What is holistic beauty?

The word Holistic comes from the Greek word holos, which means entire or all. Holistic beauty is a concept that our appearance outside is connected to what is going on inside of us, and that true beauty also incorporates a healthy mind and body. So instead of relying solely on topical skincare to give us that glow, the holistic approach will also focus on hydration, nutrition, stress management and overall wellbeing.

Adopting a more holistic approach to your lifestyle, making small yet long lasting changes will improve so many areas of your life. You will feel less stressed, sluggish, toxic and more radiant, vibrant, confident, at peace and what’s more beautiful than that!

6 Steps of Holistic Beauty

1) Less is more skincare – Investing in simple, yet effective skincare, that is of the highest quality and responsibly sourced is essential for your skin. Paying close attention to the ingredients making sure they contain only the ingredients needed for your skin and no nasties helps us not to overload our bodies with even more toxins. Using products that help to nourish and protect the skins natural barrier, rather than disrupt it will keep your skin looking healthy and radiant.

2) Eat a balanced, nutritional diet – Eating a well-balanced diet of wholefoods (foods in their natural form), fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, fresh fish, organic meat, grains and pulses will ensure you get a good range of vitamins and nutrients. This will keep your body running at optimum efficiency and also nourish your skin from within. Reducing salt, sugar, caffiene and alcohol will help to reduce inflammation in the body, which can trigger skin conditions such as acne.

3) Stay Hydrated – Hydration is key for our bodies to function at their finest, fresh, filtered water will prevent dehydration, helps with digestion and aids the kidneys and the lymphatic system flush out toxins which will help to keep the skin clear.

4) Get enough sleep – Ensuring we get 7-8 hours of good quality sleep per night is essential for the body, brain and skin to rest and repair. Whilst we sleep our brains remove toxic waste, our cells are repaired, our energy restored and so much more.

5) Stay active – Moving your body daily will help not only with keeping your heart and lungs healthy, your joints and muscles strong and supple, relieve and reduce stress and tension and boost endorphins. It will also boost blood circulation, increasing fresh oxygen and nutrients to the organs, including the skin. It can also make you sweat, encouraging your lymphatic system to flush your body of waste products.

6) Reduce stress – I know, if only it was that easy, right? Stress affects the body in so many ways, by raising cortisol levels, causing anxiety, inflammation, digestion issues, to name but a few. If all that is going on inside your mind and body, then no amount of cosmetics are going to counteract it. This is where inner balance comes in, trying to adopt a more simple and mindful lifestyle will help with this. Making time for what is important to us and saying no to the rest. Learning our own physical, emotional and mental limits and learning not to push them. Putting our own boundaries in place, at work, with friends & family and acknowledging the things that drains our energy and the things that seem to boost it.

I hope this has given you an insight into holistic beauty. If you have any questions, already follow a holistic beauty routine or want to try to adopt more of the steps above please comment below. I’d love to hear from you.