Sun care SOS Part 1
I went camping for a few days over Memorial Day weekend and as fun as it was it also honestly felt like a case study in sun care. Donβt worry, this isnβt a post to chastise anyone on their sunscreen use, itβs more of an observational piece about the different educations people have about sun care in general. When it comes to sun care, regardless of where you are from, your skin color and whatever else comes to mind as an excuse to avoid daily care - you need sun protection. So before you tell yourself your melanin activity is enough to avoid reading this think again. Iβm going to break this down into two parts. Part 1 will be about the common misconceptions, old myths and whatβs commonly neglected. So letβs begin:
I'm so not a salesperson...
My husband and I realized something about me recently. If you get a chance to sit with me for a lunch, facial or just a brief encounter in the grocery store - you may end up indulging me with your life story. The name βtherapeutic skin coachβ is not 100% based on my experience as an esthetician. For as long as I can remember I have the type of personality that immediately comforts someone to have them share their life with me. It makes sense that when I first signed up for college I simply put βpsychologyβ down as my option for a major since I have sort of always felt like a bit of a therapist. That being said it hasnβt always been easy to be an esthetician. Estheticians wear many, many hats that unless you walk in our shoes, you may not realize how much we have to do. First, we need to be able to analyze just about any skin condition. There are many party conversations that turn to βyou should take a look at this thing on my backβ or a text with attached photo that says βwhat do you think this might be?β. Secondly, we need to be able to run our businesses. I have to place orders, manage my business accounts, set up projections for myself and have to keep my permits, licenses and insurances all up to date. Things I never thought Iβd have to worry about or rather even know anything about. Probably one of the most important parts of the job however is sales. I have to sell myself, sell you on my service, sell you on my products, sell you on everything. And you know what, Iβm so not a sales person.
Stop Picking Your Skin!
I think we can all agree that one of the worst skin habits to have is picking at oneβs skin. Actually, itβs THE worst habit to have. I can live with a βI forgot to wash my makeup offβ every once in awhile or even a βI use cetaphil to wash my faceβ, but there is no good reason to pick your skin. Trust me Iβve heard it all; βIt was readyβ - How do you know? Are you a licensed esthetician? βI did it mindlesslyβ - Perhaps in your sleep but most scabs indicate to me that it wasnβt just a mindless attack. Iβve fallen victim to picking at my skin from an early age and since I obviously made a career out of it, I understand the urge to do it. The truth is that it comes down to two theories:
A - You actually think you are an esthetician and after watching enough Dr. Pimple Popper youtube videos so you feel confident you can extract your skin flawlessly.
Or
B - There is an emotional connection to why you are attacking your face. It may be anxiety or the need to control something when your life feels out of sorts however there is an underlying issue that your face doesnβt deserve to feel the retaliation from.
So what can you do? There are so many ways to transition out of this habit and Iβve broken it down into 3 simple steps.
WRKSPC Oasis Launch and what I learned
Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to participate in the launch of WRKSPC Oasis, A women's coworking + wellness popup at the Parachute Hotel in Venice with Skin Food Talk. WRKSPC Oasis was founded by two bad ass entrepreneurs bosses that Iβm so grateful to have met. Kristine Lo, who was also my wedding videographer and SFTβs ebook photographer and Mikayla Mitchell, whom I had met previously through conscious city guide. These ladies were paired together at a meditation workshop (how cosmic!) and manifested their creation together so flawlessly. All day Tara and I got to sit outside on the rooftop and meet with women who were either self employed, in between careers or attracted to a women run wellness popup. When I get to meet with people all day long and talk about their health there are a few themes that consistently come up; we tend to overwork, under eat/sleep and lose track of that little voice within that says βslow downβ. Women led companies are changing the world right now and itβs incredible to be apart of it while we are seeing a lot of darkness rise. We bring the light to all aspects of life - our friendships, family dynamics and our workspace. Many of us are empaths or sensitives that feel a lot of whatβs going on and start to notice the physical and emotional symptoms that donβt seem to have a root cause. The reason the launch of WRKSPC Oasis was so successful was because they found the root which is how to care for ourselves and each other while balancing our super woman responsibilities. I wanted to take the chance to share the practices I learned from the event and how they have immediately impacted my life.
Reassessing our standards
I was in an energy session recently where I was faced with a question that hit me like a ton of bricks. βAre you standards too high for yourself?β is exactly what I needed to hear to let go of the physical anxiety holding me back from actualizing my goals. My standards for myself are astronomically high. They have been since I was a young girl because I showed signs of emotional depth, intelligence and empathy really early on. If someone was mean to someone else on the school playground, I would mediate. βHow would you feel if you were in their shoes?β was the first question 6 year old Hayley would ask. Immediately I set my standards high and so did everyone else around, not leaving much space for me to crumble down if I needed to.
What constitutes an expert?
