Is Homemade Shampoo a Recession Indicator?

Welcome back to Haul of Fame, your must-read beauty roundup for new products, new ideas and new makeup influencers: NBA players.

Included in today’s issue: Benefit Cosmetics, Blue Lagoon, Cocolab, Decorté, Dr. Dennis Gross, Eadem, Fenty, Glossier, MAC Cosmetics, Murad, Nyx, Obagi, Omnilux, Osea, Ouai, Parfums de Marly, Pat McGrath Labs, Paul Mitchell, Paul Reacts, Redken, Saie, Saint Jane, Sol de Janeiro, Sol Labs, Tarte, 5 Sens and Hello Kitty’s bikini beauty routine.

But first…

A few minutes after therapy, I opened my phone for some more immediate mental health care: A TikTok video of a woman making her own shampoo from onions. Her name is Ify Ekwelem, and she‘s a holistic healer based in West Africa. In a lulling tone, Ekwelem narrates tiny videos about DIY beauty routines made from kitchen staples — an olive oil “bum scrub,” a lemon juice and baking soda deodorant paste. She boasts a few hundred thousand followers on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, but by far, her most viral content is this onion shampoo video, which counts over 1.5 million views and 20,000 shares on TikTok alone. She‘s joined by a young woman in Mexico named Geneva who has 4.5 million views on her similar recipe.

By TikTok standards, this video shouldn’t “work.” The majority are just close-ups of a plain plastic bottle with a few loops of red onion and some cinnamon. Nobody is wearing a teeny Brandy Melville camisole and talking to you like a homeroom flirt. There isn’t any choreography. It’s just a straight-up example of ancestral knowledge transformed into cheerful, anyone-can-do-this service content.

In this way, the onion shampoo video is brilliant. It’s also an example of what’s coming next — or what could come next, if tariffs and stock swings keep scaring shoppers away. In every moment of economic panic, there is a DIY beauty boom. After 9/11, we saw the emergence of at-home manicure kits enter the luxury space, a trend led by Rescue Beauty lounge owner Ji Baek. In 2008, the collision of big bank freakouts and YouTube curiosity led to extreme contouring, “baking,” and other makeup tricks cribbed from drag queens and your old babysitter who went on to work at MAC. The lockdowns of 2020 caused a skincare explosion where being a “12 stepper” connoted an at-home serum routine.

We‘re seeing the DIY push now with haircare. Onion shampoo has a 70 percent spike in Google searches since May of last year. There‘s also the #ricewater trend, a Tiktok situation with half a billion views (?!) where girls boil a pot of rice, leave the water sitting overnight, then douse their hair in it. And heatless curling techniques can happen with socks ($1.99) when needed. Obviously, you can buy elevated versions of this stuff. Fable and Mane uses onion juice in its top-rated $48 ayurvedic shampoo and conditioner set; Oribe and Augustinus Bader employ rice extracts in their best-selling hair care formulas, which retail for between $50 and $90. For soft and bouncy curls, the Shark Beauty dryer is a $200 marvel. But when you can pull off a beauty look without really buying anything, you feel like you’re getting away with something. And in a world where creators of colour have been suppressed by various algorithms, seeing holistic formulas from South America, Africa and India triumph on Tiktok has an additional grace note. But even if the systemic subtext isn’t part of one‘s personal beauty equation, adopting these home remedies, one can feel more resourceful. That isn’t exactly the same as powerful, but it’s closer than just pretty.

You can buy all these DIY hair ingredients — even the cheap socks — at any big supermarket or big box store. In a sense, it’s the beginning of the Pretty Preppers movement, where a “make-do” ethos supersedes our belief in financial safety nets, but not in basic beauty standards. Considering our prestige TV calendar has just swapped the wealth-porn paradise of White Lotus for the apocalyptic root network of The Last of Us, and the gilded magic of Wicked has given way to the underworld hypnosis of Sinners, it’s not entirely a surprise. Perhaps it’s a relief. Visibility is the closest thing we have to currency right now, especially since our actual currency is having a more volatile moment. And if you can be seen for your practical knowledge instead of your eerily symmetrical smile, some would consider that progress. You, dear readers, are likely too cynical to embrace that ethos wholesale. But at least you’ll consider it a change in your market strategy.

What else is new…

Skincare

It’s literally captivating. Obagi’s Retinol + PHA Refining Night Cream has “entrapped” its retinol for a longer release period, which allegedly reduces skin sensitivity and prolongs the whole “less wrinkles” situation. It hit shelves on May 5 and retails for $135.

Double cleanse? They don’t know her. Osea launched its Ocean Wave Cleanser on May 6, and it’s meant to be both a makeup remover and a pore cleanser, all in one bottle for $38. Nobody’s mad.

Plant mucus is a thing now. On May 6, Saint Jane debuted Rich Rescue Phyto Mucin Cream, a tube of hydrating goo made with mucin proteins derived from yam roots. The cream retails for $48 and claims to boost skin elasticity and volume.

Omnilux is one of those gizmo brands that straps a Friday the Thirteenth hockey mask on you, then floods it with LED light to mimic the effects of a laser facial at home. On May 6, the Napa Valley-based brand alerted press that you can now buy the $395 gadget on a payment plan.

