Episode 131 - Hair Health Secrets With Trichologist And TikTok Superstar, Taylor Rose (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 131.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here.

Speaker A: 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. I'm Amy Sherman.

Speaker B: And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation.

Speaker A: Welcome back to Nirvana Sisters, Nirvana Sisters family. You have just Amy today. Katie is on a much needed girlfriend's vacation, so she is not joining us today. But we are here, or I am here with Taylor Rose, who know I'm going to go back in time. So Taylor was one of our first guests on the show. So I was looking back and you were on our show, July 2021. It was episode 19 for us. And now we're on like, I don't know, episode 131 35, something like that, which is crazy. You were living in Michigan. You weren't a certified trichologist. You had a big TikTok following, but certainly not as big as it is now. So we're so excited to just hear all the new things. But let me just give our audience who we have so many new people who don't know Taylor. Taylor Rose is a certified trichologist specializing in rebuilding her clients confidence through both preventative and restorative hair loss solutions. Taylor has been published in a variety of news outlets, the Today Show, NBC Select, New York Post, the US Sun, Women's World Shape, and more, and has gained exposure through her social media platforms where she provides holistic hair regrowth tips to an audience of over 1.5 million followers. So welcome back to the show, Taylor. We were just talking that the first time she was on, it was like probably her first podcast. We were early on, and so much has happened. So it's so good to see you, and it's amazing to see how your career has evolved so much since we first met. I think formerly you were the healthy hooga, now you're the healthy her, I think, and all the things. So give us a little update on your life.

Speaker B: Yeah, so very different from the last time we talked, obviously, even just my mood. I was so nervous. That was my first podcast ever. Now, I have been on many podcasts, and it's so awesome. It's such a full circle to be back on this podcast. Yeah. But since then, I've moved to California, so I think so much has happened since that one. I was in a house in Grand Rapids, and then I ended up moving to Kalamazoo and then moved all the way out to California. So very different vibes out here. But it's definitely, I feel like where I'm meant to be. You know what I mean?

Speaker A: Totally. And I also remember last time we spoke, you were like in the midst of switching jobs. Like you weren't even doing this full time. I feel like you were working at another company.

Speaker B: Yes, I was still in finance. I believe I was posting kind of my own hair regrowth tips, but I didn't necessarily have that knowledge that I do now. That's helping other people with different types of hair, different hair loss problems. Before, it was just my own experience, and it very much was like, if you have the exact type of hair loss I have, the exact type of hair I have, I can help you. Otherwise, I don't know. So it's very different content even now than I used to put out.

Speaker A: Oh, yeah, much different. Tell us. So you are now a certified trichologist. So for those who don't know what that means, can you tell us a little bit about what that means?

Speaker B: Yeah. So certified trichologists basically are scalp and hair experts. I specialize in both preventative and restorative hair loss. So I can help people who may have great hair or okay hair, keep it and just make it better, make it its best looking hair that you can have and prevent that hair loss. And then also restorative if you've lost hair. I can help you regrow your hair in most cases, yeah.

Speaker A: And you went to school over the last few years to become officially certified and now this is like all you're doing?

Speaker B: Yes, this is my full time gig now, and I'm loving it so much. Yeah.

Speaker A: I mean, for our audience, please make sure you check her out on social media. Taylor has amazing, amazing content and such good tips and we love it all. Well, firstly, let's take a step back because I forgot to do. Because I just jumped into it. I forgot to do our Nirvana of the week, which, if you remember this from last time, just like a quick tidbit, fun or interesting or something that brought a little smile to your face. This week I haven't even thought of mine at, because I feel like this week has been so busy and I'm like, wait, I need you to take a step back and think about what made me happy this week. So I'm going to throw it to you first. This is when I usually throw it to Katie, but she's not here, so I'm just going to throw it to.

Speaker B: You under the bus, I would say. So I just got back from vacation. I went out to Utah, which I do the same trip every year to Utah, because my best friends live out there. So that was such a healing, restorative break that I needed, because working for yourself, it's very hard to shut off. And that was, like, the first vacation I've taken with no laptop. I didn't bring anything. I was like, I am out of office for three full days. I got pet sitters. It was very needed. And this week, I would say I'm feeling more motivated and more creative than I have in a long time. So that's my Nirvana, is just having a really good week back. Yeah.

Speaker A: I love that it's so needed, and that's amazing. I love Utah. Okay. That reminded me. Yes. I just got back from a trip, too. I went with my older son to a really fun game, like a college game at a state with one of my best friends who went to that school. And so it was just super fun going to, like, a ra big college game, which I haven't done in so long, college football. And we did a little touring around because my son is 16 and starting to think about college and all that stuff. So it was nice to have one on one time with him and just kind of not be working and just be with him. So that was really fun. Okay, awesome. So let's get into it. I know this is, like, a very broad, generic question, but tell us the best or the easiest way to grow hair, because it does seem like this is such a hot topic and so many people are struggling. AnD I don't know if it's post COVID or what's going on, but give us your thoughts.

Speaker B: Yeah. So this is, like, the hardest question for me to answer because, number one, there's no easy way to regrow hair, right. In this day and age, people are losing hair. It's rarely from one reason. There's usually, like, a couple of different things coming at us. So that means there's going to be a couple of different treatments. And it also depends on why you're losing hair. Right. Like, what are these underlying causes that are causing you to lose hair? And treating that hair loss is fixing those underlying causes, usually. So it's not just like, yeah, rosemary oil, for example, is amazing, and it helps increase blood circulation, and it can help 99% of people's hair just look better. And it did, for me, fully regrow your bald spots. But that also comes with ten different other things that you have to be doing, too. So I would say figuring out your underlying causes is the best first step to regrowing hair, because those are what you need to focus on, not just your scalp and your hair.

Speaker A: Why do you think this is so prevalent? Do you think it's more prevalent now? Because I think a lot of people said they lost hair during COVID if they got COVID. Or do you think it's just, like, more mainstream? Because people, especially women, didn't really talk about that stuff as much as men did, because that's more popular for men, but now it's very prevalent, and I feel like there's a lot of conversations about it.

Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's a mix of the two. It is being talked about more, especially with TikTok. I think that was kind of like the floodgates opened. People were being very authentic and sharing their real stories on TikTok, and that kind of opened that door for a lot of people. But I also think I know that there's more hair loss than there has been ever in the history of ever right now.

Speaker A: Yeah, it's wild.

Speaker B: Yeah. And I think some of the big reasons for that is the food we eat, like, how processed everything is, how stressed we are. We're not getting sleep. We're in this high stress state all day with just the way things are today. And then COVID, of course, like, a huge thing that went get. You can lose hair just from getting sick, just from getting a cold. But COVID was a cold on steroids.

Speaker A: Absolutely. But I know on your social media, at least, you used to do this, and I think you still talk. You were just talking about rosemary. What are some of those methods? Because I've seen some of them and I've tried some of them, and I think if you're consistent, they work. So can you give us a little tutorial on that?

Speaker B: Yeah. So there's a couple of different ways you can use rosemary. You can make a rosemary water, which is something that it's probably the most cumbersome to make because you have to do the whole process of boiling it and distilling it, all that. But the pro of that is that you can spray it on your scalp twice a day, and you don't need to rinse it out because it is so lightweight, whereas rosemary oil, you need to wash it off after. So there's two ways you can use rosemary oil that I like to promote. One of them is you can take just five drops of your essential oil mixed with your palm full of shampoo. Shampoo your hair like normal, let it sit for three to five minutes, and then rinse it out. And that's a nice little boost for your hair. You can do this up to three times a week, I would say. And then the other way, which I think you can do these both together too. You can do all three of them together. But the way that I like the most is having a rosemary oil. Either there are some, like, Miele that are premixed, but if you don't have it premixed, if you just have, like, 100% pure rosemary oil, you need to do five drops of that mixed with a teaspoon of a carrier oil, which would be like, castor oil, argan oil, pumpkin seed oil. Mix that together in your hands and massage it into your scalp, and then you let it sit for 30 minutes minimum, 3 hours maximum, and then rinse off.

Speaker A: Are most people or most of the clients that you're working with, Are they doing more of these home methods, or are they doing that in combination with, like, a neutrophil or other supplements?

Speaker B: Yeah, I would say most people I work with are doing multiple different things just because they have multiple reasons for their hair loss, and they also want to kind of throw everything that they can at it to fix the problem as soon as possible.

Speaker A: Yeah. I know that you've been through a journey with your hair that we followed on social media. Will you tell everyone, kind of, like, where you started and where you are now in your own hair journey?

Speaker B: Yeah, definitely. So I started losing my hair in my temple region. I would say that started at the end of high school.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: And it started very slowly, so I didn't necessarily notice that I was like, oh, maybe it's like how I'm parting my hair every day, or maybe it's breakage from hot tools. And I think what it actually. Sure, it was a mix of things, but what it actually came down to was that was when I got on birth control. Big change in the body known to cause hair loss. So that is kind of what triggered it to start. And then all through college, I'm stressed, I'm not sleeping. I'm drinking a lot of alcohol. All these things that are horrible for the body was just making it worse and worse and worse. And by the time college was out, I was wearing hats almost every day, spending an hour every morning making sure this was swooped right over. And it was taking up so much of my life that I'm like, okay, it's time to do something to fix this. Then TikTok comes about, and this is kind of, like, in the heart of, okay, it's COVID, I'm at home. I'm not having to spend this hour every day doing my hair for work. So I'm like, okay, it's time to, like, everyone does throw everything I can at this and try to fix it so that when COVID's over, I can come back to work looking know, like, it never mean. Rosemary was huge for me. That was kind of the first thing that I really noticed hair regrowth. But there was also all these other things I was doing. I got off birth control. I was meditating every day. I was doing yoga. I was sleeping more because COVID. Yeah. Just all these other things. Yeah, that's kind of how I grew my page was sharing my hair regrowth journey on my TikTok. Yeah.

Speaker A: And your before and afters are amazing. I remember seeing them. I mean, it's really incredible. And it does seem like it's a mix of lifestyle and anything else that you're taking. What's your thoughts on? Well, two questions I want to ask you about supplements, and I want to ask you about. You were talking before about just like, protecting your hair from hot tools because we all like our hot tools. But do you have any recommendations on how to protect your hair better from that kind of stuff other than not doing it?

Speaker B: Yeah. Honestly, obviously the best thing you can do is not use it. Even if it's just like, I take a three month break from hot tools every summer. During the summer, my hair, I'm like, okay, it's going up or it's going to be wavy. It's going to be. Yeah, that's my three month break. And I notice this is when my hair grows a ton. Just having that three months, whether that's over winter or over summer, or if you can even just spread it out throughout the year, is really helpful. Aside from that, using a heat protectant every time that you're using hot tools on your hair, letting your hair air dry 80% of the way before blow drying it. Because if you're blow drying, soaking wet hair, that's like the most damage you can cause, right?

Speaker A: Oh, that's a good one. I didn't think of that.

Speaker B: Yeah. I'll do my makeup while my hair is drying. I'll feed the animals, do other things, and then I'll go in and just do that. Like finishing dry with the blow dryer.

Speaker A: Yeah. Do you have a good hair protectant that you recommend?

Speaker B: I really like the color fanatic by purology. Yeah, that one tried that. It's my go to. I love it.

Speaker A: Okay. Good to know. Okay. And then from a supplements and things like that standpoint, I just feel like there's so much on the market. I hear so much about neutrophil. I actually have taken it in the past and it has worked for me. I never actually had any hair thinning, shedding, nothing because my hair is so thick. And over the years, as I've gotten older, it started to kind of like where you were saying the temples areas looked thinner. And I was like, what is going on? This is like nothing that I would think would ever happen. And I started taking neutrophil and it did help, I stopped it, but I just went back on it again recently because I felt like I should have probably taken it for longer. But anyway, I felt like it has worked a little bit for me. I'm not fully there yet, but what have you seen from clients and yourself? I don't know if you've tried it or not, or other things like that.

Speaker B: Yeah, my two go to's are neutrophil and cerrovital. Or cerrovital.

Speaker A: Oh, I haven't heard of that one.

Speaker B: Yeah, it's awesome. That one's probably my favorite because it has all of the vitamins and minerals that neutrophil has. But it also has like a stress support blend, which I personally, that's a big reason for me, losing hair is stress related. So that one's kind of like my favorite, my number one. But neutrophil is great too. I would say it's pretty helpful for most people because it has all of those hair growth vitamins in it. The one thing I will say is it is expensive and you have to take it three to four times a day. So for some people, if your hair loss is related to just like a vitamin D deficiency or an iron deficiency, you can get away a lot cheaper just taking like an iron pill or a vitamin D pill. Right? Yeah. So again, finding out why you're losing hair is a really good first step. If you are deficient in multiple things or you just want to help your hair look its best. Fill out densify. Yes. An overall supplement like neutrophil or cerrovitil is amazing.

Speaker A: Is ceraveetol as expensive as neutrophil?

Speaker B: I don't remember. Off the top of my head, I want to say it's a little bit cheaper. Yeah, but like pretty comparable.

Speaker A: Yeah, it's funny with neutrophil. You're right. I think they say to take four A day. I only actually take two because they're like big pills. And I'm not like, I hate taking pills, I'm like I'm just going to do this for a long time and take two because they do. I'm sure Cerebedal is the same where you have to take it over a long period of time. It's not like you can take it for a month or two. You really have to take it for an extended amount of time. Right, right.

Speaker B: Yep.

Speaker A: Okay. I'm switching gears to just general hair stuff because I saw, and this was a while ago, but I saw you went on a brand trip for Dyson and you tested the airstrike. And at the time, well, I still don't have it. I actually just ordered it because of the Sephora sale. But I wanted to get your thoughts on it because, you know, the Dyson, it's got an air wrap, which I love and obsessed with. But I'm curious to know what you thought of the air straight.

Speaker B: I love it. It is so helpful for me because it's like a mix of a straightener and a blow dryer, obviously, but it doesn't make your hair so flat like a flat iron would.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: And for me, like, having really fine, flat hair, I want these ends. I want this straight, but I don't want it to be pinned to my head, which happens when I straighten it. So the air straight is, like, a really nice volume straighten.

Speaker A: Yeah. I'm really excited to try it.

Speaker B: I've been wanting to make it.

Speaker A: Yeah. And to your point where you were saying, like, let your hair dry 80% of the way, and then using a tool like that feels like it would be a good one because it does at least style your hair so then you're not using another hair tool. It's like a two in one.

Speaker B: Exactly. And it's way less damaged than just like a flat iron would be.

Speaker A: Was it cool to go to the Dyson, like, HQ, wherever you are?

Speaker B: It blew my mind. I did not realize how. I mean, I knew it was high tech, but it was crazy.

Speaker A: Did they just reach out to you on TikTok or they.

Speaker B: I want to say they reached out to my management. So I actually, when I was out in California looking at apartments, I stopped by the Dyson store out in California and kind of made that connection, got my networking, and we just were so aligned because they're so into hair science and less damage. So it was just like a really aligned partnership for me. So we kind of just kept that connection. And when they released the airstrike, they were like, okay, this is perfect. Come learn about it. Learn the science. And of course, me being like a hair geek. I was like, oh, heck, yeah.

Speaker A: No, I saw that.

Speaker B: I was so excited for you.

Speaker A: I'm like, oh, my God, that's amazing.

Speaker B: Yeah. It was, like the most aligned thing ever for me.

Speaker A: Oh, my God. That's so cool. Yeah. I can't imagine what. I mean. It must be just. Yeah, because you're right. They're all about the science, and their.

Speaker B: Products are just so good.

Speaker A: Yeah, I'm excited to try it.

Speaker B: I'll keep you posted. I'm sure I'll love it.

Speaker A: I was, like, waiting. I was like, I'm going to do it on the Sephora sale. I'm going to take the plunge.

Speaker B: Yeah. That's like, all my friends were like, oh, it's so expensive. It's not worth it. And then they would all try mine, and the next day they're like, okay. So I ordered it.

Speaker A: I know, because with the. I don't know why I keep forgetting the name.

Speaker B: I'm like, air wrap.

Speaker A: Air wrap. I had bought it a really long time ago, before it became popular, and I was like, this is ridiculous, because it's so expensive. But it was, like, the best thing I had bought in years. Then I got rid of all my other tools, and I kept saying to Katie, like, you have to get. So, like, years later, she finally got it, and she's like, I mean, she's obsessed. She uses it every day, so I'm sure it'll be the same with airstream. So I'm excited to try it. Cool. So what are the most, just regarding hair, hair growth, what are the most common questions you're getting from your clients and people on social media? What are the main questions people are asking?

Speaker B: Kind of like, going back to what you asked, like, what's the quickest, easiest way to regrow hair? Which it's, like, impossible for me to answer that unless exactly who you are. And I've seen your scalp and I've seen your Hair and know your life. Also, a lot of questions on Rosemary. Just, I think there's a lot of misinformation out there. So people don't necessarily know the process. They don't know what to do. They're like, okay, I bought the rosemary. Now I have no idea how to use it. Right.

Speaker A: Tell me what to do. Break it down.

Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. And it's hard to remember. Okay. When I first started using this, I had no idea what to do. So it's like, oh, put it on your scalp. And they're like, okay, but how? With my fingers or with the dropper? How do I do it? So a lot of confusion there.

Speaker A: Yeah, that makes sense.

Speaker B: Yeah. Probably the biggest, too.

Speaker A: Do people ever ask about or do you talk to your clients about what foods are good for hair growth? I mean, is it like healthy fats and things like that?

Speaker B: Yeah, I do, because that's something I'm very passionate about, but I don't necessarily post about it as much because there's a lot of differing opinions out there. And, yeah, those posts usually get a lot of hate. Right. But I do personally talk to my clients about it. Yes.

Speaker A: Yeah. Give us one or two things that you think are good for hair growth. You won't get any hate because protein.

Speaker B: Being the best protein, make sure you're eating a really high protein diet because hair is made up of protein. So it's very important. Healthy fats, like you said, omega three s like fatty fish. And for women, iron is a big one, too.

Speaker A: Oh, yeah, that makes sense. I didn't think about that, but that's a good point.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Okay, so before we go, I wanted to do our wrap session, which we did with you, obviously, two years ago. We're doing a redux of that. Okay. Is that how you say the word?

Speaker B: I'm like R-E-D-U-X-I don't know.

Speaker A: We're doing a rap session redo because I'm sure there are now more things that you are doing and we want to hear it. So you ready to go?

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: Let's do it. What's your favorite? Wellness or beauty hack?

Speaker B: Wellness or beauty Hack? Let me think for a minute. Okay, here's one. Okay. People like to wear rosemary oil on their scalp and go to bed because people don't have 3 hours to sit there and let it soak in and do its thing before they shampoo it out. But going to bed with rosemary oil on your scalp can clog your hair follicles overnight because it attracts dust. So a really good hack for that is either using like a Saran wrap or a shower cap to keep out the dust. And then you can sleep with your rosemary oil on.

Speaker A: And then in the morning, your hair must be like, I feel like so shiny and amazing.

Speaker B: Soaked it in. You've got your body heat going all night and then shampoo it out and it's good to go.

Speaker A: Oh, that's a good one. Okay, next question. Your five minute flow. And maybe it's different now that you're living in LA. So you just got out of the shower, you dried off. Uber's alerting you. They're five minutes away. What's your quick beauty routine? What do you put on your go tos to get dressed? Get out the door on time?

Speaker B: Love it. Okay, so right now I'm using Foley, a brand called merit, for my.

Speaker A: Oh, I love. Yeah.

Speaker B: Yeah. I just discovered them, honestly, like, less than a month ago.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: So good. Yeah, so it's like, I use their foundation, their bronzer, their blush, eyeshadow, and mascara, and I can do that all, like, my whole face. And it's, like, very clean girl aesthetic. I can do it in, like, four minutes with that brand.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: So that's what I've been doing. Honestly, that's all I do. And my hair, I'm on my no heat kick right now, so I just let it air dry.

Speaker A: Your hair looks amazing. It's so, like, long and beautiful.

Speaker B: Yeah, I dyed it blonde when I moved out here.

Speaker A: I was going to say it's lighter than I remember.

Speaker B: Yes. It's very light right now. And that damaged it so much. Like, I knew it was going to happen, but I was like, okay, I need to not do that again.

Speaker A: At least you're prepared. You probably've got all the things to keep it healthy with the blonde, but it looks beautiful. Yeah. So if you're running out the door with all the merit, and then. So what do you do with it? You just let it air dry or, like, throw it back?

Speaker B: Yeah, I brush it, pop in the leavein conditioNer, which I'm currently using a brand called Array. I think that's A-R-E-Y. Yeah. So they have, like, a leavein mist.

Speaker A: Nice.

Speaker B: And that's it. And then I'm out the door.

Speaker A: Out the door. I love Merritt. Katie and I did a product junkies episode a while ago, and we talked about Merrick. Katie actually introduced me to that brand because she was saying the same thing. She's like. It's literally, like a minute. I, like, swipe it on. It's like, you don't even need a brush. You can just do it with your fingers. It's so great.

Speaker B: And it literally blends so quick.

Speaker A: It's so good. And you know what I also do here's a little hack. You know the blush?

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: I also put that on my lips. Oh, yeah. It ties it all together.

Speaker B: Oh, my gosh, that's perfect.

Speaker A: And sometimes I do the Bronzer as eyeshadow, in a way.

Speaker B: Yeah, I bought the eyeshadow, and it's honestly very similar. I got, like, the same color as the bronzer, so I could have just got away with that.

Speaker A: Yeah. No, it's so good. Totally agree on that. Okay. And how do you maintain your daily Nirvana?

Speaker B: I do a lot of journaling, which, funny enough, I think that's what I said last time and I was just getting into my journaling game, but now that's like, it's my go to.

Speaker A: That's so good.

Speaker B: I'm somebody who. It's very hard for me to figure out how I'm feeling or thinking about things. It takes me a long time to process. So if I just start writing, put it on paper, it comes out so quick and I'm like, oh, okay. That's how I'm feeling about like, it's very easy for me to identify what's happening in my mind when I write it down.

Speaker A: That's awesome. And are you still meditating and all of those sorts of things?

Speaker B: Yep.

Speaker A: That's great. What are you seeing? The differences between where you are. You're in. Yeah. In Michigan before this and LA, it's like, I'm sure completely different, but like, what are you?

Speaker B: Yeah, I. So I'm an introvert at heart.

Speaker A: Me too.

Speaker B: Yeah. But in Michigan, I was very isolated and there's not a lot to do. So I very much got stuck in that introvert trap where I'm not leaving my house at all. I'm leaving once a week to grocery shop. And it's like, painful for me. And out here, there's just so much going on constantly. You literally can't stay home. You look out the window and there's like ten things going on. So it's definitely brought me out of my shell and helped with my confidence and my happiness overall. I've met like a ton of friends, so just happier out.

Speaker A: That's so amazing. I'm in LA a lot for work, so I'll have to come find you next time so we can do coffee and actually meet in person. So I know you have some hot news and we'd love to hear what's next for you.

Speaker B: Definitely. So two big things coming up.

Speaker A: I can't wait.

Speaker B: First of all, I'm going to be releasing a beginner's hair care guide. So it's like the full you're just starting out on your hair routine. What the heck do you do? You're losing hair. Your hair is thinning. You just want healthier hair. All the above. It encompasses everything.

Speaker A: Oh, that's great.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: Like a one step resource. How's it going to be distributed?

Speaker B: It's going to be an online guide, so it'll be easy, quick, it gets emailed to you the second you buy it and amazing. Go through it at your own pace.

Speaker A: That's so good. Okay. Amazing.

Speaker B: That's the first love that. Very excited about that. I've been literally grinding on it all day, every day.

Speaker A: I'm sure.

Speaker B: Yeah. Just making sure I cover all the bases. And then my bigger news that I'm very excited about is I will be opening an office in can. I got yes. Clients in person finally.

Speaker A: Oh, that is amazing. Congratulations.

Speaker B: Thank you so much.

Speaker A: Okay, so everybody that's listening, if you are in the California LA area, please go visit Taylor because it's going to be hard to get an appointment with you.

Speaker B: I feel like, yeah, it's going to be crazy. I get so many people asking me like, when are you going to see people? I will fly from wherever to see you and been waiting for the perfect office, the perfect opportunity. I finally found it.

Speaker A: Oh, good. Well, we are so happy for you. That's amazing news. And we'll link to everything. So people, if they want to come see you, travel to see you, if they're in California and they need a consultation, we will make sure to put all your info in the show notes and all that stuff. So congrats. That's amazing.

Speaker B: Thank you so much.

Speaker A: Yeah, so exciting. And with that, thank you for coming back and updating us on your life, telling us all the things we need to know about hair and sharing your exciting news. We're just so happy for you. It's great to see you've been growing in your career and of course all your content's amazing and we're just really happy for you. So thanks for coming back and sharing.

Speaker B: Thank you so much. And thank you for having me. I love, this is like the perfect full circle moment for me.

Speaker A: I know, I love it. 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.

Episode 129 - Aging Gracefully, Anti-Beauty Beauty, and The “Influencer” Paradox - A Candid Conversation With Beauty & Wellness Writer, Christine Morrison (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 129.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here.

Speaker A: 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. I'm Amy Sherman.

Speaker B: And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation.

Speaker A: Welcome to Nirvana, sisters. Nirvana Sisters family. Hope everyone is doing well. We have a special guest today. We are talking to Christine Morrison. And let me tell you a little bit about Christine and I'll also tell you how we met. But Christine is a seasoned freelance writer whose work centers around her achievements and passions often is seen through the lens of aging, the business of fashion, beauty and a devotion to wellness and fitness. Her writing has appeared in print and online vehicles including the Boston Globe, the Washington Post and The Quality Edit, as well as advertising campaigns for fashion and beauty brands. She was recently featured in an anthology and is currently writing a fashion essay collection, reflecting on the meaning behinds and the humor in what she wore while forming her identity, navigating her way to true love and discovering her authentic self. That sounds so fun. I can't wait to hear about that. So welcome to the show, Christine. So, funny story. We had posted something about a new trend called bedrotting. And I wrote on the Instagram post, I feel seen because it's like literally what I do every weekend and I always felt guilty about it. And then it was named and I was like, this is amazing. I feel seen like bedrotting. It's like a thing now. And then Christine and I started talking about all things beauty and really anti beauty beauty. So welcome to the show, Christine. We're so excited to have you and just have like a deeper conversation about beauty and what it means today.

Speaker C: Thank you so much for having me. And yes, bedrotting. That was so funny. I had never heard the word before but I was so excited that that.

Speaker A: Was becoming A-I-I Katie and I talk all the time and to go, I'm going to be in my bed all morning bed rotting, so I'll talk to you later today.

Speaker C: I think my husband and little boys would be like, what's that? They would be freaked out by that word. But I feel like there is a time and a place for this. At this point, I looked it up because I wanted to know what the actual definition was because I'm not a TikTok person. But it said basically this is a new form of self care and it's spending all day or all weekend in bed and it said like doom scrolling. Now I can go without the doom scrolling but just the laying in bed, binging the show or reading a book. My whole thing would be reading a book. But after all the eras of the girl boss and the hustle culture and leaning in, I feel like aren't we kind of do a little bit of relaxation. I would say yes for sure right now.

Speaker B: I hate to break it to both of you, but I've been bedrotting for years. Me too.

Speaker A: Now it actually has a name.

Speaker C: But it is I had twins and I haven't been bedrotting candidly.

Speaker B: So yeah, for me bedrotting is a way of preventing my autoimmune from flaring up. So it's like prescription bedrotting which is.

Speaker C: I love that it's almost like gave you and then sad that you needed the word, but it gives you permission to take care of yourself and you don't need permission. I'm giving you permission today. I know exactly what you mean. We all live in we need it. Yeah. And that's why we've gotten too caught up in it. And I'm so glad more and more that whether you have to have a name for it or not, that wellness and taking care of yourself is not just a beauty ritual but a lifestyle and something you have to do for your well being.

Speaker A: Yeah, I totally agree. And I also think that the idea around bedrouting which we need to change the routing. I don't want to make it feel like we got to think of another one. Maybe it's rooting, I don't know. But I do feel, and I've always done this too and again, it's funny to have a term around it, but just like having that time to yourself, whether it's like an hour or two in bed. To your point. Binging shows doom scrolling or laying with your animals like I do and my pets and whatever. Just that time to yourself and having that regroup whenever you can have it is so crucial because then you just feel revitalized afterwards. You feel rested, you feel good.

Speaker C: 100%.

Speaker A: But I realized we forgot to do our weekly nirvana and we should take a step back and do that quickly because it's been a week. We're recording the week of all of the mideast crisis that's happening and we're not going to go deep into been I was thinking about this this morning been a really hard week for all of us and it's kind of hard to think about what a weekly nirvana could be or would be in this kind of dark time right now. But I can start. I actually had two this morning which I thought were really a nice end to my week. So someone in my other job texted me this morning and just said, hey, thinking of you, just wanted to share my support and love and it was like someone I didn't really know, someone that I work with but don't work with closely or know. And I just thought it was really sweet just that she reached out and said something was really touching because not that many people do that. So I thought that was really nice. And then the other nice thing that happened this morning was my older son is having a friend sleepover all weekend because his parents are away for the weekend and it's Homecoming weekend here, and it's all this stuff. And anyway, his friend's sleeping over, but the mom sent our family, like, this really beautiful bouquet of flowers and it was, like, such a good week to get it. First of all, it was so nice to do that and so unnecessary but it was just so sweet and nice. It was just nice to get some beautiful flowers into my home just because it's been such a kind of obviously depressing week. But what about you Katie?

Speaker B: Yeah, it has been an incredibly difficult week. I think last night on the train when I was coming back from the city where I think my headspace for where it's been this week, I found myself instead of just ripping by the train stations and not paying attention to my surroundings, I was watching people and their humanity and just seeing a father pick up a son and seeing a woman that looked like she had had a long day and heading home for the day and just kind of paying attention and thinking about we are all human. The world is going to be. I think I think that was mine. Instead of just like the usual just seeing people and not thinking anything.

Speaker A: When you see these rushing through.

Speaker C: Right.

Speaker B: What about you Christine?

Speaker C: Well, it's funny that you say that about people, the humanity of people just showing up and stepping up in ways that you can't believe. I don't know these two women but I saw that they were having this beauty sale in New York City and I'm obviously not there anymore but they're having it on Saturday to support the Israeli Red Cross and Israel Aid. And I reached out and I said do you need more products? Because I don't know what they need or whatever. And she's like sure. And I was like, I don't know what you need. And she said oh sure, anything. And I reached out to a handful of brands and a lot of these brands are startups so they have very little still and they are still fighting for funding and everything. 99% of them were like, oh I'll ship whatever you need. And they shipped product and donations. And it was like people just are showing up for one another. And that does give you faith in people and humanity that while our country is not experiencing what they are just to witness people that don't know each other, that are getting obviously nothing out of it, that have very little, but know that they have so much in comparison to what is happening across the world. I just thought that was an incredible yeah.

Speaker A: Yeah. That's really nice. Puts things into perspective. Let's talk about anti beauty, beauty and what that means and kind of get your thoughts about that. Christine.

Speaker C: So one of the things when we were talking about it over Instagram. I was trying to find a way to sort of define it. Like, how does someone define it? Okay, so anti beauty beauty the way that people define it. And so funny to me is when people go online and write about brands that don't work. And it's really led by what's her name? The housewife. Oh, my goodness.

Speaker B: Bethany.

Speaker A: Oh, Bethany.

Speaker C: Bethany Frankel. Right. She and then she's got all these other people on TikTok and people are up in arms. And so that's what they say as, like, that's anti beauty beauty. And I'm constantly like, no, I think of it as beauty that doesn't require so much money or so many steps and more about how it's impacted by our health and our wellness and how that affects our aesthetic. And that's how I think about it because there's so much that you can do that's not like a moisturizer whatever. And that does impact what you look like, how you feel about what you look like. And that's especially as you age because there's only so many things that you want to do or should be doing because it's pushing water uphill at some point because gravity is setting in. I'm sorry.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker C: But that's how I think of it. I don't think of it as negating what products define themselves as or anything like that. I just think it's like stepping away from the need to have an incessant 17 step program or constantly be getting and no judgment. I'm all about taking care of your skin and injectables are fine or whatever you want to do. But when it kind of takes over your world or is something that is like it's almost like what's your intention when you're doing it? Is it to fight gravity or fight what you look like rather than be like a contentment or feeling good in your skin? Things like that? I think it just depends on how you're approaching it, in my opinion.

Speaker B: I agree with that. Are we doing it so that we feel confident and happy in our skin and we can know ourselves or are we doing it because we've had something to prove or we're fighting? Yeah. And there's a lot of truth to what we put in our bodies. Can really do volumes to external and a lot of people don't, I think. I really do believe that a lot of people don't know that.

Speaker C: Yes. And I don't understand why there's been so much and I don't know. Is it because they haven't seen the proof or something or they're not willing to try it? I don't know.

Speaker B: Right. Yeah.

Speaker A: And just going back to Bethany quickly when she first came out in the game doing all of that stuff and a lot of people will call it like de influencing or whatever, but I actually appreciate it and still do appreciate her candor. And I think people trust her because she could buy anything she wants in the world, but she's practical. And so she's like, here are the expensive things that if you want to treat yourself great, here are the things that are crappy and here are the things in the drugstore that you can have and have a two step skincare routine and you're good to go. And I think people just really trust her because she is practical and she's trust. What's the word I'm looking for?

Speaker C: Well, she's really honest.

Speaker B: Yeah, she's giving it to you.

Speaker A: She's honest. She's relatable in the sense she's going to the TJ. Maxx and whatever and finding stuff, and she's doing the high end and she's doing the low end, and she mixes high and low, and she's just relatable in that way and very honest. And I think she's always been that way, which is why people trust her.

Speaker B: It kind of goes back to having nothing to prove. And I'm sure that there's a million people that would say, oh, Bethany Frankel always acts like she has something to prove because she speaks up on literally everything.

Speaker C: But I think that's a great point.

Speaker B: Yeah, but this specific piece, I think she doesn't have anything to prove in her beauty regimen. Like, she doesn't care about a 16 step process and if that makes her cool, et cetera. Right.

Speaker A: And it's funny because which we do at the end of every show is like our five minute flow, which is exactly that. It's like strip away everything. What are those core things that make you feel good? And we were talking about that before, around the intention behind it. And I think we always talk on the show about you're doing these things because they make you feel better, because they make you more confident. Yes, there are systemic reasons, but it's really like at the end of the day, so you feel good, whatever that.

Speaker C: May be, whatever it is.

Speaker A: You get a blowout, you get whatever. You have your bed rotting in the morning, and then you feel good the rest of the day and you feel confident, like you've had that time to yourself. So it's to your point, I totally agree. The intention behind it versus the opposite, where you see people and if you do want to do a 20 step skin care routine, great. But then you see the people doing that just to do it.

Speaker C: Because it's like up with people. Right.

Speaker A: Up with and that's what we don't love.

Speaker C: Exactly. I hate that. Exactly.

Speaker B: And also, it's not totally necessary. Let's call it what it is and.

Speaker C: In fact, achieve results. It's almost like setting you backward. I just did this incredible article on a brand that has proven this woman that's a former beauty writer and editor, her sister is the director of oh, gosh, I'm going to scare this up. It's like she's the director of the Human Microbiome Institute at Cedars Sinai, and together she was able to come up with a brand called Editrix, and I wrote this piece for the quality edit on it. And at the end of the day, all the things that we are doing is obviously damaging the microbiome. So their whole point is let your skin act the way it needs to act. And if you stop damaging it so much, it will actually repair itself. It will do things itself, it will act the way it's naturally supposed to act. The reason why you're having so much eczema sensitive skin issues along the way, aging so much faster, is because of all the retinols and everything that we're doing anyway, right. Less is always more.

Speaker B: And the inside out piece, what you're putting on is affecting you internally, which is then coming out externally, and it's kind of like this vicious cycle, right? So I'm going to put this topical on it, but it can ultimately, they're saying, hurt you internally, microbiome effects and everything. I would love to read that piece.

Speaker C: And I'll send it to you because you're right, because the microbiome is your skin health and there's a language between your gut health and your skin health, and it's through the microbiome language or something. Read the article. It was like taking science class. I met with her for hours and hours and hours.

Speaker A: Wow.

Speaker C: And I am not well versed in it at this very moment. It took a lot of me to do that because I really wanted to understand it. And I think, to your point, I don't think that people want to go that deep to find out when they find there's a quick fix if you use these five products, right?

Speaker A: Yeah, totally.

Speaker B: That's true.

Speaker A: Let's move to another topic, which is really around wellness and aging and normalizing it. And I think just the media and people on social media and podcasts are getting better at this. But I just can't stand when I listen to podcasts of people in our age bracket and they're like, oh, I can't talk about menopause, or oh, no, that's never going to happen to us. And I'm like, I find that so irritating and so unrelatable. I'm like, this is happening. Talk about it, right? Oprah did a really good job recently, or I think it was in the last year, she did some whole conference around menopause, and she got all these celebrities involved, and it brought a lot of awareness to it. But that drives me nuts when people just can't age gracefully and embrace their age versus trying to find that fountain of youth or, like, go backwards, seem.

Speaker B: Like they're shaming menopause, we can't talk, right? This is happening. It's inevitable without shame.

Speaker C: And the beauty is, you're right. So many people still think it's a little taboo. But thank God for Naomi Watts'company. The stripes. And sadly, another company just went, and my doctor's name is Dr. Taz. She just wrote a book and she did A-Q-A with Gwyneth Paltrow, who is obviously big about talking about taboo topics and getting the noise at a level where people are like, oh, wait, we should have pay attention to this. But you're absolutely right. We need to realize that it's going to happen. There's physical, mental, emotional, all of this health. We have to listen to what's happening because I'm 54 and I'm just at the tail end of menopause. And if I had had that Susan Dominus New York Times article that has, I swear, been spread to everybody I've ever met eight years ago, I think the headline was women have been Misled about Menopause. It's in the New York Times. If you haven't read it, please go and read it. It breaks down all of the things, all of the myths and misconceptions that have been going on all this time because of that one NIH study. All that women's health initiative. Yeah, exactly. And why women were scared to take hormones. And it's so wonderful and about what's now happening in the world of menopause and all the brands and all the people that are trying to get out there and try to talk about it. But we are just this is the tip of the iceberg, right?

Speaker B: For sure, we're scratching the surface.

Speaker C: Exactly.

Speaker A: Yeah. But it's good that it's starting the conversation. And I also find, too, women around our age just offline when you're talking to other moms or whomever, once you start talking about hormones and all these things, everyone bonds around it because everyone's going through the same thing. So now you're having deeper conversations about health and well being and how to take care of yourself and everyone's sharing things. And that's half the reason we have the show, right? To share and to talk about our experiences. And I just find it so nice when I meet people and we can just connect on something that we can all relate to and share those tips and tricks and learn from one another.

Speaker B: Interesting, this Women's Healthy Initiative affected generations of women that were not allowed to be given hormones and just went through the most brutal menopausal transition. I talked to my mom about it. Like, my mom is now, she's 70, and she's going to go talk to her doctor about starting hormones. There's nothing wrong with that. And so it is getting the conversation started, making it like saying menopause in a public restaurant out loud without being worrying that the table next to you is going to look at you like you're old crazy. And you're right. These celebrities have definitely helped bring up the noise level, which is fantastic. I mean, we've got to get all the stigma out.

Speaker C: All of it's got to unfortunately, one of the stigmas I just started to read about is in the workplace because there's a bit of an ageism issue. Anyway, you feel like you have to keep it hush hush, because then they're like, oh, she's so old, because it's still equated with being an old lady and hot flashes and all the things are like, oh, is she old and crazy? And in menopause it's like, oh my gosh, it's funny.

Speaker A: I just read something, it was like a little I think it was on I don't know if it was on LinkedIn or Instagram, but do you know Shelley Zallas?

Speaker C: No.

Speaker A: She's like she's the founder of something called let's see if I have this right, the Female Quotient. And it's all about yeah, yeah, I've met her before. She's incredible. And it's all about women's leadership and power in the workplace and speaking up and all of those things. And she had an antidote, I think it was, again on LinkedIn or something. And she was talking about how she was in a meeting years ago, like a big executive meeting and it was like her and actually a bunch of women around the table and in the middle of the meeting or whatever it was, she was going through a half less. So she fanned herself and then the other one were like, oh, thank God. And they all started fanning themselves. And it was such a moment of bonding, of like, oh my God, we don't have to be so corporate and buttoned up. We can all fan ourselves because we're going through the same thing. And she's like, it was such a funny experience just to be in sort of an uptight boardroom situation. But then all the women as soon as she did that were like, oh, that's really funny. So I just thought that was really funny.

Speaker C: The only other thing that does come out of both that article and everything that's been talked about is the medical community just doesn't have enough education in it. Like doctors, I guess it's something like something like 2 hours or something. In medical school you get trained on menopause versus fertility is obviously it's shocking, right?

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: The OBGYNs, like the traditional, they don't talk about it. They're like, oh yeah, your menopause take this, there's no that's it. Unless you go to someone who knows what they're doing and is really versed or is more the and we might.

Speaker B: Have talked about this before, but it's good for our listeners to know. If you go to the North American National Menopause Society, there is a list of obgens in your area that are certified in menopausal training. And they will give you hormones and they will treat you like this is all normal, which it is.

Speaker C: That is a fantastic resource. I'm so glad you mentioned it. And if I can mention, she just published her book. The book that she talked about with Gwyneth is Dr. Taz Bhatia wrote a book called The Hormonal Shift. And you can be in pre perimenopause, but it will start to give you the education of how do I know that I'm even starting this right? It'll step you step by step because there's so many. If you don't have women around you and you don't have a doctor that listens, it's hard to know what to even ask the doctor without what you don't know. Right.

Speaker B: And it's hard to know what's happening to you when it slowly starts.

Speaker C: When perimenopause symptoms scary.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: So I was just thinking just a funny story or not story, but just thought when we were talking before about wellness and aging and aging gracefully. I don't know if anybody's watching the Golden Bachelor. I've only seen one episode. It's really good. I have to catch up. Okay, but point being, all these women are like in their late 60s, early 70s.

Speaker C: Fantastic.

Speaker A: They all look amazing. And you can tell they've aged gracefully. Right? I mean, of course there's some women that are a little overboard with the face, but most of them are like just natural beauties. They're all like gorgeous women but they've taken care of themselves so well. You can tell some of them are in their 70s. I'm like I mean they look incredible.

Speaker C: Awesome.

Speaker A: But they have wrinkles and they have this and they have that, but they just look incredible. So like the days of people being in their seventy s and looking like the golden girl, old and gray, that's just not the world we live. Not it anymore. People are like it's kind of like in the Barbie movie when she looks over I posted this the other day. That's why in the top of my head where she looks over at the old woman in the bus stop and she's like, you're so beautiful.

Speaker C: It's so true. And I love it when it's just.

Speaker A: Nice to see that. Yeah, I know. It's great. Anyway, I just thought of that because it's just that the world now is very different when it comes to aging. But yes, the conversations need to keep happening and the embracing of it and stop trying to beat the clock. Just embrace it. Age gracefully and enhance what you have to make you feel better and be.

Speaker B: Proud and be proud of the age experience and the stripes that we wear from all of our life experience. Absolutely. Say your age with shout it.

Speaker C: Absolutely.

Speaker A: Let's talk about I know we want to kind of talk about the pitfalls of beauty currently and sort of this disingenuous information that's out there and spreading false info which is everywhere. It's really scary and it's very hard to know who to trust. Love to get your thoughts on that.

Speaker C: Well, that's really funny. So that's another reason I had contacted you is so I have a substac and the most recent one that I wrote was called Coming Clean about the beauty industry. And it was saying, I'm putting a stake in the ground. I'm not writing any more beauty editorial because while I do a lot of research and interview founders and do as much as I can to get truth out there, the pitches and the desperation of both some brands and just the noise of TikTok and everything. And influencers. To me, I'm probably going to get canned for this. But influencers are like a four letter word in my opinion. Because especially when it comes to skincare, there's so many myths and so much misinformation that are leading women down the wrong road. And Sunscreen is just one good example of that. They don't know what they're saying and they're telling them brands to use. And then I have this one derm that I used for an article and she's like, do you know? And I'm like, I know I didn't write it. I don't know. It's really hard to know because there's more influencers than ever. They make like 4 billion or more in sales. Right. There's celeb brands and they use white label products a lot of times. So they just put their labels on it and then they look amazing. And then people want to look like that. I feel like it goes back to doing wellness and health types of things and then knowing who to trust. Trust people who have been schooled in these things. Trust your dermatologist, trust your surgeon that gives you the injections that might say, you know what? You should use this brand and only use these products. Don't fall into the trap of all the links and the sales and trying something new every month and all of the time that there's something that's a trend is not good for you or your skin.

Speaker B: Right, yeah. It doesn't even give you time to make traction. If you're doing you're constantly changing it.

Speaker C: Yeah, exactly. And then you might think it doesn't work because then you have had a reaction to it. Well, that could have been two times ago product, right?

Speaker A: Could be from something. Exactly.

Speaker C: So I always say stay away from influencers and TikTok trends and all of with. And if you are going to read stories, make sure these people are talking to legitimate sources. Sometimes even great like L or whoever, they might just be saying, here are brands that we like. But make sure that they've talked, not just editors, but make sure those editors have talked to people and all of that. It's always about someone that's been schooled in this and has done their homework. That's all.

Speaker A: Yeah, I agree. And I think it's really difficult. I can imagine for the younger generation and sussing out what's real and what's not. Katie has two daughters. As they get older, you can just get sucked in without knowing. I think when you're older you sort of can look around and try to figure out if it's legitimate and make your own choices. But all these kids with the filters and the this, it's really, really scary. So that's why I appreciate people like Bethany, actually. People like Alex Earl.

Speaker C: Right.

Speaker A: She has bad skin and she shows it all the time and she talks about all. Her issues with her skin or this or that. And I think, yeah, look for those.

Speaker C: Exactly. There are people out there, they're few and far between, but those are the people to see what their journey is. Absolutely.

Speaker A: And I think that's why she's become so popular, because of that honesty. I also would say, when you were talking about the legitimate sources, I listen to the podcast a lot, breaking Beauty, you know that podcast? And they're two former beauty editors, so I trust everything that they say. Like, if I really want to learn about products, I'll listen to them because I know that they've interviewed the people. They're very reputable versus, like, somebody else is just recommending. I mean, Katie and I recommend products all the time, but it's just stuff we personally like. We're not saying that's very different. We're just saying this is fun. Check it out.

Speaker C: Because you used it and that's different. And you know what's fun about that is like, I've used it. You're not saying, here's a link. You have to try this to have a good life.

Speaker B: Right?

Speaker C: That's what some of these influence are like. I feel that they're like, you know what? Look at me. Look at my great life. I wear this. How you achieve this is how you achieve it. Exactly. It goes back to intention. To what is their intention? Their intentions to make money. Right. Their intentions not to help you. They're not friends with you.

Speaker A: It's so true. It's so true. That all being said, I mean, we go talk about this for still have fun. How do we still have fun with Beauty? Because we all love it.

Speaker C: I love that question. I love it. Yeah, we still want to have fun. Okay, well, there's so many fun things. So the first thing is, everybody knows and loves Jenna Lyons because she's on Real Housewives. But before she was on Real Housewives, and she was an icon, saya icon because of J. Crew. And she started love scene eyelashes. Have you guys tried these?

Speaker A: I have not.

Speaker C: Okay. Fake eyelashes are so fun, and Love Scene is super easy to put on. And if you just want to like it's kind of like the bedriding idea. If you want, on a random Wednesday to go have lunch with a friend and you put on these love seeing eyelashes. Now they have some that know real severe, and then they have some. And I did that like Kim Kardashian.

Speaker A: I know exactly what you're saying.

Speaker C: Or some that just look like you had on a good, healthy coat of mascara. But it's so fun that's something you can play with doesn't harm anybody. You might love it. It's just playful fun. It's just like, I love it and I do it.

Speaker A: I am so glad you said that. I need to try it. So we did a whole episode. We did an episode, what was it? A couple of months ago called? The eye edition because I used to have extensions for a while, and then I started trying all the ones that you could do yourself. And I've become a master at all these different ones and how to use them and whatever. Are those just for the day, or do they last?

Speaker C: I think you need to take them off. I've worn them overnight, but you need to take them off. But you can reuse them. Okay, great.

Speaker A: I need to try those. And that's one of those things that kind of tying back to what we were talking about earlier, because I was wearing them for a while. When I put those on, I feel like a million dollars. I don't have to wear makeup. It brightens your face. You feel like it's the best.

Speaker C: Right? You can go to carpool, and you win. Carpool. I don't know. There's, like, about the way you I totally agree. Also, I'm all about a good lip oil because my hair is too short now to fall into my face. So the really fun thing that I got recently was St. Jane is a good skincare brand. It's very florally, so I don't wear a lot of it on my face necessarily, but I do like the brand. But they did a partnership with Favorite Daughter, and I think those girls are hilarious. And they did a lip oil one's called Calm, one's called Chaos. I don't know which sister is Calm and which is Chaos because they're both kind of both, and there are two different colors, and it's just a fun I don't know. I just thought it was fun. That's awesome.

Speaker A: Oh, I love that. Play with to try that.

Speaker C: And also, I'm a big fan of I don't need pink or blue hair or anything like that, but I cut my hair all the time, and I play around with, like, going a little darker, going a little lighter with biolu. I don't know. Just playing around with hair, because hair.

Speaker B: Grows, hair grows, color changes. I have true clients. Recently, she has, like, grayish blonde hair, but then she changes her roots to a fun, funky, great different color every few like, every other month.

Speaker A: Who does this?

Speaker B: One of my clients. She's great.

Speaker A: Oh, my God.

Speaker B: He has one. Having fun with beauty.

Speaker C: And for women that want to go gray, go for it.

Speaker B: Go for it.

Speaker C: The grow out is hard. I know. But you know what? Do it. I had to break up with my colorist about seven years ago. I was super blonde, and he's like, what are you doing? And I go, I need to stop pretending I'm 40. And that's fine if you want to be super blunt. He's like, but you with high gray. I'm like, I don't have any gray. I want to be a brunette, like, the way God intended me to be. And it's been fun. And then I cut all my Sarah Jessica Parker curls up I have the shortest bob in the world, right? Like, you can play. And again, it's all for me. It has nothing to do with anybody.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker C: So stuff like that. Right?

Speaker A: That's so true. I actually just cut my hair shorter recently. Never. My hair was always long forever. And then over the last few years, I've grown it, cut it short, grown it, cut it short and played around with it. But I was just saying to Katie, when I got my hair highlighted a couple of weeks ago, I changed it to be more textured because I found that it was too blonde. And I was like I said to my colorist, who I love, I was like, I had, like, a whole briefing with her for a half an hour. I'm like, let me show you pictures. This is what I mean. I just don't want my highlights to make my hair all look blonde. I want, like, texture. I want it to be, like, dark in places. And she's like, yeah, same thing. But I hide your gray. I'm like, I don't have that much gray. And I don't care. I just don't want it to feel like not I don't know.

Speaker C: I just wanted to goes back to intent. I didn't want to act like I was trying to look younger. And I was like I just also.

Speaker A: Felt like it was like washing me.

Speaker C: Out because my skin and my eyebrows and everything. And I did MICROBLADE my eyebrows so that they would be nice old and thick because they were getting a little sparse. And I'm like, that is part of my face, and it's important. And then the last thing was glasses. I obviously have to wear readers now, and so you can play around with this is like a Tom Ford.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Those are so cool.

Speaker C: Reader. And these are lookup. Oh, I have.

Speaker B: Lookup.

Speaker A: Tea.

Speaker C: I love them. They're really light. I can wear them all day, and I don't feel like I have, like, an indentation on my face. But just being able to play around because it's inevitable people are going to get readers and just being able to play with glasses and stuff. I don't know.

Speaker B: Super fun tips of things that we can do that I believe are helping age gracefully and keeping it fun and light and yeah, I love it.

Speaker C: Totally.

Speaker B: All right, we need to dive.

Speaker A: We only have a few minutes.

Speaker B: Let's dive into our wrap session stat, because I'm really excited to hear Christine's answers to these questions. So, Christine, what is your favorite wellness or beauty hack?

Speaker C: Okay, this is going to be very hard to narrow this down. I will be honest. I have a lot. But one of my all time favorites is have you ever used the higher dose sauna blanket?

Speaker B: No.

Speaker C: Okay. I did write a piece about this, and so I'm going to send you links to some of these articles.

Speaker A: But please yeah, we'll post because I'm.

Speaker C: A big fan of listening to I mean, you have to have like, a notebook in 2 hours and a pen. Maybe you bedrot during it. I don't know. Huberman's lab podcast.

Speaker A: Oh, I love it.

Speaker C: Oh, my God. It's a college education, but he did some things. We have a sauna in our house, but because of menopause, I cannot sit in that thing. So I found the higher dose sauna blanket. And you get inside and you don't get all of the same benefits as you would sitting in a sauna because you don't get the same temperature. But hey, the menopause thing, I couldn't sit in a temperature like that. But in this sauna blanket, my head is out. You don't go as high in the temps, but you detoxify the body. You burn about 400 calories, which is like a light job. And it is the most relaxing thing. At the end of the day, you sleep like a baby. But I CrossFit, and so I ache a lot often, so I get out of it. I feel like my muscles are soothed. It is a great way to end my day. I only get to do it a couple of times a week.

Speaker A: How long do you do it for?

Speaker C: Well, it'll click off and I'm trying to find out. I don't know. I stay in it like 2030 minutes sometimes. It is just sounds so good in the winter, too, when you're like, cold.

Speaker B: Sounds really nice.

Speaker C: And I put it up to eight, which is like the highest as it goes. But that's one of my favorite favorite things. But I have to tell you one other the other one, I hate every single green juice. I have a low tolerance for ****, like, even quality good I cannot taste. But the sakara, I think it's called greens and protein and greens superpower.

Speaker A: I haven't tried that one.

Speaker C: It has a hint of vanilla that I swear takes away the disgusting flavor.

Speaker B: Yeah, it's good.

Speaker C: It's so good because now I'm able to use I just put it with malk, which is almonds and water and after CrossFit. And I'm like, oh, good. I want to get those nutrients, but I could never get them in it's. My two favorite things.

Speaker A: I love those. Those are great recommendations. I've seen the higher dose online, but I just have never tried it. And it looks like such a good detox. You must feel, like, so refreshed afterwards.

Speaker C: Yeah, you have to wear clothes inside because socks, pants. But I'm getting ready to buy the insert so that you can be, as my kids say, nay nay. Okay. Go inside without anything on, which is how you really want a sauna. Okay.

Speaker A: Five minute flow. You just got out of the shower. Dried off. Uber just alerted you. They're five minutes away. What's your quick beauty routine? What do you put on? What are your Holy Grails to get out the door and get in that car on time.

Speaker C: Okay. I've washed my face in the shower. Ideally, I did. About how to cleanse your face. Don't put your face right up in the shower because you've broken capillaries if you have that, like, pounding water on your face. I learned that Kylie Kavako rec from Knockout Beauty, but I put on usually like Vitner's daughter and a good lulu, which is lula, which is a moisturizer I love. Or the editrix. I'm trying that still. And then an SPF. And then I am very minimal. I love the merit makeup stuff. I mean, I don't know if you guys use the minimalist. Yeah. Love flush bomb. Love. Or this one, the Jones Road in the Miracle in this color.

Speaker A: Oh, I'm dying to try this.

Speaker C: I got it in the Jones road.

Speaker A: Send us some, please.

Speaker C: This is in the pink. This is sort of a pinkish color, but in the summer, I was using more of the bronzy, but I use on the cheeks.

Speaker A: Just like, rub it all over on.

Speaker C: The cheeks and on my lips. And then I'm doing my one last article for beauty I'm doing is for Vegan for Vegan Day. But I found this, and I keep this in my car, so if it's Uber, I wouldn't. But this is on the way to carpool. It's called axiology. It's a teeny little crayon. And I keep it in my pocket sometimes if I go to an event or whatever, and it's the same idea.

Speaker B: Oh, nice. Yeah.

Speaker C: Cheeks. And you could probably put it on.

Speaker B: Your eyelids eyelash, but yeah, I was.

Speaker C: Thinking that, and that is it.

Speaker A: I never heard of that brand.

Speaker C: And then there's a teen skincare brand called Ryle R-I-L-E that I did. I love these teen skincare brands that just came out because I have these boys that are 14. They needed their own skin products. They have a lip balm that they don't like because it's too spicy. I love it. It's a spice chai.

Speaker B: Oh, yum.

Speaker C: Put that on my lips because I don't wear a lot of lipstick, except for I've used that lip oil recently.

Speaker B: Nice. Asking me for skincare products. Madeline, my ten year old, she's all in.

Speaker C: Send you that article. There are several. And you know what they're doing? These brands are doing such a good job of trying to say it's simple so you'll do it. It's not filled with all the harsh chemicals, like clean and clear that we grew up with, and so it's not getting their skin already on that kick of over producing oil and everything. It's great.

Speaker B: That's great. All right, last one before we head out. How do you maintain your daily nirvana?

Speaker C: Oh, gosh, well, I get so much quality sleep. Number one thing. Yeah, I learned the hard way, I have to have good sleep. And I think the higher dose bag in a combination with some calm magnesium before I go to bed really makes for a good sleep. And then I CrossFit several days a week, and that really helps.

Speaker A: Amazing sleep.

Speaker C: And then just make me feel good. And then my family.

Speaker A: Yeah. Thank you so much for coming on the show.

Speaker C: Thank you so much to have you back.

Speaker A: I feel like there's so many more conversations we can have about this, but it's so nice to meet you. I'm so glad we got to connect. We'll continue to talk. We'll be DMing and talking on Instagram.

Speaker B: We'll be in touch.

Speaker A: Yeah. 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.

Episode 128 - Product Junkies: October - Snack Edition (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 128 .

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here.

Speaker A: 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. I'm Amy Sherman.

Speaker B: And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation.

Speaker C: Hello, Nirvana Sisters family. We are recording today, but Katie and I are definitely in a Daoic mood. With everything going on in Israel, we're just sending our prayers to the families there. What is happening is truly gruesome and it's really even hard to talk about without breaking up. So we just wanted to acknowledge that we see you, we stand with you, we pray with you, and we just hope something is resolved.

Speaker B: We hope it ends soon.

Speaker C: Yeah. That being said, Katie and I did have plans to record this week, and we are going to record a product junkies episode. It does feel silly to talk about sort of these light topics, but it is a good distraction for us because we had mentioned on our Instagram, but it's just been mentally challenging to do anything all week. So it's actually quite a good distraction to see Katie and just to talk about something that is not what else is happening, because I think we've all been consumed with the news and social media. So, with that being said, we are going to get into our October product junkies episode, and this time it is our Snack edition because we heard from some of you. You wanted to hear about, like, nutrition, snacks, food, things like that. So Katie and I have a little bit of a roundup of some things we've been loving lately. I will let Katie all right, well.

Speaker B: I am going to kick off our Snack edition with the number one thing that is almost always in my handbag when I am going to work. When I leave for the city, there's two things, and this is the first. And I'm obsessed. It's Trader Joe's. Just a handful of olives, pitted, salted manzanilla olive packs. Have you seen these?

Speaker C: Yum. No.

Speaker B: They're these little green packs that you can just peel off the top. And inside are all of these super salty yummy olives. And it's so good because it's very healthy fat. It's satiating. It can very much like if I'm in between appointments and I'm hungry, it can just tie me over and they're mean I'm obsessed. I buy loads of them when I go to Trader Joe's. And since I was traveling this past weekend, I don't have any at home right now, so I need to make a stop. But that is like my new fave. I love olives.

Speaker C: Oh, I love that. I love that.

Speaker B: It's like me too.

Speaker C: And I love that it's in travel packs because I've had some of those packs before, but they're like, bigger, so that's nice that they have travel packs.

Speaker B: It's literally, like, maybe three inches by two and a half inches. The pack. It's very small. You can toss it in your bag.

Speaker C: That's perfect. So you just throw it in. You just definitely want to have a.

Speaker B: Napkin with you when you're eating them. That's the only thing. A little salty, and I guess it's brine or like a little bit of oil on them or something, but it's a good one. What about you?

Speaker C: Okay, so I have a random I guess it's kind of a condiment. And Katie knows I'm obsessed with this because she had it recently at my house, but I literally can't stop eating it. I have severe issues. It's called chili crunch. And the brand I have I forget what the brand name is, but it's at Whole Foods. There's, like, a few at Whole Foods. And the one I have, I'll put it in our show notes, and I'll link to it whatever the brand is. But it's so, like, I literally put it on everything. It's almost like a chili oil with, like, red I don't know, some kind of peppers that make it yummy and spicy, but not too spicy. And so I put it on everything now, like, I've mixed it with eggs. I've mixed it with pasta sauce. I put it on everything. But I was saying to my husband the other day, I was like, I have to stop using it all the time because then I'm going to get sick of it, but I can't stop putting it on everything. Oh, you know what I did yesterday? I mixed it in. I had, like, a tuna like, tuna fish, and I just mixed it in the tuna fish. I sometimes have, like, salmon and mix it in. It goes with everything. It goes with sweet. It goes with everything. Anyway. Big fan of the chili crunch. I got mine at Whole Foods. Again, I'll post the brand, but I heard there is one at Trader Joe's that is also very good, but it's such a good way to top off a bland.

Speaker B: I've had the Trader Joe's one, and I've had the one at your house. And as the Gen Z would say, yours is elite. Whatever that brand is, is elite. So we need to add the brand to the show notes for it's really, really good. I mean, the Trader Joe's one, I'll.

Speaker C: Look it up as you tell me.

Speaker B: Yours is, like, next level. I'm obsessed with it too.

Speaker C: Okay. So I actually have it in my notes here. It says it's just called chili crunch. All natural, crunchy condiment. The brand is Chilicrunch.com, I guess because it says you can go to go for recipes, go to Chilicrunch.com. But I think the brand is just chili crunch. I don't know, but I'll link it. It's red and yellow, and it's yummy. It's also gluten free.

Speaker B: I mean, if the brand if all they do is make Chili Crunch, then it's got to be good.

Speaker C: Exactly. Here's what it says on the label just to give a little bit of description. Crunchy, smoky, and infused with just the right amount of heat, chili Crunch is made in small batches from a savory blend of toasted chilies, garlic, onion, and spices. The perfect partner for steak, chicken, fish, eggs, and roasted veggies. Also great on everything from pizza and pasta to burgers and tacos. Facts, facts.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker C: Okay.

Speaker B: All right. My next one is the other thing you're always going to find in my handbag, and this is lately, like my favorite brand. It is the new primal turkey jerky. I pretty much always have some kind of turkey jerky. Trader Joe's sells chomps. So does Whole Foods. There's that Vermont brand that I see at your house a lot, but the new Primal, it's lightly peppered turkey stick, zero sugar, 45 calories, 7 grams of protein, raised without added hormones and antibiotics, et cetera. But yeah, it's just a good one. Where did you I get these at Whole Foods. You can get them on Amazon.

Speaker C: And are the sticks like no, they're.

Speaker B: The bigger ones, which is good because I feel like the mini size is never enough. I like that you can see me walking down the city streets eating jerky like a random person at any given time of day.

Speaker A: Jerky and olives.

Speaker B: It's good stuff, though. What's your next one?

Speaker C: My next one, which you can also find in my bag, are and you saw them at my house, bienna chickpea snacks. I had recently been speaking with a nutritionist just to help me with eating and stomach issues and whatever, and she was like, a really good snack is just to have chickpeas at hand all the time because they have fiber, they have protein, and they're filling. So anyway, I found this brand, Vienna, or I knew the brand from other things that they make, but they sell them at Whole Foods and probably other, you know, just crunchy roasted chickpea snacks. And they have 6 grams protein, 6 grams fiber, and they have tons of different flavors, so I like all of them. But Rock and Ranch is my favorite. They also have barbecue. They have everything. They have habanero. I've tried them all. They're all good. The other little hack is they have honey roasted, and the honey roasted ones are sweet. So when I'm craving something sweet, it kind of does the trick because it has, like, sugar on the outside, so they're yummy. So anyway, big fan of the snacks. They are also grain free, vegan, gluten free.

Speaker B: You know who loves another pea snacks is Reese Chandler, my youngest daughter. She is obsessed. She either does the honey roasted, the sea salt, or the everything. She loves them all. Yeah.

Speaker C: So good.

Speaker B: And so good.

Speaker C: So another one good.

