Beauty Burnout
My 34th birthday is coming up on August 27th and I can’t help but think how crazy it is that I’ve been writing this blog since I was 28?? It’s been such a blur I don’t even know. As I reflect on the wild ride that has been 33, aka a move (with another one coming in September), two surgeries, a lot of loss, a semi-permanent break from facials, living with family, an election, being in school for 6+ months, having all my belongings in boxes, and a total re-evaluation of everything in my life - one of the topics that has been on my brain for a while now has been burn out.
Skincare Gratitude in 2020
Over the last several months, I have to admit it’s been a struggle to know what to share on my blog. I really needed (and still need) to take the time to truly reflect on what it is I want to put out into the world because it’s been such an unstable time for many of us. But the reality is that my biggest inspiration over the last 5 years of blogging has been my clients, which I’m not seeing a lot of at the moment. So when I go to write, I start to journal and it becomes a litany of complaints that starts to feel like just a big dose of verbal diarrhea. And the last thing most of you need to read about is about my uncertainty when you are still very much in your own.
How long do products last?
In our current times, the lack of control in the world outside of ourselves makes me look for solace in even the most menial of tasks. Organizing is one of the ways that has helped me with my anxiousness because I feel in control and structured enough when things feel like they are falling apart all around me. Organization means going through the cabinets, drawers, and all other compartments that accumulate junk or excess. For me, this typically means my toiletries and other beauty products. As privileged as that makes me sound, it’s my reality as you can see from this video where I organized my bathroom in my old LA apartment (I never thought I’d miss such a tiny space).
2020 skin goals | inclusive beauty
There are so many intentions I have collected from all of you that I’ve been able to digest over the last month of introspective, post-holiday time. As the decade turned, I asked many of you what you were hoping for in 2020 in relation to your skin health. There were many beautiful commitments shared about breaking up with old fear-based beauty beliefs that perpetuate inflammatory habits such as negative self-talk and picking the skin. There were also enlightening commitments to practice love-based care by simply drinking more water or getting more supportive care. I was elated receiving all of the feedback and took a long time to come up with a way that I could help with these resolutions. Here’s what I came up with…
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
This very date, January 1st, is when many of us feel inspired to commit to whatever the necessary changes we need to make in order to experience our "best year yet". We often push ourselves to break bad habits and form new routines like jumping into a new exercise routine, eliminating all bad foods, or starting a new 10-step skin regimen. These extreme changes can end up shocking our systems that our bodies end up quitting before we have a choice in the matter.
Optimizing your facial
It’s pretty clear at the end of a treatment if someone will benefit from our time together or not. A facial is not just an opportunity to relax or a time to get your skin cleared up, it’s an opportunity for an updated education on your skin’s health by tuning into what your skin is telling us. If we miss out on our chance to listen in, there can be some confusion as to why our skin responds in the way that it does post-treatment. There are a few simple steps that I like to tune into in order to make sure my clients feel supported but the key is if they are ready to participate in what can optimize the facial’s potential. Here are a few key steps towards achieving that very important skin care goal.
Understanding the importance of neck care
This past weekend I was so honored to take a class taught the brilliant Cecily Braden and Angela Peck. If you don’t know who these ladies are, they are some of the most esteemed leaders in the holistic esthetician education world. They host supportive, expanding workshops on everything from Gua Sha, lessons in traditional Chinese medicine, lymphatic drainage technique, Thai herbal poultice face massage, and everything in between. The class was so elevating and I was honored to surround myself with so many holistic estheticians who were looking to bring more intuitive modalities to their practices. Along with deepening my education on Gua Sha, there was a resounding theme that I felt I needed to share in this week’s blog. Most people think that skin care is just based on what our faces need. What about our neck? A lot of our neck health can be an indicator or the root of skin imbalance manifestation. Today I want to talk about the importance of neck care and how it will benefit your skin.
Is skin journaling right for you?
To preface, it’s important to acknowledge the transition of our skin throughout the course of our day. Your skin will not be the same from when you wake up, workout, eat, go to work, socialize, drive in your car to when you get home and wash your face at the end of the day. Your skin is working really hard to function with you throughout those transitions so that your fighting off free radicals, regulating your temperature, protecting you from UV rays (both sun and your daily screens), as well as how the rest of your body is responding to those same transitions. At the end of the day, our skin has exhausted itself from all of the work it happily does for us. So when we engage in negative self-talk throughout the course of its endless work for us, each cell hears your resistance and starts to respond accordingly. Call it woo-woo, but the more you shut down and think your skin isn’t working for you - the more it will start to dim your inner radiance. Believing in that inner radiance and showing gratitude for your skin is easier said than done, and that’s how skin journaling can help you get to that next step.
Intuitive Self-Care
Last week I was so honored to host an event with Michelle of Holisticism and Nicole Webb, who’s a reiki practitioner who uses muscle testing as a modality for intuitive healing. We were able to partner to discuss the innate wisdom that our body holds. I found myself speaking to a group of incredible women who were all prioritizing themselves by making the time to attend an event that would focus on their self-care. Sometimes I feel like a kettle boiling over and the burnout is real. I know all of you can get the same feeling when our work and personal lives get congested with the non-stop to do lists. This is where self-care comes into play, but only up until the last few years did I really start to determine the difference between self-care and escapism.