When I was thinking about what subjects I would like to talk about on my new site, the question of beauty obviously came to mind.
I often receive messages asking me about my hair routine.
“What products do you use to define your curls?”, “What products do you use to moisturize your hair?” and since I posted a picture of my hair on my instagram “What do you do to retain the length?” are the questions I’m most often asked.
I will write a post about how I take care of my hair but today I want to write about something that will lay the foundations for my next Beauty and Health articles – for which I will have a badass sidekick you’ll soon meet. Let me show you her face for now 😉
Even as an avatar she’s simply gorgeous isn’t she? 🙂
Beauty and health : not from the outside in
Something kind of bugs me : how come no one asks me this simple and – to me – obvious question : “What do you eat to keep your hair healthy?”?
Nowadays, when it comes to beauty and health, here’s what most people do : they work from the outside in.
Does that make sense?
We, human beings, are no different from any other living being on this planet, and just like a plant, it’s not creams and chemicals that will make us beautiful and healthy. Just like a plant, what we need first is water, nutrients and sunlight. How magical ! They’re all available in nature!
Everything starts from the inside and with what we feed ourselves.
I remember what a friend told me once.
From what she says we almost have the same kind of hair but I couldn’t tell as I’ve never seen it.
She started relaxing at a very young age, tried the brazilian keratin treatment for a few years, and went back to relaxing.
Her hair looks great. She spends huge amounts of money in all kinds of products and has to redo her hair every other 3 to 4 days, but she always looks stunning.
One day I asked her how her hair looked without any product on and she had the honesty to tell me it was dry and dull. I said : “So it’s not healthy.” and she answered : “I guess not. But I don’t care if my hair is healthy, as long as it LOOKS healthy.”
That’s the main problem. The looks.
The main problem : beauty as it is sold by the media
Beauty as it is defined by the media so you will spend as much money as possible to get THE looks, but more importantly, beauty as it is sold by the media.
Convincing people that a flawless skin is true beauty is one thing. Convincing people that you need to have the same flawless skin as the girl in the commercial to be beautiful and that the girl in the commercial has a flawless skin thanks to the product they’re selling you is a completely different thing.
The girl in the commercial has a flawless skin either because she’s healthy and/or because Photoshop did the job. (please note the “and” as even girls with a beautiful skin will be retouched with Photoshop as they’re never too perfect for a commercial.)
Just like media sells us beauty, we spend our life selling ourselves to others.
That is what life is about : others constantly assessing us, we constantly assessing others. And there we are playing the game of trying to be who and how we would like others to perceive us, instead of simply loving and being who we are and letting others decide if they like us or not.
We want to convince everyone of our quality instead of simply connecting with the ones who see it.
So we keep selling ourselves. And since the way people are sold in the commercials seems to work, we try to do the same.
Let’s imagine a young girl named Cynthia.
Cynthia is 14 and she sees this flawless glowing skin in a commercial and of course she wants the same.
She goes to the bathroom and looks at herself in the mirror. She doesn’t have that flawless glowing skin. She has pimples. She’s a teenager, her body is going through many hormonal changes and it’s normal, but all she sees are these pimples everybody at school make fun of all the time and she just wishes she had the same skin as in the commercial.
Cynthia takes all the money she saved from her birthdays and Christmas’ presents and she goes to the beauty store. She walks up to that beautiful and well dressed lady drowned in makeup and says : “I want a beautiful skin.”
She comes back home with a soap for problem skin, a clarifying lotion and a moisturizing cream for oily skin, a makeup primer, a concealer, a liquid foundation, loose powder and a ton of makeup.
And there she goes.
10 years later, Cynthia is lucky, her pimples are gone. But now she has oily skin around her nose and on her chin, her cheeks’ skin is sensitive and is so dry it’s flaky, her complexion is dull and her skin texture is not even, so she uses a moisturizing cream for combination skin type morning and evening, she exfoliates, she puts on face masks, and she spends 15 minutes each and every morning buttering her skin with a makeup primer, a concealer, foundation, powder and a ton of makeup.
And she’s happy with it because if she looks at herself 5 feet away from the mirror she can think “wow what a beautiful skin !” but if she gets closer, well… you got it.
I was Cynthia until the day I realized putting stuff on my skin to make it look better only made it look worse and forced me to use even more products. The vicious circle.
Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t wake up and leave the house. I do put on makeup. I love makeup. But to me, makeup is a way to enhance my face, not a way to hide it and cover it all up.
Now if you like the look of perfectly made-up skin and always use foundation and powder even if you have a great skin, it’s also a matter of taste. I prefer a more natural look and to see the skin texture of a face, even with some imperfections. But that’s me 😉
Anyway I became aware of this at the same time when I got the same medical issue three times in a row not understanding why it was happening again. I had taken all the drugs the doctor had prescribed me after all.