Speaker B: Really good bag. Okay, this is one of my latest obsessions, and I think it's become one of your latest obsessions as well. And it's an old fave, but a twist on an old fave. The gimme roasted seaweed snacks, which I know you love them, right? The sea salt, the regular ones are bomb, but the newest one that I'm obsessed with is I don't know how new it is, but it's new for me. The white cheddar flavor, and it's non dairy white cheddar, and it tastes so much like cheddar. It's insane. It's so good.

Speaker C: Yes. You got me into them.

Speaker B: I felt in the I'm obsessed with them. And you know what? They're not going to fill you up. They're not like a go to if you're really hungry. But if you want, like, a salty snacky bite, and especially if you want a salty snacky bite that's, like, almost practically feels, like calorie free, they're just really light. Like, one whole package is 30 calories, 2 grams of fat, two carbs, 1 gram of fiber, 1 gram of protein. So they're just a super light, good for a craving kind of snack. If you don't want to eat something that is calorie dense but you need a good salty bite, they're a go to.

Speaker C: Yeah, agreed. Love it. Okay, so my next one is a really good one too, and I've been having this every morning for breakfast is the Siggy's plant based coconut I always wanted to find because I'm supposed to not be eating dairy. So I've always been trying to find a really good non dairy yogurt, which I've had a really hard time finding. I feel like there's a brand that we've tried in the past. I can't remember the name of it that it's like okay, it's like an almond milk one, but it doesn't taste that good. But this one that I was recommended, sorry. Another thing about the non dairy yogurts is they don't really have a lot of protein, so they're, like, made from coconut milk, but they have, like, 1 gram of protein. I'm like, why am I eating this? It just feels like nothing. So anyway, the Siggy's one that I've been doing recently is called the one that I like, but there's a few different flavors. Is just the sweet and plain and sorry, sweet dogs are going crazy.

Speaker B: Cayet is father of the bride.

Speaker C: No? I don't know. Cayet is, like, isn't that quiet in Spanish? I always say to them, okay, so Siggy's plant based coconut I can't talk. What's wrong with me? Okay, Siggy's plant based coconut blend. I get the sweet and plain. Like I said, I get the big I don't know how many ounces it is. 24 ounce. One, because I use it every morning, and I take, like, a scoop, and it has 11 grams of protein and 4 grams of sugar. So really low in sugar, high in protein for a plant based yogurt. And I just do, like, a scoop, and I mix it with, like, berries and seeds, and it's, like, so filling. It's so yummy. It has, like, a really good texture. It's nice and smooth and thick. Which is another thing I find with some of the non dairy yogurts that are not thick. So I've been really enjoying that. And what I also do with it is when I make a smoothie in the afternoon, I'll throw like a scoop or two in to thicken it up. So anyway, huge fan of the cigarette.

Speaker B: You know what is in that? Because I saw it at the market. It has pea protein, which is what gives it the high protein content, at least the one I saw. Yeah.

Speaker C: Oh, is that what it is? Let me see what it says. It says cultured coconut milk.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker C: Pea protein, coconut oil, macadamia nut, butter, cane sugar, tapioca flour, fruit, pectin, and natural flavor. Yeah. All right.

Speaker B: Well, speaking of being, like, off dairy, you know me, I'm always down to find a great dairy replacement, and I have always pre my dairy issues. I loved creamy salad dressings, like Ranch and Caesar and everything, and I've never, ever found a good non dairy replica until now. So the brand Gotham Greens, I don't know if you've seen they're at Whole Foods, and they have the first yeah, the first I saw of it was they sell greens like, they sell lettuces and things like that.

Speaker C: Yeah, that's right.

Speaker B: Exactly. So now they're doing salad dressings, and their vegan Caesar and vegan Ranch is so spot on. It's insane. It's so good, especially the Caesar. I have probably been eating grilled chicken Caesar salads, like three or four days a week for the last two months. Because I'm obsessed with this.

Speaker C: I have to try what are the ingredients?

Speaker B: Like, what's in it? Well, yeah.

Speaker C: Or is it high in fat? Or I always like to look even on the non dairy, does it have protein? Is it high in fat, high in sugar stuff?

Speaker B: I'll Google that really quickly, but I can tell you what's in it. What's in it is sunflower oil, filtered water, white vinegar, natural flavor, sea salt, seasonings, like garlic powder, chickpea protein, and then a lot of other things are seasonings. So usually these dairy free replacements, a lot of times are tofu or like soy. And that was a great thing about this, is that it doesn't have anything like that. Let me see if I can find the nutrition content really quickly. So it's definitely fat based, which doesn't surprise me because it's very creamy and rich. So it's 16 grams of fat for a serving, but that's not abnormal for a salad dressing, for a Caesar salad dressing, do you know what I mean?

Speaker C: Right.

Speaker B: I wouldn't call them like a diet food or anything like that, but for somebody that can't have dairy, I'm obsessed.

Speaker C: I have to try it. It sounds so good because it is hard to find a good dressing.

Speaker B: I mean, it has good it's one carb. It doesn't have any protein, but that's to be expected as well. But I feel like it's healthy fats.

Speaker C: Yeah, no, that's what I was going to say. It's totally different. Okay, so my last recommendation is a great this is exciting, a fiber powder, but I actually, over the years, have tried many different pills. Fiber, I can never find anything that I stick to or that works for me. And this one brand, again, that this nutritionist that I've been speaking to recommended is called Sun Fiber. I know the brand bite on Amazon. You know it? It's by a company called Tomorrow's Nutrition. And it's so good because there's no grit. There's no it's, like, just dissolves. And I literally just put in my coffee every morning, so I don't even think about it, which is great because I don't never like the ones where you have to do it in water. I'm taking so many supplements now, I'm like, I can't add another supplement. And this has been really great and helpful, and it has 6 grams of fiber in every scoop. It's really stomach friendly. So it was recommended because I'll read what it says on the bottle, like, sensitive, stomach friendly, comfortable, digestion without gas, bloating, and discomfort. And it's low FODMAP certified and 100% gluten free. So I've been trying to kind of help my gut over the last couple of months, and this is one of the things amongst a few other things that have been helping me. So if anybody is in the market for a good fiber, I'm really a.

Speaker B: Fan of no, I can attest to that one. I've had me with my gut issues as well in the past, and I did Sunfiber for a little while. And Sun Fiber is the actual type of fiber. And then the brand that you said, is that the one that your nutritionist suggested? Is it a particularly good brand?

Speaker C: I think the brand is called Tomorrow's Nutrition, and the actual product is Sun Fiber. Sun Fiber. It says invisible fiber visible benefits. That's what it says on it. But we'll link good, but it's a good one. It's like $25 for 7.5oz. It's not bad. And it's been working for me. It's just, like, really dissolved. Like, you don't even taste it. So unflavored, all that. So highly recommend.

Speaker B: All right, well, I love it. Well, that was your October product junkies, folks, with your snacks. Healthy, yummy, delicious snacks. And I feel like we kind of gave a good variety there. We ran the gamut a little bit, so hope you enjoy.

Speaker C: Yeah. So let us know what you thought of this episode. A little bit different for us. I know we're usually doing beauty and skin, and snacks are something that I feel like or snacks and different food items are something that I think we can all relate to and are always finding new things. So we'll continue to do this if you guys don't like it. And I do feel better having a little bit of a distraction to my day. So hope you all are doing well. And thank you for listening to Nirvana Sisters. Talk to you next time. Bye bye.

Speaker A: 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 it, please share it and tag us.

Speaker C: Tune in next week for a fresh.

Speaker A: New episode of Nirvana Sisters. We'll continue to watch out for all things wellness, so you don't have to. Bye.

Episode 127 - Laugh Lines and Lip Liner: Beauty Banter with TikTok Star and Makeup Artist, Erica Taylor - Part 2 (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 127

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here.

Speaker A: 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. I'm Amy Sherman.

Speaker B: And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation.

Speaker C: Okay.

Speaker D: Bronzer and blush.

Speaker C: Bronzer blush. Favorite bronzer stick for blending rare beauty.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker C: Have it on because they blend like butt up.

Speaker B: Does it?

Speaker C: Okay.

Speaker D: So good. Yeah.

Speaker C: That's what I have on fade. Right?

Speaker D: It's like I just, like, throw it on and do this, and it's done.

Speaker C: Yeah. So that's my favorite. And then blush. I've been digging. The new makeup by Mario has these new cream that makes the skin just, like, really okay. Oh, powder blush. I love the House labs.

Speaker B: House Labs. I haven't tried any House labs yet. The makeup by Mario, I use the contour his contour stick.

Speaker C: I like that.

Speaker B: I love that that melts and blends. So haven't I don't know what's happening to that light. I haven't tried rare, and I haven't tried House labs.

Speaker C: If you think that Mario melts beautifully, the rare is even easier. So I feel like I love the Mario as a makeup artist, but I feel like a client that doesn't really know what they're doing is easier to f that up than the rare. Beauty.

Speaker B: It can be kind of heavy if you don't blend it the right way. Okay, so the rare is a little bit more blendable, but is it equally as long lasting as the makeup by Mario?

Speaker C: No.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker C: So I'm going out makeup by Mario every day. Rare.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker D: And the blush the makeup by Mario blush that you were just talking about, it's a cream blush.

Speaker C: You like a it's this size. I don't have it with me. So this is the bronzer version.

Speaker D: Okay. I think I know what you're talking about.

Speaker C: Watch this, though. You want to see me turn into JLo?

Speaker D: Yeah, let's do it. We know you love a JLo moment.

Speaker C: I do. Not my body, though. I got Delola. I haven't tried it yet. Doing?

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker D: All right, let's see. Here she goes. Here she goes.

Speaker C: What this is this is a cream, and I want to get into my light. So this you put on, and I'm just using a big brush. And when you put this over your skin look at that glow.

Speaker B: Oh, yeah.

Speaker C: It's beautifully gives a sheen to the skin. Denser brush, just whatever's in front of me. I'm lazy.

Speaker B: It's a sheen, and it's a little bronzy, and it's giving you a little color.

Speaker D: Oh, that's so pretty.

Speaker B: Yes. That's beautiful.

Speaker C: So if that's another one that I'll put on in a pinch just to give a little more.

Speaker D: Like a cream that's a cream or a powder.

Speaker C: I can't tell. Like, a hybrid, and it gives, like, a so pretty.

Speaker D: Yeah, that's okay. So this is the makeup by Mario bronzer.

Speaker B: You can see the sheen.

Speaker D: A lot.

Speaker B: Gorgeous. Beautiful.

Speaker D: So pretty.

Speaker C: I also did your blush or just like that.

Speaker D: Oh, the blush is just like that. Okay. Yeah. I did the hack that you showed a while ago. The rare beauty, I think it's a highlighter, but it's like the dark color. And then you do it yes.

Speaker C: Reflect.

Speaker D: Yes. And you use it, and it almost looks like a bronzer and a blush together.

Speaker C: I love that.

Speaker D: Okay.

Speaker C: Highlight, though, that went viral and it hasn't been back since.

Speaker D: Yeah, like I said, I saw it and I got it right.

Speaker C: Like, what you do?

Speaker D: Yeah. Katie knows I'm a crazy person, so yeah. And I was using that for a while. I forgot about it. I'm going to use that again. Yeah. Because it's like I don't show it.

Speaker C: Though, because it's never in stock.

Speaker D: Yeah, but it's a good one. You just put it on, it almost looks like highlighter, and it looks like blush and bronzer. You don't need anything else.

Speaker C: Bronze highlighter in one.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker B: Back in stock.

Speaker D: Yeah. Like, I have the light one as a highlighter, and then I never thought to use the darker one as, like, a different way to use it. Okay.

Speaker C: Highlighter.

Speaker D: My favorite top highlighters are tough.

Speaker B: I'm really curious about this one.

Speaker C: I don't like a sparkly highlighter as much as I like a dewy, so I love, like, the Merit Kava stick or Westminton Atelier Brulee. And they have another stick, something that's more dewy.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker C: I would rather watch this. I'd rather take my lip gloss.

Speaker B: Oh, smart.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: And it just sheen picks up the light right away.

Speaker C: Love that sparkle situation. You see what that just did, right?

Speaker B: That is such a glass.

Speaker C: If you're in a pinch, you got some lines on your eyes. You want to the cheeks. Boom.

Speaker B: What a genius.

Speaker D: That's amazing.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: Highlighter is tough because of the I think finding the right color for your skin tone, because if it's too light, you can tell you've got it on. If it's too dark, it can make your skin tone. Yeah. Or, I don't know, changes your you can make you orange. It's hard to find the right tone.

Speaker D: My favorite is doing the highlighter right in here.

Speaker B: Yeah. That looks great on you. When I do that a little crazy.

Speaker C: I like it with a little eyeshadow.

Speaker D: Yeah, it just, like, brightens the eyes.

Speaker C: A little bit, but definitely I like an easy one that will work on anybody is the Merit Kaba. It's just like because it's a clear highlight, you take it with your hand, pat it on.

Speaker D: Is that in the stick? Yes, I have the one that we have. I have that too. Yeah.

Speaker B: I haven't used it that much. I need to use it more.

Speaker D: It's in a white, like, container. Yeah, it's a little bit more dewy.

Speaker B: They have a couple of shades. I don't know if I have I might have, like, champagne or something.

Speaker C: That might be almost, like, clear.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker D: Oh, I don't have that one. Okay, good to know. Good to know. Talk about powder quickly, because I can't do it. And Katie has been into the powder.

Speaker B: That you love, your Makeup Forever powder the Twist. I love it.

Speaker C: I love it.

Speaker B: Explain to us the genius behind this, because it has three different powders. What does each of them do?

Speaker C: Basically, I think it's just show because they just cancel each other. Because you got your basic translucent right. You have your orange and blue.

Speaker D: Okay.

Speaker C: But you know what orange and blue do? They cancel each other out.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker C: So I think it's just for the mesmerized, but for the experience.

Speaker B: But isn't the orange powder kind of like the pink powder that blurs a little?

Speaker C: It'll even out a little bit.

Speaker B: And then does the blue reflect the light? Is that right?

Speaker C: Once they mix each other, they kind of cancel. So it just kind of makes a little bit of a blur screen.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker C: It's beautiful.

Speaker D: And then do you just do it lightly over the top with, like, a brush?

Speaker C: This is it. Oh, I just tried their brush, which I didn't even know I had. You see this? It's very fine. The reason I say just the tip is not because.

Speaker D: The best.

Speaker C: It's because if you're using your products with just the tip, you will always have an airbrushed look.

Speaker D: Oh, okay.

Speaker C: So what I do my eyes are still so puffy from Take Benadryl this morning, my eyes were, like, swollen.

Speaker D: Oh, my gosh.

Speaker C: Okay. So you go in the middle and, like, buff out. I buff around, and then on the eyes, I'll touch it really lightly, but I will never put a puff to my eye.

Speaker D: Okay.

Speaker B: Yeah, I've been doing that. I need to stop. Okay.

Speaker D: So it's just and you do that at the ends of the hole here.

Speaker C: Very end, and then just a T zone around. And what it does is when you get those areas, we have this it's life. Someone said recently, I don't like the way you look with your new fillers. I'm like, I gained ten pounds.

Speaker D: Oh, I saw that video. I was laughing so hard when people say that.

Speaker C: I'm so mad. I'm like, I gained ten pounds.

Speaker D: You're like, there goes that's the filler.

Speaker C: Let's see.

Speaker D: It just kind of like yeah, wipes it away.

Speaker B: That's amazing.

Speaker D: Yeah. And it's just, like, a really light touch. It seems like it's a practice.

Speaker B: Just the tip.

Speaker C: The tip is powders will last me years.

Speaker D: Yeah, because you don't need a lot. I have the pink powder from Westman and Tallier that you recommended, so that's more pressed. But you could do the same thing, essentially, right?

Speaker C: You just absolutely.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker C: But this one's more glowy. So I like different powders for different reasons.

Speaker D: Right.

Speaker C: So when people say to me, like, you use a lot of stuff. Yeah, and I also have a lot of shoes.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker D: It's like, depending on the vibe of.

Speaker C: The day, I don't wear the same jacket every day.

Speaker D: Right.

Speaker C: So. I love the west metalier. I love it for under eye. It's the only one that will not crease under my eyes and my and.

Speaker D: How do you apply it? With a brush. Right.

Speaker C: A small brush.

Speaker D: I don't use the big one. Yeah.

Speaker C: I use a highlighter brush or something like a small version of this. Right. And again, I just gently press lightly.

Speaker D: Yeah. Here's what I don't know. I don't know.

Speaker B: When do I use translucent powder? When do I use the compact powder that has a little bit of the skin tone to it? What are the differences between those two? When am I using what?

Speaker C: Good question. Okay, so translucent powder will lock in your makeup.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker C: If you happy with your coverage, if you like a little more coverage, you might want to lock in someone with Rosacea might want to lock in their makeup with something with a little more coverage.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker C: Now, take with you is a compact. Everyone says, Why does my makeup break up throughout the day? Well, because we have skin. We're not statues. So the pressed powder compacts go in your bag, never comes out of your bag. And when you apply because I was just thinking about doing a video on this, too, because this is common. I don't have the powder here, but I'll just show you. So when you apply it with the sponge, instead of rubbing powder, say, you're throughout the day, and what breaks up? This breaks up here, get a little red here, get a little breakthrough spots. So you take it, and you just gently repress the areas that need to be corrected without disrupting the whole situation.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker D: And does this look like a matte powder?

Speaker C: I like to use a few. The fenty powder foundation. I don't use them as powder foundations. The L'Oreal 24 hours when it's hot out is great for this and the makeup forever. The one the powder foundation, too, and I just use it, and it locks your makeup back in, and it looks brand new.

Speaker B: Yeah. I have a Laura Mercier compact powder that always stays in my handbag, and that's what if I start to, like if I'm sweating and this is starting to melt away, and I'm getting a little red here, but I've been wiping.

Speaker C: I haven't been putting a hole. And then you get, like, a weird kind of texture.

Speaker B: Yeah, I need to roll.

Speaker C: Take it and just kind of roll it right over. And you kind of like this.

Speaker B: And do I need to replace that sponge that came with my compact that.

Speaker C: I've been using for a mean I'm bad too. Somebody brushless dirty. I said, you just missed the part where I licked it. But yeah, just watch it.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker D: So how do you come up with all these topics and first of all, you have all these hilarious sayings, like, just a tip and so funny abracadabra. And how do you come up with these things? You just are talking to people and you're like, oh, I should do a video on this. Or is it just kind of like.

Speaker C: Just whatever I think is useful. A tip of the day. And honestly, the things just fly out of my face. I don't even know. Next. That's why sometimes you see me laughing because I can't even believe what I just said. I remember I said, foundation so expensive, it should come with dentures.

Speaker B: It's great. That's amazing.

Speaker C: My husband is like, you are so crazy. Like, the abracadabra just came out over the river and through the hood. I've always said okay.

Speaker D: I always think of that when I'm putting on my eyeshadow.

Speaker C: Yeah, well, that's because I went to school to be a teacher first. Yeah, you will remember, like, what I say with the lashes under the lashes is like wiggle. It like a push up bra. Get under and lift. Right? So there's certain things that you'll remember. The apples falling from the tree. So that's why I do that. When I was training makeup artists, I've been saying it for years and teaching clients, I would write these things down to remember. I'd say, Lift the eye like a sunrise. So I just think it makes you remember.

Speaker D: Yeah, it totally does. Yeah, you're right. That's like the teaching part. You said something the other day in one of your videos when you went really close and it brought me back. Get a little closer. Remember that commercial? I was like I was like, oh, my God, that is such a retro throwback. I love it. So funny, right? They just live and they come out in random. Yeah, that's so funny.

Speaker C: One time I said something, I go I just focus on the face because my body, it's all like flowers in the attic. I don't know where that came from either.

Speaker B: That movie. Oh, my God, that's so funny.

Speaker D: So funny.

Speaker B: I remember watching that movie as a kid and then it's like, so creepy. Totally.

Speaker D: Oh, my God, I haven't heard that in so long.

Speaker C: Jokes I say and the things I say, just we would get right?

Speaker D: Which is why it's so funny and so relatable. I love it. So, what is your family like? What does your husband and kids think of all of your TikTok TikTok social media success?

Speaker C: My husband's so supportive. He's proud. He loves what I make. People laugh. Like, the biggest thing when we met and his parents met me, we were laughing so much. He goes, that's how I know this was the girl for you know he's so proud. I went away when I hit my million. I had an event with L'Oreal and I came back and made a big sign on the like, he's always been very supportive of my career. He's a teacher, so he is always because he's home and has a stable schedule, it's always provided me to be able to travel and do my thing, even in retail when I was a digital director.

Speaker D: Right. You're running around babies.

Speaker C: He had to pick up the pieces. So he's always been, like, a major supporter. And my kids are funny.

Speaker D: Yeah. Your daughter, I see her cameo on some of your vids when you go to Sephora and stuff.

Speaker C: It's so planning her career. He's going to keep making cameos on mine until she branches off.

Speaker D: They must think you're the coolest thing ever, by the way.

Speaker C: They do. They think I'm pretty cool. And even before all of this, I'm always funny and I behave like a child in my house. I'm called the fourth child. They're like, can you help with homework? I'm like, oh, no, not it.

Speaker B: Call dad.

Speaker D: Yeah, girl math. Girl math.

Speaker B: I mean, he is a teacher.

Speaker D: Yeah, exactly. I'd be like, It's on you. Okay. And what is your favorite part of all of this? Like, being the beauty queen that you are. What do you love about it? I mean, it's obvious, but what's your favorite part?

Speaker C: I've spent all this time away from my family, and I missed out on a lot in my life because I chose a life of retail. And even as a regional manager director, I worked every weekend with my teams because I felt like I can't lead if I don't do it myself. And I missed out on birthdays. I missed out. I was the mom that was never there. I was never the class mom, never the PTA mom. So I love that this has allowed me to have that, but I love that it makes my sacrifice worth.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker C: Now, I used to do classes and I would teach clients, but I can teach a million people how to do their eyeliner. And it feels like everything I've learned over these close to 30 years, I'm actually using.

Speaker D: Yeah, for sure. It all worked out. At the end of the day, it's all for a reason.

Speaker C: You guys say, like, my husband said I look beautiful, and not that that matter. It matters to us. It's not that someone else thinking we're beautiful, but everybody stopped and asked me if I got my face worked up. People, the girls, the young girls at work are telling me how beautiful I look. And it's just these stories that I keep hearing that you made me love makeup again. I'm not scared to try it. Of course I get the trolls and the people that say, like, stupid stuff, but I've been one piece something years in retail. You think I haven't been yelled at by better?

Speaker D: Yeah, exactly.

Speaker B: Those trolls you're like, yeah, trolls are everywhere.

Speaker C: Screamed at in person. Bosses torture me.

Speaker B: You're like, this?

Speaker C: You're just shot.

Speaker B: I can just delete you. Yeah.

Speaker C: I'm like, fine, girl, I'm going to unfollow you. I was like, what? I'm going to block you first.

Speaker D: Yeah, exactly. Like, who cares? Go do it. Let them. Let them.

Speaker C: And this is just a sidebar of that. I do collapse and people are like, oh, you got paid for this, and how dare you? And I'm like, you know what? I am an industry professional, right? For almost 30 years. You should be happy it's me endorsing. Because I know what the f I'm talking about.

Speaker D: Exactly.

Speaker C: Absolutely. Person that married some rich guy that looks gorgeous, likes a new eye cream, and you all buy it.

Speaker B: Why are they ****** that you're having these collabs and making money and sharing this with the world?

Speaker C: God bless my experience, right?

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker C: An experienced doctor is going to get something different than somebody who's just still in school.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker C: If I decide to start pulling people's teeth and I'm getting real good at you want me to pull you more Insurer? I'd be paid for that. I've been practicing vaginal rejuvenation. Real good at it.

Speaker B: Oh, my God.

Speaker D: Hilarious. Okay, so before we get into our rap session, where can people find you? What's your socials? Give us the deets.

Speaker C: Erica Taylor, 23 47. On pretty much all the platforms. TikTok is my biggest platform. I have a healthy base on Instagram. I have a little do, a little bit on Facebook. Not a ton. Yeah, it was always Erica Taylor, 23 47 and some YouTube.

Speaker D: All right, nice.

Speaker C: Good to know 23 47 means nothing. Yeah.

Speaker D: I was going to ask you, does that have significance?

Speaker C: 2016. And I didn't know what I was doing. And there were other Erica Taylor's and they just designated me that number.

Speaker D: So that's you now. That's good numbers for you. Good luck. And you just had your birthday, right? Didn't you just turn 47?

Speaker B: There you go.

Speaker D: Happy birthday. Okay, getting into our wrap session. What is your favorite wellness or beauty hack?

Speaker C: Exfoliate.

Speaker B: Okay. How often?

Speaker C: Whenever your face tells you when you.

Speaker D: Look crusty, when you're looking Aberra Cadaver.

Speaker C: Skincare, you don't want to be abracadabra. How many women will stop me and say, what foundation should I get? And I'm like, do you want me to when's the last time you exfoliated your skin? And I know when I look at someone if they exfoliate or not, and I'll never make somebody feel bad.

Speaker D: Yeah.

Speaker C: So I ask and when they pause, I'm like, yeah, you can wear any foundation if you exfoliate.

Speaker B: Do you have a favorite exfoliant? What do you use?

Speaker C: Yeah, I love the first aid beauty pads. They're one and done. I'm super lazy.

Speaker D: Oh, yeah.

Speaker C: And they're gentle. The reason when I recommend something like that, I don't just get a new one and say, this is awesome. I know that tons of my clients use it and they're also very sensitive.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker D: And that's you just use that in the morning. Right. That's like the kind or you could use it, I guess, at night, too, depending.

Speaker C: Yeah, anytime. Just if you feel your face and touch it, touch your forehead. If it feels textural or it feels sandy, you got to exfoliate. Yeah, it doesn't tip.

Speaker D: I feel like every time I put on Exfoliate, I do exfoliator a lot, but I feel like when I do it and my makeup, everything looks better. And people say to me, oh, you look like glowy today. And I'm like thinking to myself because I exfoliated.

Speaker C: True story.

Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker D: Okay. Five minute flow. You say the five minute flow.

Speaker C: Oh, yeah.

Speaker B: All right, Erica, we call it our five minute flow. You just got out of the shower, dried off. An Uber has pinged you. They're five minutes away. What are you going to put on? What are you going to do to get out the door and into that Uber in five.

Speaker C: On? I'm going to put my hair, I'm going to shake my hair, put some dry shampoo and shove it into a situation like this. Then I'm going to use Sunday Riley after glow cream because it always makes me glowy. I'm going to put on the CC. It cosmetics, nude glow because it's got skincare coverage and SPF. Plus it's glowy. All right, I'm going to take the rare beauty contour stick and eyeliner. That's it.

Speaker B: And you're set.

Speaker C: I'll take the eyeliner in the car. I'll do the eyeliner in the car.

Speaker B: That's impressive because you can do that cat eye in the car while it's moving.

Speaker D: What about mascara? Do you throw on mascara or you just do the eyeliner?

Speaker C: If I'm an emergency, I'm doing eyeliner.

Speaker D: Wow. Okay.

Speaker B: Do you have a favorite dry shampoo?

Speaker C: Yes, for different reasons. Just for, like, really oily days. Living proof, but for days that I want texture and volume. The fakai volume. It's right here because I don't have it makes my hair look fuller. The fakai full blown volume.

Speaker D: Oh, nice.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker C: Complimentary with a hair gift with purchase.

Speaker B: I love that. When you do your videos and you're like, oh, wait a second, I've got this. Wait, there's something right here. And it's always right there. I mean, you are sitting at, I assume, your table.

Speaker C: I'll show you guys.

Speaker B: Yeah, let's see it. This is behind the scenes.

Speaker D: Behind the scenes, BTS.

Speaker B: Oh, nice. All your things.

Speaker C: My skincare situation, the ones I use the most.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker C: Random hairbrush because I threw it in. Then I have like, over here, like a lot of my just everyday basis.

Speaker D: Your go to, you got it all.

Speaker B: It's all there.

Speaker D: But it looks like you have a nice little vanity light set up. So it's like yeah.

Speaker C: And then I have a little desk set up here. I had this once, my social I was doing when I started all I was in my bedroom.

Speaker D: Right. I remember that.

Speaker C: On a little thing like this. I love those days. I love those. But eventually I needed more space. So we redid the basement and I have a little studio.

Speaker B: That's nice.

Speaker D: I love it. Okay.

Speaker C: Plus my clothes are crazy.

Speaker D: I love it.

Speaker B: Oh, my God, tons of shoes.

Speaker C: I love sneakers.

Speaker D: Me too. You do?

Speaker C: What kind of sneakers do you like?

Speaker D: I mean, you name mean Nikes. I love New Balance, Golden Goose. What else do I have? I don't know. Adidas. I have everything. I'm like, obsessed with, like, a fun shoe.

Speaker C: Me too. I don't care if it's expensive. If it's cheap, I see it. I love it. I like the real crazy, like, Dunks, I think.

Speaker D: Oh, yeah, I love the Dunks. My kids love the Dunks.

Speaker C: So good.

Speaker D: And I love Sweatshirts. Noticing that you're wearing a sweatshirt. I love a good sweatshirt. We'll send you one of our good Nirvana sweatshirts.

Speaker B: Yeah, we need to send you one of ours.

Speaker D: Yes. We'll give you a good sweatshirt. Okay.

Speaker C: Rock it.

Speaker D: Okay. I love it. How do you maintain and last question, how do you maintain your daily Nirvana?

Speaker C: That's a good question. I just think that you can't waste time on the negativity because it derails you. So I shake it off and I try to keep laughing and find joy in everything.

Speaker D: I love it.

Speaker C: I do with my kids, my husband. I think it's so easy to get wrapped up into the negativity. But what I always say, and even when my husband gets stressed or anyone, I go, you can't control the situation you're in, but you can control how you handle it.

Speaker D: That's right.

Speaker C: Your situation is your situation. Right. No matter what. But how you handle it, that's up to you. And that's how you take your control back.

Speaker B: That's so true.

Speaker D: And then you always got the wine.

Speaker C: Oh, please, girlfriend. The other day, she goes, I thought you weren't drinking during the week. How's that going? I was like, oh, no, I'm drinking.

Speaker D: What's your favorite wine? You like a red, a white, over a day or at week?

Speaker C: And I'm still half the same weight, so no, I like white. I like a Pinot Grigio.

Speaker B: Okay, all right. I'm a white girl, too. Sauvignon blanc.

Speaker D: Yeah. Sauvignon blanc. I like But I like red, too, and I like it all, too.

Speaker C: Like, if I don't have a white, I'll drink the red.

Speaker D: Right?

Speaker C: If I'm there with you and you're like, I only have red, I'm like.

Speaker D: All right, yeah, let's go.

Speaker B: Not saying no, exactly.

Speaker D: Anyway, so I'm so glad that we got to meet you. This has been such a highlight of our day, and you spent so much time with us, and we really appreciate it, and we're so happy to have you part of the Nirvana Sisters family. And thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being on.

Speaker C: Thank you for everything that you guys do. And you're spreading joy, and you just bring happiness, and you're real. And that's why I wanted to do this with you.

Speaker D: You're so sweet.

Speaker C: Thank you. How your attitude and your energy and I totally dug it.

Speaker D: I love it. Thank you so much.

Speaker C: Full I'm a babbler.

Speaker D: US too.

Speaker B: We babble.

Speaker A: 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.

Speaker D: Tune in next week for a fresh.

Speaker A: New episode of Nirvana Sisters. We'll continue to watch out for all things wellness, so you don't have to. Bye.

Episode 126 - Laugh Lines and Lip Liner: Beauty Banter with TikTok Star and Makeup Artist, Erica Taylor - Part 1 (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 126.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

[00:07] Amy Sherman: 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. I'm Amy Sherman.

[00:18] Katie Chandler: And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation.

[00:28] Amy Sherman: Welcome back to the show nirvana Sisters Family. It's Amy and Katie, and we are so excited about today's episode. You will hear who we are talking with very shortly, but if you want a no BS makeup recommendations tricks the real deal for mature women or mature women, as our guest says, with a side of comedy, relief and entertainment, erica Taylor is your girl. We have mentioned you, Erica, so many times on our show, I can't even tell you. Like, you've been on our blog. We've talked about you. We've recommended a million things that you've recommended that we've tried. So let me give everybody a background on Erica before we do our chitchat. Erica Taylor has been in the cosmetic industry for over 25 years, working with top brands mac, Laura, Mercier Benefit Cosmetics, and Trish McEvoy. She is a professional makeup artist and a mom of three living in New York. Erica majored in art education in college, initially aspiring to be an art teacher, but instead decided to search for a career that would allow her to be more creative. She was always the unofficial makeup artist to her friends and family, and an interview at the Matte Counter at Macy's became the official start of her professional career in makeup. In 2021, she started sharing her makeup tick sorry, wrong word. She started sharing her makeup tips and techniques for any age on her social media and has quickly become a trusted expert to her more than 1.4 million engaged followers. If you don't follow her on TikTok, you need to be following her. She is the best. In 2023, she was named L'Oreal Paris League of Experts and continues to be a major authoritative figure in the beauty and Skincare me. Welcome to the show, Erica. We are so happy to have you been I've been stalking her. Just so everybody knows. I've like, DM'd her. I went on her TikTok live. I'm like, you got to come on the pod. You got to come on the pod. We want to talk to you and pick your brains. So welcome to the show, Erica. Thank you so much for joining us today.

[02:20] Erica Taylor: I'm so excited to be here and thank you so much for all the support.

[02:23] Amy Sherman: Yes, of course. So we always kick off the show, take a step back, and we do our Nirvana of the Week, which is just something that brought us joy, big or small, something that put a smile on our face and made us feel good. So I'm going to kick it off to you, Katie. What is your Nirvana this week?

[02:36] Katie Chandler: I think my Nirvana this week is being here. Amy and I are recording together live we are not on two separate screens. I'm not in Connecticut. We are together. So I'm home from Rosh Hashanah. And aside from right now, this moment getting in last night and know my in laws, my mother and father in law, my nephews Amy and her husband Stu, and all of us just sitting around the table having dinner, that was mine.

[03:01] Erica Taylor: What about you?

[03:03] Amy Sherman: So mine. I had a really cute moment with my older son. So I have two boys, Erica. One's an 11th grader in high school and I have another son who's in 8th grade. And my 11th grader has been really into cooking lately, which is unusual because he never really cooked before. But all of a sudden he has been seeing these recipes on TikTok and he wanted to make some. So we got all these ingredients and we cooked together twice last weekend. And one was like some buffalo chicken, blah blah blah recipe he wanted to make. Another one is the calzones. And we made like handmade dough and homemade dough and all of that, so it was so fun. So I was his sous chef and he was like the main chef, but it was so fun just bonding and collaborating and chatting and just having kind of tactile hands on activities. So it was a really fun bonding moment. I don't get a lot of time with him, so that was good. What about you, Erica?

[03:47] Erica Taylor: That's awesome. I had a nice moment this morning when we missed the bus with the kids and I had a neighbor's kid with me too, and took them for some fun breakfast. Got a lot of laughs on the way to sometimes, you know, just starting your day, like, just I was like, all right, I'm in my pajamas, like, I guess. Breakfast time. Let's go.

[04:06] Amy Sherman: I love it.

[04:07] Katie Chandler: That's great. You took a negative. Oh, ****, we missed the bus until let's go have some fun. I love that. That's a fun mom right there. I don't know a lot of moms that would do that. That's great.

[04:17] Amy Sherman: Yeah. Cool mom.

[04:17] Erica Taylor: I wasn't always like that. I used to be like a super psycho in the mornings and when I had to get to work and run meetings and I decided a couple of years ago that I wanted to make them laugh and go to school happy every morning. So I put everything aside and I said, nobody can reach out to me until my kids are on the bus.

[04:36] Amy Sherman: Smart.

[04:37] Katie Chandler: I love that. That's great.

[04:39] Amy Sherman: That's good. That was the opposite of me this morning, trying to get my kids to school. I was, like, telling Katie, I just woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning. And I was like, so mean this morning. And normally I'm, like, try to be positive in the morning, but I was.

[04:51] Erica Taylor: Just like, feel so bad.

[04:52] Katie Chandler: All know? Yes, I know it's true. Sending them off when you're so i.

[04:57] Amy Sherman: Like, hadn't had my coffee. I was a little cranky. But hopefully it happens. It happens.

[05:01] Erica Taylor: It happens to me, too.

[05:02] Amy Sherman: It happens. It happens. Okay, so, Erica, tell us about you. Give us your know, we just know you from watching all of your hilarious and educational videos on TikTok, but tell us how it all started. I mean, obviously you've been in the business a really long time, but give us your story for everyone who doesn't know you.

[05:20] Erica Taylor: Well, I was in school, like you said. You gave me a great, true story. I was in school to be an art teacher, and I was like, that 90s, kind of, like, really goth looking kid, so nobody would hire me. It's probably circa, like, 97, right? So I was looking for a job, and I couldn't find one. And someone said to me, you do such beautiful makeup. Why don't you just work in cosmetics? I said okay. I marched to Macy's. So actually, I did end up at Mac relatively quickly, but my first was prescriptive color matching.

[05:51] Katie Chandler: Okay.

[05:52] Erica Taylor: And then I spent a little time in Elizabeth Arden. I never want to smell Fifth Avenue or Red Door again. So relatively quickly, I got recruited to the Mac store in Roosevelt Field in Long Island, and that was, like, the place to be around 1920 years old. That this was super exciting. I wasn't as good as the rest of them, but I just worked really hard. I did every late shift, every schedule. They asked me to stay, and then they kept me on full time. And I, six months later, applied to be a senior trainer for Mac. I was not even close to ready. I tanked the interview. Embarrassing, crazy, making up the answers, all sorts of crazy. But then I learned what everything I did wrong. And a few months after that, I tried out for a low level trainer, like a store trainer. I got it, and I could have folded and been embarrassed. And I think what has always pushed me in this industry is I'm not afraid of embarrassing myself. I take it as a challenge. I don't just tuck my tail in and shut down. And that has been every other place I went to. I was once recruited to different companies. I met great people. I've worked with so many great people. I got to do, like, runway, fashion shows, all of this. This was not my passion. First of all, I'm five foot one. I was tired of seeing all these false emails. Why does it look like this on me? But I love training in store teams, building teams, and I'm very social, so I really liked I work harder for someone else than I do for myself, which is my biggest challenge now.

[07:41] Amy Sherman: Yeah, I get it.

[07:42] Erica Taylor: And so I was just to say, I'm institutionalized. So then what I did for a lot of companies is I would train the makeup artists and build their sales teams.

[07:51] Amy Sherman: Yeah. I mean, it makes sense that you're saying you like the training part because you wanted to be a teacher.

[07:55] Erica Taylor: Right?

[07:56] Amy Sherman: So it's like, the same, like, educating, which is what you're doing now on TikTok. So when did you you only started TikTok, what, a few years ago? Because I remember watching you when you were still working full time and doing TikTok, and I remember the transition. So tell us about that a little.

[08:10] Erica Taylor: I during the pandemic, I learned a little more on social media, and I was always one of the trend shows. You know, when you go like, a Nordstrom trend show and there's someone presenting and to be master classes, and that was me. So I'm very comfortable in front of a crowd.

[08:22] Amy Sherman: Yeah.

[08:22] Erica Taylor: And again, because I don't mind embarrassing myself, if I trip, if I say something wrong, I just laugh at myself. I'm like, you got to own it. Yeah. So I started just doing lives. I was furloughed. We were all furloughed. There was no work.

[08:37] Amy Sherman: Yeah, same.

[08:38] Erica Taylor: So I started doing lives with the companies. And I'd rather say the freestanding, independent stores that still could function were doing curbside service. They were still selling, and we're having trouble keeping the doors open. So I'm not talking about, like, your Nordstrom's, your Bloomingdale's, these big doors. I'm talking about there's a great little store, beauty in Maine, in Massachusetts, and there's a great mirror mirror in Vermont. So I started doing lives with them for no other reason, just to help them keep their business going. Yeah, there was really nothing in it for me, but I loved doing it because it was social. So I was like everyone was like, you're really freaking funny. Like, you should be doing this more. So then I stopped for a while when I went back to work, and a friend of mine was having some success on TikTok, and I was like, I did a couple of videos, but they were just, like, super losers. She was like, what do you want to find? I said, I don't need to be major. I just want to find my tribe. Because she was like, I've never seen my age because I don't want to pinhole myself. And I was like, I want my girls. I want my over 40s crowd, my funny moms, drink some wine, have some laughs, put some makeup on. I want that tribe.

[10:00] Katie Chandler: Yeah, we found you.

[10:02] Erica Taylor: Yeah.

[10:02] Amy Sherman: Here we are. We're the exact same age. Erica yeah. And Katie's a little younger, but yeah, we always talk about that when you wake up and you're like, I drank too much of the wine last night, and I'm puffy. I was so and that's why we love you so much, and we know our audience will because you're so relatable, and it's not exactly like you're saying your age. You're saying you drink. It's like, this is how we all are.

[10:27] Erica Taylor: Like one of those pretend social media lives, right?

[10:29] Amy Sherman: Exactly.

[10:30] Erica Taylor: People are like, how do you organize your makeup? I'm like, It was a disaster. And I just think that so many people try to live up to these expectations of what they think this social media life is. And, like, I drink wine, I got to get my kids on the bus, I wake up banked up, but I still want to look good, too. Right?

[10:48] Amy Sherman: We have a good question for you later to figure out how you do that. And it's very similar with us in our show. We have this relatable point of view on well being. So it's like, we're mom, same as you. We try to break things down when we talk to different people because there's so many beauty wellness, makeup people out there that it just feels intimidating, and it feels like, well, I can't be like that, so I'm just not going to do anything. And it's like, no, here's some bite sized things you can do. Here's the concealer hack, the whatever. Well, that's an amazing story. And then what happened? You just kept making videos, and then it just built from there.

[11:26] Erica Taylor: My first viral, and I won't say names, but the company I worked for, it was kind of this underlying pressure of we have to do it our way, their way. But I don't live that way. And you can have me when I'm on the clock, but when I'm home, I'm home. I'm not fluffing my pillows. I'm not wearing beautiful white pajamas. I'm wearing a hoodie that I've worn for the last three nights. My hair looks nuts, and my bed is not made behind me. So I did this video. I just said, you know what effort. I don't ask for permission. I just beg for forgiveness.

[12:04] Amy Sherman: Right?

[12:04] Erica Taylor: So I just did an eyeliding video that I was, like, joking around, and I was like, Listen. I was like, Grab your eyeliner and a glass of wine and a great attitude. I was like, I'm just kidding. Forget about the great attitude. And I just taught some eyeliner. I go to sleep, and the next morning, it had, like, 500,000 views.

[12:22] Amy Sherman: Oh, my God.

[12:23] Erica Taylor: And my followers went from 3000 to 10,000 to 20,000. And I hate saying followers, to be honest, too. I think that's so creepy.

[12:32] Amy Sherman: Yeah.

[12:32] Erica Taylor: I always say, like, my community. Because you're not no, it's my follower. You could follow everyone, but I always say the people that want to learn, my community. And then I was like, People want to learn and they want to laugh, right?

[12:46] Katie Chandler: Yes.

[12:47] Erica Taylor: There was no one else doing it. And I was like, It doesn't have to be perfect. We're not winning a Cat Eye award. Try to look a little freaking normal, right?

[12:54] Amy Sherman: Try to be put together and feel like a human. Right?

[12:59] Erica Taylor: I think that's what people resonated with. Like, oh, I can do that. I can do yeah, yeah.

[13:04] Amy Sherman: And Erica has these great things where when you do like, half the face of something and half the face of the other, it's incredible.

[13:10] Katie Chandler: It's amazing.

[13:10] Amy Sherman: Like, just the little tweaks you can make that make such a huge difference. It's amazing.

[13:14] Katie Chandler: Yeah. You can really see it through TikTok, through the camera. The difference that you do from one side of the face to the other, it's amazing how well it shows. It's very cool. I mean, the tricks and the techniques, that's what we need to get into.

[13:28] Erica Taylor: Because yeah, well, if you think, sorry, I'm an interrupter.

[13:32] Amy Sherman: No, please, it's all good.

[13:34] Erica Taylor: Family interrupter. But I was in sales, so in sales, you have to train people. You have to make big impact quick. So I would learn the tips and tricks that made a major difference quickly, but were useful. And I would do it on a client and she'd be like, okay, give me that, give me this.

[13:57] Amy Sherman: Right?

[13:58] Erica Taylor: So that's the same thing. I think, on social media, you've got to show the impact quickly. I think I started a trend because everyone and their sisters, aunts, everyone is doing the same exact thing and I'm like, at least say, like, thank you, right?

[14:16] Katie Chandler: Give credit where credits do.

[14:18] Erica Taylor: I know, but you know what? It's hard. Don't get me wrong. Certain days I see people recreating my videos all over and I'm just like, but it's wasted energy, right?

[14:29] Amy Sherman: And they're not you, so it doesn't matter. And then how did you decide what was the tipping point on when you left your other job to do this full time?

[14:39] Erica Taylor: So I never thought this was even a career, right? When people used to say to me that they were bloggers, I was like, Get a job, right?

[14:47] Amy Sherman: You're like rolling your eyes like, okay.

[14:49] Erica Taylor: Or I used to have to do these influencer events where I would have to entertain the influencer. And I'm like, they don't even buy anything. Everybody comes in and drinks the booze, they bring their friends and family and they leave. I was like, I don't want to do it.

[14:59] Katie Chandler: Right?

[14:59] Erica Taylor: One I just kept growing my base and I could only show one brand. And in order I was getting all these brands reaching out to me and all these people saying, can you show something else? I can't afford that brand, or, I just want to see a clean beauty of this. A that. And there came a point where I could no longer juggle both. I either would stay as a regional manager for the rest of my life and retire there, still pacing hard floors of the malls and running chasing clients down like little **** of OG for Hug or I take a chance on myself.

[15:40] Katie Chandler: So I took a chance and it's paid off. 1.4 million. That's right. Is that what you said earlier?

[15:47] Amy Sherman: 1.4 million? But I mean, millions, I'm sure, and millions more videos. Because on TikTok, everyone. I mean, like, when I first saw you, it's not like I was following you at that point. I just saw your content. So, I mean, it's just such a great story. So thank you for sharing that piece of your story. Congratulations on all your success. So let's get into still very surreal.

[16:09] Erica Taylor: I'm sure it is mega impostor syndrome, because I've always been the makeup person at the event. I've never been the guest of the event.

[16:18] Amy Sherman: Right, and now I'm sure you're getting invited to all the things.

[16:21] Erica Taylor: Yes. And I still would rather hang out with people that work there. I'm still definitely institutionalized.

[16:27] Amy Sherman: Well, I remember you talking about you went to a rare beauty event or something, and it was all the young influencer people.

[16:35] Erica Taylor: I'm usually, like, at least 20 years older than the Red. We're not talking just, like, five to ten. It's like, I could be their mothers.

[16:43] Katie Chandler: I'm so curious what these events are. Like, what are these younger influencers doing at these events?

[16:51] Amy Sherman: Drinking the drinks.

[16:53] Erica Taylor: I mean, some that I met are lovely, and others are just walking around trying to be cooler than the next.

[16:58] Katie Chandler: Yeah, right.

[17:00] Erica Taylor: But it reminds me when I used to go to these cosmetics conferences and the trainer events for Mac and who was wearing what and walking around trying to be the coolest. So I don't sweat it because I get it. I probably was there 20 years ago too.

[17:14] Amy Sherman: Yeah, exactly.

[17:15] Erica Taylor: I do sometimes just walk around laughing, like, where am I?

[17:18] Amy Sherman: I know, I'm sure it's so surreal. Okay, so let's get into some of your favorites, because there's so many things and so many products you talk about, but for the basics.

[17:29] Katie Chandler: Right?

[17:31] Amy Sherman: Want to talk about some of your favorites? Okay, so let's go, as you would say, concealer.

[17:37] Erica Taylor: Okay, let's go. My number one is the Dior Backstage, hands down. But if you're into the clean beauty, the.

[17:46] Katie Chandler: I love the on. I do COSIS, because of you. Is the Dior Backstage as creamy and moisturizing as the kosis?

[17:56] Erica Taylor: It's not creamier.

[17:57] Katie Chandler: Okay.

[17:58] Erica Taylor: And I will say it has a better color range.

[18:02] Katie Chandler: Okay.

[18:03] Erica Taylor: But it doesn't have that skincare element.

[18:05] Amy Sherman: And COSIS has more the skincare element, more skincare.

[18:08] Erica Taylor: So that's why those are more my everyday. So going out, I have different I do something heavier, but, like, just for everyday life. Dior backstage coset.

[18:17] Katie Chandler: And to be clear, one of the biggest reasons why you like it, for mature skin, it does increase the creamy. It melts into your skin a little bit better. Right?

[18:28] Erica Taylor: Yeah. When I look for a concealer, I don't care what the hottest trend is, because that's irrelevant to me. And most of my clients or people that watch me don't care either. Right. So I feel on my hand textures. Okay, you go into a store and you put a concealer on your hand, and it gets dry on your hand. Forget it.

[18:46] Amy Sherman: Yeah.

[18:47] Erica Taylor: So they're creamy, they're hydrating, and they just have, like, a medium natural coverage. Not like a theatrical situation.

[18:55] Katie Chandler: Yeah, that's I think a thing is concealers that are too heavy sometimes. Like, for every day, they look worse. They look worse. Can get cakey.

[19:04] Erica Taylor: Yeah.

[19:04] Katie Chandler: All right.

[19:06] Erica Taylor: Not real life.

[19:07] Katie Chandler: It's not natural.

[19:09] Amy Sherman: Yeah. You did a video, and for our Nirvana Sisters family, check this out. It was so helpful the other day on concealer and how to actually apply it correctly so it doesn't crease regardless of what concealer you use. Where you put on. I think it was like the oil or something. I can't remember.

[19:25] Erica Taylor: I have to eye oil or an eyeball you have to do something hydrating. So there are concealers that will cleave less than others.

[19:33] Amy Sherman: Right.

[19:34] Erica Taylor: But if you're not prepped the right way, those are going to freeze, too.

[19:36] Amy Sherman: Exactly. So the eye oil is a freaking game changer for me. When I saw that video early on what's the brand?

[19:45] Erica Taylor: A little cora.

[19:47] Amy Sherman: Cora, right. I went out and got it probably before it got sold out, and I was like, this is the biggest, and I reviewed it. We do a show called Product Junkies. We review stuff. And that was one of the things I talked about and talked about you, because that is the biggest game changer to put on before mascara, but also later at night when you just want to fix your eyes up and they're dry. It's amazing.

[20:08] Katie Chandler: You mean before concealer? Putting it on before concealer?

[20:10] Amy Sherman: Yeah, or just like a reapplication. If you have, like, old concealer and you just kind of, like, throw that on and then throw more concealer on top, it's beautiful. It's a game changer. But anyway, yes, that's what you were talking about the other day, but so that was super helpful. The application, I take that with me.

[20:22] Erica Taylor: Everywhere because I look in the mirror somewhere and I'm like, oh, no, I take a little bit, I put it on, I'm like, boom.

[20:31] Katie Chandler: After you put it on, do you put more concealer on it, or you feel like it just kind of rehydrates the concealer that you already have on?

[20:37] Erica Taylor: It usually rehydrates what I have on.

[20:38] Katie Chandler: Okay.

[20:39] Erica Taylor: If you're like looking to reapply without taking your whole face off, you can use it that way as well. But usually what I do is I'll roll it on my hand so I don't disrupt the coverage, and then just pat over and it just releases the creases.

[20:52] Katie Chandler: Okay. Yeah, that's a great trick. That's a great one. All right, let's go.

[20:56] Amy Sherman: I have to ask Erica if she likes my favorite other. It's not even concealer. It's a color corrector. The Milani. Have you tried that?

[21:03] Erica Taylor: Yes. The mean for me, there's the peach and the rose.

[21:08] Amy Sherman: Yeah. So I use the peach every day. I'm like, that is almost I use that sometimes instead of concealer. I mean, it's like a color corrector. But it's kind of a skincare concealer, too.

[21:16] Erica Taylor: I think it's sheer and hydrating.

[21:17] Amy Sherman: Incredible.

[21:18] Erica Taylor: Agreed.

[21:19] Amy Sherman: Okay. I'm glad you like it, too. Okay.

[21:21] Katie Chandler: Mascara and a good drugstore find by.

[21:23] Amy Sherman: The good price point.

[21:26] Katie Chandler: Yeah.

[21:26] Amy Sherman: So cheap. Okay, mascara.

[21:28] Katie Chandler: What's your fave?

[21:29] Erica Taylor: The OG Telescopic.

[21:31] Amy Sherman: Okay.

[21:32] Katie Chandler: Telescope. Who's that by?

[21:34] Erica Taylor: L'Oreal.

[21:35] Amy Sherman: L'Oreal.

[21:36] Katie Chandler: Okay.

[21:36] Amy Sherman: This one, I think I have that another drugstore find. Oh, that's the one with the two sides, right?

[21:42] Erica Taylor: No, this is the original.

[21:43] Amy Sherman: The original.

[21:44] Erica Taylor: So you don't have to navigate which side you're using, because sometimes that's a lot, too.

[21:49] Katie Chandler: Yeah.

[21:50] Erica Taylor: So this one is tiny, so as we mature, our lashes get thinner. So you always think, bigger brush, bigger lash? No, because a bigger brush could not get to the root of the problem. So when you go under and wiggle at the base and lift, you're actually catching every little baby hair that a big brush can't.

[22:11] Amy Sherman: Right, that makes sense.

[22:13] Katie Chandler: And then wait, what color was that? That wasn't black mascara.

[22:16] Erica Taylor: Was that was that clear? It's almost like an off black.

[22:20] Katie Chandler: Okay. So is there any reason why you choose a specific color off black or no reason, right?

[22:27] Erica Taylor: No, just whichever one I find.

[22:28] Amy Sherman: Okay. All right. Yeah. I find that with mascara, I have to use two different ones because I have one like that. That's like a lengthening, which is great, but then I need volume. I like it more thick looking. And so I find that I have to use two. One for lengthening and one for fullness. That's just me, though, for the volume.

[22:47] Erica Taylor: Oh, yeah. No, I agree. I did that, too, when I want more. And then another one I really love is the Clinique a new one? Oh, I have very sensitive eyes, and I can't use a lot of mascaras. And I remember when I was younger, I wouldn't be like, my eyes are so sensitive. And I was always like, yes, sure. Okay, now that's me.

[23:09] Amy Sherman: So the clinique. Okay. What is it? Just clinique mascara.

[23:12] Erica Taylor: The new one. That's like this is a brown oh, yeah. By accident. But I dig it, and it just gives really nice volume and doesn't irritate my eyes. They also make an awesome tubing, one that I let my preteens wear because I know it won't run down their face when they're in school.

[23:31] Amy Sherman: What is the difference? I always hear tubing. I don't know the difference. Can you tell us what that means? Tubing.

[23:36] Erica Taylor: Absolutely. So I learned about the tubing mascara when I started working with Trish probably, I don't know, twelve, whatever, years ago. And Trish McEvoy was, like, the OG of the tubing mascara. It's a polymer that wraps the lash like a 360 tube. So instead of really sitting on it, it actually encapsulates the lash.

[23:58] Amy Sherman: Okay.

[23:59] Erica Taylor: Then you can build it up, but it doesn't run, it doesn't smudge. Even if you jump in cold water, it won't come off. But you remove it by holding it to warm water, and it washes off like little tubes. So it's like a waterproof, but better because it actually protects the lash.

[24:17] Amy Sherman: Oh, that's interesting. Does it have to do with the brush?

[24:21] Erica Taylor: Not so much the brush, but the polymer formula. It's a special polymer that wraps the lash.

[24:28] Amy Sherman: Okay. Because I always thought it was like the kind of brush, whether it's like kind of the brush you just showed us.

[24:35] Erica Taylor: Some of them have that, but it's not the brush, it's the formula.

[24:38] Katie Chandler: Will it say tubing mascara on it? I've never seen it. I've never heard of it. I don't know anything about it.

[24:43] Erica Taylor: And that's what it's been a big question that a lot of people don't even know about this. It's been around for years, but usually it will say tubing. But what you do is you just put in just look up tubing mascara, and a bunch will pop up.

[24:54] Amy Sherman: Yeah, you probably have some you don't even realize. I think I've had some and that have come off that way, that they just kind of come off whole. But yeah, I just never know. I always hear people say tubing and bristle, and I'm like, I don't know the difference. So, yeah, that's a good explanation.

[25:09] Erica Taylor: If you go to remove a tubing mascara with makeup remover, it'll get like, gummy.

[25:14] Amy Sherman: Okay. So you really just remove it with water. That'd be good for me because I hate removing mascara. So I did a whole episode on eyes and mascara and fake eyelashes because for a while I was wearing them because I can't stand taking off mascara and putting on mascara. So I had the extensions for a while, which I loved, and then I learned how to do them myself, and so whatever, but I've been taking a break for a while. But do you wear extensions at all, or do you just wear them when you go out and want to look.

[25:46] Erica Taylor: More when I go out, and that goes back to my eyes are so sensitive, right, that I don't even like the glues on my eyes.

[25:53] Amy Sherman: Yeah, I know.

[25:54] Erica Taylor: I've always really focused on the eyeliner rather than the mascara, so it's like.

[26:02] Katie Chandler: Yeah, your eyeliner, my eyes.

[26:04] Amy Sherman: Yeah, I know. I had been playing with that. And you're wearing eyeliner, aren't you? I always wear a little yeah, I just started doing that. But does it make your eyes look I feel like it makes my eyes look smaller, but maybe that's just me. Does it depend on the incorrectly?

[26:17] Erica Taylor: Absolutely.

[26:18] Amy Sherman: Oh, so I've been doing it. What's the trick for putting on eyeliner?

[26:22] Erica Taylor: So depends on the shape of the eye, and not everyone can cat. My eyes are still puffy from my mascara reaction, but if you see, I have kind of a flat surface, a little hooding here, so I kind of go through the hood, keeping it very fine on the actual lash and a little inner corner so you get elongate. If your liner is too thick across the whole way, it'll close your eye.

[26:46] Katie Chandler: Yeah.

[26:47] Erica Taylor: Or just doing outer corner, inner corner, mascara.

[26:51] Amy Sherman: And what about under the eye?

[26:54] Erica Taylor: I'm not really a big advocate, but it does work on some there's exceptions to every rule, but typically, when we start doing stuff under the eye, we start bringing attention under the eye.

[27:05] Katie Chandler: Right. Which is not where we want.

[27:07] Erica Taylor: No, we want I don't want attention on my waist.

[27:10] Katie Chandler: Yeah.

[27:10] Erica Taylor: Lift it up.

[27:11] Amy Sherman: Lift it up, baby.

[27:13] Katie Chandler: I used to use black eyeliner, and for whatever reason, I don't know, it just started to look too harsh on me. So I use, like, a darker brown eyeliner. And anytime I do under the eye, which I really never do, it just feels too heavy, like, too dramatic. Like I'm trying too hard.

[27:28] Amy Sherman: That's what I was meaning before. Where when I do it makes my eyes look small.

[27:31] Erica Taylor: When you do it under it especially, it will make the eyes look small.

[27:34] Amy Sherman: Yeah, that's what I found.

[27:35] Erica Taylor: Cages them in.

[27:36] Amy Sherman: Yeah, exactly. And then on the top yeah. If I do it right, it looks good, but I'm not always good at doing it.

[27:41] Katie Chandler: You should try brown.

[27:42] Amy Sherman: I'll try brown. Yeah, I do have a brown. I'll try that.

[27:44] Erica Taylor: They're more forgiving.

[27:45] Amy Sherman: Yeah. I feel like and then I've been seeing this because I feel like Michaela always says this on TikTok. What is this called? The tight line.

[27:54] Erica Taylor: Yeah.

[27:54] Amy Sherman: I've been playing around with that, which I like.

[27:57] Katie Chandler: When you're underneath your eyelash line on.

[27:59] Erica Taylor: The inside was the originator of that. Laura Mercier. I worked for Laura Mercier 20 years ago in Sachs, New York, and that's how I learned the tight line. So it was lining under for the invisible liner who's been around from actual makeup artists. It makes me laugh when people find these new makeup artists are finding all these new things.

[28:19] Katie Chandler: Right.

[28:20] Amy Sherman: You're like, that's been around for a million years. Right? I just learned about it. I was like, oh, let me try that tight lining. Okay. Lipstick.

[28:28] Erica Taylor: Favorite lipsticks? I would say probably the makeup by Mario. They're like lipstick meets balm meets gloss. I love these, but I am not lipstick loyal.

[28:40] Amy Sherman: Yeah.

[28:40] Katie Chandler: Okay.

[28:41] Erica Taylor: What about the color?

[28:42] Katie Chandler: What do you have on today? It's gorgeous. What's that?

[28:44] Erica Taylor: This is Huda longwear with so I take a beige, but what I do is I put a pinker gloss over it to give it life so I don't look abracadabra. And then I put the gloss a little on top so it catches the light.

[29:04] Amy Sherman: Yeah, it's beautiful.

[29:06] Erica Taylor: It's so nude that if it runs, nobody will see it.

[29:09] Amy Sherman: Right. So is that the huda one? Is that more of a I'm very progressive.

[29:13] Erica Taylor: Hold on. This is me. This is me.

[29:16] Amy Sherman: Every time I look at a product, I can't see anything.

[29:20] Erica Taylor: Wifey, huda.

[29:22] Katie Chandler: Wifey.

[29:22] Erica Taylor: Wifey longwear.

[29:24] Katie Chandler: Nice.

[29:24] Erica Taylor: And the lawless gloss. Okay. No, this color, whatever that is we'll find it.

[29:32] Amy Sherman: I like the Lawless concealer actually, too. That's a nice one.

[29:36] Erica Taylor: Speaking of Lawless, love that shade ballet because it has that perfect pink. Yeah, I like that, too.

[29:41] Amy Sherman: So is that huda beauty? Is that a gloss or just kind of like a more matted, long, wear matte lip. Okay. So it's kind of like the Kylie one. I just reviewed a Kylie Cosmetics nude that's matte. And then I'll put a gloss over it, and then it's kind of the same.

[29:55] Erica Taylor: Yeah, it looks, like, very dry. Unless you have, like, 19 year old lips or lip and or lips like.

[30:03] Amy Sherman: Katie, because she's got perfect lips.

[30:05] Erica Taylor: Yeah, some people have perfect lips, but typically it gets, like, frothy in the middle. Yeah, that happens to me.

[30:11] Amy Sherman: All that's not a good look.

[30:12] Katie Chandler: It is the worst thing. I'll come out from being with a client, and I look in the mirror, and I see this line on the inside. It's horrible.

[30:19] Amy Sherman: So you need to gloss up.

[30:21] Katie Chandler: It's so gross.

[30:22] Erica Taylor: Okay, looks like we got the rabies.

[30:26] Amy Sherman: 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.

Episode 125 - Exploring Strip Makeup’s Skin Cleansing Revolution With Co-Founders Riley Egan & Shaun O’Hollaren (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 125.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

Speaker A: 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. I'm Amy Sherman.

Speaker B: And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation. You.

Speaker C: Welcome back to the show Nirvana Sisters family. It's Amy and Katie. And we are here with Sean O'hollerin and Riley Egan, co founders of the recently launched brand Strip, which is a better for you skin cleanser brand. We are very excited to get the 101 on how to effectively clean our face. So a bit about Sean and Riley. Sean is a seasoned expert on the beauty consumer. He co founded the Brow Gal in 2012 and grew the company domestically and scaling to 40 international markets. Following the Brow Gal, sean spearheaded sales and expansion at other successful brands such as Makeup Eraser, Malley's Cosmetics, and Sugar Bear Hair. I know all of those brands. Passionate about the beauty industry and an entrepreneurial spirit at heart, sean's knowledge of the makeup removal space paired with years of successfully bringing brands to the market is invaluable to strip's mission. Riley is a tech savvy entrepreneur with a film industry background. After graduating from UCLA, Riley pursued a career in tech while simultaneously working on passion projects in film and television industry. Very interesting. After multiple successful exits in getting a feature film made, riley transitioned into small business consulting in 2016. Combining his passion for the film industry and extensive background in startups, riley maintains a wealth of knowledge in raising capital and scaling operations and logistics for the business. So really cool backgrounds. Excited to hear more. Before we start though, we always like to start our show to talk about our Nirvana of the week. Something that brought us joy, a smile to the face, big or smile just to set the stage. So Katie, I'll pass it to you. Sure.

