With the average Instagram user spending 30 minutes a day scrolling through the app, trends are constantly being consumed and discarded, with the demand for new content consistently high. This month, trends come in a wide variety. From users practicing facial yoga to remove double chins, to Bella Hadid’s facial icing, here’s this month's trends, collated by BeautyMatter.
Double-Chin Spoons
As bizarre as it sounds, people across Instagram are now using metal spoons to reduce the appearance of their so-called “double chins.” The trend began when skincare enthusiast @lisa.beautify posted a video of herself with bold red lines drawn onto her neck, outlining the direction in which a spoon should be pulled in order to reduce the appearance of a double chin. The skincare guru outlines the science behind such a process, explaining that double chins form for many reasons, from poor posture to excess fluids building in the neck.
Being renamed as facial yoga, the trend stems from the ancient Chinese practice of gua sha. This practice is a traditional healing method, in which professionals use a smooth-edged tool to massage the skin and increase blood flow as well as lymphatic drainage. With many gua sha tools readily available to purchase from most drugstore beauty aisles, it is unclear why so many users have hopped on the trend of using metal spoons for the process; however, there seems to be no end in sight for this trend. #Doublechinremoval currently has over 62.2K posts.
Silk Pillowcases
On Instagram this month, trends are even beginning to dictate the way we sleep. With an abundance of positive reasons why, silk pillowcases have become the new must-have when it comes to health and beauty tools. According to several users, sleeping on a silk pillowcase brings benefits to both the skin and hair, including: natural moisture retention, anti-aging, frizz control, and split-end prevention, to name a few. Again, the trend is nothing new, with the benefits of silk for natural hair styles dating back several years within the African American community. However, it is now that these benefits are being heavily shared across social media, with Instagram giving the hack its trending moment.
The trend has also seen several business opportunities arise, with a surge in new businesses creating silk pillowcases as well as like-minded products such as scrunchies, and selling them across the app. The top account selling such products is @mulskbeauty, with 138K followers, founded by Shandy Purnamasari. At present, #silkpillowcase houses 110K posts, with #silkpillowcasebenefits holding 6.9K posts.
Rice Water
Across the app, several tips and tricks for keeping hair in its best condition are shared daily, with #hairhacks having almost 200K posts attached to it. However, there are certain hacks pervading the haircare game on Instagram this month, a largely popular one being the use of rice water. It is said that rice water helps to protect hair against UV damage, reduces the signs of aging, and thickens both the hair and its moisture barrier, allowing faster growth.
Many users have shared reels explaining how to add rice water to a weekly haircare routine, with one simple suggestion being a rice water spray. This spray sees users leaving rice in cold water for 2-5 days, allowing it to ferment, and adding it to a spray bottle. It is then recommended that this homemade spray is left in the fridge and sprayed onto the roots of the hair twice a week, without rinsing. However, despite several users promoting the use of rice water, others have warned against the dangers of overuse. One user, @abbeyyung, shares that she used rice water in her haircare routine and had experienced brittle hair with an increase in tangling, with the ends eventually snapping off across some strands. It is always important to note when following trends from the internet, results vary for each individual.
Facial Ice Bathing
After skin icing took off on TikTok in recent months, ice bowls have taken over Instagram. Yet again another trend made popular by Bella Hadid—several users are replicating health and beauty hacks the model uses in her day-to-day life. The trend began when makeup artist Isamaya Ffrench uploaded a video of Hadid immersing her face in a bowl of ice water to her Instagram grid back in April, and it’s still yet to die down across the app.
It is believed that this popular skincare hack eliminates puffiness of the face, controls oily skin, boosts a natural glow, and reduces signs of aging such as wrinkles. Despite Hadid giving the beauty regime a new lease on life, the hack dates back several years with the likes of Hollywood actress Joan Crawford being known to include the step in her skincare routine. Since being posted, the video, in which Hadid is heard saying “It’s called ice bath by Bella Hadid,” has received over 83K views and 6K likes. Alongside entirely immersing the face in a bowl of cold water, other users have taken to rolling ice along their faces, with some using anything accessible to them, such as frozen cucumbers and strawberries, as icing tools.
Negative-Space Nails
Instagram sees several nail designs surface each day, some more unique than others; however, there always seems to be a select few designs that take charge each month. This month it's negative space leading nail design trends, and users can't seem to get enough. From classic French manicures leaving the majority of the nail naked, to animal stripes and prints, any design goes, as long as there's negative space. Whether it’s professional manicurists sharing their work from the salon, beauty gurus sharing get-the-look tutorials, or your average user showcasing their latest creation, the nail trend is heavily popular across all corners of the app. Under the hashtag #negativespacenails, over 121K posts can be explored, with images and reels equally popular. The number-one reel from this hashtag comes from @unhasdawoman, who is seen creating negative-space nails using a different pastel color for the tips across each finger. It will be interesting to see when the return of fully painted nails begins to resurface.
