As with everything over the past 18 months, the Covid-19 pandemic has had a major effect on the beauty & aesthetics industry. With clinics being told to close early on, and then being some of the last businesses to open, it has really been a difficult period.
On the patient side, most have been staying inside for long periods of time, perhaps taking less care of their skin, and having to stare themselves in the face through the dreaded Zoom window. This has led to an unprecedented increase in people investigating new skincare routines and treatments.
The graph below shows UK Google searches for “skincare” which skyrocketed in spring of 2020, as the first lockdown began, and remained until summer of 2021.
How have masks affected beauty trends?
With the requirement of face masks in public areas, a new term has been added to the beauty industry lexicon: ‘maskne’ or mask acne. The wearing of face masks can cause us to suffer with even more breakouts as moisture and bacteria can become trapped between ourselves and the mask.
Not only does the mask create a humid and sticky environment for the skin, it can also cause chafing. As the mask then rubs against the skin it can cause microtears which leads to bacteria getting underneath the skin’s surface. Usually we would shed our skin throughout the day, however the wearing of masks has meant this old, dead skin becomes trapped.
What Were 2021’s Top Beauty Trends?
1 – Anti-Aging Treatments
With masks covering the lower half of our faces while we’re out and about, the eye & forehead region – an area of the body that shows signs of aging through wrinkles, has never received more attention.
There’s plenty of products in the medical aesthetics market that have seen a huge rise in demand over the past 12-18 months – one of which has been HIFU (High Intensity Focused Ultrasound) technology.
HIFU – non-invasive ultrasound device that lifts and tightens skin on the face and neck for a younger complexion and tightens loose and crepey skin on the body. The HIFU-powered transducers are designed to either remodel collagen to reduce wrinkles and sagging skin or tighten areas of the body by targeting stubborn pockets of fat or lax skin.
The Ultraformer III by Classys is the most comfortable HIFU treatment on the market with customisable treatments & 7 cartridges for different treatment depths.
Read more – Ultraformer III
2 – Body contouring & fat loss
With gyms being closed, plenty of people came out of lockdown searching for alternative methods on how to boost their weight loss/fat loss. The aesthetics industry has seen a huge demand for non-invasive body contouring and fat loss devices.
With advanced technology there are now ways that patients can achieve liposuction results without the need to go under the knife meaning that treatments require little to no downtime at all, with no pain. The Clatuu Alpha is a Medical CE marked cryolipolysis device that uses cooling technology to kill fat cells at an optimum temperature of -9°. Practitioners are also able to treat any area at any angle, easing use over the whole body.
Read more – CLATUU ALPHA by Classys
3 – Botox
While Botox is not a new modality, there’s still a huge demand within the aesthetics industry for patients wanting the anti-wrinkle treatment. Patients are however, looking for more understated and subtle use of Botox. Patients are looking for smaller amounts of the treatment in order to change their faces only slightly – they are wanting treatments to look more natural without looking drastically different, the industry has seen a huge demand in the need for smoothing out fine lines and wrinkles – particularly around the eyes and forehead.
4 – Medical grade facials
During lockdown plenty of us opted to look into more home skincare solutions, with a high demand for home use skincare products –
“Of course, with less need for make-up and other occasion-reliant products, we’ve seen more of a pivot from brands (that sell multiple categories) towards skincare, and anything else that falls under the bracket of ‘self-care’.” – Nikki Gilliland, Econsultancy
Once out of lockdown when clinics reopened, the popularity of medical grade facials also soared.
With patients looking to combat the outbreaks caused by the wearing of masks during the Covid-19 pandemic, clinics have looked to upgrade their skincare options.
The Aquapure device provides patients with the perfect post-lockdown treatment to combat problematic skin as a result of maskne, and can help the effects of aging. The Aquapure is a 4 in 1 Hydradermabrasion device for clearer, brighter, hydrated and younger-looking skin.
Aquapure treatment is suitable for all skin types and can help to combat a multitude of skin concerns. Promotes healthy skin and peels away impurities & dead skin.
The aesthetics & beauty industry is always seeing changes in trends – we’re looking forward to seeing what 2022 has in store!
