What’s Buzzy in Self-Care in 2020?

Lean, clean and green were the buzzwords for this year’s crop of new self-care products showcased at the recent Indie Beauty Expo LA. Here, startups and cult brands wooed buyers, hoping to get their products into chain stores such as Sephora, Nordstrom and Urban Outfitters.

Here’s a look at a few of the hottest planet-friendly trends landing on store shelves and in salons near you.

Finally! Waste-free packaging for your gym bag

That deodorant you throw in your gym bag will soon be free of polluting plastics. Some of the hottest natural brands such as SmartyPits and Way of Will are launching deodorants made in push-up cardboard tubes to cut down on waste. And rather than lugging plastic containers of shower gel to the gym, Way of Will is introducing cardboard containers of dry shower powders to lather up sustainably.

The Paper Cloud cleansing discs from Pure Aura look like tiny 2-inch versions of your favorite sheet masks, but when introduced to water, they dissolve completely into a soothing lather to wash your face, making them perfect for travel.

Everyone needs more sleep

Sleep products are quickly becoming one of the hottest categories in self-care, whether it’s silk pillowcases to keep you cool at night or products to help lull you into dreamland.

The dry eye masks by Popmask loop over your ears and instantly heat up when opened, providing soothing warmth that will lull you to sleep on a plane, during a nap or before bed. They are also available in a jasmine-scented version.

CBD was everywhere at the show from skin care to ingestibles. Winged’s Sleepy Gummies pair this relaxing non-psychoactive hemp ingredient with melatonin and other calming ingredients such as 5-HTP, GABA and L-theanine.

Food-based products

If it’s not enough to just eat salmon and kale, you can put them on your skin and hair, too. ESW Beauty launched its raw juice cleanse selection of sheet masks at the show, including a green smoothie–inspired mask made from kale, spinach, broccoli and apple extracts.

And Byroe, a New York beauty upstart with salad-based skin-care products, including tomato and bell pepper serums, showcased its luxury salmon cream with salmon-roe extract, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids.

Plant-based nail care

A spa day manicure is a great way to relax, but the chemicals in nail-care products are often concerning. Enter Green Flash, a French brand launching in the U.S. that has developed a natural alternative to long-lasting salon gel nail polish, made of ingredients such as corn, potato, wheat, bamboo and cotton.

For the at-home manicurist, Terra also offers a soy-based nail polish remover to replace standard stinky acetone removers.

The rise of “slow beauty”

Taking more time to get ready in the morning may be one of the easiest forms of self-care, and an increasing number of brands are to make those extra 10 minutes feel luxurious.

Evanhealey, which sources its natural ingredients from small organic family farms, offers up a two-step “balancing ritual” for the face as an alternative to your bar of soap that starts with a facial self-massage of rose geranium cleansing milk followed by an essential oil-and-water cocktail.

Every morning is a spa day with Skinesque’s Wake Up & Makeup Prep Sheet Mask, daily sheet masks dispensed in a pop-top container of the baby-wipe variety, which when applied, replace toner, moisturizer and primer.

Solaris one-upped those quartz skin tools, offering a vibrating, warming LED Gua Sha Facial Massager to apply your daily moisturizer.

Customize your daily body rub with the Trademark Dry Body Oil, which allows you to pick skin-improving boosts (such as black seed oil or primrose oil), choose an essential oil-blend fragrance and add enrichments like rose quartz, black tourmaline or forget-me-nots to a base oil.

Photo credit: Annie Spratt, Unsplash