Will You Be Booking Back Into Your Beauty Salon Post-Pandemic?

Back to Basics: What’s your post-pandemic beauty routine?

Some famous economist that no one has ever heard of once said that the world ‘s economy would crash if women stopped caring about the way they look. The beauty industry is worth billions and its propped up on the fact that women believe they need to alter their appearance, to get jobs, to get a partner, simply to just exist in the world. But then in early 2020, we all went indoors. Within a matter of weeks, bras were gone, body hair was unshaven and we all stopped “making the effort”. Because that’s what it is, ‘effort’. So is it still worth it or have we turned the page?

Beauty is my business but also a genuine interest/hobby of mine so I’m both curious and invested in where we go from here. This little investigation began with a simple conversation with a friend about her beauty routine pre-pandemic. In an average 8-10 week period, her beauty calendar went something like this:

• Hair appointment – she’s a blonde so this also involved buying a special shampoo for maintenance in between appointments.
• Nails – Acrylic talons are a must apparently.
• Waxing – legs, underarms, and lady garden.
• Threading – There is a separate appointment for facial hair: brows and ‘tache.
• Lashes – lash extensions to achieve that doe-eyed doll look.
• Tanning – A He-Shi spray tan for a special occasion otherwise she self-tans twice a week at home.
• Skincare – Like all good beauty enthusiasts she has a separate ASAP morning and evening routine as well as a collection of Skinician and Happy Skin face masks for a mid-week at-home facial.
• Make–up – A full face of Delilah every day!

And that doesn’t include the year-round gym membership and the bi-annual filler injections to maintain her plump pout. It’s exhausting. And expensive! So, how does my friend look now post-pandemic? Because beauty makes her feel good, she resorted to a little at-home DIY. The lash extensions were the first to go but a little Long 4 Lashes growth serum made her a convert. When she feels like a little body hair maintenance, she goes back to the old faithfuls: the tweezer and the razor. Thankfully, she listened to the experts and resisted the temptation to do her own roots and so has embraced the 80s Madonna look.  And like the rest of us, she managed a few home workouts before giving up and succumbing to the inevitable: she gained the Covid stone. And she looks beautiful!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating that we all go full ’cave woman’, continue to pay your friendly neighborhood beautician a visit (wink!).The point is, we all lead busy lives and our beauty routines are taking up a lot of time and energy. Sometimes, that time and energy are essential. It’s ‘me time’! It’s a chance for you to focus on yourself, a treat of some well-earned pampering. Other times it’s a chore, something you feel you need to do to be accepted. Lets stop doing that stuff!

I’ll leave you with a quote from Kim Cattrall, the actress who recently hung up her Manolos as Samantha in Sex and the City, the sexually confident woman in her 50s who looks half her age. “I don’t want to be in a situation for even an hour where I’m not enjoying myself.” That’s the energy I’m taking into 2021.

Thanks for visiting,

Niamh x