Episode Transcript
The holidays are steadily approaching and there are no limits to the gift ideas. Just Google "Best self care gifts" and you'll get a ton of suggestions from magazines like Cosmopolitan, InStyle, and Self, and beauty influencers looking to make some extra cash with that affiliate marketing. This year's hot items span from Ice Globe Facial Massagers and beard grooming sets to higher price tech, like red light face masks and infrared sauna blankets. So before you go holiday shopping, let's appreciate how wellness is being applied to make over the beauty industry,
The connection between self care and longevity is becoming increasingly recognized. And moreover, we acknowledge that nurturing physical appearance directly influences our mental and emotional wellbeing. In the realm of self care, skin health holds a paramount position. As our body's largest organ, the skin acts as a barrier against harmful environmental factors and also works to regulate our body temperature.
Maintaining healthy skin isn't a vanity project. a necessity. In response, the beauty industry is developing more performance based skincare, which goes beyond surface level solutions, targeting the root causes of skin issues and fostering long term skin health,
new products and services incorporate a deeper understanding of how our body's intricate systems interact with each other. For instance, new products are based on scientific research and clinical trials, leveraging the understanding of biotechnology and the skin's microbial ecosystem to increase the effectiveness of products in promoting skin health.
Neurocosmetics and psychocosmetology explore the connections between the skin, the mind, and the nervous system. These products emphasize the impact of stress, anxiety, and overall emotional well being on skin health. Artificial intelligence and technologies like smart mirrors are helping brands to offer hyper personalized skincare and beauty product recommendations based off individual skin types, lifestyle, and preferences.
This is revolutionizing the way consumers shop for beauty products. And thanks to advancements in nutritional science and dermatology, the convergence of dietary supplements and skincare are bringing more ingestible beauty products and transdermal supplements to the market. These products are packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants designed to nourish the skin from within, which not only promote healthy skin, but also balance hormones.
These trends highlight how vital clean and natural ingredients have in the creation of beauty products and how beauty and wellness are becoming a more holistic and integrated endeavor.
In the world of self care, beauty is indeed more than skin deep. The French fashionista Coco Chanel once said beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself.
If you think about it, that was quite a profound statement coming from that era of fashion beauty. Along with this wellness movement, beauty standards have been shifting and brand marketing campaigns are supporting a more inclusive and authentic beauty approach. This shift is a profound departure.
From the narrowly defined and often unattainable ideals of beauty that have dominated social norms for decades. Today, diversity in all of its forms, different skin types, colors, ages, shapes, and sizes are now being represented and celebrated. This move towards inclusivity is not just about representation.
It's about acknowledging and validating the beauty in our own uniqueness and individuality. talked with Wolf Castillo about beauty standards and how vulnerable we can be as we consider ourselves in relation to societal pressures and in self expression.
I think in almost everything that we talk about, whether we're talking about health, science, almost all of it pointed a finger at ultimate self-expression. All the different topics is how do we feel good, mind, body, soul, such that we can uniquely express ourselves in our totality.
The way that you express your body or embrace your body, as a sense of beauty. We've actually made it unhealthy because we are repressing that part of ourselves that actually is something that we should be rejoicing .
My husband and I were walking a museum there was this painting of this woman who was shapely, like old, 17th century Italian painting. That was the expression of beauty back then.
And he was comparing it to my body and you know, it was an interesting moment for me, right? As a woman, Very sensitive to beauty standards and that being not the beauty standard of today necessarily. I knew he was meaning it as a compliment and it took me a second to say, why am I feeling like maybe it's not a compliment, right?
'Cause I've always been pretty confident in my body regardless of the different stages. And I have gone through lots of different stages, everything from way, skinnier than I should have been to unhealthy, , weight , and in between.