Speaker B: Okay, well, thanks for being here, Riley and Sean. We're excited to chat. I think my Nirvana this week, I had a spare like hour earlier, the week after I finished work and I went to the beach by myself. I've literally never done this since. I've lived here near the beach for the last almost two years. And I just went by myself and sat and caught a moment of peace, staring at the water, breathing, taking it all in, letting my thoughts process. And that was a very nice Nirvana. I don't think it was an hour, it's probably like 30 minutes, but either way, it was fantastic. What about you, Amy?

Speaker C: That's awesome. Well, I think this week has been hectic because last week I was on vacation, which was amazing and a Nirvana, but being back, just catching up on all the things has been a little bit busy and crazy. But anyway, this morning when I was making my coffee, I had to refill the beans and I just refilled them and then took a second and smelled them and they smelled like so good, that fresh coffee scent. So I was just like that was my ten little seconds of meditation this morning. So I'll go for that one. What about you? I'll pass it to who am I going to pass it to? Riley.

Speaker D: Absolutely. And thank you both so much for having us on here. So I have a few nirvanas, I'll share them pretty quickly. One was this morning getting to wake up in my own bed again after traveling for work for a week. We've been at a convention in Las Vegas all week and there's just something so special about being home. Another for me was actually at the convention and really having a lot of people come up to me and talk to us about how much they loved the brand was a very cool thing. Because being a really remote work team and a D to C brand, it isn't super often that we get to interact with people in person. So that was just a really lovely experience. And then the other thing was that prior to that convention, I was spending a few days with my parents and my mom was having a bit of a health scare and everything is okay.

Speaker C: Good. Thank God.

Speaker D: That's good. Yeah, elderly parents are health is their primary concern these days.

Speaker C: Yeah, that and congrats on the praise at the conference. That's super exciting. Okay. What about you, Sean?

Speaker E: Yeah, for me, Riley's referencing, we just got back from Cause and profit beauty trade show in Las Vegas and for me it was just seeing so many people from all over the world that I hadn't seen in years, probably since before COVID And just actually getting to give them a big hug know, touch and feel somebody that you work with for so many years. So that was my nirvana this week.

Speaker C: Yeah. That's good. The connection is so important. OK, so let's kick off. I want to know how you all met and is this your first business together?

Speaker D: Absolutely. And yes, it is our first business together. Sean and I have known each other for, I want to say a decade or a little bit more now. So it's been quite a while that we've known each other and that was mutual friends introducing us back when we both worked in film and television. And it was actually a client of Sean's who just thought we'd get along famously and thankfully for both of us, he was right and we've been friends ever since.

Speaker C: I love it.

Speaker E: Yeah, it is our first business. We've been probably discussing it for two or three years before it finally came to fruition.

Speaker C: That's so cool. And tell us about the cleanser category of beauty. It's one we haven't really covered. We've covered it generally, but we haven't covered in detail. So I'd love to kind of get a sense of why you chose this category and what the inspiration behind your brand is.

Speaker E: Yeah, we both have different attachments and stories that brought us together in this category. For me, I was more in color cosmetics and some hair care before I got into business with Makeup Eraser, which was kind of the original reusable makeup wipes, and fell in love with it. Fell in love with the category and just realized that there wasn't a whole lot of innovation or education around this crucial step, being the first step in your skincare routine. And it was always something I wanted to do, was create a brand that only focused on makeup removal and cleansing and tried to be the go to experts and not just another brand that has a single product or two tacked onto a very long range of skincare. So Riley has a different story, but that's how we started discussing and I'm.

Speaker D: Not a makeup user myself, but my history in film and television, I've had my makeup done hundreds or thousands of times, potentially, and I've had my skin really badly damaged by very harsh cleansing products. And I'd always thought that was maybe just a me problem or potentially just the nature of heavier makeups on set and harsher products to remove those. And so when Sean came to me and know, I've had this idea for years, and I'd really love to do something in cleansing and makeup removal, I was like, that can't be a problem for everybody. And he assured me that it was. So I started talking to just every woman I could in my life. And it was really shocking to me that as I spoke to these gals, I'd say maybe one in ten really loved the product they had for this step, and the rest fell somewhere between being kind of ambivalent of like, it does the job, but I don't love it. To actively disliking it, but not knowing what else to do. And on the extreme end of the spectrum, potentially having just abandoned the category to use like a grocery store variety coconut oil. And so as I kind of was like, that is very strange to me what's going on here. I started studying cleansing more and really looking at the science behind how it affects skin. And we can get into this more probably later in the podcast, but the kind of unfortunate truth is, it's certainly better than sleeping in your makeup, but cleansers actually can do some pretty significant harm to your skin. And so as I looked at this, I was like, it seems very unacceptable to me that an entire product category that every makeup user, really, every person should be doing every single day is actively taking away from your skin's health.

Speaker B: Yeah, it's interesting because we've talked to a lot of women on the podcast, and we often ask them what their routine is and everything, and we hear a lot of different responses when it comes to makeup removal. That piece. So what is it about strip that is, what did you guys do? How did you innovate that's?

Speaker D: Okay. I get really excited about this because I kind of geek out on the science behind skincare. And really what this came from was us looking at Cleansing as a whole category and saying, what is it doing that isn't serving users? And how can we make a product that does? And so we really identified three main ways that traditional cleansers aren't as skin friendly as we'd love them to be and at a high level. The first is it removes a ton of moisture from your skin, so it dehydrates your skin. The second is that it disrupts your skin's PH. And this is a really big issue and really has a lot of skincare effects, but it elevates your skin's PH to a really alkaline level, which is very unhealthy. And then the third and this is where the name came from, it strips your skin of a lot of the essential nutrients your skin just needs to be healthy. So we actually have been in product development for three years, and it's been a very unique challenge to figure out how to have the Cleansing efficacy that people demand.

Speaker C: Wow.

Speaker D: As a side note, something that was very OD to me when I got involved in this category was people seem to be so impressed by a product that just removed their makeup. And I was like, shouldn't that be the absolute bare minimum that this product is doing for you? So, obviously, the Cleansing efficacy is very important to us. And then we had to solve for how do we, in the same jar, in the same step, rehydrate balance your PH and restore those nutrients. And it was a very fun journey, thankfully. And Sean kind of doesn't mention this, but he actually is a chemist. We worked with some really formulators. He oversaw a lot of that product development, and we came out with what I think are really incredible cleansers. And this is a category that people don't really expect skincare benefits from. So we did go have third party clinical testing done. So all of these claims are independently verified. Everything we say about the brand is actually from independent testing.

Speaker C: Yeah, I was going to ask you about that. I saw that you have all your clinical results on your website, which is super important. I've been paying a lot of attention to brands that are doing that because it's just like, to your point, you don't really know what you're putting in your face, even if it says tested. Like, the clinical test know the gold star of knowing that the product's safe and a good product. But I'd love to hear a little bit more about the clinical results and the chemist side of it. Sean, that's super cool.

Speaker E: Yeah, it was something I actually never thought I would graduate with a degree in biology and chemistry but once I got into beauty, it was something that became applicable. So I haven't done product development with every single one of my brands, but with strip, just building this from the ground up, it was very important. And I know what I don't know. We did bring in some other great formulators as well and really studied the market. What are other brands doing, what are consumers really comfortable using and using on a daily basis? So that's kind of how we backed into it. But as Riley said, we wanted to create products that had never really been seen before and really solved a lot of the issues looking at even makeup Eraser did back in the day. I really love to use just water to remove your makeup rather than pre soaked wipes that sit in chemicals. That was something really important to us as well as the environmental approach, wanted all of our wipes not to sit in landfills for years on end and not break down. What we did with the clinicals was really tried to break down each of our products to look at how well they hydrated the skin, any antiaging benefits, obviously how much makeup they removed. And then we also wanted to compare them to traditional cleansers that you could find at local drugstores or premium beauty stores that were popular and really show the point of difference in what we created. So it was phenomenal. Riley, you might have off the top of your head some of the actual numbers and stats about how much more it removed your makeup and hydrated you. I'm running on little sleep, so I.

Speaker D: Don'T I do have so the one that I love to start with and I'd like to start I actually thought it was a mistake when the lab sent this back to us. The whipped coconut makeup remover that we have compared to your drugstore variety Neutrogena wipe leaves your skin with 500% more moisture in it.

Speaker B: Oh, my God.

Speaker D: This illustrates point of how traditional cleansers negatively impact your skin. And we know these drugstore wipes are kind of like the most egregious offender and everyone knows that they are really bad for your face and they're terrible for the environment. They're cheap, they're convenient, and they're fast. So unfortunately, people still use them. But whereas a product like that can remove almost 65% of the moisture from your skin, r two products are clinically proven to instantly increase hydration by 75% and 73%. That's the Cabiar jelly is 75% and the whipped coconut is 73%.

Speaker B: Wow, that's very impressive.

Speaker C: If you think about it, when you cleanse your face, then at least at night, right? Or in the morning. But when you cleanse your face, then you put back on a hyaluronic acid or something to then hydrate your face. And I have very dry skin, so I'm doing that all the time. So I got to figure out what I'm doing, but I have to try your products, and then maybe I don't need those things.

Speaker E: A lot of these close off your pores when you're using a micellar water or a chemical soaked wipe. It really shuts that down. So your skincare that you're using after is not as effective.

Speaker B: Yeah, right.

Speaker C: It doesn't give it the thing in again.

Speaker B: Right as we're talking, I'm thinking about the cleansers that I use, and I've never committed to a cleanser. I think I have three different cleansers in my shower by my sink, because I'm literally just at best, like you said earlier, I need something to take off my makeup and not make my skin worse. So it should be more than that.

Speaker D: That's what you rewind. A moment you asked how strip came about. It was really saying, how do we make a really integral product that actually is first concerned with the health and wellness of the people that are using the product. And so everything we talked about all of these ways that traditional cleansers damage your skin. Essentially every cleanser is the same, and people really choose them based on, like, do I prefer the feel of a micellar water, a balm, an oil, a wipe? But they're all doing the same kind of damage to people's skin. And it's really crazy when you think about it, how much of your beauty routine is actually undoing the damage you just did with pulling out that moisture, disrupting your PH, and stripping your skin of those nutrients.

Speaker C: So true.

Speaker D: I'm sure you're all familiar with, because we all are that dry, tight, irritated, postcleans skin. That's your skin's way of screaming, something's wrong. Please help me. And that desire, like, I need to reach for my toner, I need to reach for my moisturizer the second I get my makeup off so I can start. And this was something that Sean really saw as a great opportunity for people, is to change the way we look at cleansing. It's not this thing that we need to do before we start our skincare. It's not, Let me get my makeup off so I can start my skincare. Your skincare starts the moment you begin cleansing. And this is because you're either, like Sean said, really setting yourself up for success with the rest of your routine, or you're giving the rest of your routine a lot of extra work to do.

Speaker C: Yeah, I was just going to say it sounds like it could shorten your routine if you're doing it right. So on that point, give us the breakdown from, like, an am and A-P-M in terms of cleansing, because I hear different things.

Speaker D: Nighttime routine is generally more important because you have been potentially wearing makeup all day and your skin has been accumulating different impurities, dirt, oil, grime, different environmental factors throughout the day that don't have as much of a chance to impact your skin while you're asleep. But the real thing that's going on here and this is a lot of that PH issue we talked about earlier is cleansing twice a day can actually be pretty harmful to your skin. So your skin's natural PH, or the healthy PH I should say, is about 4.5. This is pretty acidic. Base is seven. And most cleansers, your general soap can have a PH as high as nine or ten. So this really raises your PH. And what this does is it actually causes your skin's acid mantle to break down. This is the primary component of your skin barrier, which is what helps keep all that moisture in it's what helps your skin to regulate itself and keep itself healthy, to bring in the nutrients it needs to stop those environmental factors from getting in and negatively impacting your skin. And when you've disrupted your PH like this, it can actually take eight to 10 hours for your skin to repair itself on its own. So if you're cleansing morning and night with a product that is disrupting your PH, your skin essentially never has a chance to recover. And you're going through life with your skin's primary, your first defense not working for you. So it can really cause big issues. And there's other ways around this, right? This isn't a given. So there's products that balance PH. There's certain cleansers that balance PH, but not everyone's aware of that. So not everyone's taking it into account.

Speaker E: And oftentimes a double cleanse is only needed because the first product you're using isn't working. Holistically. So we do like to say you can use a single topical or one of our topicals on their own, but taking off that first layer of makeup with a reusable wipe with just water, especially that heavy eye makeup that's a little harder to get off, and then going in with a topical cleanser is a great way to do it. And then I still just cleanse generally in the morning as well as I think, a lot of us.

Speaker B: So tell us the different products that you have and why one would choose. Absolutely.

Speaker D: I actually have a few jars with me right here, I can show you. I'll start with this one that's in my hand. And this is our caviar jelly makeup remover. Caviar is just a name, by the way. Our entire brand is completely vegan, cruelty free, clean by EU standards. But we have these cool little bubbles, which is part of the technology. And it kind of looks a little bit, maybe a bit hard to see here, but looks like Caviar, which I can get into.

Speaker C: I haven't seen this online, by the way.

Speaker D: Both balance PH and then the real difference is in what skincare issue that is of concern to you. And what's really great about the Caviar specifically is that it's about replenishing the lipids in your skin. So this addresses all the visible signs of aging, from fine lines to wrinkles skin elasticity, skin texture, skin evenness. And we have some really awesome actives in there hyaluronic acid, there's collagen peptides. There's vitamin C. There's retinoic acid, which is a form of retinol. There's a ton of antioxidants in there. So if you're concerned with either preventing signs of aging or minimizing signs of aging, that caviar jelly is an awesome product for you. Whipped coconut, again, rehydrates balances PH. But this is really focused on long term skin health and general skin wellness. So this is about that skin barrier that we talked about earlier. And a lot of the actives are focused on the fatty acids and the healthy fats that primarily compromise the acid mantle and the skin barrier. And then a lot of the micronutrients that your skin, again, needs to keep that functioning well and keep that balanced. So there's things like mango seed butter, shea butter, ginseng root, which stimulates a ton of circulation to bring those micronutrients back into the skin. And again, tons of antioxidants in there. Coconut oil, which hydrates the skin. And something very cool about this product, specifically coconut oil. Generally, it's a great product, but it really clogs pores, which obviously is an issue. And then you basically need to cleanse again to open your pores back up. And one of the kind of miracle things about this is that we've figured out how to have all of those benefits from coconut oil, and it be a non clogging product.

Speaker E: Oh, nice. And a common misperception. People will say skincare ingredients in a cleanser, aren't you just washing it off? How does that actually work? And if you have the right product, the right ingredients to actually remove your makeup, open up your pores, and cleansing correctly for 60 seconds or more, they really do work. It's not just a marketing gimmick that you see out there of collagen based cleanser.

Speaker D: People very rightly. So should be asking that how does the cleanser not cancel out the skincare benefits and wash them right out? And the answer is, that's something we spent three years developing. So I can't tell you how it works. But we did that clinical testing so we could say, look, this really is happening. It really does work.

Speaker B: The caviar looks like it would be very soothing. It looks like it's like a nice gel. Is it kind of like a gel? Is that the feeling of it? And does it have exfoliation to it or do those little it does not. Okay, yeah, it looks like it would be so soothing. This is kind of just a random question, but do you have to splash your face with water first?

Speaker D: You can go through the entire cleansing step without water. For me, I prefer both with water. So I'll take the product, I'll put it on my skin, work it into the skin a little bit, especially with that caviar. You want to give those little bubbles time to dissolve into your skin. That's where all the skin care is. And then I'll dampen it. I think dampening it for me gets a nice little lather going. I think the efficacy has a bit improved and it just feels nice. And then wipe and rinse and you're done.

Speaker B: Not having to use water, though, is cool sometimes.

Speaker C: You're I know I tend to use, to your point, the brands you formerly worked at, the Makeup Eraser, I have those. And sometimes I'll do cleaning and then I'll use that to just take it off with a little bit of water instead of splashing my face.

Speaker D: And there are a handful of people that have found their own type of double cleanse with these. And primarily it's that they use the whipped coconut to remove makeup and then they do the second part of that double cleanse with the caviar jelly.

Speaker B: I'm curious, how many men do you think are cleansing their face? Because I don't think my husband does. But he will then, because he has crows, right?

Speaker E: Yeah, there's a lot, but definitely not properly. I mean, at least men's skincare category has certainly gotten bigger, but I still recommend all my male friends is use a skincare or use a cleanser that you typically wouldn't associate as a men's cleanser. But there has been brands like Jack Black, obviously, over the years, and Anthony that have come out with some good ones. But yeah, I think a lot of guys are still using just your typical soap in the.

Speaker C: Mean. My routine at night is so long. My husband's always like, what are you know? But I think he literally splashes his face or does nothing unless he's showering.

Speaker B: Strip is targeted to women, but it's unisex you're using it yourself.

Speaker D: Riley quite a few of the husbands of women that have bought in the products have reached out to us and say that they steal them from their wives, which is always pretty funny to hear, but so know, I think a lot of the gals out there understand the importance of cleansing and already see it as an integral step in their routine. So it kind of is a better fit for that market. And like Sean said, men's skincare is certainly growing, but a lot of men still don't want to take the time, don't see the importance. So there's, I think, a different process there with it starts with education and it starts with helping people understand why they'd want to do this and what the benefit they're going to receive from it is.

Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker C: What about teens? A lot of teens use your products.

Speaker E: Oh, sorry, what was that?

Speaker C: Sorry, I was just going to ask if your products are good for teens. I have two teens.

Speaker E: They definitely are. I mean, what we've seen is there's just a lot of complacency around this step and it's whatever is easiest to grab at your local store, drugstore, beauty store. It really is. I mean, we see teenagers, I mean, 13 up to gals in their 60s using the product. And something that I noticed too, was that a lot of especially gals that have skincare issues, especially struggling with acne, when they would go into even a dermatologist and try to look at how to clear that up, it was never a question that was asked was, well, what type of cleanser are you using? And a lot of times when you do change that step out, especially when you're going through those, your hormones are starting to change in your teens oftentimes that can really make the difference, and you might not have to get on Accutane or another.

Speaker D: There's a really good reason for that.

Speaker E: Major drug to clear up those issues.

Speaker D: Which, again, goes back to that PH. And our products certainly do not solve hormonal acne. However, if you have acne prone skin, again, your skin's natural PH is 4.5, which is acidic, the main bacteria that cause acne and that acne thrives on and lives on. It loves an alkaline PH. So if your skin's PH is constantly alkaline, the bacteria that primarily causes acne is thriving on your skin. So for a lot of those teens out there struggling with potentially non hormonal acne issues, the right cleanser and really keeping in mind balancing that PH is actually a very helpful step.

Speaker C: Yeah, I have two teenage boys, and so I'm sure if they just their acne isn't terrible, but I'm sure if they just wash their face better, their skin would clear up. They just need to take the time. But I can just tell them this will take them a minute and they don't need anything else. So, hey, that's good. Okay, so you mentioned it before, men not taking care of themselves as much as women do in terms of cleansing skin and stuff. So just in general, how do you feel about being men in this beauty business, this women dominated beauty business, which is just quite the opposite of most other industries. So definitely more of an anomaly. I'd love to get your thoughts on that.

Speaker E: Yeah, it's really interesting. You see, obviously from the manufacturing side of beauty, you do see a lot of men, but on the product development side, brand owners and obviously creating a product that is targeted towards women, it's really interesting, but we really try everything. I mean, my bathroom is filled with makeup. Anytime somebody comes over, are you sure you're not married? Or if somebody else is living here. But I try everything before I use it. I have so many female friends in the industry and out that we really test everything with. And to me, though, it really comes down to being passionate about it, creating a great product that you can stand behind and put your integrity into. And there's nothing more exciting than creating something that gals or people use every day that lives in their bathroom and that they can come back and buy that really makes them feel better. Look. Better. It's certainly interesting.

Speaker D: It's actually very helpful in two interesting ways. And the first is that as kind of an outsider to the beauty world, I felt like I was willing to ask the dumb questions that no one else seemed to be asking. And primarily that was why does it seem like so many women have just accepted that every day they need to use a product that is actively detracting from their skin's health? That just seemed crazy to me, but it seemed like there was a lot of complacency there and no one was really questioning it. And so asking that question was a big part of how this brand got started and why we developed products the way we did. And then the second part is I came in assuming that people would probably question my intentions. What is this guy doing in beauty? Are these two guys just trying to cash in on women and take advantage of women? And what it caused us to do is, I think, really care about the integrity of the brand and the integrity of the product and go as far as we possibly could in every single facet of the brand from the cleansing efficacy to the skincare, to the sustainability, to the products being clean, to the point where these products sean and I try and be as in the background as possible as founders. We're not a founder forward brand because we think the products should and can speak for themselves and that as people use them, they will feel like really viscerally feel instantly, but also over time how different of a product this is and the integrity that we built this with.

Speaker B: Yeah, I love that your passion for it definitely comes through and it's very impressive. Everything that you've done, the testing and finding, the efficacy, it sounds like they're both great products. I really want to get my hands on them. So you have to tell us where we can buy them. Where are you selling them, by the way? Are they online?

Speaker E: Yeah, we're selling them. So on our website stripmakeup.com on Amazon we are with Urban Outfitters going into Nordstrom soon as available there too and growing every yeah, we're a newer brand and want to keep the goal is to round out the line with a lot more products as well. So we can really offer every consumer a different product that suits them, suits their skin, suits their profile and just the feel of what they like out of a cleanser or makeup remover.

Speaker C: Yeah, I was going to ask you what products are coming down the pipeline or you can't say yet.

Speaker E: There's some really fun ones we're doing a lot of we think on the go too is a big opportunity for anyone that travels a lot because oftentimes your routine can get disrupted. We've got more products both for in and out of shower, oil based, gel based, water based, so a lot more in the next several months.

Speaker B: And are you going to be offering more than just face? Are we talking potentially body washes coming?

Speaker D: We don't have body coming at the moment. Really, our focus is staying, again, just on the face and in the cleansing, and we don't have any plans to expand outside of cleansing anytime soon. And again, this is because while we do want to cater to every kind of removal routine preference, right now, a lot of people out there select their cleanser just based on product weight, product texture, product feel, because they all do the same thing. And our long term goal is to really redefine the way people look at this category. And they say, this is a crucial step in my skincare routine. What element of my skin or what skin concern do I want to be addressing? And so they all have their own skincare benefits. And it's like, do I care about the visible signs of aging? Do I care about my skin barrier? Do I have acne prone skin? So a lot of the products we're developing are for very interesting and differentiated skincare issues.

Speaker B: Yeah. That's brilliant. Nice. Good for you. Well, congratulations on all the success. It's exciting.

Speaker C: So I have a question before we wrap. So as best friends and business partners, which we can relate to, we're sister in laws and best friends. What is the best and worst parts of working together? And be honest.

Speaker E: Riley.

Speaker D: I love working with Sean and I.

Speaker C: Let me listen to this.

Speaker D: Sometimes it can be difficult because there is a different component to the relationship. And frankly, with Sean and I, I think that's been a huge plus for us because we have really great communication. Neither of us take anything personally. And because we have a very close connection, it's very easy to call each other and say, what in the world were you thinking with that? Or what's going on? And, hey, I need you here. And I think that the way we're able to communicate is super helpful for us as a brand. I think the hardest thing and I don't know this is so much about us being friends is that we're completely remote, so we don't live in the same city. And building a brand with somebody and not being able to be next to them every day while you're doing it has a ton of its own very unique challenges.

Speaker B: Yes, we relate to that also.

Speaker C: Yes, we can. Absolutely. Where are you all based?

Speaker E: I'm in Los Angeles and Riley's in Texas. And then our team spread out all over the yeah, too far. I hate to be that person, but I honestly can't say there's much, many bad things about working with Riley. I said years ago I would never work with a friend again. And Riley is the only one I could ever see myself working with. I'm so happy. We both have such different ways of thinking we take on different roles and positions in the company and really just balance each other. Well, I would say, yeah, being remote is a little tougher, but Riley, you make it easy. You're a great partner. That's nice.

Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, I was going to say, it seems like you guys have different skill sets, but together it works perfectly. It's like you complement each other, which is great. So congrats on all your success and where can everybody find you?

Speaker E: Yeah. On our website. Stripmakeup.com. Amazon Urban Outfitters.

Speaker C: Oh, right, you already said Instagram. I don't know if you said Instagram.

Speaker E: Yeah, on Instagram, we're at Strip Makeup TikTok as well, and also YouTube Strip Makeup, so we constantly also try to put out a lot of education just around cleansing, certainly around our products. And our team's always there to answer any questions, too, about a specific issue or what product is right or wrong for something nice.

Speaker C: Well, thank you again. It was so nice to meet you all. And, yeah, we look forward to seeing.

Speaker B: Congrats on all the success.

Speaker E: Thank you both so much.

Speaker A: Thanks for listening to Nirvana Sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes, please subscribe and.

Speaker C: Leave us a review.

Speaker A: Also, find us on Instagram at Nirvana Sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would, please.

Speaker C: Share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh.

Speaker A: New episode of Nirvana Sisters. We'll continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.

Episode 124 - Sonic Serenity: Exploring Sound Healing With Intuitive Sound Alchemist Monica Baddar (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 124 .

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here.

Unknown Speaker 0:06

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. I'm Amy Sherman. And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation

Unknown Speaker 0:27

Welcome back to the show Nirvana sisters family. Today we are sitting down with Monica podar. She is very special to me. We had a great experience together this summer that we're gonna dive into. She's helped me get back into my modeling career and a really great way. And I can't wait to kind of chat a little bit about that because I'm super grateful for Monica. But today we're also going to discuss Monica being an intuitive sound Alchemist. She is an Egyptian American intuitive sound Alchemist and photographer. She is dedicated to help empower the collective, specifically the feminine as both an artist and a healer. And I'm really excited to kind of like dig in and, and better understand what all of that means and how you're helping heal people, especially women. So welcome to the show. Monica.

Unknown Speaker 1:16

Thank you for having me. I'm so grateful to be here. So before we get into it, let's do our nirvana of the week. I'm going to kick it to Amy to give us what was your nirvana. So you came?

Unknown Speaker 1:27

Yeah, so I just got back from family vacation at the beach. And it was just a great week, the week back has actually been hectic, but the week prior was great. And it was just a time. Just what with my husband and my two boys and we had some other families that were there. So it's just like a chill no agenda kind of week at the beach every day. Like just you know, dinners out at night. Lots of fun stuff with the kids. It was just like, really relaxing and just like a nice way to reconnect after kind of like the summer and the kids were away camp and stuff. So it was really nice. And I'm so grateful that I was able to do that sounds great. You Katie um my nirvana is kind of coming off of something that's like totally the opposite of nirvana. I felt lousy all week and my nirvana is this morning. You know, with autoimmune stuff with my stuff, Amy? I'm always going through like, Wait, isn't this? Is it this? Should I do this? Should I do that to feel better, and I try all the things. And then this morning, it clicked. And I realized it was my vitamin D. And I've been like heavily dosing on vitamin D all day, and I'm starting to feel so much better. So that doesn't matter, Monique? Because I feel so much better than I did all week. What about you, Monica? Awesome. Yeah, this is actually kind of a hard question. I feel like I truly try to live every moment in Nirvana and always just be grateful to be alive and here. But specifically, I will say probably this weekend, because after this, I will be going to Joshua Tree and doing nothing reading books, meditating, just relaxing, calm out of the cities. So I'm super excited. That sounds.

Unknown Speaker 3:02

That sounds fun. I know. I've heard such amazing things about Joshua Tree. It's very cool.

Unknown Speaker 3:06

All right. Well, let's get into it. Tell us Monica. Explain. I mean, we we we have an understanding of sound healing. Right, Amy? So the intuitive to ative sound outcome as tapas better understand what that means?

Unknown Speaker 3:22

Sure. So intuitive sound Alchemist is kind of a term I guess I just I'm sure it was not the first person to come up with it. But it's just my way of saying that I facilitate sound ceremonies on meditation, sound baths, if you've heard of any of those things, it's all talking about the same thing. And how did you how did you get into it? Because Monica has, like I should I call it your day job. Like your main profession is your photographer. You're brilliant photographer. You do the most beautiful photography, she shoots. You ship models, you shoot celebrities. I mean, you have ad campaigns, like you run the whole gamut with your photography, right?

Unknown Speaker 3:57

So how, how have you found yourself into the sound bath healing world?

Unknown Speaker 4:03

Yeah, so I guess my entry point into this whole world of spirituality or the journey within, I would say started when I was 23, or 24. I'm 34. Now so it's been about 10 years. I love the quote. I'm not sure who said it first, but your mess is your message. So I found myself in a really really difficult place at 24 I had gone through I suppose you could say my dark night of the soul. Really horrible breakup. That led me left me pretty empty, I would say and just confused and lost. And I was living in Los Angeles at the time. And I remember I was walking up La Brea and I found this place called the den meditation. And they had just opened and they were having like a month like trial. Come try it out. And I wasn't sure what it was. But I was like, Yeah, I'm gonna go because I had need something to help and I

Unknown Speaker 5:00

I became obsessed. I was in there twice a day, every day, they had all kinds of classes such as breathwork, yoga, Nidra, Kundalini Yoga, just all kinds of classes. And I took all of them and I saw was the first Kundalini yoga meditation that blew my mind. We were laying, or we were in class, and a lot of it was heavy breathing, kind of like you feel like you're hyperventilating, almost. And then at the very end, you lie in Shavasana. And I remember the room being closed, there were no windows in the room, and I'm lying down with my eyes closed. And then all of a sudden, I started seeing like fireworks shooting, and we're like, wow, in my vision, and I was like, what's going on? This is wild. So after the class, I spoke to the instructor, and I explained to her what I saw. And she was like, that's amazing. That means you're clearing things. And so I just became fascinated with the, I guess, subtle energies and how all of that works, and everything is interconnected.

Unknown Speaker 5:56

Fast forward to 2019, I went to Peru, I did my first Ayahuasca ceremony. And that was the first time I really experienced what it's like to be so open through psychedelics and have mu, energy sound moved through you. And that just blew my mind. And I was like, I need to share this with everybody. Like, I'm obsessed. So since then, it's just grown from there. That's very cool. How is the iOS experience? Yeah, okay. I've seen like, you know, films and stuff on that. But like, it seems very interesting. Like how it was your first time doing it, obviously. So was it like a few days? Like, tell us about that a little bit? Yeah. So I went, the first time before Peru actually was upstate New York. And I had did a three day weekend, Friday through Sunday ceremony every night. And I mean, it's such a

Unknown Speaker 6:54

unique experience. It's so different for every single person, and every single time will, you will have a completely different experience. But the best way that I can explain it is that my very first experience, I was almost fighting with myself, because everything in my body was like you're back. You've been here before. Welcome back. And I'm like, No, I haven't. What is this? What is going on? You know? And then it's like, yes, you have no, I haven't what's, but the whole thing felt so familiar, and very nurturing and loving to me. And

Unknown Speaker 7:27

yeah, it's, it was interesting, because my ceremonies are always about like, the collective or the world at large and like my place within it, and like why I chose to come here on this planet.

Unknown Speaker 7:40

Like, sometimes it is personal stuff, but I always invite

Unknown Speaker 7:45

I guess you could say like any sort of triggers, or anything that sort of makes you stop abruptly, and make maybe makes you not feel good. I love those times, because I feel like that's moments for expansion. So I invite them in because I want to take a deeper look like, Why is this here? What is this blockage? Why am I resisting? How can we move past this? And the iOS experience? Also, like really lends itself to that, right? Like anything, anything like sort of trauma or experience, it's hard to dive into? It opens the world up so that you're able to process things, right?

Unknown Speaker 8:20

Absolutely. And it does it in such an intelligent way of like, the universe just works in the craziest ways of things that you wouldn't think the way that it'll come up. But it's always, I would say palatable for because it's you, at the end of the day, it's always going to come as an experience in a way that you can relate to it, or that will best be suited to you to understand yourself deeper. So when did if that meant Yeah, no, it totally does. So when did you start doing these healing ceremonies? And who are you working with? Or who have you worked with?

Unknown Speaker 8:53

Yeah, so I would say pretty shortly, I would say, maybe 2021, I started helping out with two of my friends, male friends that do ceremonies, and they kind of wanted to have a female energy. So that was really awesome to kind of explore and be open and just kind of played around. And then I started doing one on ones with people. And everything is word of mouth. And so I do it two ways. One way is just with sound only. And then the other way is with psychedelics, if you so choose, and they're both very different, but yeah, very healing. But just kind of depends on what you're looking for, or what you're looking to get out of.

Unknown Speaker 9:35

With the sound. Is it always like a sound bath? Or are there other ways to do the ceremony with a different kind of sound?

Unknown Speaker 9:43

Yeah, so it's actually a mix, I would say of instruments that I have. And sometimes I will also play like mantra music or binaural beats like high frequency music for me to hertz up. It sort of depends. So the intuitive part of the sound out

Unknown Speaker 10:00

Coming comes from, I have a layout, but it's kind of open ended because I really zoned into the person that I'm with. And it's really important for me to connect with them and to kind of help them. I'm gonna walk you to the door, you're gonna walk through the door, but I will lead you there. Mm hmm. So and so that lends you to decide what kind of sound to use in the ceremony is it was kind of intuitively what you're feeling the person needs?

Unknown Speaker 10:27

Absolutely. How long are the ceremonies? How long do they usually last?

Unknown Speaker 10:31

So without the use of any psychedelics, it's about an hour to an hour and a half the actual sound part and then I love to have like an integration talk afterwards. If it's not right after then a few days later, just to kind of see like, what was your process? What did you go through, I wrote during the ceremony, I really tried to stay out and give the person the space, all I'm doing is creating a space for you to feel comfortable and safe to explore whatever you want. And I'm kind of just on the side there for you, bringing you whatever you need to make you feel safe. And that's it. And then like later, we can dive deeper if you want to share it. And if you don't, that's also fine. And then with psychedelics, it's going to be like a three and a half to four hour process, I serve a tea, mushroom tea. Using a tea I feel I've kind of experimented a little bit with like different modes of ingesting. And I think the tea is the best because it takes about 10 minutes to hit you and it's a very smooth, you don't even really feel it just all of a sudden it's here. And it's great. And it kind of starts quickly and ends quickly. So if you're eating mushrooms, it goes through your digestive tract, and it can take 45 minutes to an hour. So I prefer the tea. I also depending on again, like the intuitive part, I serve the cow in the middle of my ceremony as well, which is the natural heart opener. So kind of just brings all the good, yummy feelings and gets you in a nice loving state. Yeah, you were telling me about the cacao? Let's talk about that a little bit. Because that's something that I can go, anyone can just go to Whole Foods and pick up. And so tell us about cacao and why you like I know you just touched on it, but I've never heard about that. Regarding cacao.

Unknown Speaker 12:16

Yeah, so cacao is chocolate. And it grows primarily in the Amazon. And it's not the chocolate that you would see out. Because that's usually like has sugar and all this other stuff, binders that you don't really need. But essentially it is just raw cacao, which is actually bitter in taste. And I like to sweeten it with honey or agave and maybe put a little bit of cinnamon. And you basically sit it snippet in like a ceremonial way. And you're just kind of like taking sips and just feeling how it's going through your body. Cacao is super good for you. It has tons of magnesium. It relaxes you, it's a heart opener. So I feel like it's another way to really connect deeply with yourself. Nice. That's an easy one that we can do it don't have to go out and get the psychedelics.

Unknown Speaker 13:07

Yeah, I was I was gonna I was gonna also ask you for those that are interested in like sound healing or selling sound healing ceremonies, and they're not in LA to visit you like what could they do at home? Are there apps? Are there things? Like what would you recommend if someone wants to do something like this, especially our listeners who I think are probably newer to this type of

Unknown Speaker 13:29

practice, but I've done a song about a few times, and I've really enjoyed it. It's just super relaxing and like gets you in that like Zen state.

Unknown Speaker 13:38

So yeah, if there's anything you can recommend people could do at home.

Unknown Speaker 13:42

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, YouTube is a great free resource. And all you have to do is type in you can type in 432 hertz.

Unknown Speaker 13:52

So 963 would be like the crown chakra. So basically, I have seven bowls that are tuned to the seven chakras. I'm not sure if you guys are familiar with chocolate, but they all also have a hertz frequency attached to them. So you can also just go into a meditation listening to the sounds just observing your thoughts, seeing what comes up. I feel like a lot of this work is kind of in the subconscious mind. Anyway, so if we can just quiet your prefrontal cortex, your monkey mind, reptilian brain, all these things, the voice that keeps chatting forever, but you're really like behind that voice. We want to kind of make that voice feel comfortable enough to be quiet so that the real yo can come through. Hertz music is a great way. But yeah, there's a ton of like meditation apps and body movement is a great way as well. Like I always like to stretch every day. And I can almost feel where I'm tight. And then I'm like focusing on that area and it changes every day. Depending on what we're doing. Do you do meditation and some sort of like sound? Bath healing for yourself? Daily? Yeah, I would say the sound

Unknown Speaker 15:00

Because I all my instruments are here in LA. So I am definitely playing those every single evening. But in terms of like meditation, I do a lot. I'm pretty, I'm not really rigid or structured with it. I like to do like walking meditations. So I will be walking down the street. And I will simply observe like, there's a car, there's a cat, there's a garbage man, no judgment or thought about it. I'm just listing what I see. And that's it. And the second I have a sort of like, thought or eye color, the experience, I'm like, wait, and then I pull myself back, because I love them. And I think that practice is just being aware that your mind is just like, non stop, you know? Yeah, yeah, that's very grounding, just being where you are, and pointing out what you see without it taking you anywhere else. So it's very, that's such a great. That's a cool practice. Yeah. So you work. You do a lot of your ceremonies. I know you work with two men, but you also do a lot of work with women, which is amazing. How, how's that experience working with women every day?

Unknown Speaker 16:02

Yeah, I mean, I guess that started with photography, I would say. So I have been shooting for 14 years now. And so what got me into photography basically, is I feel like as a kid growing up in an Egyptian household, both my parents are born and raised in Egypt, first generation American. Although I was born in America, my household was still very much Egypt, very rigid, very patriarchal. I definitely felt like I didn't have a voice, I was super, super shy growing up. I found photography pretty early on, I would say in middle school, because I just became obsessed with like, the fantasy of like, I can, like, I was looking into fashion magazines. And I was, like, put into this world of, you know, beauty. And I could just, I feel like I wanted to create images like that to kind of and when I look through the viewfinder, I essentially feel like I'm meditating. I've entered a portal and like, whatever's in this box is the only thing that exists, and how can I make the most interesting image within that.

Unknown Speaker 17:05

So when I started working with talent, specifically female models, I started to notice pretty quickly, that take having a photograph taken is a very vulnerable thing. And like, so I need to do my part to make them feel comfortable. So it's not about me. So I need to get over myself quickly, and be able to be there for them to like, speak to them. And kind of before any shoot, I generally like to sit and like just get to know the person and talk to them. Because I can sort of feel their energy. And so that I can, I can see what's the best way to photograph them. Like how can I make them feel the best look the best, all of that. So it kinda was helped, helping me in a sense, gain my confidence and ability to be able to speak. And then it's just it's so funny. Like, I feel people and I maybe you can also speak to this, since you're in the industry as well, that it's just seemed so glamorous and beautiful. But a lot of the times like everybody's human, everybody also has their own problems and insecurities. And so I almost, I like to say I'm a photographer slash therapist.

Unknown Speaker 18:12

No, I can, because I can totally attest to everything you just said about like, making the other person comfortable that I've so I found Monica, because my agency gave me a list of like, you know, 15 photographers that they suggest their their models to use. And I looked at every single person's work and Monica's work was, you could just see how relaxed. The models in the photos were, they were just at such ease. And there was a vulnerability exactly like what you just said, you, you just bring something out of you make you make them comfortable. I haven't done a photo shoot and over 10 years. So the first person that I shoot with, it was like very important that I was comfortable. And you were I mean, you're amazing. Her work is so stunningly beautiful. And we had so much fun together, and you made me so comfortable. You're really really good at what you do. And you're right. I mean, industry seems glamorous, and seems like everyone's so confident everybody really has, you know, their shit together. And they're so excited to be in front of a camera. And that's not necessarily the case. Like it's not like I hate being in front of a camera. And I'm sure there's a lot of models that that deal. And working with the right person makes all the difference in the world. But it's really, it's really beautiful. What you do. We'll have to we'll have to share some of your work when this episode airs because it's gorgeous. Yeah. And your picture because I saw them and they're stunning. They're absolutely, like blown away. But yeah, I can imagine that's a really hard thing to do to make people comfortable. And then I mean, I can't even imagine being being in front of the camera like Katie does.

Unknown Speaker 19:58

But I could say that

Unknown Speaker 20:00

I'm sure most people are so uncomfortable and just insecure because you're right. It's a very vulnerable space. Everyone's looking at you. You're like, it's just so that's, that's incredible that you have that skill, because I think it's it's true what Katie said, I'm sure. Many photographers are not in tune with the other person's energy. And they're just like doing their job and kind of checking the box. And it's really important

Unknown Speaker 20:22

to have that connection. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 20:24

You do. create that connection instantly. So it's your you're so fun to work with, you know, just circling back really quickly. And has anyone ever said, so the ceremonies that you perform as well, like, it's, it seems a bit and tell me if I'm wrong, because I've very well could be like, you're also a shaman. Is it? Is it not similar to what shamans do? Yeah, I mean, I guess technically speaking, a shaman would be someone that is able to work with energy and sort of go in and out of, I guess, different dimensional realities, or see the subtle realms. I sort of, I mean, I try, I don't have a problem with the term, but I do see in Western culture, it's been thrown around. And a lot of people are shamans. And I know that this is something that you're sort of born into, it comes from a lineage, you know, from Africa, the Amazon, but mostly like, indigenous tribes. So I, that's why I like to stick with a tater because also, like an important thing is like, so shaman is sort of a hierarchical term term. So if you're going to see a shaman or a healer, it's almost like you're putting yourself beneath them. And I'm really all about empowering the person, right, because if you have a problem, and you will not open up, no therapist or healer, or whomever can help you, you're the one that opens the door. So it's really important for people to sit in their own seat and know that they are powerful and sovereign beings. And you can do whatever you want, you have freewill. And you have a mind and you have a heart, most importantly, and your heart is the gateway. And that's your path. And if you follow that, you will never be led in the wrong direction. So I really try to make that a very important point that you are the healer, essentially.

Unknown Speaker 22:12

Not anyone else. Yeah, that's a great education on the word shaman, because you're right people do. So use it, throw it around, and I've never understood like the true meaning of what it is. And I'm sure a lot of people don't the egos a tricky thing. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 22:28

Tell us before we get into our rap session. Well, I know that you're still, you know, doing photography and everything. But how much are you trying to segue into doing more of the ceremonies? And how can our listeners find you if they want to work with you?

Unknown Speaker 22:43

Yeah, absolutely. So I'm currently in between New York and LA right now. And wherever else in the world that I, you know, I'm able to go to, and pretty much since January of this year have kind of been more of a nomadic flow state. It's been, I would say I am in New York and LA, every month and a half, probably, like just do this back and forth. So two months. But it really depends on when I'm called and when I'm needed. And then I fly out there and I make it work so I can be available anywhere. So between New York, LA Miami, I traveled to a lot as well. So I can pretty much be anywhere and I do one on one sessions. I do group sessions. I have people that also help with me, if it's a bigger group, so I'm pretty easy, flexible, it can all happen. And I don't have like a page yet for the sound healing specifically, but Monica podar, my name at Gmail or Monica dora.com. That's all my photography work, but it's all me. It will all take you to the same place. And I saw your Instagram page too. It's beautiful. Yeah. Instagram works as well.

Unknown Speaker 23:52

Yeah, work is great. Yeah. Although my Instagram is all like photography. I feel like my stories are always tidbits of little spiritual nuggets of wisdom that I find and like to share. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Love it. That's great. Well, I'm excited to get into a rap session because your skin is gorgeous. So I know that there's some good like wellness tips we can learn from you. So what is your favorite wellness or beauty hack? Okay, so again, since January, I've been traveling a lot and I'm always on planes. And I am since I'm Egyptian I am a desert person. I'm chronically dry all the time. Coconut water. I know it's simple, but really, really has saved because I Arizona, it's so dry. I can feel like my hair gets brittle my skin gets dry. And I've been chugging wanted to like the big jars of coconut water every day. That by itself has like has done wonders water is not enough because the electrolytes and I feel like it gives you a nice plumpness in the fat from the coconut as well as like very good for your skin brain.

Unknown Speaker 24:58

So I guess

Unknown Speaker 25:00

Good Yeah, we haven't heard that like that one. Nice. Yeah, I love alright the next one we call it your five minute flow you just got out of the shower and dried off and Uber has pink do their five minutes away What are you going to do to get out the door and in that Uber on time?

Unknown Speaker 25:14

Yeah, so I love this because I feel like I'm pretty minimalist. I want to be quick and fast and run out the door. So I will get out of shower, make sure my face is clean. So during the day, I like to use resveratrol, which is a poly phenol antioxidant, and it's very good for your skin. So I apply it topically and then moisturizer. And then at night with SPF and then at night. I will do like a retinol. And then I will do like a thicker kind of moisture cream. So I'm all about like moisture. Yep. Yeah, it's like, never

Unknown Speaker 25:49

feel nice. Okay. And last one is how do you maintain your daily nirvana? I mean, we already kind of touched on it a little bit, but maybe there's more.

Unknown Speaker 25:59

I feel like just being always trying to be in tune with myself like I'm very I think the mind body. heart connection is very important. So I'm always scanning my body and trying to see like where do I feel tightness or tenseness? Do I feel good. Because if your body is not working properly, nothing else will work. Because if you're sick, your reality will be a sick reality. Everything that you look at will be I like to think that the world is neutral. Things are always happening, but it's sort of neutral. And your perception or perspective is what is what color's your reality. So although we are all living on Earth, we can have so many different realities, because we're thinking different. So I'm always trying like, and I'm also very aware of I spiritual bypass is a thing, but I, you know, when people just are always like love and light and all this stuff, we all have shadow, I'm very aware of mine. But that being said, I know there is darkness in the world. I choose to stay in the light and always try to find ways to be grateful and happy for things because it's just not going to serve you if you're always focusing on negative stuff. So I'm always just trying to find the beauty in every situation. Monica, we usually usually not always we've been kind of bad about it. Right, Amy? We need to talk I now have better sorry. My mantra has not been with every episode lately, guys. But Monica is gonna

Unknown Speaker 27:23

help us so graciously, a mantra for it to wrap today's episode. So what is it, Monica?

Unknown Speaker 27:31

Yeah, okay. So it's quite simple. It is three words. The phrase is in Sanskrit and it is that chit ananda. Start meaning existence. Chit meaning consciousness and under meaning bliss. So we exist. We are here. We are conscious that we are here. And then once we are conscious that we are here, we can go to Bliss. So it's kind of like the circle of life. I suppose you can say you're a baby and then you're aware that you have things and you can see yourself in the mirror. You're like, that's me. And then you can go out have a great experience and be blissful in your life. That's beautiful. Now that's a good one to keep repeating I want to say Sat Chit Ananda. Is that right? Okay, perfect. Doesn't have to just energy me. I mean, like the best so peaceful and that I feel like so much better after talking to you. I was feeling like tired and kind of like blocked today. And you just hurt me. I feel I can feel your energy through the amazing another phone. Yeah. Good to have Yeah, we'll have to come visit you next time. We're in. So are you based in LA? I forgot what you said. I'm back and forth. So I'm on I'm here now. And then I think in a week and a half. I'll be back in New York, but I'm just kind of bouncing around. So yeah, we can definitely well, yeah, we should meet up when I'm back. I've booked my flights. Alright. Well, thanks for being with us, Monica. 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 will continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye

Episode 123 - ProductJunkies - September Edition - When You Want That Glass Skin - Wrinkle Reducers, New SPF And Finishing Touches (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 123.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here.

Amy Sherman: 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. I'm Amy Sherman.

Katie Chandler: And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation.

Amy Sherman: Welcome back to the show Nirvana Sisters family. It's Amy and Katie, and we are here. We're back with the product junkies to start the back to school season. Not that these are back to school products, but we have been doing a lot of replays this summer because we've both been running around and we've done a few episodes that we've launched some new ones, but we've also been doing a lot of replays, so it's good to be back. It's good to see you, Katie. I feel like we haven't caught up. I know. So we need a major catch up. But I know you were just in Alaska.

Katie Chandler: Yes, alaska was interesting.

Amy Sherman: I asked Katie how it was, and she was like, it was interesting. I'm like, okay, I'm going to have to hear about that. How was your cruise experience?

Katie Chandler: The cruise experience was, I think, the interesting piece. I'm definitely not a cruiser. I think it's a fantastic thing for those that enjoy it. And my father has a handicap, so it's so good for him because it's all accessible and easy in there. But it is not my thing.

Amy Sherman: It would not be my thing.

Katie Chandler: Lesson learned.

Amy Sherman: Did you get nauseous?

Katie Chandler: I actually didn't have any problems with seasickness, but my other sister in law, my brother's wife, she was like it was tough for her. And then Adam had it a little had legitimately. There was days where the boat was rocking. You could visibly see it and feel it, and you'd be like, horrible. Yeah, you would trip almost, like, fall over if you weren't careful.

Amy Sherman: It was kind of crazy. Yeah, it was crazy. Yeah.

Katie Chandler: And then Alaska, that's not even like the whole family passed around, like a stomach virus and the whole was but.

Amy Sherman: How was actual Alaska?

Katie Chandler: Actual Alaska was beautiful. I mean, really, really gorgeous. Like, the water there is so different than the water here. It's such, like a deep marine blue color. I don't even know how to describe it. It just looks so different.

Amy Sherman: Wow.

Katie Chandler: And we saw whales every single day. And we took a train, like, really high up in the mountains, up through a passageway that the original settlers went from Alaska into Canada. Yeah, we just did a lot of cool experiences. Little towns are very quaint and sweet, and it's a cool place. It was not on my bucket list, so I would have never been there otherwise. I have no reason to ever go otherwise, so it's really cool. I've been to Alaska. My kids had an amazing time.

Amy Sherman: The girls loved it.

Katie Chandler: They loved it. They had a great time. And you, you've been everywhere, too. You were just at the everywhere. How was the week at the beach with the family?

Amy Sherman: The beach was good. It was actually, like Stu and I were saying. It was like one of our best weeks. We felt like just because it was chill know, we go with a couple of families and they're great, and we just kind of, like, have our system. We go to the beach every day, but we don't go till later in the day, so it's not like a rush to get out in the morning. And we're all just kind of like hanging out. And the kids have bikes so they can just ride them around the neighborhood and go get breakfast or do whatever. And then, yeah, we are just kind of on the beach the second half of the day every day and hanging out, and the kids are in the water. And then we'd bust out our high noons later in the day and just relax. And then we'd go to some good dinners and go to bed and sometimes early, sometimes late. It was just nice, actually. It was really funny. One of my favorite parts of our trip, which is but like, have you been watching Summer I Turn pretty no.

Katie Chandler: I haven't gotten into it yet.

Amy Sherman: Oh, it's so good. So I watched season one last year and then season two. Was it last year? I guess it was last year. It's on Amazon Prime and season two this year. I mean, every teenager knows this show. I'm like such a teenager. But, like, love these kind of shows. As you know, it's a little cheesy, but it's like you get into it because it's just such a good story. It's a book, so you can kind of understand why it was made into a picture or into a series. So one of the nights we just stayed in and had pizza or whatever, went over to Courtney's house, and she's got two teenage girls who were watching it. And a lot of the family friends were all these girls. They're all well, yeah, it was the finale came out that night. So one of Courtney's daughters was like, oh, do you want to watch it? Because I was talking to them about it because I'd like to get all the teens insights on the show about this and that and what they think about it. So we all sat around and watched the show, and it was so fun watching it with them because hearing their reactions and all the music, a lot of it is Taylor Swift. So it was just so fun to watch a show with teenagers who the show is pretty much made for. And it was just like a fun memory. I loved it. It sounds we're all, like, in our sweats.

Katie Chandler: Yeah, it sounds like such a chill vacation where you were just at ease and relaxed and you're not running anywhere, right?

Amy Sherman: Yeah, exactly.

Katie Chandler: Earlier, were you in a house with multiple families or did you guys have.

Amy Sherman: Your no, we were just like in a kind of a condo.

Katie Chandler: Yeah. And then other people were there in their other you would connect. Yeah. That's so nice.

Amy Sherman: Yeah. And then we would just meet up, which is nice. You kind of have your own space and whatever. So that was good. And then yeah, earlier in the summer was in Utah Resort, which is, again, like, we had an agenda because there were things we wanted to do, but it was very relaxing, very remote, very almost like a retreat, in a way. And we did boating on Lake Powell, and we did hiking and we went into the canyons and it was just stunning. It was like so my vibe, like the whole desert and the heat and the dry air and all the hiking, and I just loved it. We were there for a couple of days and it was just so rejuvenating.

Katie Chandler: And that was just you and Stu? No, kids.

Amy Sherman: Stu and I, because the kids were.

Katie Chandler: Yeah, and all the easier to go and do all of those things when it's just the two of you. That's what it's all about when you're on a trip, just the two of you.

Amy Sherman: I don't think it was probably too chill for them. I don't know. I mean, maybe they would have liked it, but probably not. And yeah, we did like, spa stuff and just chilled. I mean, we went for our 20th anniversary.

Katie Chandler: So nice.

Amy Sherman: It was special.

Katie Chandler: And the sickest celebrity spotting ever. Tell our listeners.

Amy Sherman: Yes, we saw Angelina Jolie, so that was really fun. She was sitting next to us at dinner with her whole family, all very well behaved. They were, like, having such a good time. Nice family. No one was bothering them because it's not that kind of place. It's really small and remote, and everyone's cool about that. So that was amazing. She was stunning in person and not as tall as I thought she was. Probably like maybe my height. A little bit taller.

Katie Chandler: Really?

Amy Sherman: Five, six. I always thought she was super tall. I know she looks tall, but she's not. She's just, like, really thin, has that stature. But yeah, that was really cool. And yeah, it's just a great place just to disconnect. Be out in the mountains, be out in that environment. Really quiet. Very quiet there. Very still, and just yeah, really grounding.

Katie Chandler: Sounds great.

Amy Sherman: It was incredible. It was just so beautiful.

Katie Chandler: The summer flew by.

Amy Sherman: But anyway, back to product cookies. We have a couple of things, just some fun things that we've been wanting to review because we haven't done a show. I don't know. I think we did 1 July, maybe, but we might have missed August. So we are back and here to talk about some products we're loving right now. So I will start with you, Katie.

Katie Chandler: Okay, this first one. All right, so this is actually kind of funny because you're going to have to tell me if either of us have already talked about some of these, because it could be possible. But this first one is from our fave Erica Taylor. Right?

Amy Sherman: Yeah. Found was obviously coming soon. Coming soon.

Katie Chandler: I follow her on TikTok and Insta. And she suggested this makeup forever. HD Skin Twist and Light.

Amy Sherman: Oh, I've seen her talk about that. No, you haven't reviewed this. I must hear it's.

Katie Chandler: Really good. So the coolest thing about it, first.

Amy Sherman: Of all wait, repeat the name so our listeners can hear what's it called.

Katie Chandler: It's a makeup forever. HD skin twist and light. 24 Hours luminous Finishing Powder. And it is in this container that the bottom twists, and you just tap it when you twist it open, and it puts out the perfect little amount of powder that you need at the bottom there. And then you dip your brush in, and your brush isn't, like, drenched with too much powder. It's like the perfect amount. And the interesting thing is the colors. It's pink powder, blue powder, and kind of like a pearlescent color powder. But that's the whole thing. These pink powders are the finishing powders. Right. So it's not just like your usual one that matches your concealer. It's totally different because it's all about reflecting light and everything. And this one exactly, they have four different shades. This is the light shade, 1.0 light, and it's really beautiful. It finishes.

Amy Sherman: What does blue powder do? I've never heard of that. I didn't realize there was I don't know exactly.

Katie Chandler: I think it's all about radiance light reflecting the pink blurs, and I think the blue maybe reflects the light. So when I put it on, can.

Amy Sherman: You mix them together?

Katie Chandler: Yeah, that's the whole point. When you shake it, all three different colors go at the bottom.

Amy Sherman: They all come next. Yeah. Cool.

Katie Chandler: And it really is like I also do my contouring with it, but I really feel like when the light hits my face, it hits all the places that you want. Like, it hits the high cheekbones and the center of the forehead and the bridge of the nose and the cupid's bow on the lips, because I'm finishing with this. When I don't finish with it, I.

Amy Sherman: Don'T feel that as the last thing you put on.

Katie Chandler: It's the last thing I put on before my setting spray. Yeah, exactly.

Amy Sherman: Okay.

Katie Chandler: Yeah, it's really good.

Amy Sherman: Yeah, it's funny. I, on the recommendation of Erica, also got the Westminutelier Pink powder, but it's pressed it's like that little gold, and she raves about that one, too, but it's a little bit different because it's not loose. I always forget about it, but I need to use that more. But yeah, same idea. It just kind of like, blurs everything out, but I'm shy with it. I always get nervous to use too much. I don't know why, but that's good to know about that. Powder because I've seen her talk about that many times and it looks amazing when she does it.

Katie Chandler: I'm obsessed with it. Absolutely.

Amy Sherman: You just need, like a little bit.

Katie Chandler: The littlest bit. This is going to last me a very long time. My only complaint is that it's like clunky. It's not great for travel, but that's it.

Amy Sherman: I wonder if they have a smaller version or something.

Katie Chandler: Yeah, it would be nice. I mean, this is what their website says. A three in one luminous finishing powder that instantly unifies, corrects and revives your complexion while delivering 24 hours radiance and blurring. And I tell you, that's exactly what it does. It also is nice because it kind of like it helps blend my makeup, too, at the end.

Amy Sherman: What brush do you use with it? Because that's the other thing I use.

Katie Chandler: That I big, fat, loose, like, not tightly compact brush.

Amy Sherman: I don't have a brush like that. Yeah, I need to invest in that.

Katie Chandler: I have those triangle, like the triangle makeup powder pads. I know what you're talking about.

Amy Sherman: Yeah, I guess it's a powder powder pad. So I have that. But I didn't use it that much because I feel like I don't know how to use that.

Katie Chandler: Yeah, I feel like those things make it too cakey. It puts it on too heavy, like a big loose brush. You just need a light dusting.

Amy Sherman: A light dust. Yes. Okay, good to know. Well, maybe you'll have to do a video and show our listeners how you use it.

Katie Chandler: Yeah, I will. What do you have?

Amy Sherman: Well, these kind of well, let's see. We're talking about skin. So I'll start with this. Because this is an everyday staple, I wanted to try a new SPF. So this is an SPF 50 plus. It's called Beauty of I don't even know how to pronounce it. Beauty of Joseph Josene. It's like a K beauty brand. Have you seen this?

Katie Chandler: Okay, kind of, yeah. Not really.

Amy Sherman: It's called relief. Sun, rice and probiotics. SPF 50. I've seen it a lot reviewed or just like, here and there. I think you can get on Amazon. But I actually bought it because Natasha B, who we've had on the show Beauty Junkie Monkey, had recommended I believe she recommended this brand, or she recommended a website for other products and they happen to have this. And I just wasn't sure if it was legitimate on Amazon because it's like a K beauty brands and you just don't know if you're getting the right thing. But anyway, needless to say, it's a really nice SPF. It's very thin. It does not feel like SPF. It feels like a moisturizer, like a light moisturizer. No smell at all.

Katie Chandler: Oh, nice.

Amy Sherman: And it's really nice. It gives, like, a little bit of a glow. And so I've been using this almost like, as a moisturizer instead of putting on moisturizer and then SPF, or like I know you could do like, a moisturizer with SPF. I've just almost been using this as a moisturizer and doing it as my last step, and I'll mix it with, like, glow drops or something like that, but it's just like a really nice, thin, inexpensive SPF. It's $18 on their website, and you can get a two pack for 30. And this really lasts a long time. So I've been just using this lately. Like I was just saying, when I was at the beach, I just used this in the morning and at night, it's just so easy, and it's nice. And like I said, thin and radiant. And it's a really nice K beauty product. So that's that I also bought. I'm not reviewing it because I'm still testing. It an eye cream that has a little bit of retinol in it. So I'm testing that out too, from this brand, Beauty of Josine. It's J-O-S-E-O-N. We'll put it in the show notes.

Katie Chandler: I'm excited to hear about that eye cream. Is it something that you only use at night because it is retinol?

Amy Sherman: Yeah.

Katie Chandler: Okay.

Amy Sherman: Yeah.

Katie Chandler: Nice.

Amy Sherman: An eye cream so far. I like it very light.

Katie Chandler: All right, well, speaking of Natasha beauty junkie monkey, I always say it backwards. Beauty monkey junkie. I said it right the first time. I think she was the one that has taught me about matrixal in Argyline or Argaline.

Amy Sherman: Yep.

Katie Chandler: So I picked it up from the Ordinary because I actually saw I was in the city, and they have a store, which I didn't even know, and it's like, you can't beat the prices for the Ordinary. And so this is a two for one. I'll review both of them quickly. The matrixal I use at night and.

Amy Sherman: The I didn't even know the Ordinary had matrixal.

Katie Chandler: Yes, they do. It's matrixal 10% plus hyaluronic acid. And then the argaline. Argoline solution 10%, you use during the day or, like, anytime someone's going to see you. This is literally what the woman said to me. She's like, use this before putting on makeup or going out and being out. She's like, it's instant. The whole idea of the Ardea line is that it's supposed to instantly freeze your face and you're not supposed to see the fine lines and wrinkles as much. And then the matrixal you can also use during the day. But I found it's just a little too heavy under my makeup. I don't like it, so I use it at night. I will say this, my botox has stretched. I haven't had it done since the end of April, and normally by this point, I would be running to get more, and I'm feeling like it's okay. I don't need to hustle in. And these are the two things that I've been doing differently, and I started using them, I want to say three months. I used it all summer. My skin is definitely, like, plumper, it's firmer, and I don't see the fine lines and wrinkles as much as I was before. I really don't.

Amy Sherman: Really? Okay, so you use the matrixal you said at night and use the do you use the Arger line at night or morning?

Katie Chandler: No, it's funny, I was using it at night and the woman at the store said, you're using it wrong. She said you literally just want to use it when you're going to be seen. She's like, when you're going out.

Amy Sherman: So.

Katie Chandler: It'S like an instant acting is the idea.

Amy Sherman: Okay. Because I have it and I use it at night, and I probably am doing it wrong. I thought it was something more like a matrixal where the more you use it, your skin kind of changes from it. Right. So this is just more like a treatment.

Katie Chandler: It's more like a treatment where they're claiming it literally kind of freezes the area.

Amy Sherman: That's what Natasha says. She says she calls it like botox in a bottle.

Katie Chandler: Exactly. And I really feel like, I mean, I need to put a disclaimer out. I think it's only fair I have a filter on right now, so I don't look like I have any fine lines or wrinkles, but I actually do. So this stuff works. I like it. And it's like the prices are phenomenal.

Amy Sherman: Yeah, that's ridiculous because I bought the topology ones.

Katie Chandler: But so cheap.

Amy Sherman: You put it just around your eyes or do you put it everywhere?

Katie Chandler: I put it everywhere. I put both of them everywhere. And I really try to focus on my I always drop the adjourne, like, here on the wrinkle foreheads and the eleven s and around the eyes and around the smile lines.

Amy Sherman: Yeah, that's what I do for the Adira line. And the matrixal I put everywhere. But that's good to know. I'm going to try it now in the morning because I've been just putting it on at night, and that probably does it not doing it. And the matrixal I put on at night, but I'm going to try the adrialine in the morning. Okay, good to know, good to know, good to know. Okay, I'll continue on the skincare route. So I'm sure you've seen this everywhere, and it's something I've been wanting to try forever, but now I can review it because I've been using it for a while. Snail mucin. You've seen this everywhere, I'm sure, right?

Katie Chandler: Oh, snail mucin. Wait, that's so funny. Okay, I'll tell you why in a second, but yes, I've been hearing that all about it. Tell me.

Amy Sherman: Yeah, so it's the COSRX advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power essence, the one that you see, like, on TikTok and everywhere. And I'd been wanting to try it, and I finally tried it and I love it. It is so hydrating. So I have such dry skin. Right? So this is just so much better than a hyaluronic, because a hyaluronic, it's good, but it's not like as serumy. You just kind of put it on, and it's helpful. This is just, like, super hydrating. I use it morning and night. It makes my skin glow, look smooth. I put it on at night, like, after retinol or whatever, just to seal it in. I'll put it on in the morning before my moisturizer. I've been having really good success with it. I mean, my skin hasn't like, a lot of people I've seen reviewing it online has said their skin has changed from it. I don't know if my skin's changed yet, but it's definitely looking better. But I love it. Like, you almost don't need anything else. It's thick, and you kind of just like you put in your hands and kind of rub it and then just tap it on your face, and it just gives a really nice hydration I put on my neck too.