Old: Swiping on Bumble matches. Now: Swiping on self-tanner. On May 9, Dr. Dennis Gross dropped Alpha Beta Glow Pads, a range of pre-soaked wipes loaded with face and body self-tanner. They’re $48; a Sephora exclusive.

Blue Lagoon wants to make summer clothes for your skin. On May 8, the brand introduced BL+ The Cream Light, a “warm weather moisturiser” made with a less dense formula. It’s got microalgae in the formula, and you know what that means — pondscum alert!

Is TikTok Shop a development or a retail site? Murad will find out. After its Deep Relief acne treatment went viral this winter, the doctor-fronted brand developed a whole new product — Biome-Balancing Clear & Prevent Acne Treatment Serum — to launch exclusively on TikTok Shop starting May 8. It’ll hit Murad.com two weeks later.

On May 7, Japanese luxury skincare brand Decorté introduced Sun Shelter, an SPF 50+ formula with rosemary extract and aloe. It’s $42 and found at the Big Three — Bloomingdale‘s, Nordstrom and Saks.

Makeup

It’s a bronzer! It’s an SPF! It’s a wrinkle treatment! It’s $36. Sol Labs debuted Lumibronze, its new 3-in-one sun serum, on May 2, in three shades.

Tarte‘s latest Maracuja extension: A Juicy Lip Tattoo product that stains lips with “no pain and no regrets.” The dual-ended colour tint costs $29 and comes in five shades of “yes, great, I’ll have that.”

Glow-La-La is the newest Benefit Cosmetics compact. The powder highlighter launched on March 5 with six shades including Raya, a luminescent pale peach. It’s a tiny indication that dating apps are declining — four years ago, if you named anything “Raya,” you would have had to make a joke about swiping with Ben Affleck.

Ellie the Elephant is gonna dance to “Umbrella (Ella, Ella).” On May 7, Fenty Beauty announced a partnership with the New York Liberty. Fenty founder Rihanna says, “We‘re excited for them to get their game faces on.” Does that mean we‘ll see you courtside, Ri? Fingers crossed! Bring the kids!

Saie Beauty had three Dew Blush shades — Lady (mauve), Hottie (peach) and Flirty (pink) — hitting shelves on May 7. They’re $25 each. Rather put pink on your lips? Eadem’s Guava Fresca gloss also hit May 7.

Glossier’s new campaign stars Katseye, the K-pop group birthed on Netflix and brought to cutie-pie life by revered creative director Humberto Leon. Did I report in 2024 that a beauty brand should scoop them up? I did, though to be honest, I’m surprised that a label as big — and as Millennial-driven — as Glossier would be the one to do it. Still, great. Now we just need justice for Emily Kelavos!!!

Blurred lips for less. On May 9, Nyx launched Smushy Matte Lip Balm, a 12-shade range with a chubby font, a $9 price tag and a lot of dessert-scented formulas named for cakes and pies.

Hair Care

Paul Mitchell debuted its Clear Collection on May 2. The line for extra-sensitive skin includes shampoo, conditioner, smoothing serum and styling “glaze,” each with 10 ingredients or less.

Ouai introduced a Thickening Spray on May 6 that doubles as a heat protectant and smells like ginger, basil and tomato leaves. (Your move, Loewe.)

Fragrance

Lychee is gaining steam in the gourmand wars. On May 6, Cocolab introduced Lychee Breeze as its new flavor for Cocoshine and Cocofloss.

Wear ‘em and weep? On May 6, fragrance brand 5 Sens, founded by Wander Beauty’s Divya Gugnani, launched Happy Tears, an orange blossom and jasmine fragrance that claims to be “serotonin in a spritz.” IDK though — my bottle of Lexapro is free with insurance, and this stuff is $65.

Paul Reacts is a TikTok channel where a dude smells perfumes and tells you if they’re good. On May 8, the brand debuted its own scent, Strawberry Sensation, a $65 formula with vanilla and sandalwood. The press release says the scent “isn’t a dupe or riff” and namechecks strawberry motifs from Rhode, Glossier and — wild card — Simone Rocha as proof of concept. (But the real proof is whether this thing sells.)

Met Gala Learnings

Parfums de Marly would like its red carpet callouts, please. The French label spritzed Tyla and Joey King with its hair scents and even secured quotes from their stylists (Yusef Williams and Rena Calhoun, respectively) to reinforce the message. Expect more #ad attempts like this in the future, especially with Cannes coming up.

Sol de Janeiro also dipped its toe into the celebrity space, lathering up the model Paloma Elsesser in body oil and Bum Bum Cream.

Meanwhile, men’s grooming went big on the carpet, with Avène Eau Thermale, MAC Cosmetics, Nyx, Pat McGrath Labs, Redken and Vaseline getting their spotlight via male celebs like Lewis Hamilton, Shaboozey and Law Roach (whose matched his Vaseline partnership to a blue-and-gold crocodile Hermés Kelly).

And finally…

The K-Beauty brand Amuse launched its Hello Kitty collaboration on May 2. To celebrate, they gave the beloved cartoon a tan. If Hello Kitty had a mouth, she‘d be laughing so hard right now…

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