A couple of weeks ago, while on a morning call with my team, I realised I had nothing new to pitch; ‘must be the creative block,’ I thought. And as I frantically searched for an idea skimming through different online platforms, I realised I wasn’t convinced with any. How many times can I recommend the best shampoo for dry hair or moisturisers for oily skin to my readers? I’m exhausted and I believe so is an average beauty consumer. While I used to jump at the news of another global brand foraying into the Indian market, I now wonder if simpler times with just a couple of drugstore options were better and more gratifying? Welcome to the times of beauty burnout.
Elaborate beauty routines, new product formulas, and the aesthetic industry as a whole are being sold to us as self-care–a way to feel confident and pamper ourselves. However, it’s leaving the consumer drained–the struggle to reach a decision whether or not you need a product and if you do, then which brand to go for? Or whether you need to invest in a full-size tube or if a budgeted option is as effective as its expensive counterpart? The result is often a wrong choice, an expensive, overhyped purchase or an altogether abandonment of the idea of buying the product.
The truth is that we are living in times where we are spoilt for choices and while it may make us sound entitled to complain about it, we are unable to process the overload of beauty information and respective product options. For instance, a few minutes of scrolling on social media makes you believe that you need to start using retinol in your skincare routine if you are in your late twenties. Now as you fret over the fact that you have not only crossed that age but have never heard of the ingredient before, you start looking for the ‘best retinol products for men in 30s’ on the internet. The result pages enlighten you further that retinol comes in different product formats–from serums to OTC tubes–and yet, you don’t have answers to your doubts–do you need retinol? Do you know how to incorporate it in your existing skincare routine? Do you know that it can cause more harm to the skin when used incorrectly?
The burnout is real, and I am not the only one going through it. A quick search on the internet about beauty burnout will tell you about its symptoms–content fatigue, risky financial decisions, urge to opt out, hyper self-consciousness and anxiety before appearing for any social event. Add the ubiquitous status of social media to the mix which makes it harder to ignore the plethora of options on our feed. Under the guise of self-care, the marketing of beauty products often plays on one’s insecurities making you believe that you might not be doing enough. When you step inside a beauty store to find a solution, the overwhelming number of options doesn’t help either. It’s like being on a hamster wheel.
The growing interest in the field regarding sustainability, clean beauty, simplifying routines, and mindfulness is also becoming counterintuitive. While on one hand the brands want the consumer to be mindful of the product wastage, it’s overdosing him with multiple options. With that, the competition among brands over product ranges, formula, innovation, texture and packaging makes the decision-making a daunting task. Imagine walking down the skincare aisle in a regular cosmetic store and having to weigh your options from at least 10 brands, different price ranges, shelf life, ingredients, internet reviews, brand appeal and brand visibility, it’s a complex decision to make in under 10 minutes. And while you’d like to depend on sales executives for their honest suggestions, they are trained to promote a singular brand of prominence among many others.
First, let’s breakdown the reasons which might be propelling the burnout further. As a consumer who’s aware and has easy access to information on a global level, we are attracted to the novelty of the product regardless of the fact that whether or not we need it in our routine. When the novelty wears off, you look for a reason to buy a new product; let’s accept that we get bored easily and constantly need stimulation, and the new launches feed into it. Moreover, if you are active on social media, peer pressure doesn’t help either. So, what’s the solution? If you are being told to stop buying products or that you don’t need a grooming routine, you’re being fooled again. Understand that it’s going to be a constant tug of war between need and want and if you can ace the balance between the two, you can save time, effort, and money.
Stick to the basics and stay loyal to the brand; if a product seems to work well for you, stick to it unless prescribed otherwise by a dermatologist. If you want to replace an existing product with something new, make sure to stick to a similar price range to your existing product and find something that fills the gap that your last used product left. If you want to replace your anti-frizz conditioner that costs Rs 500, pick something that costs almost the same but also promises extra hydration while working on the frizz. This way you can narrow down the options while sticking to the budget and getting a product that offers a little more.
If there’s one thing that I learned from my research for this article, it is that we are all exhausted trying to navigate through the oversaturated product aisles. And while beauty and grooming should be fun and gratifying, it’s being sold to us for profits at our own expense.
