Natural Beauty and Hygiene

"When the pandemic hit and we had forced shutdowns of hair salons, nail salons and medispas that used to be sort of routine for a lot of men and women, it caused us all to reflect on these aspects of our lives, these habits ... and think, is this really necessary? What am I doing this for? Am I doing this for perception of beauty? Am I doing this for self-care and relaxation?"

"This is when we let our hair colour grow out, our natural hair styles kind of come back. Same with our nails. ... The artificial nails from the salon come off and the nail polish wears off."

"We kind of get to see ourselves bare again."

Ivy Lee, dermatologist, Los Angeles

 

"People who haven't broken out with acne for a while are now paying more attention. [Many people now favour] cleaner, easier beauty regimens."

Anthony Rossi, dermatologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, New York Presbyterian Hospital

 

"In general, there's no medical hygienic benefit to really almost any of this [cosmetics, popular skin-care products]."

"For society, we like to smell a certain way and whenever you're adding additional chemicals, ingredients, there's more and more risk of getting contact dermatitis or allergies or even just irritant reactions."

Jules Lipoff, assistant professor, clinical dermatology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

 

"The longer nails are, the more likely they are to bang against things and get splits and breaks. Long nails can also harbour micro-organisms."

"We don't know about transmission of COVID through longer nails, but theoretically there are micro-organisms that can live under long nails."

Shari Lipner, associate professor of clinical dermatology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York

ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images 

Experts have urged people to cancel nail and hair appointments to help curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Nail polish doesn't allow nails to breathe. The chemicals in nail polish may work their way beyond the nail into the skin tissues. Many nail polishes contain such chemicals as formaldehyde, toluene, dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and other plasticizers, along with camphor, ethyl tosylamide and triphenyl phosphate, some of which are carcinogens, others like camphor, if ingested, poisonous. How many people examine the list of ingredients -- if they can find them -- on these products?

Dr.Lipner points out that the removal process of popular gel nails can thin the nails through the process of abrasiveness, can cause them to split or break more readily. She also favours leaving the cuticles untouched, adding that: "The cuticles are there to protect your nails and your skin from invading microorganism", and with less reliance now on professional manicures and pedicures the cuticles are less likely to be cut.

With less access to hairdressing salons a boost has been given to the natural hair movement. People are less likely to return to professional stylists during the pandemic -- leading more people to give up dying their hair along with the use of other chemical treatments. The results have surprised people. Black women in particular are "seeing that their natural texture is stronger and healthier than it was when using the chemicals", says Tracie Radford, a hair and scalp specialist in Riverside, California.

Abandoning the use of hair relaxers and permanent waves and colouring dyes has turned out to be a  health plus for many people. During the pandemic, dermatologists and hair experts reported an increase in cases of telogen effluvium, a temporary, if distressing hair loss condition triggered by stress, shock or a traumatic event. Conditioning treatments and scalp detoxes (deep cleansing) is recommended by some specialists.

And then there's skin care for which cleaner, easier beauty regimens are considered an excellent replacement during these COVID days, with simpler routines. Three core concepts of skin care are  gentle cleansing, hydration and sun protection. Fewer cosmetics-related acne flare-ups are being reported by dermatologists in the new, global pandemic "less is more" attitude, eschewing makeup, dyes and polishes.