It looks like living in the era of the “clean-girl” beauty trend and minimalistic skincare might be changing how long people spend on their daily beauty routine. The List discovered that over 40% of people surveyed spend less than 15 minutes on their routine. The second-highest group spent between 15 and 30 minutes on a daily beauty routine. On the other end of the spectrum, only a little over 2% of respondents spent between one and a half and two hours or over two hours on a regimen.
These numbers differ sharply from a 2016 study conducted by the U.K.’s Superdrug, which found that women were spending 40 minutes on a routine that featured a whopping 27 steps, per Yahoo! Life. Two years earlier, Women’s Health reported that the average number was even higher — 55 minutes a day, which translated to a full two weeks of beauty prep each year. Believe it or not, 2022’s survey results are more in line with the amount of time people spent getting ready in 2006.
Times have clearly changed, which is welcome news for people who want to use their time on other pursuits. What caused the difference? We can’t say for sure. But more minimalistic trends are now ascendant. The “clean-girl” aesthetic, for example, focuses on five steps instead of 27. Women’s Health shared some tips on how to speed up a routine such as combining steps or finding products that answer multiple needs all at once.
