How Are Beauty Standards Changing in the COVID-19 Pandemic?
“Do I need make-up today?” “Should I just let my arm hair grow out?”
If you have been asking yourself these questions ever since the lockdown was announced in India due the COVID-19 pandemic, you are not alone.
As the world reluctantly goes into hibernation, beauty rules are being rewritten every day. Jeans are being discarded for comfy pyjamas, make-up kits are being kept aside, self-haircuts are in vogue, and everyone is wondering what mask fashion really is.
How has the pandemic changed beauty standards in India?
Beauty Becomes Non-Essential?
With our entire lives shifting online — and inside our homes — FOMO aka the fear of missing out is slowly being replaced with JOLO or the joy of letting go. More and more women are realising the effort it takes to dress up to look ‘presentable’ to the world, and then, are deciding to go the other way. Especially in the professional sphere, where a woman’s presentability often determines how seriously she is taken.
Now, with a virtual workspace replacing our offices, there is more leeway for women to simply let go.
And be themselves.
“I think people have started accepting themselves more, and have started to be more transparent with who they are,” says Roshni Sharma, a mental health advocate who through her Instagram profile, talks about acceptance of all kinds of beauty.
In the pandemic, what’s gaining precedence over looking good, is the idea of feeling good — leading to women embracing self-care. This in turn, challenges patriarchal norms which dictate what a woman should look like, and what makes her desirable.
Take body hair, for example. Having no visible body hair on women is considered an attractive trait since time immemorial. However, with most parlours in India either shut or unsafe to visit in a pandemic, more and more women are deciding that having body hair is normal, and acceptable.
When the question is of survival, we’re realising, beauty can be non-essential.
Roshini Kumar, a fashion photographer, echoes this sentiment. She says, “During the pandemic, what has happened is that a lot of our beauty regimes have come to a pause, and what people have started to realise is that some of these beauty regimes are not exactly essential or needed, and that you can survive without it.”
Are We Looking at New Definitions of Beauty?
Whether the pandemic, and our growing comfort with our bodies, will permanently impact the way we think about beauty standards in India, still remains to be decided. Some feel that extensive make-up routines might just become obsolete, with a growing emphasis on skincare in the beauty industry. With conventional beauty standards changing post-pandemic, it’s possible for beauty to move beyond fair skin and thinness — and become more inclusive.
However, others are of the opinion that a post-pandemic world will be even more fiercely fashionable. After all, those fabulous dresses in the closet need to be put to some use.
So, minimalism in beauty, or a resurgence? How do you think beauty standards in India have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic? Comment below, and let us know!
