Episode 147 - Insider Tips For Natural Skincare & Haircare With Ayurvedic Therapist, Kirti Tewani (Full Transcript)
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SPEAKER_00:
Welcome to Nirvana Sisters Podcast, where we take the intimidation out of well-being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state, your nirvana. We are sisters-in-law and your hosts.
SPEAKER_01:
I'm Amy Sherman. And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation. Welcome back to the show, Nirvana Sisters family. Today we are sitting down with Kirti Tejwani. Kirti, a cross-cultural individual born in India, raised in Spain, and currently residing in New York, is a dedicated Ayurvedic therapist, speaker, and founder of Better Green Health. Her mission is to inspire individuals to seize control of their health and well-being and lead a life of balance and fulfillment. Kirti's commitment to holistic living also extends to her approach to skincare and beauty. She integrates 14 years of experience in beauty with Ayurvedic principles and modern techniques to find non-toxic and efficacious beauty products. In her view, authentic beauty originates from within, and we can radiate beauty and vitality by nourishing the body and mind with wholesome foods, herbs, and self-care practices in addition to maintaining good skincare. So I feel like you could not possibly be more aligned with all of the things we think and feel as well. So welcome to the show, Kirti. Thanks for being here.
SPEAKER_02:
Thank you so much. Thank you for having me, ladies.
SPEAKER_01:
Well, we'd like to kick it off with our Nirvana of the week. So I'm going to let you, Amy, you go first. What was your Nirvana? Get the ball rolling.
SPEAKER_00:
I would say that my mother-in-law's in town, which is really nice because She doesn't come up that much and she doesn't come up without her husband and dog usually. So she's just here by herself, which is nice just to get some quality time one-on-one. So she came in last night and is here for the weekend. So I'm enjoying my time with her so far and just looking forward to just having good conversations and spending time with her and the kids and everything. So I would say that's my nirvana. What about you, Katie?
SPEAKER_01:
Nice. We love Judy. I think mine was yesterday. I had one of those great days of balance. I was able to spend my morning volunteering at school for my oldest daughter. And then I went into the city and did my work there and had a great afternoon. And then I came home and prepped a little bit for this podcast and had some family time. And it was just one of those days where I was like, oh, I checked like all the boxes. Got to check today.
SPEAKER_00:
You're like, can't every day just be like this?
SPEAKER_01:
Yeah, it was so nice and like nothing was overly crazy. It was like, you know, everything was like, it was like just the right amounts of things. So I was able to manage it all. So it was it was really nice. What about you, T? What was your nirvana this week?
SPEAKER_02:
Oh my God, so many things. But if I have to pick one, I actually socialized yesterday. We had like a little mom's night out. Not once I checked my phone. And that was such a big accomplishment because usually I'm worried if the kids are by themselves, but because my husband was home, so I wasn't worried about the kids. I wasn't worried about work. It was late night and not late night, but like more into the evening and yes, it was nice to like completely disconnect and be present in the moment. And I feel like in the world that we're living in, we're spending less and less time in the present and we're always like distracted by so many things around us. It was nice to actually connect with people who were also not on their phones. So everyone in that room was fully present or as present as they could be.
SPEAKER_01:
Yeah, that's fantastic. Doesn't that time just fill your cup so much, that time with friends, right? Yeah, for sure. All right, well, let's get into it. First, really quickly, let's just touch on Better Green Health. It's your blog, is that correct? Correct.
SPEAKER_02:
It's my blog. On and off, I've had it for two years, but then I worked on it for a little bit and I wanted other Ayurvedic practitioners and doctors to kind of be a part of it. But it's really hard to find good quality writers all the time. So it went back on the back burner because life kept happening. And then I revived it again in January. So we've been posting pretty consistently, updating new blogs about self-care practices, Ayurvedic practices, basically practical things that will improve your life. A lot of us are living in this thing, I need supplements. You don't need supplements. Sometimes you just need sleep. And even understand that from the inside and listen to yourself and listen to what your body wants can actually solve so many problems, but we often just ignore that inner voice. So the blog is mostly a reflection of if you want supplements, there's an option, but let's choose what else we can do in life to make our life easy, which is completely in our control.
SPEAKER_01:
I was looking through it earlier, and it is such a great resource. And I feel like for our listeners, most of the things, if not everything that we talk about today, they can probably find something tied back to on your blog if they want a resource to dive deeper. So we've had someone on before, an Ayurvedic specialist, a couple of years ago. Justine Lemos, and she was the first person that gave us a really deep dive understanding of what it is. And for our listeners, go if you want to go back and listen so that you better understand Ayurvedic practices. But what we would love to talk to you about today is because you have the most amazing content on your Instagram channel, with all of your skincare practices, and your hair practices, and all of these great things that we can do at home DIY things. So we would love to get into that with you. Does that sound good? Oh, it sounds amazing. Okay, great. All right. So Amy, do you want to kick it off since I'm doing so much talk?
SPEAKER_00:
Sure. No, no, no. So first topic, and I feel like this has been so prominent over the last few years, hearing more and more about it. So firstly, hair loss, hair growth, that category I feel like is just booming for women post-COVID. So we'd love to hear about that and hair oiling because I started doing that actually in January as part of my mood board for the year. I'm going to take better care of my hair and I started doing a bit, but I actually don't know if I'm doing it right. I'm just experimenting. So I would love to hear more about that practice and actually how to do it right and how that may or may not contribute to hair growth.
