Gone are the days of bulk buying and throwaway style, as we enter a new dawn of higher investment in ourselves, that extends to health, wellbeing, beauty and personal wellness. From our face creams to our internal monologue, this is the year of quality over quantity, and these are the treatments, products and philosophies already shaping 2018…

Perfect posture

Roger Frampton has started the year urging us all to stand up straight and put our best foot forwards.  His new book, The Flexible Body, came out at the start of the month with much anticipation. The book comes in the wake of his chirpy Ted Talk, ‘Why sitting down destroys you’, and hones in on the importance of good posture. He advocates 10 minutes of corrective work every day, which even the busiest of us can probably manage.

on Jan 3, 2018 at 9:00am PST

Ear yoga

Not entirely what we were expecting this year, but Bruce Odland of New York says that incessant noise of modern life is dampening our sense of hearing and increasing fatigue and stress. As a result he has been leading the way in ear yoga - exercises to stimulate hearing by stretching neglected muscles. I think we might watch and see what happens with the first wave of this trend before hopping on board, but a little more peace and quiet is always on our agenda in a world of incessant noise pollution.

Green skincare

Not new but gaining momentum by the year, the eco credentials of skincare products is increasingly a defining feature of trending beauty products. Millennials in particular are driving the desire for ethically minded products, and it’s not just for our own wellbeing but because whether you follow Attenborough, Ellen MacArthur or a nearby beach clean on your next seaside holiday, the amount of plastic in the water has moved from disturbing to utterly horrifying - see Malin+Goetz or Drunk Elephant for brands that are making waves.

Self-care

We say personal wellness, you say self-care - the buzzwords of the year as tipped by the likes of Nadia Narain and Katia Narain Phillips in their new book Self-Care for the Real World and endorsed by fans including Reese Witherspoon and Kate Moss. The sister act who have a veritable empire of yoga DVDs, classes and organic candles to their names, and whose heyday saw them partying with the poster children for the ‘90s, believe in the kind of wellbeing that still allows you to have afternoon tea.

on Dec 28, 2017 at 4:07am PST

Bringing together London style via an international upbringing, the flawless pair - aged 44 and 42 respectively - told Sunday Times Style “it’s not as simple as put on a face mask, drink an organic smoothie and, boom, I’m practicing self-care”, and incorporate a more grounded approach to the kind of wellbeing that works with everyday life - how to hold boundaries, how to get over an ex, how to conquer that ‘less than’ feeling every time you scroll through Instagram… although obviously there’s the odd protein ball thrown in for good measure.

It’s all part of a move towards realising that wellbeing is personal and multifaceted.

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