Katie Chandler: Love your skin. Does look like hydrated right now. You know that glass skin situation that people are do you feel like you get that with it?

Amy Sherman: Oh, definitely.

Katie Chandler: Nice.

Amy Sherman: Definitely. It definitely gives you that glass skin. It definitely gives you that glow. And I don't know what it's doing, like, how deep it's going into the skin, but I have heard people saying that people that have used it for a really long time, it has changed their skin and made it a lot smoother. More hydrated, less wrinkles, et cetera. So it's just a really good add on to anything else that you're using.

Katie Chandler: How much is it? I'm going to order it through our show notes, which is what all of our listeners should be doing, too.

Amy Sherman: About $20, depending on where you get it. And I just noticed they have a travel size, if you want to just order it and try it, but I've been really happy with it. I think it's probably better for people with dry skin, but I think this will also be really nice going into the fall and winter. So I'm really excited about it, and I'm glad I finally tried it, along with everybody else who's talking about it online. It's kind of a joke, but it actually does work and is really nice. It's just like a thick serum. You just put it on and you're good to go. I want to hear what you think about it, though, when you try it.

Katie Chandler: Yeah, I'm excited to try it. All right, so my next one, which is my last one, is this is a first. I have a product junkies retraction statement coming. I have talked about a product, and I didn't like it before. And, yeah, I started using it because I needed something like it. Didn't have it didn't have time to shop for it. So I said, Let me give it another shot, and I retract everything I say that was negative. It is a good product, and this product is the Milani Make It Last original natural finish setting spray. All right, now, I think the reason why I didn't like it before was because I didn't have something like my makeup Forever Setting Powder. And also my skin was a little bit oilier at the time, and now my skin is less greasy and I feel like I know how to use it better because if you spray it on and after I spray this on. I then go in with my matte powder puff finishing powder, and I hit the high spots that you don't want to be shiny this first or you do the powder first? No. So I do my makeup forever. Finishing powder. Then I do my then you do setting spray. Then I get out my compact powder that is like normal powder that's like the color of your concealer.

Amy Sherman: Oh, like a matte powder. Yeah.

Katie Chandler: And I go in and I just take away the shine spots where I don't want the shine.

Amy Sherman: Okay.

Katie Chandler: The reason why I am really retracting what I'm saying is because since I've gone back to work, I've been using this every single day, and my makeup is and also, by the way, I'm a fit model. I take clothes on and off all day that wipes my makeup every time I pull a shirt off. I try not to, but it happens a lot. And my makeup is still on and solid by the end of my full day of fittings.

Amy Sherman: So it's good. Yeah, that's good to know. Yeah, it's just so funny with a lot of these products, and it's good that you retry them because a lot of it is user error. I feel like there was something I was trying recently, and then I saw online you're not supposed to use it with vitamin C. Like it doesn't work or something. Maybe it was I don't know if it was matrixal or something, but I was like, oh, who knew? So good to know. I'll have to try it. I have the morphe setting spray, which I like. I don't use setting spray that much, but good to know for when I do want to use.

Katie Chandler: Yeah, I love it because I really like my contour to stay, and that helps.

Amy Sherman: Yeah, you're good at the contour. Okay, so over the summer, if you're following our Instagram page, I put this in my stories. But I was in New York and I saw a vending machine for Kylie Cosmetics.

Katie Chandler: Nice.

Amy Sherman: I don't know if you remember seeing that. And I walked by and I was like, OOH, I love those beauty vending machines. And I only usually see the one for benefit, but Kylie Cosmetics had one. I've never tried Kylie Cosmetics, not really in the demo. But I saw the vending machine, I'm like, oh, that looks so fun. So anyway, she has these lip kits, which is like a lip liner and a gloss. And you know how the Kardashians and Kylie, they're known for that beautiful matte nude lip? So I bought a lip kit, and it's called bear. Okay. So it's a matte lip kit. Okay. So here's the gloss. It's like a matte gloss. And here's the liner. It is so pretty. So I'm going to put it on, but I can't really do it without a mirror. But just to give you a sense. So you do the liner. I think it's how much was this? Let me tell you, it was $35 for both, like, for the kit and then here's, I really like the gloss.

Katie Chandler: Oh, that's pretty.

Amy Sherman: Isn't that pretty?

Katie Chandler: Yeah.

Amy Sherman: I like it because all the glosses I have are glossy. And this is a nice mat.

Katie Chandler: Yeah. And it's interesting that it's, like, a little bit lighter than the liner. So it's a kit. It came together. That's cool.

Amy Sherman: Which is good. No guesswork.

Katie Chandler: Yeah, exactly.

Amy Sherman: I totally butchered this.

Katie Chandler: But it's a good nude, though.

Amy Sherman: It's a really pretty nude. It was like I wore it all summer, like when I traveled. I just brought this, and I have one gloss that I always use from Tom Ford. And sometimes if I wanted a little bit more of a shine, I would just put that over it, but it just enhanced it. But this is such a nice daytime. Nighttime. And it's called the Matte Lip Kit. And this one's in called it says Matte Lip kit Bear. But it explains it as a light pink nude. But it's so funny when you go on the website or you look at this vending machine, there's like a million nudes, so you really have to find the right one for you. So I just took a guess. I'm sure there's other ones that may even look better, but this one's really nice. Just simple nude, beautiful. And I just like that it comes with the pencil, so you don't have to guess. And you just have a set, and it's inexpensive. And there are a bazillion colors. And I like the matte as a nice change because I feel like sometimes nude looks better when it's matte. Just makes your lips look a little nicer. So anyway, that was my two for one last recommendation.

Katie Chandler: Nice.

Amy Sherman: Back to school. This is good for just, like, running out of a house, keeping in your car, keeping it in your bag. It's a good one. So big fan. Kylie Cosmetics.

Katie Chandler: It's so smart that she put those vending machines in all the airports and know it's.

Amy Sherman: I'm surprised I haven't seen it.

Katie Chandler: I've been I've seen it a few times over the last couple of years. I want to say, like, maybe the last two years, I've seen it a couple of times. Really smart. Nice. I'm going to check.

Amy Sherman: And now that I'm on the website and I'm looking, there's so many pretty colors that I want to try. And when you feel it on your lips, it feels like nothing. It's like really light, really lightweight.

Katie Chandler: Nice.

Amy Sherman: Yeah. So that is our product junkies for September. We're excited to be. Back into the swing and hope you all had great summers and let us know what products you want us to review next. We're loving these right now and hope back to school and everyone's summers is great. Bye. 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.

Episode 118 - How To Balance Your Hormones? Find Out From Holistic Hormone Expert Marisa Faye - Part 2 (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 118.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here.

Amy 0:06

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. I'm Amy Sherman.

Speaker 2 0:18

And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation

Speaker 2 0:27

you had mentioned earlier? Well, I guess I had mentioned earlier my cholesterol and but you had mentioned that cholesterol and hormones are related. And I would love to talk about that a little bit.

Speaker 3 0:37

Yeah, so a lot of times, your body will, first of all cholesterol, the vast majority of it your body makes, it's another one of those things very critical. You need it for healthy cell walls, you would die without it. So cholesterol is so important, your body makes most of it very little of it, you actually get from food. So the whole idea of donate eggs, because of the cholesterol police, anybody who says that to ask them where they learned that and if they've studied 1000s of hours of nutrition, because they probably haven't. So this is really important to know, what you're eating impacts your cholesterol if what you're eating is very inflammatory, right. So if you're eating a lot of those highly palatable foods, a lot of super processed foods right, then that's important. If you're exposed to a lot of toxic chemicals, you know, a lot of my clients who, for example, work in like a hair salon. That's a lot of chemical exposure they have right, so that could cause dysfunction there. But in general, if you have a relatively healthy diet, and frankly, even if you're just a woman who is aging, because this can be part of the process, it's very likely cholesterol is going to go up. And in fact, it's protective to do so in women especially. But the threshold for high cholesterol and functional medicine is much much higher than I think it is in western medicine and Western medicine, you can go back and look that guideline has changed over time based on them wanting to prescribe not based on any new data, not based on any high quality studies, nothing like that it's completely because of a desire to want to sell a medication. And not only that, but cholesterol is absolutely critical as we age and protective as we age because it is at the top of the steroid hormone pathway. So what I mean by that is you have to have enough cholesterol in order to make a whole bunch of other hormones. So any hormone you think of as like a female hormone, you need it for that any hormone you think of as a stress hormone, you need it for that. And there are plenty of other hormones too, that really need that presence and thrive from that. So if you don't make enough cholesterol, all these other things downstream are going to be lower potentially, or the body's going to do funky things like it's going to shovel it down one pathway but not the other. So it's going to make potentially more testosterone and not enough cortisol right or something like that. It's going to start to do wonky things. So when a woman has higher cholesterol, we have to first look downstream and see, well, what's going on with all these other hormones, is there potentially an issue there and perhaps a feedback loop where the body is saying, we're not making enough thyroid, like Knock Knock, knock, we need more. So let's make more cholesterol, right. So that can often be something I see actually, in women as they age, where thyroid is looking like it's being a little bit suppressed. I see cholesterol sometimes goes up. And that's I think part of what's happening. But cholesterol really gets demonized and villainized. And, in particular, when we look at women, the vast majority of women, based on the studies we've seen and what we know statins do, do not benefit from taking statins, the vast majority. And that is not medical advice, you have to make anybody listening, you have to make the choice that is right for your body. But I would just really encourage you to truly go on PubMed, look at the literature or talk to somebody like me who's looked at that literature have the conversations. So you can make a more informed choice to know if you're somebody who truly can benefit. Or if you're somebody who has a downstream hormone issue or a liver issue, because that's a big part of it because of where cholesterol is made and how it's used. And those are the things that need to be addressed. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 4:05

Do you have somebody because I have a lot.

Amy 4:08

Yeah, you go, and then I have something I want to circle back on from earlier. Okay, go ahead.

Speaker 2 4:12

So what you're saying is that if you do have like a hormonal imbalance that could affect your cholesterol and cause it to go higher than it needs to be. And so instead of a doctor checking your hormones, they just hand you a statin, it's not necessarily going to fix the problem. Yes.

Speaker 3 4:28

Correct. Okay. And not only is it not going to fix the problem, there are a lot of potentially negative side effects if you stay on it long.

Speaker 2 4:34

Yes, that sounds like me, like everything I've just realized. So isn't that funny? And I just was reading about a study and this is just for the listener regarding statins. It was a study that showed like they're very effective for people that are already deep into heart disease like versus preventative. The preventative this study showed that if you took a statin preventatively it added four days to your life for days. That's it like, it's insane. Like, what's, what's the point? So anyway, I digress. I just wanted to get that out there. Amy, what were you? Okay?

Speaker 3 5:09

There's cool studies too, that actually look at women and show it actually takes time off your life potential. So, and this is the whole thing where women and I mean, female, right? female sex physiology, very different than male, when it comes to this.

Amy 5:25

Interesting. Okay, so we could go on and like, we'll probably need you back for part two, because we have so many other things. But can we just talk to our listeners and give them some simple tips for hormonal balance that they can do right away? Like, obviously, there's the button all the other stuff we talked about, but like, what some simple things? Yes.

Speaker 3 5:42

Okay. So first and foremost, protein, protein, and more protein. So protein is your friend and kind of how I've touched on a few times in small ways, but muscle right, muscle is the most beneficial thing for you to nourish, and try to grow within your body. So high quality protein, and at least having three really high quality meals every day with at least 30 grams of animal based protein. And yes, I am that specific that it's animal based. Part of that is because

Amy 6:14

so not a shake with protein, we mean, yes, meat chicken, yes,

Speaker 3 6:18

this, you know, you could do a shape that has a protein that's like I use like a grass fed beef isolate. But something that is a complete protein. By the way, collagen is not a complete protein, so it doesn't count towards that goal. But you could get a really high quality, truly animal derived protein powder, and that could be okay for somebody. But it may not be as satisfying and satiating, but at least 30 grams of an animal based protein breakfast, lunch and dinner. Okay, really important, it's going to help with insulin regulation that's going to help with hormone production is going to help with your appetite it's going to help with so so many things, sleep potentially, like just so many things. So really important that you're getting enough protein in throughout the day. So that's key, first and foremost. Second of all, you need to be eating within an hour of waking up. This whole idea of depriving yourself of food, and it's good. If you wake up and you're not hungry is a lie. A healthy body wakes up and is hungry within about an hour of waking that is a healthy metabolic response. And anytime we're talking about metabolic response, we're talking about healthy hormones. So that's really key. We want to be eating that first high protein meal within an hour of waking up, which means coffee, caffeine, even your matcha happens after breakfast not before

Speaker 2 7:36

is I've been hearing that more often. And that's because of like cortisol spikes and things like that. Is that part of that as well?

Speaker 3 7:42

It can it can be but it's also because it can dis regulate blood sugar. And it also can be used as a tool for appetite suppressant, right? So a lot of women will use it so that they don't have to eat. And when you don't feel your body when it really needs it after it's done a lot of hard work restoring overnight, right? When you deny it, that it's not a good thing.

Amy 8:05

Yeah, I also heard that just drinking and I'm so guilty of it. But drinking coffee on an empty stomach just isn't good for your gut, right acids and things like that

Speaker 3 8:15

very acidic, right? And a lot of women as they age start to do more and more with reflux. And most instances of reflux are actually low stomach acid, not high stomach acid. And so putting coffee into an environment like that is rough. That is rough. Yeah.

Amy 8:32

Yeah, I'm very guilty of this. I'm very guilty of not eating breakfast, because I am truly not hungry in the morning because I'm not a morning person. But I have to really force myself, which was actually it's funny when I was talking about my vacation on vacation. I had breakfast every morning. I mean, I don't know if I felt any different. But I was eating like a proper breakfast every morning, which is probably better. But I just Yeah, I got to work on that. Yeah, well, better

Speaker 3 8:57

body to to do that. So if you're somebody who's coming from like, where you are, Amy, you know, you don't have to jump right to that 30 grams of protein for breakfast, you could do something smaller, right. So a lot of clients. And I also teach this to the women in my course, like you could do a small protein rich snack. So you could do, you know, three quarters of a cup of Greek yogurt with some berries within an hour of waking, right. And the ultimate goal is that over time through doing that you start teaching your body because our body is really smart and it wants to be on that rhythm. It actually wants to be on a rhythm with the sun if we're getting very technical. So when you are waking up, you're exposing yourself to sunlight, your body is going to start to know Oh, okay, I'm going to be hungry here soon and I'm gonna get fuel soon. I'm gonna get nutrients soon. And I like that. And so you're gonna start to actually prime that appetite and make that a part of your regular life.

Amy 9:48

Yeah, I think for me, too. I get lazy and I don't want to make anything so like what's your point? Like? I have hard boiled eggs all the time. So like I could just eat that. I was just trying to find things that I can grab because I don't necessarily feel like spending the time to make anything. But um, yeah, that's a very good thing to remember. And I'm actually not I'm thinking about it. I was eating like, a nice proper breakfast lunch dinner. And I didn't find myself like hungry or craving any like snacks in between, because I was probably very satiated. So it's almost like I gotta force myself to eat even though I don't feel hungry.

Speaker 3 10:22

Yeah, definitely two more tips that are really good. One is yes, close your vegetables, cook them, stop it. Like, we're not robbing it like. So one of the most amazing things you can do is start to look at food and think about like, is this nourishing for my body. And when you think of the word nourishing, I want you to think of warming since warming my body, because as we age, and this is borrowed from Chinese medicine, but as we age our body cools off. But we also see that actually, when we monitor our body temperature, we can sometimes see that happen over time. But if you're having slower digestion, right, if you're having hormone dysfunction, and you're a woman, you're likely having things slow down, right, not get faster. So when we have things slowing down, we want to keep it warm. We want to keep it supple, we want to keep it moving, right? You're not going to do that by throwing cold things in your body all day long. So really, truly, first of all, ditch the freakin fiber powders like that is not most people's problem for the record. And a cup to two cups of cooked vegetables, lunch and dinner. could change your world.

Speaker 2 11:32

Interesting. I love cooked vegetables. But yeah, it's but you have to like, you got to do it. You got to take the time to cook them and do it

Amy 11:39

right. Or you could do like a like a chicken broth. What's it called? Like a chicken broth? Because that has protein right. And it's warming bone broth.

Unknown Speaker 11:48

You couldn't you know, I mean bone broth. Sorry.

Speaker 3 11:51

To have frozen vegetables, like no shame in my game. Get the frozen vegetables like those are pre cooked. Throw me to pan they'll heat up in two minutes. You're done. Yeah,

Amy 11:59

totally. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay, what's the next one's a really good reminder. Okay,

Speaker 3 12:04

the next one is you've got to get serious about your toxin exposure. And so many of us are trying to be really mindful of, for example, drinking enough water. And we're not paying enough attention to what's in our water, right. Or we're really mindful about getting into skincare and keeping our skin really nourished. But we're not paying attention to what's in our skincare. So it's time to really prioritize the things that I like to say the things our bodies is going to absorb the most stuff that are either going into your body or staying on your body for a long time, are really the things you want to prioritize first replacing if it feels daunting to do this. And I really, really recommend, first of all, bread is not enough your fridge filters, not enough. It's not enough, a whole house filter in many cases is not enough, you need a much higher quality, quality water, really important. And you also need better skincare products, friends. And there are easy ways to do that. So ew G the Environmental Working Group, they have a fantastic app or website called skin deep. There's also an app called Think dirty. And there are a number of other apps. So you can play with the ones and find the ones you like. And you can go through everything you have and use when it comes to personal care and see where it rates and try to find upgrades. And then when it comes to water filters, there are a couple that I really liked. But it depends a little bit on your water quality. So check your water quality. So Ew, g.org/tap water, you can check and see what is in your water personally. And then you can choose a filter that's going to work the best for you. For example, there's fluoride in my water. So I want to filter that out because fluoride is a neurotoxin, and damaging to our thyroid and I have history of a thyroid issue. So I filter out fluoride and that was really important for me. But I have clients who live places where they don't add fluoride to the water so they wouldn't need something that had that extra capability.

Amy 13:55

A quick mention I wanted to say two things. We did an episode a couple months ago with a company called Million marker that does all of this measurement arounds endocrine disruptors in the house, so it's a really interesting episode to get tips around how to do this in simple ways around your house, what you're putting on etc. And I also use an app called yaka y UK, which is similar to think dirty, which is also really eye opening. And that's made me make better choices too. So good thing to like, go back to that episode and listen, and yeah, it's really important. Those three tips are really helpful,

Speaker 3 14:30

too, by the way that this going through your toxin exposure is important is because of Xeno estrogens. So these are synthetic hormone like substances that are in all of these different kinds of toxins that are in all these kinds of products and in our environment. And literally in your body. Your body will try to plug it into the same place that it's going to plug estrogen in so then you have a toxic substance being plugged in there. And that is why they're so problematic. And this is also very critical to anybody dealing with any kind of hormone issue and it's why it's it's a whole module in my DIY course because it's so darn important like you really, you can't avoid it.

Speaker 2 15:06

Speaking of your DIY course, I want our listeners to know exactly how they can find you. So, we found you on Instagram. What's your Instagram handle? Reminds me again. Yes. So

Speaker 3 15:17

I'm at Marissa Fay wellness. So one s Mar Isa, and then fe, fe y e wellness, and I'm on Tiktok and instagram with that username

Speaker 2 15:26

and your you teach a course or you have a course available and you also work, one to one with clients as well, correct?

Speaker 3 15:34

I do yeah, I do both. So if you want to check out the course, you can go to balanced hormone blueprint.com. And if you want to learn a little bit more about me and potentially working one on one with me, you can go to Marissa feiyr.com. And also just something special for anybody listening, I have a free training, it is over an hour long. So this is like jam packed. And you can get lots of info and tips from here. But I have a free training all about three secrets to balanced hormones. And you can pick that up at bit.ly/hormone training. And because people have trouble with this, I'm just going to spell out the bit.ly. It's B I T period, l y slash and then hormone training.

Amy 16:14

That's great. Is that all of your website as well?

Speaker 3 16:16

It's actually I'm web redesigning my website, which has been a month long. Yeah, so it's it will be there. It is not okay.

Amy 16:25

But good to have the direct link. Yeah.

Speaker 2 16:28

Yeah, we know how we know all about building out that website takes time. So

Amy 16:33

super quickly before before you leave us let's do a quick wrap session because I'm sure our listeners are dying to know, what is your favorite wellness or beauty hack.

Speaker 3 16:42

I mean, my favorite hack is literally what you do on the inside takes care of the outside. So it really is hydration with good water and minerals. You got to add nutrients there and these balanced meals that are really the cornerstone of what I do throughout the day. And then on top of that, really I'm a huge fan of natural kind of medicinal skincare. So I lately have been using bee products on my face. And I'm obsessed with it. I feel like it's moisturizing and glowy and just so good.

Speaker 2 17:15

What is this B product is that the brand? The brand is the product? No,

Speaker 3 17:18

it's not actually what I'm using right now is a jar I got in Greece, but I do use oh my god, what is the brand beekeepers natural so I do use a number of their products but I really like to use like royal jelly. Things that have like BEE POLLEN groundup and in them as long as you don't have an allergy to bees or pollen. Even a little bit of me so a little bit of honey with some good olive oil. That's great facemask like, yes, yes.

Speaker 2 17:48

Okay. All right, this next one we call it our five minute flow you just got out of the shower and dried off an Uber has pinged you they're five minutes away. What are you going to do to like quickly get it together, get you know, your look on and get out the door and in that Uber on time?

Speaker 3 18:03

I mean, moisturize always right, it was one of those things I just mentioned for sure. And then I love a I love a beauty knockoff hack. Like I love a good product that's less expensive and not more toxic. And so I love like tart has a lot of products I love even elf has a number of lower toxin products. So I'm gonna like put some foundation on, put some mascara on, put some lip gloss on and a little bronzer and get out the door. So that's kind of my, my thing that I focus on.

Amy 18:37

And how do you maintain your daily nirvana?

Unknown Speaker 18:39

Oh, I try. I don't know if I do it.

Amy 18:44

Well, maybe your water drinking. I mean,

Speaker 3 18:47

no, honestly, I feel like my morning sets me up for my day. So I really am a fan of wake up and get outside. You don't have to walk by the way. Literally, I sit outside. And oftentimes I'll listen to meditation or calm music, although sometimes I don't sometimes I'm on my phone, right, which nobody's admitting, but it's true. So I get though, almost as soon as I wake up, I do a meditation in the morning and I do walk in the morning and I think that is really big to set me up for a day where like, I'm ready and focused and I can be at peace.

Speaker 2 19:22

Yeah, that sounds lovely. Alright, well, Marissa, thank you so much for being with us today. This was like a very eye opening episode. Yes, I know. I love it. This might end up being a two parter. Thanks for being with us. We really appreciate it. Well,

Unknown Speaker 19:35

thanks for having me.

Amy 19:38

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 will continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.

Episode 117 - How To Balance Your Hormones? Find Out With Tips From Holistic Hormone Expert Marisa Faye - Part 1 (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 117, Are Your Hormones Balanced? Find Out With Tips From Holistic Hormone Expert Marisa Faye - Part 1

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

[00:07] Amy Sherman: 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. I'm Amy Sherman.

[00:18] Katie Chandler: And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation. Welcome to the show. Nirvana Sisters family. We are back, and today we are sitting down with Marissa Faye. Marissa is a woman's hormone and gut health expert. She specializes in hormonal issues like PCOS, Hypothyroidism, weight loss, resistance, IBS, endometriosis, and a lot more. She's the founder of a robust online nutrition and wellness practice supporting women all over the world through her DIY, gut and hormone healing course, the Balanced Hormone Blueprint. Marissa holds a master's degree in public health board certification in holistic, nutrition, certification in functional nutrition therapy, certification in functional lab testing and interpretation, certification in hypnotherapy, which I want to ask about that. That's so interesting. And she's also certified in yoga and meditation. So Marissa is definitely a wellness guru.

[01:21] Marisa Faye: Ladies, thank you.

[01:23] Katie Chandler: A good person to chat with. So we cannot wait to get into this. So welcome, Marissa. Welcome to the show.

[01:29] Marisa Faye: Thanks so much for having me.

[01:31] Katie Chandler: Well, before we get started, let's do our Nirvana of the week. Amy, do you want to get us started?

[01:38] Speaker D: Sure, I can get us started. Welcome, Marissa. So excited to have you here. So my nirvana this week, I would say, well, kind of last week. Bleeding into this week. I was on vacation last week with my husband celebrating a milestone anniversary. It was our 20th anniversary, so that was amazing. And we were out west in Utah and Arizona, and it was just amazing. And we were unplugged and just relaxed, and it was just nice to get away and be completely just not having the everyday stuff going on. It was good to just reconnect and have a really nice, relaxing trip. So that was definitely my nirvana of last weekend. This week. It's bleeding into this week.

[02:20] Katie Chandler: What about you, Katie? Yeah, I know. Your trip was like one massive nirvana, every aspect of it. It's amazing. I was just thinking, I think mine. I had a really great piece of nirvana earlier in my week. I have new clients in the city, and I live close to Manhattan. Marissa and I'm training it into the city now, which is a new thing for me. And I was so afraid, like, how my energy would hold up. And I had a couple days in a row, really busy, in and out of the city, and I felt great. And that with my autoimmune conditions for my energy to hold up and to not crash as hard as I could, it really was. So I was literally dancing in the shower one evening because it was like 06:00 p.m., and I still felt good. Like, I went to the city, I worked, came back, cooked dinner for the kids.

[03:08] Speaker D: What's the secret what are you doing differently?

[03:10] Katie Chandler: You know what? It's actually kind of crazy, and we can get into it on another episode, but I stopped taking my statin, which we found out that was causing a lot of problems for me. So that's a whole other episode for another day.

[03:23] Speaker D: Interesting.

[03:23] Marisa Faye: Good. Yeah.

[03:24] Katie Chandler: I stopped my Statin, and since I stopped it, I have felt like I'm 25 again. That and hormones. Marissa, with you're here, actually, that is.

[03:32] Marisa Faye: Affecting your hormones, and I'm going to touch on that for you.

[03:35] Katie Chandler: Okay, good. All right, before we do that, I would love to hear your Nirvana of the week.

[03:39] Marisa Faye: So my nirvana of the week is opposite of yours, I want to say, because my Nirvana of the week was I had plans after work multiple days this week with friends to catch up, and for some reason or another, they just didn't happen. Someone canceled. Someone had a tire that blew. It was just things like that. Nothing happened to me, but it happened to all these other people. And so I wound up with extra downtime.

[04:02] Katie Chandler: Nice.

[04:03] Marisa Faye: And I was just like, yes, thank you. I will take this gift for sure.

[04:08] Katie Chandler: Extra downtime is always very welcomed, right? And rare.

[04:12] Marisa Faye: Yeah.

[04:12] Katie Chandler: Nice. Okay, well, let's get into it because we have so many questions, and as you just heard, hormones are very much at the forefront of my mind right now. So why don't we first just do a little 101? Let's discuss all of the hormones that are contributing to your imbalances, because I think we fail to realize that it's more than just, like, estrogen and testosterone. And there's a lot more.

[04:38] Marisa Faye: Yes, there are many hormones. So depending who you talk to, there are either 50 hormones or 200 hormones or hormone like substances. And I tend to go to that 200 camp because there are a lot of things that might behave like hormones but haven't been officially labeled as such. But a hormone really simply is just a chemical messenger. So they're little messengers in your body that move around and tell one thing to do something they somewhat other thing something did. Right. So it's kind of like imagine a game of telephone. Your hormones are like that, right? They're kind of going between all these different places to make things happen, which means there's also a lot of room for them to be impacted by things that aren't going right or things that are going right. Right. So this creates a lot of opportunity for different kinds of issues to come into the mix. And there are different categories of hormones. A lot of times when we're talking about hormone imbalances, we're talking about hormones from one of two categories. So one category is our steroid hormone pathway, which a lot of us think about, like, oh, okay, I can think about that. Like cortisol. Right? We're talking about stress hormones, and actually we're talking about estrogen. We're talking about progesterone. We're talking about testosterone. We're talking about all the related hormones pregnant, alone, DHEA, and most importantly, we're talking about cholesterol, because cholesterol is at the top of the chain for steroid hormones. So really important to know these different pathways and what could be impacting things. If you really want to get in the weeds on things, but if you don't want to get into the weeds, the most important thing for people to know is that hormones are a part of your endocrine system, which a lot of us shorthand will say our hormone system, right? But you need to know that your endocrine system is connected to the rest of your body, which means it's entirely impacted by everything else in your body. So the endocrine system is composed of a lot of glands that I like to say are delicate flowers. They're really easily impacted. Part of their beauty is how sensitive they are and how responsive they are. But also double edged sword, because they can be really like that best friend you have, right, who's super empathetic, and she's along for the journey with you when you tell her a story about something great that happened, but also when something terrible happened. And then she starts crying and you're like, well, hang on, it wasn't about you, right? It's very much like that. So a lot of times when we're talking about women's hormone imbalances, I really focus on seven of the most common ones because they're involved in the vast majority of hormone issues that women are having, and they are going to be high estrogen, low estrogen, low progesterone, high testosterone, insulin dysregulation. And that has become such a hot topic. Cortisol, dysregulation, thyroid dysfunction. So those are the seven biggies seven big hormones that we've got to be thinking about and talking about when it comes to hormone imbalances.

[07:30] Speaker D: What is the one you just mentioned? It was like the fourth or fifth one, the one you said and something I've never heard of that. What is that?

[07:38] Marisa Faye: High testosterone. Was that the one?

[07:40] Speaker D: No, sorry. It was the one that you said is getting a lot of insulin.

[07:44] Marisa Faye: Insulin Dysregulation.

[07:45] Speaker D: Oh, insulin. Oh, I didn't hear you. Insulin. Okay, got it.

[07:49] Katie Chandler: Just a quick sidebar. Everything that you just said, I've been learning a lot about it lately, and the fact that progesterone and things like that are precursors to cortisol, which is your stress hormone, was like a revelation for me. I'm sure you don't know this. I have Addison's disease, so I don't make cortisol. So I started using topical progesterone lately, and I was like, wow, where's this energy coming from? I feel great. And I think it's because of the whole chain, which is just so wild. So it's really good to talk to you because I think people don't understand how vastly responsible all of these hormones are and how much they affect every system in your body. It's wild. And millions of different symptoms. What are some symptoms that we will see with hormone imbalance?

[08:37] Marisa Faye: Yes, totally. And the other thing to know too, is that a lot of times if you go and change one hormone, you're going to change others. So sometimes that's wonderful. Like what you're probably experiencing is your thyroid hormone is a little happier is my guess, because progesterone and thyroid hormone, they're besties. So we have to always be mindful of that relationship too. But common symptoms. So first of all, depending on who you talk to and if you're working with a skilled practitioner or being educated by a skilled practitioner, like in my course, or when somebody works one on one with me, big value for me is education. But what you'll find is that there are a lot of potential symptoms that could link back to a hormone issue, but there are also just kind of these common buckets we think about and they tend to be things like sleep problems. So trouble falling asleep, trouble staying asleep, trouble feeling rested from sleep. Right? So things related to that, brain fog or issues focusing and concentrating, like ADHD and middle aged women is having a real moment right now. And while I think it is valid and probably true that there are many women who are under diagnosed, not everybody has ADHD. So there's a real hormone component here, actually, and a gut health component as well, which brings us to problems with your digestion. So Bloating, slow gut motility, distension, even things like acid reflux. So Cortisol is a big issue with acid reflux, actually. And we can see things as women go through perimenopause and on the other side are past menopause. We can see different kinds of symptoms crop up. And part of it does have to do with what's going on, with their lack of as much estrogen or progesterone potentially. So hormones are a part of that too. Mood swings, anxiety, low mood, feeling really stressed all the time, persistent headaches, migraines. We have our more sexual health related things like vaginal dryness or changes going on down there that are not typical, loss of sex drive, right, things like that. Skin issues, hormonal, acne, really strong body odor, lots of food cravings, feeling really overwhelmed all the time. Weight gain or what I think is typically more of a sign of hormone issue is like weight loss resistance, which is like your body just will not move. Right? And a lot of times we back ourselves into that corner through a history of dieting and undernourishing. But hormones are a big part of that, of course. Hot flashes, night sweats, which can happen at any point in your life, by the way, not just because you're going through menopause and changes in things like your breast tissue and tenderness there. And then actually you have an increased susceptibility to certain kinds of infections, viruses, bacteria and organisms if your hormones are imbalanced. So that's a whole lot. I know, I just talked a whole bunch, but that's a whole lot of things that could potentially be related to what's going on with hormones.

[11:26] Katie Chandler: I feel like Amy and I were both just.

[11:30] Speaker D: Oh, yeah, it's like Katie and I talk about this all the mean, and I'm sure our listeners can relate because so many of us go through this in various stages of our lives. But especially lately, at least for me, I've been mean. Katie knows this. It's like the brain fog is a real struggle. Tiredness I've been going through for years, stuff with just and I've been saying also for years that my hormones are off, but I couldn't really find the right kind of person to help me with it. And I found someone years ago who helped me a little bit. And then recently I actually just did like a whole panel and saw that everything was low. So I went to another specialist, and I'm actually, similar to Katie, I'm doing a cream, which I just started maybe like a month ago or three weeks ago for an estrogen cream, a testosterone cream, and a progesterone pill. It has helped me so much.

[12:26] Katie Chandler: We haven't had a chance, especially about that.

[12:28] Speaker D: I know we haven't talked about it, so I figured I'd fill you in. It's helped me so much. Brain fog, not as much, but with the tiredness and the energy level, like game changer. And actually it'll be interesting as a follow up because I just got my blood tested today. So I'm very interested to see if it's actually working, if it's in my head or if the numbers will change, because the doctor said that if it's working, the numbers will change. The one question I have, though, on it, and maybe you would know this, maybe you're not, I'm not sure, but I wasn't having night sweats or anything like that. More of just like the brain fog and the tiredness and the headaches and all that kind of stuff. I've noticed that recently I've had night sweats, and I'm like, is that new? Is that because of this? I've also had a little bit of breast tenderness to your point. So I was like, is that the hormones kind of working? What are your thoughts on that?

[13:22] Marisa Faye: Yeah, so it really depends. And your provider may have done all of this kind of in the order that we would typically do from a functional medicine standpoint. So kind of as a baseline for people just to know, first of all, bioidentical hormone replacement therapy makes sense for a lot of us at a certain point in our life, so I want to normalize that. But there are a lot of other types of hormone medications and therapies you can do that are not bioidentical. So it's really important that that word is part of the process. So that's really important. The next thing that's important is if you're still cycling, even if your cycle has a lot of time between it. So if you haven't gone a whole year without a period, or if you're one of the women who's on it and you kind of found you were going through perimenopause and got on this bioidentical hormone replacement therapy train, you actually probably would continue to bleed regularly if you're cycling hormones appropriately, which is not a bad thing, even though a lot of people find it annoying. Not a bad thing. But it's actually really important that you do testing that can look at more than just your blood work at one point in time, because your hormones fluctuate a ton when you are in phase of perimenopause. And perimenopause can last ten years. It's quite a long time, really. Yeah. And so really important that you're doing ideally comprehensive testing, something like a Dutch test or an extended saliva panel, something like that, where you're collecting multiple samples throughout a cycle or even just throughout a month, right. If you're still bleeding, even occasionally. So this is really important because we then get a better idea of what are hormones doing not just one day, one point in time, but throughout your kind of hormone life cycle. Right. Which is typically our cycle. So that's really important. One of the interesting things with night sweats is though, that a lot of times we hear about them in relation to, oh, your estrogen is going low. And I actually have found the opposite to be true. I have found that women tend to have night sweats when estrogen is high. And anything interesting about lower high estrogen, we're actually talking about it to be relative. So relatively high compared to progesterone because we want them to have the same magnitude. Right. But the first half of your cycle, estrogen is the star of the show, the second half of your cycle, progesterone, is the star of the show. But we want them to have the same magnitude or strength. So a lot of times, a lot of times I see women when estrogen relatively is high compared to progesterone. I actually see the night sweats come in then and we can also see the night sweats come in when estrogen is doing this kind of on a roller coaster, right. For people who aren't seeing me, which is everyone. Right. So estrogen kind of can go on a roller coaster. Right. And it could be part of hormones kind of coming back online and absorbing the therapies that you're doing. And so that could be part of the process, but it also could mean that the levels are not exactly right. So it's just something to be mindful of.

[16:15] Katie Chandler: Like she could be on potentially too much or too little of one thing.

[16:20] Speaker D: Right.

[16:20] Katie Chandler: And the body is still adjusting and sorting out what exactly you need. Right?

[16:25] Marisa Faye: Yeah.

[16:26] Speaker D: I'm going to reach out and ask them what they think. But it's interesting that you said that about the more estrogen because actually when I was younger, I mean, maybe five, six years ago, right before I was getting my period, I remember I would get night sweats, like a couple of nights before, and it had nothing to do with perimenopause or anything like that. So it's interesting that you say that, because that makes sense to me. So anyway, but I'm still working on balancing well and too with that is.

[16:53] Marisa Faye: One of the reasons sometimes we get that. And I've had that too, by the way, in my younger years, where I would get really bad night flats before my period. So typically most people would say, well, that's because that's when all of your hormones are diving, because your hormones dive down before you get your period, before you bleed. But I have just found symptomatically. When I look at the lab work, and I look at a lot of lab work, when I look at lab work, and when I also look at symptom inventories and learn a client's body and even learn my own body, that sure, maybe at that moment that you had the night sweat, your estrogen was coming down. But it's not that your estrogen is always down, it's that it's kind of going through something.

[17:31] Katie Chandler: Right.

[17:32] Marisa Faye: Likely there's some kind of higher estrogen issue because estrogen also gets stored in the tissue. So some lab work is just never going to catch what's being stored in the tissue.

[17:48] Speaker D: It's an interesting journey, and Katie's been following it because when I did all my testing a couple months ago, everything was low. That's when I was like, oh, no wonder I'm so tired. So it'll be interesting to kind of follow it and figure it out along the way.

[18:03] Marisa Faye: Go ahead, Katie.

[18:04] Katie Chandler: The testing is so important and so interesting, and I have a cycle, but I don't have my uterus. I have no way of tracking it. And the doctors that I have been working with have only done blood tests, so I really need to do one of those tests. Let's review again the names of the testing because there's multiple ones, right?

[18:27] Marisa Faye: I want our listeners also, do you have your Ovaries?

[18:31] Katie Chandler: I do. So I do.

[18:32] Marisa Faye: Cycle you can track and maybe you've tried this, and with the Addison's, it may throw this off a little bit, but you actually could track your waking body temperature.

[18:42] Katie Chandler: Okay.

[18:43] Marisa Faye: And that would be a way for you to identify if and when Ovulation might be happening. And so then you could track where your cycle is based on that.

[18:53] Katie Chandler: Okay. Yeah, I've never tried that. I've heard of it. When your temperature is higher, you're Ovulating. Is that right?

[19:00] Marisa Faye: So what we typically see is right before Ovulation temperature goes down a little bit, and then yeah, when you Ovulate goes up okay. So you'll see the first half of the cycle, typically temperature is a smidge lower. We see a little dip, then Ovulation happens in the second half of the cycle, it's a little bit higher.

[19:16] Katie Chandler: Okay. All right. That's interesting. I'm going to try that. It'll make things so much easier because I'm on progesterone, I'm on estrogen, and it's hard to say what the right amount of it is, other than I'm incredibly in tune with my body and I feel good. But the testing so we've got the Dutch test. We've got what else?

[19:37] Marisa Faye: There's a few which, with the Dutch, I do want to clarify here, because, again, really important if you have your ovaries and you're potentially still ovulating, right? So that's the key here. Potentially still ovulating, you want to do a cycling panel. So that's going to be a test that you're collecting multiple samples throughout over the course of depending how long your cycle is, right? Three and a half to five, even six weeks. So if you do something like a Dutch, you don't want the one that's called the Dutch complete, right. You don't want the test where you're collecting over a 24 or 36 hours period because it's not going to give you the data you need about estrogen progesterone.

[20:13] Katie Chandler: Right.

[20:13] Marisa Faye: So you want a cycling panel, and they do make a Dutch cycle mapping test. So that's what I'll use if I use the Dutch. But the thing to know is, about any test, like the Dutch test, I used often in my practice. I also use one through a company called Diagnostic Solutions. It's called an extended female hormone panel. It's a saliva test, but those are my two top ones. And then I will sometimes check certain things via blood at certain points in somebody's cycle, but always to give context to another test because that's almost never enough information for us. But if you're cycling and you get one of those kinds of cycling tests, you need to also know there are advantages and disadvantages to every test. So the Dutch can be beautiful and wonderful for showing you the pathways estrogen is going down, because estrogen can go down different pathways, and some of those pathways are more pro inflammatory, more pro cancer, for example. We can also see if your liver is doing a good job with clearance of estrogen. So that's a really lovely thing to be able to check. If you do one of the versions where you can have your cortisol pattern done on it, you can see what's happening in a particular day related to cortisol hormone. You can see melatonin. So that's a really beautiful test for looking at specific things. However, that is not a great test if we really want to look at things like brain signaling or super duper accurate progesterone, it's not the most accurate with progesterone. So if I have somebody who I think I really need to be able to see more about their progesterone, and I really want to see more about what their brain signaling to the ovary is going on. So looking at things like FSH, follicular stimulating hormone and LH luteinizing hormone. So if I want to see that, which oftentimes with like, a fertility client, I want to see that, that's really important. So we make sure healthy ovulation is happening. Usually the saliva panel I use is a better option there. So there are always going to be benefits and drawbacks to different testing. Right? It just really depends. And likewise blood work. If I have a woman who's post menopause, truly post menopause, blood work might give us all the information we really need. Right. So just knowing the right test for where you are in your journey is really important.

[22:23] Katie Chandler: Yeah, I can see how that is absolutely crucial because someone could be coming to you. A woman can come to you at any different stage in life for any different hormonal issue. And just going to your obgen, they're not going to necessarily offer that. Okay, so why don't we get into a little bit of what you mentioned earlier, the insulin resistance and the weight loss resistance and all of that. Because I think Amy and I for sure have both been dealing with that a little. Just it's like very frustrating when that starts to happen to your body. Never happened before if you wanted to.

[23:01] Speaker D: And you eat healthy.

[23:04] Katie Chandler: Right. Why does that happen?

[23:07] Speaker D: Yeah, and just to add on to that, the other pieces which Katie and I also struggle with is it's like that stubborn, you can't lose it, and it's like 510 pounds, that kind of thing. And then you eat healthy and you exercise, but once in a while you'll have whatever it is, a slice of pizza, a piece of cheese, and you're like, five pounds the next day you're like, what the **** is going on? Like, this is crazy.

[23:29] Marisa Faye: Yes, you hit the nail on the head there. I know. So many women share that experience. So a couple of things, a few things I'm going to drop on you here that may be surprising. One is any woman dealing with a hormone issue is dealing with a gut issue. Meaning we've got some kind of inflammation in the gut, we've got some kind of dysfunction in the gut, we've got some kind of organism overgrowth. And by the way, it does not mean you need to do a candida diet or that you have SIBO necessarily. Right. It's like there are so many ways your gut can be dysfunctioning, so it just means there's something wrong going on with your gut that needs to be worked on. Number two, I have seen very few women who have hormone issues who do not have insulin resistance or some kind of progression towards insulin dysregulation. It's incredibly common. And this is part of where because the whole system works together, but it's also, I believe, part of because of how we all societally have been conditioned. Because a great way to get an insulin issue, an insulin regulation issue or a blood sugar related issue is to do any kind of amount of living in Western society and dieting. It's a great way to get it. So you put a lot of stress on your body when you do that. Also a great way to get it is frankly to be a woman in this world, trying to make things happen for yourself, but also having all the ten other responsibilities we have as women, right? So high stress, periods of high stress that your body has been through, whether that be from caloric restriction, not sleeping for long periods of time, major stress in your life because you're caretaking, for example, a super duper stressful job where you're working all the time because you really want to do a good job at it, right? But any of these for a long time, this type of stress puts a lot of stress on your blood sugar regulation. And what you need to actually be doing is nourishing more, not less. And a lot of us tend towards the nourish less and a lot of the foods that we are taught are healthy and going to keep you lean and give you the body you want as a woman actually are backfiring on us. So all the raw veggies, all the nuts and seeds, all the not enough protein, frankly, because no matter how you slice it, plant based sources of protein just do not touch animal based sources of protein. So we are malnourished and that is a great way to make it hard for your blood sugar to be regulated. And I think it's helpful too to understand what insulin resistance is, perhaps, unless you all have covered that before.

[25:51] Katie Chandler: No, I think this is very important to cover and also even to help people understand what insulin's job is because I think it's very not a lot of people understand it.

[26:03] Marisa Faye: Yes, totally. So I love talking about this because we all are smart and we all want to understand our bodies. But it's like this information, people try to complicate it so much. If you listen to scientist or somebody who's a doctorate talk about this stuff, they're going to talk for an hour and you're going to be like, I'm confused. I'm really a fan of how can we make it so we all understand? So I'm going to try to do that and you all let me know if I missed that mark and I'll work on it. So here's the thing. All of your cells need glucose, which is a fancy scientific name for sugar, okay? Glucose is critical to your survival. It's so critical that your body, if you're not getting it through food, has a way to get it by breaking down your muscle and things in your liver. That is not a good thing. That is very stressful in your body. But that's just a sign for you to know how important glucose is for your body, that it has these different fail stops where. It's going to make it, it's going to do something super resource intensive if you don't eat it. This is happening, by the way, to people who are on the keto diet. This is what's happening. And people who are on the carnivore diet, their body is making it because they're not giving it to them. So over time, what happens and before kind of we get into the overtime. The way the glucose, the quick energy gets into your cells is through insulin. Insulin is like the key that unlocks the door to the cell. So glucose can get inside your body releases is supposed to release the appropriate amount of insulin, not too much, not too little for the amount of glucose that you've eaten or that is in your blood in order to usher it into your cells or frankly, into your muscle. Muscle is a great storage for glucose. It's one of the reasons I'm such a huge fan of women's strength training. It's just incredible for that. So over time, what happens if a woman is living that stressful life that I described before, right? Or if a woman is also doing the opposite, right? Overeating a lot and eating a lot of highly processed foods. So especially highly palatable foods. These are foods that have a lot of fat and usually a lot of sugar in them, but not a lot of protein or nutrients. Your brain lights up, right? Your brain and body are like more that's like doritos ice cream, right? These things that just like we crave them because they're just so yummy. So if you eat a lot of those things, this can also happen. And what will start to happen at the beginning of the progression of an insulin issue is somebody's pancreas will release more and more insulin because it's like the cell is having trouble hearing it. Or you're having a lot of glucose in the system at one time from eating all those highly palatable foods, those really sugary foods, or from being very high stressed because when your cortisol goes up, your body puts more glucose into your blood. So over time, your body's like, we're releasing more insulin. We're trying to get all this glucose into your cell, but all this glucose continues to hang around and why aren't we listening? And over time, the cells lose their sensitization, basically. And so we have a body that eventually is like, I'm tired. You know what? You're not listening to what I'm trying to tell you. I'm trying to release the right amount of insulin to get you to bring this into the cell, but it is not working. And we can see one of two things happen. So we can see bodies where they continue to try to maintain releasing a high level of insulin. And over time, that just gets harder and harder to do. Or what I see in a lot of women, especially a lot of women who are trying to live really healthy lifestyles is that their blood sugar continues to dip low, so they head towards having low blood sugar, not high, which is what a lot of doctors are looking for. So when doctors want to diagnose somebody with diabetes, they're looking for you to have high blood glucose. But what I see most often when I look at women's blood work and when I have them put a CGM on a continuous glucose monitor, which is a really cool thing to do if you've never done it, but when I have them put that on and track their food for two weeks. What I tend to see in a lot of bodies, especially my very health conscious clients, is they go very low. Often very low. And anytime we're going very low or very high, very stressful for the body.

[30:17] Katie Chandler: I'm so fascinated. We're going to have to have a call offline. I'm going to have to start working with you, because this is exactly I actually am pre diabetic, and there's so many reasons for it. It's not just like one simple reason. But I say that because, like you said, doctors are always looking for one thing with diabetes. And so I think there's a lot of women that it's being completely overlooked that they're dealing with these issues because they don't have metabolic issues. Are they say you have to have a certain waist size circumference. You have to have all of these checklists that you might not necessarily have but still have these insulin problems, and then it doesn't get treated. And then when you have the insulin resistance, does that lead to the weight loss resistance? Because your body's not able to use its energy correctly, the food you're putting into your body.

[31:17] Marisa Faye: Yes. So that can be a really common reason it's happening. And the other thing is, anytime that blood sugar is dipping very low often or going very high often, it creates a lot of inflammation. We're actually seeing they're starting to study this, which is cool because they don't always study things like this, right? Because I'm not sure yet who's going to make money, right. But they actually studied that blood sugar swings contributes to premature aging, and especially talking about skin health and hair health. Ladies, if you want healthy skin and hair, you've got to regulate your blood sugar. That is key here. But, yes, it is very hard to lose weight in the presence of, frankly, any kind of blood sugar dysregulation, whether it's insulin dysregulation, which is the term I kind of use just because of your point of, like, I don't diagnose and I don't really care this may sound cold. I don't really care what the diagnosis is, frankly, because I'm looking at your body from a totally different lens. And a lot of times when people are diagnosed, it can be wrong or it's just a doctor trying to put a label on it. And I don't think it gets us closer to our goal of really feeling our best. So that's why I say insulin dysregulation, because it's like, well, there could be a lot of things going on with your insulin, right? And so I think it's important to know that it's not just one way. But yes, that can be incredibly stressful for our body. And then a body is going to hold on to all the resources because it doesn't feel safe to let it go.

[32:41] Speaker D: I have a couple of questions. We had talked about this in another show with a nutritionist, but so if your insulin is regulated, does that then mean you have metabolic flexibility or not? Because my understanding is a metabolic flexibility is what you want, so you can eat various different things and not gain or lose and be healthy in that way. So is it related?

[33:05] Marisa Faye: Yeah, it can be. But I would say insulin is not the only thing I would look at to see if somebody has metabolic flexibility.

[33:12] Speaker D: Okay.

[33:12] Marisa Faye: But I do think it's an interesting way to kind of track and know if you're potentially off the mark. But metabolic flexibility also, we'd want to look at things like your thyroid function. We'd want to look at things like your adrenal function, we'd want to look at things like your liver function so there can be more to the story. But it's a good kind of beginning thing to look at. And by the way, if anybody here is concerned about their blood sugar regulation or their insulin, it's really important that you advocate for the right blood work with this. And I see a lot of providers, especially for my clients or women I talk to, who think they might have PCOS because there are different kinds of PCOS and a large group of people who have PCOS actually have insulin issues and the PCOS is honestly just a symptom of their insulin issue. But I see it a lot too in women with thyroid issues, adrenal issues, all of that kind of that point of it traveling together. But a fasting blood glucose is not enough to diagnose you with an insulin issue. So you need to know that and advocate for yourself. And I'm a big fan of if we're looking at somebody's blood sugar regulation, I want to see their fasting insulin, I do want to see their fasting glucose, but I also want to see a complete metabolic panel. I also want to see a CBC, I want to see are there other ways that their body could be stressed out or other things that could be causing a stressor? Because when a body is stressed, there are a number of things that can dysfunction and actually your metabolic flexibility is one of those things.

[34:46] Katie Chandler: Yeah, that's very interesting.

[34:49] Amy Sherman: 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.

[35:03] Speaker D: Tune in next week for a fresh.

[35:05] Amy Sherman: New episode of Nirvana Sisters. We'll continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.

Episode 115 - Product Junkies: July - Hot Summer Edition (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 115.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here.

Amy 0:06

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. I'm Amy Sherman.

Speaker 2 0:18

And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation

Amy 0:29

Welcome back to Nirvana sisters Nirvana sisters, fam. It's Amy and Katie and it is the summer and it is product junkies time and we're coming to you with the short, hot summer edition of Product junkies. We have some products that we're loving right now that we want to share with you and let's kick it off. Katie, what do you got for us in our Summer Edition? Oh,

Speaker 2 0:55

well, it is peak summer and I'm finally feeling it here on the northeast coast. It's like we actually are having 8090 degree days. I feel like we've been awaiting this with bated breath and getting to use our pool super psyched. So that's fun. And in the meantime, I have a couple products that are just going to help you keep looking fresh all summer long. My favorite one right now it's makeup and it is makeup by Mario it is there is a soft sculpt shaping stick Have you used it yet? Do you know this one.

Amy 1:30

I've seen it. I have tested it like at the store but I have actually never tried it. I'm obsessed

Speaker 2 1:35

with it. But I've been using it I bought it before we went to Mexico. So I've been using it for a few months now and it's really good is for contouring and it's really creamy EZ like blendable contour stick on one side and then on the other side is their blender brush, which I actually don't use. I don't love it. It's a little too dense. For me. It

Amy 2:00

looks dense.

Speaker 2 2:00

It's very dense. I like to use my Nisa contour brush.

Amy 2:07

Okay, let me see the other like it looks like it's big.

Speaker 2 2:11

So I've been using this for months and it it really last and this tone is light medium. And it's great because it has worked with my skin tone as I like was fairer in the spring and I'm tan because I'm in the sun where and it's still like holds up and it works. And it also so do

Amy 2:32

you can use it as a bronzer instead of a contour.

Speaker 2 2:35

I don't know that you would want to because it's a creamy texture and really melts into your skin. I guess you could but like, I use this to really contour and then I use my Laguna powder, bronzer.

Amy 2:48

The narcs Yeah.

Speaker 2 2:50

It just melts so beautifully into your skin and at last it will last all day long.

Amy 2:56

Yeah, Katie's just doing it with her fingers and it just just went in right?

Speaker 2 2:59

Yep, it'll last all day long. I have a little bit of it on my face right now and you can go heavier or lighter depending on you know, like, how snatched you want to look. So it's a good one there. Yeah, I love it. Best of beauty out of law 2022 as well just so you know. So highly recommend.

Amy 3:18

Yeah. Nice. What do you have? Okay. Okay, so speaking of the makeup I'll start then with a new product that I've been testing right here, which is the NARS afterglow liquid blush. This is orgasms so you know orgasm is like a classic NARS color looks good on everyone. They also have some other colors. I love this one. And so speaking of it like you could do your makeup by Mario contour and then you could just use this I love this I just took this on a trip with me it was like one of the only things I brought said no, yeah. And you literally can just throw it on. It's like a really pretty, it's such a good color. I mean it looks like orgasm, but like you can just throw it on and see how it just pumps

Speaker 2 3:59

and is it just really blinged out so it looks seems like

Amy 4:03

it's very blendable you can just throw it on your cheek you blend it with your finger it's like a one two second thing and I just it just melts in it's super easy and it's just really easy also to travel with and it gives you a nice color and nice yeah, that's pretty organism is so I've been liking this liquid. Yeah, I've been liking this liquid blush better than some of my sticks just because it's super light and really easy to work with and it's built a ball so highly recommend this is again after cola liquid blush in orgasm, and it's this is $32

Speaker 2 4:36

It's a great shave a little goes along, really and I didn't mention the cost makeup Norio is $30 which I think is a fantastic price for a contour store that's lasted me this long and still going nice so

Amy 4:49

really good summer one and I think this is like probably year round but like right now I'm just like yeah,

Speaker 2 4:53

that's the orgasm is such a great color. It really is flattering on so many skin tones. It's Beautiful. Yeah.

Amy 5:02

Yeah. And it's funny because I have another one that I may I can't remember if I talked about this on another product junkies but I have another nurse or orgasm. It's not a liquid blush like this with an applicator. It's like it's liquid, but you you pump it out, it's like a little bit of a different formulation. And that looks good too. But it's a little messy and it has a cap so it's like two pieces and it's kind of annoying and this is like a good replacement for that because it's just like a little bit of an easier applicator and easier to kind of work with and travel with

Speaker 2 5:38

All right, well my next one is we're switching to hair. I haven't invested too much time and energy in my hair probably ever in my life. I always just kind of like let it air dry and I would use my T three and then my amazing sister in law you and my in laws and my husband got me the Dyson air wrap for my birthday and obsessed use it all the time and I started to realize that the heat was damaging my hair and because I was like a newbie to products and products so often I didn't even think to get like the heat sprays or the blowout sprays or anything like that. I think you were the homie.

Amy 6:17

Oh yeah spray that is mandatory. So

Speaker 2 6:19

yes, though or eBay or EB my saying you're right, do you think or may think they're royal blow out heat styling spray has been a life saver for my hair like total game changer over the winter my hair was like getting strongly like kind of dry and everything. And this has helped a lot. Yeah, so I'm obsessed with it.

Amy 6:39

So you just spray that on after you shampoo and drag it

Speaker 2 6:43

on or when my hair is still damp right before I use either the Dyson or hairdryer, whatever. And it really does give you like beautiful smooth shiny hair and it keeps your hair healthy. I mean my hair is nothing today because I just let it air dry last night and I haven't done anything to it but when I do it, this is the way to go. Now on eBay, I think personally it's a little steep in price point. This one is their travel size that I get at CVS for $24 it has lasted me a long time but like the regular size is $69 so it just seems a little high I mean they have shampoos that are like $150 I'm sure they're amazing

Amy 7:27

yeah always expensive but the product and there's other heat sprays too that are probably like I feel like there's a few that are comparable that are probably less legendary for you to

Speaker 2 7:39

introduce us to one some time that's like a better price point because

Amy 7:43

yes, I have a few that I use and one off the top of my head which I may have reviewed and I can't remember it's all blending together is a

Unknown Speaker 7:52

wasn't the WoW brand.

Amy 7:54

Yes Well there's two brands the well brands which I did think I reviewed once in the show it was like that it's for heat but it's also like a Styling Spray which is great. And then there's another one

Unknown Speaker 8:06

Oh yes.

Amy 8:07

The Olaplex number eight oil that's also a good one I kind of interchange with those. Yeah, there's a bunch I feel like there's a lot of good ones but or basically can't go wrong. It's such a good brand like all of their products are good. I have a texturizing spray that I've had from them and it's like lasted me years and it's so good.

Speaker 2 8:23

It's funny that you mentioned this orb a texturizing spray because that is my next one actually. This is my like ultimate new favorite product. It's the orb a dry texturizing spray. I use it every single day. I use it a lot on my bangs you know like in the winter I did the curtain bang and it was a bit too much the person that cut it didn't really cut it right so I've been trying to kind of grow that out and and get it back to my normal hair. And this is very much helping me do that and just like having the manageable every day. And it's also really nice because it gives you like it can give you good volume. And you know,

Amy 8:59

I know I love it. It's so good. So it smells smells great. What

Speaker 2 9:03

I love it for as I put a little bit on my fingertips, and I can like bend and mold my bangs to go in the direction that I want them to go into and it was just like stealing that.

Amy 9:13

That's nice. Is that the travel? Yes, this

Speaker 2 9:16

is the travel size and it's $24 and I just I buy the travel size because that's what CBS has. I don't carry the full size or if they do it. I don't see it right the full size is $49 also elite Yeah, elite Beauty Awards. 2022. So it's it's a great product. I love Warby.

Amy 9:33

And by the way, just back to Dyson. I would love to know if anyone from our Nirvana sisters found family has tried the new Dyson flat iron technology. I forgot what the tool is called. Oh air air straight because I'm dying to try it. I've emailed Dyson PR so if you're listening please nice to try. But I'm obsessed and I want to see how that works. I did see it in Sephora and I was able to like play with it, but I didn't use it in my hair, but I'm really dying to see how that works because again, it's supposed to be a good way to straighten your hair without the damage. So it's like another genius Dyson investment, genius Dyson invention and assessment

Unknown Speaker 10:14

because they are not cheap.

Amy 10:16

And investment. Yes. So if somebody has tried it in in our audience, let us know I'm dying to know how it is. I haven't heard any like, I've seen some reviews but I want to hear more

I mentioned this on stories a couple of weeks ago, but I have been trying the wise beauty products and I really, really have been enjoying these two products

Unknown Speaker 10:42

specifically heard of this.

Amy 10:43

So wise. Okay, so wise beauty. For those who don't know, this is Molly Sims brand that she just launched a couple months ago, I listened to lipstick on the right, which is Molly's podcast, shout out to Molly. And she launched this brand a couple months ago, but she's been working on it for years actually, she said before she started even started her podcast. And the reason well, a couple things and I'll talk about it but there's a lot of research around these products and a lot of her own history has sort of been the story of the brand because she went through a time where she had really really bad skin and she's you know, tried everything done everything to try to fix her skin and yada yada there's a whole story behind it. So she really knows a lot about this, about the industry and how efficacious products are etc. So anyway, this launch one of the other reasons why I like this is all of our products are clinically tested, which is a much deeper testing than most products so when when anything's clinically tested, I think it's like you should double pay attention because that means it's a really good product because it's actually like gone through the studies and that's why it takes so long to come to market. So the two products that I've been trying but I'm probably going to try more because I've been really impressed so far. The first one is it's called it's cute your favorite acts exfoliating pads. And so these are daily exfoliating pads that are very, very gentle. So it's a leave on exfoliant and can block combines glycolic acid PHAs and eka Toyne I don't know what that's the right word to retexturize brighten and refresh for optimum skin renewal. You know I've just been exfoliating a couple of times a week at night with like a heavier exfoliator like this Sunday Riley one we always talk about and others but for the summer I kind of like wanted to switch it up and these are great because first of all, they're just like individual pads. So I'm opening the drawer right now. And they're just if you can see they're just individual pads. And so you can just take them out and the cute thing about them also which makes it nice and convenient is they have this little

Speaker 2 12:41

oh that's cool. See how it was on tip of your fingers a little pocket? Yeah, so

Amy 12:45

you can just like do it easily. But anyway it's a very light exfoliator and it makes my skin for really clean and soft because I was noticing lately like my skin has been feeling really texture free. And I've been wanting to exfoliate it more so these are nice because again they're super gentle you can use them every morning or at night whatever. And then like right after my skin is super soft and the products just feel like they sink in better. So I've been using this every morning and I love it. Really really good. Again really gentle great ingredients. And then the next one that I've been using and again loving is called Morning cocktail. It's their vitamin C serum. And this I really like because I always do vitamin C but the reason why I like this is because it not it It not only has vitamin C but it also has niacin, amide squalene and hyaluronic acid. So it combines everything so what I was doing before this is I was putting on high alert because my skin is so dry is putting on hyaluronic acid and I was putting on by vitamin C then sometimes I would put on nice nice cinnamon I'd put them all separately. This is all together. It's so good. It feels great on the skin, no smell, no nothing. It's just very soothing, brightens up your skin right away again it's like such a good product. So I've been really happy with these two so this has kind of been my morning go to so all I do is I do the exfoliator pads, the vitamin C morning cocktail Vitamin C Serum. And then I'll just do like you know like a moisturizer with SPF and that's it instead of like five different steps so it's really cut down my routine and it's really really really good products. So the vitamin C serum is for 30 MLS is $85 and the exfoliating Platt pads for 45 pads is 72 so it's not inexpensive but it's not so expensive. It's kind of in the middle. She tried to make them you know, at a good price range for people and it lasts pretty long. I mean I've been using it for probably the less I don't know maybe month and really really good so you can read more on their website about wise beauty and Molly's story but I've been really impressed so packaging is also needs beautiful packaging the packaging is beautiful. She did a really nice job with that packaging and I love the name and just the logo. It's just Yeah, it's beautiful. There's it also shows on their website all the before and afters and all the clinical trials and all that stuff, which is great and one To the other things is they just got a 2023 installed SPD buys for the exfoliating pads. So, I am in love with these. So

Speaker 2 15:09

I have to try. Um, yeah, I would love like a gentle exfoliant that I can use every day I think I need might need to switch to that.

