are coming up with transparency, what they use in their products, and how they manufacture them!

2. Blue Light Protection

With almost everything going digital in this age, Blue light is the new problem – skin aggressor that we all need to protect our skin against with augmenting concerns about premature skin aging. We have certainly grown up hearing the cautionary tales of the adverse effects of harsh sun rays, however, the innovations in technology mean that they aren’t the only bad guys on the block. Blue light also known as High Energy Visible (HEV) light is emitted through all sorts of gadgets such as tablets, smartphones, laptops, and other related devices. According to the experts, HEV is capable of penetrating deeper into the skin than UVA and UVB sun rays.

Tech neck, eye strain, and headaches are not just the only byproducts of increased screen time. Blue light also takes a toll on your skin, and especially exposure to this form during the nighttime is believed to wreak havoc on the skin’s natural repair process. To arm you against this newfound skin pollutant, skincare formulated with anti-aggressors are being considered and very much in trend.

3. Sustainable Beauty

Sustainable is the Future! Most beauty products today contain toxic chemicals which can be harmful for your skin as well as the environment. How would you like to lather up your skins with chemicals all day? Same way, the Earth is also gradually covering up in chemicals released out of the beauty industries during its manufacturing. Hence, it is now very crucial for industries, not only beauty, but other segments to have a check upon them. Customers have now started being conscious and mindful of their choices. They are slowly becoming aware of the toxicities the beauty products subjected them to and are now switching on to cleaner beauty brands slowly, but surely. Sustainability is a very wide term when it comes to defining it. What really is sustainability? Essentially, it is reusing, repurposing, recycling and reducing. Clean Beauty has only started to evolve during the past 3-5 years. Saying that all beauty brands are sustainable would be a fabrication. We are still learning and growing as conscious beings and trying to improve slowly, but surely. Since, the booming, bigger brands are yet to adapt to clean means, the beauty industry becoming sustainable is a little outlying an idea to come into existence. However, after the outbreak of the pandemic, people have grown well-informed about the clean and natural ingredients in their beauty products. And due to increased awareness, the clean beauty market is expected to grow in the coming years.

 4. Custom-made products

Today’s beauty consumers reject the “one size fits all” mould that was once the standard of the beauty industry. Customisation according to skin types is what the brands have set their eyes upon next. Custom foundations, custom concealers, customized lip shades, and even custom hair care are in vogue.

Custom beauty today has gone one step further, by converging technology, science, and beauty with e-commerce. These elements combined, allow brands to engineer the perfect products, entirely customized to an individual’s needs, and all from the comfort of their own home.

 5. Plant-based products

2022 comes forward with the concept of green beauty, inspired by green chemistry. Just like in 2021, it lays emphasis more on natural, plant-based ingredients.  Skincare with probiotic-infused products that add bacteria to the skin and help it maintain its optimal balance. Although they are present in some skincare products presently, they are going to be used exponentially as the research on prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics advances.

Chlorophyll does much more than just helping plants during photosynthesis. It can do wonders to your skin and body as it has vitamins that are beneficial for all skin types. It can reduce acne, minimize wrinkles, calm irritation, and a lot more!

Long before it was used in skincare products, it was used in Indian Ayurvedic treatments & ailments. Extracted from the leaves and seeds of the Psoralea corylifolia plant, it has antioxidizing and anti-aging properties. This ingredient, widely used in 2021, is bound to be the future replacement of retinol soon!

6. Skinmalism

Embracing natural skin and even natural hair has been doing rounds recently since the start of the pandemic era. Being comfortable in your own skin and hair is the ‘It-Trend’ in the beauty space today. The no makeup-makeup look is doing rounds again and is here to stay! According to Pinterest’s 2021 Trends Predictions report, people are forfeiting a complicated makeup routine to embrace slow beauty and let their natural skin texture shine through (think glowy skin and visible freckles).

 7. Clean Beauty- natural & non-toxic products

From ancient times, people have known that natural ingredients are best for the skin. No wonder that women nowadays are turning towards natural cosmetics again as their essential beauty products and it is turning into a trend which will continue in the future. This was the vision before starting Vanity Wagon, and therefore, it houses brands that use natural ingredients in their production of natural cosmetics plus skin and hair care. Clean Beauty is a segment that brings us closer towards the ultimate goal, Sustainability. And it is the increased awareness of health and environmental sustainability that are the “big drivers in moving forward the clean beauty movement.”