SPEAKER_02:
Everything starts from the inside, right? Hair oiling is an amazing practice. And I am obsessed. If you guys haven't seen my channel, I'm sure you have seen my channel, but I am obsessed with hair oiling because a lot of us just focus hair oiling equals to hair health. But if you think about it in the deeper sense, in the Ayurvedic sense, yes, it does benefit your hair. But at the same time, when you are massaging your hair, you're also getting psychosomatic benefits because you are relaxing your mind, your nervous system is decompressing, your body is decompressing, you are forced to be in the moment. And just that movement is not only helping your hair thrive, but also your inner body heal. And that is one thing that a lot of people don't understand. And when it comes to hair oiling, You know, it is great for your shaft. It is great for your scalp. Ayurveda has recommended hair oiling as a part of your hair care routine. It's like a pre-wash regimen that I also recommend to people to do. But at the same time, it is some you time, you know, even if it's five minutes or 10 minutes that you're giving to yourself to nourish your own body, your own mind, and that self-care practice. In addition to having great hair, does hair oiling prevent hair loss? Absolutely. Because one of the biggest reasons of hair loss is stress. So when you're doing hair oiling, you're not just protecting your hair from the outside, but you're actually having those psychosomatic benefits, which is helping you decompress. So you are reducing hair loss and not just for the nourishment. Because a lot of people are like, well, you know, it's going to clog my pores. I'm like, no, it's not. Your skin, it's the same skin that is on your body, your face, and your scalp. It's skin. So if you're moisturizing your body, your face, and you're not moisturizing your scalp, it doesn't make sense. So no, it won't. If you correctly hair oil, you warm up your oil, you massage it all over your head, and there are certain marma points that are more beneficial to massage, you will see benefits on the long run. To shampoo it correctly, I've posted multiple videos on like, a lot of people are like, well, I have to shampoo four or five times. I'm like, because you're not shampooing correctly. You do not need to shampoo even twice if you shampoo correctly. The two ways to get oil out of your hair in one shot. First one is flip your hair upside down. and then shampoo it and add a little bit of water and keep massaging your scalp with the same amount of shampoo that you took. And the second, if you have curly hair, you know, that's going to be a little bit difficult. But if you have that situation, you can section your hair. You know how you go to a hair salon, when they blow dry your hair, they section your hair. And when you section your hair and shampoo your hair, you're actually thoroughly cleaning your scalp. Bajing gave you benefits, but now we need to get rid of that oil in order to refresh. Same way we clean our body, now we need to clean our scalp. pore cloggings and all those problems only come if that oil is sitting for ages and ages in your head and you're not able to clean it properly. So if you do things properly, you know, there's so many benefits that it just doesn't stop at one thing.
SPEAKER_01:
And what type of oil do you use for hair oiling? Does it matter?
SPEAKER_02:
In Ayurveda, we call it different doshas have different hair types, and those different hair types could benefit from different hair oils. Like people who have vata dosha, for example, which is excess air element in the body will benefit more from something that's warming. you know, a warm oil. So something like sesame oil, which has warming qualities. Now somebody who has spitta dosha, they will benefit because they already have excess fire element in their body, they're going to benefit more with cooling oils. So jasmine, amla, almond, all of those have cooling properties. And then somebody kasa dosha, now they again want to increase the fire because they are too grounded. So again, something heated, is going to be more beneficial. So depending on what hair you have, what type of hair you have, certain oils can benefit you more. But at the same time, there are certain oils and certain herbs that are particularly focused on your hair that can benefit everyone. Brinjal is a great herb for your hair that can benefit anyone. Hibiscus. Jasmine, amla, one of my favorite things that I speak a lot about is amla. And again, the benefits are way beyond just hair and not just externally, but even consuming some of these herbs internally can help you have amazing hair.
SPEAKER_00:
What was the first one you said? It cut out a little bit on me. I just wanted to make sure I heard it. Sorry, the reception's bad right now. What did you say? It's called Bhringraj. Bhringraj. Okay. Yeah. The reason why I was asking is because I think the majority of our listeners, or some of them, may not know their dosha like me. And so if there's certain oils that kind of like work for everyone, I think that's great feedback. So we know kind of like if we use that, we'll be okay if we don't know our dosha and haven't gone that far into Ayurvedic. So that's great.
SPEAKER_02:
Yeah, I mean, Amla oil works great for most people. Just make sure when you're buying your Amla, it actually is Amla oil and it's not, you know, mineral oil infused with 5% Amla.
SPEAKER_00:
You want to make sure, is it like 100% that we're looking for?
SPEAKER_02:
Well, so Amla oil, you can either get Amla seed oil or you can get Amla extract. infused into a carrier oil. So those would be the two different things. But then there are certain universal hair oils from certain companies that work for a lot of hair, all hair types. And everything you buy mostly would work for all hair types, unless you are very highly, extremely imbalanced in your doshas, then you should try to opt for something that is more dosha prominent. And if you want to take a dosage test, it is available to take on the Better Green Health site.
SPEAKER_00:
Oh, perfect. I will do that then. Question. So, okay. Once you've picked your oil, then what do you do? Like break it down and like, if our listeners want to, you know, hair oil in 101.
