Below The Belt

FROM PUBIC OILS TO “LIP” MASKS – SELF-CARE HAS GONE SOUTH. BUT SHOULD WE CELEBRATE OR BE SCEPTICAL?

- Kate Lancaster

ALTHOUGH MANY WOMEN consider feminine hygiene products to be a bathroom essential, they’re rarely displayed proudly on a vanity or styled for social media. Instead, a few choice items are stowed away at the back of a cupboard with the labels facing inward and concealed by several bottles of strategically-placed self-tanner. But intimate-care products are breaking ground and moving beyond the pharmacy aisles, claiming a larger – and prouder – place in the increasingly crowded wellness space.

V-CARE 2.0

It’s 2019: wellness has truly infiltrated almost every aspect of our existence. We’re stirring powdered mushrooms into our matcha lattes, using jade rollers to apply plant-powered face serums and now we’re extending self-care to our nether regions. Once strictly the domain of mass supermarket brands, personal care, and grooming is experiencing a rebrand as the new frontier in wellbeing. Recent research suggests that sales in the category have been on the rise and the items are being purchased by younger consumers who expect more than just a problem-solving product; they want results and they want it packaged in a way that speaks to them (not their grandmother).