You’re probably dabbling in Ayurvedic practices already and you didn’t even know it. Hot lemon water in the morning? Breathing exercises and meditation? Intermittent fasting? Sprinkling in turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, black pepper, ashwagandha into your recipes and smoothies? All these wellness rituals are rooted in Ayurveda. Surprised? Ayurveda is one of the world’s oldest healing systems that goes back 4,000 years. But don’t let the ‘old’ part scare you off… the practices are more relevant and needed than ever in our hectic, fast-paced lives.
What is Ayurveda?
We’ll keep it simple. It literally means ‘The Science of Life’. Ayurveda’s main focus is on prevention and encourages the maintenance of health through balance in one’s life through diet, lifestyle, mental connectedness, and the use of natural herbs. Understanding and practicing Ayurveda enables you to understand how to create this balance of body, mind, and consciousness.
How is Ayurveda practiced within beauty?
There are three main guiding principles when it comes to integrating Ayurveda into beauty rituals and how you take care of your outer body. These are also the philosophies we here at SHAZ & KIKS follow as we create our products and encourage the rituals that surround them.
Balance Creates Beauty
As we mentioned above, Ayurveda is all about balance. How does that apply to beauty products? The main goal of any skin and hair care products should be to keep the balance of the natural state of the outer body. The outermost layer of your epidermis is called the skin barrier and the outer layer of your hair strands are called cuticles. In their natural healthy states, both skin barrier and cuticles are able to keep irritants out, while locking natural oils and moisture in. So beauty products need to keep outer layers happy by:
- Balancing oil production: gently cleaning excess dirt and oils off, while keeping the right amount of natural oils intact — they’re important!
- Balancing pH: the natural pH of your skin and hair is acidic (~4.5-5) and keeping them at that natural level is crucial in order for them to function properly. You can read a lot more about the need for pH balance in this article.
Tip To Toe, Inside Out
Holistic care is how we take care of the whole system, and not just the individual parts. Don’t think your body care products are just something that is for your outer body — 60% of what is put on our skin gets absorbed and all hair strands are porous, which means your hair sucks in products, water, heat, and what’s in the environment. This is why ingredients matter.
This is also why it’s really important that beauty care products treat the whole ecosystem. In order for you to get healthy hair, you need to feed and nurture your hair follicles and scalp. And you also need to nourish your strands from the inside.
Rooted Rituals
Whether your wellness journey is about diet, skin, hair, fitness, mental health … or all of them the key to feeling great both inside and out, is to make good habits a natural part of your routine. In Ayurveda, the belief is that not one thing magically fixes you. The real magic is creating healthy rituals that are rooted in the everyday. Take time. Share them with your loved ones. And enjoy the moment of self-care.
Photo credit: Simrah Farrukh for SHAZ & KIKS