SPEAKER_02:
So once you have your oil, warm it up. The first step, warm your oil with a double oiling method. And then one of the easiest way to find your crown chakra, which is right here, anterior fontanel. You know, when the babies are born, they have this jelly belly spot, like a really soft spot on their forehead. That's the spot we're going to start hair oiling with. Okay. And the reason we started here is because this is in the Vedic world, they believe once you have achieved wisdom, there's a Lotus that's going to open up and you're going to connect yourself to the divine. So this is where all your energy is coming in from. And then there are important marma points here that is connecting your entire body as well. So you start the massage from here, then you go on this next point, which is If you see people balding, this is the first spot they're going to start losing hair. If you need a high ponytail, that's going to be another way to kind of recognize that spot. That's the next spot. And then the third one is in the back of your hair. So like, let's say about three inches from your hairline above. That's the Krikatika Marma. And that's another very important point to massage your hair. And then you can slowly massage it all over your hair. So the first step would be to take your head, hand, sorry, your fingers, and you go up and down in the movement. And you do it on your entire hair, just like a wave. You know how a wave moves up and down and you do it and you repeat that process three times. The second movement is a round movement and I call it my special chumpy way. So you do the round movement again, all over your hair. You start from front to back, all over your head, taking sections and going all the way in the back and then the middle of your hair. And again, you repeat this three times. And now how does a spider move? Like up and down. And you go all the way up and all the way down. And you again, repeat the entire process three times. If you want, now you can repeat this entire process again to kind of extend the time. But if you even do it once, you're immediately going to feel like And that is one of the goals with the Chumpy because again, I know that people are extremely focused when it comes to hair oiling on their hair health, but the benefits go way beyond just the hair health.
SPEAKER_00:
Okay, so I have a silly question. So how much oil, I'm very specific, how much oil do you actually put in those areas before you do the massage?
SPEAKER_02:
So again, it depends. If you are someone who has extremely oily hair, you don't need to put a lot of oil. You can also work with your existing oil on the hair, so you need a little bit. But if you have extremely dry scalp, you know, irritated scalp, somebody with scalp psoriasis or problems, you can perhaps use a little bit more oil.
SPEAKER_00:
And is that like when you say a little bit more, is that like a full like droppers worth or like? Oh, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02:
You can use at least like five to six droppers. Oh, okay. Wow. It depends how much oil you want to use. But if like there are moments where I would completely drench my hair in oil. But I don't recommend doing that all the time. Because again, too much of anything is not good. But once in a while, if you want to do that for a full experience where your hands can just completely move without your hair blocking anything, you know, the more you oil your hair strands and everything, and it's an amazing experience. And it's extremely beneficial if you have access to steaming. after hair oiling, because then you go in the shower or even like a steam room, then the pores open up and that oil gets an opportunity to penetrate inside even deeper. So that's where you're going to find tons and tons of benefits. And Ayurveda is big about steaming, especially after body massage or hair massage.
SPEAKER_01:
Nice. I have a steam shower. I'm going to have to try it. I've never done any of this before. Just practicing what you were doing, trying to do it, was relaxing. I can only imagine how much of a relaxing practice it can be. Do you also believe you use rosemary oil as well for hair growth? Yes, you can.
SPEAKER_02:
And I've spoken to a bunch of people regarding what has worked and what has not worked for them. Using just rosemary oil doesn't work for everybody else. And I have posted tons of recipes where you have fenugreek, curry leaves, rosemary, aloe vera, you know, a mix of everything, because I would always believe in a balance. Every ingredient has its own potency. It's either hot or cold. But if you make a combination, then you have certain heated herbs and certain cooling herbs. And that's just kind of a good balance. So now you have this mixture of compound, but you need And every ingredient has its own benefit for your hair, but at the same time, it also has other benefits. The smell and all of those, a combination of all of those is so beneficial. So rather than focusing on maybe just one single ingredient, sometimes it's beneficial to go and get something that has multiple ingredients in, or if you want to make your own, you can do that too. Again, there is nothing wrong with just using plain coconut oil either. Like if there are some people who swear, like my hair, amazing, they feel amazing after using just plain, simple coconut oil. But then all of those depends how damaged are your hair. Does it need a little bit more? Overall, your head likes a cooling environment. And that is going to be beneficial. And not even just for your hair, but even your brain inside, you know, it's always go, go, go, go, go, go, go. So something cooling is more appreciative for your hair. So herbs like hibiscus, herbs like amla that have cooling properties, even coconut oil has cooling properties. All of those can be very beneficial for your hair.
SPEAKER_00:
And how often do you recommend doing it? Like once a week or?
SPEAKER_02:
Well, it depends how many times. It's like a pre-wash regimen, right? Okay. Before you wash your hair.
SPEAKER_00:
So for me, that'd be once a week because I don't wash my hair that much because I have dry hair. But for others who wash their hair a couple of times a week, like you could do it a couple of times a week. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:
All right, let's dig into some skincare tips. You have so many great pieces of advice on your IG content, on your feed.
SPEAKER_00:
And your skin is glowing as I'm looking at it, Alice, of like the glow.
SPEAKER_01:
Glowing, absolutely gorgeous skin. And plump. I also saw on your Instagram how all of these people are asking you your age. And this was like a whole thing going on and on about your age.
SPEAKER_00:
And I was wondering that myself.
SPEAKER_01:
From like 23 and up, right? Totally.
