What is skinification? Pampering your hair like your skin

It’s a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly impossible to ignore. While shampoos, masks, and various oils used to be enough for taking care of our manes, now a new generation of hair care products, skinification is emerging to pamper our hair like we do our skin.

It’s a trend that places the scalp at the centre of our new beauty routine. Welcome to the era of ‘skinification’.

Skinification

Everyone has their own hair routine. Some spend hours on it, others are content with the traditional shampoo and conditioner, while for a handful it’s a matter of going to their favourite hairdresser at least once a month.

Whatever your case may be, with the rise of ‘skinification,’ it’s bound to change. You’ve surely guessed that the inclusion of the word ‘skin’ here means that your hair routine will soon resemble your facial skincare routine.

ALSO READ: Healing for heels: Why foot Botox is on the rise post-pandemic

As a result, categories of hair care products are evolving, brands are increasingly modelling these on skincare essentials.

Revenge of the hair

If you’re a haircare enthusiast, you probably saw it coming to a while ago. During a trip to the supermarket or drugstore, you probably noticed that the hair section is no longer just about shampoos, conditioners and masks.

In fact, new categories have been stealing the spotlight for the past few months with dedicated products that you’d never expect to see for your hair. Scrubs, anti-blemish treatments, exfoliating brushes, night care products, exfoliating shampoos, and micellar shampoos… There’s no longer any doubt: these new-generation products are indeed designed especially for your hair and are about to transform your hair routines.

As with skin, prevention now is a major focus that gets a complete routine rather than just treating damage caused by the sun, pollution, and excess sebum, as well as the many styling treatments like dye, straightening, and extensions which can damage the hair.

And even more than that, it’s about creating a personalised routine at home, whether according to the hair texture, colour, length, or special needs. Just like skin, in essence. This elevates the scalp, the link between skin and hair, to the new star of the hair department.

Scalps at the (literal) root of it all

A quick trip to the hairdresser is all it takes to see that some services have already evolved; for a few months now or in some cases a few years, it’s been possible to get a massage or thorough exfoliation of the scalp.

Until now, hair tips were the focus of pampering, but those days seem to be over — or nearly. And this focus on the scalp isn’t that surprising considering that it’s the area from which hair grows… A good reason to take care of it, and make sure it isn’t dry, nor greasy, free from irritation and buildup of dead skin, pollution, or remains of hairspray, gel, oils, and other styling products.

In its annual ‘Predicts’ report, Pinterest observes a particular appetite for products and techniques designed to pamper the scalp coming our way in 2023. This includes scalp treatments for dry scalp (+70%), scalp massage techniques (+55%), and anything related to scalp cleansing (+55%).

Based on several months of analysis and evaluation of the searches of its 400 million users, the report shows the scale of interest in these new practices. When concocting your overall routine, consider all the beauty essentials you use for your skin — except for makeup removal, which won’t be necessary.

On the other hand, a scalp scrub is essential for getting rid of all the dirt that can accumulate on a daily basis, followed by a shampoo according to your hair type — an area which has expanded from oily, dry or normal to include anti-ageing and much more — a serum, and, why not? a night treatment.

You can take this new kind of routine a step further by using anti-acne products and even micellar waters to clean your hair without overly stripping it. It’s enough to give you hair worthy of a Disney prince or princess.