As daily habits and health circumstances have shifted over the last year, a number of people around the world have adopted new or modified skincare routines.
CeraVe conducted a global survey and found that 28 per cent of respondents experienced changes to their overall skin health due to pandemic-related factors, while 64 per cent stating they had changed their facial cleansing habits over the past year.
The survey which was conducted among 10,000 consumers across 23 countries.
The L’Oréal-owned brand held a ‘Cleanse Like a Dermatologist’ global event, which featured dermatologists including Prof Michael J. Cork and Dr Valerie Callender, as well as dermatology influencers including Dr Dustin Portela (1.3m+ followers) and Dr Muneeb Shah (7.5m+ followers), and Australian-based Dermatologist, Dr Ryan De Cruz.
Throughout the virtual event, the dermatologists educated consumers on topics including pH, fragrance and ingredients while debunking key misconceptions.
They highlighted some other key findings from the global study, listed below.
Key findings:
• Facial cleansing is a universal ritual performed in many ways.
• The global pandemic strongly impacted the skin health and skincare routines of consumers.
• Social media and the internet were among the top two sources for cleansing information.
• Dermatologists are an authority figure when it comes to skincare education but there is still work to do in educating consumers of their presence.
The effects of the pandemic on skin health
● Overwhelmingly, 90% of respondents reported that their daily life had been impacted by changes that affected their skin health both in positive and negative ways, with:
● Two-thirds (64%) of respondents reporting that their cleansing routines had significantly changed compared to their pre-pandemic habits.
● 19% of women said that their skin health had gotten worse during the pandemic.
Cleansing habits and face-washing rituals
● Cleansing is considered an important ritual across the globe with 9 in 10 respondents cleansing daily.
● Not cleansing caused a significant impact on respondents’ emotional wellbeing (especially for women).
● Women of all ages are slightly more likely than men, (especially younger men aged 18-34) to wash their faces daily.
Sources of trusted information
● Social media has become one of the main sources for skincare advice as 44% of respondents went online for skincare advice more often in the past year (including women 55% and men 40%).
● 48% of respondents said that they turned to press and online sources for facial cleansing advice, making it the first source of information, followed by word of mouth (from discussion with friends, family and colleagues).
● Significantly, 79% agreed that you can end up damaging your skin if you follow the wrong type of advice, with 67% agreeing that skincare advice you find online is not always accurate.
● Inaccurate advice often leads to cleansing misconceptions which can damage the skin barrier. Supported by the following statistics:
o 42% of respondents only use water to cleanse their faces
o 69% of respondents use a mix of hot and warm water to cleanse their faces
o 30% of respondents think that cleansing cannot help maintain their skin barrier