SPEAKER_02:
It was funny. Every time, at least once a week, I get like these weird comments. Like, why do you look 25 and 55 at the same time? Like, somewhere around that. Why do you look 23 and 53 at the same time? Like, it's always in between 20s and 50s that people start guessing my age. And I was like, all right, you know, if you guess my age correctly, um, you know, you're gonna win something. And I did pick some winners and I sent them a little something but it was really fun to do that to see I think over 4,000 people tried to guess my age, and it was fascinating to see that, and how much people were interested in just guessing a random person's age they saw online, or maybe they follow me, I don't know that. But the reason I did that was, first, it was fun, and second, just to kind of see how people would act and react. And there were a lot of comments would say like, I would give like, you know, 28, but I'm giving you 41 because I follow you and I see how much you know and like those kind of comments or people would be like I would give you 32 but then you have gray hair so maybe I'll give you 52 like that was the assumption like generally people just associate gray hair with age. people don't understand the concept of premature graying, or they don't understand some people get premature graying in their 20s, but they color it. So you don't see it.
SPEAKER_01:
Yeah. I know someone that went premature gray when they were 16. That's a thing. All right. Well, give us all the tips. All the tips on glowing, gorgeous skin.
SPEAKER_02:
So I think one of the simplest thing is to get plenty of sleep. And we all underestimate the power of sleep, but you know, beauty sleep is not just a cliche word. It's actually a real thing. The more you sleep, the more your skin is going to glow. There is no doubts. And even for hair, like you could be doing all the hair oiling in the world, but if you're not sleeping enough hours, your hair loss and your hair fall might not stop. So sleep is one of the most important factors when it comes to your health. Number two is your gut health. And people, again, underestimate that so much. Well, I'm going to eat whatever I want. Well, then skin is the visual representation of your gut. Like whatever is going in your mouth, reaching your gut is what is going to show up on your skin. So find that balance. You don't have to eat salads every single day, but you don't have to eat a bunch of candy every single day. You have to find a balance of how much good food I am feeding my body because that's eventually going to show up on my skin. Number three, one of the most underrated or underestimated things is emotions. Nobody understands how emotions have an impact on your skin. And I always tell people when somebody is like, well, you know, I keep breaking out. And one of the first questions I'm like, how many hours do you sleep? Okay. Eight hours. That's almost good. How much stress do you have? Oh my God. I live on like the top of the edge all the time. I'm like, try doing some incorporating some practices and you might see a big difference in how you will have these internal hormonal shift towards having good skin just by reducing your stress levels. And I believe now science also agrees to that. high levels of stress, high levels of anger, and all of those things can lead to inflammation in the body, which will result in bad skin and even toxic relationships. Sometimes people are like, well, everything is fine, but they constantly have issues with their partner, with their parents, or one or the other relationship that they're carrying that baggage with them. So even those toxic relationships can have a huge impact on how your skin looks. And then yes, of course, the skincare that you're using needs to be as clean as possible, good quality. But I think that is the last factor that plays a very important role on how your skin looks. There's so many other factors. I actually was looking into this company that claims that their supplements can help people reverse aging. And when I took the test, it literally says 90% still depends on your lifestyle and your diet. Amlas are only working 10% here. And it's just a fact. It's just a fact. You can take all the amla in the world, but if you are constantly living on the edge, you are still going to age really quickly. You can eat all the pomegranate because now, you know, modern science confirms the pomegranate extract helps to produce more urolithin A, which is a gut microbiota that helps to really reverse aging. There is scientific proof now. And what's funny to me is, Both research that goes with Urolithin A incorporates pomegranate and amla, but I'd rather recognize this 5,000 years ago without the research. Very fascinating to see how Ayurveda has categorized amla as one of the biggest rasayana, and now modern science is catching up with it. Sometimes I see this research and I laugh. I'm like, okay, so you kind of agree with what Ayurveda has to say, but in a different way. The language is different, right? And I think it's easier, it's never been easier to actually take care of yourself with the amount of awareness we have. We have so much awareness. And if someone comes to me and be like, well, my acne is not going away. I'm like, all right, let's start here. Let's figure out what could be the problem. Even if hormones are the problem, then something is off in your lifestyle. Something is off in, you know, your diet. There are people who are like, well, I constantly like, have you done any A-B testing with your food? Maybe you're eating something that your body's not able to digest well. You're not celiac, but maybe your body has a very hard time digesting gluten and just try to cut it out for a few days or minimize the consumption of gluten and see how your skin reacts to that. So there's so many simple ways, but you just have to, again, listen to your body. Like, I ate this today. Did I go to the bathroom the next day? I ate this today. How do I feel? Do I feel bloated after a salad or do I feel great after a salad? So those are, I think, really simple things that are directly connected, again, to your skin.
SPEAKER_01:
Yeah, there is such a strong disconnect. I feel like in the Western world, and we've talked about this many times about people wanting to accept that what you put into your body is such a huge factor of what is happening to your body. You know, it's really, it's like a part of our culture. There's a disbelief in it. Right? And these practices have been going on for so many years. There's so much efficacy behind it. It's really amazing. I mean, my husband has psoriasis, and he used to travel all the time, constantly, and his psoriasis would be horrible. And now his stress levels are down dramatically because his travel is down drastically, and his psoriasis is completely gone. So, you know, something as simple, he's not taking any medication. He hasn't changed much of anything else. He does take good care of himself. But it's, you know, it's an example right there.
