Natural Beauty
What’s your beauty regime? Someone’s answers and principles.
Here are the principles, products, and perspectives in my natural beauty regime, excluding oral health.
Principles for Natural Beauty
- A healthy body balances itself naturally over time.
- Ask: How is this connected to nature?
If you don’t want to eat it, you don’t want it in your body, are you sure you want it on your body? - Biodiverse bodies react to different things in different ways.
Figure out what works for your unique self, just like the rest of us. - Acknowledge your trade-offs.
Natural beauty | cost |costs of convenience. - Trust nature’s evolution more than L’Oréal’s.
Just say No to drug stores.
Face: soap, witch hazel, sunscreen averse
In the morning I wash my face with water; if my skin produced its own oils overnight, I suppose that was for a good reason and don’t need to soap-wash them away. Before bed, I wash my face with soap then use witch hazel as toner. Witch hazel makers claim that it’s a natural astringent, can help soothe insect bites and blah blah blah while the other half of the internet tells me that it’s bad. My face feels cleaner after I use it. I invested in reusable cotton pads because applying witch hazel directly with my fingers didn’t feel effective. I sometimes use the pads more than once before washing because they’re large and I’m lazy. I wash them thoroughly by hand with soap and water, or in the washing machine. They are slightly worn after six months but I expect them to last a long time. Most importantly, the self-righteous feeling of less-waste brings a healthy glow to the cheeks.
I may have a phobia against wearing makeup. When I feel shit, I look shit — not hiding how I truly am help motivates me to be healthy. The prospect of smearing gunk and powders across my face repulses me; I’m fully made up with mascara, though even that’s a stretch these days. Applying a bunch of chemicals will surely disrupt my body’s balancing act. Makeup doesn’t look edible — why would I want that anywhere close to my body, let alone seeping into my face? What works for me is learning to love myself with my glorious imperfections. I’m naturally beautiful, no makeup is free, and I can value all that saved time hula-hooping or doing headstands and handstands which me feel and look better, or at least bring a fresh perspective to life. I understand that some people love makeup and that’s fine by me, not for me.
For decades, Americans have been told that sunscreen use is critical to prevent lasting skin damage and skin cancer from sun exposure. But the FDA has not ensured that the ingredients meant to provide such protection have been adequately tested for safety and efficacy.
Environmental Working Group’s 2020 Guide to Sunscreens.
Sunscreen remains unsolved. I diligently applied sunscreen daily for decades while living in the UK, France, and Japan. I understand that sun is very damaging and ages skin. But after all those years of applying chemical gunk onto my face, I worried that its steady accumulation over time might be harmful. Learn about the toxicity of the ingredients in your products by looking them up in a cosmetics database. Know that not all ingredients are required to be listed, while others can be listed non-specifically — such as fragrance.
In early 2020, Palau banned certain sunscreens because of the negative impacts on coral reefs. Now the waiting time at Palau’s immigration is three hours as officers diligently read the ingredients of each tourist’s sunscreen. The sunscreen police patrol Palau’s waters on jet skis taking swabs from snorkelers faces, confiscating SPF 50+ contraband from unwitting tourists leaving their unprotected faces to fry. Unfortunately, becoming sunscreen-averse has resulted in me repeatedly overexposing myself in the sun, ridiculous burns and certain long-term damage. The solution is the one I don’t want to accept — stay out of the sun, wear hats, cover up. Since I pay so much attention to other areas of health in my life, I’m well overdue to give up sunburn and not give up giving up.
Sunscreen should be your last resort. Wear clothes, plan around the sun, find share or make it, don’t get burned, sunglasses are essential, check the UV index. Environmental Working Group’s 2020 Guide to Sunscreens.
Hair — soap, acid-water + wooden comb
Transitioning to quit shampoo or conditioner takes time. Learning that shampoo and conditioner could contribute to dry, itchy scalp, I started experimenting with “no poo” around 2008. Straight, wavy, curly, coily; fine, medium, coarse; dry, normal, oily…. giving up what you have used all these years is going to take some playing around to learn what works for you and your hair type. I’ve tried all sorts of potions and processes including teas, essential oils, eggs, apple cider vinegar, bicarbonate of soda and bananas. Fully committed, expect the process of adjusting to no shampoo to take up to six months. During my adjustment, I had a job interview but my hair looked greasy. I tried masking it with talcum powder but used too much and turned it grey, reminiscent of an old person in a high school drama production.
Yes I got the job.