Amy 15:16

Exactly. That's great. Well, I remember last summer I did a self tanner review and I still use that self tanner that was called like the beach tan, whatever. And I love that one. It's a moose. But I have found something that I'm starting to like better which is the Santro pay gradual tan classic, it says daily firming lotion, medium dark. This I just randomly found at Alta when I was looking for something else because I'm always looking for a good self tanner. And my problem is they all have a scent even if it's a light scent, I can't stand it. This one does not have that self tanner scent. The reason why I like this First of all, it's $29. So pretty good price point. And it's just an everyday kind of moisturizing lotion with the self tanner built in. So it's just like you know, a built up one. And I like this one just because it's a little bit easier to apply than like a moose where you have to do the mitten, everything that you don't need to do a mitt, you just do the lotion, wash your hands and you're done. So I just do like a little bit of this. Sometimes I mix it with my body oil. So just like easier to, to um spread. But it's a great one I've gotten like a really nice color. You can see just from using this on a daily basis, it doesn't it's not orange, it doesn't like streak. It's a really pretty color and super easy to use and no smell, which is most important. So anyway, st your pay gradual tan classic. And with that there's another one that's from Santra pay, which I've also been trying I haven't been using this one as much but I have used it a little bit. It's called the bronze and waterbus I have that and this one you have this one yeah and so I've been using this sometimes just on my arms at night I'll just kind of like spray it on and wipe it real quick just to like enhance a chance so I think this is good I have seen online and I'm haven't tried it yet, but I really want you have ever seen these people online using this like on a like a makeup sponge and using it as like a highlighter on their face. I really want to try it because then their face looks so tan and contoured like naturally. It's amazing, but I'm like scared to try it out. But that's next on my list to experiment with.

Unknown Speaker 17:09

That's fine, they said.

Amy 17:10

So those are my two

Speaker 2 17:11

EntroPay brand. self tanners have been around for a really really long time and they're really good and their price point has improved. I remember it's a funny story. But like when I first moved to New York City, I was like 19 And I walked into a super high end cosmetic store in SoHo and I walked in it was like I really want a self tanner and and I picked up the bottle and I was like this St. Tropez one looks really good. Should I try the sun? The guy is just like, laughed at me like he doesn't know what she's talking about. But it was a lot more expensive. Like so either that or it was just broken seemed more expensive. I don't know.

Amy 17:48

Well it's funny because the the firming lotion is a good price. It's $20 Yeah, I think the water spray is a little bit more expensive but I don't think you use it as much it's more to me it's like more of an enhancer but again, that one doesn't smell either. If you have it to you it's like good. So anyway, those are some of the fun summer products we're testing out right now and loving hope you enjoyed our quick summer session of product junkies and let us know if you have other things you want us to review and what you're loving right now. Thanks Nirvana sisters family and hope you're having a great summer. 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.

Episode 111 - Gut Healing for Beginners with Gut Journalist, Sarah K Hoffman, aka A Gutsy Girl (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 111 - Gut Healing for Beginners with Gut Journalist, Sarah K Hoffman, aka A Gutsy Girl

[00:07] Amy Sherman: 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. I'm Amy Sherman.

[00:18] Katie Chandler: And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation.

[00:24] Amy Sherman: You.

[00:29] Katie Chandler: Welcome back to the show. Today we are sitting down with Sarah K hoffman. She is the founder of a gutsy girl. The Gutsygirl.com. It's an online community geared towards women who are looking for reasonable approaches for healing. IBS IBD, SIBO and all things gut focused. What began for Sarah as an online journal documenting the day to day with one health issue after the next would shortly become less story focused and more research and journalistic based, which I very much understand that Sarah. Today, Sarah seeks out highly detailed information and then condenses it in digestible ways for women worldwide. After years of struggling with her own health issues and considering there must be more to healing than the answer she was given, she went on to study at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, adding a certified health coach to her education. And she continued to devote every spare second to studying, researching, practicing all things gut health and gut healing and has built this amazing community. A gutsy girl. And we are just super excited that you're here. We can't wait to talk to you. We have so many questions for you. So thanks for being here.

[01:36] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Thanks for having me. I'm super excited. I love being able to sit down and talk on the other end of the seat with podcasters and just kind of to be in the hot seat.

[01:47] Amy Sherman: Yeah, that's right, you have your own podcast so we will all have to check that out as well. And yes, thank you for being on. I know Katie is the one who introduced your page to me and she's been following you for a very long time and is a super fan of all your knowledge. So thank you so much for being here.

[02:03] Katie Chandler: Before we get started, we like to do a little Nirvana of the Week. Sarah, it's just something that just brought you a moment of joy. Amy and I will go first so you can get the feeling of it. But Amy, why don't you tell us what was your nirvana this week?

[02:16] Amy Sherman: So I was thinking about this this morning and I had a really cute moment yesterday. I was driving and you know, we're always like rushing and driving, whatever and I was just kind of like rushing through my neighborhood not paying attention. And I was driving on my neighborhood street and I saw this massive deer go across the street like really slowly. So of course I stopped and the person across from me stopped and it was like this massive mama deer walking across the street really slowly. And then like 2 seconds later there was this little baby deer. It was the cutest thing. It was so small. I don't think I've ever seen a deer that small. This little baby deer just like walking across this street, kind of like not even so. Just kind of like bouncing around and like a little toddler or something walking across the street. And the mom was just like, waiting on the other side and then she got to the other side and the mom looked at her like we would do with our kids, just like making sure she was okay and then off they went. But it was just so sweet when you see nature like that. And it's like we all stopped all the cars. Like my car, the car crossed from me. We all just watched them and took that moment. It was just a nice little smile on my face. So I really appreciated seeing that. It was very sweet to see other moms doing their thing. That was mine. What about you, Katie?

[03:26] Katie Chandler: Here in our backyard all the time, which has actually brought me not a ton of nirvana because my dog had a tick yesterday from it. But that's okay.

[03:34] Amy Sherman: Yeah, not in the backyard, but out in nature.

[03:37] Katie Chandler: I think mine was yesterday with Reese. I have two girls, Sarah. I have an almost ten year old and a five year old. And we just had some good snuggles last night. We both had really busy days and I took her to the dentist and I was running all day, she was running all day. And we just got in bed and watched the other half of Et. We watched this weekend and we watched it together. I haven't watched it since I was a kid, so it was kind of fun to watch with her, but it was just some good snuggles. What about you, Sarah?

[04:07] Sarah Kay Hoffman: I love those. Those are so awesome. And I love this question, too. It's such a peaceful and calm question. I have two girls too, about similar in age. We have a seven, eight and nine year old. So I have two girls and a boy. It's busy. I don't have too many nirvana moments with them, but I would say so. I was listening to yours and I'm just taking myself to a really peaceful moment. And it was this morning, actually. So a few years ago, about the time when my dad passed away, I started really getting into succulents and caring for them and keeping them alive because they're always on the list of the easiest plants to take care of, but they're not, especially when you live in Minnesota, because this is not the desert, obviously. I have been spending the last few years really taking care of them and so I have now brought them into my house in the winter and I put them under lights and then in the spring and summer I bring them outside. Well, my collection has just really blossomed. I have so many pots of succulents out on our deck and it was just the most beautiful morning overlooking the lake in Minnesota today. So I went outside and I just sat there and stared at my succulents and watched the water, just like the sun glisten off of the water over my succulents. It was so peaceful that sat there for lovely ten minutes enjoying the fruits of my labor with my succulents and love succulents.

[05:39] Amy Sherman: You'll have to send us a picture. I need to see what they look like so I can get some inspiration. I used to have some, and now they're no longer in as good health as yours, clearly. But that sounds beautiful.

[05:51] Katie Chandler: Very peaceful. Sounds like a great way to start the day. All right, well, let's kick this off because we have a lot of questions for you. I think first, if you could just give our community a little bit of an insight into the gutsy girl community, that would be great.

[06:06] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Yeah. So I actually started the gutsy girl community way back when in I think it was 2012, when I bought a gutsygirl.com. And at the time and there's a reason I'm saying this first, but at the time, I created the brand and the community because I wanted to connect with women who were not only dealing with IBS and or IBD. As I was in 2008, was diagnosed with colitis, and then 2014 was diagnosed with SIBO, and I've been diagnosed with all the things. But also during that time around 2012, I was dealing with another super gutsy issue that many women, also, who have IBS and or IBD deal with, which is infertility. And so it was just this time of my in my life when I thought, you know, I'm going to just be really bold and brave and talk about this and form a community, because I didn't really have one like my offline. There wasn't really one. So I wanted one, and I wanted a space to be able to share and to talk about both the physical and the emotional challenges that I was dealing with. And so I created this community. And over time, it really has shifted and changed, I think partly because that's just the way that websites go typically, but also because I became less focused on the infertility part of it. I would do still talk about it sometimes, just not as often. And I got really hyper focused on IBS and IBD because I do a lot of plays on words. But I noticed that there were these stinky topics that people in general did not want to talk about, but especially women. And so I thought, these are my people, and these are the people that I want to talk to and hang out with online. And then ultimately yeah, I love that.

[08:01] Katie Chandler: It's so true that it's not like it's taboo. It's just like I feel like people are embarrassed to discuss these things, and meanwhile, it's super natural in common, and all of us have it. I've always been the first one to be like, oh, go to the bathroom in four days. I know people that are like, they don't want to talk anything about it, and I understand, but to be able to open up the dialogue and everything is great, and it's incredibly helpful, and obviously, you have a massive following that, and you've helped a lot of people. So that's why you have created it and why your community of people, they're coming to you because you find that they are dealing with similar experiences, having a challenging time, getting a diagnosis, and sorting out how to heal their symptoms. Those are the things that you help them with.

[08:52] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Yes. So I feel like most women come into the community who have gone to Dr. Google and who are asking, why does my stomach hurt? It is the foundational feeling and question that many women have because it's very confusing. And I think the reason is because there are so many factors. And so on any given day, our stomach can feel off for one reason or another, and at some point, people just think, what's causing this? Why does my stomach hurt? Yesterday I was fine. Today I'm not. Last week is miserable. What's triggering it? And then they go down the rabbit hole, and there's all these questions. And so I think that's really the basis of the community and the foundational place that people start.

[09:48] Katie Chandler: Yeah, it makes a lot of sense, because I should be in your community because I experience similar things. My stomach will be great, and then it won't be. And then I try to figure out why, and it's impossible, and then you figure out why, and then it's something else. It's just constantly changing. So let's dive into a little bit more about what your expertise has taught you with all of this. Why is IBS IBD SIBO so prominent with women especially?

[10:21] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Well, I think there's a lot of reasons for this, and to be very clear, okay, so IBS is irritable bowel syndrome. It's a whole bunch of symptoms and things that then fall under this classification of IBS. It's pretty much when you go to your doctor and they're like, well, we're not really sure. So it's IBS. And to me and in my experiences and in different doctors that I've worked with and talked to and research and all the things, it's really just kind of a BS diagnosis. But unfortunately, so many women, that's kind of the place where they start and they stay for a really long time. Then there's IBD, which, of course, is inflammatory bowel disease, which is very severe. It's diagnostic. It's all the things. And I would say I tend to focus a little bit less there because it is so severe. And a lot of women not a lot women who have IBS can also have IBD, but they haven't gotten to that place yet. Right. So it's almost like a futuristic thing that I'm trying to help women get to faster, if that's really what the problem is. And then SIBO just falls underneath the IBS category. So SIBO stands for small Intestinal bacterial overgrowth. And it's a huge I'm sure you guys have seen it online, but it's a huge explosion of conversation because more and more women are being diagnosed with it. It's the diagnosis that you have been to your doctor, your gastroenterologist, whatever, over and over and over, and they said, it's just IBS, and turns out it's really SIBO. There's so many different terms, right? There's so many different things that people fall under. But that's where it's also very confusing, because when we come into any one of these, there are multiple symptoms, and you can have these symptoms on any given day, but that doesn't mean that you have colitis or Crohn's or celiac. Doesn't necessarily mean that, but it can. And so I think that these are the things that I work with every single day. And women are coming into this community because they feel these symptoms, and they know that they are not normal, but they have just learned to live with them, and now they're seeking greater answers. I will say that in my research as well, we talk about women come in into the community, and they're either more on the constipation I can't go to the bathroom spectrum or their diarrhea. And it is about 70% of women fall more on the constipation can't go than on the other end. That would be yes, and that's very common. And there's so many reasons for this. Of course, there can be underlying things. It could be a hormonal thing. It can be an actual medical condition. You could have parasites. You could have scar adhesions that have there's so many actual medical things that they could be. But honestly, what I find more often than not is it's a lifestyle component. So it's the stress. It's the lack of exercise or too much exercise. It is the diet. There are so many factors that play into it. And see right here, I've just described how many different things and this is why it's so confusing, because you're like, oh, my gosh, I don't even know where to start. Okay, now I'm done.

[14:13] Amy Sherman: Yeah. And I would think it's hard too, because it's very different, right, for every single person. Also, I would imagine the regular sort of traditional gastroenterologist type doctor would probably just put you on some sort of medicine and call it a day, which we talk about a lot on the show, of going further and figuring out what else you can do before going on some crazy medicine or doing so. It's also like, who do you even the fact that your community exists is amazing. And then it's like there's got to be other ways to treat other than just, like, taking some hardcore medicine by more integrative type wellness care, I would imagine.

[15:00] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Yeah. And I think that's one reason why I'm able to connect with the community so well is because that was my exact story when I was first diagnosed in 2008. It was through traditional Western medicine and a gastroenterologist, which on the one hand, you're so grateful because they are able to do some of those more invasive procedures and testing and insurance can help get you to those answers. But unfortunately, not once was I ever mentioned anything about the way I was living and the factors in my life. And instead they gave me canasa, which is a suppository, and it made me worse. And it was at that point that I was like, okay, this isn't adding up because I got worse. And I remember a specific day, it will never leave my mind. I was so distended and so bloated. I could not breathe. I was absolutely miserable. And I called my gastroenterologist and he said, okay, yes, come in. I'm going to check you out. Whatever. So he looked at me and he said, oh, wow, you are so distended. The answer is you're going to go down to the Walgreens and you are going to get a bottle of magnesium citrate. It was red, by the way, that big, red, thick, gooey liquid bottle, and you're going to drink the whole bottle.

[16:22] Amy Sherman: Oh, my God.

[16:23] Sarah Kay Hoffman: And it's going to take care of the problem. And lo and behold, I went I did exactly what he said. At this time in my life, I didn't care. I didn't know any and it worked. And everything went through me. And I was like, but I was miserable. I mean, I was miserable. I was sick. Like, you hear about all the jokes about the laxatives? Yeah, that was me. That was me on that day. But I was like, there just has to be more. And I refuse to live the rest of my life like this.

[16:50] Katie Chandler: It's amazing how it can be something so complex and then also but something so simple, like taking magnesium citrate can help you in that moment. But the thing is that these are not long term fixes. So what is it that you did to adjust and to get to where you are now? Because from what I see on your site and what I've heard on your podcast, is that you feel great. You're really healthy, you've gotten your gut under control, and you're helping others do it. For our listeners that are struggling with this, maybe we can just throw out some high level tips that could help them get on their way.

[17:33] Sarah Kay Hoffman: So the way that I break it down is I have after I went through my whole thing, I ultimately got my SIBO diagnosis in 2014, and I healed for good in 2018. And then I'm just laying out the rest of my story before I give you these. So it makes sense.

[17:53] Amy Sherman: Yeah.

[17:54] Sarah Kay Hoffman: So I healed for good in 2018. Between 2014 and 2018, I relapsed from SIBO four times. I have taken all the antibiotics, all the supplements. I've done every last protocol that you can think of from a dietary and medical standpoint. And what ended up happening in 2018 was that I finally figured out how important that stuff was. Important, but the lifestyle component was. And so after I healed, what happened was in 2019, then I just got this let me back up too. My dad was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2017. So the irony though, was not lost on me because I have an entirely renewed energy and passion for people and digestive issues and disease and cancer. And so I got really hyper focused on what actually helped me heal, what was it and what did that mean? And out of that derived my three pillars for ultimate gut healing. And the first two are definitely in order. And the third one is you kind of have to start working on it right away, but it's diagnosis, diet, and lifestyle. So without the appropriate diagnosis, which for me was the SIBO, I went years and years and years of being told it's just IBS and then colitis, and then this, this, yes, those were contributing factors, but what was my bottleneck making me the most miserable was the SIBO. So I had to get to that diagnosis. You have got to have an appropriate diagnosis because if you don't, it's like you're constantly playing the guessing game. You're constantly just going to be analyzing symptoms and trying to figure out which symptoms fall in line with what gut health problem. Right? So diagnosis. The second one is diet. My biggest mistake that I made from a diet standpoint was that I believed that there was a diet, a templated diet out there that was going to heal me. And I believed that if I could so for instance, I would start with the Paleo diet. And if the Paleo diet was working but it wasn't fully working, then I thought I had to paleo harder. And so then I went to the AIP diet, which is the autoimmune protocol, which is just a more stringent version of that. Okay, so then I'm actually eating less and then, well, that's working, but there's still not. So then you just go down this.

[20:43] Katie Chandler: Awful, awful now let's try baby denim diet. And then let's do yes. It just keeps going on and on, right?

[20:51] Sarah Kay Hoffman: And so I had to learn the very hard way that there was no such thing as the perfect diet for me. And the only diet that would work for me, it was the one that I would create based on my diagnosis and what my body was telling me. And I did this through Meticulous Food journaling and listening to my body. We know, you know, inside, we know we don't need anybody to tell us that you can or can't have the white rice. Okay? You know, your body knows. So diet was a second very important thing. And then the last one, the last pillar is lifestyle. And it's so funny because in the beginning of my journey, I rolled my eyes big time at this one. I was like, yeah, right, what's my lifestyle going to do? How am I going to reduce my stress or who cares what supplement? Whatever it was with Lifestyle, I did not believe in it until I started practicing it. And miraculously or not, my life completely changed. It completely changed. I think the first time I ever realized it was so when I was on my healing journey and really stressed and really bloated, for a lot of women, the first thing they think is exercise more. If I go run, it's going to reduce my stress, maybe I'll lose a couple of pounds and we get women especially, really get into this mindset when you're bloated and miserable and maybe hanging on to any extra water weight or whatever. That was really working against me. Every time I would start training again for something new because I thought it was going to help me, I got worse. So the final time that I healed, I said, okay, I'm done, I'm done. I would just walk. I would do different stretches and yoga. I learned how to do all the digestive stretches and I healed. And I'm not saying that's what it is for everyone. What I'm saying is the lifestyle piece is so critical. I also started verbal therapy. I got massages, I did all the things that I always thought were so woo woo and wouldn't work. And I do them to this day. And I think the lifestyle pillar is the hardest one because it's something that you do forever. You don't just get to at some point, we hope we can, wean off of high doses of medicine. Or like in the case of SIBO, I did intense 28 days of refaxmin and Neomycin. Well, ultimately you do stop that, right? But you never get to stop the lifestyle piece. So that happened. I created those. And then I am just so passionate today about continuing to teach and preach my three pillars because in 2019, then my dad passed away from colon cancer. I ever hear that it's just been.

[23:40] Katie Chandler: This roller coaster of and then an awful tragedy like that happens and I mean, I can imagine that it's very hard to maintain the lifestyle that you're supposed to be maintaining. So it's probably a little bit of an up and down. But the fact that you're healed is amazing. And I can only imagine how helpful this is for people. And the lifestyle piece for you, what you needed was to be easier on yourself, it sounded like to be more gentle with your body instead of killing yourself in the gym, going on these walks and everything. We've talked a lot about that on here and how much it can really help on so many things, so many levels with inflammation and just achieving results on multiple layers. I want to circle back a little bit to the SIBO, because I've definitely had an experience with SIBO, and I think for some people that are listening, if that's an unfamiliar term, it's good to just understand that we have all of this bacteria in our gut and it works for us. And then if it gets out of balance, it can work against us. And that's essentially what it is, right? Like I've had candida of the gut overgrowth and that is like it's torture trying to get these things out. But the reason why I bring it up is because I just want to know what helped you get that diagnosis or what type of doctor helped you get to that point. So that our listener, if they're experiencing similar things, knows who to go to.

[25:04] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Yeah, I definitely went the functional route for that. So because I was so miserable and kind of at my wits end, I'm like, I will try anything. At the time we were living in California and a friend of mine said there's this fantastic functional doctor, but it's going to be like an hour and a half away and he specializes in all these things. I was like, it's going to be super expensive. But again, I was desperate and so that's what I did. That's the route that I went as I went more functional. However, I will say that because it's become such a more known issue in the gut space, a lot of traditional doctors are testing for it now. Yes, I think that back then if you went to a western trained doctor, they're definitely going to roll their eyes. And I still believe that there are I know because people tell me a lot of eye rolls still. We're not going to test you for that, especially with people like what happened with me, I gained weight, whereas they're trained that usually you lose a lot of weight and so they might dismiss it, but if you truly think that you have it, do not let them. It's a very simple breath test. I'm not saying it's easy to do, but it is a very simple breath test. However, if you want to know that it's definitely going to be on the table for discussion, immediately, going the alternative.

[26:39] Katie Chandler: Route is probably it's interesting.

[26:41] Amy Sherman: I have a question about SIBO. Is that something you get that can be healed and you don't get it? Again? Because I know colitis is more of like an inflammation that you always have it that can flare up and flare down, but it's like a disease that you have versus is SIBO a disease or is it more just like something that you come down with that you can be healed from?

[27:05] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Yeah, you can be healed from it. It's an overgrowth of bacteria. Okay, so like celiac or colitis those are autoimmune diseases that can be triggered. They can go into remission. But when I hear people say they're cured of it, I'm like, that's not the correct term because you don't get cured from it. There's no cure anyways. You can go into remission. But like with SIBO, so it's an overgrowth and it's not just SIBO is SIBO is SIBO, meaning there's a reason why the SIBO occurred to begin with.

[27:40] Amy Sherman: Right.

[27:41] Sarah Kay Hoffman: And usually you have to understand that to know if it's going to come back or not. For me it was chronic dieting for years and years and years, which led to super low stomach acid, like not even hypochlohydria. I had achlohydria, I had no stomach acid. And so until I figured that out, it did keep relapsing because interesting, also stress reduces stomach acid. So I had all the things anyways. So in that case, if you don't know you have low stomach acid, yes, it's going to come back. You can treat it with your refaxamin, your neomyosin, whatever you want, but it's going to come back. There's other things though, like so I had Doctor Neurology, she's a SIBO expert in Australia, she came on my show and we talked about all of the underlying causes and one of them is like scars or adhesions, like if you have surgery and in that case they heal over time. Yes, but I think it seems like it could reoccur easier because you're never really going to get rid of them. Right. And then sometimes people travel and they pick up a bug and that is actually what refaxamin was originally prescribed for, was travelers diarrhea. And so with a case like that, I feel like that is a little bit easier to overcome because that was like a one time thing. So it really depends on why it occurred to begin with.

[29:13] Amy Sherman: And you found out why it occurred through working with that integrated doctor integrative doctor. Exactly, yeah, because that's, I think such a key piece. I think we all struggle with whether you have stomach issues or migraines like me, et cetera, of like what is the root cause, not like how can I feel better? And yes, I want to feel better, but why am I getting it in the first place? And I think that is like the hardest thing to figure out. And I'm sure to your point, once you did, then you at least could try to figure out then how to resolve it.

[29:41] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Right. So for me it was understanding to the nth degree all about stomach acid and how I was going to increase it. And even to this day I have very adequate, obviously, stomach acid and I'm not relapsing anymore, but I still do things every single day to make sure that I'm always on the up.

[30:02] Katie Chandler: I want to ask a bit about that because I was listening to your most recent episode, which is exactly about the low stomach acid.

[30:08] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Piece.

[30:08] Katie Chandler: And I think that's my problem too. I'm pretty sure that mine stems from having Hypothyroidism and autoimmune stuff, and that's the low stomach acid piece for me. But just curious what you do. Do you do like the betane HCL or digestive enzymes and things like that to help you keep your stomach acid elevated?

[30:29] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Yeah, I do both of those, which are also both in my supplement line because I'm so particular and adamant about them when I was first healing. Yeah, the next episode of the podcast is going to be my eleven natural ways that I increase it because I'm so passionate about it. But like okay, so you can do things that will increase it via supplement. There are also natural ways, like apple cider vinegar, you can do lemon, you can do breathing exercises. There's a lot of natural ways to increase it. My favorite one, honestly though, is just straight any type of added HCL, butane HCL with Pepsin and the enzymes. Because the thing about stomach acid is that we need it to break our food down. So that means we just need help, period, in breaking food down, which is one of the biggest challenges across the board for people. I think there's so many different factors and reasons for that. But the first place that we start breaking our food down is we put food in our mouth and there's all these natural there should be natural digestive enzymes, right? But even there, the digestive process gets off for people. And so having a really high quality digestive enzyme and or mine has the HCL a little bit added right to it. So it's kind of like an all in one will really help the food break down. So that it's easier from a stomach acid standpoint, it's easier for everything to just digest. And for us, ultimately, the goal is to absorb the nutrients, right? 90% of nutrients are absorbed in the small intestine, which is why when you have SIBO, it's a small intestinal issue. You have so many problems with digestion and then also weight, because either you're not absorbing them, you're not doing it right, whatever. There's so many different scenarios. I guess there's a lot of natural ways that you can increase your stomach acid. Something that's really interesting about stomach acid too, is how we've been told forever that we all have too much stomach acid. So we have to be so careful because we have acid reflux, because we have too much stomach acid. And now, of course, research is coming out and people are really being shown, and it's being proven that in fact, a lot of these symptoms are coming because we don't have enough. And then, unfortunately, doctors are putting people with, quote unquote, too much stomach acid on all of these PPIs, these acid reducers, which then is reducing their stomach acid even more, creating even more problems. I'm not saying that everyone is there.

[33:22] Amy Sherman: A test to know you have low stomach acid.

[33:25] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Yeah. So I just talked about that too. So there is a medical one, but it's pretty invasive, so a lot of doctors won't start there. They'll do more of an at home test. The one that I did was with straight HCL and betane HCL and it's a pretty easy process. It's just getting the I think Thorne has a great one on integrative therapeutics. They both have just a great HCL with Pepsin. So the way it goes is you have to be eating protein. That's part of the test. So you eat at least like a whole serving of protein. You take one of the HCL pills, listen to your body, and if there's no burning or anything, then you know that you might not have enough stomach acid. So then the next meal you'd take two with high protein and see what happens. Now when I did this test, I was up to like twelve pills and nothing was happening. And my doctor is like, whoa, whoa, whoa, now we're having too much water with our meals, which also inhibits appropriate digestion. So I was on a protocol for a long, long time where I was doing eight HCL pills until I got it up. So now I'm way down. But that's one of the at home tests. And then you'll see a lot of people talk about like, baking soda challenge and stuff like that. I don't know, I never did that, but I know a lot of functional nutritionists will do that with their clients as well. Interesting, the only test that I know for stomach acid is that one, but it's invasive and it's costly.

[35:03] Katie Chandler: Yeah, you're jogging my memory. I was just going to say when I had SIBO, like peak COVID, I did some of those tests. I did the baking soda one, I don't remember exactly, but I just remember doing these like, at home experiments. It's funny. And also just really quickly, Amy, sorry, I think it was on your social page that I saw a very simple tip for digesting your food, which is chew your food a lot, right? Chew way more than you think you should, and don't drink any water because when you're drinking the water with those meals, you're flushing out those digestive enzymes instead of helping them do their job. So that one's always stuck with me. But anyway Amy, sorry, go ahead.

[35:46] Amy Sherman: Yeah, I know, that's interesting because I feel like I'm always drinking water with my meals, so good note. I wanted to go back to the food journaling because I think that that's interesting. I've never done it and I've always wanted to because it seems overwhelming. But like you were saying, you had a really in depth food Journal. Was there a certain template you followed or how did you track it? Can you just tell us a little bit about that? Because I think for people that are having stomach issues, it might be something worth experimenting with.

[36:12] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Yes. So I have my own journal, actually, because it was one of my top tools, and I perfected the process over a decade. But I remember in the beginning, I have a post on my website, too, that shows kind of what my journals look like in the beginning, because in the beginning, they were really focused on calories, and I stood everything all wrong and then till today. So food journaling, if you do it correctly, can be life changing. And the reason why I love mine so much is because it's broken down into 90 days. And the thing is, a lot of people that use my journal, why they like it so much is because it's almost like this compilation of all the things that they're doing, the symptoms they're seeing in a very structured way that they can then also give to their doctor so that by the time they get to their doctor, their doctor is not like, okay, well, I think it's just IBS. They're like, well, no, because XYZ, I've been tracking So on my journal, you track your bowel movements. And I have the whole Bristol Stool chart in there so that if our bowel movements are off on just a random day randomly, we don't really think much about it. But like, for instance, if you are having diarrhea for seven days in a row and then there's blood in some of it, that's very telling. Your doctor needs to know that, and there's a way that you can track that and to be able to see it over time. But in addition to things like that, I also have women track their cycle days because that's very helpful information for the doctor. I have, obviously, water intake, which is pretty standard and basic, but I also have an entire key. So the way that I created my journal is bullet journal meets regular Food and Lifestyle journaling. So I provide a key and I teach you how to use it from the standpoint of okay, so S equals supplement. And so when I write S, I can write digestive enzymes, and then you write the time, and then there's different symptoms that you can write down, and it's all right there in a really detailed and focused and simplified way for you and for your doctor. Because I can't tell you how many times I would feel okay for a couple of months, and then I'd start feeling miserable again. And I'm like, what did I do these past couple of months? How have I been living? And there's just no way to remember all that stuff. And so this was kind of my answer to that.

[38:52] Katie Chandler: Very smart.

[38:53] Amy Sherman: Yeah, I'm going to check that out.

[38:54] Sarah Kay Hoffman: That's really helpful.

[38:55] Amy Sherman: Yeah, because to your point, it's like the food, but then it's like, what else is happening? And yeah, you're not going to remember how you're feeling on the daily, and.

[39:03] Katie Chandler: That'S a great tool.

[39:04] Amy Sherman: That's amazing that you have that.

[39:05] Katie Chandler: That's a good resource. I feel like we could probably ask you 1 million questions about this and just keep going on and on and on.

[39:12] Sarah Kay Hoffman: I feel like we're like, just I.

[39:13] Amy Sherman: Know we have to go back because I'm like, wait, I have so many.

[39:16] Katie Chandler: More questions, so let's just quickly touch again on your line of supplements. So you have the journal that you just mentioned. You have the digestive enzymes, the betane HCL.

[39:27] Sarah Kay Hoffman: What else do you offer? Yeah, the supplement line is only about a year old now, but the reason I did is because I was spending so much on everyone else's supplements, and I'm like, okay, well, I know exactly what I need and what the community needs, so I'm just going to do it. They're not on a gutsyroll.com. They're on gut healingsupplements.com. And I have a digestive enzyme which is called breakdown. I have herbal bitters because I truly believe in them for naturally increasing stomach acid and helping our bodies to just be able to do it on its own over time. And that's called digest. Plus, I have tummy soothe, which is my immune. It's my IgG immune. I'm obsessed with it. It's actually a powder, so you can add it to anything. It was unflavored. And then we have a brand new we just released last week is Collagen, which is one of my favorite things for all things, but not just gut health, but wellness in general. And then a magnesium, of course, it's called Move now and then just like two more that are they're just kind of like complementary to certain people or lifestyles or routines. One is moromega. It's really the inflammation reducer. It's a one to one ratio of DHA and EPA. So a lot of women love that one too. I don't miss a day with that one because inflammation and then the other one would just be my multivitamin.

[41:00] Katie Chandler: Congratulations. That's amazing to have that line and offer all of it. What is your favorite type of magnesium? What is your magnesium? Is it glycinate citrate? What do you use?

[41:11] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Yes, it's glycinate. I think people are always surprised that I didn't use citrate. But honestly, that's really for emergency uses. It's explosive, and I don't want that. I have magnesium in the glycinet form, and you take it at night because the idea is that it promotes better sleep, which is foundational for my lifestyle pillar, but also more gentle as far as then your ball movements the next day. And I absolutely love that. Our whole family.

[41:44] Katie Chandler: I love magnesium glycinate, by the way.

[41:47] Sarah Kay Hoffman: I will say because this is one of my top questions people ask me all the time, why don't you have a probiotic? And I will tell you why. The reason I don't have a probiotic is because I have always used the just thrive one, and I saw no reason to create one. The reason is because I still believe at the end of the day that probiotics are very subjective and I really educate people on strains and species and understanding what can work for you. For me, to create a probiotic was like I felt like it was doing a disservice to people because I never want people to feel worse. And sometimes I swear by the just thrive one, but it's not for everyone. And I don't believe that there is one probiotic that's just like, for everyone can backfire.

[42:37] Katie Chandler: So you take yours every day, but.

[42:41] Sarah Kay Hoffman: That'S what works for you.

[42:43] Katie Chandler: It doesn't work for everybody.

[42:45] Sarah Kay Hoffman: It's not that a probiotic doesn't work for everybody. It's which one and which strains and species you're using might not. And also, if you have SIBO, when I was in the thick of SIBO and I was in massive flare mode, I didn't take a probiotic either.

[43:00] Katie Chandler: That's a dolphic.

[43:02] Amy Sherman: If you're constipated, should you be taking a probiotic? Does that help with that or does it not? Or is it not related?

[43:08] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Yeah. So again, that's going to go back to the strains in the species and what you choose and also just how it's working with your body. And so, again, it's like working with.

[43:22] Amy Sherman: A doctor, nutritionist, integrative doctor to figure out what's right for you, essentially.

[43:28] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Yeah.

[43:28] Amy Sherman: Which is why that food journal I.

[43:30] Katie Chandler: Think would be so great.

[43:31] Sarah Kay Hoffman: It's called healing blooms within. It's very intentional, too.

[43:35] Amy Sherman: Yeah, I would imagine. You just have to be consistent with it and then you can find out a lot of information. Okay, well, this has been amazing. I feel like we have so many more questions and we'll have to have you back, but thank you so much for joining us and just giving us kind of the one on one on Gut Health, and I'm glad it's become such a big topic. I feel like Gut Health, so many people we've had on the show have talked about, even if they're not experts in gut health, how important gut health is. And I think it's a little bit of such a vague term that sometimes it's hard to know what that means, what you do about it. If you somewhat feel okay, like, what should I be doing? So it's just really great that you're out there educating everybody. And just for our community, make sure you're following at a gutsy girl on Instagram because she has so many good pieces of information on there.

[44:24] Sarah Kay Hoffman: Thank you so much for having me. I will come back on the show.

[44:27] Katie Chandler: Thank you.

[44:28] Amy Sherman: Awesome. Thank you so much. 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.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

Episode 109 - Natural Glow Revolution and the Battle Against the Double Chin with Shelly Marshall of Beauty Shamans. (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 109

[00:07] Amy Sherman: 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. I'm Amy Sherman. And I'm Katie Chandler.

[00:20] Shelly Marshall: So let's get into some real conversation. You. Um.

[00:29] Amy Sherman: Welcome back to the show. Nirvana Citrus Family. It's Amy. Today solo episodeing with Shelley Marshall from Beauty Shamans, our amazing esthetician friend, gorgeous skinned lover of all things goasha skin, face yoga, all the things. So, Shelley, it's funny, I was looking back to when we first started talking to you, which was when we first launched, and I was looking at our previous episode. So for all of our new listeners, we've had Shelley on the show two other times. So your first episode was in April of 2021, and it was episode 15, and then we had you on in October later that year, october 21, episode 29. And this will be episode we're right now on episode 106. This will probably be like episode 108 or 109, 110, something like that. So it's just so crazy how much you have grown, how much we have grown, and I was just like, that's so cool. And by the way, thank you for being on our early shows when we were just starting. It's just incredible that you've been around and been with us for so long, and we're just so happy to have you as a friend and a family of Nirvana sisters in the show. So thanks for coming back and thanks for being with us back in the day.

[01:44] Shelly Marshall: Well, thank you guys so much. I mean, it's been really exciting, like you said, to watch both of us grow so much, and our conversations are always so fun and full of information. So this is, like, perfect for me because I love talking about this stuff with friendly people.

[02:00] Amy Sherman: Yes, and we love hearing it too. And for our new listeners, definitely check out those former episodes 15 and 29. And check out Shelley's Instagram because she has all of these incredible pieces of content about how to take care of your skin and your face and all the amazing things. So before we get started, we do want to jump in. Let's talk about our Nirvana of the week. It's been a crazy week. It's right before a holiday weekend. I can jump in and say my Nirvana this week was I have to think about this for a second. I guess what was good this week? Don't you sometimes feel like, oh, my God, I have to just reflect for a second, which is why I'm glad I do this, because if I don't, then I don't actually think about it. I would say, okay, here's mine for this week. I had a friend of mine happened to be in my neighborhood earlier this week, and it was a beautiful day, and she was doing something with her kids, and she had, like, an hour. And she's like, what are you doing? I said, actually, nothing. Why don't you pop by? And we did like, a quick walk around my neighborhood for an hour, which was so nice and so unexpected, and we got to catch up. I hadn't seen her in a while and we got to catch up. The weather was so nice and we just did a quick power walk, walked a couple of miles, and it was just so nice to do a quick, not planned, spontaneous walk. So that was my highlight of this week.

[03:16] Shelly Marshall: What about you? Impromptu walks are always yeah, I would say the last like, ten days, twelve days. I've been dealing heavily with allergies so much that it has been affecting my work. I haven't been able to do any work. A lot of my content is online. I'm showing my face, I'm talking, and so if I'm constantly sneezing or sniffling or if I look really, like, just itchy watery eyes. It's just impossible to make any content. So I was forced to take a break and I was forced to just be and just to relax and not do anything. And it was actually really good for me to sort of be forced to just sit back and chill and not always put all this pressure on myself, like, okay, today I'm going to have to do this video, answer these questions, post about this or that, or contribute to my studio or whatever. It was kind of nice to just be given the gift of time to just read, sit, listen to music, do whatever, do whatever I want to do that's not work related. So that was really, actually very special.

[04:25] Amy Sherman: Yeah, it sounds like your body needed it. Isn't it funny how your body kind of tells you, like, all right, you.

[04:32] Shelly Marshall: Need to chill out, you need to take it back. Yeah.

[04:34] Amy Sherman: And I know it's interesting that you talk about the allergy stuff and we'll get into it a little bit. I want to hear kind of how you're taking care of that, because I've noticed my allergies have been not terrible, but more noticeable. And my younger son has allergies too, and he's been, like, sneezing and watering eyes and nose. So it's just really bad this season. I've been hearing from a lot of people, so I definitely want to hear about how you're getting through that. But before we do that, let's just talk about you and what's going on. What's the latest in the skincare world? I know our initial few conversations were really it was like the 101 on Guaca, and then we talked about face yoga and all this stuff, and I just feel like so much has grown and there's so much more even going on with this topic. So I just kind of want to hear what's going on in your world. I know you launched the skincare studio, which you hadn't launched, or you were just about to launch last time to talk. So give us your update.

[05:28] Shelly Marshall: Well, I think a lot of what we discussed in previous episodes, it's just kind of expanded and grown from there in terms of the skincare world, because I'm seeing more and more celebrities and whatever. People in media dissolving their fillers. Stop doing Botox, like even going so far as taking out their implants or just going more natural. I've seen that a lot. And so obviously that has an impact on everyone else because a lot of people like to follow what celebrities are doing. And so I think there's become this subtle sort of gradual movement towards going more natural. And so I'm getting even more inquiries about how to perform face yoga, how to do Guaca, what the benefits of facial massage are. And so it was kind of perfect that I launched my skin within studio right around that time because it was right about the time when people are starting to become interested in how to take care of their self. At home. How to get similar results as these injectables and cosmetic procedures without having to go under the knife or have needles injected into your face. So that's kind of what I've been seeing a lot. It's just that slow movement towards self empowerment and just taking care of yourself and feeling really good about what you see in the mirror. And in my mind and in my world, it's never about deleting all of your wrinkles and making yourself look like you were 16 or 18 years old. It's about making your wrinkles look healthy. It's about making your face look lovely and to delete or erase the stress, but not necessarily all of the lines that we've gained through the wisdom experiencing life.

[07:22] Amy Sherman: Yeah, I totally agree with that. And I have seen a lot of what you're saying as well. Just I actually just finished a podcast episode yesterday. I was listening to a podcast where it was all about explans and I have heard about that a little bit. But this was really interesting to hear about why people are doing it and like the experience of this one person. So it's interesting that you say that. And I have seen about definitely about the fillers, about people dissolving their fillers because I've read and I've seen that these fillers can stay in your face for much longer than they're anticipating or they, I guess, expected.

[08:01] Shelly Marshall: I think when we first started talking, I was still doing you were doing.

[08:05] Amy Sherman: Filler and beltox, but you were sort of like alternating.

[08:09] Shelly Marshall: I was starting to get out of that business, but I was still performing it for clients and I stopped.

[08:17] Amy Sherman: Okay, so you stopped and started feeling.

[08:19] Shelly Marshall: Yeah, I started feeling, first of all, very uncomfortable with the fillers. That was the first thing I cut out of my practice was the injectable fillers because what you said was correct. A lot of times these fillers don't actually end up dissolving all the way. And so if they're misplaced or if they migrate within the skin tissue, then you're going to end up with a disfigured part of your face and then it becomes even more difficult to deal with. And then you're sort of chasing these little imperfections. Well, this looks like this now on this side, so I have to fix this side. And then it's just like never ending cycle. And then the other thing was I was just learning more and more and hearing more and more about the dangers of fillers long term. And we started to grow apart. Yes, it was just like we were in this relationship and then I started realizing that it's not you, it's me. I'm changing and I'm evolving and this isn't really for me anymore. And then the Botox stuff, because I stopped doing Botox myself just because I simply didn't really like the way it was looking on me anymore. I started doing and performing all these other exercises and techniques on myself. And I started teaching a lot of my clients and my patients that, and they also started gravitating more towards the more natural route. And so then I started thinking like, is this even worth doing anymore? Again, is this really aligned with who I am? So I have since deleted those services from my practice. And I think it's totally fine if people want to still do that. I think there's definitely a place for them. But just going kind of with what I feel is the new trend of going more natural, that is kind of where I'm headed as well. And so I just felt like I just needed to embrace that.

[10:17] Amy Sherman: Yeah, no, it totally makes sense. And we had spoken to someone recently that we had on our show, Natasha B, who does a lot of skincare online. And she was saying she used to do Botox and filler. And I think she dissolved all her filler and doesn't use Botox anymore and really just uses all of the skincare products that she recommends to be able to really test them. And a lot of them really work well. And now it's like she was hearing feedback from her community, well, like, you have Botox, so how can you know if they really work? And she was like, you know what, you're right. And so she stopped doing it and is able to really see the benefits of the skincare. So yeah, there's definitely that trend. But yeah, I mean, I still jabbling botox. I do have to tell everybody. Let's not I try to really space it though. But I do still love a little lift. But I do. It's funny. I talk to my Durham all the time who does it. She's super, super natural, and she really tries to do it as least as possible in the most natural way as possible, just to give a little bit of that brightness to the face, but I would love to not do it, that is for sure. And it's funny because I'll go on your page and I'll follow you do all of your things, and I'm like, I just need to be more consistent. And then I can stop doing Botox because you're right, it becomes like this wheel of, like, oh, chasing it. And so I also find that microneedling Guaca massage, like, all that stuff provides a lot of benefit if consistent. And it's funny. I know we'll get into some of the new products that you have, but honestly, ever since I met you and have been using your face oil, those are my Holy Grails. Like your face oil and the green I forget what it's called. The wash the sea so far, yeah. I mean, those are my two morning I mean, especially at night routine, the double cleansing. And those two products are my Holy Grails. Like, my skin has changed significantly since.

[12:15] Shelly Marshall: Using I know, I tell everyone, like, just use those two products.

[12:19] Amy Sherman: Those two products. And then I also use your daily moisturizer. It's my favorite. Those three are my holy girls. And then I have obviously a million of your other products and use those two. But those three are like, amazing. Anyone who's listening. And I have the travel set because I'm like, I have to travel with these products and I'm like, running out, so I actually have to get more. But anyway, those products are so they work really well, and I just feel like they're simple. And even with the moisturizer every day, I love how it smells. Just so you know. I don't know if I told you this when we've talked, but it's so hard to find a moisturizer or sunblock that has like, the right consistency and that doesn't smell and doesn't have that feel. And it feels like a moisturizer. And the smell is just like every morning I smell it, I'm like, just smells good. And I put it on and smells happy. Yeah, it smells so good and it just feels good. But anyway, that's just like a plug for your products just because I love them so much. But just like that double cleanse of the face is such a huge makes such a big difference on my face. Speaking of what is the latest so it sounds like your clients, a lot of them, are embracing face yoga. Are you seeing more people doing a lot of this face yoga than even Guaca? Or is that kind of what are you saying?

[13:31] Shelly Marshall: I think when Guaca first became a big trend, it was like, everybody wash. I'd say it's a pretty good mix. Now I think it's because there's been a lot more education about what our faces need because Guaca doesn't do everything. It's going to help with Lymphatic drainage, so it's going to help to depuff. It's going to help reduce inflammation, which can help to sculpt the face because you're allowing those facial features to become more pronounced. You're brightening your eyes because you're getting rid of any morning puffiness, but it's not going to necessarily lift the muscles of the face, which is what can lead to sagging skin, jowls, nasal labial folds, things like that. And that's where practices like face yoga come in, because it's more like an exercise, right? So I like to just always sort of compare it with your normal workouts that you do for the body, right? So you see people who go to the gym and they're lifting weights, they're going to have a certain body type, right? They're going to be more muscular, they're going to be very lifted. You go to a yoga studio and see people who only do yoga, they're going to be very lean, they're going to be relatively thin, probably not a lot of roundness because their Lymphatic systems are working very efficiently. And then you see a runner. Everyone has this body type. But really, in my opinion, and I've always felt this way as a former athlete as well, having that mix of your workouts where you do a little bit of lifting, you do a little cardio, you do some stretching, you do some yoga, you do some Pilates, some toning, or this or that. It kind of, to me, gives that best overall effect. And so I think about that in terms of the face as well.

[15:18] Amy Sherman: So true.

[15:18] Shelly Marshall: Yeah. All of these different techniques, face yoga, massage, guacaw reflexology, which I've recently been getting really into, all of these things are like different workouts for the face that contribute in different ways to do different things, right.

[15:33] Amy Sherman: To build those muscles, which yeah, you don't really think about, but it's true. How long do you I mean, I know on your website you have probably different lengths of quote workouts for the face, but if for the average person who's listening, who hasn't seen a lot of your content, what would? You suggest is like a good amount of time and maybe talk about a few different exercises, face yoga exercises they could do to strengthen those muscles on a daily basis.

[16:07] Shelly Marshall: I think a good amount of time when you're first starting is five to ten minutes. You know, if that it's more just it's building the consistency and coming back to it, that's really key. And then once you have that practice of coming back to it, then you can start building upon it and do like 20 minutes. You can combine things like face yoga, massage, which is really beneficial. Some exercises. It's going to be hard to explain it to any listeners. But the idea is, with face yoga is you are essentially relaxing certain muscles using certain facial poses, and you're relaxing those muscles that get too much exercise throughout the day. Like between the brows, for example, those muscles get a lot of stress and exercise because we're always using them. When we're looking at a computer, we're really focused. So there are certain face yoga poses that are going to help to relax that. But there are also some muscles of the face that don't get enough exercise, like the cheeks. And so for those muscles, you actually want to do more lifting poses. So just like in your regular yoga practice, there's this contraction and relaxation sort of dance constantly going on when you're performing these poses. Some of the poses are going to be more stretching and relaxing poses, while others are going to be more lifting, a little bit more strenuous, like an exercise for the muscles of the face. So one of the easiest stretching poses that you can do for the whole face, it's really beneficial to the entire front side of the face is something I call the big O. And to me I think of it as like the downward dog of face yoga because it's one of those poses that you can come back to all day. You can come back to in between some of your more strenuous poses. And it's always going to make you feel really good. It's going to help to reset your mind and all you're going to do is sort of make a low o with your lips. Like a loose low o. You don't want to have purse lips. You just try to relax the jaw, drop the jaw, and you're stretching the whole front side of the face. You're making sure that the area around your eyes and your forehead are still very relaxed and you just kind of hold it like that and you're going to feel a lot of circulation and a lot of blood flow coming to the skin. Also, anytime you are stretching or exercising the muscles of the face, that's going to actually stimulate the lymphatic system as well. So you're moving some of your Lymphatic system. You're helping to depuff, but you're also relieving tension in the muscles. You're increasing circulation. So that's good for collagen and for skin health. So just a lot of benefits there. And then for a lifting pose, I think one of the easiest ones to explain would be just to place the tip of your tongue to your upper lip and then smile.

[19:15] Amy Sherman: Yeah, I've seen this on your partners of your mouth.

[19:17] Shelly Marshall: Yeah. And you're lifting from the apples of your cheeks. But you obviously want to make sure that you're not wrinkling around the eyes or around the forehead. These are things that they're harder to explain and best to do when you're watching someone one on one. And that's what I do in my studio a lot. I walk people through, okay, do this and now do that, and then make sure let's check this part. Make sure you're doing this right or that right. But if we're going to do like a quick video, I'll just show you the it would look like this.

[19:51] Amy Sherman: You got it?

[19:53] Shelly Marshall: It looks silly. But once you see, once you get.

[19:56] Amy Sherman: Used to it yes.

[19:57] Shelly Marshall: And once you start seeing the benefits, it doesn't even matter anymore. Yeah, it's really great for dark undereye circles because it detoxifies this entire near. Yeah, I do this one all day long, and by the end of the day, I'm like, oh, looks like that.

[20:10] Amy Sherman: Must be like good for your jaw, too. I would imagine.

[20:15] Shelly Marshall: As long as you're not holding tension in your jaw when you do it. Yeah, it kind of helps to release that a little bit.

[20:20] Amy Sherman: All right, let me do it again. I don't want to see you do it again. I'm watching. Okay. And you just hold it. Okay.

[20:28] Shelly Marshall: And then the other one is the one I explained where you're lifting from here. You just place your tongue to your lip and you just lift from the cheek.

[20:39] Amy Sherman: Yeah.

[20:39] Shelly Marshall: And so when you engage the tongue, anytime you engage the tongue, you're actually engaging the area right underneath the chin. So it's good for double chin, that area, but also really good for lifting the cheeks. And the face is the only area of the body where the skin and the muscles are attached to one another. So when you start exercising your muscles and lifting your muscles, then your skin is going to start going with it, too.

[21:03] Amy Sherman: Yeah, I was going to say because I feel like the older I get, the skinnier my face gets, like, not in a good way. And I'm just like I'm thinking if I do these exercises more, it'll plump my skin a little bit because I just feel like the older people get. You lose that collagen in your face.

[21:23] Shelly Marshall: Yeah. You lose the collagen. And it's harder to maintain your muscle mass. It's really important after you do like well, not just after a face yoga routine, but it's really important to get adequate amount of protein, an adequate amount of vitamin C, zinc, because you need those muscles to maintain their muscle mass after exercising them. I also think that using infrared Led is a really great thing to use if you're going to be doing a face yoga practice, because that is something that can also help to repair muscle tissue. It can help to build muscle tissue. NASA used to use it in their space shuttles to prevent muscle atrophy the astronauts.

[22:02] Amy Sherman: Interesting.

[22:02] Shelly Marshall: It makes sense that if you're going to be doing this face yoga practice, you want to make sure that you're taking care of all the other components of maintaining muscle mass at the same time.

[22:11] Amy Sherman: So you would do that afterwards. The red light, if people have you.

[22:15] Shelly Marshall: Could do it before and after.

[22:18] Amy Sherman: Okay, that's a good tip. Okay. The other thing I wanted to ask you about, you were mentioning your allergies, which a lot of people are dealing with now. And I know you mentioned reflexology, and I have that tool which I use all the time by the way, when I get a headache, I'm always kind of putting it in areas to make you feel better. But are there certain things you can do if people are experiencing these seasonal allergies right now, like certain pressure points or face yoga or what do you recommend for that? I mean, what are you doing for yourself? I know you've been under the weather.

[22:49] Shelly Marshall: It's tough because with allergies it's like you get real stuffy and then you can relieve them and then an hour later and it comes back. But what I've been doing mostly is I'm using my reflexology tool mostly on the sinus pressure point. So that's like right on the inner part of the brow right here, just to open that up. And then all along the side of the nose, I'm coming down the nasal passageways just to open that up quite a bit. And then all the way down to the nostril. So just in these small little lines. And that just kind of helps to open up the nasal passageways a little bit. I hold the big o, that face movement that I just showed you that actually really helps to get some airflowing. Yeah, just to kind of stretch everything out and get things moving again. It's helping to stimulate your lymphatic system. It's getting all the fluids moving along. So I do that and then I am in my room choosing different essential oils all day, diffusing different ones throughout the day just to kind of keep everything open and helping me to breathe. I find that steaming in a bath is also really beneficial. I've done the netty pot. I'm not a fan. I feel like I'm dying with the feeling. I'm like, what's going on?

[24:15] Amy Sherman: I know it's a very strange feeling.

[24:17] Shelly Marshall: As well as it works. I just can't do that.

[24:21] Amy Sherman: Yeah.

[24:21] Shelly Marshall: So that's kind of what I do. Very minimal basic things, but it's helping.

[24:29] Amy Sherman: Yeah. Good. Well, and I was also going to say before with the with the face yoga and these pressure points and all the stuff, I think the reason why it is so great is you can do it in the car. You can do it while you're sitting working, doing emails, like walking around the neighborhood. It's like you can just do these exercises. These go to few exercises throughout the day and you don't need to allocate time for it. You can just multitask. So that's also why I love it, because I find myself too, like I have the other toy of everything that you sell because I'm obsessed. But I have that other tool that's one of my favorites with the two onyx balls and the obsidian roller. I use that all the time and I have it at my it's so easy, you don't even have to think about it. Just for those listening, if you don't know how to guacaw, this is kind of like a hack. I just feel like you can just do that around your skin, it almost feels the same. I bring that with me every time I travel because I feel like it really helps with just like inflammation and everything. But anyway, I'll sometimes have that at my desk at work and just do it while I'm on a call or whatever, just to kind of get things moving. But yeah. So big fan. So let's talk about moving over. We were talking about the Botox. So if you were to say, you know what, I don't want to be on this botox hamster wheel anymore, what kind of massage techniques would you recommend to sort of get the skin in the same feeling fresh or looking fresh like it does when you get Botox?

[25:56] Shelly Marshall: So you have to understand if you're going to start transitioning from using botox to, okay, I want to try to wean myself off. It's really important to understand what is causing the wrinkles, what is creating them, and what's creating them. A few different things. Repetitive muscle movement. So the frontalis muscle, it moves up and down. So that means when it moves up and down the lines, the horizontal lines develop much like rings in a curtain, right? You're going to see those lines across the muscles repetitively moving up and down. And then what happens is the layer right on top of the muscles, the fascia, right? That is your mesh, like, connective tissue, and that is connected to the skin. It's interwoven within the muscles, like everything within this entire structure. So when you are constantly moving that muscle up and down, the fascia is going to start to remember that movement, and it's going to start becoming tighter and tighter, and pretty soon it's going to start holding the skin in the form of a wrinkle. So if you keep that in mind, there's a few different exercises that you can do. Number one, the first one that I always do is I take something like the reflexology tool. You can even use, like a guaca tool, anything. You can even use your knuckle if you want. But I find something like this works really well. And you're going to break up those fascia adhesions, right? You're going to break up those areas of tightness where the fascia has started to hold the skin in that crease. So what I do is I'll just go directly into those lines and just relieve some of the tightness that's being held around that crease. This is going to help to oxygenate the whole area. It's going to remodel the collagen. It's going to allow that wrinkle to relax a little bit more. So I will do this, and my skin will turn a little bit pink. I have quite a few forehead wrinkles, so it takes me about five minutes to get through the whole forehead. And you just work directly into the wrinkles, and they'll be a little bit sensitive. And that's because your fascia holds onto a lot of. Tension, it holds onto emotion, it holds onto stress. So when you feel that that's okay, that's completely normal. Every day is going to feel a little bit different. But in general, the more you do it, the better it's going to feel. Anyway. So that's the first thing I would do is I would start to massage little circles with your tool directly into the lines. The next thing I would do is just take my fingertips. And again, now we're filling in where those creases, where that depth has been lost in the skin, and you're just sort of filling that in. It works with when you have almost no product on the skin. I have some oil on, so it's a little hard. My fingers are slipping. Just hold it like that. And what that's going to do is it's going to push blood flow into that crease, and that's going to help to sort of remodel that whole area. And then you want to think about how can I prevent the muscle from moving like that? So then that's where phase yoga comes in, right? So there's exercise that you can do where you can activate the ring like muscle around the eyes while keeping the forehead muscle relaxed. Because a lot of times it's these two muscles because they're connected, it's these two muscles that get activated together when we're in a state of surprise or we're happy or shocked or whatever, a lot of times this is what happens, right? We open the eyes, the forehead goes with it. But is there a way to open the eyes without wrinkling the forehead? Yes, there is. You just have to train yourself to do that. So what I like to do, to train myself to do that, and it takes practice, but eventually when you practice it enough, you'll be able to apply it to your everyday life. When you're having an elated moment or whatever, is you just place your fingers up here and you practice opening up the eyes as wide as you can. But your fingers are up here on the forehead, just telling it, hey, just chill out, relax, right? You don't also need to get excited. And then pretty soon you'll be able to take your hands away and you'll be able to see, oh, I can make that movement, right? Do that.

[30:29] Amy Sherman: Interesting. And that probably because I feel like you're right. You get the wrinkles up here. I mean, I don't have them as much on my forehead. It's always more kind of like around the eyes, but to your point, they're connected. So anytime you make some sort of expression, it's going up into your eyes and around there too. So would you do that same method that you were showing.

[30:52] Shelly Marshall: With the tool.

[30:53] Amy Sherman: With the tool into that area around your eyes too?

[30:56] Shelly Marshall: Yeah. So then this area right here has a thicker muscle. So what you could do is use the tool to kind of make little lines or circles into those lines. But really with this area, what happens is when we're squinting a lot and everyone's anatomy is a little bit different, some people have it a little bit worse than others. Same with all parts of the face. For me, I find that massaging this area out is really the best thing because the muscle tends to get really, how can I say it, it's almost like crunched together. It's like contracting.

[31:32] Amy Sherman: Right.

[31:33] Shelly Marshall: And it stays in that contracted state. So if you just can just sort of spread out the fascia fibers and spread out the muscle and just kind of relax this area, it's just going to start to soften the lines a little bit. Still, when you make expression, you'll probably see them. But again, with these techniques, it's not about erasing lines, it's about making them look healthy.

[31:54] Amy Sherman: Right. And the third place I feel like, which affects a lot of people, and I haven't noticed it on me, but I've started to notice it lately, which is interesting when I wake up, not during the day, but just like when I wake up is like the nasal labial folds. Is that what this is called right here?

[32:10] Shelly Marshall: Yeah.

[32:10] Amy Sherman: And it was funny because I'm noticing I wake up and I have like a line here because I think I must be pursing my lips or doing something when I sleep. But I know that this is like a big one for everyone. So is it the same thing there like just getting in there or just massaging that?

[32:26] Shelly Marshall: Yeah, massaging will help that area just to soften the lines. But I will say that when you start seeing nasolebial folds, what's actually happening is there is fallen tissue from the cheeks. So the tissue up here is starting to degrade. The muscles are starting to become lax. And so when that falls, the nasalabial folds are essentially ligaments that are holding everything up. So when this tissue falls here, that's why you start to see that the droopiness. That droopiness. Right. So it's all about lifting the cheeks to start seeing more of an indirect smoothness on the nasolibial folds. The other thing, and I'm very aware of this because this happens to me a lot, especially with allergies, if I am eating salty food, went out late, had like a late night out drinking or allergies, whatever, and my face is holding extra fluid, my nasalabial folds will be more pronounced. I will be holding more inflammation right here in this area, right in between the cheeks and the lines, the nasal libial fold lines. If you carry inflammation here, you're going to start to see deeper folds. So that's where guaca comes in. That's where lymphatic drainage comes in. Because the more you can relieve any of this fluid from the mid face, then these folds are not going to look as deep either.

[33:48] Amy Sherman: Right, okay, that makes sense. It totally makes sense. So it's really about working the upper cheek area which then affects the lower versus getting right in the lower. Okay, that makes sense. Now, what about chest and neck? So a couple of things, like are there different massage techniques for the neck and chest, especially for people that are like, the skin on your neck starts to get thinner and creepy and that kind of thing.

[34:19] Shelly Marshall: So neck stretching has become like something I do every single day. It has helped not only my skin because it stimulates so much lymphatic movement, but it helps to sculpt the jawline. It helps me to think more clearly because I'm releasing a lot of tension. And I find that if you have a regular practice of stretching, moving, massaging your neck, you're naturally going to start to see that your skin is firmer, that you have less lines, that your neck actually becomes longer and just everything just becomes a lot more defined. So I don't think there's one stretch. Everyone's neck is very sensitive area for a lot of people. But moving the neck and making sure you're not holding any tension there, if you're feeling your neck and you feel knots, you got to work on that. You got to get rid of that because your neck is the bridge between your body and your face. So if you have stagnation and tension there, the blood is coming from your heart. It can't get through to the face oxygen fully to your face and to your brain without that passageway of your neck being nice and clear.

[35:35] Amy Sherman: Right. And I remember last time when you were talking about guaca, you were saying to do the neck first, to open that up and then do the rest of the face. And I remember last time I feel like we did a neck stretch. I forgot what you called it.

[35:48] Shelly Marshall: We probably did, yeah.

[35:49] Amy Sherman: Like the dolphin or something like that.

[35:52] Shelly Marshall: Yeah, swan neck or either swan neck or it's just like a reverse tech neck movement. Really?

[35:59] Amy Sherman: Yeah. That's a good one. It feels so good, too. I do that all the time. That's a good one.

[36:04] Shelly Marshall: And then the same kind of applies for the chest, too. This area, we have muscles, we have fascia here. When it gets tight from looking at our computer, we're hunched over our posture. It's getting worse and worse every day that we go into work and we don't work on our bodies. So when you have poor posture and you're not exercising and stretching and moving, then the skin here is going to become creased. It's going to become wrinkled. The quality of the skin and the integrity starts to degrade a little bit because it's not getting that oxygen and blood flow. So I find that if people start to see changes in their chest like lines, wrinkles, dullness, whatever, the first thing you want to do is massage the fascia. Make sure that you're stretching quite a bit, just pulling your hands behind your back and that opens your chest immediately. And then you can just use your knuckles and just massage out the fascia. This may even, it can be a little bit uncomfortable for people the next day and they don't realize, oh wow, I was holding a lot of tension in my chest because you're constantly hunched over totally on your computer screen or on your phone. So just stretching this area right here can just bring a lot of movement, hydration, blood flow to the whole area and just really improve the overall look of the chest. Yeah.

[37:29] Amy Sherman: And then in terms of products for neck and chest, are there certain products you would use for that or just like continuation of what you use in your face? Like if you're using the cleansing oil or serums, would you just carry that down or what do you suggest there?

[37:46] Shelly Marshall: Yeah, I really just use like when I'm washing my face, I use the cleansing oil mostly on my face, but I get the neck and I get the chest a little bit too. So nothing different there. And then same with my moisturizers. I apply everything to the face. There's always going to be a little leftover in my hands that goes directly to the neck and chest.

[38:05] Amy Sherman: Right.

[38:06] Shelly Marshall: So they always get a little bit of love. And my nighttime moisturizer, my plankton peptide cream, when you apply peptides, peptides are going to help to signal new collagen, maintain what you already have. So it's also important that you're using something that's going to maintain your moisture levels and also be giving your skin the nutrients it needs to maintain itself.

[38:29] Amy Sherman: Yeah, okay. And so before we close out as we're heading into summer, give us some summer tips to keep our skin healthy.

[38:39] Shelly Marshall: So I always tell people that getting a facial is probably actually one of the best things you can do during the summer because a lot of people will say, oh, I'm going to be in the sun for the next three, four months, I'll come for my facial later, afterwards, and that's fine. But every single day you're applying sunscreen, every single day you're out in the sun, you're sweating, your pores are expanding more and more, filling up with more and more gunk. So I always tell people really, during the summer, spring and summertime, come in and get your facials, get the extractions, let us keep your pores nice and clean so that you can reapply your sunscreen without feeling like you're filling them up constantly. In the fall and the wintertime, that's when we're going to do our chemical peels. If you're going to get into lasers, that's the time we're going to do that micro needling. Yeah, microneedling is when you want to do that. So I usually tell people in the summer, get your facials. And then the other thing that I think is really important aside from wearing sunscreen is oil cleansing. Because when you are out in the sun. Your skin's natural defense mechanism, along with producing melanin, is to thicken and harden. When it's in a sunny climate or environment, your skin cells are going to start to get a little bit rough. That's where you get that flakiness and.

[40:05] Amy Sherman: Dehydration that dry skin.