SPEAKER_00:
Right. Of lower stress. I was also going to say, even for like teenagers, like a lot of teenagers obviously like go through puberty and have bad skin, but they also don't eat well. Most teenagers are like sugar and like crappy food. And I was talking to a friend of mine's daughter recently, and she was saying that she had really bad skin, but she was able to clear it up. And I was like, oh, how did you clear it up? And she's like, I cut back on sugar. And I was like, smart. But to have awareness as a teenager and be able to do that, I thought was really impressive. But Yes, it's so true that we're so focused and even we always talk about different products and all these things, but if you're not doing those basic things like you're never going to get anywhere and then the products only help, but they're not going to make or break you. It's really like how you take care of your gut and what you're putting in your mouth, which is so true.
SPEAKER_02:
I mean, especially for young kids, you know, when they're at that sensitive age of puberty and they start feeling less confident because, you know, their friends start judging them and it's just a normal thing. Kids do that at that age. You know, but I think we as parents should have the ability to just not go to Sephora and buy them products, but actually make them understand that, you know, your skin is it is what it is because something is off in your gut. A dermatologist is going to give you and I'm not saying don't go to the dermatologist you should probably go to the dermatologist and get a quick fix on the top so your confidence level as a teenager you know doesn't disappear but at the same time while you're doing that you should also start focusing on your inner body because that's where everything is going wrong. The topical products will help you suppress it but it will not help you from not coming back. It will keep coming back and you'll get addicted eventually at a very young age to these topical ointments. But so you have to take care of your body from the inside. And I think that's why like, with the awareness that we have right now, I think we should constantly encourage our kids, okay, you want an ice cream? How about we eat vegetables this entire week, you know, and towards the end of the week, we can go have an ice cream. And there's nothing wrong with that, instead of giving them an ice cream option every single day. But I think we as parents need to have a little bit of accountability on that.
SPEAKER_00:
I also try to explain to my kids, which they don't fully get, but at least I put it in their head and maybe they'll think about it one day, is just the ingredient list. Because even if they are having chips, if the chips have five ingredients instead of 30, they're going to be in a better place. So I try to just, because they don't equate it to gut health and skin health. They equate it to like, oh, I can eat whatever I want. What does it matter? And I'm like, no, it's not healthy, right? And it's, it's hard, I think, especially for like young boys to understand that, but at least trying to put it out there, like less ingredients, the better, because, you know, just looking at these ingredient lists and like, you know, Doritos and all this stuff, it's so nasty that, you know, just getting that awareness out there, I think in general, which I think is out there, like just, you know, on TikTok and all the social media platforms, I think there, there's a lot more to your point awareness of this stuff than there was, you know, when we were younger. So I think it's positive. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:
I think most of our listeners, I would assume, probably are aligned with, you know, working on the inside out. So I would love to, because you have some fantastic tips for natural skin care that I've seen. You create masks at home, you use rose water, I think you used honey. So give us a couple of those because I'm sure our listeners would love to hear and be able to do something like that at home themselves.
SPEAKER_02:
I mean, I've always said honey is one of, one of my favorite cleansers. It leaves your skin like with the feeling of a baby, you're going to literally feel like a baby skin with honey. But again, it's not a makeup cleanser, right? It is not, it will not remove your sunscreens because you need oil-based cleansers to remove sunscreen. But if you are, you know, somewhere you're not using makeup, you're not using sunscreen, you're indoors all day. then I would highly recommend just use honey for cleaning your skin. Clay masks. There are tons of clay masks that are available in the market, but something as simple as a little bit of a pinch of turmeric in Greek yogurt, that's an amazing mask. Wow. One of my favorite go-to masks. You will get instant brightening. The lactic acid from the yogurt and the anti-inflammatory and brightening properties of saffron, you are going to see your skin, whoa, I just had. And a lot of people are like, well, you know, turmeric is gonna stain. No, it's not gonna because of an addition of the yogurt, it is not going to stain your skin. And if it is staining your skin, it's probably because you're putting too much of turmeric in there. You just need like a little pinch of it. And like, there's so many simple things. You can make your own rose water. I posted a video about how it's very simple. It takes literally 20 minutes to make your own rose water. If you're not confident in the brand, you know, for the most part, people don't do that because it's still time consuming, but there's so many of these simple tips. Don't aggressively exfoliate your skin. You know, if you really want like one of the simplest exfoliator, Coffee, you made coffee, you had coffee, you have now grinds that you don't know what to do. You can use that as an exfoliator on your skin. Coffee is amazing for brightening your skin, for aging, for signs of aging, so many things. So not necessarily you need to spend a lot of money in order to have good skin. You can have everything in your home. I've also posted like an affordable skincare hack where you can take jojoba oil because the sebum off your skin is very natural compared to the chemical aspect of the jojoba oil. So it absorbs into the skin really quickly and add a few drops of frankincense to it, an essential oil. So now you take a $10 carrier oil, you know, buy from a good company, and then you add this essential oil that is going to last you forever. The ratio is for every ounce, you add four drops of essential oils or five drops of essential oils maximum, and you're going to see your skin thriving. And if you have a few strands of saffron at home, infuse it. Now you have your own saffron oil, which is amazing for depigmentation, skin repair. Saffron actually has the ability to repair your skin's barrier. So there's so many DIY things. If people are like, I don't want to go spend a lot of money, you don't have to. But again, you make the commitment to consistently do things. If you have the budget, then there are plenty of good companies that sell good saffron oil. Everybody has their own favorites, but you have the options of getting things if you don't want to make them at home. But if you want to make that at home, again, you have plenty of options to do that.
