The NAA is excited to share with you the views of its advisors. This post, from advisor Rona Berg, is the second in an ongoing series of advisor perspectives. We look forward to hearing your responses and reflections on these forcasted beauty and wellness trends, which align so well with the field of Nutritional Aesthetics!
By Rona Berg, NAA Advisory Board Member
In my years of covering beauty and lifestyle for The New York Times Magazine, ELLE, SELF and SPA magazines; as author of LA Times bestseller Beauty: The New Basics and Fast Beauty: 1000 Quick Fixes (Workman Publishing); and as a speaker on those topics at conferences around the globe, I’ve always believed that beauty is a very rich subject–much, much deeper than skin deep, which is how it is so often portrayed. Now, as editor-in-chief of Organic Spa Media, I am able to focus on natural and organic beauty, sustainable lifestyle, and spa and wellness, too.
Beauty resonates in so many key aspects of our lives: how we feel about ourselves, how culture perceives us, and what we teach our daughters about health, self-confidence and self esteem. And then there is all the science, ingredient research, and issues of efficacy to think about.
I always say, “Beauty is health, and health is beauty.” It is about integrating what we eat and who we are on the inside with what shows up on the outside.
In that spirit, every year, I compile my Top 10 Beauty and Wellness Trends, which I’d like to share here with you.
2016 Top 10 Beauty and Wellness Trends
1. Wellness Tourism According to SRI International, wellness tourism is already a $439 billion market, and set to grow another 55 percent to $678.5 billion by 2017. And the spa is a place where people go to experience wellness, which is why there is a surge of global wellness programs—incorporating cooking classes, nutritionists and naturopaths, yoga and energy work—with no end in sight, at independent retreats and luxury spa brands like the Four Seasons and Montage.
2. Celebrity Activism Our recent Organic Spa Magazine cover model, Emily Deschanel, is a food activist on the board of Farm Sanctuary, where she advocates a plant-based lifestyle. Other celebs such as Olivia Wilde (Conscious Commerce) and Lauren Conrad (The Little Market) have become advocates of “fashion for good,” and Jessica Alba and Gwyneth Paltrow, torch-bearers for organic beauty and a conscious lifestyle.
3. Brazilian Beauty Secrets With the Olympics in Rio just around the corner, there is a rise in Brazilian botanicals beyond acai, to new rainforest exotics like andiroba, cavlinha, cupuacu, murmuru, and passion fruit (maracuja).
4. Food with Benefits Global Industry Analysts Inc. projects that sales of functional food and drink will exceed $130 billion by 2016, with new nutrient-fortified launches like tea-infused chocolate, quinoa and farro snack squares, fermented herbal tea, manuka honey and more.
5. Fast Food Organic McDonald’s is launching the Mc B, an antibiotic-free, hormone-free, USDA-certified organic hamburger. And Amy’s Kitchen, the organic frozen food giant, just opened a Drive Thru! How much more mainstream can you get?
6. H20 Alternatives Beyond lemon and cucumber slices, and infusions of wild berries in our water bottles, look out for the new water alternatives: cactus water/prickly pear (revitalize, hydrate, reduce inflammation), watermelon (for workouts: electrolytes, vitamin C, lycopene), maple water (vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, polyphenols, manganese), artichoke, and birch.
7. Fair Trade Fashion Beyond coffee and chocolate, we’re seeing fashion and textile designers seeking out Fair Trade certification from World Fair Trade Organization to Fair Trade USA. Fair Trade certification for shoes (Oliberte) and apparel (Patagonia, PACT, People Tree) is growing, to ensure that workers are paid fairly, there is no child or slave labor, and manufacture processes respect the environment.
8. Food-Inspired Beauty Remedies Kale, kombucha, chia, nuts, turmeric, seaweed, blueberry, bearberry, and probiotics are best-sellers at food markets, and these same ingredients are now whetting our appetites in skincare and spa treatments.
9. Spa Hookups IV therapies with vitamin, oxygen, and ozone infusions are widely popular in Europe, and now coming here as US companies like Reviv and Drip Room make it easier for US consumers to get an infusion of energy and nutrients to feed hair and skin.
10. Anti-Pollution Creams and Cosmetics With climate change regulations on the front burner with global leaders, we’re seeing the beauty industry respond with pollution-busting botanical products. Like a dingy building, skin exposed to pollutants can become lackluster and overlaid with gray.
We want to hear from you!
What do you think of these beauty and wellness trend predictions for the year ahead?
Have you seen other trends popping up in your own practice or elsewhere in your life?