Over the last few years I have seen an incredible growth in the wellness community. We have evolved our hippie, woowoo reputation to a reliable source of transparency and natural health care. Since Iβve been in the game for over a decade, and that may just be long enough to recognize patterns, Iβve realized the most extreme pattern is how sick people are getting. With the amount of knowledge Iβve acquired over the years, I feel as though I constantly have to research and ask questions. Iβm lucky to have a great group of wellness practitioners that I collaborate with so we can create a whole health wellness plan for just about any case. If a case gets a little tricky for me to solve on my own I have many estheticians who I can reach out to for advice. The collaborative effort creates a safe space to explore endless possibilities and potentially help catch something I would have normally missed in an assessment. So if it takes a village and a decade of experience among the leaders of this community for me to find success, than how come everyone is all of a sudden an expert?
Happy Spring Equinox...now mix it up!
When I was a young girl I use to be obsessed with drawing. I always had a pencil and sketch pad with me for road trips, play dates and would even draw during family movie night. I was fascinated with drawing people and their faces. It gave me a chance to be creative because I had never met two people who were identical. I can even differentiate between identical twins because I can pay that close attention to minute detail. I normally have to take a deep breath when someone tells me that they have been using the same skincare since high school. Unless you only graduated a year ago that really terrifies me. There are so many common misconception of how we need to treat our skin but one that seems to be recurring is the concept that your skin needs never change. We eat different foods seasonally, we mix up our workouts, we change shampoos and other body care often so why donβt we apply that same concept to our skin. Our skin can help us determine what is going on internally and our face is our most recognizable feature. We each develop unique facial features that evolve over time and can help develop character as well as become part of your personality.
It takes a village
Building a community for yourself is important for any stage of your life. If you think about your work, you usually need a full team to get everything done. If the team is built right for the task and everyone shares the same passion for the common goal, the results are usually productive and wonderful. If your team isnβt structured according to the same goals it can be disastrous. The same concept falls into friendships, families and the community you built to help keep you well and healthy. Your wellness community is everything and shouldnβt be ignored. Let's face it, the phrase "it takes a village" doesn't just stop when we're babied. Here are some key points to evaluate when building your team.
Holiday Reminders
We tend to forget what the holidays are really about. Right before the festivities a lot of us actually end up getting sick or even sad/depressed because we are not taking the time for ourselves like we do the rest of the year. Here are some reminders on how to shift your perspective and enjoy the holidays healthy and happily.
Hayley's Holiday Guide
With the holidays coming up it can be quite challenging to come up with gifts for everyone in your life. From family to friends to colleagues and everyone else in between the creative juices of gift giving stop flowing after a while. The desire to be creative, practical and heartfelt sometimes makes it seem like no gift will be good enough. Though my blogs are usually a little more on the educational side, I felt like my guide to gift giving could potentially spark some inspiration. Now that black friday, cyber monday and all the other overwhelming sales are winding down you may be getting a little worried if all of your shopping isnβt done. Here is my guide to Holiday gift giving:
Time Management and Self Care
Over the last few weeks I have had family visiting so I apologize for the delay in my newsletters. Time management is always a bit of a challenge for most, including myself. This can lead to frustrations and anxiety regardless of the seriousness of a task. Most of the time we feel like we are running out of time and donβt seem to have the mindfulness to achieve our daily goals. The glorification of busy is so overdone in our culture so what tends to happen is self care goes out the window. How can you feel productive without the anxiety of procrastination or being overwhelmed by too many tasks? Itβs simple and here is my guide to managing the βbusyβ stress so you donβt let your self care go.
Roots: Why where you are from matters to your skin
If you know me you know that I moved around a lot as a kid. Both my parents worked in different cities and about every 2-3 years we would pick up and move according to their work. The biggest move was from New Brunswick, Canada to Wisconsin, USA when I was 10 years old. Shortly after the big, across the border move I started experiencing advanced puberty symptoms that I later became to understand was triggered due to stress and trauma from the environmental change.
How to layer your skincare
In the business of beauty there are many types of consumers. Are you the type of consumer who will buy a skincare product because you love the scent, texture or the promise of what it can do for you whether you have need it or not? I know many people who simply love products! The problem is at the end of the day they may have too many options and donβt know how to implement it properly into their routine. Just because you have a ton of products doesnβt mean your skin needs or wants it. What I want to talk about today is not only how to come up with a functioning routine but also how to be able to layer the products you want for maximum results. Layering skincare can be the key to success or the demise of your healthy skin. Here is your how to guide to customizing your regimen and how to layer.
Common Skin Misconceptions!
There are several misconceptions that we are taught to think about our skin throughout our lives. I have spent the last 10 years of my life having to re-teach my clientele about these misconceptions as I was one of the millions of young women who fell prey to them. I grew up genuinely believing that I wasnβt good enough because I didnβt match the unrealistic standards of society on women. My skin wasnβt clear therefore I wasnβt good enough. Sounds so shallow and self hating to think that I would compare my worth to a health imbalance but it was very real to me at the time. I still work on shedding off what the many articles I read in Cosmo, Glamour and any other mainstream magazines that created the impossible guide to being perfect. So today let me help break down the common skin misconceptions that we are still encountering today so hopefully your self worth will be uplifted and not challenged anymore.