SPEAKER_00:
Wait, how do you wash your face with honey? Is it really sticky or do you mix it with something?
SPEAKER_02:
No, you just wet your face, just rinse your face with water, take a little teaspoon of honey, just rub it on your palm, your hands are still wet, and then just start cleansing your face with honey. That's it. That's so cool.
SPEAKER_01:
You can do that first thing in the morning, right? Because if it's first thing in the morning, you're not rinsing off your makeup and your skin, you can start your day with it. You may not have to try it.
SPEAKER_00:
I know. It sounds lovely.
SPEAKER_01:
All right, well, let's get into oh, you know what I really want to talk about is tongue scraping because I saw we we have talked a little bit about this Amy, but I don't think we've ever been able to do too much of a deep dive on it. We did with Oh, I will edit this out. I can't think of her name. But tell us a little bit about tongue scraping. And maybe if you could just break down into like the two or three things that you see the most when you look at someone's tongue, what does that mean? And then why do we scrape our tongue?
SPEAKER_02:
So in Ayurveda, tongue scraping is recommended because when you sleep at nighttime and you wake up in the morning, all the metabolic waste, it basically goes up because your oral health and your gut health is connected. It just goes back and sits on your tongue. So when you wake up in the morning, we have this white coating on the tongue. Majority of the people have it. I think everybody has it. Some have it more, some have it less. And that is a sign of the metabolic waste. So if you clean that out, not only you're increasing the perception of taste in your body, but you're also enhancing your oral microbiome. Some people, and again, your tongue, even according to Ayurveda and Chinese medicine can actually talk a lot about your internal health. But focusing on Ayurveda, if your tongue is extremely highly red, you have a pitta imbalance. If it's extremely pale, then you have an extreme mata imbalance. So when you go to an Ayurvedic doctor, the first thing they do is like, show me your tongue.
SPEAKER_00:
That's what my acupuncturist used to do every time I went in there. Yep.
SPEAKER_02:
Yeah. They really want to see the tongue because it can literally translate what's going inside your body. The cracks, the shapes, everything can be connected. Something's off in the body. Let's see the tongue.
SPEAKER_01:
Okay. And so when you scrape your tongue in the morning, is it, you're kind of like giving it a fresh start almost so that the, what did you say? The metabolic waste? Is that what you said? The metabolic waste doesn't just build up essentially. Exactly. And then that in turn affects your microbiome positively.
SPEAKER_00:
I've actually been doing tongue scraping for years and I probably haven't talked about on the show, Katie, but it's made a huge difference I feel like in my oral health and just like I can't even if I don't do it I feel gross like I can't even drink anything because I just feel like I'm taking germs and like you know um I love once you start scraping you're never going back to not you can't and it's not like with you it's just for our listeners we don't mean tongue scraping with like a toothbrush we mean with an actual tool that you just do it for a second and it like I also think it helps with, and I don't know if this is right, but immunity. I feel like it keeps you healthy. I mean, not to jinx, but I haven't gotten a lot of colds and stuff.
SPEAKER_02:
So again, internally, your entire body is connected, right? And even modern science agrees with it. Your good oral health is connected to your gut health. Your gut health is connected to your brain health. Your cognitive health increases your immunity. And all of those things again are interrelated. So a good oral microbiome, a healthy oral microbiome is again, is going to help your body internally function really, really well.
SPEAKER_01:
I have a tongue scraper and I tried to use it and I don't know if I was like too aggressive or something, but I couldn't do it. I couldn't get into it. Maybe I'm just being too aggressive.
SPEAKER_00:
That's what happened with my husband and he was like, Joey. I'm like, no, you don't have to do it that hard, right?
SPEAKER_01:
It can be a little bit more superficial than that. You don't have to like
SPEAKER_02:
No, no, you don't have to be aggressive on your tongue. Definitely not ideal to be aggressive with your tongue. I just do it quickly. I don't know. Well, your gag reflex sometimes, it's a muscle. Your gag reflex is a muscle, right? And it can be trained over time because sometimes people go like with the tongue sweeper all the way inside. I'm like, yeah, you need to go that back. And if it's not trained very well, you know, you start and then you slowly train yourself in your muscle to work. And the more you do it, the better you're going to get just like oil pulling or anything else.
SPEAKER_01:
Sure. Okay, great.
SPEAKER_00:
I want to hear about oil pulling because that I haven't done and I feel like I've seen things about that and I don't know much about it.