[40:07] Shelly Marshall: Yeah. And it just feels really rough. After a couple of days in the sun, your skin has hardened. So when you turn in for the night, if you do a nice oil cleanse, the oil is going to help to soften some of that surface dead skin. And so then when you want your face, it just kind of takes off a little bit of a layer. It's not like an exfoliation really. It just kind of softens the surface dead skin that's been building up so that your moisturizers are going to be more effective. Because if your skin cells are hard, it creates a barrier. Nothing keeping in. Yeah. And so I just feel like oil cleansing is during the summer, although it seems like, oh, put oil on my skin in the summer, it's the best time to do it. Yeah, it's going to help to just keep your skin looking glowy and dewy and hydrated because you're kind of taking off that barrier that your skin has built up.

[41:04] Amy Sherman: Do you do oil cleansing in the morning too, or just at night?

[41:07] Shelly Marshall: Mostly just at night. Yeah, I try to just do it once a day. And so for me, I like to do it at nighttime, take off the day, that's kind of when have time to do my ritual. But some people do it in the morning and it works better for them that way. I say do it when it feels right for you.

[41:23] Amy Sherman: Yeah. One other thing I was thinking about in the summer, because this has been happening to me lately, and I don't know if it's allergies or just the weather, but the redness around the nose, I just constantly have that either from blowing my nose or just I'm just always irritated right there and it's always red anything there. Is it massaging? Is it some sort of putting a.

[41:44] Shelly Marshall: Cream on and leaving it alone? Yeah, because I have the same thing right now because of allergies. So I just use either my plankton cream or I have a new product, my vitamin C serum.

[41:55] Amy Sherman: Oh, I didn't see that yet.

[41:56] Shelly Marshall: Yeah, and it just takes care of that. It just kind of moisturizes, but it's really light and then it just kind of repairs the skin. But yeah, if the skin is broken, you want to just let it heal. Yeah, Led can help with that a little bit.

[42:10] Amy Sherman: That's good. Yeah, I've just been noticing that lately it's been so irritated. Okay, so let's do a quick wrap session. I know we did this a couple of years ago, but I'm sure things have changed as we're always changing things up in this world. So what is your latest favorite wellness or beauty hack?

[42:29] Shelly Marshall: We already talked about neck stretching. I would have said that for sure. Drinking electrolytes.

[42:37] Amy Sherman: Oh, yeah.

[42:39] Shelly Marshall: It sounds so simple and silly, but I have noticed that since I started drinking Electrolytes, ever since I started drinking Electrolytes, I've noticed that my skin is a lot more hydrated, more supple. It's so simple to do. Just put a little electrolyte powder in your water and it tastes great.

[42:58] Amy Sherman: Do you have a favorite brand?

[43:00] Shelly Marshall: So I've been using this brand called Redmond.

[43:03] Amy Sherman: Okay.

[43:03] Shelly Marshall: And it's called relight. And I love it. It's amazing. And it tastes so good that it forces me to drink even more water, too.

[43:13] Amy Sherman: Yeah, that's a good one.

[43:15] Shelly Marshall: And drinking water is just there's nothing that compares to drinking water. You can use all the creams, you can do all the things, but if you are dehydrated from the inside, it's only going to go so far.

[43:28] Amy Sherman: No, I love I am a big electrolyte person. You try different ones all the time, and especially when I'm traveling. That's a good tip for the summer. Make sure you're bringing that with you because I just find you get so dehydrated when you're on a plane. Okay. And five minute flow. So you could do the summer version right. You just got out of the shower, dried off. Uber alerted you. They're five minutes away. What's your quick beauty routine, your go to? What are you putting on to be ready in time?

[43:56] Shelly Marshall: This is probably not too far off from what I normally do, actually. Yeah, quickly get out of the shower. I may spray my face with one of my toners. I always put on my nori gel and then a light layer, two to three drops of an oil. And then I'll probably get dressed, dry shampoo, put a little chapstick, and then right before I'm out the door, I apply my sunscreen and that's it. And that's not too far off from a normal day anyway. Yeah, that's good.

[44:27] Amy Sherman: Keep it simple. Simple, natural, easy. Love it. And how do you maintain your daily nirvana?

[44:37] Shelly Marshall: Lately, I've had to think about that. And I feel that as long as I express love in some way to the people in my family, whether that's my husband and I hugging in the kitchen or I'm cuddling with my cat or I'm making my stepson's favorite meal. As long as I am expressing love and showing love to the people that I love on a daily basis, that just makes me feel so good and it helps with my nirvana.

[45:13] Amy Sherman: I agree with you.

[45:14] Shelly Marshall: On a daily basis, I agree with you.

[45:16] Amy Sherman: Well, thank you so much for coming back and giving us so much great information. Our listeners are going to love it. I know I loved it. And we just appreciate you and all your wisdom and as I like to say, come back anytime. We love having you. And for our listeners, feel free to check out Shelley at beautyshamans on Instagram. And what is your website again? Beautyshamans.com, right?

[45:39] Shelly Marshall: Yes, beautyshamans.com.

[45:40] Amy Sherman: Yeah. So much valuable info. And you'll see me always following along with all of your Instagram content, doing all of the face yoga exercises with you because it's just easier to do it with you than on my own.

[45:53] Shelly Marshall: Awesome.

[45:54] Amy Sherman: Yeah. Anyway, so good to have you.

[45:57] Shelly Marshall: Thanks so much.

[46:00] Amy Sherman: 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.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

Episode 108 - Product Junkies: June - The Eye Edition (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 108

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

Unknown Speaker 0:06

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. I'm Amy Sherman. And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation

Unknown Speaker 0:27

Welcome back to the show Nirvana sisters family. It is Katie and Amy. This episode is exciting. So we're going to give you a product junkies episode. But it's very specific. And it's something that Amy's been talking about for a long time. And she's been testing these products for a year. So we have some really good reviews and feedback. And this is our special i Episode. We are going to be she's covering lash serums fake eyelashes. Just a lot of things for the eyes. So I'm super excited to hear about it. It's all her today she's going to educate me as we educate yo. So what's up, Amy? Hi. Hey, thank you. I feel like I am you are weird. So yeah, I've mentioned it in a couple of our shows that I wanted to do an episode because I've been testing a lot of different eyelash extensions over the last year and other eye products that I wanted to talk about that I think would be helpful for our listeners. And it all started about a year ago, I went to a wedding. And I've always wanted to do eyelash extensions. And I had never tried them before. And a friend of mine had really good ones. I was like Where'd you go, I got them done, I immediately was obsessed. I like they looked so much better, especially for me because I have, I'm fair and I have very light eyelashes. So I can't go out of the house without wearing mascara, or I'll say look totally washed out. So anyway, I got these extensions on. And they only last like two weeks. But they made such a big difference. And I didn't feel like I had to wear any makeup practically because at least it looked like I had mascara on all the time. I didn't have to take off my mascara, which you've talked about a million times, which I hate doing because I'm constantly rubbing my eyes and it's irritating. And I just loves it like give me more confidence. I really just loves it. So for like, I don't know, six months or so I was going to get eyelash extensions every two weeks, such a pain. And then what happens is if you if you don't get them filled every two weeks, like they start falling out. And then it looks crazy. And like you can't really put mascara on and I was like there's gotta be a better way to do this. This is just so annoying. And I don't have time because the thing is, is when you do get them done, you're sitting in the chair for like an hour or two. And you can't I mean, I listen to podcasts, but you're just sitting there and it can be relaxing. But every two weeks, it's just not realistic. Like, no one has the time to do this. So I started seeing all these things online about eyelash extensions that you can do at home. The only ones I had done at home before were the ones that we've done, where it's just like, you know, the band on top with like the glue that you just do, which I've done a million times in the past and they last like a night and they're fine. I just never think they look as good. So I don't know if our audience has heard but there's all these lashes now that go under the eyes. So those were those are what I have tested over the last year. So I started with the extensions. And then I was like there's gotta be a weather way. And then I started experimenting with all of these at home DIY eyelashes. So I have a few different versions. I have kind of a high, medium low and they're all good for different ways. And the first one I'm going to review and just a heads up for listeners I'm getting into the minutia. So if you're into this stuff, I think you're really going to like it. But the first one is called lash five. And I have this box because I bought their kind of starter kit, which I've used and then I've bought the refills and Lasha phi is the originator of this I think they have the patent on this type of technology which is its little lashes. So it's not a Full Lash like if you were going to do you know the band on top that you always see people doing like makeup artists and you just take off the whole thing. These are individual lashes. So I'll show you. I mean these are all like practically gone. I'll show you this one. So see how it's kind of circle. The whole circle was full. Okay, but it's I'm not going to take this one. I'll take this one on their individual plans. So there's like four and a clump. Yeah. Yeah, like there's one little lash. Okay. The cool thing is so you probably need depending on your eye like four or five of these little

Unknown Speaker 4:29

pieces of lash. But the cool thing is is you can kind of customize it so some people just want to put a little lash like at the end of their eye just to kind of give it a little pop. You can do that or you can do your whole lie which I do. There's a lot of different ways to use but this makes it more flexible. So lash if I specifically comes with you can either buy just the lashes if you have your own glue and things like that. I would recommend if you're doing it for your first time at home just buying the kit because the kit comes with the bonder so this is called

Unknown Speaker 5:00

WhisperLite flexible bond and it's basically like a mascara, and it's black and you put it on and it's kind of like glue. It's kind of like tacky. And then you wait like a minute, okay. And then you put on the lash. And there's definitely a learning curve, it took me a couple of times to perfect it. But now I can do it really easily. But you do have to be pretty committed. But I'm committed because it makes my life easier when I have these on. And if I can like to go to the office, I'm just gonna make up like, it's great. So you put the glue on like mascara, and then you literally take they have this kind of tweezer thing. And I'll talk about the tweezers too, because another brand I like that tweezers better. But they have this little tweezer thing. See this. And then you just put it I'm not doing it now. But you just put it under your lash. And it stays under it just on the lash line, but under your eyelashes as opposed to on top, which is what the traditional ones have always been correct. And that's why it looks more natural. Because those ones on the top. Yeah, we see that little black band. It looks like you're wearing eyeliner. This just goes right under your eyelash, but it doesn't hit that like water line. Okay, what does that it doesn't Yeah, right where your eyelash meets your eye, it doesn't actually hit that.

Unknown Speaker 6:12

Now it just you just place it at the bottom of your eyelash. Yeah, so I don't know if you can see I have ones on now. But see how it's just here. And you're literally in it stays, it works. Because of the mascara glue just sticks, mascara glue is genius.

Unknown Speaker 6:34

The mascara glue, and this whole invention is genius. Because like and I don't

Unknown Speaker 6:39

I think only these kind of lashes work this way. I don't think you could take any lash and do this. Like sometimes, you know, you see those recipes that you can buy and just glue at the end. I don't think those would work. I think there's like something on the bottom of these like wisps that somehow are like sticky and connect to the glue.

Unknown Speaker 6:58

So that's the step you basically put on the glue, you put on the lash, again, it takes some practice, you need to use the tweezer. And then you kind of just move them over, you know, you do like four or five. And that's it, then you give it like a minute. And then you put on what they call this one specifically is called a. This one's called Glass. But there's another one from another brand I'll tell you about. And it's just like,

Unknown Speaker 7:22

kind of like a clear it's not mascara, but it's kind of like a serum and you just kind of put it on over just to kind of seal it in and and do you have to wait a one one to put the sealer on? Or do you do it right after you apply them.

Unknown Speaker 7:36

I usually wait a little bit, just to kind of like let it dry. I forgot the main step. Or one of the steps. You do the glue. You do the lash and then you take this tweezer This is specifically for lash five. But you could do this for any of these kind of lashes. And you know, together. I was wondering about that together. Yeah, sorry, I forgot that important piece. So you clip it together. So that kind of like makes the lash and the glue like sticks together. You could also just do with your fingers. And you just kind of do that for one second and then it then it and then it like stays. It's crazy. And it looks so good. And then you can put on that CRM, you know, a little bit after once to try sometimes I put on right away, sometimes they wait a half an hour just depends. And depending on how you take care of it, it could last anywhere from like two days to like, oh, wow, it really just depends. Yeah, so if you clean them every day, so lash fi also has other things like they have a cleanser that you could just put on like a spoolie and go like this every day with it, you know, just comb through your lashes, and it just keeps them clean, and that tends to make it last longer. If you don't take care of it that much, I'll probably fall off easier, it just kind of depends. But they do last a couple of days. I mean, I've had them lasts up to a week.

Unknown Speaker 8:44

The reason why I like lash Rifai is because they have so many different types of lashes. And once you sort of get into it, you start understanding which ones you'd like better, but like I don't know if you can see these like this is one version, it's like the extreme level blonde, they're a little bit like a little more longer a little bit, a little bit more dramatic, or you can have like ones like this, which I don't know if you can see but they're a little lighter with spear so you can go more natural or more glam. Pretty much depending on exactly. And then the other things are like the different lengths like this is a really short one. This is 10 Select, I tend to use the more natural lengths which are like 1011 12 Like anything in that range just for our listeners, like super natural looking anything above that once you get into like 12 is okay, that's like pretty much as long as I go but you could do 1314 Then it sucks super long, but I don't have like huge eyes so it doesn't look as good. So the cool thing about lash Fi is that they all come in these like little, you know, oval type things with there's probably like, I don't know, maybe two sets or something in each of these and there these are $25 And the reason why like these, like I was saying is the quality is very nice. They they look very natural. They feel like good. They're made really well and there's

Unknown Speaker 10:00

All these different styles all these different lengths so you can mix and match and I'm not an expert in this at all. But if you look online and this is how I learned to do it, there's a million videos to show you exactly how to do it. Like ranging from beginner to advanced, the some of the advanced videos are like people are taking lashes and then they're putting like another lash, they call it like stalking and they put another lash on top of it. So it's super like thick and dramatic. So there's all these like really cool looks you can do if you're into it. I mean, I'm just doing it for like basic. But there's a lot of different looks you can do. And you can customize it. And so sometimes I'll put like something dramatic on the end, but then something more natural over here. So you just can kind of play with it once you got comfortable. So that's lash fi like I said the lashes are $25 and then the kit, the starter kit was $125. But it comes with like the one that clamps the lashes that comes with lashes. It comes with all the stuff you need, like the the glue, the CRM, the Yeah, all this stuff. So do you can you reuse them? Or when? Or do you just have to throw them away after you've worn them? I throw them away. You can reuse them. I've seen people online who take those out and they clean them with alcohol and they reuse them. I just don't because I don't know. I should try. I think I tried it once and I couldn't get it to work. There's probably definitely a way to reuse them. And I probably should do that. But I don't know if I wear them enough because I haven't I have a couple other brands too that I've been experimenting with. But yeah, I would definitely be more economical to just reuse them. And there's definitely when it comes to a lot of cool things. It looks like there's a Yeah, it comes with a lot. And the cool thing about lash fi too is there's so many videos and so much education. There's like a million YouTube shorts and like a great Instagram channel. And like if you're into it, like I am, like I said you get into the minutia of all this stuff. You can like figure out how to do it and teach yourself how to do it. So. So that's lash fi and I really like it a lot. And Ben Yeah, wearing a lot of these. So I'll like usually save these if like, I don't know I have an event or these are like my nicer ones. Then I have another brands, which I don't know if you've seen online but this one's called Head candy. And these are more affordable option. And this I saw all of our tic toc. But this is a little bit different. It's actually the same technique, which is great. I don't know if you can see these dashes. But it comes in a different way. So it comes in a big palette and this one I got has size 1012 and 14 or something so you can mix and match within the palette which makes it nice. And you can kind of make your own looks. So this one is $43 for the whole set. And the cool thing about this is they have this you really don't have to think about I think the last refi one can be a little bit intimidating because there's all these different styles and all these different locks and it's hard to know like what you want what looks good. This head candy brand is like a lash system. And essentially they have let's see 12345 They basically have like five or six versions and this one I believe Yeah, this one's called smoke shows Ilana and it's just it's more of like

Unknown Speaker 13:14

it's not dramatic, I'd say more of like a volume look but then they have another one called everyday le I have those two I haven't tried them yet and the lashes a little bit less thick, a little bit smaller, more natural looking. And so you it kind of takes the guesswork out of it. So you just buy those and then you just use the different sizes based on where you're putting it on your eye and you're good to go. And the same thing here. So this one comes with three. I mean you have to buy these separately but like the three things that you need. I forgot to mention in lash fi which has this too there's also a remover. So if you want to take them off and you don't want them to just naturally fall off you can just use a remover which is basically like an oil and you put it on and it just comes off with like a washcloth super easy. So with this cluster cluster lash system, you can also get this set which is $12 and it has the glue, it has the serum and it has the remover. The funny thing is is I've used this a lot with the lash of eyelashes because this glue sometimes is a little bit better, it's a little bit stronger. So I tend to like this glue better but I kind of mix and match and play with it. The lash fi also

Unknown Speaker 14:21

not overcomplicated but they have the glue that you put on your eye they also have another thing that came with my kit so I've been using it but you certainly don't need it. It's like another glue that's like a lighter glue that's like a white and you can put that directly underneath your lashes to give you like a guide which is helpful especially in the beginning. But that also comes with the lashes I kept that this one I think these are just as good and I've been using these to like mix and match just depending on and what's the name of that one. That's the end so you like to head candies lose the most with the lash of eyelashes so far. Yeah, but again, I mix and match. The other thing that I found that makes the lashes stay longer is if you clean

Unknown Speaker 15:00

Your lashes before you put these on. So you use, I liked the lash like cleaner, actually, you just clean your eyes, make sure they're dry after you clean them, and then you do the glue. So both good options, I think the lash Nephi, you can make a look a little bit more natural because they have all the different styles for as the head candy, it's like you pick one style, and you sort of just can style it up based on the different sizes. I mean, you could mix and match if you've got different palettes, which I have. But I haven't really tried that yet. So those are really good. And the most affordable and like easy to travel with. And you just throw them on. And those are the first ones I tried before I tried the last Nephi. And I was like, oh my god, this is amazing. And as like soon as I put them on, they were so easy. And I was like this is great. And then I wanted to try the lash fi just to like, you know, just shut up. But the last reply is like a little bit more complex, I would say. But once you get used to it, it's fine. So that's those two love those. And then the third option is

Unknown Speaker 16:01

what I tried, because I saw it online and I ended up not really loving it. But it's it's kind of a fun option if you need lashes for the night. So these are these are the kiss brand and they're called impress press on falsies eyelash clusters. So this takes it even an easier step. And these are literally like stickers. You don't need glue. You don't need the tweezer you know, anything. They're just here. This one's off the thing. So I'll just show you. They're just the clusters and you can just stick them underneath your eye. Like I was showing you before. Oh my God this day, and you just got sick. I know they're they last for very long. Yeah. They left for the night. That's like that's that's my my alley. I feel like I could get into Yeah, it's super easy. I think they look good. The problem with these is there only one length, you can't. And I don't even know what length these are. But they're the ones that I bought about two different styles. So again, they have two different styles like this one's probably a little bit more Oh yeah. Matic and maybe this one's more natural, but they're long, they're not, you can't really customize the size. And for like my eyes, I can't wear these long lashes. Like they look really bad. So I put them on and they're fine. They're good for like a night event when you know, you want to do a dramatic look. But I wouldn't wear these during the day. But they're super easy. And like, you know, last for the night. And they're fun. I'm sure they'll start coming out with more maybe shorter sizes. But yeah, they're all the same length. They just have a few different sizes. And that actually, I think they're 20 Let me say yeah, these are 90 Literally like so yeah, onto your eyelashes. And yeah, like it says on the box, just pressing that you just put it's the same method you just stick them on and then it comes with this little tweezer which is such a you know knockoff of the nice one. And you put them on and you just do this and like press them in.

Unknown Speaker 17:50

So those are great. If you don't want the mass if you don't want to deal it takes like two seconds and you're done. The other ones take a little bit more time but they once you really learn how to do it it probably five minutes. That's how long it takes me now but used to take me longer when I don't know how to do it. The other thing I forgot to mention is this head candy one comes with tweezers that I happen to like better they're more of like traditional regular tweezers. So you don't necessarily have to buy it but I didn't have any just regular tweezers. And for me I find these easier to work with so I just do the lash. You know do this you need a close up mirror and just do it. And to me this is easier than like that other one the other one just is like too big for my hands, but it's really just preference and learning what you like but anyway, I think you should experiment it also really I'm gonna try the sun the sun ones just because I feel like flick for a night out. Yeah, my lashes have grown so much on that serum that I people asked me if I have fake eyelashes now.

Unknown Speaker 18:47

Yeah, wow. Oh my God, that's incredible. The other thing about the head candy ones which they recently came out with, which I also bought and I'm wearing today, they have brown ones. So I've been wearing the brown ones a lot because they're again more natural like these are black and they're really pretty. But you know when you're fair sometimes when you wear the black so dramatic the brown just kind of like looks even more natural. It really doesn't look like I'm wearing like these you can kind of tell I'm wearing a lash extension who cares, but the brown ones I think are pretty like yeah, it looks very natural. But it's it's like very nice. Speaking of Brown, I just liked a sidebar. I only use brown eyeliner for that exact reason because the black is like too harsh and doesn't look natural. So I'm obsessed with you brown eyeliner that maybe i'll reveal in next product junkies. Yeah, okay, good. So those are the glue type extensions that go under the eye that I highly recommend supernatural really easy, pretty and you don't have to wear mascara so I haven't worn mascara and forever. I do take them off sometimes and I have a break for a few weeks and then I wear mascara and it's fine, but it's just good to have the option. So

Unknown Speaker 20:00

Speaking of serums because you were just talking about CRMs in when I wear the the lashes or even when I'm not wearing the lashes I started doing because I noticed when I did the real extensions that my eyelashes once I got them off they were much shorter than they used to be. Which is another reason I wanted to stop doing the lashes these do not damage your lashes I have used them for like I don't know 678 months and my eyelashes have been fine. The other ones I think are just like you know they're really glued in so I think that you can lose eyelashes from it so I got a friend that told me her lashes were falling Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 20:34

Yeah but these lash Rifai etc. They do not do any of that which is fabulous. But what I've been doing while I'm using these lashes at night is I put on the lash serum and I tested a few different versions that I know you have one that you love, but the one that I love is called Torres and honor enhancing eyelash and brow serum is from Amazon. It's supposedly on natural it's $22 The reason why I like this is because it doesn't contain an ingredient con pro stag Dilantin. I don't know if I'm even saying it right PPro sta je la n di N I had read that that specific ingredient which is in most lash serums can make the under eye darkness sting if you're using these lash serums a lot so I was using grande lash which you know everybody uses and loves and I I did like it I used it for probably a month and it did grow my eyelashes but then I started reading or maybe seeing on tick tock about this ingredient pro lag press dangling pan whatever this is that it can do that to under your eyes and I was like okay, I definitely don't want that and then I had seen that this term was an honor was one that didn't have and I read the ingredients and it didn't have it and it says it doesn't have anything Vega more is another one that doesn't have that. So I tried this one and ever since I tried this one like I've loved it my eyelashes have gotten so long and my eyebrows have grown like crazy. And so I've been really happy with this one and it's funny when I'm not wearing my lashes and I put on mascara there's so long and like people have said to me the same thing like oh, I didn't realize you because I asked my mom I was like does it look like I'm wearing lashes? I go Yeah, I thought you were I go no, that's my lashes I've been using the serum so it's actually really cool. Yeah, look it's probably in yours because it's in most of them and I don't know if you've seen that because if you haven't seen it then it's probably you know, it's probably fine for you but I just didn't want to right now so I'm very curious deal with that if I did yeah, I mean Yeah, yours is cool. You score last when you scolaro law it says it's a vegan eyelash serum. That's like the first thing that comes out Oh,

Unknown Speaker 22:41

okay so that I highly recommend I use that with my lashes and it's like it's so good. It's really grown my eyelashes and my eyebrows a ton. Okay, so I have two more products and these are more just like I treatment type thing. So this again is like another going into my okay so what is it is it it starts with a P How do you say yeah, process Dag lanton pr O S TA G la de not in squirrel ash. Oh excellent. Yeah, great. So score lash veg amour. And this Terrebonne are none of them have it which is good. But if you guys have lash serums you should look for that ingredient because it's not sensitivity right now talking about eye treatment. So this one that I've been trying over the last month or so it's going into my holy grail category. So remember how in our last product junkies I talked about that i Yeah, well that's good. Like if you just kind of want to fresh in your eyes. Yeah. So this product is something you put on before you do anything else and this is called the The brand is cor ace K O R R E S is called the Greek yogurt wide awake Igel so it's like an eye gel serum. And it has caffeine in it. I think that's the only ingredients and it's for you know D puffing your eyes. It's so good see that? Like has this silver ball you know I love a roller literally feels amazing. And you just kind of do this around your eyes. I Mikayla you know on tick tock review this one and as soon as I saw it, I was like I have to try that. It feels so good. And it really works well in the morning so I just lather it up in the morning first of all it feels really good especially now with like Yeah, looks like it would be relaxing. Yeah so you could just use this on there on your own just to deep off the eyes but we could also do is put this on and then put on one of those like you know eye patches or whatever if you're really puffy and then it like it's like a double and it just sinks in but anyway this is so good. So I've been using this in the morning and then I'll put on you know one of my favorites like I do that color correct or something over it and it just like it also is good too because it's almost like a serum so it's not as like slippery as cream so it just kind of like make sure under I moisturize too. So I love this and it's really cold and what is so good. It's really good for makeup prep. It's called cor cor s i think is the brand Kay

Unknown Speaker 25:00

O R R E S and it's called the Greek yogurt wide awake Eye Gel. I bought it on Alta it's $29 so yeah so I think like between this and the oil from last time it's like such good i products I'm loving it and then the last thing is found a new concealer, which is really good. It's called lawless and of naturalness. This is called Lawlis. The brand is spelled L A. W Eliot, l e s s lawless and this one's called conceal the deal. Lightweight full coverage concealer with caffeine there we go caffeine again, the reason why I like this is like I never wear a full coverage concealer because it's always too sick. It doesn't feel good, like even that elfin that you reviewed I have that and I like it but it gets cakey on me but maybe with some of these gels that wouldn't it just doesn't work for me this one's great because it really does feel like skincare and like they said it's lightweight but it's full coverage so it's like really clearly and really moisturizing like it doesn't feel like a concealer and it's so good under the eyes like you literally need like the tiniest dot and then you can just kind of like you know rub it rub it out like he's like

Unknown Speaker 26:15

he's Kosis concealer

Unknown Speaker 26:17

you know I tried Kosis ones and I returned it because I didn't I thought it was very dry. I wonder if you've maybe had a different one than I don't know and I have the ones that I have are very very lenient moisturizing I know and everybody says that about the closest ones but I tried it and for some reason it like didn't react well with my skin it like it like I put it on and it got like interesting you know those dry patches but that was also before I was using like these like serums under my eyes so maybe it's different now. But anyway, I love this one this lawless and it has like tons of different tons of different colors is $26 a great one I have a really quick little I hack that you just reminded me of for those those of my girls out there that use the LaRoche posay Toller rain face cream, it says on there that it's safe for eyes and I have been out of ice cream and I there's one that I really liked that I wanted to get and it's just been it's been like on backorder it's it's an old eight Hendrickson one so I been using my LaRoche around my eyes and it's honestly it is just as nice as a nice eye cream and moisturizing. Oh, it's very

Unknown Speaker 27:28

it's like it's just like the right finish and the right texture for around your eyes. So it's it's a good thing to have. That's yeah, it's moisturizer and you just use it around your eyes if you need to, which is good in a pinch. Nice great I love that. So I think that's all I could go on and other eye products but that's that doesn't matter reviews for the day just the the eyelash extensions were a big one because I had been testing it for so long. And then the other ones are really good. Yeah. And so hope this was helpful for all of our listeners going into the summer and wanting to have a natural new Omega Tamale and I like that you're not doing eyelash extensions anymore because I feel like you were gonna like kill your eyelashes which I think if people do that repeatedly over and over and over again it'll do that. So this these are great alternative options. I love it. I can't wait to try them. Nice. All right, well, that was a great eye episode and I loved like interviewing you. sigh Thanks, Katie. 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 will continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.

Episode 106 - The A-List Approach: Makeup Tips For Every Occasion With Celebrity Makeup Artist, Christina Flach (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 106 .

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here.

Amy 0:06

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. I'm Amy Sherman.

Speaker 2 0:18

And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation

Amy 0:31

Welcome back to the show Nirvana sisters family. It's Amy and Katie and we are joined by Christina flax, celebrity makeup artists. We're so excited that she is here. Let me tell you a little bit about her before we get started because this is pretty incredible. Christina flax is a makeup artist and the CEO and founder of pretty girl makeup. Her celebrity clientele includes Condoleezza Rice, Hilary Swank, Isaiah Washington, Melissa McCartney, Rita Moreno, Renee Zellweger, Tyler, Florence and more. She has worked with high end brands such as Gucci and Louie Vuitton has been featured in campaigns for Macy's, Neiman Marcus Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale's, and has been featured in magazines, including Vogue time, people, and Elle. In addition, Christina also writes articles about the best tips, tricks and hacks in makeup, which we're so excited to hear about, and is featured as a beauty expert on California live on NBC amongst a lot of philanthropy and a lot of other things. So, welcome to the show. Christina. We're so happy to have you here.

Unknown Speaker 1:29

Well, thank you for having me today. Excited?

Amy 1:33

Yes. So we always start out the show with our nirvana of the week, which is like, take a step back, take a breath. Think about something that brought us joy this week. And I'm gonna hand it over to Katie, as I think about mine, because it's been quite the week.

Unknown Speaker 1:51

minutes and think about something right.

Amy 1:53

I know, right? Sometimes that comes easily. And sometimes I'm like, wait, I really got to, I really got to think through my week.

Speaker 2 1:59

Yeah, I think we're all in that boat. This week. The first half of my week was kind of nuts. And then yesterday, I tried to wake up and reset the day and I did a little morning manifestation while I was having my coffee. I just thought, Alright, this is the way I want the rest of the month to go. The first day of the month did not start out the way I wanted. So let's try a little reset. And I manifested some things with my work. And I have to tell you, it's really insane. All of a sudden, yesterday, I was hit with like a lot of work, things that I wanted, coming at me some great opportunities. It was kind of wild. So I think that was my nirvana. I had a just like a flux of opportunity yesterday. So it's my gosh,

Amy 2:36

that's awesome. Congrats. Thanks.

Speaker 2 2:40

Everyone should have, right yeah. What about you, Amy?

Amy 2:43

This is you're gonna laugh. So this is good and bad. So my husband came down with like the virus that's going around this week, and he's totally fine. It was like one of those one day viruses. Anyway, he slept in the other room one of the nights to that night, my two dogs slept with me. They normally don't sleep in our bed. So it was my Nirvana because it was just so sweet. Because they were cuddling with me all night. And it's like the best feeling having their like, coziness, just like against you. And like that heavy feeling. So anyway, that was like super sweet. So I would say that was my Nirvana this week. But what about you, Christina?

Speaker 3 3:15

My Nirvana this week is was I was down in Makita watching my son Nikolai played in a golf tournament. That time with him watching him do what he does, and going out to dinner with he and his teammates. And it was the first two days were nice, warm and sunny, and I'm walking this golf course. And I just thought, wow, I am so blessed that I get to be down here watching my my love my big love, son. You know, play golf.

Amy 3:42

Oh my gosh, how old is your son? That one is 22 Wow, is does he play in like a with a group or like, what kind of tournament team? So cool. Yeah, that sounds

Unknown Speaker 3:56

like a really good yeah. Jealous. Beautiful day too, I'm sure.

Speaker 3 3:59

Yes. And then the last thing which wasn't so Nirvana ish, was walking the golf course in the pouring rain with an umbrella.

Unknown Speaker 4:07

Oh, no. It's still

Unknown Speaker 4:09

fine, but it was just a little

Amy 4:11

old. So let's get started. First of all, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and we want to hear about your makeup line. Pretty cool makeup.

Speaker 3 4:19

Well, I am celebrity makeup artist and I am the creator and founder and CEO of pretty girl makeup and actually creating a new line with my partner Jordan. We are creating a new line called I'm too busy, which I am. I am also a sepsis awareness advocate. I am a philanthropist. I have started two educational funds at the Northern Light school in Oakland, California for underprivileged children. And I also helped start the bo Friedman outdoor classroom with Ed McGuire school in Mill Valley, California.

Unknown Speaker 4:56

Sounds like you're too busy.

Speaker 3 4:59

I'm a mother. Five and wow oh my gosh

Unknown Speaker 5:03

pretty cool. Is it is it a lip line? Pretty girl makeup

Speaker 3 5:07

right now it is it has. I've had it for over 15 years that I've had shadows eyeliners mascaras, but I've shrunk it down right now to a lip line. And we are going to be expanding I'm too busy into a full line of skincare and makeup products but just the products that one needs. You know, we don't I can't tell you how many times women tell me Oh, I went to the department store and I went and they sold me all this stuff and it seemed good at the time but I don't use any of it and I don't know how to use any of it and I don't need it. But I really want it to be what you need. Mascara, eyeliner, Shadow concealer, blush bronzer, some lip products, the end that's it? I know, you know, you're trying to the problem is that when people go to department store they think they're dealing with just a makeup artist and you have to keep in mind they are salespeople and what they need what they're trying to do is sell

Amy 6:02

and they do Yeah, it's that's so smart

Speaker 3 6:06

client and then they're just I think that people start resenting companies because they're buying products that they don't need and don't use and then they don't trust you because they're you know, you're they're buying things that are not using so the next time they go they're not really going to be quite I don't think is inclined to buy something if they didn't use it.

Speaker 2 6:27

Yeah, and it's good to know as a celebrity makeup artist that you have these like these holy grail items that you feel confidently this is all one really needs. You just said let's let's list those again. You said mascara,

Speaker 3 6:41

mascara, eyeshadows eyeliner, lip liner, blush, some foundation, concealer, sunscreen Scarah needs to be swapped out I would say every two to three months. kind of starts drying out. And foundation. I cannot tell you the funny stories people tell me about how they match their foundation to their skin. I have heard the inside of their arm. I've heard their face. I have their hand in their face. I have heard like their thigh. i You've heard everything. And if you think about it, like look at the difference of color of my face and my

Amy 7:21

Yeah, so how do you do because I actually never know.

Speaker 3 7:24

Okay, so here's the deal, you go in there and you do I mean, the best thing would be to have like natural lighting, right? But you want the foundation to disappear. It doesn't need to be to light it doesn't need to be dark. It needs to literally disappear and that's the right color.

Amy 7:42

Okay, that's a lot and so many people buy online now obviously and so it's impossible. Yeah, it's easy, I

Speaker 3 7:49

think okay, I think you can reorder but I think it's really hard to tell the true shade of the foundation I mean, I know they have all these different apps and ways to help but I think personally I need to see it and see what it does is my skin in my light it's it's very it's too complicated to do online I think

Amy 8:09

ya know, it's really hard foundation here because

Speaker 3 8:13

I mean think about it how much wasted product you know if it's not the right color, are you gonna ship it back? Are you going to like I don't know. I just think it's better to try some of these things in person.

Speaker 2 8:25

Yeah, I agree. And I have ordered makeup online and it was kind of a fail. So if concealer sorry rather if foundation needs to disappear. How do you pick your concealer color Is it meant to be a little bit brighter.

Speaker 3 8:39

Okay, so I do so I would put down eye cream first super important to keep that area hydrated and not dry. I don't use powder under the eyes it shows fine lines and wrinkles. So with concealer, I just genetically have dark circles under my eyes and my eyes are just colored my lids are just colored everyone so I do like one lighter, like probably two or three shades lighter. I have one that's pretty much matches the foundation so I'll do the light one under on the whole lid and kind of blend it in. Then I'll put on the foundation super light and then I'll do another round of concealer on top of that so I have probably two or three layers of concealer but it's super light and blended in. You don't want to put a big glob of it because it just it doesn't look well so it's important to you know use your makeup brushes or your hand and kind of pat it in and eat that area

Amy 9:36

light and what's the best way to keep concealer from creasing?

Speaker 3 9:41

Having the eye cream underneath and not putting powder on top? Yeah, want to keep that area moist. You know and using a concealer that you know has good you know a little bit of cream you want it a little bit not oily but you do want it to have some moisture and the It won't show as many lines

Amy 10:08

speaking of concealer and eye cream, we would love to know what is your favorite concealer and what is your favorite ice cream? Or a few of your favorites.

Speaker 3 10:15

Okay, so I am quite fond right now of the Bobby Brown. I like ours, I like pixie knee elastin has a really great eye cream. I also keep one of those roller things, you know those like Rose Quartz. Oh, yeah. I keep that in my freezer. And first thing in the morning. I have I put this is my whole routine. It's so cuckoo. I wake up I put a tablespoon of coconut oil in my mouth. You know I do that pulling thing. And then I get roller and I just take away any swelling and inflammation under my eyes and my lids. And then I you know, go from there. Water, lemon and vitamins and tea.

Unknown Speaker 11:01

Nice. Sounds like a good morning.

Unknown Speaker 11:04

It's a lot to be me. I gotta tell you.

Amy 11:07

That's not too bad, actually, ya know? Sometimes, I mean, sometimes we hear morning routines that are like super super long, so I don't think that sounds bad at all.

Speaker 2 11:16

Yeah, Oil Pulling thing too I need to get into I know

Amy 11:19

I read about that. What is that supposed to do? It takes away

Speaker 3 11:23

toxins out of your mouth. It's supposed to keep your teeth white. But I also just takes out any you know, bad stuff that any bacteria in your mouth but so after you do what they say to do it like 10 to 20 minutes, spit it out and brush your teeth. You've got to brush out all the yuck that pulled out so

Amy 11:41

we get gargle it for 10 to 20 minutes. And you just keep it in your mouth for

Speaker 3 11:45

like 10 to 20 minutes. Oh, interesting. Yes. And then spit it out and go brush your teeth and then continue on. Okay, your routine. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 11:58

Amy, could you do that? I'm looking at your face. I'm thinking you're like

Amy 12:01

I don't know if I could do that for 20 minutes. I feel like I would get grossed out.

Speaker 3 12:04

It takes practice some days I will do it for you know one or two minutes sometimes I do tend to it just depends. I don't I don't judge myself. Some days it's longer sometimes it's not. Yes. Nabil

Amy 12:16

noticed a difference your teeth are white.

Speaker 3 12:19

Well, I hope I try but again, you gotta just keep doing everything. See what works.

Speaker 2 12:26

So nice. All right. So what are some of your favorite some other products let's get into different categories here like favorite brands of bronzers and blushes. And then I would also love to hear your tips and tricks for choosing the right colors and you know applying bronzer the right way etcetera.

Speaker 3 12:45

So I have a my friend nanny page or our friend who's our nanny, she great trick called the strap and she uses bronzer right down under here. If you have any loose skin, eat that a little bit dark. I put a little bit of bronzer underneath the brow bone, you know I'm not underneath the cheekbone. And just give yourself a little bit of like Cabo color like you've been in Cabo for a few days without having that and I try to keep all that when I if you look at my portfolio and Christina flack.com all the faces you'll see you don't really I mean unless it's a crazy fashion shoot but I like people to look like they have fresh dewy skin and pretty eyes and just really clean and fresh. And so I like to keep the eye colors just kind of in the palate of your hair. You know your skin in your hair and your eyes. Though it's typically like an egg Nagi color on the whole lid. I fill in brows whether it be with a shadow or a pencil. Eyebrows being filled in is it monster thing to me like it has to everyone needs their brows filled in. It's it makes such a difference it frames the face, it just looks polished, I love that look. With with the liner, I will I'd like to make a thin line on the top and the bottom. So I will pull up the the brow and put the liner as close into the lash line as possible and I keep it thin if it's thick, it's going to make the eyes look smaller and our goal always is to make our eyes look larger. And with liquid liner, that to me is a nighttime thing. I do not like seeing it in the day, especially with people that have fair skin and blonde hair and black liquid liner. I think it looks atrocious. You do like with a shot with eyeliner. I will put a shadow on top and so it'll soften the look but it will you know take away any mistakes that that we make and we all make them I make them but it's a good way even with a liquid liner. But you know you put it on you make a little mistake if you put a shadow a line of shadow on top. It will soften the look and you know that's a good idea.

Amy 14:58

I never thought to do that you're right because they need Do that liquid liner. If you don't have a

Speaker 3 15:03

commitment, you've made a commitment to the right liner. So

Amy 15:06

you just put some shadow on top. I like that. So here's my question because I always struggle with this for eyeshadow. How do you find the right colors? And like, what's your I don't have a template for like an easy application of it, because I just feel like again, that's a commitment and you're What if you put on the wrong color and it's a whole thing and I never know the right colors?

Speaker 3 15:30

Okay, so I would like with you, I would probably use like an egg Nagi color on the whole lid, fill in your brows. And then what color your eyes green, green. Okay, so are mine. So plum looks beautiful with green eyes. Hmm, well, I would do sometimes I will do a thin brown liner, and then put a plum shadow on top. That makes them stick out a little more. And then I will add the mascara you want the mascara to go, you know extended out of the corners. And then also I would probably do a thin another thin line of black liner. Not liquid but just black liner on top. So you don't really see it. It's kind of almost in the lashes. But it it makes them pop and they stick out a little bit more. We are seeing the plum.

Amy 16:14

And when you say plum, would you put plum all over do you put it just on the lid, you put it on the crease. Okay,

Speaker 3 16:21

so the whole lid is like an egg unagi color or maybe like you know, a sheer like just some straw. And then I'll put the liner and the shadow on the bottom and the top lids then and if I want to add a little bit more drama to the corners, I will add like a soft brown or the plum but just in the crease a little bit and blend, blend, blend. Yeah, make there's no mistakes like just remember, this is a one time deal you put on this shadow. And if you make a mistake, you use your finger or get a Q tip and blend it out or your makeup brush. Yeah, there's no I don't like people this there's no mistakes. It's just you have to try things sometimes. And it's always better to do a little do it in stages and do it a little less. Right and like a big, you know, a huge amount on your brush and then blend it in. It's you that's you can control things a little bit better if you do it in right a little

Amy 17:17

bit at a time. Yeah, exactly. Okay, well, that's helpful, because that's like the one thing I always struggle with. It's like it and it is true. You really do have to experiment because I think I end up just going back to what I always do just because I'm like, Oh, I don't want to experiment. But now it is a good thing to experiment with. And what about blush and bronzer like how do you find the right color? Is it trial and error is there like again, like a certain rule because I always get confused when I'm looking at a bronzer that says like, warm or cool or like, I don't know what any of these things mean. So I'm just like, how do you find the right bronzer for you?

Speaker 3 17:52

Okay, I would get something that's not too dark. You just want it to be a little bit. Give yourself a little bit of color. So something not too strong. Still a little bit darker than what you have. You just want to have you just want it to be a little bit of you don't want it to be so dark that your face looks dirty.

Amy 18:12

Right? You just want like you said before, I'd like to be say Cabo something.

Unknown Speaker 18:16

Cabo color,

Amy 18:18

color. That's what we all strive for. Oh, yeah. I love that. Okay, the What about the lush? What's the rule there?

Speaker 3 18:29

Okay, there's no rules. I just think with makeup. It's like what's pleasing to your eye, but I think you know what, blush looks great on everybody orgasm by NARS. That was kind of pretty much looks good on every skin tone. But you know, when you go you can I think I don't know my eyes trained differently than most people. So it's kind of unfair to say but I think you can put different blushes next to your skin and some will just kind of flow with what your color is. And others will go okay, that's a total No. So find one that's a no and then go from there and look for the opposite I do you see what I'm saying? Like you just kind of have to try it and see and just keeping things kind of neutral and not going too extreme. You don't want purple. Okay, you just to give you a little bit of a hue, a little bit of color.

Amy 19:21

Yeah, and where's the best place to put blush? Like do you put it kind of higher ups you put it in the apples?

Speaker 3 19:29

Oh, I typically will put a little bit of bronzer like right here to contour. I don't like this contour and it's like so excessive. It's just a little bit under here, a little under the strap. And then I will get you know some blush and just put it kind of like right in here up a tiny bit. And they also like to put a little bit of, you know, highlighter, like right above here. I think it's just nice and it just gives a pretty look and then I can put some you know, contouring on each side of the nose and a Little bit of highlighter, straight down. But I just tried to sample like this morning I was up at, I don't know 330 At a photoshoot for Bloomberg and I am you know, I can't see this is the thing about my job. I can't go to work looking too terrible. I have to look relatively presentable.

Amy 20:20

Okay, right. You have to be done up.

Speaker 3 20:22

Yeah. Because if I can't keep myself together, how am I going to? How's anyone gonna trust me? So my sister was here this morning and she's like, it's 330 What are you putting makeup on? I'm like, because do you think anyone is going to want to like deal with me when I can't deal with myself. So it's a little bit of, you know, the concealer, the eyeshadow and some mascara and just a little bit of cheek and lip. And that's it. It's just simple. So I don't frighten people.

Amy 20:53

doubt that

Speaker 2 20:55

what was the AMI the other day we were saying we were talking about highlighters. And she Amy was the first person that introduced me to highlighters years ago. And she had this like pearly white highlighter. And then I have some that have more of a gold undertone. And we were saying how we know which color highlighter we should be using our skin tones because we have very different skin tones. I'm more of like an all of them, she's more fair.

Amy 21:18

And there's so many highlighters now, and so many different colors,

Speaker 3 21:21

like so many, but I think you just kind of have to pick the one that feels good and looks good to you. Because that is the big thing. I speak about beauty from the inside out. When someone feels good on the, you know, when you feel good about yourself, you're going to be happy, you're going to have just a much more pleasant demeanor. And so, you know, keeping things kind of neutral, you just don't want anything too extreme, even with the highlighters, like, you know, I think a little bit of a gold hue would look. You know, obviously, it's probably better on an olive skin, but both of them would work. Okay. All right, because you just want them there. You want it to be a hint of it. It's not going to be a big,

Amy 22:03

right.

Speaker 3 22:06

Here's the thing. I don't ever want to look at a face and go oh, highlighter, huh? Blush you got, like, I don't really want to know like, oh, okay, there's like 17 products going on right there. I just want to go Oh, she looks fresh and doing pretty. And that's that I don't want anything to stick out too much. And I threw that in mind to just keep things kind of just natural and pretty and fresh. You'll look fantastic.

Amy 22:37

Back to I just had a question about the bronzers and the blushes. What do you prefer cream or powder? What are your thoughts? They're

Speaker 3 22:45

either good. I think if you you know the, you know, the cream one sometimes if you feel like your skin is dry, then that's kind of nice. It gives a nice little moisture there but you know, you're there. They're both there. They're both good. There's not one that's better than the other.

Amy 23:05

I've been really into creams lately probably because I have dry skin so you're right it like feels good. And I just feel like it looks better. Sometimes the powder I feel like sometimes sets but yeah, because I'm dry so that makes sense.

Speaker 2 23:15

Okay, so then the glowing dewy look we all love it's kind of helps you with the no makeup makeup luck as well. So you obviously drinking and staying hydrated. Do you have some products that you'd love to start the base of the face with to get to achieve that?

Speaker 3 23:30

Well, Vitamin C Serum is really good. I love hacia I like new elastin. I love these products. They're really there's so many great products out there. Sunscreen is huge, huge, huge, and you need to put it on your hands. It's so funny. I was in the desert and I was speaking to someone I think it was my son's golf coach. And he said yeah, women can hide their age in their face but as soon Oh knows with my agent was it my agent was in the desert. We were having coffee and he said you can really tell someone's age by their hand because people don't typically put sunscreen on their hands so their hands really show their age so it is really important to put sunscreen on your hands as well as your face your neck and your chest.

Amy 24:15

Yeah, that's a good tip to remember to put it on the hands I definitely sometimes forget that super important specially when you're driving right because like lay on your hand.

Speaker 3 24:23

How much time our hands are being exposed to heat. I would get a stick one so it's not you know for the car just Just remember to put that in. But it you know, investing in a good sunscreen is really important. Winter as well. I say to my clients, sunscreen is 365 days of the year. I don't care if it's snowing, raining Sunny.

Amy 24:46

Totally agree. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 24:47

we only need to protect you can't protect your skin enough.

Amy 24:50

What's your favorite sunscreen?

Unknown Speaker 24:52

SkinCeuticals I think is one I like

Amy 24:54

yeah, a lot of people say that a lot of people say Elta MD we've got we've got

Speaker 3 24:59

that one too. So yeah, when it's like a little bit tinted and that's what's nice about a tinted moisturizer, and it gives you a little bit of sunscreen, but, you know, like, the found the foundations like Bobby Brown and Nars, they all have a little bit of sunscreen. So you know having that sunscreen and then putting on that foundation that has since you're getting protected, but you do need to reapply we forget. We think oh, I put it on the morning. Well, you're gonna need to put it on and like especially I was walking on this golf course and I didn't have any with me. I broke my own rule. Or my son said Oh, Mom, you broke your own law. I did break my own law. I didn't have to reapply and I could tell my skin got a little bit color which I do not want it to have. I want to control the color on my face. I don't want the sun Yes, it ages you and I'm

Amy 25:48

yeah it's funny Katie and I both love this product reviewed it on one of our shows the some balm. It's like a sunscreen spray like a spread so and it's great because it's a good I ever since I got that product, I bring it with me because it's so much better to like refresh your face with it. Because it's like, I don't know. It's like cooling and moisturizing and it feels good. But then you don't feel like you're rubbing stuff on your face after you have makeup on. So it's like good to just spray. So it's got about that product. But yeah, that's a good one.

Speaker 3 26:18

Many great products out there. You know? And what's really cool about like going somewhere like Sephora, they have all those little sample areas or like small set travel size. Yeah, that's a great way to try a new product to see if you like it. That way you're not investing a ton of money.

Amy 26:35

Yes, I'm big into the trial sizes. I just and I it's funny because a lot of the trial sizes I end up buying the big size like it's so smart that Sephora also the all starting to do that because then you're not wasting products and you end up you know, really getting what you want.

Speaker 3 26:49

It's really great. And I you know, I even though I have my own company, and I'm really blessed. It's kind of funny. I'm kind of like two things. I'm a makeup artist, and then I own a company. So brands still send me products, which I love. It's like Christmas I love Yeah. And I love going into Sephora and looking at all the new products. It inspires me it helps me create new products and think of things that I like, you know that I want to try for my own brand.

Amy 27:18

Okay, let's talk about lipstick and gloss. Katie was saying to me the other day she can never find a flattering red. I don't want to read that much. I guess I would if I found one that I liked but it just seems so like, dramatic to me because it's so bright. But once again like no you said there's no rules but like what tends to look good on certain like skin types in terms of lipstick and gloss. Like I always love a neutral vibe. But sometimes I put on color and I like it too. But I just never know like what looks right.

Speaker 3 27:47

Well, I think you know, again, it's the for has little tester, lip pencils. So I'd start with that matte lipstick typically makes your you know drying and makes your lips look smaller. If you want your lips to appear fuller. liner, lipstick gloss gloss help make your lips appear fuller. As for a red, you know, reds are interesting. They either look great or horrible. There's no middle. Oh, I think I a nice blue red looks good. You have to just kind of mix with the colors, like just mix with different colors. And just try it and see what feels good to you what feels comfortable. If that, you know it's one of those things where it may feel really good to you. Like a like a deep burgundy red looks so great on some people and then some people orangey red, I don't really love an orangey red. But some people it looks nice. Sometimes a shear will look better. So it's not such a commitment. You know, sometimes just a big red lip. That's great. I have never worked like I never feel

Speaker 2 28:55

good when I put it on. So that should just be enough to say,

Amy 28:59

No, I know but that luck is so pretty. When I see people do that. I just feel like I can pull it out. You could pull it off Katie because you have like big lips.

Speaker 3 29:06

I agree. I think it's lovely. But you know, here's another thing that I'll do sometimes I will put the lips the liner on the lipstick and then I will get a Q tip and wipe it all off. And it's just stained enough and then I'll put a lip gloss on top and that's like the perfect little amount of red like Nyquil. Too much your lips a bit stained. And the gloss is giving the illusion of your lips appearing fuller. Not too bold and because it's you know when you put in that the red, if you're outside if you make a mistake, again the Q tips good you can get your foundation and kind of clean it up with a brush. But it's no it's kind of a thing. It's a commitment. Commitment, right. All right and doesn't work and that's when you just get some you know makeup oil or wipe a wipe and just wipe it off. Start over. Yeah, there's no reason to get comfortable with how you're looking right? I don't think you have to. You know, you want to love how you look. And then I don't know sometimes it's just in some days, it looks better than other days, just, you know, depends on your mood and what you're wearing. And

Amy 30:17

I know sometimes I have this one. It's like I've had it forever because I never would have this one hot pink lipstick. And the only time I wear is if I'm like getting dressed to like, go out at night to like an event and I'm wearing like all black because for some reason, I just feel like it looks better. And I just looked so different when I wear it. It's funny, but like, occasionally I'll throw it out. But yeah, I never felt comfortable. I just feel like it's so bold. Okay, so we've been talking about all this makeup and putting on makeup.

Speaker 3 30:41

Think about that though. Like I know what you were just saying about that lipstick. But think about if you just put it on your lip and then wiped it off with a Q tip. You still have like a hint of it. Yeah, so it's version of it.

Amy 30:53

I'm gonna try that. I love that idea. That hat. Okay, so we've been talking about putting on makeup and what types of makeup and colors and all that How about taking it off? What's the best way to take it off? What Kind Of Products Do you like to clean your skin?

Speaker 3 31:08

Okay, so I don't care what you use to take your makeup off with. I love almond oil. I have Bobbi Brown told me that once like is this jar like this? She gets it on Amazon. It's like $10.08 or $10 and almond oil. Though I just have that on my counter. I will put like a quarter size on my face. I wipe it all over my face and then I get a makeup white. Remove everything. I can't stress enough how important it is to get the mascara eyeshadow, everything off your face at the end of the day. I cannot tell you how many people come up to me and brag. I'm the last person that you should tell this to rag that you don't take your mascara off. Katie I'm like

Unknown Speaker 31:52

why is it so bad?

Speaker 3 31:54

Well first of all your your lashes need to breathe. If they've got like a you know a chemical on them, you know they're gonna fall out it's just not good for your lashes or your skin. And you can't get like the lashes the mascara on the next day when it's already like thick and goopy. It's really just a really bad habit for your eyelashes.

Speaker 2 32:18

Do you have a favorite eye makeup remover then because Amy was saying she always has a problem with the oiliness that gets in the eye when you're with some of those remembers Do you have one that's not so oily?

Speaker 3 32:28

I like oil so I mean I'm hardcore like I put all you know coconut oil I love I put apricot oil and then I get up why I will do the makeup wise or toilet paper just get off the the you know, major part of it but I always I get these black wash claws at Target like stacks of them and I get wet with warm water or cold and then I washed my face with that every night

Amy 32:56

yeah, I was I use like like a cleansing oil to wash my face that the mascara like never comes off even with oil and then it gets my eyes and whatever but I was saying to Haiti I've been like in the last year on and off trying fake eyelashes or DIY eyelashes because then I don't have to wear mascara and I hate wearing mascara because I hate taking it off because I'm rubbing my eyes and I feel like it's like putting wrinkles on my eyes because I'm constantly like rubbing it rubbing and rubbing it to get it all off. So I've been experimenting but I don't have them

Speaker 3 33:25

I wish like I love how fake eyelashes look and I had like I'm obsessed. But I like my oil on my face and that you can't have both

Amy 33:36

right? Right so with the with the lashes that's what I find like to clean like if I'm wearing eyeshadow I have to like really be careful around that area. It's annoying, but it really makes a huge difference. Yeah, I've been Katie knows I've been practicing eight we're going to do like a whole eyes episode because I have like all these new eye products but I've been trying the ones that are not strips but you put them underneath your eye, which you have to practice but they look really good. Okay, so we're gonna get into our wrap session. Thank you for all these awesome hacks and tips and tricks. I love it. Let's get into our quick wrap session. So what is your favorite wellness or beauty hack?

Unknown Speaker 34:12

Green Juice

Amy 34:14

good land. Okay, it's funny because we were kind of talking about this earlier on and you were saying with your pretty girl makeup line this is kind of what it's intended to do. But we call this our five minute flow so you just got out of the shower and dried up Uber just alerted you there five minutes away like what's your quick beauty routine? To get dressed get you know, get your clothes on put your makeup on and get out the door like what are those? The holy grails Okay, so you out on time?

Speaker 3 34:37

Um, Vitamin C Serum eye cream sunscreen concealer. I can I can do my face really pretty fast. I could probably do the whole thing in five minutes. So fill in the brows, some liner Datto mascara, I'm out of there.

Amy 34:52

And how do you maintain your daily nirvana?

Speaker 3 34:55

Well, I just make sure that I I love my life. Okay, let's just start with that. So I live in Nirvana pretty much most of the day. I did you think like, I love to work out I love to my family I you know, I like everything. I'm I'm Disneyland I like everything

Amy 35:10

we did to take some of that I love that.

Speaker 3 35:13

I try to have fun with everything I'm doing and stuff that I'm not too thrilled about. I'll just pretend I do until it's done.

Amy 35:19

Yeah. That's great. I love that and where can our listeners find you give us all your details?

Speaker 3 35:25

Okay, so you can go to Christina flack.com To see what I'm doing on NBC on California live or different photoshoots and pretty girl makeup.com And then pretty soon you will see I'm too busy.com and on Instagram Christina flax makeup and PR e TT YG IRL MK up pretty girl makeup and I'm too busy. We're not up there yet. But I know of my assistant.

Amy 35:50

reserved it. Nice. Yes. So

Unknown Speaker 35:53

and we're on Facebook and Twitter and

Amy 35:56

the things love it.

Unknown Speaker 35:57

Yeah, and tick tock yo.

Amy 35:59

Oh tick tock wants to check out your tick tock page. Well, thank you so much, Christina. This was very enlightening, and I'm gonna go mess around with all my makeup this weekend and experiment and not be scared to do it. So before we close, Katy has a mantra or quote that she is going to close this out with.

Speaker 2 36:16

Yes, I do. So speaking of beauty and feeling good. This is just a little something. Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself. I love

Unknown Speaker 36:27

that quote. I think that's great. All right. Well, thank

Amy 36:29

you again,

Unknown Speaker 36:31

you so much fun.

Amy 36:35

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 will continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.

Episode 105 - Hormone Havoc: What are Hormone Disrupting Chemicals and What You Can Do About It? A Conversation with a PhD, Founder and CEO, Jenna Hua, of Million Marker (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 105 Hormone Havoc: What are Hormone Disrupting Chemicals and What You Can Do About It? A Conversation with a PhD, Founder and CEO, Jenna Hua, of Million Marker.

[00:07] Amy Sherman: 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. I'm Amy Sherman.

[00:18] Katie Chandler: And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation.

[00:24] Jenna Hua : You.

[00:28] Amy Sherman: Welcome back to the show Nirvana Sisters family. It's Amy and Katie, and we are joined today with Jenna Hua, who is the founder and chief executive officer of Million Marker. Million marker is the only DTC test for BPA phthalates. I'm saying that correctly. And other EDCs EDCs are endocrine disrupting chemicals, which I just Googled. Jenna's extensive experience as an academic and health advocate led her to founding Million Marker in 2019, shortly after completing a postdoctoral fellowship with Stanford University School of Medicine. Jenna Hua, PhD, is an environmental scientist who started the company when she realized environmental toxins kept causing her fertility problems. More studies show that prenatal exposure to these chemicals can cause neurodevelopment and hormone issues in children. Plus, these chemicals can complicate pregnancy. Throughout her career in academia, jenna has researched and published numerous studies that largely focused on citizen science, general health, and the impact of food consumption on a person's well being. Jenna holds a postdoctoral fellowship in chronic disease prevention from Stanford, an Mph and PhD in Environmental Health Sciences from UC Berkeley, an Rd from Greater Los Angeles Veteran Affairs Healthcare System, and a BS in Nutrition from Berkeley. So welcome to the show, Jenna. We're super excited to talk to you about this topic. It's really fascinating. So thank you for joining us on Nirvana Sisters today.

[02:00] Jenna Hua : Thank you so much for having me. Amy and Katie, I'm very excited. I really like your show, and I think I really appreciate everything you guys do, really advocating for wellness and optimizing health, particularly for ladies.

[02:14] Katie Chandler: Thank you.

[02:15] Amy Sherman: Thank you so much. So before we get into all of our questions and conversations, we just want to start with our Nirvana of the week, which is a moment of joy, something that brought us a smile to our face this week as we reflect on the week. So, Katie, I'll kick it off to you.

[02:30] Katie Chandler: I would say my moment is without a doubt that we launched our 100th episode yesterday. And while that in itself was the moment of joy, we actually recorded that episode just earlier this week. And that was my real Nirvana, because when Amy and I, we don't too often sit down together and reflect and take a moment to just go through the process of all of this. And when we did that, it was really nice and long overdue, and it brought me a lot of Nirvana, the whole thing. It's a great week. It's a big week. What about you, Amy?

[03:04] Amy Sherman: Yeah, I agree.

[03:05] Jenna Hua : Big week.

[03:05] Amy Sherman: And I would say my Nirvana is the same. I'll also mention that along with our 100 episode, we launched Nirvana Sisters Merch, which is really fun. And it's just great to see people's reactions about all of our products that just launched. So really excited. Really full of lots of mini nirvanas. What about you, Jenna?

[03:23] Jenna Hua : Congrats for me. Thank you. It's about getting one of our grant review back. So at Miller Marker, we also apply for a lot of NIH National Institute of Health Research grant because the whole EDC topic and just in general, how your environment impacts your health there's, still require a ton of research. So we continue to submit grant proposals. We just got a review back, and then it was a pretty positive review. So we're hoping that grant will get funded in a few months. So that was my excitement for my Novana for this week.

[04:02] Katie Chandler: That's huge.

[04:03] Jenna Hua : Congrats.

[04:03] Katie Chandler: That's fantastic. That must be very exciting. Speaking of, I mean, we have so much to talk about because this million Marker is really a brilliant concept, and I think we should just start at the beginning. What does Million Marker do and kind of what motivated you to create million Marker?

[04:22] Jenna Hua : Yeah, at Million Marker, we trying to provide a direct to consumer mailing urine testing, allowing people to understand their body burdens of hormone disrupting chemicals. So it's a pretty simple test. You pee in a cup, send it to us. We get that UEP analyzed. Right now, we test for 13 chemical metabolites. That includes BPA, BPA, Alternative, phthalates, parabens, oxybenzone. All of these are hormone disrupting chemicals. We also ask people to complete an exposure journal before they submit their urine samples. That way, we audit your lifestyle, looking into what actually contribute to your exposures, and then pinpoint where you can reduce your exposures so that you can avoid these chemicals. Then we also offer counseling, answering people's questions to making sure that they're on a healthy journey to detox.

[05:14] Amy Sherman: That's really cool. So is the report that you get, like, you see all the details from your urine and what types of chemicals are showing up there?

[05:22] Jenna Hua : Yes. So the report will include the chemicals that we're testing, 13 chemical metabolites. We let you know your levels, how you compare with our existing users, and how you compare with the national average. We'll show you low, medium, or high and trying to pinpoint okay, for example, what kind of product or what kind of behavior that you have kind of committed that potentially lead to this kind of exposure. So then it's very actionable. So to make sure, then you know what to do so you can reduce these exposures.

[05:56] Amy Sherman: That's great, because I feel like you hear about this all over the place now, right. But it's hard to know how it's actually affecting you. So you can clean up all these things in your house, but you don't really know if you're addressing it. So I think that's brilliant.

[06:09] Jenna Hua : Yes. We think it's this personalized approach because it's really important and also for people to understand what's exactly my exposure oftentimes we don't really know because if you and I have different genetics, even if we have the same amount of exposure exposed to the same thing, our body would respond very differently. So unless you test yourself, there's no way of knowing. And oftentimes also, even for myself, I think I have lived a pretty clean life because since I started studying this and I have been paying attention. But once I started testing myself, I realized there were a few things. There are things that I completely didn't even know about. One example was one of the vitamins I was taken, the vitamin capsule was not made, I guess, up to quality. So the capsule was actually made of a ton of phthalates, which is a plasticizer chemical. And if I didn't test my fulself, I would never know. And I actually bought that vitamin from Whole Foods and it was a bit shocking to me. Another example was when I first started Million Market, I was packing all the kits in my garage. It turns out it was the plastic packaging tape. It was also made of phthalates. So I could see my levels completely went off the roof. And once I stopped taking that vitamin, it completely drops down. So just like things like that you think you're doing right. You just don't know until you actually test yourself to figure out, okay, this is where I can't actually make a change. Otherwise you wouldn't know.

[07:52] Amy Sherman: When you got that back and you learned about the pill and the tape, was it you were high in that certain chemical and then you looked at your ingredients of certain things? Or how did you identify it was those two things that's so interesting.

