5 good holistic beauty habits for everyday life

What is holistic beauty? How to take care of yourself in a global way? The Benu Blanc team shares with you 5 good habits to adopt on a daily basis.

What is holistic beauty? How to define it?

It is simply the global beauty, beyond the physical appearance. It's being well on the inside to be beautiful on the outside. Wellness and beauty are intertwined. It is a whole, a set, so that the global approach to beauty takes into account the well-being to be truly sustainable.

From the Greek "Holos" which means whole, holistic beauty is taking care of oneself in consciousness. This concept is based on the principle that our appearance cannot be detached from our sensations and emotions, nor from our relationships with others and our environment.

For Gérard Redziniak[i]Beauty, like health, is a global state of physical, mental and social well-being and not only the absence of disease or infirmity. For him, a world expert in dermocosmetics, a first reflex is to observe the skin because it is a strong indicator of our state of health and our state of mind. The skin's radiance comes from within and is optimized on the outside. How to have a beautiful skin? We must sleep well, take care of our diet, breathe the fresh air of nature, practice physical activity and share positive emotions with those around us.

1- Sleep: THE top priority for beautiful skin

Waking up in the morning all dapper, that is anticipated and prepared the night before. Yes, it seems like common sense but finding sleep is not easy for everyone. First of all, let's have dinner at least two hours before going to bed and let's avoid foods that are too fatty and sugar, which are too exciting. Let's favour foods rich in tryptophan, a precursor of melatonin which favours sleep (poultry, fish and dairy products).

Then, let's establish rituals in the evening: meditation, bath, stretching, massage, reading.... This helps condition the brain to prepare for sleep. By entering into an evening ritual, several successive signals will gradually allow our body to prepare for sleep. Especially let's avoid blue light from screens: smartphone, tablet, computer are already present all day. Here is a simple rule that will allow you to let go: no screen, no blue light after dinner. What to do? Read a book, talk with your loved ones, listen to music.

2- Activate your inner energy through olfaction: a natural pillow mist to help you fall asleep

To activate your inner energy, we know yoga or any other sport activity; but do you know how to use your olfactory sense to bring well-being? Smells are very much linked to emotions . A smell can plunge us into a state of relaxation, of well-being; while other scents will be very uncomfortable. We all have a "smell library" in our brain, which lists our own classification of smells and the emotions associated with them.

You can use your olfactory sense in your evening ritual: we recommend using natural pillow mists. We have indeed chosen to make formulas entirely based on natural products. The essential oils of Benu Blanc's care mists - to be sprayed on your silk pillowcase - are composed of :

• micro-dosed essential oils, from nature
• Silk peptides, to microencapsulate the essential oils. This is what allows to prolong the fragrance and the benefits of natural aromatic assets. Without it, the natural perfumes disappear in 30 minutes to an hour
• Organic alcohol, which will preserve the essential oils and silk peptides in the mist; and which has the great advantage of evaporating within two minutes after the misting on the pillow

A natural pillow mist for better sleep

Depending on your mood and your needs, choose the pillow mist that will suit you best for your night: Balancing Patchouli to regain your vital energy; Regenerating Bergamot for a relaxing effect and soothed sleep; Restful Vetiver to promote mindfulness meditation and sleep; Calming Chamomile for letting go; Purifying Eucalyptus to release tension accumulated throughout the day; Serene Orange Blossom for mental and physical soothing.

Spray on your pillowcase, breathe, and let yourself be carried away. Falling asleep is a moment of relaxation, well-being and letting go. If you focus on an event of the day, an email that upset you, then use olfaction to break this cognitive tension: by enveloping yourself in another smell, you force your brain to change paradigm, to evoke other emotions, other images, other memories. You get out of your stress spiral and into a comforting and soothing environment.

3- Eating well: a true beauty gesture

Long before cosmetics, meals are the first beauty gesture. Because our body is often a reflection of our diet. To keep your skin young and healthy, your hair silky and healthy, your complexion radiant, your figure slender, you need to make the right food choices, without talking about a "diet": it's all about experimenting with yourself and adapting according to your current state, your needs, your age, even your blood type.

