Rediscovering Natural Beauty (And Simple Beauty Tips Inspired by Earth Day)

The Green Beauty industry is all about selling the concept of "natural beauty", offering us the best Mother Nature offers to care for and accentuate our faces. But, though more than half of my personal beauty products could fall into the Green Beauty category, I have begun to reconsider the meaning of "natural beauty" as a concept. And, in the spirit of Earth Day, I've been inspired to take this concept of natural beauty into adopting a more holistic, "less is more" approach to my beauty regimen in the following ways.

1. Beautifying from the Inside Out: As often as this advice is cited, how we look on the outside has so much to do with how we treat our bodies on the inside. Of course, everyone is different and has different concerns and, therefore, will have different nutritional and fitness requirements and preferences. But just remembering the basics of drinking enough water, eating a diverse array of fruits and vegetables being up and moving more, and just doing anything to be one's physical best will also translate into better-looking skin, hair, nails, and so on. Some specific changes I've been making that have had a positive effect both on my appearance and well-being are cutting out soda entirely and replacing it with tea and water, doing more exercise, and trying to regulate my sleep schedule.

2. Going Makeup-free at Least One Day a Week: Depending on my schedule, I can usually get in one day makeup-free. I would highly encourage trying to go as often as you can in accordance with your lifestyle and comfort level. No matter how well-suited your makeup products are to your skin type or how effective your cleansers are at taking it all off at the end of the day, the skin still needs to breathe, recharge, and heal itself from environmental and internal stressors naturally. Without being inhibited by makeup, the natural healing and turnover of the skin occurs much more quickly and easily. This still will happen while you sleep, but giving the skin at least one whole day plus one whole night to breathe per week is even more helpful. On a person note, , spending more time makeup-free makes me appreciate my own skin just as it is, giving me an unexpected confidence boost.

3. Extending Time Between Hairwashings and Doing Less With the ‘Do: You may have heard that washing hair every day is not the best for it. For some, causes more breakage, for others more frizz, and for others greasier roots. Personally, my issues center around breakage if overwashed, and extending the time between washes has really helped. Since depends on whatever oil it can get from the scalp to keep it shiny, bouncy, and strong. If you try going for longer periods without washing, you may find that your scalp rebalances to only give off what oil the hair needs when it needs it . As far as my personal progress in this goes, I washed my hair religiously every day for the better part of 20 years, but over the last three, I have extended the time to every three to five days ideally and my hair is much healthier for it.

Post-wash? Try to avoid blow dryers and heated styling tools. In my five years of not using a blow dryer, I've experienced a great reduction in the flakiness and irritation of my naturally dry scalp. Not to mention, hair will remain much more hydrated when these tools are not relied on as much. Now, since . I am a self-proclaimed Queen of the Topknot, I have a difficult time wearing it down more. subject it to as much risk of breakage from being pulled by ponytail holders. Plus, wearing it loose more has helped with the headaches and neckaches that I get occasionally. Who would have thought that letting the hair down (literally) would bring so much relief?

4. Skipping the Morning Cleanse : Just like washing hair too often, overwashing the face can also deplete the skin of its natural oils, potentially leaving it dehydrated and prone to imbalance. Most mornings, I just opt for a washcloth and warm water to rinse my skin to refresh it without overdoing it. Alternatively, I sometimes like using a face mist with ingredients like aloe vera and glycerin to refresh in the morning before proceeding with moisturizer and/or makeup. The main idea here is that the skin shouldn’t need much cleansing in the morning If, however, you have used hasn’t absorbed that treatment by morning, the product or combination of products might be too heavy for your particular skin. But laying just a warm, wet cloth over your face infuses the skin with more hydration and encourages blood flow to the surface of the skin to aid its own renewal and give it a fresher, brighter appearance. Since having adopted this method, my skin feels plumper and more comfortable.

5. Reducing the Product Load: I've already mentioned the benefits of going makeup-free at least one day a week. But even on the days when we wear makeup try whittling down the products used to complete a look. Whether we like it or not and no matter how cleanly-formulated our makeup items might be, at the end of the day, they are all unnatural substances to some extent, and sometimes, we just simply layer on too much product. For instance, we may swear by a mattifying foundation but then find our skin is becoming overly tight and dry. Or that same foundation might give such full coverage that, while it may cover every flaw, it also blanks out every trace of shape and dimension to the face making us feel the need to add lots of blush or contour to bring back the structure we lost. What this leads to is a bunch of product on our faces at one time that we may not even truly need or think truly looks good. In my own makeup-wearing, I have been systematically eliminating one type of color cosmetic from my look and seeing where I can make cuts in my routine at least on most days. I find that most days I don't need foundation and, therefore, have no need for blush or contour. Mascara is optional for me on a one-shadow look day, and so on. By reducing the amount of products we use on a given day or daily basis, our skin and bodies ultimately have less things blocking it to deal with and less ingredient and chemical overload. This also means having less of the these things washing down our drains at the end of the day, which can only be better for the environment.

Whether you decide to explore more naturally-based beauty products, amp up, healthy habits, modifying beauty routines to facilitate skin and hair acclimating to take more care of itself, or to reduce your product wear each day overall, the feeling of peace and simplicity that these kinds of changes can inspire is often so freeing and uplifting. No matter which of these practices you choose, a more simple beauty routine is more friendly to our bodies, our lifestyles, and the Earth itself. And that is something truly beautiful.