by Elizabeth Kendig, founder of Healers

We may not be out of the woods yet, but with a vaccine roll out underway we have allowed ourselves to think about the day when we can emerge from our homes mask-free. It’s one part fantasy, one part anxiety at the idea of having to show our faces—and hair—again in public. This time has changed our perspective on beauty in ways we could not have foreseen, just as we never imagined the rise of sweatpants or air fryers. I have a few predictions, and they are among the things that give me hope for 2021!

Less will be more

After months of not having to wash our hair or put on a full face of makeup for the office, we’ve realized just how much time we used to spend “getting ready.” A lot. I don’t know about you, but I’m not willing to give all of that time back. We’ve gotten really good at being presentable without being perfect and that is a good thing. It means more time for the things that make us feel beautiful: sleep and exercise and time with those we love.

Multitasking take on new meaning

What were once a clever headlines—The Five-Minute Face! Wash-and-Go Waves!— are now our actual routine. If you follow Bobbi and Jones Road, then you already appreciate this concept. Our products will need to work harder and smarter for us. That tinted face balm that doubles as a cream eyeshadow and a dry shampoo that also volumizes? They’ll be front-and-center on our vanities, along with any tools that cut our prep time in half.

Self-Acceptance

For the first time maybe ever in our adult lives we have become accustomed to seeing the person who woke up like this, staring back at us in the mirror for days on end. Slowly, that person has become more beautiful, or maybe it’s that our idea of beauty has shifted. We now see a survivor who has kept her family safe, her children educated, her community buoyed, and her sanity (mostly) intact. She will longer need to curl her hair or fill in her brows to leave the house—or to feel whole.

Attention to Skincare

Without the trappings of daily makeup application, we got in touch with our skin. We started really noticing it—every line, every freckle, whether it was dewy or dry, if maskne was real to blame for our middle-aged breakouts. Never have I received so many DMs about the best face mask or eye cream, whether retinol works or do I need Botox? On the surface, it might sound superficial. I say that skincare is the ultimate act of self-care and it’s here to stay.

Rise of the Silver Fox

In the beginning, when salons were forced to shut down, we nervously joked about our roots showing. We posted memes comparing ourselves to wild animals or eighty-year-olds. We watched our colleagues go gray on zoom. And then a funny thing happened: they decided not to go back. Instagram accounts popped up documenting these striking transformations, liberating closet grays from monthly color appointments. And we realized that what we’ve been hiding deserves to be celebrated.