If it was not a matter of covering up the symptoms, like it was not a matter of covering up my skin, it has to come from the inside, so I changed everything about the way I ate – although I still have some serious issues with Reese’s Cups – and eventually everything changed.
I won’t follow the path of health today and will stick to beauty.
I don’t wear foundation anymore. My skin is clean, it doesn’t shine, I don’t have pimples unless I went off the rails big time for some reason. (And I do!)
The only reason why I use oils to moisturize my skin – I rarely use creams but when I do I check the ingredients – is for comfort, as because I wear makeup, I need to remove it. I remove it with oil, but then I wash the oil out with a gentle soap. That gentle soap is the reason why I need to moisturize my skin because right after using it, it feels dry. And read me well : it FEELS dry. But it’s not. It’s well hydrated from the inside. I don’t rely on the oil/cream to hydrate my skin.
Does my skin look like the ones in magazines? I don’t think so, these don’t even exist. Are there some girls with better skin than mine? Of course there are, we’re all different. What matters to me is that my skin is the best it can possibly be. That’s enough for me and it should be enough for anyone.
In the same way, my hair has completely changed. Of course I still use products to get the look I want, my genetics are responsible for me having dry hair no matter what and no diet will ever change its nature, but it can change its quality. With my hair being healthier and more hydrated, I now use less products, lightest products, and spend less amount of time and money on my hair. My hair is not perfect according to what I see in the media. It’s at its own best.
So all of this to say that the basis of my future beauty and health articles is simple : want to be healthy before wanting to be beautiful and everything will get a lot easier for you. 🙂
Your skin is dry? You need to drink more water and eat more fruits and vegetables. They will help hydrate your skin because they’re all made of over 80% of water.
Your hair is dry? Drink more water and eat more fruits and vegetables.
Your skin is greasy ? You have pimples ? It’s not even ? Drink more water and eat more fruits and vegetables. The more you eat fruits and vegetables, the more good nutrients you give your body and your skin and the less room there is in your stomach for all these foods that make your skin – and body – sick (trans fats, sugar, refined wheat…)
On top of that, just like the plant needs it to grow, you need some sunlight. Your body needs some sunlight. There would be no life on Earth without sun.
No, I’m not telling you to go sit outside on a sunny day for 3 hours at noon with no protection. I’m telling you that your body needs a minimum of skin contact with the sun because it’s the best way for your body to generate vitamin D, which is essential for your bones but also for several other reasons.
Stress can cause many skin and hair problems because it causes general health ones. It is one of the worst enemies of your body as it prevents it to benefit from all the good nutrients you ingest.
While you don’t have control over all that happens in your life, you do have control over what you eat.
Another reason to drink more water and eat more fruits and vegetables is because it will keep your digestive system healthy and therefore will help you feel better. Are you aware of the role our digestive system has in the serotonin production, the body’s “don’t worry be happy” hormone? Look it up on the internet.
95% of the serotonin of our body is found in our gastrointestinal tract, so you want it to work properly.
Never forget how important your intestines are. They are responsible for digesting and drawing all the nutrients from the food and making them available for your body (also meaning skin and hair) to use through the bloodstream and cells.
A good diet will keep your digestive system healthy, and if your digestive system is healthy – unless major problem – YOU are healthy. If YOU are healthy, so is your skin and so is your hair. Well… unless you mistreat it of course.
Have you ever noticed that nature is autonomous?
A forest, left alone, with no humans cutting its trees or threatening its balance, will always prosper. It’s the same for your skin and hair. Once you give your body all the love it needs – in the form of the right amount of water, nutrients and light – the less you will do the better.
Besides the fact that it’s fed with what it needs, the main reason why my hair is growing is because I leave it alone as much as possible. Same for my skin.
Leaving something alone doesn’t mean neglecting it. It only means accepting it for what it is. That’s why it’s so important to learn to love and accept yourself the way you are, so you can finally walk the path to being the best version of yourself, not a cheap version of somebody else’s self.
Water + a good diet + sunlight + self-love + good sleep + peace of mind and the ability to put things in perspective = health = beauty. YOUR beauty.
And voilà. 😉
ATTENTION : I am not a doctor, my advice is based on my own life experiences and is not intended to diagnose any condition. For professional advice and diagnoses, please see your doctor.
Look your a really good creator and love your work but what I hate is im sorry for saying this but what I hate is that I can not go to all the comics like a WANNA go to the comics that it no offence i love seeing your work just comics you know but I some how can’t do that! You know a comic will pop up somtimes but I wannna go from comic to comic to comic!!
