7 minute read
Tapping into Dopamine Beauty with Fresha!
As we know, the beauty and wellness industry is always evolving. Fresha, the world’s leading booking software, partnered with trend forecaster WGSN to decode the trends that are shaping, and will shape the industry over the coming months and years. And one of the biggest trends at the moment is Dopamine beauty!
Dopamine is a type of neurotransmitter and hormone that plays a role in many important body functions. It acts on areas of the brain that give you feelings of pleasure, satisfaction and motivation.
So Dopamine beauty is beauty products and treatments that focus on joy, rather than being something that is simply functional. Dopamine beauty simply puts more emphasis on mental and emotional wellbeing.
And it’s becoming more and more popular. For example, 58.5 % of people think wellness is about how they feel mentally and emotionally, compared to 31.5% of people think it’s about how they feel physically. So treatments are becoming the space to focus on the clients’ joy.
There might be many reasons for this development. For example, we’ve recently been through a turbulent period in our modern history: the Covid-19 pandemic, a cost of living crisis and the climate emergency have impacted our emotional wellbeing and way of life. Gallup’s 2022 Global Emotions report found that a blend of negative emotions including anger, stress, anxiety, fear and sadness has led to a new record level of unhappiness since its first edition in 2006.
Consumers understandably want to be uplifted and are turning to dopamine-inducing beauty experiences that prioritise mental and emotional – over physical – health, with 65% of women and 52% of men in our consumer survey agreeing with this outlook.
As it so often feels like we’re on the brink of a revolution within the wellness space, the concept of wellness will continue to encompass so much more than it currently does, or did in the past 10 years or so.
But the most important question is how do we create dopamine treatments? How do we create the space for our clients to prioritise joy over function, mental over physical?
Use colour as a way of expressing yourself
Beauty aesthetics that offer an instant hit of dopamine are emerging through the creative use of colour. Colour is frequently studied for its ability to affect our emotions and influence how we feel on a daily basis. In the quest to feel good and have fun while doing so, consumers have begun to experiment more boldly with colour across makeup, nail, brow and hair aesthetics, for an instant dopamine boost.
Tina Michael, founder of UK-conscious beauty brand Shoreditch Nails and a Fresha partner, has noted this shift in her salons: “Customers are pushing boundaries in terms of what they are having on their nails. When we first introduced nail art it was very simple, but it has gone to a different level now with animals, characters and 3D nail art, meaning clients get to have their own piece of art on their nails,” she explains.
WGSN’s social media data shows that conversations on the topic of dopamine beauty (colourful, escapist makeup and beauty looks) are still emerging. These conversations are being driven by innovator brands and influencers, signalling that there is still a lot of opportunity for the wider market to capitalise on these creative and experimental aesthetics.
The rise of psychodermatology
Salons and beauty providers can go further into the power of dopamine, beyond physical aesthetics, to explore the relationship between mental health and beauty. Psychodermatology is a growing field that’s gaining traction across the industry. Based on the relationship between mind and skin, psychodermatology draws links between poor mental health and skin conditions, by focusing on how the mind can treat the body and vice versa. While it’s well known that mental health issues can be triggered by skin conditions, more research is emerging on the reverse effect: that of low mental wellbeing aggravating the skin.
Beauty salons that provide any skincare treatment have the opportunity to respond to this growing trend, shifting from just treating skin at the surface to treating mental wellbeing alongside it, helping customers to leave the beauty experience feeling good physically and mentally.
It’s clear that consumers are currently seeking treatments to improve their skin, with Fresha’s proprietary insights showing that bookings for ‘Face’ services have grown by 31% ahead of all other beauty categories including hair, massage and nails. The data also highlights that four ‘Face’ services are experiencing particular growth – all emphasising the importance of skin health to consumers.
The role of the skin therapist and technician is evolving, going beyond diagnosing skin issues on the surface, to also being more sensitive to clients’ mental health and providing a personalised and emotionally driven experience. Salons and individuals that upskill with emotional intelligence training, coaching or counselling will be able to form a deeper connection with clients, potentially helping to boost their dopamine levels and drive customer loyalty.
Skincare brand Dermalogica launched a training programme in 2020 aimed at helping industry professionals support their clients’ emotional needs during the pandemic. The training covered how to improve listening skills during vulnerable conversations, guidance on body language to beffer tune in to nonverbal cues and breathing exercises. This level of client care is something that all beauty and wellness destinations, from barbershops to spas, can adopt in order to offer individualised customer service.
At its core, Dopamine Beauty supports consumers to feel well, happy and cared for. For long-term success, beauty and wellness providers must double down on emotional client care, helping them to resonate with younger demographics such as Gen Z, who place more importance on their mental health than any other generation.
We’ll start embracing more creative exploration
Salons will be equipped to offer creative and experimental beauty services for clients looking to transform their image. Hair and nail services will effortlessly own this trend in the short term with colourful temporary hair dyes, creative hair styling and adventurous nail art. Salons that stay up to date with the latest aesthetic trends emerging across TikTok and pop culture will drive excitement across the industry, leveraging the creative expertise of stylists, barbers and technicians to drive footfall.
So, what will dopamine beauty look like now, in the near years, and the years after that?
NOW - 2023 - 2024
We’ll start embracing more creative exploration!
Salons will be equipped to offer creative and experimental beauty services for clients looking to transform their image. Hair and nail services will effortlessly own this trend in the short term with colourful temporary hair dyes, creative hair styling and adventurous nail art. Salons that stay up to date with the latest aesthetic trends emerging across TikTok and pop culture will drive excitement across the industry, leveraging the creative expertise of stylists, barbers and technicians to drive footfall.
Near FUTURE - 2025 - 2027
EQ training will become part of customer service
Emotional training will become fundamental to the service experience, enabling businesses to professionally support clients’ mental health. This will be most evident within skincare services, as demand for psychodermatology grows. Pre-treatment questionnaires will be revitalised, with customers not only asked about their lifestyle habits or aesthetic goals, but also how they’re feeling. Businesses in the future will make it a priority to monitor the wellbeing of clients, tailoring the treatment experience to mental health needs.
NEXT - 2028+ Blended beauty and therapy service models will proliferate
Beauty and healthcare industries will increasingly merge, resulting in counsellors and therapists becoming a part of the service experience and enhancing the level of emotional care clients receive.
Innovative businesses will redesign the pre and post-treatment experience, leveraging these experts to provide emotional guidance that will improve or maintain consumers’ mental well-being between appointments. This level of care will become aspirational within beauty services, with those businesses investing in counsellors and therapists viewed as industry disruptors.
