Bathing is a popular personal care practice that is often promoted on social media.
Sure, there’s something centered around indulging in bubbly water and scented Epsom salts.
Think dim lights, flickering candles – a true home spa awash in an amber glow.
But who has time for that?
If you’re stressed by your job, your kids, your relationships, systemic racism, institutional oppression, or any number of internal and external factors, running a bath can seem like more of a burden than a gift.
But what if self-care didn’t feel like a chore you had to complete, another tick off your never-ending to-do list, or a multi-step routine copied from an influencer that doesn’t really work for your real life?
What if self-care was based on self-love? A practice that nourished your body, refreshed your mind, and provided balm for your weary soul?
Selfmade has entered the chat.
A socially conscious beauty brand founded by Stephanie Lee and backed by science by a team of doctors, Selfmade’s goal is to connect the act of self-care with the mindset of self-love and self-esteem.
Lee said the impetus for Selfmade came from her own experience working at the heart of the beauty industry while battling a mental health crisis.
In that crisis, she found clarity about her role in the beauty industry.
In founding Selfmade, Lee has brought to market three skincare products that exfoliate, hydrate, tone and moisturize. Furthermore, Selfmade products encourage users to look beyond their own reflection in the mirror to connect with what is happening on their bodies: specifically their skin.
Jeshana Avent-Johnson, Psy.D., specializes in mental health with a focus on intimacy and sexual wellness. As one of the experts who works with Selfmade, she says the product line is based on the science of psychodermatology.
“Psychodermatology is the concept of how our skin is affected by things that we experience psychologically and how they manifest on our skin,” says Avent-Johnson.
This can include a multitude of skin conditions, such as:
While the word “psychodermatology” is new, the concept is not.
When you see a stray pimple or an outbreak of eczema on your abdomen, you can instinctively sense the connection between your external presentation and your inner state of being. That connection is what psychodermatology is all about.
Selfmade’s goal is to connect something as simple as taking care of yourself with regulating your emotions and mental health to lessen the effects of stress.
“If we’re inundated with disrupted hormones, our skin will be affected,” Avent-Jonshon says. “Regulating our ability to effectively know if we’re ‘fight or flight’ and then managing that can prevent us from having an overtaxed nervous system that is constantly producing stress hormones that affect our skin.”
In this way, Selfmade offers an attempt to calm itself down.
Like a baby that wakes up cooing instead of crying because it knows how to comfort itself, Selfmade is a beauty product that seeks to help its users calm down.
But couldn’t any product and any beauty routine do that?
Yes.
That’s why the product is really just one part of the equation, says Byron Young, MD, another expert behind Selfmade’s mental and emotional science. He says that mental health education is literally as much a part of the process as the product line.
“Skin care has long been a source of pampering and self-care and is deeply connected to self-esteem,” says Young. “Selfmade enhances that connection by sharing mental health insights and creating a discourse that harnesses the full potential of the synergy between skin care and mental health education.”
For Selfmade, mental health education begins at the back of the bottle. Each product offers questions to accompany the typical instructions and ingredient list.
Questions include:
What does loving myself look like in action? What do I feel when I touch myself? What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?
These questions seek to teach users what it means to cultivate healthy bonds and establish safe boundaries.
Beyond products and education, Selfmade goes back to the root of why Stephanie Lee founded the company in the first place.
After examining her relationship to her own mental health in the midst of her traditional beauty career, she said she questioned societal standards.
“They make it almost impossible for us to recognize and appreciate our inherent human value,” she says.
The conventional beauty standard is usually a tall, slim, white woman. For Selfmade, the standard is turned on its head to center black and brown women, femmes, and non-binary people who have been pushed to the sidelines for too long.
Selfmade hopes to create what it calls “community-driven healing” by centering those who are normally left behind. This includes safe spaces where people of all backgrounds, in or out of binaries, can not only be themselves but also love themselves.
“As humans, we are designed for connection,” says Avent-Johnson. “However, through traumatic experiences and systematic oppression, the desire for connection becomes a desire for protection. The community provides the space for people to recover and return to our original design of connection.”
You can cultivate your mental and emotional health during your skincare routine, with or without Selfmade products.
First, remember your ‘why’. Sure, there may be a new breakout or some dark spots that motivate you to take care of his skin, but what are the deeper reasons? When you get in touch with your deeper why, self-care becomes a positive process rather than a corrective one.
For example, your why might sound something like, “I am radiant inside and out, and I choose to share my radiance with the world.”
nextfocus on your why during your routine, even when you notice self-criticism coming up.
Instead of cursing your cellulite, remember that glow with a sentiment like, “My so-called flaws are part of my unique beauty.”
Finallyreward yourself when you complete your routine.
You can do this simply by taking a few moments to stand in front of the mirror and admire the things you love about yourself. You can also add a little extra “flair” like a bold red lip or a pair of statement earrings to announce to the world, “I’m here!”
By linking mental health and self-esteem, redefining the beauty standard, and imbuing seekers of great skin with not only products to prevent breakouts but also directions to provide mental changes, Selfmade as a company is up to the challenge. Audre Lorde’s definition of self. -watch out.
Taking care of yourself, loving yourself and taking time to get to know yourself and your body is not selfish. It’s a radical act of self-love that turns the tides from marginalization to deep importance, to the person who matters most: you.
Nikesha Elise Williams is a two-time Emmy Award-winning news producer and award-winning author. She was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, and she attended Florida State University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Communication: Mass Media Studies and Creative Writing in English with honors. Nikesha’s debut novel, “Four Women,” received the 2018 Florida Association of Authors and Publishers President’s Award in the Adult Contemporary/Literary Fiction category. “Four Women” was also recognized by the National Association of Black Journalists as Outstanding Literary Work. Nikesha is a full-time writer and writing coach who has freelanced for several publications, including VOX, Very Smart Brothas, and Shadow and Act. Nikesha lives in Jacksonville, Florida, but you can always find her online at [email protected] , Facebook.com/NikeshaElise or @Nikesha_Elise on Twitter and Instagram.
Source: www.healthline.com