[08:05] Jenna Hua : So I was able to identify because this is the importance of when we ask people to document their exposures throughout the day. I see it's kind of a tedious work, but that's the only way to kind of help you figure out because these chemicals are literally everywhere and oftentimes all we also tell people we don't want to get people super overwhelmed because it is overwhelming. But that's the only way to kind of figuring out where your exposures are. And then you're trying to avoid as much as you can because the bottom line is that these chemicals have no business of being your body. Like they only do harm, there's no good. So you just need to try it as much as you can.

[08:49] Katie Chandler: Yeah, that's what I want to clarify for our listener. What are these chemicals doing to us? When we say they're endocrine disruptors or hormonal disruptors, they're affecting our thyroid, they're affecting fertility, they're affecting your estrogen levels. Is that correct? And so on and so on.

[09:09] Jenna Hua : It's literally everything. We can take a step back thinking about what are hormones like? Hormones are our body signaling molecules. They literally govern every single bodily function we have. Fun, sleep, metabolism, growth, fertility, your mood, everything is governed by hormones. And then your body signaling system, the hormone system, actually work as a symphony. So if you go to orchestra, you listen to a symphony. If your keys are out of sync, this music wouldn't be beautiful. It's the same thing. And these hormones, they kind of work like a lock and key. So the key has to fit in a lock and when you have these hormone disruptor comes in which messes up either the signaling or messes up this whole lock and key function. So then you would have these mismatched things and then you have this whole salute of downstream impact, which could be impacting your mood and your metabolism. So we see people with hormone balance, for example, in female, you would see for example, irregular period fertility issues, same as in men, impact both men and women and weight gains just so many things. And I think the other thing people tend to overlook is that if you expose to these things, you wouldn't experience extreme symptom the next day. Maybe in occupational setting, if you get super high exposure, then you would have feel the symptom the next day. But what we really worried about for these chemicals are like we have these super tiny, like really low dose exposures. You get exposed a little bit, but you get exposed day in and day out. So you just don't know when your cup is going to get full. Eventually down maybe ten years, 20 years from today, you would have a condition that could be contributed by these things. And so that's why we really want people to start pay attention. You do what you can and you want to eliminate these exposures as soon as possible and as early as possible, as much as you can.

[11:27] Katie Chandler: Yeah, I think it's interesting to your point of how you're not just going to wake up the next day and say, oh, I must have been exposed to BPAS too much yesterday. It is a gradual thing that happens over time. And maybe one day you just wake up and you realize like, oh my gosh, I'm not sleeping very well, or this feels off all the time. Or you just slowly start to not feel like yourself anymore. So this is a really great tool. It can be preventative. It can also come in and help someone get things back in order with their life. I find it fascinating. I think a lot of us see things like BPA free and paraben free and so on and so on. I would love to just if you could just quickly list off just a few of those names that we've seen, we've read, we've heard, but we don't know what they are, so that we can now attach them to this and understand.

[12:26] Jenna Hua : Yes. So BPA is pretty much the poster child of hormone disrupting chemicals. A lot of people know because we actually see that BPA free label. But when you ask people like, do you know what BPA is? And people often don't know. They just say, okay, I know it's bad for me because I see BPA free label all the time. But what to pay attention of is that BPA free? Okay, first of all, there's no regulatory agencies actually monitor and check whether a product is BPA free or not. It's completely up to the manufacturer to put that label on, so there's no verification of that, whether that's actually BPA free or not. In Europe, there is regulatory agency to actually check whether this is BPA free or not. And the definition is if a product have less than, say, zero five milligram per kilograms of this molecule in this chemical in the product, it's considering free. It's kind of like the trans fat free labeling. But if you think about an MBPA, often happens on receipts, grocery store receipt, gas station receipts, or the canned linings of canned food or canned drinks. So if you think about it, even if it's regulated at 0.5, that kind of level, if you drink a lot of canned drinks, if you eat a lot of canned food, it's still going to accumulate. So it doesn't mean it's completely free. That's number one. The second is since BPA has been banned for almost more than a decade now in baby products, thanks to conscious mothers. The manufacturers, however, started using BPA alternatives, which is not labeled anywhere. So this could be right now, the most commonly used is Bps and BPF. They can literally swap a molecule and swap, like, a substrate of that molecule, changing the ladder from BPA all the way to BPZ or any combination of that. So it could be Bpaf, BPB, something that all of these alternatives are actually just as toxic as BPA, if not more. So there's just, like, no way of knowing, okay, is this BPA free? Is actually BPA free, or it's involved in other kind of Bps. So our strategy is, okay, just avoid plastics in general, because BPA and phthalates are the major plasticizer chemicals that's using plastic. So if you can't avoid as much plastic as you can, then you kind of just pretty much eliminate this. And trying to avoid canned food, I think in general, in shopping, BPA free label is still better than not having that label. There's a little bit of assurance there. But in general, just try to avoid the whole category if you can. And the shape of the BPA molecule. I think another thing just to kind of ring the bell for people to think about BPA is if you Google the BPA molecule and then you Google the estrogen molecule, they look really, really similar. They look almost identical. So one function of BPA once in getting into your body is it mimics estrogen. So your body will mistaken BPA with estrogen. And if you think about it, if your body mistaken BPA with estrogen, maybe you'll produce less, or maybe it will produce more and they wouldn't fit. So then it's causing other issues and that's why, okay, yeah. Trying to avoid as much as possible.

[16:01] Katie Chandler: You hear a lot about estrogen dominance now, and this is a contributing factor to that, I'm sure. So, yeah, it's very interesting. And go ahead, Amy.

[16:11] Amy Sherman: I was going to say, why are manufacturers using this in the first place? Is it like a preservative? Like what does it actually do? And why if they're not using that, they're using one of these alternative swaps like you said. What's the deal with that?

[16:25] Jenna Hua : A couple of reasons. First is BPA is actually a pretty magical molecule. BPA is a molecule, that the chemical that makes plastic shatter proof. That's brittle plastic and it has property. And the second is, as you mentioned, a preserving function. So by coding that can lining, for example, if you have acidic food in can, it wouldn't react with the rest of the can. And it also preserves food much longer. And it's cheap, it's just really cheap to make. That's why we have been using it, same as thali. So thali is another chemical that we test. It's also a major plasticizer. Thalate is just what make plastic really flexible. So think about your ceram wrap. A lot of time in the past, ceram wrap is kind of like made of phthalates. One tip we often also tell people is never ever microwave plastic. Some people don't know. So heat actually increases the releasing of these chemicals. And before I've seen people like, okay, first of all, they use a plastic tupperware, have their food in there on top of the tupperware, they put on the ceram wrap and stick the whole thing into the microwave. So it's like then you just get a multiple exposures, okay? You get that shadow proof plastic fun BPA, and then you have the CERN wrap fun phthalates. Phthalates are also used in fragrance a lot. So that's another tip that we often tell people, okay, when you purchase your personal care product, your house cleaning product, your laundry detergent, avoid fragrance. Always read your ingredient label. Avoid that because phthalates is a major ingredient that used in fragrance and it's also a hormone disrupting chemical that it actually blocks testosterone. So we've seen a ton of study in both human studies and animal studies that showing phthalates really impact male fertility.

[18:34] Katie Chandler: And will it say on the ingredients list, phthalates?

[18:39] Jenna Hua : So phthalates are usually not labeled on the ingredient list. It's often just fragrance. It's a major ingredient in fragrance. That's why we wanted people to avoid fragrance at all cost, okay? And to be even safer, even if natural fragrance. So we often get questions asking, what about my fragrances made of essential oil? Right? Not saying essential oil is not beneficial, but there's no way of verify whether this essential oil is actually made up to great. And apparently 50% our world supply of plants is only enough to make about 50% of the essential oil on the market today. So a lot of essential oils are actually synthetically made, and there's just like, no guarantee that what's actually in this essential oil. And there's not enough rigorous testing being done in products. So especially, say, if you're pregnant or trying to get pregnant, we always recommend people to avoid fragrance, whether it's natural or synthetic. Just avoid fragrance just to be safe.

[19:53] Katie Chandler: It's crazy that there's no system in place for these things to be monitored. I mean, I realize with the amount of commerce that this country has and it's coming from all over the world, that it would probably be nearly impossible to do. Maybe that's why it is probably impossible to cover it all. But just like with supplements, supplements are not FDA approved. And you have no idea what you're putting in your body with that. When you think it's a trusted source and it's something that's meant to help you, it's not always necessarily the case.

[20:19] Amy Sherman: Yeah, I saw on your Instagram page just around fragrance, that unscented is also a fragrance, which I had no idea until I saw that. And that's really scary because I've been buying unscented forever because I don't like those perfumey smells, and I thought they were bad for you. But now I'm hearing unscented is also a flavor. Can you talk about that a little bit?

[20:41] Jenna Hua : Yes. So unscented is actually a scent wow. To go with fragrance free.

[20:46] Amy Sherman: It's fragrance free. Okay.

[20:49] Jenna Hua : So it's very misleading because I think a consumer have obviously gone smarter because we know we need to protect ourselves because FDA is not doing the job. But manufacturers also got smarter, right? So unscented is one thing, and then they started using wording like aroma instead of like fragrance. So you'll just see like aroma, but it's the same thing. So fragrance free is the best way to go.

[21:18] Amy Sherman: Okay, and what about when it says I was using and I actually just switched all my stuff, but I can't remember a brand? Maybe it's like tied free and clear.

[21:32] Jenna Hua : Interesting one. So free and clear is better than the regular, for sure, because at least less of these ingredients are used. But besides these major kind of could potentially have hormone disrupting chemicals, a lot of the bigger brands, they could also have other problematic ingredients in addition to, say, fragrance. Fragrance is like the number one. We want to people do that. But if you want to go one step further, other things to look for is trying to avoid petroleum based ingredients. Because petroleum based ingredients would have much higher contamination during the manufacturing process that you wouldn't know. Again, without testing, there's no way of knowing. But one really easy way to recognize any petroleum based ingredients is look for these cap letters on your ingredient list. So Peg PPG, like all of these cap letters, are usually made of petroleum based ingredients. So that's something to pay attention off. Another one is we often also flag is to glycerin is usually used many times glycerin is made of petroleum, but vegetarian glycerin is not. So if you have the choice of buying an ingredient with vegetarian glycerin versus the regular, I would go with the vegetarian one because it's less prone to contamination.

[23:04] Katie Chandler: Okay, so this is a stupid question.

[23:06] Amy Sherman: But is petroleum the same thing as petrolatum?

[23:11] Jenna Hua : Similar. They're like a fun source.

[23:16] Amy Sherman: I use every day on my lips which has petrolatum is obviously not good.

[23:21] Jenna Hua : It's the same source I would have choose say if you use a shia butter that's probably better. Say use a little more like coconut oil. I would have choose that, yeah.

[23:33] Katie Chandler: Okay. It's so interesting and I can see how it can be very overwhelming because you can just look around your house and probably see a million. As I'm drinking out of this, I'm wondering is this safe? It can be very overwhelming, but that's the genius behind million marker is that you have this testing and walk us a little bit through the process. If someone sends in their urine, they do the testing, they get the results and then you have the option to do the coaching as well where you will walk through and say let's take this, this and this out of your life, et cetera.

[24:07] Jenna Hua : Yes, in the last three years we have been doing this whole self serve model that people can enter their journal through our app and then submit in the test. We give the people the option if they want to schedule a call after receiving our report, we'll go over the report, we'll answer any questions they have. But what we realized from that model is that people actually want a lot of handholding, even fun just entering their journal items and fun afterwards they want to check in with us. So we're actually changing our service to more of a white glove service that will actually walk you through your journal and then also walk you through your report so people can purchase a kit online in the future. Then you schedule a quick like 30 to 45 minutes zoom call with us. We actually go through your day of your products and your lifestyle with you. Document that, then you submit your urine sample. We take the first morning urine sample because it's the most concentrated kind of urine and then it's also what's being used nationally or kind of a standard. So then we can actually compare your levels with other ascent as well as the national average. Then we get that analyzed. Then we actually audit your lifestyle, audit your products, and when you get your report back, besides what I mentioned before, understanding your levels, we also have a really comprehensive product audit that we point out out of all the products that you're using, actually every single product that you reported that you're using. Is there any problematic ingredients in there? Not just the ones that we test, but any other one that we would usually flag to make sure you pay attention on. Then you will know. So next time you buy a product, then you can buy a better one that avoid these other problematic ingredients. Because we can't possibly test for everything, but anything that have been reported in scientific literature that's potentially harmful, we want to let folks know. So then next time you can vote with your dollars. I mean, ultimately, consumers shouldn't be responsible for these things, but unfortunately, we have to do that. So then we want to let people know. So next time you buy it, avoid these things.

[26:35] Amy Sherman: So do people do this test? Do they repeat it, like on a yearly basis or something? Because I would think you'd want to kind of see, I took this out. Now what am I showing?

[26:45] Jenna Hua : Yes. So we have quite a few, many customers come back for second testing. So then just to confirm what's going on, our goal is we're hoping this could become like a routine test. My dream would be actually see this type of body burden testing, kind of like your biannual dental checkup. You clean your teeth twice a year. And I think this is a really good way to remind people, hey, you need to clean up your lifestyle too. That this is a really nice reminder if you can do this every half a year, just to show, okay, where you are with your body burden and how do you clean up. Because I think this type of testing or asking people to change their lifestyle, it's not only good for your health, good for your body, it's actually really good for the environment too, because, again, you're avoiding plastic, you're avoiding petrochemicals. There's a lot of quite a bit of impact when it comes to sustainability too. So we probably, none of us, and especially people who are trying to conceive and having kids, you don't want to live in a polluted planet, you don't want your kids to live in a polluted environment. Right. So by doing these things, I think it's like many, many wins not only for your health, but also for the environment as well. So I really want to see this become like a biannual kind of test that we can implement in the future. And hopefully this will become something that insurance will cover. Kind of like the biannual dental checkup that everyone will have access to and then start pay attention on.

[28:33] Katie Chandler: Yeah.

[28:33] Amy Sherman: And also just how you would do a yearly blood test or twice a year blood test. It's the same sort of thing that you should be doing every time, right?

[28:41] Jenna Hua : Yes.

[28:42] Katie Chandler: I had a question regarding the test results. You said that you compare them to the national average. So then is there an optimal range of where you want to be with these things or do you want to have zero exposure or is that just impossible?

[28:59] Jenna Hua : Really good question. We want to beat people to be as low as possible. There's actually no safe levels. There are no safe levels for these chemicals. The reason we're comparing with national average is to give you some idea of where you are. So how we compare is based on percentile. And so if you are lower than 25th percentile, we categorize that as low between 25th to 75th, that's medium and above 75th, that we consider that as high. But you should be trying to go below or even non detectable below 25th percentile as much as possible. But talking about the national average, there are limitations with this national average. I actually think we're one of the countries that's actually doing really well when it comes to biomonitoring. So biomonitoring means that we have programs that monitor people's chemical exposure through these biomonitoring program. Right now our national biomonitoring program is set through the CDC, through the National Health Nutrition Examination Survey, where they actually screen for more than 200 chemicals. And the ones that we screen is only part of it. The limitation of enhance of the spinal monitoring program is that the government only screens about 3000 people every other year, not the same people year over year. So you can see the limitation. So 3000 people in the entire US. So if you want to compare, if you think about your gender, your age, your ethnicity, what you have like five people look like you in a database to compare of. Right? So that's a limitation. And then the second is because this is a true kind of snapshot of time, because not all the people are tracked over time. There's no way we can tell the same people with these exposures what happened to them down the road. So another goal for million marker is if we have a lot of people doing testing and doing these continuous testing, we'll be able to see the potential long term impact in humans and then how can we improve and then that could be beneficial for the future generations.

[31:23] Katie Chandler: Yeah, that's amazing. That's really unbelievably profound what you guys are doing. The concept is really brilliant. I know that you are focused a lot on helping those with fertility issues. So I'm just curious what kind of success rates that people are seeing when they are able to remove these toxic chemicals and things from their life.

[31:46] Jenna Hua : We don't have enough data to actually show clinically, like with hard numbers, whether detoxing can actually help people achieve successful pregnancy or live birth. That's obviously the ultimate goal. And I think this is what we're trying to do eventually. But I think fundamentally, even though we know about the impact of these chemical literally for decades, the National Institute of Health work in general through the government, we haven't really invested in any money in terms of looking at the potential causal impact and how to do interventions to track. Clinical outcome. There was no money in this. It's unfortunate. And I think this is also excuse that oftentimes chemical companies that uses like why are we not banning these things? And then the argument is that oh, we don't have any causal studies because we cannot show that these chemical actually causes that miscarriages causes infertility. We cannot say that, we can only say they're associated when in reality it's.

[32:55] Katie Chandler: Just because there's not enough data that shows because there haven't been studies, there hasn't been enough money behind studies to get it done. Yeah, that's interesting. Exactly, it's unfortunate.

[33:05] Jenna Hua : It's unfortunate. The other thing is it's almost impossible to do this type of study to looking at causal study because you cannot expose to a pregnant mother to these chemicals and observe what's going to happen. Right. It's just unethical. You cannot do it. So our thinking is if we can show by detox, by reducing people's exposure that we can actually improve these clinical outcome and track people over time, then that's kind of like almost like a backward reverse way of proving there are causal impact. Then we can use this to push for better policies and better and more testing. So that's what we're hoping to do. And that's actually the grant I mentioned that this week, my nirvana, we got a good score and that's exactly this type of intervention studies are what we're trying to do to demonstrate hey, this works.

[34:06] Katie Chandler: Congratulations on that. I'm like a research geek so I always look at the NIH and everything. So that's really exciting. That's very cool. I'm excited to see where it goes. I'm sure it's going to be a bit of a process to get it all in motion and everything but we'll be following it without a doubt.

[34:21] Amy Sherman: I have a question about the test too. Do people use this for kids? Because as you're talking I'm like I want to test my whole family. Have you seen other people using it for kids?

[34:30] Jenna Hua : We're being asked right now our thinking is if the parents consent, yes, we can test for kids, but on our website we say 18 and above. But we have been asked whether they can test for kids that we definitely need parents consent. I think a lot of researchers worry is it's hard to interpret the results when it comes to kids and others. We even have people asking about like can we test our pets for these chemicals? It's because we don't have enough data. So in an enhanced database for kids, for adults we have about 1800 out of 3000. The rest of them are kids. But kids it's tricky because kids are growing and their growth status, it could be really different, it could really impact their hormone levels. So if you're an infant versus your adolescence, not only your hormones are different but also your growth stage, your detox system is not fully built. And that's also another reason that we really trying to pay attention on the younger, what we call it, developmental timing really matters. That means the younger you get exposed to the potential detrimental impact these chemical will have on you more. So we really want to start in uterine. Even when people planning for pregnancy, really thinking about it starts with the egg, it starts with the sperm. You should try to optimize your egg quality and sperm quality before you're getting pregnant and also start practicing this healthy lifestyle. And then you carry that throughout your pregnancy. And when your kid is born, your kid will already have a head start living a healthy lifestyle. And not only developmental timing matters. So then in uter, exposure really matters and then throughout the growth stage. But it's also we think it's like you literally get the biggest bang for your bucks because you're affecting literally generations. Because another thing we have observed in research is that these chemical can impact your future generations. That means your grandparents exposure will show up in you. Like your exposure will actually show up in your grandkids.

[36:55] Katie Chandler: Wow, that's wild. That's alarming too.

[37:00] Amy Sherman: Yeah, it is alarming. Okay, so before we do our wrap session with you, we want to get a couple tips that you have for detoxifying your life. Just some general things that someone's listening and they're going, well, what can I do right now, I'm going to do the test, but what can I do? What can I start changing in my life? Do you have some tips for that?

[37:19] Jenna Hua : Yes, absolutely. Number one, figured you would obviously avoid fragrance because I think when it comes to products, anything you purchase, this is like the easiest way to change. Just pay attention on eliminate fragrance, find all your personal care products or your household cleaning products. It's the number one. It's also just the easiest. The second is looking to your kitchen because a lot of our exposure besides products is coming from food. So what are you using to store your food? Right, use stainless steel containers or glass containers. Just get rid of all the plastic tupperwares and all these things. Use a b wax wrap instead of like seren wrap and you can use it multiple times. And again, it's also something really good for the environment and then also help you detox and also think about one thing we didn't really talk about is we have this whole other category of chemicals called persistent chemicals, also hormone disruptors, but because they're persistent, they stay in your body for a long time. One of the category a lot of people have heard is the Forever chemical PFAS. Right. And we want people to get rid of your teflon pens, like change to stainless steel, change to cast iron or ceramic. Because this category of chemicals, once you get exposed to it, literally stays in your body for a long time. You can't get rid of it.

[38:51] Amy Sherman: Wow.

[38:52] Jenna Hua : Again, if you change your pots and pants at home in your kitchen. You don't need to change again for many years in the future. Especially if you use a cast iron you can literally pass on to your kids. So you just need to do it once. So this investment is very much worth it. So we want people to, hey, do a kitchen detox that get rid of these things and do it once. Then again, you eliminated a lot of these exposure. And the next thing is try to get a water filter. Any filter is better than no filter. But if you can have your hands on a reverse osmosis water filter, that's sort of a cash at all filter. Because our water is also contaminated, let alone sort of the city water system. Now we're also having a lot of household buildings or even new buildings that changing copper pipe to PVC pipe. PVC is a plastic that's actually not good. There's a lot of argument like why we even have this policy changing it. But I mean, that's worth a whole other chat. But having a water filter is really important because you're drinking water all the time, right? And then the last thing is try to eat out less, eat more at home. Because first of all, you have fully control of what you're cooking, what are your ingredients, try to eat as much organic as you can. I know there is budget reasons for many people, but if you can try to do that because pesticides, many pesticides are also hormone disruptors. So if you can do that, that would be great. And eating out less also helps you eliminate a lot of, for example, less packaged food or eating less at the restaurant also helps you avoid. Because another thing we found out is through some individual testing is if you eat out in restaurant, oftentimes restaurant will cook with gloves. Those rubber gloves are also potential contaminants that can potentially contaminate the food. And you don't know, they will probably put like a hot soup in a plastic container and they will use other things. So you would just get that exposure. Even the takeout container is also a big one. I was just thinking that during the pandemic we literally see people's levels spiking out because people are eating so much takeout. So if you're eating at home, you have full control over that. So I think that's my top tips for detoxing.

[41:34] Katie Chandler: Yeah, those are excellent. That's excellent.

[41:36] Amy Sherman: So helpful. And for our listeners, I saw, we saw in your website you have an approved products list, which I think is really helpful. I actually went on it this morning because I just switched over to branch basics for all of my cleaning and I saw it was on your list. So I was like, okay, yes. So I thought that was really helpful. So for our listeners, all of those things are really helpful tips. And then if you go onto the website, you can also get a sense of what products are recommended by Million Marker. So before we get into our wrap session, where can everybody find you?

[42:07] Jenna Hua : Please find us on our website, www.millionmarker.com. Sign up to our newsletter. We're trying to keep people posted regarding our progress or any new research, any news around these topics. So sign up. We're also pretty active on social media. Instagram just million underscore Marker. Also Twitter. We trying to generate a lot of education content, not just around Detoxing, but anything same as you guys, anything that comes to do with wellness, because you can't just Detox. You literally need everything else in check to help you with Detox and support your healthy lifestyle. So talking about nutrition, talking about physical activity, talking about stress, talking about gut health, everything. So we're pretty active, and we're trying to generate good content to support people for their healthy lifestyle. So definitely check us out.

[43:07] Katie Chandler: Love it. Thank you. Thank you for everything that you're doing. It's such an amazing company and business and everything that you've started. So we're grateful that you're here. So why don't we kick off with our wrap session because we are very curious few things. What is your favorite wellness or beauty hack aside from Detoxing and everything?

[43:30] Jenna Hua : My hack, I guess, is like soup. I make soup almost every day, all kinds of soup, partially because I think it's very soothing. And then the second is water is also really important for Detoxing. So you kind of need a lot of these transient toxins that we test, and then we talk about you literally pee them out. So you need water and also think, like, you have to have enough water for good skin health, too. So it obviously have to do with your health and obviously have to do with beauty.

[44:08] Katie Chandler: Yeah, absolutely.

[44:09] Amy Sherman: That's a great one. What's your favorite soup? What's your favorite soup that you make?

[44:14] Jenna Hua : Any soup is good soup. I make simple vegetable stock or to meat based stock. I do a lot of that, and I try to learn from, I guess, different cultures. I'm Chinese, so there's a big part of Chinese culture is also super into soup. So it could be meat stock. It could be like beef and then like bone broth. A lot of bone broth.

[44:37] Katie Chandler: Love it.

[44:38] Jenna Hua : But I also love Italian soup, veggie, and I love chili, too, so it's not exactly a soup, but I kind of feel like that's kind of like a soup.

[44:49] Amy Sherman: Yeah, it sounds good. You're getting me in the mood to make a good soup, too.

[44:52] Katie Chandler: I know I have. Okay for breakfast.

[44:57] Jenna Hua : Yeah. Savory broth breakfast. I love savory. Breakfast was like one broth.

[45:03] Amy Sherman: Okay. The next one we call our five minute flow. So here's the scenario. You just got out of the shower and dried off. Uber just alerted you. They're five minutes away. What's your quick beauty routine? What do you do? Like, what do you put on. What are your Holy Grails? To get ready and into that car on time.

[45:21] Jenna Hua : I go pretty easy if I don't need to. I don't really use makeup or cosmetic or anything. I just use a face serum. That's it. Like some oil. Really easy. Yeah, one pump, put it on that's, it good to go.

[45:37] Amy Sherman: What kind of oil do you use for dying to know what oil you use?

[45:41] Jenna Hua : So recently I was working with this brand called Hue and Grace. They're pretty cool brand started by Ben and Sarah. They had quite a bit fertility struggle themselves and they trying to provide a hormone save product. Recently I have been using their product. It's quite easy, really, like their face serum and night serum. So I've been using that. And in general, it was also through some of the testing we've done and also just looking into products. Using oil is much better than using lotion because of the simple ingredients. Usually if you get an oil, you can do as simple as very few ingredients. So when you have fewer ingredients, there's less contamination. And the formulation wise, it's a lot harder to formulate, say a lotion versus oil because then it requires more emulsifier, like surfactants and all these other things into lotion. So that's sort of like also my sort of rule of thumb when it comes to products, it's just like as simple as possible and put it on easy and then get going.

[46:56] Amy Sherman: Nice.

[46:56] Katie Chandler: Yeah. I love it. All right, and our last one is how do you maintain your daily nirvana?

[47:03] Jenna Hua : Exercise is pretty important. I think a work is really hectic. I mean, everybody's life is very hectic these days. Being able to do some exercise is really important. I try to do yoga almost every afternoon. That kind of get me relaxed and also really prevents my back pain. Before I started doing yoga, I literally had a really severe back pain episode that I couldn't walk for three days. Like, literally couldn't walk for three days. Wow. And then once I started yoga, it hasn't happened once, and it's just really beneficial, I think, for both mind and body, especially for ladies who are over 35, you start losing muscles, and strength training is quite important. And I felt like yoga is not only you get that Zen, but you're actually training. You actually get this strength training. So it's like very cost effective and very efficient. I also try to do quick run in the morning just to get a little bit sunlight, get a little bit fresh air. That helps with productivity. So these are the two things I try to do. But I have to also say that it's always a struggle. You often feel like you want to be lazy and don't want to get out of bed and don't want to go to your yoga class. It's a struggle. But I think once I'm there and once I do it, I felt like, yes, I need these things to achieve my daily in the mana.

[48:35] Katie Chandler: It's absolutely I know people don't too often go work out, and when they leave, think like, oh, I wish I didn't do that. You always leave, right?

[48:47] Amy Sherman: That's so good. Well, thank you so much, Jenna, for joining us. This was really eye opening and really fascinating. And we might have to have you back for part two because I feel like there are just so many questions that we'll have our listeners will have after hearing this. So thank you again. We're really excited to do this test and to start implementing some of these practices. So we really appreciate it. Thank you for your time.

[49:10] Jenna Hua : Thank you so much for having me.

[49:13] Amy Sherman: 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.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

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Episode 104 - Breathe In, Breathe Out: A 101 On Breathwork With Steph Magenta (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 104.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here.

Unknown Speaker 0:06

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. I'm Amy Sherman. And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation

Unknown Speaker 0:28

Welcome back to the show Nirvana sisters family. This week we are going to be covering breathwork is a topic that we talked about a lot, but we haven't had any experts on yet. So we are super excited to have Steph magenta with us today. Steph is a breathwork facilitator and teacher. She's the co founder of integrative breath facilitator training school. Steph places great importance on the integration aspect of any somatic practices which have the potential to elicit significant significant change or breakthrough for the person experiencing the work. Step is a licensed bodywork therapist and shamanic practitioner with a background in substance misuse and addiction research. She also holds over three decades of work in detox and healing from running her own juice bars and plant based cafes. Steph is passionate about healing through somatic practice, which informs her grounded heart centered and trauma aware approach to the practice of breathwork. She's an award winning advocate of sexual freedom advocacy and has trained and Dr. Betty Martin's wheel of consent. And she is currently training and TR e trauma release exercises.

Unknown Speaker 1:38

So we are excited to have you here with us. Steph, welcome to the show. Thank you very much for inviting me. I'm very curious about what's about to unfold. And it's always a delight to chat with people who are also invested in wellness.

Unknown Speaker 1:51

Yes, we're so excited. This is a topic we talk about a lot. And we're just excited to have you here to give us all the expertise because we are both very much into breath work and our listeners, I think would love to know kind of all the basics around it. But before we get started, we are going to do our nirvana of the week which is really just something that brought us joy this week made us happy. Put a little smile on our face. Good time to reflect. So I will let Katie kick us off with that.

Unknown Speaker 2:20

Thanks. I think my nirvana of the week was without a doubt seeing my daughter in her school play this last weekend. She has been working so hard for the last two months. And pretty much the whole family came in Amy and her boys came in and the grandparents came in and we went to three shows. She did. She performed for one, three of the public and she did a great job. And it was just fun. She's very comfortable on stage. She lights up on stage. It was really a joy seeing her artwork. She's only nine. So it was it was pretty. I was very proud of her. It was a great moment. What about you? Me? Yes. And I will attest to that because I was there in real life. And she was phenomenal. She's a star. She did great. So congrats, Katie, I would say mine this week. There were a lot, which was nice. But I was just saying to Katie, before we got on that I was at an event this week, an all day event. And it was a no cell phone event which before the event I was quite anxious. But then when I left my cell phone on home, and I was at this event all day, it was truly incredible to be without a phone all day. It was so nice. I felt like I was in the moment I was present. I was having conversations with people I was enjoying the weather. And I mean sad to say that we can't live without our phones. But like honestly, it was a really good reminder to leave my phone at home more. So that brought me some joy this week. What about you staff?

Unknown Speaker 3:50

Well, in the deep end, I

Unknown Speaker 3:53

like you. I've had many and thank you for sharing yours. I always love hearing about other people's appreciation and gratitude. So that's a big part of my practice. I suppose the first one to say is that it's my son's birthday today. He's 23. So that

Unknown Speaker 4:10

is a kind of Nirvana moment where I'm going wow, you know, he's come through a lot. And he completed his degree in psychology during lockdown. And yeah, young people were put under a huge amount of pressure. So I feel really proud of who he is. And I'm happy because the sun is shining here in the UK for possibly the first day.

Unknown Speaker 4:34

And he's out enjoying it. So I get thing that's a significant one for me. That's wonderful, happy birthday to your son. Thank you. Alright, well let's get started because we use this term breathwork a lot and I think Amy and I both have kind of done small breath work self taught that we'll see that we learn from from social media for people like yourself that are but we've never really dove into

Unknown Speaker 5:00

The subject ever talk to an expert about it? So I think a great place to start is is why? Why try it? And why does it work? So well?

Unknown Speaker 5:10

I love this question, because it's like such an elevator pitch question in a way, and I go, Oh, right. Okay.

Unknown Speaker 5:17

And that was the first thing I want to say in response to that is there are so many forms of breath work. And so when you say why breath work, there are multiple answers to that question. Because on a day to day basis, breath work, as many people will know, and some may not is one of the most quickest, most accessible, easiest ways that we can support our nervous system coming back into regulation. So the primary answer to why breathwork is because actually, it relates to what you shared about your Nirvana, because most of us are overstimulated these days through constant availability, accessibility, stimulation, comparison, etc, etc. So anxiety is rising, depression and mental health issues arising. And the more we can find the ways to use embodied practices to help us actually ground and center ourselves, the better for the kind of breath work I teach. If you say why breath work is open, mouth connected breathing, on a day to day basis, it's not what we want to be doing far from it. But for expanded consciousness and trauma release, it's really, really powerful. So why breath work, because it's a readily available tool where we don't have to ingest anything or go outside of ourselves to actually present what's happening for us and learn how to self regulate.

Unknown Speaker 6:42

It's very interesting how powerful the use of breath can be. I know there's so many different types of breath work. And I didn't even know that there was.

Unknown Speaker 6:52

It was like sort of specialized like yourself, but you said you treat to help heal trauma and things like that teach rather to help heal trauma. So

Unknown Speaker 7:03

maybe we should start with the basics. Like, what is what's a simple way that we should be reading on the day day? And so really great question, because I already mentioned, you know, on a day to day basis, we want to be nose breathing, coming into what we call functional breathing, as opposed to dysfunctional or dysregulated breathing, but an awful lot of people breathe in dysregulated ways, then their mouths might be open, they might be not getting the benefits of nitric oxide that only comes through the nose, maybe there's not as much oxygen that's crossing the blood brain barrier going to the vital organs, which when we're mouth breathing, because it's kind of more shallow breathing in a way isn't happening. And also the kind of nose breathing and the slowing down the breathing. To answer the question about what do we want to do on a day to day helps us

Unknown Speaker 7:59

regulate the heartbeat, it helps when we can slow down the breath with intention, we can bring onboard the parasympathetic part of our nervous system. So the part that's involved in rest and digest the part that knows how to feel safe and connected socially and isn't constantly in fight and flight or perception of threat or hyper vigilance, which many of us go into when we're not feeling safe in the world. So the day to day breathing that we want is to learn how to breathe primarily through the nose, and how to slow down the breath so that in times of stress, when our breath will typically increase in pace, and become more shallow, we can go, Oh, I'm feeling anxious, I'm going to just stop, take a breath, maybe put a hand on my heart, feel the breath coming into the belly, it doesn't want to be coming from this upper chest, which is kind of anxiety patterns of breathing.

Unknown Speaker 8:56

Thank you for saying that. Because I have to say, I would imagine most people are breathing through their mouth because I learned about this a few years ago, because I have similar migraines. And when I was talking to someone about it, a doctor, they were like, think about your breathing, because you're probably not breathing most of the day. And I noticed that now, sometimes if I'm talking, or if I'm just sitting there and I'm feeling a certain way, I'm like, wait, I'm not actually breathing. I'm holding my breath. And I notice I'm more aware of it now. So I'm intentional. And I'm like to your point, try to slow down and breathe through my nose. But I noticed a lot of people are just kind of like holding their breath. And now that we're saying it just for anyone who's listening, think about the way you breathe, because that's to your point, a basic principle of just breathing through your nose that I think most people aren't doing and it really makes a huge difference if you think about it, but I feel like half the time I'm talking and we're just holding my breath and holding my breath and you just kind of feel off and then you take a step back and then you breathe through your nose and you're like, Okay, let me calm down but it's such a basic thing that no one

Unknown Speaker 10:00

thinks about.

Unknown Speaker 10:09

And, you know, in part, I think it's because we've got used to having to kind of fight for our space and fight for our words to be heard, because we've, we've lost the capacity for presence in relational experiences, you know, so you'll notice because you interview people, but if you're interviewing somebody, and they're nervous, or they're not regulating their breath, maybe their speaking is rapid and fast, and you'll be kind of feeling it in your own body, like, Oh, I really want this person to take a breath.

Unknown Speaker 10:39

I really want to take a breath, you know, as you're speaking to me, because I work with this all the time in myself noticing, I can in the pauses, slow down my breath with intention. And again, just give myself that capacity to calm myself. Because when we're in situations that bring about slight nervousness, because they're new, or we don't know the people, which is this, you know,

Unknown Speaker 11:03

it's normal that people might feel some nervousness or anxiety. And so just becoming breath aware, literally, the practicalities of slowing your breath, of breathing through the nose of feeling the breath in the belly, will alleviate some of that kind of sympathetic nervous system activation, which then can spiral into kind of much more rapid breathing. And then of course, it's a chain reaction anyway, because then everything starts to move in the body. Because it's all related. You know, it's like our blood vessels are changing. Our heartbeat is changing our palms go clammy, you know, things happen in the body when we're in a sympathetic nervous system, activation, sympathetic, being that fight flight part. So even if we're nervous in a conversation, that might be starting to happen. But if we don't know that, that's what it is, we can be like, Oh my God, why do I feel so strange? Oh, my God, why am I feeling lightheaded? I feel dizzy, I feel clammy. And those enormous, sorry, normal nervous system responses in that part of the nervous system. So once we know that we can work with it. Yeah, I mean that people have to train themselves to breathe through their nose, because I find that I sort of had to train myself,

Unknown Speaker 12:20

I would say so yeah, I certainly had to do that. For me, a lot of the time it was at nighttime, I had kind of mild sleep apnea, or I would wake up with a very dry mouth or not feeling well rested. And so I started training my sleep at nighttime, my my friend got me onto it, because she was using micro porous tape at nighttime, which is a bit it's not, don't just use any old tape. If you try this, by the way, it has to be the pharmaceutical grade micro porous tape that is breathable, and you only need a tiny piece. But she would go to bed, she'd put her earplugs in her eye mask on the tape over a mouth. And she was in a relationship. And I used to laugh and say, Oh my God, you know,

Unknown Speaker 12:59

think of this kind of no intimacy there. She was getting herself in this position where she could really like take care of what she needed to go into deep rest and sleep hygiene is fundamental to good breathing as well. So I tried to and although it felt really challenging the first few nights that I tried it because I didn't like this sensation of having something on my mouth, I noticed that I would wake up, I wouldn't be waking in the night to go to the bathroom, I would be feeling well rested. I would be dreaming and sleeping deeply. And it just felt good. And I carried on and I feel as though I've definitely retrained my breathing now to breathe more in and out through the nose. And if I default from that, I noticed it very quickly.

Unknown Speaker 13:45

That's interesting. I have mild sleep apnea as well and everything you just said like the waking up and going to the bathroom frequently in the middle of the night and everything. It's bothering a lot lately, I was nervous to try the mouth taping but I'm going to try it now. So so it's worked well for you. Oh my gosh. Honestly, it's I mean, it's widely been researched and studied and a lot of dentists now use it because a lot of children will be kind of doing stuff and mouth breathing and it changes the physical structure of the jaw and the face and the teeth and oral hygiene as well because these noses are designed with filters designed with the nitric oxide to help us breathe well. And to do what they're supposed to be doing to get that oxygen through into our system in more effective ways. When we mouth breathe and it's much more shallow our breathing and it's only reaching the top part of the lungs and it's changing the structure of the face. Absolutely without doubt and you only need you know a thin little strip maybe just like five millimeters wide that you can put down this way so that you can still start off by you know, you don't need these great big pieces. It doesn't need to be something that feels really challenging. Yeah, cuz I'm so glad you said that. That it's just in the center because

Unknown Speaker 15:00

I've heard people talk about this. And I envisioned it to be your whole mouth, which like, feels scary. But if it's just in the middle, that feels less intimidating. So that's really good to know. Yeah, I mean, I do. Now I use, if I use it, I don't have to use it very much now, because I have retrained my breathing. And I noticed that I can just automatically sleep more deeply. And occasionally, I'll bring it back out again, if I feel that I'm not breathing well, but people have lots of different capacities for breathing, it might already be compromised by mild asthma or something like that, in which case, you obviously need to consult a physician or an expert who can help you. But otherwise, it's kind of like, yeah, you put the piece there and you're effectively still breathing through the sides of your mouth, but people can feel psychologically more comfortable. And the first put it on I did put it on the whole part. And I had lots of kind of triggers and flashbacks. That didn't feel so great. However, I persevered. And it worked. And I would recommend it. You just don't need huge pieces, though. You know? Yeah. Now that's good to know. Okay, Steph, so do you have some a couple practices that our audience could use, I know I saw your Instagram, you have all these great, different things we can do. I know ones, the hob wrath ones, the box breathing. So maybe there's a few that you could give our listeners, whether it's something they can do at night to kind of get situated and relaxed or during the day, if they just need a little breather like couple little couple little hacks.

Unknown Speaker 16:31

Well, I guess it depends on what you want it for. Because you know, you talk about at night. And I think at night, basically, the most simple thing to do there is simple is simple coherence breathing. So an equal length breath in and out and in and out through the nose. But for some people, if they're experienced, experiencing tension and anxiety, focusing on the breath can amplify that. So I always say to people just do what feels good, adapt to what feels good. And just practice because we don't expect to get good at anything. without practicing. We wouldn't expect to be good at sports, we wouldn't expect to be good at, you know, playing piano if we weren't practicing. And yet breathing is something we just take for granted. So practice, and go slowly and be kind to yourself. So coherence breathing would be just as I said, an equal breath in and out. But when I first came across breathwork, one of my friends pointed this out to me because we were paired up in an exercise and she said to me, are you aware that your exhale is significantly longer than your inhale. So if we were in this exercise, and I was breathing in, I'll give you an example, I hope your listeners can hear and it would be like

Unknown Speaker 17:47

the exhale basically would be kind of two to three times as long as the inhale. And if I tried to bring it into balance, it started to create stress and tension and my breath came up to my upper chest. And what that was because at the time I was doing this I was in burnout from the running of the some of the businesses use described in my intro. And I think it was my body's way of trying to come into parasympathetic, rest and restore from being more accustomed to being in fight and flight, sympathetic activation. You know, go go go stress achievement, busy, busy, busy. And, and so when you start to notice your breath, you go, Okay, so my breath is trying to do that, so I can work with that. So one simple way for people to actually create calm in moments of stress would be to breathe in through the nose, for example, for a count of three or four or whatever's comfortable, and then to use a longer exhale. So intentionally an exhale of say, eight, or breathing in through the nose and on the exhale, creating a sigh of physiological saya.

Unknown Speaker 18:56

And then yes, you're expelling through the mouth, but the physiological side which again has been researched and studied, activates the parasympathetic activates the vagal nerve increases what called vagal tone, which is our capacity to move through different kinds of layers of emotion and experience and feeling. Another really good one for vagal tone is what they call the breath. So you inhale, and then on the exhale

Unknown Speaker 19:27

and you're making a humming noise. What that does is on the one hand, the humming is quite literally stimulating the vagus nerve as it comes down through the neck. But also, the nature of it is a really quick hack to slow down your exhale, because if you both tried that, you would find that if you're humming for as long as it's comfortable, your exhale is automatically become longer. So that's kind of straight Katie.

Unknown Speaker 19:58

Um,

Unknown Speaker 20:00

Is that right?

Unknown Speaker 20:04

Yeah. And it's funny, because kids can play with that, you know? Yeah, that's a good one for kids. D exhale with the spy. I've heard about that one. And I have done it in moments of just being like flustered or on the go, and then you know, and then I hopped in the car and I'm trying to regain my composure, I try that I go.

Unknown Speaker 20:27

And it does, if you do it multiple times it, it relaxes you, is I also heard there's something to the breathing in, almost to fully fill your lungs and then taking another short shot of a n and then sign out is that something? Yeah, that's the kind of double breath intakes where you take a breath and you might breathe in as deeply as you think.

Unknown Speaker 20:57

Right.

Unknown Speaker 21:00

Anytime you're breathing exactly, and you know that that can be a more energizing breath as well, though, and you know, I mentioned at the beginning about depends what your end goal is. So if you're, if you're kind of feeling sluggish, and you need some energy, and I posted this one on my page recently, there was one called the heart breath, where you're standing with your elbows, your arms are at right angles to your body and your, your palms are up loosely.

Unknown Speaker 21:26

You know, just holding them out in front of you and you're inhaling.

Unknown Speaker 21:30

And you're pushing the arms forward and turning the hands over as if you're shaking off water from your fingertips on the exhale. If you do that for a few minutes.

Unknown Speaker 21:41

That really starts to energize you. But people shouldn't do that if they've got some of the Contra indications for breath work, because it can make you lightheaded very quickly.

Unknown Speaker 21:52

And there was a fantastic woman who did a lot of tantra work who worked with Mindvalley. Sam is a Dora who sadly took her own life and passed a few years ago now. And she used to use a version of that hot breath where she would bring her arms down and go yes, yes, yes.

Unknown Speaker 22:13

Yes, yes. To bring in a kind of affirmation with the breath as well. So there are many ways that you can use the breath according to what you need, what you want, how your energy is, you know, and what your current mood is, what your requirements are for the way that you want to either up regulate or down regulate your nervous system, as we call it, because people are different, aren't they? Yeah, I love that. And it's funny, because a lot of the things that I've done a really to relax, but I didn't know that you could use breath to actually energize yourself. So that's actually great. What are some of the contraindications for people that should not be doing breath work? Well, I'm going to reframe that question a little bit. So the contraindications for people who shouldn't be doing open mouth dynamic forms of breath work, because normal functional breathwork is pretty much good for everybody, in fact, is essential. At the open mouth breath work, which is changing our physiology and stimulating the sympathetic nervous system and is connecting every breath will send us into that fight flight response. When we go into a fight flight response, we are discharging a lot of carbon dioxide from the body because there's much more

Unknown Speaker 23:34

than you would normally discharge. So oxygen is coming in. But on a more shallow level, it's not getting delivered through the nitric oxide in the nose, or through the balancing of co2 across the blood brain barrier and to the vital organs because it's basically the same as it would be if you were activating the sympathetic to go into confrontation, fight or flee or flight running away from something. So you're not the same things are happening in the body. But that's preparing you to use up that oxygen by getting away or fighting. And if you're not doing that, because you're lying down in a breathwork session, the oxygen will then bind to the hemoglobin in the blood and restriction start to happen. So you get restrictions of that oxygen getting to other parts of the body. So if you've already got seizures, heart conditions, pre existing lung conditions, high blood pressure, what else low blood pressure, if there's a fainting history, if you're in a delicate pregnancy, if you've had recent major surgery, you've got PTSD, untreated or a history of psychosis, and there's a few other country indications then you don't want to be doing things that are putting you in that highly activated state or that are creating restriction and tension in the body and reducing the flow of oxygen to where it wants to go.

Unknown Speaker 25:00

because then you could elicit seizures or heart issues, you know, people with arrhythmia as well shouldn't be doing that kind of breathing. So those kind of people do come to my breathwork sessions, but they're always given a modified practice. Their advice to get people in this should be taken very seriously, by the way, you know, people go to a breathwork session, and the facilitator is doing connected breath, work, open mouth, breath work, isn't talking about contra indications isn't getting you to sign a waiver that you've taken responsibility isn't telling you how to modify your practice, then walk out the door. Because, you know, come across people who go to these breathwork sessions that are really encouraging catharsis and, you know, come on, and you can do this. And people are in what we call respiratory alkalosis, with their hands in cramping, and they're going and you know, they're really uncomfortable, and they're in a hot sweat. And they're being told that it's because they're holding on to something in that life, and they should just push through it and, and their own boundaries and their own body autonomy and their own self awareness is being ignored in favor of, you know, some cathartic response that actually isn't very healthy. And so I think, you know, that's for me why it's also so important to have trained breath workers who understand, first of all, what's happening physiologically, but also what's happening psychologically and emotionally, because trauma will come up, because the things that we suppress that still in the body, that have come through moments of sympathetic nervous system activation, tend to surface again. And so people can find that they go into spontaneous trauma release a bit similar to what we can go into in Tre, actually. So shaking, quivering, tremoring, jaw, all sorts of stuff that gets stuck in the body. Because we're not like animals who go and find a water spot and shake it all off after they've been, you know, hunted or scared. And we tend to hold it all in, you know, put on a brave face, don't make such a show of yourself, you know, get over it. All those kinds of comments that we get told about things that have actually impacted as deeply just get stored up in the body. And then we get a moment to kind of stop, activate the sympathetic, and those things start to come up again, because the body is always communicating with us. Sorry, that was a bit of a rant. But it's interesting. I've never heard that. No, and it is good to know. Because, you know, yeah. Yeah. And that, and that is your specialty is working with people with the open mouth breathing to tap in and to help heal trauma. Yeah. And such is that correct? Yeah, that's correct. I always say to people, and they say, but I thought you shouldn't breathe through the mouth. And I say, Well, you shouldn't on a day to day basis, and it's very helpful to see them as very different modalities, because day to day functional breathing, which is imperative for you know, good sleep, good digestion, good health, immunity, etc, etc, is completely different to the way that we can unlock trauma and open consciousness in different ways through breath, you know, where we can activate the body's natural systems, you know, DMT, and things like that, so that we can have awarenesses that we wouldn't normally be happening, you know, that, that we are starting to, they call it switching off the default mode networks in the brain. In other words, the habitual response patterns, something happens in these sessions, like over and over and over again, I've seen people heal remarkable stories that have been stuck in their bodies for a very long time that perhaps they wouldn't get to through regular slow nose breathing, for sure. So it's a it's a tool for trauma release. But it isn't only for trauma release. It's also for fun, it's also for exploring consciousness. It's also for, you know, what's what's in my body, what needs to come up, and it could be the tiniest thing, you know, I've spent 40 minutes in a breathwork session, though that not much is going on. And then towards the end, a little tear has come from my eye, and I've released a memory in the most gentle way. But it's never come back and troubled me again after that in the same way, quite literally. That was my story with a memory from when my children were little. And I didn't even know that that was happening in the breathwork session, I just carried on breathing in that way, had this awareness come up right near the end and released it. And literally since that day, it's it just it's like, I made peace with it. And I think wow, you know, things quite miraculous really what I see happening for people. Yeah, it's a really, really impactful way to deal with trauma versus, you know, other methods. So it's another tool people can use if they are struggling with some kind of trauma they want to release. I wanted to go back to the nose breathing because I had two questions. So I've heard or I learned at one point of

Unknown Speaker 30:00

brow about putting your finger on your nose and then breathing through one side and then putting it on the other side. What does that do? Is that or is that a good practice to do for? Again, relaxation? Well, what I want to say there is, you know, I mean, that's typically a yogic practice the alternate nostril breathing is a yogic practice the,

Unknown Speaker 30:20

what do they call it? Front, Z, Ma, I can't remember what it's called. Anyway, I used to do that in my yoga back in the day before lockdown.

Unknown Speaker 30:30

I don't pretend to be an expert on every breathing practice across all kinds of different types. So I can't say all I know is that it tends to be activating the different sides of the brain. And and the people that I've been taught by who've done alternate nostril breathing will say, when you notice that one side is particularly blocked and locked up that it might be that you're aware that that hemisphere of the brain is not as open and clear as it might want to be. But you know, that sounds a bit woolly? Because I don't know is that yeah. Okay, good, good answer. And then what is I always hear about box breathing? What does that mean?

Unknown Speaker 31:07

That's one that is typically used by the Navy Seals and people in combat. And again, in a way, it's just another way to bring awareness to the breath of box breathing is quite literally, you imagine that you are breathing around a box, and you breathe in for, say, a count of four. And you hold for a counter for you're going on the top of the box, you breathe out for a counter for,

Unknown Speaker 31:30

and then you hold for a count of four. So you're studying the breath, and you're also giving the body the chance to build up carbon dioxide, increase oxygen uptake, and you're it's supposed to include increased mental clarity, performance, et cetera, et cetera, which is interesting. Military people use it. And yeah, you know, it's funny, the first time I even realized with breath work was was I don't know, probably five years ago, when I couldn't fall asleep. And I'm a pretty good sleeper, and I was just like, couldn't fall asleep. And I just Googled something. And I found,

Unknown Speaker 32:06

I think it's 47478 breathing. And I started doing that and train myself. In the beginning, it was really hard. And this is when you, obviously, you know, but for the listeners, you breathe in for four, hold it for seven, and then exhale for eight. And it was pretty hard in the beginning, but I really trained myself every night to do it. And then I was getting to a point where I would do one cycle of it and be asleep. And in the beginning, I had to do like three or four cycles, just to kind of like, and I found that that kind of breathing helps me because you weren't just breathing, but you were also counting. So it's a little bit of a mental exercise too. And you just, I mean, it was a great one to, to practice and learn over the years. So that's another tidbit for our listeners. Yeah, yeah, fantastic one that you brought in there. And sometimes I think it's just bringing the mindful awareness to the breath, you know, like you say, is it the counting? Is it actually noticing what's happening in the body and distracting the mind, you know, our ego mind, our brain mind is very, very busy a lot of the time. So some of these embody things, you know, when people are struggling in breathwork sessions to let go, I just say, if you find that you're getting distracted by you know, the shopping, or what you've got to do later on it, just come down to the breath, you know, just come down to focusing on the experience of the breath, entering and leaving the body, the sound of the breath, the texture, whether it's cool or warm, and just

Unknown Speaker 33:30

take a moment to just slow down, you know, I mean, that's what we need in this life, isn't it kind of to slow down to reconnect with, you know, stillness to come more into this inside that moves away from constant stimulation and constant achievement and productivity? Yeah, that's a great reminder that we all need daily and stuff. Thank you so much for your time. You've been very generous with us on your I know, your Fridays are very sacred to us very incredibly grateful. But before we let you go, where can listeners find you if they want to want to work with you and do prep work with you? Well, the the quickest place is probably my website, Stephen magenta.com. Because that links to my social platforms as well. I'm very active on Instagram, as you know, because I think that's how you found me as integrative at integrative breath. But sometimes people go, Oh, what is that but if you just type my name and Steph magenta, and you know, you'll find the main page I do have a backup account because somebody tried to clone me once in that very annoying way.

Unknown Speaker 34:35

Stressful, but the backup accounts got about four posts on it and practically nothing there. But my other pages is very busy. So those are the best places and then we have a breathwork I run a breathwork training program for facilitator training as well. And that's integrative hyphen@breath.com.

Unknown Speaker 34:54

So much I hope everyone that is listening is now breathing better, because I know I am

Unknown Speaker 35:00

I've been paying attention this whole time and I'm like, Okay, let me breathe through my nose. Let me breathe through my nose. It's actually really helped me slow down today. So yeah, thank you so much for being with us. It was so nice to meet you and we're so thankful for your time. Likewise, thank you both a pleasure.

Unknown Speaker 35:17

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 will continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.

Episode 103 - Product Junkies - Getting Ready For Spring - What We Are Loving Right Now (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 103, Episode 103 - Product Junkies - Getting Ready For Spring - What We Are Loving Right Now

[00:07] Amy Sherman: 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. I'm Amy Sherman.

[00:18] Katie Chandler: And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation.

[00:24] Amy Sherman: You.

[00:28] : Welcome back to the show. Nirvana Sisters family. It's Amy and Katie, and we're live in the studio together, and we are excited to do a spring product junkie. So we're going to do a quick episode on some new things that we're loving for spring. And let's get started. I'm handing it to you, Katie.

[00:46] Katie Chandler: All right, this is going to kind of be a bit of a speed round. So spring, summer. You're for sure going to need this. And I just recently discovered it, and I'm obsessed. This is for your wellness. It is the body armor super drink. It's a superior hydration drink. I am always partial to the element electrolytes LMNT, because they're so clean, they have nothing in them except for the electrolytes, the sodium, the potassium, the magnesium. This. We are in DC visiting, obviously. I'm here in Maryland with Amy. We were walking around with our kids all day the other day touring DC. And it was maybe 80 degrees, and I was for sure losing my electrolytes and getting dehydrated. And I grabbed one of these without even looking at it. It was just all I could get my hands on in the moment. And after I bought it, I checked it out. It's really clean. It's made from coconut water. It has pure cane sugar, which I think is actually better than, like, erythritol and things like that because it's natural and it's not like I'm drinking it all the time.

[01:49] : Exactly.

[01:50] Katie Chandler: But the great thing about it is that not only does it have electrolytes, but it also has minerals and B vitamins and zinc and all of these other great things. The point is, when I drank it, within, I don't know, 20 minutes, I had better absolute, like, energy burst. And I have one now because I'm drinking one. Yeah.

[02:16] : And that's blue raspberry flavor just to come in other flavors, probably, right?

[02:19] Katie Chandler: Yeah, it does come in a lot of flavors. It's really good, but it definitely cooks me up. I love that.

[02:24] : Yeah, we had them in our house. Jackson had bought them, and I hadn't even tried it yet, so I'm going to try that.

[02:29] Katie Chandler: It's good.

[02:29] : Okay. Speaking of dehydrated, I'm going to talk about my dehydrated under eyes, which have been very dehydrated because that skin is so thin lately. So I bought this quora organics. I can't even read it. What does that say? Katie's? My interpreter.

[02:43] Katie Chandler: Cora Organics. Smallest bottle ever.

[02:49] : Nori nori eye oil.

[02:51] Katie Chandler: Is that what it is?

[02:52] : Noni radiant eye.

[02:53] Katie Chandler: Noni okay.

[02:55] : Cora Noni Radiant Eye oil. And I love it. It's in this small bottle, but it actually lasts a really long time because you barely need any but you just kind of it's a roller ball. Yeah, it's a roller ball. And you put on your eyes. It feels so good. And I don't know, you know how, like, sometimes your eyes just the undereye gets dried out in the middle of the day, and then you want to go out to dinner, but you don't want to redo your eyes. You just kind of throw that on and maybe put some concealer on top of it.

[03:18] Katie Chandler: Yeah, that's so good. Does feel very good. I know exactly what you're talking about. You wear your makeup all day and then it gets a little dry and cracking. The only way to revive it is to start fresh. Yeah. This is a little sex.

[03:30] : It's nice, right? Hydrating. So it's a rollerball, and you could just do this, but it doesn't, like, come out.

[03:36] Katie Chandler: That great.

[03:37] : So I just kind of put on my finger.

[03:39] Katie Chandler: I love this.

[03:39] : It's a good little pick me up. Okay, what do you got?

[03:42] Katie Chandler: Nice.

[03:42] : What's next?

[03:43] Katie Chandler: All right, so my next one speaking of eyes, do you remember you were telling me all about how much you hate eye makeup removers because they're usually oily and it gets in your eyes and it drives you crazy?

[03:52] : Yeah. And it never comes off.

[03:53] Katie Chandler: So I found it's not necessarily made for that, but it is a makeup remover. It's not eyes in particular. It's the bioderma CBM h 20 mistler. Water micellar water. However you say it, it's great at getting rid of your makeup on your face and everything, but it's really nice at taking your eye makeup off. And it's not oily. Anytime I use it, I don't feel like I have oil left in my eyelashes or doesn't take off in the scar.

[04:22] : Good, because I have a Micular water that I use, and it's pretty good for eye makeup. But still, I feel like there's a.

[04:27] Katie Chandler: Little bit left over this one. It works. I mean, you have to do a couple of times it's not just going to work with one wipe, but I'm obsessed with it. So this is now I'm doing the whole double cleanse thing where I use the Mysore water, and then I wash my face. And when I want to take off my eye makeup, which I don't do it every night, but I should, I use that. And it's really good.

[04:46] : And you just put on a cotton pad.

[04:47] Katie Chandler: I just put on a cotton pad. It's great. It's like, not even $20, and it's a big bottle. The Bioderma brand is really nice.

[04:54] : Yeah, that's a nice brand.

[04:55] Katie Chandler: Yeah. Okay, what's next? I want to know what that is.

[04:58] : Okay, so this is the Kosis Glow IV vitamin infuser skin enhancer. And the color that I got is sheer medium tan. So I think I talked about the drunk elephant bronzy drops, like, a long time ago, before it trended on TikTok PS, but I think it was in one of our original product junkies, and I still have that bottle, but it's running low, so I got this, and it's a nice alternative for that. This one's a little bit more maybe a little bit more glowy. It's really nice, and it's a good alternative for the bronze drops, or you might even like it better. It's a little softer. It's a little glowier. You could use it all over your face without anything. You could mix it with moisturizer. You could use it as a highlighter. It has a lot of uses. It's really pretty.

[05:42] Katie Chandler: You know what I like about it? It also reminds me of what's? The CVS, the drugstore dupe of the junk elephant. Is it the L'Oreal glow glocion that we like? Lumi glocion. Yeah, that can be a little oily. And this isn't at all. This gets into the skin really nicely, and it dries, and then it gives you a really great shimmer, and you might not be able to see it on the camera. Yeah, but that's beautiful.

[06:08] : Yeah, it's really, like, almost like a skin sort of like a skin tint. It says on here, Glow all over or whatever. You feel it alone. Mix or layer with foundation, and it's infused with glutathione, vitamin D, and vitamin K. Nice.

[06:24] Katie Chandler: Yeah, this is nice. I'm getting this. Love it.

[06:27] : Yeah, so it's a really good one.

[06:28] Katie Chandler: I'm kind of obsessed with kosis.

[06:30] : I know. They have such good products.

[06:32] Katie Chandler: Love.

[06:33] : Okay, what do you have?

[06:34] Katie Chandler: All right, so this is my last one, elf Acne Fighting Putty Primer. It's a makeup primer, but it helps with your acne, which is fantastic, and it gives a really nice matte finish. And it has salicylic acid in it.

[06:49] : So if you smell starting your day.

[06:51] Katie Chandler: And maybe you've got a little bit of a breakout, you can put it on under your makeup, and it helps keep your makeup in place while also treating your acne.

[07:00] : That's great.

[07:00] Katie Chandler: And I did notice it kind of helped clear up any pimples that I had a little bit faster than maybe if I have makeup on my face.

[07:10] : All day, of course, affecting it.

[07:12] Katie Chandler: Right. And then the other thing that I like about it is, like, last night when we were all having dinner, I didn't have any makeup on, but I don't want to be shiny either, so I just kind of, like, put some around, and it dulled my face. But it was also, like a treatment because of the salicylic acid.

[07:24] : Yeah, it's so nice. I have the putty primer. The elf putty primer.

[07:28] Katie Chandler: Yeah.

[07:29] : It has a similar feel for that, and I love the way that that feels. But this is better because it has whatever it has to fight acne. So that's nice.

[07:36] Katie Chandler: Yeah, it's a salicylic acid, so yeah, it's great. Elf. Elf is always elf for the win. Right. They're kind of crushing it lately.

[07:42] : Yeah.

[07:43] Katie Chandler: What do you have next?

[07:45] : So next I have I love Westminutellier, so I got another stick. And so this one's called Baby Cheeks Blush Stick. And the color is pop it I have two other blushes from this brand, which I love, but they're not as poppy. Like, they're just kind of like a nice muted, like a rosy pinky blow, which are pretty. This is like a really pretty pop.

[08:11] Katie Chandler: Oh, that's fun.

[08:12] : Isn't that fun?

[08:13] Katie Chandler: Yeah.

[08:13] : So I thought this would be good for spring little color, nighttime. So when I put it on, it's really like a new color. I mean, it's natural, but it's just got a little bit more bang. So I love it.

[08:25] Katie Chandler: And it's a stick, which is great. Can I feel it? Yeah, I just want to feel and.

[08:30] : You could either put it directly on your face I see people put it directly on their face, or I see people using a brush. Get it on the brush and then put it on your face.

[08:38] Katie Chandler: Yeah. It's very pigmented, and it melts nicely into the skin.

[08:41] : Yeah, that's pretty. It's really pretty. So it gives a little bit more color than the other sticks that I have. And I also have I think I reviewed it before. Chuchette, I think is one of the colors I have. And then I also have it in the bronzer, like the contour stick, which I love.

[08:59] Katie Chandler: It also looks like it's so pigmented that if you just use a touch, you could do more of a natural vibe. And then if you want that poppy more fun, you just put on a little heavier. Yeah, it's pretty. Exactly.

[09:09] : And it's got the magnetized, which I always love. That's great.

[09:13] Katie Chandler: My next one is not so much a current, it's a review update. I want to loop you guys in on a product that I reviewed maybe two months ago. Scoro lash lash Lengthening Serum.

[09:27] : Yeah.

[09:28] Katie Chandler: My lashes have grown so much, it's ridiculous. They're not thicker.

[09:34] : They're longer.

[09:35] Katie Chandler: They're longer. I don't think I did it before and after last time because honestly, I felt like I knew they were working, but it might be hard to see to someone that doesn't know how short my lashes are. So it wasn't dramatic enough yet. So I'm going to post a before and after now because I've been on it for two or three months. Okay. And I for sure notice the difference. Without a doubt. I need a lot less mascara to get some length, and they're not falling out, too. My lashes used to just fall out and they're keeping them healthy. Interesting. Yeah.

