WELLNESS BURNOUT IS REAL
From biohackers to beauty brands, when is it too much?
Oh, hello!
Welcome to the first edition of COMB/ED, the shiny new Substack from team KIT, where we dive deep into the culture of hair and care.
You’ll find us in your inbox every two weeks, bringing you cutting-edge insights from the frontlines of wellness and beauty.
Expect posts on ponytail politics and celebrity haircare brands, AI innovation and TikTok trichology — the trends and shifts shaping the future of hair.
Each edition will be made up of:
THE SPOTLIGHT a statistic, signal and shift we find intriguing/informative
THE TEXTURE the main feature, an opinion piece on cultural observations
THE TEASE an additional feature teasing something to come
THE LIST what team KIT is reading
THE BLOWOUT an inspirational quote to see you out
You ready for the first edition? Scroll on…
THE SPOTLIGHT
STAT MIND OVER MATTER: 36% of Brits say mental self-care is the most important aspect of personal wellness; physical self-care came second at 35% [AQUA, 2024]
SIGNAL DISABILITY x HAIRCARE: Anna Cofone's Hair & Care Project empowers visually impaired individuals with free hairstyling workshops, and more
SHIFT SOFT REBELLION: younger generations crave cortisol-soothing indulgences (drinking, smoking, red-meat) as subtle acts of rebellion against rise in wellness culture
THE TEXTURE
WELLNESS BURNOUT IS REAL. AND IT’S HERE.
There was a time when wellness meant rest. Now, it means routines, trackers, testing kits, sauna memberships, and a serum for every body-part. We've gone from self-soothing to self-optimising, and the line between care and control is starting to blur.
Lululemon’s Global Wellness Report 2024, The Pressure To Be Well, tells us that 63% of people around the world feel that the pressure to be ‘well’ is impacting their wellbeing, while only 23% feel like they meet society’s expectations of what it means to be ‘well’.
Enter: the era of wellness fatigue, where the pursuit of feeling good has become just another performance metric. One more thing to manage. To measure. To max out.
The rise of longevity as a lifestyle movement is driven in part by social media: TikTok now has over 247,8000 #longevity posts. People are signing up and showing out at run clubs and functional fitness classes, training their bodies for the long haul by focusing on strength, flexibility and balance.
From cold plunges to cortisol monitors, we’re watching the wellness industry edge into tech-utopian territory, promising perfect skin, optimal hormones, eight+ REM cycles, if only you commit. Beauty brands are rebranding as biohacking labs. Influencers are pushing nootropics with your exfoliator. And amid it all, the pressure to keep up has never felt more exhausting.
The once-soft language of care has been replaced by hard data, science and strategy. It’s no longer enough to feel better. You have to prove it. With discipline, and a drawer full of supplements. We’re being sold the idea that health is a hustle, that your morning routine should include a probiotic, a productivity hack, and a peptide serum, preferably all before 8am.
Skin isn't just skin anymore — it's a site of optimisation.
Sleep isn't rest — it’s an efficiency metric.
And wellness isn’t intuitive — it’s industrial.
But here’s the real question: who is this version of wellness really for?
It’s not just about affordability or access. It’s about who gets to ‘burn out’ from wellness at all, and who’s still fighting to access basic care. When every moment of the day becomes an opportunity for self-optimisation, where does softness go?
The $2 trillion global wellness market is about to get its millennial and Gen Z glow-up: younger generations are prioritising self-care, spending much more than Gen X and boomers on classes, passes and products. McKinsey predicts that the lines between wellness, beauty and longevity will continue to blur, while Gen AI will come into play. Basically, the future will see the introduction of cool collabs with personalised products. But they’ll come with a hefty price tag.
We think it’s up to brands and businesses working in this space to shift the wellness narrative. Feeling good shouldn’t be a luxury. The more we talk about slowing down and logging off, the more impact we can make to our community’s health and happiness.
CENTRED gets it. The hair-health brand was launched back in 2017 by husband and wife duo, Laura and Kieran Tudor, pioneers of an innovative approach to scalp and hair wellness, The Inside Out Method™.
At 29, Laura was burnt out from working in the fashion industry, and the physical impact from the long-term stress caused her hair to fall out in clumps. So, together with her award-winning hairstylist-husband, Kieran, they harnessed the power of nature, science, and mindful rituals, to craft products that nourish hair, body and mind.
Another plant-powered business of note is Refy Beauty: the Manchester-based brand takes well-being seriously by investing in its employees, offering training schemes on confidence and feedback to help its 120-plus people build on their talents. e.l.f. Beauty, too. At a recent all-staff town hall, its employees connected through a mindful few minutes of box breathing.
From crafting the products that help us facilitate wellness from within, to building the businesses that authentically champion well-being, it's the beauty companies that focus on care that truly resonate. Especially now, during our contemporary era of burnout and fatigue.
These brands, big or small, understand that the future of care isn’t more — it’s less. Less pressure. Fewer protocols. More space to feel, rather than fix. Because sometimes, the most radical thing you can do for your well-being is nothing at all.
THE TEASE
LOCKED IN WITH ASHLEIGH HODGES, OUT TOMORROW
Are you following us on Instagram? Double check. You don’t want to miss our Q&A with the youngest (ever) president of the Fellowship of British Hairdressing, Ashleigh Hodges.
Here’s a little teaser…
What does the role of president involve?
”The job of the president is to kind of be the initial beacon of evolution within the organisation. You’re the one that sets out key strategies with the chair and the board to be able to push the organisation forward continually. That’s creatively, in a thought-provoking manner, always moving things forward.”
Being president comes with long hours and stress. How do you manage that?
“Being the president is definitely not for the faint-hearted. It’s an unpaid role, it takes a lot of time, and even when it’s not taking your time, it still takes your energy. I will wake up at 5am, and the first thing I’m thinking about is the Fellowship — structuring it, running things, new ideas to push it forward. It really does encompass everything whilst you’re in it.”
How do you stay grounded with so much going on?
“If I’m honest, I want to say my partner Matt. We’ve been together 15 years and he is the most level person in the world. He’s that person who could sit with a coffee while the boat is rocking all over the place and just calmly say, ‘It’s gonna happen.’ I can be right up here or right down there — ranting or celebrating — and he’ll always pull me back down.”
THE LIST
The return of the ‘OG Instagram’ aesthetic DAZED
The Photographer Capturing The Hidden Secrets of Girls’ Hair i-D
Goodifferent Wants to Be a Salon Where Black Women Meet for More Than Hair WWD
Sleep Is a Feminist Issue: Why Women’s Rest Is Political Ms MAGAZINE
In Hair Care, Stylists Are the Real Influencers BOF
THE BLOWOUT
A note on wellness from our founder, Karrie Fitz:
Wellness has been a wild loop for me: I’ve gone from nothing, to all-in, back to nothing again. Some days I miss the journaling, yoga, candlelit version of myself. Other days, I wonder who on earth has time for that; does it actually work?
And then there are moments I feel completely lit up, in tune with some kind of magic. What I’ve learned is my default setting is simple: if it feels right, it’s right. If it doesn’t, it’s not.
Four years into building KIT, I’m not the same person I was when I started. The things that used to wind me up barely register now. What’s the point in stressing over the small stuff? My wellness isn’t a strict routine anymore. It’s a vibe check. A gut call. A choice to protect my peace. Cause that’s my aim to life — to PROTECT MY PEACE.K xo
So great to see you guys here 🥰🥰🥰🥰🤩
Loving this 🤩