I’m not sure to understand what you meant exactly here, but if I understood well, you CAN go from comic to comic to comic by clicking on “All the comics” in the navigation menu at the top of the site, which will lead you here > https://tallncurly.com/tag/comics/
Hope this helps 😉
Love the turn on “beauty” that you made! You really spoke the truth and you are so right, health is everything, I can confirm that from my own bad to better experience. It may sound simple BUT IT’S SO TRUE! People spend millions on their outer appearance, hairdressers, nails, fancy clothes, technological possessions, put gasoline in their awesome cars, but forget to regularly fuel the own beautiful machine they live in! Or starve themselves, or put rubbish in it!
Way to go girl, may the curl be with you lol xx
Thank you so much for your message Alishmo 🙂 I’m happy to read this, it’s always complicated to change things, you never know how people will react to different content. 🙂 I’m doing it slowly but I want to because just as you said, some of the basis are often forgotten nowadays so I think a little reminder from time to time cannot hurt, even if it comes from a cartoonist! ;p May the healthy curl be with you too 😉 xxx
Ooops, very looooooong post, but I get the point. Your hair is what you eat too :p
Yeah… I think I got lost somewhere between “Your hair is” and “what you eat” 😉
My only issue with this advice (and I’ve seen it come up on so many natural hair blogs and forums) is that you could do all those things you mentioned and still not have great skin or hair. Case in point: I’ve never had a terrible diet, but I certainly eat healthier now than ever did. And I exercise more consistently now than I ever did.
But sadly, my skin is the worst it’s ever been my entire life. Up until 6 months ago, my skin rarely ever had blemishes. I was often complimented on how clear and healthy it was. And I always drink water like a fish. But the truth is my skin, scalp and hair will always be dry. I also have cradle cap eczema. And my diet, albeit far from perfect, is not responsible for the fragility of my hair or the sun damage of my skin. Most of that is genetics, and some of that is living a full life where you’re being exposed to the elements.
I think you’re giving fine advice here, but it’s important to remember that there are plenty of people who may not be asking you for advice because the problem isn’t their diet or dehydration or lack of exercise. You admit that a combination of efforts is necessary to attain a certain look or “beauty,” but I hope you’re not discounting the reality that plenty of people don’t need advice on what to eat or drink because they have doctors for that and not everyone benefits from the exact same approach to food. (For example, I have IBS and I’ve learned that a lot of the food people recommend for a healthy diet actually harms my digestive track.)
I don’t want you to think I don’t see your point. But the reality is no one is asking you those questions because they probably already know the answers or have sought them somewhere else. And what products you use on the outside may be what they genuinely need to attain their goal.
Hi Candace 🙂
I perfectly understand your point and absolutely respect it.
I’m not a doctor and I’m aware of that, don’t worry. I only speak of things based on my personal researches and experiences, and on the ones some people I know went through.
I’m not here to give lessons nor to convince anybody. I don’t hold THE truth, I hold MY truth. But if my truth worked for me, if the same truth worked for many other people I know, why not share it ? That would be selfish.
So I send it out, people are free to take it or leave it.
I just walked a very long path that led me to a beautiful place in a matter of health, and I just want to give hints for people who haven’t even crossed that path yet, so they get a chance to find it and eventually walk it too.
I deliberately chose not to dig too deep in my article because everyone has to walk their own path. I also wanted to keep it as light as possible so no one would accuse me of speaking as if I’m a doctor myself, which I would never dare to. All I wrote is only the seed of all that I’ve learned and been through.
I also have doctors amongst my family and friends, and I’ve learned a lot from them to.
While some think exactly the same way I do, one thing I’ve learned is that most doctors are more inclined to prescribe drugs than to dig to find what causes the symptoms, unlike for example in the Chinese medicine, in which the dietary therapy is considered the highest form of medicine.
Did you know that Chinese doctors only make you pay your consultations as long as you’re healthy ? They tell you what to do and what to eat, depending on how you feel and what you’re going through in your life, and their job is keeping you healthy. If you become sick, you don’t pay them until your health returns, because they believe THEY failed in their advice.
Now you can believe whatever it is you want, as I’m also free to believe what I want, but I also believe from what I see, and the changes I saw in people changing their diet drastically – and when I mean drastically, I mean drastically – makes me hold on to my beliefs.
I personally know someone who had eczema and who doesn’t have it anymore. You can find many examples over the internet of people who cured themselves by staying away from certain products (GMO, gluten, cow milk and more…).
I don’t think it’s something I should do to try convincing someone I don’t know of anything, so all I will point out is this : you say you eat well. What do you consider is eating well ? You say suddenly your skin is the worst it’s ever been. These changes don’t appear for nothing. Whether in your diet, global health or in your emotional life, something must have changed, and obviously not for the best.
