Erin Hazelton was 37 when she found out she had stage two invasive breast cancer. The diagnosis came as a complete shock, and she knew that she would be in the fight of her life. What the writer did not expect was to lose everything she believed made her beautiful. “Like many women, I thought my beauty was defined by my long hair, thick eyelashes and eyebrows, healthy skin, and intact body,” she recalls. A love of luxury makeup and skincare fueled Hazelton’s interest in the latest product launches and innovations, and for 20 years, whenever she visited Paris, she never missed a haircut appointment with the celeb. stylist David Mallett. She tried her hand at laser treatments and peels at her dermatologist’s office, and she didn’t hesitate to splash out on Triple Crown facials with Joanna Vargas. However, with her diagnosis, her once-cherished beauty practices were called into question. “It devastated me knowing that my cancer treatment would deprive me of all those things.”
Read the rest of our holiday number
(Image credit: Jessica Chou)
But when her beloved locks fell out, her skin’s vibrancy waned, and scars engulfed her body, Hazelton, to her surprise, didn’t feel ugly, sickly, or unsexy. In fact, she felt more beautiful than ever. “My determination to live came from me,” she says. “I was excited to be alive, to have a second chance at life.” While undergoing treatment, and in the years since she was declared cancer-free, Hazelton realized something important: As wonderful as makeup, hair care, and skin care might be, they were nothing without a sense of inner beauty. And while she may have come to this understanding through some pretty dire circumstances, her new understanding of holistic beauty fits into a larger trend that’s changing the beauty industry in a big way.
While what is considered attractive has waxed and waned throughout history and remains deeply subjective, for the most part it has remained only superficially. It is the symmetry of your face, the smoothness of your skin, the definition of your cheekbones and the length of your eyelashes. It is the flatness of your stomach, the volume of your hair, and the straightness of your teeth.
Today’s youth are rejecting traditional beauty norms en masse.
In recent years, however, a new mindset has emerged and the focus has shifted from looking good on the outside to feeling good on the inside. Thanks to a deeper awareness of mental health conditions and a sense of community fostered through social media, the stigma surrounding emotional disturbances has decreased significantly, opening the door for more candid discussions on the subject. “I think the younger generations — millennials and Gen Z, for example — are much more focused on mental health and emotional well-being,” explains Dr. Evan Rieder, a double-boarded dermatologist and psychiatrist in New York City. .
“Our field has repeatedly made people, especially women, feel that they must conform to societal standards of beauty that are impossible for most people to achieve,” she adds. “And the result of these standards for many has been disorders in mood, anxiety, eating, self-confidence and body perception.”
But after witnessing the havoc that unrealistic beauty standards have wreaked on the mental health and self-esteem of previous generations, today’s youth are rejecting traditional beauty norms en masse and demanding authenticity and transparency.
However, it is not just the traditional representations of beauty, and its effect on mental health, that they are rejecting. It is also the notion that outer beauty exists in a vacuum. “Previously, conversations about outer beauty (and the products used to achieve it) and inner beauty (and the mental and emotional aspects of it) were equally important in public discourse, albeit separately,” says Jennifer Hauser, director General of Consumer Health. and Wellness at Edelman. “But today, these conversations have coalesced, giving rise to a more inclusive and evolved definition of beauty as part of how we view our overall well-being.”
(Image credit: David Graham)
For years, the wellness industry has emphasized the link between internal and external health, stating that we can’t have the latter without the former. And while some skeptics have seen this as a mere marketing ploy, it actually makes some sense. “Your appearance is a reflection of what’s going on inside you,” says Juhi Singh, a specialist in Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine, founder of The Juhi Ash Wellness Center in New York City, and owner of Pure Essentials. “Every thought manifests at the cellular level, and your health will collapse under the pressure of mental or emotional instability.”
And the main areas of the body affected are those most synonymous with physical beauty: skin and hair. “When you’re under a lot of stress and anxiety, there are hormonal imbalances that can result in the body,” explains Dr. Deanne Mraz Robinson, a board-certified dermatologist in Westport, Connecticut. “These can affect everything from skin texture and tone to hair density, and can also trigger inflammatory conditions like acne, rosacea, and eczema.” In fact, according to a 2013 study published in the Indian Journal of Dermatology, an estimated one-third of all dermatology patients have emotional disturbances, and it is this connection that has given rise to psychodermatology, a new subspecialty examining the link between emotional disorders and skin diseases.
