Self-Care or Social Currency?

Beauty and wellness have increasingly intertwined, with wellness-centered beauty emerging as the latest industry ideal. But are these routines true self-care, or is wellness being rebranded and commodified for performance? 

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Beauty and wellness have become increasingly intersected, with wellness-centered beauty emerging as the newest trend in beauty. Wellness initially entered the industry under the guise of “green beauty”, focusing more on sustainability and ethical consumption. This then morphed into a subsection with clean beauty, focusing on safe ingredients in beauty products and their long-term impacts on the body. Now wellness has been thrust to the forefront of the industry, focusing heavily on holistic beauty. But are these routines true acts of self-care, or is wellness being rebranded and commodified for profit? 

According to McKinsey & Company, 82 percent of US consumers now consider wellness a top or important priority in their everyday lives. Appearance-based wellness is reported as the purchasing category Millennials and Gen Z buy into the most, with many consumers prioritizing buying products to address physical and mental health. This has created a unique opportunity for brands to develop wellness products that address more than just appearance; many have already begun innovating in categories such as sleep, mental health, sexual health, among others. 

These wellness-centered routines have already begun to make headlines, with holistic beauty routines positioned as self-care and acts of self-love. Social media has taken kindly to these new routines, with many creators making “GRWM” (Get-Ready-with-Me) videos and holistic beauty product hauls. However, these videos have begun to be more about the “aestheticization” of the routines than about the actual routines themselves. This leads to the question: Are these routines genuinely about maintaining one's well-being, or are they unintentionally enforcing a standard of performative self-care? 

According to Silk & Sonder, the term self-care first emerged in the 1950s and gained popularity following the civil rights movement. This term surged to popularity in the late 2010s, with self-care itself being the initial focus when it first became mainstream. Self-care first evolved to include beauty as a means through more DIY and affordable remedies, such as homemade face masks. 

However, with the rise of short-form videos and increasing popularity of the beauty industry at large among all age groups, it has since become more commodified, focusing more on the act of having a viral item that brands promote to make money more than the feeling of care that it could bring or what works best for the person using it. “Self-care” has become more externally dictated by trends and brands, leading consumers to want more products or covet more expensive “aspirational” products as time goes on. 

Brands have also become increasingly more transparent about the way that they market to consumers, promising a “best version” of themselves that is always out of reach before offering a product as a temporary solution. Although this has always existed, holistic beauty has taken it to the next level. While brands utilize serene visuals, soft and self-focused language, and empowerment as marketing tools, many also make unauthorized claims for their products. These products, which cost an exorbitant amount of money and are marketed as being made with “natural and organic” ingredients and ethical practices, are often proven to be misleading or are recalled due to false claims. 

Photo from Getty Images. Photographed by Rachel Murray, January 2020. Available via Vogue. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.  

Goop, a holistic beauty and wellness brand created by the actress Gwyneth Paltrow, has faced several controversies as a result of false advertising and deceptive health claims. One of the most famous situations of backlash for the brand is in the now infamous vaginal, or yoni egg, which claimed that consumers that used it to balance hormones, boost self-love and regulate menstrual cycles among other claims. According to Vox, the company was slapped with over $145,000 in civil penalties for “unsubstantiated marketing claims”.  

The Honest Company, founded by Jessica Alba, is another holistic beauty and wellness brand that has been facing controversy due to misleading marketing practices and product efficacy. The company has faced several legal issues and lawsuits as a result of false advertising and false claims on over 41 products, according to US Weekly and Latana, including sunscreen, laundry detergent, and formula, as well as others.  

Promising that a branded face mask or wellness item will solve things until the next problem arises ensures that new products come to the forefront of the industry every day as the “latest and greatest”. This continues the never-ending cycle of offering products and services that will solve issues that consumers might not have noticed before. Still, frequently, they aren’t even problems until the industry positions them as such. 

All of this being said, it leads me to ask: If this new version of self-care is dictated by the need to consume and conform, does it still count as self-care? My answer would likely be no, because at the end of the day, partaking in a routine to be accepted completely discounts self-care as a term and instead aligns more with social pressure and standardization. 

The average age at which children have started using beauty products has decreased to 8 years old as opposed to the previous 13 years old, according to the Los Angeles Times. With this decrease in age and the vast difference in marketing products, it’s important that if beauty wants to remain on the path of holistic beauty, it’s important that consumers are well-educated and aware of what they are using on, in, and around their bodies. 

Education remains a key factor in this ongoing struggle, as it helps consumers reject the standards set by the beauty industry and instead focus on the most pressing issue of today: ensuring products are safe for use. Encouraging intentional and aligned purchasing is another way to ensure consumers prioritize their safety and foster true self-care and self-love, emphasizing “feeling good” over “looking good” or conforming to what is being promoted. Ultimately, understanding what wellness means to each individual, without being influenced by external factors, can make a significant difference and help combat the pressure associated with industry standards and popular trends. 

Wellness can be a powerful tool for consumers if the industry forgoes its need for commodification and profit, and remembers that consumers are truly the focus. Real wellness for consumers isn’t a one-size-fits-all; instead of being black and white, it exists in the gray area, where consumers get to decide for themselves. So what will you decide?