Self-Care in the Age of Aesthetics

Self-care today often looks like candles, bath bombs, skincare routines, and spa days. Scroll through social media, and you’ll see endless lists of “self-care essentials,” and most of them come with a price tag. This is the world of self-care commercialization, where feeling better often means buying something again and again. Over time, self-care has slowly shifted from a practice of well-being to something closer to a cycle of consumption. To understand how that happened, it helps to look at the history of self-care.

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The Medical Roots of Self-Care

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The term “self-care” first appeared in the medical field in the 1950s and 1960s. Doctors used it to describe how patients could manage their health and daily needs outside hospitals.

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At the time, overcrowding and poor conditions in large state hospitals led to the deinstitutionalization movement, which shifted care toward community-based support.

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In this context, self-care meant something practical: maintaining autonomy, dignity, and daily functioning when formal systems fell short. Over time, the idea expanded beyond medical settings.

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Self-Care as Survival in Social Movements

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During the Civil Rights movement, activists expanded the meaning of self-care. Black communities facing discrimination in healthcare, housing, and employment often could not rely on existing systems to meet their needs.

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In response, the Black Panther Party created more than 60 “survival programs,” including free breakfasts for children and community health clinics. Their approach emphasized community care: people survive when communities support one another.

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For activists under constant stress, self-care also became essential for sustaining the movement. As writer and activist Audre Lorde put it, caring for herself was not self-indulgence but self-preservation and activism.

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When Self-Care Became a Product

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Over time, self-care shifted from activist and spiritual traditions into mainstream lifestyle branding. As the wellness industry grew, companies began selling products and experiences as solutions for stress and burnout. Critics call this consumer capitalism self-care, where personal purchases replace deeper conversations about overwork, inequality, and healthcare.

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Rethinking Self-Care

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Looking at self-care history also shows something important: self-care was rarely meant to exist in isolation. People can’t thrive outside relationships. We live our lives through families (biological or chosen), friendships, workplaces, neighborhoods, and communities. Rethinking self-care in a deeper sense includes:

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• Structural care, which refers to the systems that make care possible, like healthcare access, living wages, public transportation, and environmental protection. Personal well-being is deeply shaped by these broader conditions.
• Community care that recognizes that well-being is not individual. Support systems like shared childcare, mutual aid, and strong relationships help people care for one another when individual resources fall short.
• Self-care that focuses on long-term well-being and stability. This includes practices like therapy, rest, setting boundaries, eating well, and getting medical care. These are actions that support growth and resilience.
• Self-soothing activities that bring comfort in difficult moments, like watching TV, taking a bubble bath, exercising, or spending time in nature. These practices help regulate emotions and provide short-term relief.