Quarantine and Self-Care in the Time of COV-19
What has an imposed quarantine done to us? For many, it’s shifted our priorities and made the concept of self-care not only a physical one but a mental health one.
We are coloring and cutting our own hair, wearing our most comfy sweatpants to our Zoom meetings and working out to YouTube videos. And there is a small sense of normalcy that we feel any time we put on makeup and dress appropriately, even if it is only to sling on a mask and go to the grocery store.
Testing Our Feelings of Self Worth and Control
For most people, this time of social isolation has tested our feelings of worth, of being in control, and of defining ourselves and what is truly important outside our former social confines. When it comes to self-care, we may not be able to go to the day spa but we can treat ourselves to a facial. Or a DIY manicure.
Shifting Priorities
At a time when we may be eschewing full out makeup, we are nourishing our skin. We are less worried about what someone else thinks is beautiful than what we think is beautiful. We are embracing comfort and natural looks over an hour in front of the mirror applying layers of makeup and false eyelashes.
The New Normal is Kinda Nice
Personal care as mental health care has taken hold and although there is a certain amount of discomfort in the unknowing about the future, there is the comfort of recognizing that “hey, I could do this all the time!” Yoga pants to work? Yes! Applying a decadent face mask at lunch? Why not?
Our Relationship With Products
As a society, we have an active relationship with cosmetics and self-care products. All those jars and creams and tubes and colors are part and parcel of who we are. But when we are confronted with a little bout of hermit-dom, we need to decide who drives that relationship with our products, us or the advertisers?
Self-care and grooming has taken a turn in the confines of our own homes. We take more care in the nourishing aspects of our cosmetics than their ability to hide us adequately. We get a chance to embrace our true essence without the mask that we show to the outside world.
While self-care may have been a $100 manicure a few short months ago, it may now be a long hot bath in the best bath products that we can purchase online. Instead of slathering our face with sticky foundation, we nourish it with vitamin-rich serum.
Embracing a New Normal that Feels More Real
This time has certainly been strange and uncomfortable for most of us. We have had to look carefully at how we were spending our time and our money BC (before COVID). And many of us may have embraced a new normal that somehow feels more real in an unreal time.
Need advice about packaging your products during the “new normal”? We have some ideas! At APG, we have witnessed trends come and go in the cosmetics packaging industry over the past 25 years and we know how to convey these trends while keeping true to our customers’ brand. Contact us at (626) 385-5858 or email us at Sales@apackaginggroup.com to see how we can help.