Some fundamental rules are universal: a minimum of sugar, excluding refined sugars, a minimum of stimulants such as coffee or alcohol (only of very good quality), a maximum of vegetables and fruits, preferably organically grown, in season, and picked when ripe, and a lot of pure water, at least 1.5L per day. It is recommended to adopt a diet as antioxidant as possible, that is to say extremely rich in varied and colored plants! The bright color is a guarantee of the richness of polyphenols to preserve the youth of our cells.

4- Adopt a natural cosmetic routine

The skin tends to like what it knows. We therefore opt for the cleanest cosmetic products possible, with a focus on natural products.

For Benu Blanc, this natural approach to beauty and well-being was at the very heart of the company's foundation. This is because Fanny and Valerie, the two founders, as women, decided to take a natural approach to their own beauty routine. They looked for alternative ways to take care of themselves and that's how they discovered, a few years ago, the properties of silk.

Silk respects the skin's moisture. This is its primary benefit: by being hydrophobic, it keeps water in your skin cells rather than drying them out (which cotton does). Sleeping on a silk pillowcase allows your skin to maintain an excellent level of hydration. Besides, anything that is good for the skin is good for the brain. Benu White silk, soft as a caress, will contribute to improve our well-being. Another property of silk is that it is antibacterial, anti-mite and hypoallergenic: perfect for sensitive and acne-prone skin.

Finally, its texture and hydrophobic properties will give your hair more shine and make it less brittle .

On a daily basis, you can practice self-massage with your hands, a moment of relaxation and deep connection to your skin that not only boosts microcirculation, but also acts as a natural anti-aging method. From time to time, we dive into a good hot bath that we season with salts and other relaxing oils. Ideally, we finish this hot bath with a jet of cold water for a better blood circulation.

5- Our positive thoughts bring us well-being, therefore beauty

Yes, we mentioned it in the introduction: positive thoughts, benevolence, allow us to see the positive side of things. We feel better when we see the glass as half full rather than half empty! The mental and the physical are closely linked. Some practitioners will say: you have a bad back: would you have a "full back"? Your knee hurts: do you have a problem with the "I" and the "we"? Your joints hurt: are you under too much pressure? We are pushing the argument a little far, but with the aim of making you aware of the tenuous link between what happens in our head and how it manifests itself in our body.

How to have more positive thoughts? Let's accept certain states of affairs, especially those that we cannot change. Let's look at the positive side of things and trust in fate: maybe things happen as they do for good reasons and it will appear to us later. When a thought darkens our mind, darkens our horizon, let's verbalize it, let's express aloud the problem, let's even: let's explain with kindness to the person who is concerned the problem we have with him. This thought will be evacuated and will stop preventing us from moving on.

THE 5 GOOD REFLEXES OF HOLISTIC BEAUTY IN EVERYDAY LIFE :

In summary, now that we are sharing the ins and outs of holistic beauty, here are 5 good reflexes to practice every day:

1. Give sleep its rightful place in your schedule. When you wake up, stretch to feel your body fully and then look at yourself with kindness
2. Nourish your body and mind with things that are good for you
3. At bedtime, use your olfactory sense to make yourself feel good by choosing the care mist that answers your need of the moment: Relaxation, rest, inner peace, serenity, etc.
4. Choose a natural approach for your cosmetics: Nature knows how to give you what you need
5. Adopt positive thoughts and behaviors to send good vibes around you and receive them in return. Smile inside and out!

[i] Gérard Redziniak reinterprets here the definition of health according to the WHO, New-York, July 22, 1946.

Gerard Redziniak is a renowned expert in the world of Skin Biology, Dermatology and Cosmetology Research. He has directed the Applied Research Department of Parfums Christian Dior (LVMH Group), then the Scientific Department of the Yves Rocher Group, and the R&D departments of several groups including NAOS (Esthederm-Bioderma), Amore Pacific and Uriage. As an active member of Cosmetic Valley, he coordinates several collaborative projects involving public and private research. He is currently in charge of Benu Blanc's R&D.