Clean Girl Aesthetic conversations: Early Warnings of Trend's End

This Insight Brief is brought to you by Infegy’s partnership with Joesph Bayer’s students at The Ohio State University. We work with these students to dig into a particular topic of their interest and encourage deeper insights.

Over the past three months, the Clean Girl Aesthetic has remained one of the most visible and influential beauty trends online. The trend is defined by minimal makeup, slicked-back hair, neutral tones, and an emphasis on effortless beauty. It promotes a version of simplicity that feels aspirational yet attainable to many viewers.

From September 15 through December 6, conversations about the Clean Girl Aesthetic generated 664k posts, driven primarily by women ages 18–34, who account for over 80% of the total discussion. Overall sentiment remains overwhelmingly positive, with +95% net sentiment, and emotional analysis shows dominant feelings of joy, love, and trust. These emotions suggest that the aesthetic resonates not just as a beauty look, but as a lifestyle tied to self-care and routine.

Figure 1: Volume by Age of Clean Girl Aesthetic Trend Conversations, (Sept 15th, 2025-Dec 6th, 2025); Infegy Social Dataset. 

Figure 2: Emotions of Clean Girl Aesthetic Trend Conversations, (Sept 15th, 2025-Dec 6th, 2025); Infegy Social Dataset.

Despite this strong positivity, a closer look at conversation volume and emerging negative narratives suggests the Clean Girl Aesthetic may be approaching a transition point, making it valuable for beauty brands monitoring trend lifecycles and cultural pushback.

Using Infegy Starscape, this Insight by Infegy explores both sides of the Clean Girl trend: the aspirational appeal that made it popular and the cultural pushback that may be signaling its slowdown.

What’s Driving the Clean Girl Aesthetic?

At its core, the Clean Girl Aesthetic represents simplicity and self-care. For many users, it signals emotional balance, wellness, and a “that girl” lifestyle built around skincare routines and minimal makeup. This framing helps explain why positivity remains high across platforms.

From a brand perspective, the aesthetic is effective because it aligns seamlessly with skincare, makeup, and wellness products. Clean visuals, neutral palettes, and short-form tutorials make content highly shareable, and product integration feels natural rather than promotional. This combination of emotional warmth and easy product integration has sustained strong engagement for months.

Figure 3: Sentiment of Conversations Around Clean Girl Aesthetic Trend, (Sept 15th, 2025-Dec 6th, 2025); Infegy Social Dataset.

A Shift in Momentum

While the aesthetic remains popular, conversation volume shows early signs of slowing momentum. From mid-September through early November, weekly discussion remained relatively stable, averaging between 45k and 60k posts. The trend reached its peak during the week of November 17, reaching approximately 68k posts.

Following that peak, conversation volume began a gradual decline, falling to roughly 61k posts by the week of December 1. While this does not indicate a collapse, the plateau and early downward trend suggest the aesthetic may be nearing saturation, particularly when paired with the rise of critical narratives.

Figure 4: Screenshot from an X Post Regarding the Clean Girl Aesthetic (@trixiemattel).

This pattern illustrates why brands cannot rely on sentiment alone. Volume trends often shift first, signaling when audiences may be ready for something new.

Figure 5: Social Volume of the Clean Girl Aesthetic, (Sept 15th, 2025-Dec 6th, 2025); Infegy Social Dataset.

The Rise of Clean Girl Criticism

Infegy identified over 1k negative posts, revealing recurring narratives that help explain why the trend may be losing momentum.

Many negative posts reflect confusion and skepticism, with users questioning what the aesthetic actually represents or expressing fatigue with its repetition. Terms like “boring”, “nonsense”, and “ruined” appear frequently in the negative word cloud, suggesting oversaturation rather than outright rejection.

Other critiques focus on cultural and inclusivity concerns. Critics question whether the Clean Girl Aesthetic relies too heavily on Eurocentric beauty standards, particularly when considering hair texture, skin tone, and access to expensive skincare or cosmetic procedures. Some posts, as seen in Figure 6, explicitly call out how trends associated with Black and South Asian culture are often rebranded and mainstreamed without credit.

Figure 6: Screenshot from an Instagram Reel Post Mentioning the Clean Girl Aesthetic (@mohuyaakhan)

A smaller but vocal group openly rejects the aesthetic altogether, framing it as unrealistic, restrictive, or outdated. Notably, “hate” emerges as the most frequent negative topic, indicating that, while this group is small, its influence is disproportionately large. These posts often spread widely, accelerating narratives that the trend is over.

The negative word cloud shows this shift clearly, with dominant terms pointing to boredom, rejection, and cultural tension rather than simple dissatisfaction.

Figure 7: Negative Topics Around the Clean Girl Aesthetic, (Sept 15th, 2025-Dec 6th, 2025); Infegy Social Dataset.

Together, these narratives suggest the criticism is less about disliking the aesthetic itself and more about wanting change, a sign that audiences may be ready for the next phase of beauty trends.

Why Clean Girl’s Shift Matters for Brands

The Clean Girl Aesthetic highlights how quickly aesthetic fatigue can emerge, even when overall sentiment remains positive. Brands relying heavily on a single cultural style risk stagnation if they fail to adapt as conversations shift.

Social listening shows that criticism does not need to be widespread to be impactful. A relatively small group of vocal users can influence broader perception, especially when those critiques tap into deeper conversations around inclusivity and representation.

For beauty brands, this moment presents an opportunity. Identifying when a trend begins to plateau allows marketers to pivot toward emerging micro-aesthetics, experiment with more inclusive representation, or refresh creative strategies before engagement declines further. Tools like Infegy Starscape make it possible to identify these inflection points early.

Key Takeaways

1. The Clean Girl Aesthetic remains widely embraced, but signs of saturation are beginning to appear beneath the surface.
   
   
2. Positive sentiment alone does not guarantee longevity. Conversation volume and critical narratives provide essential context.
   
   
3. Negative conversations, though small in proportion, reveal meaningful concerns around creativity, inclusivity, and trend fatigue.
   
   
4. Beauty brands that track both sentiment and momentum are better positioned to anticipate change and evolve alongside their audiences.