Similarly, when someone is feeling good mentally and emotionally, it shows externally. “Often when there are surges of positive neurotransmitters and hormones (eg, oxytocin, serotonin, dopamine), the result can be a positive mood, glowing skin, and even hair growth, and there is preliminary evidence which supports anti-inflammatory and anti-aging action. healing and circulatory effects at the microscopic level,” says Dr. Rieder.
At the same time, it is impossible to deny the impact that external beauty can have on emotional well-being. From facials or hair appointments to nightly skincare routines or a simple application of a favorite lipstick, beauty rituals and practices can have a profound effect on our moods, and beauty brands and products. industry leaders know this. While companies have been leveraging emotion in their branding, marketing, and advertising for many years, it has largely been a shallow attempt at best and a cheap marketing ploy at worst. But today, the industry seems to be grasping the very real connection between inner and outer beauty, both because of increased research and information about it, and because consumers are demanding it.
To LOUM Beauty Co-Founder Kat Bryce, (opens in a new tab) the link was always clear, so it has been at the very core of the company’s identity from the very beginning. “We created LOUM Beauty because we saw the effect of stress on our own skin,” explains Bryce. “But it wasn’t until we started researching and discovered the science of psychodermatology—and 30 years of clinical studies linking mind and skin—that we realized just how fundamental the link was and how much of an impact we can have in products for skin care by reducing the level of stress hormones in the skin.
There is a very clear and well-established link between intestinal health and the condition of the skin.
All of LOUM’s products are made with their patent-pending Tri-Serene formula, which targets and reverses the impact of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline, preventing the skin from experiencing the stress users feel internally. . And while the brand was one of the first to embrace the psychodermatological approach to skincare when it launched in 2020, it knows it won’t be the last.
We’ve also seen supplements, a category long relegated to the worlds of health and medicine, enter the beauty space. “There is a very clear and well-established link between gut health, the microbial balance within the GI tract, and the condition of the skin,” says Felicity Evans, CEO and founder of ingestible beauty brand IMBIBE Living. “Our first formulated products were inner beauty products designed to nourish your gut microbiome and help those with inner health issues which, as we have come to know, have a huge impact on your skin’s health and outer glow. It always comes from within first.”
For other brands, it’s less about the scientific relationship between mental health and physical beauty and more about the abstract emotional effect that can arise from beauty practices. “I believe that intentional moments of care and connection with the body can strengthen our powers of observation: What is my body telling me? How I feel? says Kate McLeod, (opens in a new tab) whose eponymous body care brand is famous for its hydrating body stones. “Creating this pause is a powerful tool for emotional regulation and mental well-being.”
While consumers are hardly shunning beauty products and treatments—both are in fact on the rise—they now see them as part of a bigger picture. “People are realizing, not only with beauty but also with health, that there is no magic product, pill or surgery that will fix the root of everything,” explains Dr. Jonathan Leary, founder and director Remedy Place executive. , a social wellness club with locations in Los Angeles and New York City. “The future is self-care and prevention with a holistic approach.”
Where fear and pressure once ruled the beauty industry, acceptance and inclusion have taken their place. The products, treatments and tools are
now allows users to achieve their own version of beauty. “Inner and outer beauty go hand in hand for me, and I find the holistic approach to be empowering and uplifting,” says Dr. Rieder. “I think this is changing for the better, and I think it’s here to stay.”
changing perspective
As the connection between physical and mental well-being becomes more established, a handful of new brands have emerged with a mission to unify the two sides of beauty.
(opens in a new tab)
Self Made Personal Reveal Intimacy Serum
Founded in 2020, Selfmade is a ritual-based, emotionally intelligent beauty brand that connects clean, sustainable products with self-exploration.
(opens in a new tab)
Harmonist Moon Glory perfume
Harnessing the influence of feng shui, The Harmonist perfumery offers emotional balance and tranquility through scent to provide greater self-discovery and self-understanding.
(opens in a new tab)
Solvasa Crystal Energy De-Stressing Wand and Serum
Integrative beauty brand Solvasa believes that beauty begins with self-care and self-love, trusting in the power of habit accumulation to make simple changes.
.
Source: news.google.com