And I don't know exactly what, Perfect weight should look like, but I'm not necessarily beating myself up every day but it literally is, it's that self-expression and that internal dialogue of beauty and outward facing sexual expression and all the repression that we've done in our society, right,
The super ego being the sticking to the constructs, boundaries, rules and guidelines of society and how we're supposed to act and dress and look and weight and all of that.
To some degree, we have to learn to develop a sense of like grit with like what people say and how society is showing up and being able to not internalize it as our internal truth.
When your significant others like, like this is beautiful and like this is you of a different standard and there's a part of you that's like, huh?
Was that you or was that a voice that you internalized because of something outside of you? I don't know, but like your conscious sentient self said, no, he meant that in love. He meant that 'cause he adores me as I am and he saw that in a standard of beauty in a different sense of time was me right now.
And that standard of beauty a hundred, 200 years from now, we don't know what that's gonna look like. Maybe it's skinny, maybe it's like the whole like mullets are back in like things like fads. Like they just come and they go.
Mullets should not be back in.
Just in case you're wondering people, no shame.
Hey, if it works for you, go for it.
Your unique expression.
The promotion of positive body images is just one evolution towards authenticity. Changing attitudes towards aging are becoming more evident with the term pro aging as opposed to anti aging, gaining traction. More consumers are seeking healthy, radiant skin at every age. And we're embracing the natural aging process as well. Gray hair and all, braids in your 70s. It doesn't really matter anymore.
Another area that has traditionally been overlooked or underrepresented is men's self care. From beard care and body care, men's beauty routines are becoming more comprehensive and nuanced. Men are exploring makeup. A domain predominantly catered to women until now,
And hashtag Brotox is making reference to the increase in non surgical treatments men are undertaking. All of these practices signify the embrace of self care among men, breaking away from traditional gender norms and redefining what it means to be a man in today's world. Again, these shifts are not about vanity.
It's about feeling confident and comfortable in one's skin.
From this perspective, self care is not just a wellness or a beauty trend, but a celebration of self love, a ritual of prioritizing our own well being, which ultimately leads to a healthier, happier, and more balanced life.
The balance between inner beauty and outer beauty is very important. Because taking care of your face or your hair or your body, self love, right?
I would say, like, especially for women, Do not put so much emphasis on taking care of the outer beauty if you didn't work inside first.
Try more to be who you are because that's what attracts people. When we put a, mask pretending who we are, we can be supermodel outside. But when we start talking to the person you will figure out immediately there is insecurity, there are a lot of fears, there is lack of self love, there are no boundaries.
We can sense that right away. And that outer beauty doesn't make sense anymore, right?
That was Natalia Persina, a multi talented creator who promotes wellness through a variety of outlets, from yoga to music and theatrical productions. We discussed how self care and beauty should be seen as testaments to the importance we place on our own wellbeing, be it physical, emotional, or psychological.
Embracing this as akin to saying, I, I matter. I am worth this time and attention. That is one message Natalia conveys through her new song, I Am The Power, which taps into her creativity and personal journey traveling the world. I believe the more we recognize that self care and self love are the ultimate expressions of beauty, the more the beauty industry will evolve to become more inclusive, authentic, and holistically oriented.
Remember that real beauty lies in celebrating your own unique self, embracing the natural process of aging, and nurturing a positive body image. Every individual's beauty is worth celebrating.
I'm excited to share that the Vitality Exchange Collective is offering a new conscious leader wellness program in 2024. This program supports leaders pursuit of self care, recognizing its essential In enhancing productivity, decision making and overall leadership effectiveness.
Find out more about our new program in the show notes of this episode or at wellstylistlab. com.
Our next trend discussion, we'll focus on women's wellness and next week's bonus episode, we'll share a clip from a live panel discussion that I'm hosting in Jacksonville beach, Florida. We'll be navigating the joys and challenges of the holidays.
The replay of the full discussion will also be made available on YouTube.
Until next time, show yourself a little love with self care that supports the whole you and promotes beauty from the inside out. Thank you for listening.