[10:06] : And where'd you get it? Amazon.

[10:08] Katie Chandler: Amazon.

[10:08] : Okay. Scoro Lash. So good to know. I also coming up, have an eye episode. An eyelash episode that I want to do solely on eyelash and eyebrow products. And I have one that I'm going to review in that. So I'm going to save my eyelash review for that episode. But it's a different brand. I want to talk about that one as well.

[10:29] Katie Chandler: And I would like to review you did an eyebrow product that I think you've already reviewed. It the too faced, the one that Browler lifted.

[10:40] : Yeah.

[10:41] Katie Chandler: When I saw you at the end of your work day on Wednesday, it was like eight or 09:00 at night. They were perfectly in place. I'm buying that tomorrow. It's legit.

[10:51] : It's so good.

[10:52] Katie Chandler: Yeah.

[10:53] : I think it's the two faced either the two faced we'll put it in the show notes. It's either the too faced brow wax or brow lift or something like that.

[11:02] Katie Chandler: They had the laminated, like, did they notice up look?

[11:06] : Oh, my God.

[11:06] Katie Chandler: Yeah. And that was what time did you put your makeup on?

[11:09] : In the morning.

[11:10] Katie Chandler: That morning?

[11:10] : Yes. No, that really good. Okay, well, lastly, speaking of eyes, this is the last fun spring update. So I got this really pretty tart eyeshadow palette. It's called Toasted tartlet toasted. Amazonian Clay Palette. And these colors are gorgeous. Look at this. That's so pretty. Yeah, I'm going to show it on screen.

[11:33] Katie Chandler: Beautiful.

[11:34] : Aren't those nice? Really pretty. For spring, let me say they're pretty neutral, but they're like neutrally rose goldie browns. I mean, I think they're flattering on every type of eye color, I feel like, because these colors are just really and I have been testing a lot of eyeshadows because I find that many of them, at least for me, do not stay on, or they're not pigmented enough. And so these are pigmented and really nice. And I also have been using I don't have the brand with me. I'll talk about it next time. An eyeshadow primer. And the eyeshadow primer has actually helped to keep my eyeshadow on and to sort of neutralize that redness so the pigment stays better. But anyway, these are really nice.

[12:15] Katie Chandler: These are beautiful.

[12:16] : And for some reason smell it. It smells really good.

[12:18] Katie Chandler: It does smell good.

[12:19] : It smells like marshmallow or something. And then I was like, oh, it's called Toasted. Maybe it's supposed to, I have no idea. But it smells really good.

[12:27] Katie Chandler: You know what kind of the palette is like that really natural, smoky look? You can achieve that. You see it on, like, Chem K, a lot like it's like the natural browns and neutral browns. It's really beautiful.

[12:41] : That's my new favorite palette I've been using.

[12:43] Katie Chandler: Gorgeous.

[12:43] : Okay, so I think that is it for our quick round of April spring product junkies. We'll be back next month with more products that we're loving. It is.

[12:53] Katie Chandler: But before we go, I just want to really quickly talk about our guest, Erica Tempo, that we had last week. I saw her today. I got a lymphatic drainage massage from her. And how was it? It was phenomenal. She is so incredibly talented. I could feel her literally, like, squeezing the fluid, the inflammation, everything out of me. She took before and afters, which I don't really know if I want to post those on social. They're a little personal, but you can see I stood up and I felt like I was £5 thinner. I mean, you could see she creates definition. She literally creates the definition.

[13:28] : And I felt it before and afters, and you could see, like, you couldn't see your ribs, and then afterwards, you could see your ribs. Like, all that fluid just went away.

[13:35] Katie Chandler: It just went away. My waist got narrower and everything. So she's incredibly talented. If you're in the Bethesda area, you should definitely go see her. Or the Maryland area in general. I mean, she goes to New York for clients.

[13:46] : Yeah, New York clients come here to see her too.

[13:48] Katie Chandler: She goes to New York City Fashion Week to prepare the models for runway shows and everything. So she's incredible. We love her. We love Derek attempt. So, yeah, that was my update. We have somebody that wants to say hi.

[13:59] : Oh, yeah. Really quick special guest.

[14:01] Katie Chandler: She's a special guest. Madeline Chandler. My nine year old is in the house. Just give a quick hello, say hi.

[14:08] : What's your nirvana of the week?

[14:13] Katie Chandler: Probably just, like, getting here and being in DC. And also going to also going to my cousin's house and just, like, raining with my family. Yes, we love being together. Okay.

[14:30] Amy Sherman: All right, see you next time.

[14:32] : Bye.

[14:34] Amy Sherman: 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.

[14:49] : Tune in next week for a fresh.

[14:50] Amy Sherman: New episode of Nirvana Sisters. We'll continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

Episode 102 - Lymphatic Bliss: The Ultimate Detoxifying Massage With Erika Tempro & Mimi Ge (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 102.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here.

Amy: 0:06

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. I'm Amy Sherman.

Unknown: 0:18

And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation

Amy: 0:28

Welcome back to the show Nirvana sisters family. It's Amy and Katie and we are thrilled to be here with two amazing people. We're here with Erica tiempo who is a practitioner of holistic medicine who has been practicing massage since 2007. After a successful career career sorry, after a successful career working in both clinics and spa setting, she opened detox massage right here near me in North Bethesda, Maryland. And I've been to Erica as well as her associate and amazing practitioner Mimi, many times, highly recommends and I've been begging her to come on the show to talk all about lymphatic massage because I think it's so incredible. And I think a lot of people have been sort of hear the word but they don't exactly know what it means and how it can benefit them. I know I've been telling Katie next time she comes here she's got to see either Erica or Mimi, because it's so healing. So anyway, welcome to the show. Erica, we're so excited to have you here. For our listeners, Erica has a wealth of knowledge about the body through her experience and studies from her bachelor degree in physical therapy she obtained in Brazil, she does all types of different massages, but specializes in lymphatics. So welcome to the show, Erica. And welcome to the show. Mimi, we're so glad to have you both here chatting with us all about massage, one of our favorite topics.

Unknown: 1:50

Thank you for having me on. And maybe it's a pleasure to share some of our knowledge about emphatic drainage, we love what we do. And it's truly a pleasure for us to to share, right. And I mean when we do and having clients every day learning about this feeling better and healthier. But love seeing results. Yes.

Amy: 2:14

Amazing. So before we start, what we'd like to do in the beginning of the show, is to do a, what we call our nirvana of the week was just something that brought us joy this week could be something big or small, but something that put a little smile on your face. So I'm going to kick it to Katy to tell us what her Nirvana the week was.

Unknown: 2:35

Thank you, Amy. I'm sitting here racking my brain.

Amy: 2:39

I know it's been it's been a week. It has been

Unknown: 2:41

an absolute week. You know, there's I mean, don't get me wrong. There's been many Nirvana's this week. But sometimes they kind of just like slip into the back of their brain on a late Friday afternoon. I I think I actually just had a really nice little Nirvana and nice moment with the lovely woman who's now become like part of our family that helps me with our children. She's are up here and she's she's become part of the family. And I've noticed that she's kind of struggling this week, like the rest of us for some reason. That seems like a weird week, all around. And we just had a heart to heart and I just kind of wanted to tap into like a she Okay, and what's going on and you know, just sitting down with her and making sure that everything is fine. And that she's it. It's just like a bonding moment, I guess when you know, which is a little Nirvana, especially for someone that is new to your family. She has been in our family for just a few months now. And we have a great relationship. So I think I think that was a nice moment that I just had, it was literally in the last half an hour. It was again at the sweet it's nice.

Amy: 3:44

Yeah, to have a connection moment. Okay, so mine is kind of funny. So my little son, my little he's 13 My younger my youngest son, Jules key. My my husband and I had an event at my son's school the other night and we were out for like an hour we came home and we came home at like eight o'clock. It was early, but I walked into Jones's room and he was like, sound asleep. Like he just was so tired. I guess he had sports that day, whatever it was, he was tired. And he was asleep. And I was like, okay, whatever. He ended up sleeping all night long. So he probably slept, I don't know, like 13 or 15 hours or whatever it was, and he woke up in the morning. He's like, a slept so much. Last night. I feel amazing. And I'm like, See, I told you when you sleep good, you feel good. And then your whole day is better. And he just like clicked for him. Because you know, teenagers, they never sleep. They're doing their thing. And like, he'd like all of a sudden realize the value of having a good night's sleep, which I always tell my boys all the time. So it's just like a funny, cute moment between him and I. So that's one of my Nirvana's from this week. What about you Erica and Mimi, we'd love to hear what brought you joy this week?

Unknown: 4:53

Oh, wow. I have two daughters. One it's 15 and one, two and a half. So this week was truly special. You know, like it's a little thing, but my little one, she just decided to do her on potty training. Who's doing great is a Mama Mama and each Oh, where she was going to the toilet. So it's a truly special moment. Wow. Yeah. What about you Mimi, I was just telling Erica that yesterday actually last night, my mom was complaining about stomach ache. And I live with her and I take care of her she's a bit outwardly. And I use lymphatic drainage technique on her and help her with stomach

Amy: 5:43

healing. Okay, so let's get into it. Tell us about lymphatic drainage massage, what it is, why it's beneficial, all of all of that stuff,

Unknown: 5:53

of course. So lymphatic drainage massage is a type of modality by the work that helps to eliminate waste toxins of the body, and also stimulate the lymphatic system. So during the massage, we use the strokes we push the fluid towards the lymph nodes, lymph nodes, we have our movement, the body, but we have major groups located over the neck, armpit, barely groin area, and behind the knee. So our the strokes we send to those directions. So occasionally out that fluid, after the drainage crosses the filtration process, it goes back to the main circulation. So one of the functions of the lymph nodes is to drain, remove out the toxins whenever they leave for LIFO notes that tax let's say best selves, but she is Viers cancer cells, they work for us, fine for us, and helps with the immune system. So regulates the amount of fluid we have in our body and also works with the immunologic system. So each time we're under inflammation infection, the sciatic system is helping us to eliminate all those bed cells.

Amy: 7:26

And what Yeah, it does make sense. And I've done it and I know the benefits just because of the way that I feel afterwards. It's very different than like, what you would think about a regular massage. It's very light and relaxing, but it's just it's a different sensation. So why, like how often should someone get this done? Should they do it instead of regular massages? Should it be in combination with regular massage?

Unknown: 7:50

So let's say sometimes you do combine techniques. Let's say someone who likes to get deep tissue works, sometimes going straight to the muscle, which so deep is not the best thing to do. We like to drink first. And then we work more in deep layers of the muscles. So we drain and then by layers, we start to release that tension. So how often should it get on? I have clients we do have clients, they come here every week, sometimes every other week, but I would say at least once a month, why they come here on weekly basis. Sometimes they have chronic conditions such as lymphedema. Lymphedema, it's a condition that helps a lot after breast cancer. So as they remove the lymph nodes, like say the armpit it compromised the paddock system. So it creates buildup of fluids. So men really we find another route to send that fluid. Let's say one side is compromised what we do, we push the fluids towards the health side. So we do have clients that come as you know, once a week, and it all depends of your needs goals, target budget, I'm so fascinated by the lymphatic system, I have a chronic autoimmune disease and I have noticed that just recently, showers always make me feel better. And I know it sounds kind of silly, but I think it has something to do with my limp because I'll be going about my day and I'm kind of achy and my body feels very fatigued. And then I do my dry brushing and I get in the shower and I can be like a completely different person afterwards. I mean, it can really like turn my day, right side up. So it's just kind of amazing to me is that is that just the body holding inflammation in my lymph system is maybe not flushing it out to the best of its abilities. Without a little nudge, it does sound like that. Yes. So let's say the lymphatic system works properly. As we move, the more we move, the more you'll emphatic system will work properly. So let's say, shower, no, during this show do yourself, if I finish, you just thought certain areas of your body's going to release that tension. As we release that tension, you get more blood flow, more likely, you're going to eliminate some of the inflammation, and you get more blood flow more oxygen in your tissue gets healthier, better. So there are like I said, we do have those all over the body. But if you work in those major groups, you know that we mentioned here, let's say over your neck, behind your ears, okay, on your armpit. And sometimes we do that during the shower, like you mentioned. So you're not thinking about you doing that. So naturally, you're stimulating those lymph nodes. Maybe that's why you feel way better afterwards. Yeah.

Amy: 11:16

What about the dry brush? Katie was mentioning, she uses that. And I've used that before. Is that the same idea? Like how does that help? Because I know it always kind of feels like a bit energizing. But what does that specifically do?

Unknown: 11:28

Oh, my gosh, it's great is going to stimulate the lymphatic system, it's going to be very superficial. Okay, we highly recommend you to do yourself. Lymphatic Drainage torching those areas prior there, Dr. prosze. So first, you know, because the river runs to the ocean, imagine how the fluid of your body going upwards going towards your heart. So the final destination of all this fluid comes to above your collarbone. So we suggest everybody to start from here. So as you as you clear, your chest, those areas is going to be way easier to receive everything. So we start right here doing yourself lymphatic drainage above your wallet, Vaughn can below and then you go behind your ears, it doesn't matter if you go clockwise or counterclockwise. As long as you move in those areas, that's what we want is like a very like stretch. So and then you go to your armpit and just move in there, get close to the breast, just show both sides, open up your chest, you feel working for long hours in front of your test, make sure you open up and you stretch your chest, one of the really good technique is that there's a muscle right here, if you just kind of tuck your finger in and kind of grab on it and just move it around. That's a really good tight, very, very effect and loosen up the muscle and the fascia. And that really helps with the drainage. You do that

Amy: 13:17

first you do those, like that's the sorry, that series first and then you would dry brush because that kind of opens you up you're saying

Unknown: 13:26

absolutely. And also besides the dry brush, you can use a washer, a body washes, so this way you can it does help to bring the fluid towards those areas. Let's say you and your leg, you bring everything to the wind. You're going to work on your arm, you bring every change everything to armpit, so but it's the first just open up channels. I have a valid question. Excuse me, it's like this big and it's wooded and it has all of these interesting shapes. And I've used it a few times. I'm more I favor the dry brushing. I don't know why I think it just feels good. And it's fast and it's easy. But and also I did see that like tapping those certain spots is helpful as well like the collarbone, the armpits, behind the knees and the ankles that I saw before I started driving. Yes, you can use your fingers. You can use even any type of brush, you can use it face guasha out those things you can use to stimulate those areas. Okay, as long as we don't put too much pressure. Okay, so that's, that's, that's an important piece. So you do it gently and it does speed matter fast or slow. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter as long as you apply a lot of pressure. Don't hurt yourself. Okay, and it doesn't matter if you go to the lecture the mic just hanging for a few minutes if you feel a little bit tender. Just hanging there in a All children minutes it goes away.

Amy: 15:02

Okay, interesting. And so Mimi, you were just mentioning about helping your mom who had a stomach ache. And I know that I've read or heard that lymphatic drainage also helps a lot with digestion and bloating. And I just know from being in there, every time I come in, I'm bloated and I leave and I'm not bloated. So can you talk about the like, how it helps and what you can expect from a digestion standpoint,

Unknown: 15:25

stomach area gets really tight, because what do we do we sit a lot. And so there is a stagnation. That's why, you know, a lot of people experience slow digestion bloating. So by applying pressure to certain areas, you loosen up the tension, move with a colon to its shape. So you're you're moving toxins, you're you're improving the circulation of blood flow more blood flow more, and if there's more blood flow, the person will move faster. Yeah, that makes sense. I need to try to do what's more in my stomach, because I feel like I'm always bloated.

Amy: 16:07

Yeah, no, it would be so good for you, Katie.

Unknown: 16:12

What is the difference between modeling massage and lymphatic massage, I like to start with drainage. We always start with the drainage, we eliminate the water retention, the toxins or the waste. And after that ingestion becomes more soft. If the tissue not it's easier to mold. So I usually combine a few modalities in order to control someone's body. So the different types of strokes but we always start with the drainage, that's the first thing gets the priority. getting healthier first and being let's say, beautiful, skinnier. The main, the main reason the main function of lymphatic drainage is to be healthier. Yeah, so you can actually you use modeling to kind of like slim down, I guess. And does it help us cellulite? Yes, you can lose after three to four inches in one session, it then can serve the person how much water retention have a lot of people they love to get it down for photo shoot before red carpet. Okay, later, you're not feeling the best. So it's, it's a quick fix. So we highly recommend people to hydrate have lots of water before and afterwards. And in order to maintain the results. Reduce the amount of South Korean processed food, sugar, sugar, and you know, put in makes everybody more inflamed, more bloated. So those are things it's a no, no, if you want to keep up with your results. Yes. And more female have reaction towards wheat than male. That's another thing that I noticed. I think it's really interesting. Yeah, it's, it's interesting that you say that because I was literally just thinking in the last couple of days that I'm going to start eating more wheat again. I've been off of gluten for so long, because and I'm just like, oh, maybe I can introduce it back. But probably not the best idea. You know, we see the reaction disease gluten intolerant, but the same client goes to Europe, and they can eat bread. They can stuff up with their and have no problem. So the way that GMO in this country really? It really mess with our system. Yeah, I have clients, they they cannot have yogurt here. They travel to Italy, they eat it there they are fine. So there is something going on here the way they process the food.

Amy: 19:03

It's so true. Katie, and I talk about that all the time. Because yeah, when you're in Italy, and you have pasta and wine and bread, you feel fine. And you're not bloated. I mean, it's unbelievable. And then here it's like yeah, all of our food is process. It's a problem. Well, this is so interesting. I mean, we could go on and on. But let's get to our rap session. Just to give you guys some fun questions on this. This Friday night. Prior to cocktails, Katie's already drinking her Rosae so let's do it. What is your favorite wellness or beauty hack besides lymphatic drainage, the sash

Unknown: 19:39

I always carry my bag, a little bit of almond oil and the little guasha for my face and a few essentially, I love peppermint and lavender. So I always like to have a few drops in my almond oil. into myself, massage relieves the tension of my shoulders, my neck, and my scalp is something that I have all the time with me.

Amy: 20:09

That sounds nice. Good little pick me,

Unknown: 20:12

me, me. Since I'm a much more physical person, I like to stretch. I feel like ah, after I stretch, I feel better, like the helps with my fluid retention, you know, helps me feel better more than ever. So I kind of, I'm gonna tell me a secret. I went to the massages who with me a long time ago, and that she loves baking soda and vinegar she uses for a lot of things, right? Maybe I do I do. I use those cleaning. You know, they the very natural clean. If you put them together, they bubble up and then makes the scrubbing much easier. And I wash my hair with baking soda. And I condition my hair with apple cider vinegar. Oh, wow. To balance it to Yeah. So so it works. I have quite in the hands, you know, feels clean, soft. It's great. Wow, I feel cool, because it has a chemical that pulls more oil out of your scalp. I don't know if you heard it that. But that's the gimmick. That's the thing that they do. So you buy more shampoo. Shampoo all the time. Oh, wow. Yeah. But you dilute it, you don't use the template, of course, you put in the container. And then you know, you add water, stir it up, and then you pour. So it's very, very simple. For me, probably breathing exercises. If I if I try to do breathing exercises, I feel better, more more nirvana. Well, for me really long line. I create a space here that I really enjoyed in here and every day when I have clients coming back to see me and they talk about how they failed after the treatment is for me. It's a moment of joy. Well, that's wonderful. I'm sure you're helping so many people and let please let our listeners know where they can find you and come to see you both for lymphatic drainage massage, modeling, yeah, modeling massage, and all

Amy: 22:31

of it. Yeah, give us your website, your Instagram all the things

Unknown: 22:35

okay do not with as the Marilyn, we have natural far from Washington, just see, our website is www detox massage that CEO, you can easily find us on Instagram, which is detox massage. And the easiest way to call and talk as is through email. You go to the website and just send us an email. And it's truly you know, we really feel thankful blessed to be here and assist all this beautiful patients we have oh, we forgot to mention about the postdoc treatments that we offer. Oh, it's a big thing that we do here right? The full stop you Yes, yeah. So let's say someone gets liposuction or Mommy made overweight some Money Makeover it's a surgery that you know take care of the breast and the belly. So when they go back home they're not feeling the best in a good way to speed the recovery process is getting euphotic Trent edge immediately. When they get here we are able to assist during this process reducing the pain bruises swollen it's a it's a 90 day process the just leave walking way much better.

Amy: 24:03

So thank you so much Erica and Mimi for joining us today and teaching us all about lymphatic we got a little bit of a one on one and I think our listeners are really going to enjoy it and probably, you know check you out on Instagram and read all about you and lymphatic drainage and your content and then, you know go get a massage, get a lymphatic massage and try something new. So thank you so much for joining us. We're really happy to have had you on the show. We appreciate your time.

Unknown: 24:28

Thank you so much, Amy. Thank you Amy.

Amy: 24:32

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 will continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to buy

Episode 101 - From Pain To Zen: The Art Of Acupuncture With Dr. Jenelle Kim (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 101.

Amy: 0:06

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. I'm Amy Sherman.

Unknown: 0:18

And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation Welcome back to the show Nirvana sisters family. Today we are welcoming back the fabulous Dr. Jenelle. Kim. Dr. Kim. She was with us sometime last year, episode number 62. She came in and we chatted all about traditional Chinese medicine and her book my Jung Sung, the Korean art of living meditation, which I have heard is doing very well and we'll get into all of that. But just to give you a little insight. Dr. Janelle Kim is a prolifically cited wellness expert that has been featured in Forbes allure, meditation magazine time GMA and more. She is devoted to integrating the philosophy, ancient medical wisdom and expertise of East Asia, with the advancements of modern life and medicine of the West to touch and positively affect the lives of others. Dr. Kim is a doctor of acupuncture, which is what we are going to get into today. She's nationally board certified or biology and our biology, oriental medicine and acupuncture. Dr. Kim completed her extensive training in East Asia and are some of the most respected doctors in the field of oriental medicine, and is the custodian of her lineage proprietary by bung formulas. So much could go on and on and on with your accolades and your accomplishments and everything. But we are so excited we our last conversation, we talked all about traditional Chinese medicine and, and your book and everything. And we were just really excited to get into acupuncture with you. So welcome back. And that's what we're going to do today. Thank

Dr. Janelle Kim: 1:58

you so much for having me back. I also really enjoyed my time last time, and I know we ran out of time. So it's awesome to have a chance to extend our conversation. So thank you for that.

Amy: 2:08

Good to see you. We've seen your quoted recently, Katie found the article, I think it was in Forbes and the New York Times and I think it was about your book. So we'd love to hear how the book is and what you're seeing.

Dr. Janelle Kim: 2:20

Yes. So grateful. It's been a little over a year now it launched January 11 2020 2am. I getting all these numbers straight. And that is I believe soon after is when I spoke to you both and it has it's done very well it is in 10 different countries and different languages right now, which is really, really special. That really meant a lot to me to know that so many people around the world are resonating with these principles don't pass down my lineage for so very long principles of the Dow and mindfulness for all of those who may not be familiar. And last week, yes, it was number one on Amazon, for mental health and spirituality. So it just means so much. One of my greatest wish, in short, is that these principles can be applied right away. You know, it is about I call it living meditation, as we talked about last time, so I don't think we have to get so far into it unless we wish. But you know, we hear so much about meditation now, which is amazing. 20 years ago, if you talk about meditation, people would look at you, you know, kind of blank stare. And now it's the best thing and I'm so grateful for that. But these principles, the medicine, the movement, I call them, the three pillars are things that have been passed down by our ancient sages masters from these ancient practices, and they all hold a similar principle. So whether it's from India or Korea, you know, the it's the cultures and the people who have been in existence for so very long, and the ways with which we can incorporate tools that can help us everyday no matter what's going on. And I call them the three M's. So acupuncture fits in that as well, or Balaji. It's the medicine pillar, movement. And meditation, which is a living meditation. Meditation is every moment of your day. It's not just when you sit down to meditate or, you know, do certain practices, it extends truly that kind of thinking it's a training. I've started to call it actually a training, not just we train our bodies, I moved on to start to really embrace that we of course, train our minds. But furthermore, I believe, very strongly, we also train our spirit, not that we are able to train our spirit, something I've been thinking about a lot because it feels that was very active and dynamic. And that is what living meditation mean, Jung Sung, the book and the principles are all about as we have to constantly it's a constant. And if anyone thinks it's not, you know, I have news for you, whether you like it or not it we have to constantly be a part of that. And so when I say train your spirit, your spirit is there, you know, and that can be a whole other conversation. But we have to train ourselves to connect to that, you know, that's when we start to feel disconnected from ourselves, Mind Body Spirit, disconnected from each other, disconnected from the universe, nature around us. So that's kind of why I believe it has started to spread These principles in such a way I know how much they helped my life and what I've seen my entire life. And yes, I'm really grateful in the last year that people are finding it helpful. The best thing I hear is when people come to me and say Dr. Kim, Janelle, that just made sense. It made sense. And it's helping. That makes me happy.

Unknown: 5:17

That's amazing. I'm so happy for you with all this success. And I saw that you're doing a lot of retreats and you're and you're teaching us and you just did something with the Diane Von Furstenberg with her Was it her daughter that

Dr. Janelle Kim: 5:30

granddaughters? So I mean, it's so amazing. She is such an icon, Diane Von Furstenberg, someone I've always looked up to just such an inspiring woman and really cares. And she started this platform, if you will, this community called in charge, and it's really neat. So you'll have to check it out. And it was the very first wellness day. And we opened with young son moving meditation, which is one of the three pillars that movement, but it incorporates the principles, the philosophy and the movements based in Chi Gong, right. And so similar to the understanding of acupuncture, Qi, Gong, martial arts, even yoga, they may speak of it a little bit differently. It all, how can I say it all, as a way to make flow through your meridian? Right? Your body to make everything function properly. And that's the ultimate secret to everything, right? Youth health, life. And so those movements such a neat thing, actually, I just was in New York, and was part of the international aesthetic spa and cosmetic conference, I ECSC. It's one that I went through 20 years ago, when I first started in the beauty business, right? For those of you who do not know, I formulate products, you know, based on the herbal medicine that's been passed down. But it was so excited, citing because it was one of the first places I ever spoke 20 years ago on formulation and medicine. And this time when I was in New York, it was just last week, I believe, maybe two weeks ago, I can't even keep track, I presented the movement as part of beauty and wellness. So it's just such an amazing thing to see, that are part of the world, the Western culture and society are really starting to embrace this. And I know it's going to make a huge difference in people's lives at a time where I think we all agree it's very needed. So absolutely.

Amy: 7:08

Yeah, absolutely. And I also really liked how you said in the beginning, that it is something you need to train, and it's not something you just do one time in your day. It's like an intentional practice. And I think it's hard to do. And I think it's good to remember that you're like constantly training muscle. To think in that more, I guess, intentional way. With all that being said, I know last time we touched very, very briefly on your acupuncture background. And we want to hear all about that, because we haven't done a show yet really to break down acupuncture and what it is how it's helpful. And it's you know, I've done it personally before and I think it's really helped me but I think for our audience, they'd love to understand more about acupuncture just generally speaking from like a really basic,

Dr. Janelle Kim: 7:56

absolutely. Well, I love that, that that you say the basic standpoint, because it can get very complex. And that's all good. And for certain of us that's very important to know our whole lives. We study this and you could spend lifetimes, right? But to me, those basic ways of understanding are the principles. That word I probably think about the most in my entire life and that but that's so important, because that's the way to understand our bodies. So yes, let's talk about acupuncture, how it works. But I encourage everyone while hearing this, well, however, I'm going to explain it right now. Whatever comes naturally and feels like it's resonating, but to also apply that in knowing our bodies every single moment because that it's the same thing, right? So one of the ways that my teachers taught me that I thought was a beautiful way to explain because you can kind of break it down and Eastern medicine. There's even when you get like I am nationally board certified in oriental medicine, it's funny you can you can do just acupuncture, you can do just herbal medicine, then you can do Oriental medicine, I think it's still this way and spend some time but when I studied and got my license however many years ago now that's the way it is. And so it's important to kind of understand that because I come from a lineage of apologists, and there is something in Eastern medicine, I say Eastern or Oriental medicine, it's all kind of interchangeable. It's all rooted in Chinese medicine. It came from China, but then even herbal medicine and acupuncture went to Korea, for example, Japan, and those practitioners, those ancient doctors, many of them very well known, such as Hojun in the Korean, you know, medical history of Eastern medicine, they took herbal medicine and advanced it, they took acupuncture and for example, Korean medicine is known for hand acupuncture, which is something I practice when I practice acupuncture, right? Japanese have a different kind of acupuncture, but it all is rooted from China. Okay, so I think that's important for some people to know what is the difference, but it all stems from the same principles. So when you go to East Asia, there's kind of this may be spoken about maybe not that there's acupuncture and herbal or biology, right. So you have the herbalists and you have the acupuncturist, in our society. I have noticed it's very it's more mixed, you still see that A lot of acupuncturists practice acupuncture and have some herbs and the herb ologists. It's seen in our society as well. But I like to kind of look at it that way, because both are very important, right? And then the way to understand acupuncture, in comparison to or in synergy with herbal medicine, is that herbal medicine is like the gas if you're a car, it's the gas, right? You need herbs, you need supplements, including food, to nourish ourselves to supplement we have to have qi and blood, right? It all comes down to this. Everything comes down to I'm pretty certain we talked about it last time, whether it's the medicine, the movement, the philosophy, everything in our life comes down to the yin and yang. And we could have a whole week of sessions, podcasts on that. But to break it down, First comes the Dow, the universe, right then is yin and yang, night and day. Yin and Yang is shown throughout every aspect of our life. That is the training, if you will, if you think about it this way as well, constantly balancing we use that word all the time. But what does that mean? So I'm gonna go into how that how that relates to acupuncture. But to start kind of from square one, there's even young, like I said, night and day, feminine, masculine, loud and soft. So you see young is also chi, right? So Young is movement, it's more, it's bright, it's light, it's loud, where Yin is your blood, your body fluids, for example, it is feminine energy, it is more quiet, you know, it's more complex. That's the truth in many ways. And so just as we see that in the nature around us, we start to see that in our own bodies. And what I love the most about Eastern medicine and acupuncture and herbal medicine, is that when you when I first started learning, one of the things I loved so much, that was a very special teacher, Alex to bear, he was very well known in the eastern medical community. He was amazing. And I remember him very much saying what resonated with my teacher growing up my father, that 1000s of years ago, they didn't have books. They couldn't study that way, how these ancient doctors, neurobiologist and practitioners understood the human body as they looked outside, you know, to some extent, right. So I'm very much simplifying this, but they saw the way that the trees grew the way the rivers would have flow. And they started to think I wonder if our bodies work in the same manner as what I'm seeing around me. And that's exactly the best way to think of it. And it's my favorite way to think about it. So that is what I like to share. So if we think of yin and yang, and our bodies are made of all of our internal organ systems, our muscles, our joints, you know, circulatory system, nervous hormonal, all of the systems within our body, as I just said, the Yin aspect of the yin and yang duality are the body fluids, the blood, especially for women, we're blood beings. And in general, men are more cheap. It's by nature, you know. And so it is very important to have enough right to supplement ourselves, and then flow properly throughout these meridian systems. And acupuncture uses meridian systems in our body to manipulate the flow of Qi, to make sure that our organ systems are fed to make sure that our muscle joints are working properly. And so if you start to picture to some extent, we all can picture the circulatory system, we have an idea that our veins or arteries run throughout our body in specific ways. Well, the same thing happens with meridians, you can sometimes hear them as channels, right? The acupressure acupuncture channels or meridian system, there's 12, primary eight extraordinary, I'm telling you a little bit more than maybe some may want to know. But that's important to know, I'll tell you why in a second. So you have 12 meridians that run through your body that connect to all of your organ systems. And your organ systems are also once again, going back to that yin and yang separated into yin and yang categories, there's ones that kind of very simply put, create chi, and there's ones that break them down. For example, in the the your the way your digestion, your middle functions, which in my humble opinion, and many in western Eastern medicine, your digestion is everything your gut is everything. You have your stomach and your spleen and Eastern medicine and they work together. Same in western, but an Eastern literally the spleen is yen and the stomach is young. And the stomach is in charge of, for example, breaking things down. Okay, that's the young, the actual load, the active, and the spleen is Yin. And that is in charge of taking all of the good chi, all of the good energy from the things you eat the air you breathe. So that's a simple way to maybe visualize how this works. So then you have meridian systems that connect, you have a meridian system for your spleen, you have a meridian system for your stomach, your liver, your lungs, and they all connect. So maybe some of you have even seen or it might be interesting, you don't have to study it or anything but one day just Google, you know, meridian system and see how how it runs throughout your body. And so it becomes that much more of a clearer understanding, I hope of how acupuncture and herbs and movement and the way you eat and the way you think start to affect the systems of your body. So the meridians run from your fingers all throughout your body, your head, your toes, I brought up the extraordinary channels. We don't have to go into all of them. But there's two that are so important, right and it's important because we can be aware of this in our daily life, one of them the Ren, the Yin vessel, the Yin channel runs down from the top of our head all the way down in the front, right? Okay, and do goes down in the back. And so one is the yen channel one is the Yang Channel. And on those channels, they're so special. There's literally points that connect to every one of the organ systems, right. And so you can see this a bit in other meridian systems, but it's very important, particularly in these channels, you start to even see chakras, right? For those of us who understand more of either Vedic or yoga, and how there's different chakra as well, that also starts to make that much more sense when you start to understand certain channels of energy of chi that run throughout your body. So I should have mentioned, chi is a huge concept that again, 20 years ago, I brought this up, people would be like, okay, Janelle, let's not get weird here. And now, everybody wants to talk about chi, thank goodness, because it's a part of our life. She is vital energy. If I did not have chi, I wouldn't be able to sit here and talk to you right now. I'd be like a blob just sitting on this chair. Well, that's one way of looking at it's the action, right? And so going back, so we have these meridians systems. And if we think of it as river systems, just like we see a nature that run throughout our body, we will have to make sure that there's constantly flow. So what do you need to have that proper flow so that everything is fed and nourished properly, a you have to have chi, you have to have blood, so a supplement health, vitality, and that comes once again, from thinking properly from eating properly from taking the proper supplements, herbal medicine, proper formulas that I talked about a lot, not just anything, because you heard it on tick tock, many great things that come from that, but you know, know the difference or educate ourselves. And so we have these meridian systems, we have to have enough gas in our car. That's why I was going back to so to kind of switch back to that for a second. My teacher once taught me that acupuncture and herbal medicine, herbs are like the gas in your car. And acupuncture is like the starting system, right. So it's like it starts your cart pushes things through, it helps to activate different acupoints. So now if you picture you have meridians in your body, you can imagine that by putting a needle or even pressure right or even movement, or now you know something that's not so much that I'm as familiar and expertise with is Reiki or different energy healings, many people are becoming more aware of you can stimulate going back to acupuncture, acupressure, certain points along these meridians systems, where, you know, this point is known for headaches. And so people will come with horrible headaches. And they will press large intestine for and you can feel it, it's kind of right between your thumb and your point your finger and right in between that web. And oftentimes when especially when you start to feel points, and she'll feel a little hole sometimes where you feel something catch. And if you start to feel even if you take that hole, Pat and start to just rub it, it's a little sore, right? Usually for most of us, well that directly that's a huge point. It's like a door, if you will both sides and on your particular when you start to touch it and people have horrible headaches, they it's like magic, like all of a sudden, oh my gosh, my headache is gone. Or when you have trouble breathing, one of my favorite points is right on the chest, right. So if you take two fingers right on your sternum, kind of right in the center, not two fingers, let's use all of them, makes you make sure to hit the point. And you press there and then kind of with a downward motion, because now we're thinking of chi. So for example, when we get heavy in the chest and can't breathe or anxious, and you start to feel that energy build, you know, you can catch yourself before you get there by feeling chi. That's why I love to talk about these things, you have to feel it yourself first. So even in those moments, you breathe in through your nose out through your mouth, and you press kind of downward on your sternum, that can also be a really sore point. But there is no one I have met who does not like that point being touched and that that basically supports and directly connects to your heart. They call your pericardium and Eastern medicine, your upper, your upper Zhao, and so it helps to direct chi. So these are the ways in which you can see that different points along these meridians systems start to affect the flow, right. So again, if we're river system, and the ultimate goal is to now have qi and blood flow through these systems properly through our circulatory system as blood chi through the meridian system, when we start to get sick from aging, normal process, when we get hurt, right from from a virus bacteria or we fall and we hurt something what happens is, if you picture these river systems, literally you've just you've just damaged that meridian system, right damage might be a strong word, but you've affected and so what can happen is whether it like I said, whether it's just normal process of aging, whether you have a stomach condition, whatever that looks like, here's your meridian, and now all of a sudden, over time, the sticks from the river, the dirt, the sediment, maybe some trash that has gotten into the river system starts to build up and you start to have blockages and so when things can't flow, it becomes stagnant. Stagnant is the number one bad thing in our life. In very simple terms, stagnation in our thinking stagnate You know, in our life, you have to have that flow. And so what happens is when you start to have blockages anywhere throughout your body, it's going to start to affect you. And you may not feel it right away, right, that's when someone has sprains their ankle, and they work through it. And they don't do acupuncture, they don't use certain formulas to help the body heal, for example, certain movements, and they let it be, and they believe that it is that much better. And 10 years later, now, for some odd reason, not so odd when you understand that this way, now their ankle, either having really bad arthritis, or you know, it's giving out a lot or they're losing strength. Well, it's because that area was never healed. It's that simple, right. So everything has to just constantly have that flow. So in conclusion, one of the best ways that we can do so is through herbal medicine to to fill ourselves up to nourish ourselves, but the herbs also have so many functions, of nourishing of breaking things down of detoxifying all those things. And acupuncture can do the same through different acupressure points through different systems of acupuncture study, and understanding. A practitioner can use needles on any one of these points in the way that they know that they're going to affect your body in a positive way. And it starts to open things up. And in the end, when people always ask, you know, Dr. Kim, what is the secret to youth to beauty to health to wellness, I always say it comes down to two main things, which is function and flow, everything has to function properly. And when we feed it properly, with all the things I just mentioned, so we're nourished as beings, that makes everything function properly, our body is miraculous. And if we give it what it needs, it knows what to do most of the time, right. And then you have to have flow, so everything's functioning, and everything's flowing, then you do not have sagging skin, you have a lot less wrinkles on your face, because you're nourished, you know, you don't have as much pain throughout your body. And that's, that's the way of understanding it very simply put. So

Amy: 21:55

it's so interesting, is so cool. I never thought about the meridians, and like the flow piece in that way. So that's a really good visual for for people to understand it. And when you were talking about the blockages, is that also related, you know, you hear so much about inflammation. So like, does that lead to inflammation, when you have blockages, labs,

Dr. Janelle Kim: 22:17

your inflammation and one way of understanding is just your body's way of telling your brain I have a problem, like Come quick. If you look at it that way. That's right formation is right. And so it's your it's certainly an imbalance in your body that's looking for help. So

Unknown: 22:32

I love that you gave us a few small acupressure points or things that someone can do for themselves at home. I mean, I understand the importance of, you know, if you if there's a problem, you should really seek the help of an acupuncturist and everything. But something as simple as being able to relieve a headache with that is is amazing. And it would benefit someone to, to maybe if they're if they're struggling with headaches or something like that, just to maybe Google the meridian system and kind of understand where these acupressure points are just as maybe if they wanted to get their toes wet, and then and then dive deeper and go into acupuncture. So it we just covered that it can affect every system in the body, and can then be beneficial for any and every condition. Acupuncture. Sure, if

Dr. Janelle Kim: 23:22

you look at it, that acupuncture can balance imbalances. Absolutely, it can. Absolutely it can, you know, obviously there's more extreme conditions. But also part of the goal with really understanding our body in this way is to hopefully be able to catch before something bigger happens, you know, a lot of times these things, sometimes it happens and it's just, you know, it's just part of what you have to walk through in this life for a very simple way of putting it. But there are so many times where if you looked a little bit deeper, or you were a little bit more aware of your body, you could have caught something a bit sooner. And we do hear that very often on a very positive note, I felt like something was wrong. I went to this expert, they didn't see it, but I knew it how many times we hear the story. So I kept going, that's an awareness that's knowing your own body. And there's very empowering, you know, and very important to be aware.

Unknown: 24:09

Yeah, and also, you know, something to really consider if you are struggling with something and going through a journey and seeing Western doctors and you're in the process of trying to find a diagnosis or whatever it may be or you just have this concern, it can be a really great time to just go ahead and like you said, try to get ahead of it and start start with acupuncture. And also it's it works equally as well for things like anxiety and depression and

Dr. Janelle Kim: 24:34

everything very much. So herbs and acupuncture can make a huge difference in this. Especially after we all just kind of visualize this together of how everything connects in that way. You know, we because we are again we say these things a lot and one of my favorite things living meditation is to stop and think about what we're saying. Sometimes we all we often say Mind, Body Spirit, we're all aware of what that is right? But when you really think about mind, body spirit, it's that connect it like we are those three things. And so when mentally, spiritually, we feel an imbalance, especially when it's things that are a little bit harder to understand sometimes like anxiety, like panic, right, like depression, you know, I'm saying a lot of conditions right now. But we get the understanding, right? When we feel off that way, we have to remember that we can also affect those things physically, particularly with movement. That's one of the reasons why, you know, quite frankly, I didn't think I'd start teaching movement, this soon, I thought, okay, medicine, then the book will come out and later down the road. But guess what, it's catching on very quickly. And I know that the reason is that even through proper movements, particularly stemming from the internal art of yoga, of Qigong, which is what I very much resonate with, and start to teach. It also, as I said, before, starts to work with your meridian systems. So when you're feeling just like I said, You are aware enough to feel oh, wait a second, I'm starting to feel anxious. There are very quick ways sometimes the quickest is through movement, you know, through movement and breath, I really, really mean that, especially with, with feelings of anxiety, and feelings of grief, or fear, or any of the our emotions that can kind of overwhelm us to be honest, we really do have control over whether we feel like we do at times or not, we can learn to have tools to help us with those things. You know, so it's very empowering. Um, oh, go ahead.

Amy: 26:22

So I have a question that people may be wondering. So when I first went to the acupuncturist they looked at, or actually he did this, like every time I came in, yes, looked at my tongue. So what is that? What is your tongue tell you? Like? Why is that so it seems like that's a standard practice

Dr. Janelle Kim: 26:39

that a lot of the main thing is when you walk in to talk to an acupuncturist, or a bolus for that matter that they should look at, that they usually will look at as your tongue and your pulse. Right. So that's kind of a known thing. And Eastern medicine. So your tongue and your pulse, which shows all the different kind of levels of every organ system in your body, and there's different, so many pulses, to understand what's happening, but your tongue reflects what's happening internally, inside, right. And so different different, like, for example, this is one that people might find interesting, you go, and you look at your tongue, and you you can kind of know certain things yourself as well. So a lot of us will have if you if you look in the mirror, a red tip on the edge of our tongue, and that represents now understand this is different than Western medicine. But in Eastern medicine, we call it Hearthfire. Hearthfire, stems a lot from right, that or can lead to rather is the root of anxiety, you know, feeling of panic, feeling overwhelmed. And that is an imbalance, which, particularly in our society, I have a feeling a lot of us may have. And so, yes, you're, you can map out the organ systems on your tongue. That's what I'm trying to say you there's, there's a map, if you will, a system to feeling the pulse and the different organs. So it basically is a way for the practitioner, the doctor to see and not everyone, you know, everyone's at different places in their in their practice and their experience in treating patients. And that's very, very important. But basically, you can see the internal condition through the tongue and through the pulse. And quite frankly, one of my favorite ways that I was taught since I was I don't know, as far back as I can remember, and just part of natural life. But, you know, without I say, it's funny, I don't notice either in some way, but when you walk in front of me, you also look at everything in that person, their eyes, how that looks, their skin tone, and I'm not talking Oh, you look really, you don't you look, you look really tired note, it's deeper than that you can tell from someone's even their face, what's going on inside. And so it's kind of this hole. So I say if you stand in front of me, I just naturally, accidentally will always close you. And so it's not a conscious thing. But if you ask me, I'm like, Oh, yes, I already know. And it's, it's a really important practice, actually, when you do start to just pay attention. That's the thing that's so beautiful as a practitioner is our responsibility to know that I take that very seriously. But even as human beings, you know, take the time to sometimes sit, quiet yourself, calm yourself and, and really start to study in some way. Not necessarily from a peer trying to figure someone out, but really from just their presence, their feeling, you know, the eyes, show the soul and your spirit. And so a lot of times you'll see when someone you know is not having the best day or is not in a great spot. Something is amiss. That's a very interesting

Amy: 29:26

yeah, I think we noticed that because I mean, I think we observe ourselves in that way. But I think it's almost easier to observe other helplessly like if your kid Yeah, feeling ill, right because they look a little pale or they're like just you could just tell love

Dr. Janelle Kim: 29:40

that actually, yes, particularly in our kids. And and let that be a reminder of how intuitive and how much we really do know these things. You know, we can't guess there's also let me be very clear, because I think there's a lot happening in the world right now where a lot of people are sharing things that although I'm very happy, didn't know we were I was going to go here with all of us today, but let's just do it. I'm very happy that people are sharing more in this world is opening, but also let it be known, there might be a lot of information out there that is not correct and not proper. And that does exist, you know. So I'm a huge supporter of people, it's important to know where it comes from. Right? So the acupuncturist, where did they go to school? How long have they been studying, just because they haven't been there forever does not mean that they're not have a certain gift or care or are very much experts in who they are. But there's something that comes with time and experience or who is your teacher and Eastern medicine, philosophy, martial arts, yoga, any of the ancient practices, people want to know who your teacher is. And that's something that in Western society, I have a feeling we're going to start to understand a little bit more, it's going to be important, and a time where everyone is an expert, it feels our code, right? I don't mean that respectfully, but we're talking now we're working with other people use their lives, like you don't mess around with that. Not that anyone even means to, but it's very important to know who you're going to what products you're buying, who formulated them, why did they what did they know? Even your skincare? You know? So I'd say that that is a huge thing that I think is important for people to be aware of.

Unknown: 31:08

Is that so? So those are great tips for helping someone find an acupuncturist locally because it is very readily available now, which is fantastic. I mean, we have multiple acupuncturist and in my little town, so what would you say are? Do you just suggest they just write up find out ask, you know, the questions you just mentioned, how does someone know that they're going to a trusted person? Yes. And

Dr. Janelle Kim: 31:35

it is? That is yes, I love this question. I would, I think it's very important. I wish there was a perfect equation and there is not but thing is that, like I said, there are some people who are gifted, there are some people who even young have connected to a certain teacher or master. acupuncturists are of all ages. So I would start there, where did you learn from? You know, are you accredited? That's very important. I think nowadays, you don't have as much of that as you did. But at the same time, I want to remind us, you know, if you go to the mountains of China, I don't think they're going to show you some beautiful diploma, you know, and so let that be in the backyard seriously, you know, or sometimes even, you know, sharing and educating about herbs. I, I'm a huge proponent of studies and understanding and science, but also something being around for 1000s of years makes a difference. And if you go and try to ask the Korean farmer and the ginseng, you know, a mountain of Korea who's growing ginseng, and he's trying to find it, you ask him, if it's organic, he's gonna think there's something he has no clue what you're even talking about. Remember these things, but going to what you're saying, right? I mean, we have the perspective, it's the most important thing, right? But But ultimately, it is very important is going back to what you were saying, Katie, that you have to find someone who knows what they're doing, period, end of story. And you can find that out? Where did you go to school? How long have you been practicing? Do you have a certain Do you have a teacher? Do you have a route? I think that's really important. You know, it's one way doesn't mean they have to, but if they do have these things, there's a good chance that they're going to very be able to help you in a very wonderful way. You know, the beautiful thing about acupuncture. I feel comfortable saying I check myself of course. But, you know, in general, it's not as hard to hurt someone, you certainly you can don't get me wrong, it's nice to know at least that if you go and try it, you know, it's not, you know, something, if you take too much of a medication, and it's not proper for you, guess what, you're in a lot of trouble. And so someone better not terribly envy, yes, it's not terribly invasive, they can you can feel a little difference with your chi, which is not so great and fun. But you know, it's not the end of the world. So it's worth it to try and also see what people's specialties are. A lot of times, there will be certain people as as it very well should and can be that specialize in certain things specialize in helping with hormonal imbalance helping with orthopedic type of issues and imbalances, digestion, you will find people who just tend more towards a certain condition, if you will, doesn't have to be but but that's always a neat thing, mostly because they have so much experience in that. So that was the next thing. So where did they go to school? What are their their credentials? Right? Very important always. Also, how long have you been practicing? Usually, in general, it's the wisdom of things, right? If someone has been practicing for a long time, it means they've seen a lot of people. And there's something that comes with that. I don't mind that at all, you know, and then you try it, and then you're aware of your own body. So let me tell you, if you go to an acupuncture treatment, it is fine to be relaxed, calm. In fact, that's what you look for. But if you are feeling particularly drained a little off, you know, doesn't mean you go and get mad at acupuncturists per se, but just know okay, maybe that wasn't the most balanced and then also don't give up. Go and try just like you get a second opinion or go go somewhere else. Hopefully you don't even have to get there. But just know that we're all people. We all come from different stages. I'm pretty certain anyone you go to is going to care. I can't. I might be a little naive, but I can't imagine that someone would ever put themselves in that position without caring. And so you know, those are the things you can look got four. So

Unknown: 35:02

and it should yeah, go ahead. I was just, I was just gonna say really quickly that it should be noted, I've experienced acupuncture and I know Amy, you have as well for someone that never has. It's not painful. It's, you know, it can be a very relaxing, calming experience. And, Amy, after you ask your question, I'd love to, at one point get into just some of the benefits that someone should expect. But what are you going to say me?

Amy: 35:26

Oh, I was just going to make a comment. It's important about asking those questions, because which is really good. So at this point, acupuncture is very readily available on campus is wonderful. And it seems like now it's out, there's a lot of, you know, private practices, the person I went to is like a traditional Chinese medicine person. But then there's also these wellness centers, or people that do like chiropractic and physical therapy that have acupuncture. So there, which is like, great, I think, because it's integrating that practice into more maybe traditional ways of healing. But those backgrounds might be a bit different, right, than like the TCM CCed methods. And does that matter? Or is it more just like asking the questions and making sure that they're

Dr. Janelle Kim: 36:14

absolutely, I appreciate you bringing this up, because there is a difference. And let me just put it this way. My master's, I finished everything a bit quick, quickly. But you have to have a bachelor's, first of all, if I remember correctly, don't mark my words, it's been 20 years, and we have to have undergrad school, and then you go to study acupuncture. And when you get your Masters, I'm pretty certain gosh, I should have thought about this first, but it's at least three years, three to four years of schooling. And then on top of that to your doctorate is so I did not finish school until I was what 35 I mean, let's be clear here. Some of the other practitioners out there who want to incorporate acupuncture into their clinic does not mean maybe there's someone who is just naturally gifted and connects with it, maybe they have a certain teacher, and they're not necessarily an acupuncturist. But a lot of people can go to school right now, and spend X number of hours, like a couple of days and have some kind of acupuncture certificate, you know, forgive me, I don't I'm not as into acupuncture oil in this way. But I think you're onto my drift here, that there's a big difference between going and having a couple of seminars, versus this getting two years of study of acupuncture, and that's your, your focus. And that does exist. And that does occur.

Amy: 37:27

And I think that's a really good watch out for our listeners, because you really want to look at their background. So you're comfortable that this person has been studying it for years, and they're not taking like a weekend course and learning how to do because you're right, that probably does happen with places that want to just integrate that in. So it's a, it's something

Dr. Janelle Kim: 37:46

and many of them might have, this is the beautiful thing about acupuncture, going back to that understanding of how our bodies work, you know, it could just be that you stimulate a few points and all of a sudden it makes the flow happen and open to the dam, and you feel so much better. So it's not that it won't necessarily help you. But there's a difference.

Unknown: 38:04

That's it's interesting. And so the some of the benefits, I'm just curious, aside from let's say, you go to an acupuncturist for hormonal imbalance, and they help you with that. Does does acupuncture has a whole bullet? Will it do other things? Will it help with other systems just naturally start to balance all of those meridians? Or is it so targeted?

Dr. Janelle Kim: 38:28

No, I would actually it's it helps to the way I treat, right. So I at this point, I was focused more on herbal medicine as comes from my lineage. But in in clinic, when I did treat what I do find moments to treat now and again, and most of the teachers and very, very well known acupuncturist that I am aware of you treat root, right? So that's the whole point of Eastern medicine, you always look at the root. So one thing I wanted to say before is when you walk into clinic, there might be other things that occur and that diagnosis section of your time with with whatever acupuncturist or practitioner, they will feel your pulse, they will look at your tongue, they may do other things. But then there's a series of questions that they go through, that are really important to pay attention to these are things that you as a human being should be paying attention to all of the time. How are you sleeping? What is your sleep light? If you wake up? When do you wake up? Is it you have trouble falling asleep? Or do you wake up in the middle of night? All these things mean something? How you use the restroom? How many times a day? You know what I mean? What does that look like? I mean, it actually gets very specific and I speak no out now more as a doctor, but those things are really important to understand and to keep track of yourself. So that's one way I want to answer your question Katie is it is very much it's all stepped because you look at the root of the issue. Right? And so it very much can treat symptoms as well but different than, you know modern medicine and that it just treats the symptoms and does not always get to the root to try to balance that to begin with. And so when you think of it that way, that particularly a lot of the practice or cuz I know myself included, that you may come with something that you might be so specific. And I'm going to you know, you have you have a rash on your face, right? And I'll start to treat your digestive system. Right, I'll start to treat your middle. Because while you have and with, with the formulas I created as well, that's exactly what happens. You come to me you say there's a certain thing, where is it on your body? I see it for a minute, I can tell what kind of properties is it? You know, is it more internal? Is it something that kind of aggravated you externally all those things matter, for example, but there's a very good chance I will be treating your entire condition, because that is what's going to actually make it rebalance itself, if that makes sense. So when you think of it that way, I would go so far as to say I can't think of one condition that acupuncture and herbal medicine cannot in some way positively affect not one, you know, there are certain things and also I'm a huge proponent, let it be known, this might shock some people. I'm a huge proponent of Western medicine as well, but know when to use it. That's the thing, we can point all the fingers, we want, you know, but at the end of the day, your point one, three are pointing back at you, one of my favorite thing is like you have to know what you're doing. You cannot just go to your experts, they they should have a responsibility. And really hold that very, as a very important thing in life. However, you have to know your own body, like always goes back to that. So there's a time for Western medicine. When you need antibiotics, you go get antibiotics, when an incredible thing that modern medicine we have today. But don't just take antibiotics, because you know, you have a cough. I mean, even modern medicine would tell you now go home and people get mad like, No, that's a beautiful thing that they're teaching you right now. So it's just that balance. But yes, in the long run, pretty much you can treat anything, treat the wrong word, it can help to rebalance anything.

Amy: 41:48

Yeah. So I have a question. For the average person who wants to go to to acupuncture, let's just do a few scenarios. So like I was going for, for quite a long time as it was part of the pandemic, and then everything, you know, I couldn't go in session, but because I have similar migraines, and I found that it really helps with just like balancing out. So every time I'd go, I'd be like, this is bothering This is bothering me, or nothing's bothering it was more for maintenance, which I thought was really helpful, um, added a habit and they issue back however, for that for for someone who maybe has an autoimmune or like chronic condition, is it? Is it a good idea to go to acupuncture is like maintenance? And it's what does that look like? Is it once a month? Is it once a week? And then for other people that maybe just have like shoulder pain or something very specific? Like, what does that look like? Because I know some people could go to acupuncture once and be like, Oh, it did, right? Which is ridiculous. Because they have to you need to go at times in order for it to take effect. So if you could just talk our listeners through that a little bit, I think

Dr. Janelle Kim: 42:46

absolutely. So first of all, what you said I love, I love reminding people, including myself, our bodies took this much time to get to have this imbalance, you have to give it a little bit of time to rebalance itself, right. And so. So I think that's a very important thing to acknowledge. And to know, sometimes you can go to an acupuncturist, and within the first time you feel huge difference, and it's lasting. So let's put that out there as well. But yes, it can take a little bit of time, it really depends on every single person, and every single imbalance or condition that you have, you know, and that's, it seems like so redundant, but that's because it's just the truth. You know, so you are with issues with sleep, you may go with, you know, mental emotional type of imbalances, your anxiety, your, you know, you may go with shoulder pain, and it just truly depends on how your body is able to rebalance itself, how open you are to how much how many years you've had this, those things do make a difference. And so there isn't just one way. So it just the mere nature of being human means that no matter what we do, we can eat the very best we can have the perfect sleeping schedule, whatever that is, you can make a point here we can we can live a you know, relatively calm life and all these things will make a huge difference. But the nature of being human means we are getting young, it means we will always have good, but we will always have bad, you know, period if you look if you really break it down. So it's very important for us to take care and maintain. So even if we say preventative medicine, okay, I totally agree with that. But maybe it is just a maintenance of making sure we're constantly nourished and supplemented, and whether that is through acupuncture herbs, because remember, they kind of they, they can do similar things different, same, same but different. But we're so for example, for myself, I incorporate a lot of herbal medicine into my life. I'm a fairly healthy person, I'm very aware and very conscious of how I live, eat all the things. One of the most important I was actually just speaking to a girlfriend yesterday, which I say that you know, with love, and I highlight that because sometimes it's the people closest to you that you don't really have these conversations because it's just the nature of humanity and how we relate to each other. But we gotten to this conversation and I mentioned to her I think maybe the most important thing, one of the most important things in life is eating properly. And it's Simple, it doesn't have to be so extreme. Yes, don't eat a lot of greasy fatty foods, you know, don't eat a lot of fried foods, for example, eat a balanced diet. But one of the most important thing is in our health, I'm sorry, I know I'm going off a little bit, but here's our time together, is you have to eat consistently. You know, that's one of the most important thing isn't Eastern medicine to eat consistently, I enjoy two meals a day, it works for my body, if I wake up, and I'm really, really hungry, guess what, I'm going to eat something, you know, and then that's how we have to look at things. But eating is so important. Then on top of that, like for maintenance of our health, our youth, our beauty, all the things are Mind, Body Spirit. So and then maybe, maybe seasonally, seasonally is a great way, if you're feeling really great, how do I incorporate these things when seasonally is always a good, good time to do it? Right. So when the seasons change, maybe you go and you get acupuncture, you know, maybe you take a regimen or herbal formulations, internal, you know, even the skincare that I formulate for companies, you know, around the world, ultimately, a lot of those body lotions will have certain herbs that detoxify you throughout the day. So it's incorporating things into your life that will help you now if you have an actual condition, go and then depending on that practitioner and how they're going to treat you, they should give you an idea of how many treatments you're going to need. Usually in the beginning, you'll have a lot more, maybe you'll come multiple times in one week, maybe you'll come two times for a couple of weeks. And then it'll start to taper off a bit where it's more of a maintenance. Right. And so that's kind of what that looks like. As far as acupuncture.

Unknown: 46:30

Yeah, I love the idea of adding for those that that are just, you know, in kind of like a maintenance phase of adding acupuncture in seasons. As things shift and change, I might try that because it's true, this season changes always kind of just messily as

Amy: 46:45

as they do affect your body. Absolutely. Yeah,

Dr. Janelle Kim: 46:48

maybe it's a strange way of saying it, but as it should, meaning it's part of nature, you know, these things happen, it's part of time, and I feel like even when it comes to hormonal imbalance, something else I was talking to someone recently, you know, and going through menopause, I feel like we make it such a horrible thing. I'm just gonna say it for all of us. Oh, no menopause. So like, by the time even get there, your body's already so heightened and afraid and everything's off balance, you probably manifested a million more symptoms than you even need it because you were so scared. We all understand this. Let's just say it for all of us. But if we start to even start at certain points in Herbalife to realize you know it, it is part of nature, for a moment in time, I might feel a few things and it is going to be okay. And I'm going to be aware of my body, I'm going to know that by taking certain supplements, by eating properly, especially during that time, by giving myself a little bit more nourishment and awareness, I can kind of go with that flow doesn't mean it's always going to be you know, the most enjoyable experience. But just you can just feel right now coming into it a little differently, how much that's going to help because remember our hormones and our brain, they're very connected. Right, and she you can look at it that way too. And so it's just that it can be so powerful in and of itself. So

Amy: 48:05

yeah, I was also gonna say, just for for people listening, just so you know, or at least my insurance and a lot of people that I've spoken to insurance covers acupuncture, which a lot of people don't know, which I think is amazing, because it does show the value in it, and you're not paying out of pocket for all of this. So I know many insurance companies cover acupuncture, which I think is fabulous. And one other just slight anecdote, which I probably told Katie before, but and I'm sure those who are listening to this podcast already are believers in a lot of these things. But for people who are like a little bit like, Oh, that's too Whoo, that doesn't work, like whatever. I wanted to acupuncture once. And I was like, my period was late. I'm so bloated. I just felt like, just bloated and like full. And I knew my period is coming, but it like was late or stagnant. So I said to my eyes, were just stagnant. Exactly. So he's like, Oh, I just feel like balloon and like, whatever. So he forgot even where he did it next day. So I was like, okay, there you go. Like that, to me was such a turning point. Not that I didn't like I was an introvert before, but that was like very, it was very specific. And so I've told a lot of people that because like, that was clearly because he treated Yes, absolutely. You know, it was pretty direct way

Dr. Janelle Kim: 49:20

of saying, you know, you make things flow. I mean, I don't mean to but like, yeah, it wasn't like a

Amy: 49:25

situation. It was like one day Yeah. And the next day, I'll get

Dr. Janelle Kim: 49:28

great examples to that time a month for women to understand the feeling of stagnation. And then when things start to flow, and then what happens I mean, that is actually really a very good example to be aware of that. That is that is how it works with our body and all the systems not just you know that particular time, but in our life, all of it, but you can feel it. You know, PMS is a time of stagnation period.

Amy: 49:53

You know, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's fascinating. We could talk about this forever, but I you know, you have limited time. And we appreciate all the time you've spent with us. And we asked you, we went through a rough session last night. So I'll just ask you one question from our obsession, because this could always be changing. So what is your latest favorite wellness or beauty?

Dr. Janelle Kim: 50:11

My latest favorite wellness or beauty hack? Oh, gosh,

Amy: 50:14

I can't remember last time remember either you said it was okay. Right now

Dr. Janelle Kim: 50:19

in my life, like right this moment? What comes to mind because I am practicing it is my movement that goes back to that right now that is very, very important in my life, because like I said, It directly affects when no matter what, if I wake up in the morning, I have 15 minutes of movement that I will start to share more on my platform. I know I say this, and then everyone's like, Well, where do I go, you know, and it can be striking I write there's a specific sequence, one of which I do have up on my website, I promise I will make more soon. But they're quick. They're quick, very proper movements that have been passed down for centuries, because they can quickly affect your body. And so that, to me, is a beauty activity. Because when you're stressed, when you are tired, your chi goes off balance all the things we just talked about. And as simple Chi Gong type of movements can make you feel like a totally different person in five to 10 minutes. I mean, are breathing it has a lot to do very least just sit down I just posted something on my social where just stop and breathe for a second that is so important. You know, even that noise is really funny. I was thinking about this last night because I what do I want to share because there's something people really resonated and loved the breathing exercise. And something that can be really important. Maybe the people around you are not going to love it that I'm sharing this with you. But that stagnation. I were like ready to leave and I'm opening up a hole I promise I'll be quick. But stagnation, no Ilana whenever the best quickest ways to kind of diffuse stagnation in our body which causes liver Qi stagnation livers are general and so you can tell when someone comes in, you're like, oh geez, here we go. Very liberties that person is you can sigh like, it sounds funny, but that directly affects your body. Right? So that's why he's physically with our breath, we can totally adjust our body and when everything's flowing and we're a little less stressed, then it directly affects how we look or beauty or wellness or health. And then of course I have to say I mean the formulas that I create I'm so very grateful for my own career and job that I do because my my bathroom looks like my lab and I'm constantly using different herbal formulations and ingredients. So that will always be so I love right now I'm loving a serum I think a serum is very important in our beauty regimen. So there you go some Chi Gong young son moving meditation and

Unknown: 52:43

love. Well, Dr. Kim, thank you so much for your time it was such a pleasure to see you you always bring us so much positive energy and so many great tips and so much loaded with so much advice and knowledge so we really appreciate your time and I know our listeners will love learning about acupuncture is a topic we have not touched at all. So it's a lot of fun to get into. It's

Dr. Janelle Kim: 53:04

I love that it's my absolute pleasure. I'm so so happy to spend time with you both and to share all that I can

Amy: 53:11

love it. Thank you so much stopping recording. 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 will continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to buy

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