It's been years since one of Facebook's sole purposes was to "poke" your college classmates. Considering that everyone from your childhood nextdoor neighbor, grandma, and quirky aunt who's blacklisted from family events are on your friends list, it's easy to forget that at one time you needed a valid college email address just to sign up for the social media platform.
But in-between the photo albums of your high school chem partner's firstborn child and invitations from your cousin to play FarmVille, conversations about current beauty trends are also happening. Just like the unfiltered photos that your fave celebs like Chrissy Teigen and Ashley Benson are sharing of heir stretch marks, cellulite, and acne treatments on Instagram, the discussion is taking place on Facebook, too.
aAccording to 2017's Annual Topics & Trends Report by the social media site's research arm Facebook IQ, the topic of beauty transparency is on the rise. Along with your favorite beauty brands and celebs openly showing blemishes, stretchmarks, and foregoing retouching in their ad campaigns and personal social media posts, people are more open to sharing and discussing the treatments they do in the name of beauty even if they're considered taboo.
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So, what specifically are Facebook users talking about? The report found that since January 2016 the conversation around cryolipolysis, a cooling treatment that reduces body fat grew 19.4x, while hair removal was talked about 12x more, and permanent makeup increased 28.9x. The users speaking up the most on these topics were in the 35-54 age demographic, and the majority identified as women.
The data gives an indication of what topics in the beauty realm that you can expect to see more of on your timeline in 2018. But, the stats also reflect the shift that the beauty industry has seen in the past year. People are becoming more open to the diversity in everyone's own personal experience with beauty and self-care.
Embracing your individuality should never be considered a trend, but we hope the conversation will only continue to get louder throughout 2018.