SPEAKER_02:
So oil pulling, Ayurveda sees it as a preventative practice. But as you might have seen on TikTok, now everybody, especially this one company, and I work with them, it's very interesting how they have literally changed the scope of oil pulling because It's not easy to swish oil in your mouth. If you take traditional sesame oil, which even I can't do because I don't like the taste of sesame oil, or traditional coconut oil, because then you have to go melt it. And so they created this fractionated coconut oil, added menthol and some essential oils, which are beneficial like cardamom and fennel are very effective for bad breath, clove oil, which is very effective for your gums as well as your teeth. So they've added all of these tea tree oregano essential oils to it and made it palatable, basically, for people to do it. And because you have all of these essential oils, and even traditionally, Ayurveda never said to oil pull for 20 minutes or 30 minutes like people were doing. I'm like, you're going to have a TMJ if you do it for that long. No, two to five minutes is more than enough. But I feel like what the company has done very successfully is made the oil more palatable for people. And that's why people have been able to sustain their practice. So a lot of people were like, well, my teeth are not whiter. I don't have bad breath anymore. And some people are like, my gums are regrowing. I'm like, your gums cannot regrow. That's just not how it works. What probably happened, because their gums were inflamed, now because of oil pulling and all these essential oils added to it, the inflammation has gone down. So now the gums are becoming normal. And because they're normal, and they're not swollen, you know, they feel like they're growing back. And I'm like, because your gums are not going to grow back. That's just not how it works. Some of the claims do not make sense to me at all. But because I know the practice, I'm kind of able to put a little bit of logic behind it. And I always tell people, well, I don't think your gums are growing back. I think the inflammation is going down. What are the benefits of it? So bad breath, again, a good oral microbiome, especially if you're a mouth breather, you are going to have dry mouth. It's going to help you with that. And a lot of people, when they sleep, they put retainers in and, you know, you tend to have this biofilm covering your teeth. So it's able to get into those deeper corners and help you clean your mouth even more than just traditional brushing and flossing.
SPEAKER_00:
Does it help with whitening teeth or it doesn't? Because I feel like I've seen. Doesn't help.
SPEAKER_02:
So traditional oil pulling doesn't help with whitening your teeth, but it can help to, if you're someone who drinks a lot of coffee, coffee is going to stain your teeth, right? So it's going to help with the decoloration because you're swishing it in your mouth. It is kind of cleaning your teeth a little bit. So it's not like it's whitening your teeth, but it's doing a better job in cleaning your teeth, which makes it feel like, oh, my teeth are whiter. But your teeth are not. It's not whitening. It's not doing the job of whitening your teeth. It cannot whiten your teeth.
SPEAKER_00:
Right. So what was the brand you were talking about? This brand is Gurunatha. So I have to tell you something funny about this brand. So Katie had recently recommended this brand. They sell a teeth whitener, which Katie has found really helpful. But I was in my son's room, which is so funny, and he had that oil on his sink. And I don't really go in there that much. And I was like, where? Wait, which one? Jackson? Yeah, Jackson, my 17-year-old. I was like, where did you get this oil? He's like, oh, I bought it online. I was like, oh my God, he saw that video on TikTok that everybody's seen. I was like, well, why did you get it? Have you tried it? He's like, I haven't tried it that much, but I don't know. I think it's going to make my teeth whiter. I'm like, okay. I just thought it was hilarious because you know, teenagers are finding this stuff and using it, which is great, right? Holistic, it's good for you. But like, I was like, it's so not like him to have something like that. I'm like, is this yours? Is this your girlfriend's? Like, how do you have an oil pull? I'm like, I got to try that.
SPEAKER_02:
Yeah, that's so funny. And it's good to know to like, you know, the younger kids are also doing. It's a practice once you get into it. Again, it's like tongue scraping. Once you start oil pulling and then you stop oil pulling, you're going to be like, something's missing. I won't feel clean enough.
SPEAKER_01:
What is the order in which we do all of these oral practices? Do you brush your teeth, tongue scrape, oil pull or back?
SPEAKER_02:
Tongue scraping first, always, first thing in the morning. And then traditionally, according to Ayurveda, you're supposed to brush first and then oil pull. Then rinse your mouth with salt water or modern salt. But out of convenience, people clean their tongue, they oil pull, and then they brush their teeth. because then whatever toxins are sitting, you know, you collect a lot of bacteria with that oil and it's going to sit in your mouth. But if you brush after, then you're able to remove everything and clean the oil that is sitting in your mouth better because you do not want that oil to reach your gut. Right. Neither is doing it even before brushing. It's not wrong. In fact, it's just a little bit more practical. And then you just thoroughly rinse your mouth with warm water.
SPEAKER_01:
Okay. I'm going to try it. I was hesitant on the oil pulling. I don't know why. I guess it just seemed unappealing to me. But you don't have to do it for that long. How many minutes did you do? Two to five minutes.
SPEAKER_02:
More than enough. Okay. No, absolutely. Don't do it for ten. No. Even those two to five minutes are going to give you a nice, nice jawline.
SPEAKER_00:
Yeah, seriously. It's like exercising. Exactly. Exercising that jawline.
SPEAKER_01:
Alright, great. I'm trying it. Guru Ananda, I love their whitening strips. They work really, really well. I saw you use them as well.
SPEAKER_02:
Yeah, I use them and I like the fact that it's the only whitening strip that doesn't leave my teeth extremely sensitive.
SPEAKER_01:
Yeah, same. That's exactly why I like them.
SPEAKER_00:
I need to try that. I know you recommended it.
SPEAKER_01:
So before we let you go, this can be such a vast, broad question because I can only imagine the amount of herbs and everything that can be in one's Ayurveda practice. But what are some of your favorites? What is in your routine that you use and why or that you suggest the most?
