key: cord-0835867-zowbypg3 authors: Marahatta, Suchana; Singh, Aditi; Pyakurel, Prajjwal title: Self‐cosmetic care during the COVID‐19 pandemic and its psychological impacts: Facts behind the closed doors date: 2021-08-12 journal: J Cosmet Dermatol DOI: 10.1111/jocd.14380 sha: 7d538fc32705dd9cb27e648c7d112563a6dd514a doc_id: 835867 cord_uid: zowbypg3 BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) pandemic has resulted in significant negative psychological impacts in our life. Not doing adequate cosmetic care of skin, hair, and nails might be one of the underexplored but preventable reasons for the same. AIMS: To identify the change in cosmetic care habits of female undergraduate medical students during the coronavirus disease pandemic and to identify its psychological impacts on them. METHODS: A total of 218 individuals participated in this online study. Data were collected using a preset pro forma as a Google questionnaire to fulfill the objectives. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 11.5 and presented as percentage, mean, SD, median, IQR in tables and graphs. RESULTS: Mean age of the participants was 21.56 ± 1.95 years. Maximum respondents (66.0%) are not taking cosmetic care of skin, hair, and nail during the pandemic as before. More than two‐thirds (68.8%) are feeling bad, 31.2% are neutral, whereas none are feeling good because of this change. Second‐year students and the participants from rural locations are taking least cosmetic care (p < 0.05). However, coronavirus disease infection and major life events in the family did not affect it. Nail care was prioritized by the maximum (64.2%). Of all participants who are not doing cosmetic care as before, a maximum (50.0%) had lost self‐satisfaction followed by increased irritability (43.8%). CONCLUSIONS: A huge number of female medical students are not doing cosmetic care of their skin, hair, and nail during the coronavirus disease lockdown; they also perceive significant negative psychological impact because of this change. An online survey was carried out among female undergraduate medical students using Google form once they voluntarily agreed to participate in the study. The questionnaire was prepared by the subject experts after an extensive literature review to fulfill the objectives of the research. The socio-demographic profile included age, address, education, stream, current address, number of COVID-19 confirmed family members, and major life events in the family in the last 6 months (death, birth, major accident, and hospitalization of family members). Contextual matter comprised questions about changes in basic cosmetic care of skin, hair, and nail during the COVID-19 pandemic and psychosocial impact because of the same. Ethical clearance was obtained from the concerned authority, and all ethical issues were taken care of during its execution. Data were entered in Microsoft Excel and converted into SPSS v11.5 for statistical analysis. For descriptive studies, percentage, ratio, mean, SD, and median were calculated along with the graphical and tabular presentations. For inferential statistics, bivariate analysis was done using the chi-square test to find out the significant difference between dependent and independent variables. Qualitative variables were categorized and presented as frequencies and percentages. Quantitative variables were presented as the mean and standard deviation. p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Major life events included death, birth, major accident, and hospitalization of family members. Cosmetic care means cosmetic care of skin, hair, and nail which included the use of cosmetics like compact, foundation, beauty salon procedures (eg, facial, threading, bleaching,) lip makeover, eye makeover, hair dyeing, hair styling, and nail procedures like manicure, pedicure, nail painting, nail arts. Out of 370 undergraduate female students, 218 participated in our study with a response rate of 58.92%. The mean age of the participants was 21.56 ± 1.95 years with the majority of participants be- In our study, all participants who are not doing cosmetic care during the pandemic as before feel that they have some form of negative impact on their mental well-being. Half of them (50.0%) feel that they have lost self-satisfaction. Some of them (43.8%) had increased irritability, and around a third of them (34.7%) are feeling stressed. However, the change in cosmetic care may not be solely responsible for these negative impacts. The negative psychological impacts due to the COVID-19 pandemic itself might have contributed significantly and could be an important confounder for these changes. In a systematic review and meta-analysis, the prevalence of stress, anxiety, and depression were 29.6%, 31.9%, and 33.7%, respectively, among the general population. 17 A case-control design would have given a better picture. However, a significant number of the participants have also perceived that they have lost self-esteem, self-confidence, and attention because of change in cosmetic care of skin, hair, and nail. These However, a multi-centered study with a larger sample size, casecontrol study design, and specific tools to measure psychological impacts would have given a clearer picture of this topic. Whether cosmetics enhance beauty or not has been a matter of debate for since long. However, the finding of our study suggests that it plays an important role in the mental well-being of females. Individuals might be dissatisfied, irritable, and stressed; likewise, they might also lose confidence, self-esteem, and attention if they cannot take adequate cosmetic care of themselves. Hence, we suggest the concerned authorities pay attention to this matter, as this is one of the easily rectifiable issues. Encouraging people to continue cosmetic care of themselves during the COVID-19 surge via different social media might play an important role to improve the mental well-being of the individual. We would like to express our deep gratitude to all the participants of this study. Ethical approval was obtained from "Departmental Research Unit" of the institute. F I G U R E 3 Trend of cosmetic care of skin, hair, and nail among the participants during the COVID pandemic F I G U R E 4 Perception of the participants who are not doing cosmetic care of skin, hair, and nail as before COVID-19 pandemic (n = 144) Why women use makeup: implication of psychological traits in makeup functions Sex differences in the perceived dominance and prestige of women with and without cosmetics Cosmetics as a feature of the extended human phenotype: modulation of the perception of biologically important facial signals The average cost of beauty maintenance could put you through Harvard Relation between facial morphology, personality and the functions of facial make-up in women Facial cosmetics have little effect on attractiveness judgments compared with identity Objectification theory and psychology of women: a decade of advances and future directions Feminists who flaunt it: exploring the enjoyment of sexualization among young feminist women In the context of romantic attraction, beautification can increase assertiveness in women Skin disorders associated with the COVID-19 pandemic: a review The Implications of COVID-19 for Mental Health and Substance Use The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic's impact on mental health An investigation of depression, anxiety, and stress and its relating factors during COVID-19 pandemic in Iran Hygienic and cosmetic care habits in polish women during COVID-19 pandemic Miscalibrations in judgements of attractiveness with cosmetics Does make-up make you feel smarter? The "lipstick effect" extended to academic achievement Prevalence of stress, anxiety, depression among the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review and meta-analysis https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3542-0350