Our toothbrushes have a live stream camera built in, our straighteners ask us a survey-load of questions before heating up, and our LED masks have so many settings we're pressing buttons for longer than we're actually wearing the mask – I can't be the only one who has beauty tech fatigue?
Beauty is supposed to be a moment of luxury, a brief spell for ourselves amid the chaos of everyday life, but when I'm faced with a barrage of options from my face mask, and I need to open an app on my phone to use my toothbrush, the feelings of relaxation and self-care go out the window and my beauty routine feels like another chore on my to-do list.
Anna Persaud, wellness expert and CEO of This Works, explains the theory behind how I'm feeling. "Technology has given us incredible tools, from devices that track our sleep to beauty tech that helps us care for our skin, but it can also make wellbeing and beauty feel like another set of goals to achieve.
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"We can find ourselves measuring results, comparing our progress with others and feeling that, simply because a new device or treatment is available, we should be using it to keep up. What starts as self-care can begin to feel like pressure."
Holistic healer Estelle Bingham reiterates the issues with tech-heavy routines: "We remove the opportunity for a beauty routine to force us to take a moment out, to step away from screens, work or technology, rather than simply wearing an LED mask while we continue to absorb information from a screen, or carry on working at our laptops."
Perfectly simple toothbrush brand Suri's co-founder Gyve Safavi adds: "Somewhere along the way, we’ve confused more technology with better products. Apps to download, endless settings, AI features and complicated instructions. Suddenly, something that should be a moment for yourself becomes another task on an already long to-do list.
"I believe the best technology is the kind you barely notice. It should make your life better, not demand more of your attention. If you need a tutorial to get through your morning routine, something has probably gone wrong with the design."
Too many options
Decision fatigue plays into this issue too; it's something that impacts many of us in the modern world, and I really don't need my beauty devices playing into that, which is why I've started eschewing tools that require multiple settings in favour of devices that take us back to basics.
I'd had a Suri toothbrush, £105, squirreled away in my drawer, waiting for its moment to shine, and that moment came when I also received the Dyson Camerajet toothbrush, £419.99, which shows you a live stream of your mouth as you brush, shooting mouthwash into gaps identified by the camera.
All of that tech turned me right off, and I turned to my Suri instead. Simple and easy to use. I've had an Oral-B toothbrush with a screen and multiple settings for the last few years, and while I loved it (and my dentist said it was doing a brilliant job of keeping my teeth clean), the battery died daily. The tech was too much for it. Suri on the other hand, lasts for a month on one charge. I'm smitten with it - and Safavi understands why: "Consumers are becoming much more discerning about this. They’re not rejecting technology; they're rejecting unnecessary complexity. Sometimes the most innovative thing you can do is make something simpler."
The same goes for my new LED patch, £100 for two, from This Works. I've tried many, many LED masks and have become tired of the constant evolution of them. I don't want to have to pick between red, green and blue light. I just want to sit down and feel the self-care the red light promises.
Don't get me started on hair tools. I had a straightener from Cloud 9 which basically required a job interview to use it, asking me my hair type before it would heat up. Granted, you could save your setting once you had it nailed, but I just want to do my hair.
Ghd's AI-powered Sculpt, £369, is good, because it tailors the heat to your hair without you having to do any admin. Dyson's Airsmooth is better, as you simply turn it on and go.
Skincare overwhelm
Skincare has a lot to answer to as well. Skin cycling sees us switching up our routines nightly, but I just want one that caters to what my skin needs rather than swapping in retinols and whatnot.
I appreciate that I am privileged to have overall unproblematic skin, so I don't need to use all sorts of ingredients, but I think Japan has got it right when it comes to keeping a skincare routine feeling like self-care rather than a chore
J-beauty acknowledges that beauty is a moment just for us, and at a recent event with Japanese skincare brand Tatcha, it was pointed out that if you watch J-beauty skincare routines on social media, it's rarely being performed by a Japanese person. This is because if you're filming your routine, it's not for you anymore.
Re-establishing beauty as a calming moment
With the J-beauty approach in mind, I asked Anna how she'd move away from the chore-feeling of beauty, and she said the key is to pay attention to the experience itself and recognising the connection between the brain, body and mind.
Put down the hair styler with a screen, and close the app asking you to track your toothbrushing and hone back into how your routine feels.
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"Our senses are powerful," she begins. "The feeling of warm water, slow, mindful touch as we apply a body oil, a familiar functional fragrance or a softer, low-lit environment can all provide cues that help us shift away from the demands of the day.
"Through repetition, the brain can learn to associate a particular sensory stimulus -such as a familiar fragrance or the feeling of a warm bath - with a moment of rest. Over time, these associations can support patterns of thought and responses that help the autonomic nervous system shift towards a more parasympathetic, or ‘rest and digest’, state. We may then feel calmer, more relaxed, and more able to rest.
"The goal is to create an experience that feels restorative for you: a moment of calm, relaxation and connection with yourself."