News Flash: These Are The Natural Beauty Trends You Need To Know This Year

While the notion of eating well for bright, clear skin is a steadfast recommendation of estheticians, nutritionists, and even yogis since we can remember, 2017 has seen more people trying to understand their individual sensitivities, experimenting with adding superfoods and supplements like collagen and removing potential irritants like dairy, caffeine, booze, and sugar. When it comes to superfoods, pomegranate and acai are out, replaced by collagen, algae, and manuka honey. And for those superfood nutrients that aren’t readily accessible in food, brands like HUM Nutrition, long at the forefront the inside-out beauty movement, offer vitamin supplements made of superfoods that support clear glowing skin, shiny hair, and a healthy body.

The effects of ingesting collagen have been well-documented by trial this year especially, which is in-line with the findings of recent research that investigated whether it actually helps skin. Spoiler alert: it does. Stronger nails, better hydration, and overall improved texture are just some of the purported benefits of taking collagen. HUM Nutrition’s Collagen Love has been a favorite this year. It’s also been a golden ingredient in beauty products themselves, too, most often as treatment products like serums and masks.

Raw manuka honey is our sweetener of choice because it contains more enzymes than any other type, has anti-inflammatory benefits, boosts immunity, and, in this case, has a lower glycemic index than straight sugar. When used as a face mask (either on its own, or with collagen and spirulina powder added), it can clear cystic acne, help reduce the appearance of dark spots and scars, lock in moisture, and seemingly endless other benefits over time.

The makeup category has enjoyed significant growth in the green beauty sector this year, in part due to an increased focus on naturals generally, improved color formulas, and simply better efficacy. We’re seeing a new class of products we’re deeming, “the hybrids.” It’s a direct reflection of beauty from the inside out, helping to nourish the skin from the outside in. Makeup with skin care benefits—and the reverse—have been “mainstream” for years, helping busy bees who want to minimize time spent applying makeup and maximize skin benefits. And while naturals have a reputation for being particularly beneficial (or at least not detrimental) for skin, these hybrids take the trend to the next level.

Aluminum-containing antiperspirants have a reputation for being the best conventional personal care products to replace with naturals. We apply it directly onto our lymph nodes daily, and it works by clogging our sweat glands. And while that certainly leaves you with drier underarms, it doesn’t allow the body to detox through its natural pathways.

Some research points to a link1 between aluminum antiperspirants and breast cancer, but others like the American Cancer Society maintain that a causal link has yet to be determined. While both sides agree that there’s not enough research on the long-term effects of aluminum at present, we’ve seen an increasing number of brands develop aluminum-free formulas.

Ancient traditions and functional medicine doctors have been saying this for ages, but now we know it to be true: the skin talks. Especially for hormonal issues, women are starting to see that charting skin problems can be helpful in unearthing a larger imbalance that, in many cases, can be helped or corrected with lifestyle changes like diet, sleep, rest, or movement. When it comes to beauty, women are focusing on optimizing their hormones and using their cycles as a guide to understand what their bodies need. Clear skin is often an end goal or a very happy side effect.

We wish it were as simple as “chin pimples mean you have hormonal acne,” but of course, our hormones play a very detailed symphony in our bodies. There are a number of factors that affect the skin—many skin conditions may indicate that the body needs care elsewhere, and often western solutions treat the symptom and not the root cause. There is no one-size-fits-all formula here. In fact, it’s the opposite: what works for you might not for your pal, and vice versa.

Following the golden age of the gut, we know that having a healthy one is linked to glowing skin, high energy levels, and improved immunity—which is one reason why supplementing with probiotics is so important—but can probiotics be effective topically, too?

If 2016 was the year of the oil cleanser, 2017 is the year of the powder cleanser. Powder cleansers are a newer product category gaining traction in the natural beauty space for a few reasons. First and foremost, keeping cleansers in powder form is super smart way to avoid having to put too many preservatives in products, which is beneficial for our skin as many preservatives are harsh, and for the environment. Products need preservatives whenever water is added to keep microbial growth down. They’re also multi-tasking products and, depending on what they’re wetted with, can be used as a facial treatment or mask.

Natural beauty and makeup expert Jessa Blades maintains that “there is no such thing as sensitive skin,” and that we simply have skin sensitivities. Like we saw in nutrition and diet earlier this year, the same approach is now being echoed when choosing personal care products: It’s all about finding the ingredients that work for you, and exploring what your skin and body needs today. Letting your skin inform the decisions you make on the daily is one of the best things we can do for our bodies.

It makes so much sense. Instead of claiming that you have “combination,” “dry,” or “oily” skin from now until the end of time, this updated approach to skin care addresses issues as they arise and nods to the ever-changing nature of the skin, because skin changes with seasons, with what we eat, and of course, hormones, along with many other factors.

As part of a larger movement, people are turning to ancient remedies for modern ails. Don’t get us wrong—western medicine and solutions will always have a time and a place in our book—but the healing powers of self-care are both instant and cumulative, and too strong to ignore.

One of the women behind this movement specifically for skin care is Britta Plug. She uses an East Asian technique called gua sha and has adapted it as a holistic treatment for detox and to combat aging. Gua sha literally translates to “scraping” and a cursory Google image search returns terrifying photos of bruised backs. Facial gua sha is much gentler, but uses similar tools and scraping patterns, and shares an end goal to move the body’s blood and lymph.

Another reason massage works well for the face is because it manipulates the facial fascia, which is like its second skin. Hailing from Lanshin, a trendy wellness studio and healing center in Brooklyn, Plug has seen enough demand for her facials to open a business of her own, which is a testament to the effectiveness of facial massage as a holistic, viable, and accessible treatment.