SPEAKER_02:
I take amla every day versus vitamin C, high in antioxidants. You're going to get sick less. And one of the most important things that people don't kind of relate with each other, vitamin C helps to synthesize collagen naturally in your body. And collagen, the more collagen, the less you age. And that is not just for your skin, but pretty much your entire body, right? Collagen is good for your bones, your hair, your skin, your nails, everything. I always tell people, like, if there's one supplement that I recommend people to consume is Amla. And get your herbs from a reputated company. Don't buy your herbs from a random Amazon company. I always say that. Make sure you know where their sourcing is coming from and then get your herbs. And one practice that I live by and I absolutely love is just massaging your feet for two minutes before going to bed, especially if you have sleeping issues or, you know, insomnia or whatever, like that one practice is going to be insanely benefit for people.
SPEAKER_01:
I love that. And massage your feet with lotion, oil?
SPEAKER_02:
Oil, preferably warm oil. Just massage your feet for like two minutes, you know, like reflexology, basically giving it to yourself. You're going to sleep like a baby after that.
SPEAKER_01:
Nice. Okay. All right. So where can our listeners find you? Your Instagram is?
SPEAKER_02:
kirtitawani, just my name. And TikTok is also kirtitawani, just my name. And my YouTube is also just my name, Kirstie Tuani.
SPEAKER_01:
Okay. Well, let's do our wrap session. You might've just given away some of your secrets, but let's do it just in case there's some more, which I'm sure there probably is. So what is your favorite wellness or beauty hack?
SPEAKER_02:
Hack? I think saffron. It is the key to, it has so many benefits for your skin. Consuming saffron also enhances like, you know, saffron tea or saffron milk. also enhances your cognitive health, because your brain health is really important. It's not just how I look, it's also about where my brain is functioning, right? And then saffron also has immense amount of benefits for your skin.
SPEAKER_00:
Okay, the next one we call our five minute flow. You've just got it in the shower and Uber pings you. They're five minutes away. What is your quick, you know, what are your quick things that you do to get right off and get ready and get out the door in five minutes? Like what do you put in your face, your hair, et cetera?
SPEAKER_02:
I think my hair, I would just leave as is unless I washed it. Even then I would just leave it as is. I might put a little bit of oil if it's just too frizzy or depending on if it's raining outside or something like that. But I would just take any oil that I have available on my counter. I would put it from head to toe and grab a multi-stick and run. like a multi-step for your eyes, cheeks, blush, whatever you can use. Oil will give you all the glow you need. You're moisturized. That's one of the most important things. A hair tie. If my hair is looking messy, just put it in a bun and just get going.
SPEAKER_00:
Love it.
SPEAKER_01:
How many oils do you have on your counter?
SPEAKER_02:
More than I can count some days. I have a lot of oils. I mean, everybody who knows me knows that I'm absolutely obsessed with oils for face, oils for body. And again, my kids, I drench them every day after the shower. Now they know, they come out of their own shower. My son is now old enough. he puts oil on his own body and then he gets stressed and just use regular olive oil. In the summertime, we use regular coconut oil, sometimes sesame oil, and then I give them oil massages and they get very excited for their weekly full body massage. Again, a body oil. One of my favorite body oils is from this Ayurvedic company, called Sahajan. They have this beautiful, gorgeous body oil that smells divine. It's just amazing. And it absorbs into the body really well. And I think the base does have a little bit of sesame oil, which traditionally Ayurveda recommends.
SPEAKER_00:
Well, I'm going to get that. I need a new body oil. What's your favorite face oil now that you're on the body oil topic?
SPEAKER_02:
Ranava, saffron serum. 100%. Like one of my all the way at the top.
SPEAKER_00:
What's the brand? Ranavath. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:
We'll have to get the spelling.
SPEAKER_02:
We have that in Sephora too now.
SPEAKER_00:
Okay. Sephora sells it. Great. Ranavath, face oil. Okay. Love it.
SPEAKER_01:
All right. And then our last question is how do you maintain your daily nirvana?
SPEAKER_02:
By taking small breaks. So everything, I'm trying not to just go back to back to back to back all the time, because that is what causes a lot of stress, a lot of anxiety. So I make sure sometimes I even block like those five-minute things. I put, you know, do some inversions because the head needs a little bit of more blood flow. It's also good for premature gray hair. And just take those tiny little breaks, just for my brain health, my soul health, myself. and get back to work. And I think that has definitely increased productivity. That has definitely changed the way I react to certain situations. So yeah, I think Everybody should have these tiny little me time breaks where you're doing nothing. You're not on your phone. Taking a break doesn't mean I'm going to scroll on Instagram or TikTok. Taking a break means I'm just catching up with my own breath, just being conscious in the moment and letting everything go.
SPEAKER_00:
That's a good reminder. And before you leave, and you can say pass if you don't want to answer, but now I'm curious. I need to know how old you are. If you don't want to say it, just say pass. That's fine too. I'm 38.
SPEAKER_01:
Oh, beautiful. Yeah. You could be 22.
SPEAKER_00:
I know. I was like, I'm like, she has kids. So she's not in her twenties. I was thinking like somewhere between like 30 and 35, but okay. Yeah. But I'm 38. You look amazing.
SPEAKER_02:
Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:
All right, well, Kirti, thank you so much for being with us today. I feel like we've got so much great, fun information from you and our listeners are going to love it. So we appreciate it. Thank you. Of course.
SPEAKER_00:
Thank you for having me. Thanks for listening to Nirvana Sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes, please subscribe and leave us a review. Also, find us on Instagram at Nirvana Sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would, please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana Sisters. We'll continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.