I wash my hair once a week using a natural soap followed by an acid-water solution to rebalance the pH level. Most days, I don’t get my hair wet in the shower but will do an extra water-wash if it’s really hot and sweaty. I choose a soap whose ingredients are few and simple to understand, I’m happy with Dr. Bronner’s. Though soap may well strip away some of the good oils, it works for me, it’s easy for travelling and doesn’t come in plastic. Soap is generally around 9 or 10 pH alkalinity so to avoid drying out my hair, I use ‘conditioner’ — vinegar or lemon juice in a bottle of water, which I pour over my washed hair and leave in. Vinegar solution on your hair is far from a sensual showery experience — if that bothers you, go for lemon or another pleasantly smelling alkaline. The smell disappears as it dries. Vinegar or lemons are pretty accessible wherever you are in the world. In Japan, I used rice vinegar because it’s cheap. In the UK, apple cider vinegar. While many will argue for the benefits of organic unfiltered varieties, proof is in brushing my hair which is just as easy with the three times cheaper one. I used to add essential oils (for example, rosemary, lavender, geranium, mint) into my conditioner-water for the pleasant smell and other possible benefits. But it’s easy to accidentally use too much and grease up your clean hair. When I travelled without the essential oils, I didn’t notice much difference — seems they were non-essential after all. Now I just use the acid-water solution. Any time I feel my hair or scalp needs some extra love I’ll work coconut or olive oil through it and leave for a few hours, maybe a whole Sunday at home, then two soap washes to get it out, followed by the normal vinegar-water ‘conditioner’.
I love brushing with my wide-tooth palm-sized wooden comb — it fits in my bag or wallet, avoids static and feels great on my scalp. The 100 yen shop in Usami sold ones made in China from peach wood but most 100 yen shops only have plastic ones. I spent ages searching for a replacement though I was not going to buy an ornate hand-carved one at €70! My brother-in-law had what I was looking for, it came free with his beard oil, so I searched for “beard combs” and boom! Finally all those ridiculous fashionable European beard-wearers have benefited my life! I found the right comb at the right price.
Deodrant — crystal rock
Mineral salt rock deodorants prevent smelly bacteria from growing. I started using these in 2006 and haven’t turned back. Wet and apply — they last for ages. If you can’t remember whether you applied it or not, you can taste-test your armpit for salt! The trouble is after a while the rock becomes too small for its (plastic) packaging so it’s easy to drop, shatter or create sharp bits you might want to sand down. I once saw someone with an unshaped rock — far too hippy for me I like my pits ungrated and comfortable thank you.
Skin — Bar soap, jungles-worth of coconut oil
For the largest organ of my body, I’ve still not decided on the soap brand — I choose (a) the cheapest soap that (b) doesn’t make me sneeze that is closest to me now with (c) the most readable ingredients. Marseille soap is fine for body but too drying for most hair. I avoid using Dr. Bronner’s on my body because it’s expensive. I’ll happily slice a bar of soap, use hotel soap bars, or the remainders of a bigger bar for a sports kit washbag or travels. £500 of soap is arriving at my mum’s house this week as I continue experiments with soap.
Coconut oil. Coconut oil. Coconut oil. Everywhere. Very often. Yummy.
TOP SECRET natural beauty tips for your next hot date:
A few hours before, get your heartrate up for over 20 minutes — how about a good swim, interval running, or jump rope? Leave enough time to shower (hair-wash optional), brush your teeth and slather yourself in something lovely. For extra soul-shine eyes and cheeky blush, consider masturbation.
Menstrual
Around 2014 my friend gave me a menstrual cup as a gift. Its small size and reusability won for me. I love the fact that I can put it in in the morning and not worry about it until my evening shower. I dislike the fact that it’s been this long and I struggle inserting and removing it. My friend’s menstrual cup has a little hole at the end which you can thread a thread through, to help get it out, but I haven’t been able to get my hands on one of these yet. In early 2017, I lost my first cup to burns, overboiling cleaning it. It took me ages to replace it despite monthly reminders of my dislike of tampons. When I finally replaced my diva cup, I was reminded that even after three years of use, I still have difficulty inserting it properly — especially in the first day or two I’ll get it wrong and either have to readjust it or deal with the mess. Sometimes I backed up with loo roll or panty liners until I learnt that washable pads are now a thing. I recently ordered some of these and have tried them out once — sensibly they are dark coloured. I bought a whole set which comes in a special waterproof bag with two separate compartments so you can take them out with you and change if you need.
I really don’t like the idea of putting chemicals on day in day out for extended periods of time. This was one rationale behind stopping taking the contraceptive pill, which I took for about over 15 years of life. When I asked the doctor about it, he said, “well, besides the cancer risk, it’s ok”. It seems that taking the pill is associated with both increased and decreased risk with different cancers.
Travelling
Toothbrush. Allergy pills. Tea tree oil. (Lavender oil.) Menstrual kit. Old small soap. Old small deodorant. Small quantity coconut oil if solid! Comb. This beauty kit goes through hand luggage. You can use tea tree oil to clean wounds, your teeth, and as deodorant.
When we get older we will look older. Most will have scars, inexplicable marks, and skin that doesn’t feel like it does today. Natural beauties have smiling wrinkles and lines all over telling the tall tales of life and world’s of adventures.
Smiling natural beauty.
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