Oh and also, do you want to know something ? I had IBS too. HAD.
I disagree with that. Many people I meet don’t know the answers and don’t even ask themselves these questions. I myself didn’t know the answers until the day I met the person who opened my eyes. While nowadays most do, still many people don’t look for answers. They just accept what their doctor say and take the drugs without thinking further.
Also, my genetics are all about dry hair too. And I never said that by drinking water and eating vegetables it would become smooth and silky. Like I said about my skin, it allows it to be the best it can possibly be. And now I can use less products to achieve the look I want to achieve. If you knew my hair before I changed my diet and if you saw it now, you wouldn’t believe the difference and would understand why I think people should ask about what I eat too, along with their questions about products. It’s because my hair is how it is now that I can use less products, lighter products, and spend less amount of time and money on it.
I totally agree on that, and it is indeed a big part of the journey to find what works and what doesn’t work for you. But also, sometimes, you have to “reboot” your body, so it can change how it reacts to certain things.
I will continue sharing my experiences on these matters and I hope that you, and every other reader, will take what they think can be useful and leave the rest, without thinking I’m trying to convert anyone to anything, just sharing my stories, as usual. 🙂
Hi! I can’t reply to your response directly because there’s no “Reply” button under your comment, so I guess I’ll just reply to me and hope you’ll see it.
Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. I started a new job recently and the learning curve is steep, so I hope you don’t feel I was ignoring you. 🙂
No, I didn’t know that about the Chinese healthcare system. That’s interesting. I think it’s probably more of a reflection of the state-funded system (not determined by the doctors themselves), then the success of their methods. But I appreciate Eastern medicine, and I think the West and East could learn a great deal from each other. I’ve studied my fair share of ideas on both sides of the industry, and they each have their flaws. This notion that there’s a competition between the two has never really made sense to me, but I guess that’s another topic for another day.
I appreciate your perspective and understand where you’re coming from, but I guess I’ll have to use that phrase I hate: “We’ll just have to agree to disagree.”
As we’ve both admitted, everyone’s journey is different. And where you said you disagree with me specifically about why most people aren’t asking you about what you eat is exactly my sticking point. My interaction with women with natural hair has always been filled with people sharing their experience and information they’ve gathered from research, blogs, books, support groups, dietitians, doctors, etc. So I do see and hear people asking questions, doing their own research and not simply listening to one source or their doctors only. I’ve witnessed it first hand and online.
Let me clear, (/Obama-tone) I don’t believe for one second that doctors are the end-all-know-it-alls of the health industry (and that’s coming from someone who works in the health industry!), but my doctors have specifics about my life and situation that some random person on the internet or a person with a dedicated YouTube channel sharing their journey will ever know. So a person with a medical background who actually knows me advising what’s the healthiest diet and exercise regimen for me is going to get a lot more weight than someone who says they “cured” their problem by doing X. Sure, it’s interesting to hear their experience and compare notes, but it’s important to always understand that every individual is different.
Doctors are far from perfect, and some doctors are downright terrible. They simply work to meet their quotas, try only what’s in the textbook and shove you out the door. I’ve experienced this with GPs, OBGYNs and psychologists. But I’ve also tried quite a few remedies and approaches recommended by people who don’t know a thing about me (but seem similar on the surface), and their recipes for health are just as flawed or ineffective. Sometimes, even more so.
You and I don’t know each other, so I’m trying not to take your questions personally, but I will tell you that I — and I know I’m not alone in this, so maybe that’s our disconnect — am a very self-aware person. Yes, a number of things in my life have changed, but nothing negative in the last 6 months. If anything, my life has improved exponentially in the last 6 months. All of that [positive] change could have an effect on my skin and physical health. I’m aware of that.
But I don’t need to ask others to help me consider what possibilities might have been a factor. Trust me, I’ve analyzed every aspect forwards and backwards and I’m still analyzing. It’s taken me 4 years to see a doctor about my IBS. Everything I’ve tried has been from research on my own and trying a variety of dietary shifts. It would go away for a few months, then come back. I saw a GI and he hasn’t found the cause yet and he may never will, but he did tell me I had a hiatal hernia (it’s not the cause of my IBS).
It’s great you no longer have IBS. 🙂 Then I think you understand that not every one who once had it and now doesn’t have it didn’t do the exact same thing to “cure” themselves of the condition. And many of the people I know who no longer have IBS moved past it with the help of a nutritionist and a GI-specialist. They sought advice from people on the street too, but ultimately they went to someone who specialized in that knowledge. That’s what I’m advocating: understanding that self-exploratory cures have a pass-fail rate too.
It’s your website and you’re certainly welcome to share your story and ban me forever. (You don’t seem like the type, but hey, I already said I don’t know you.) I simply maintain that I would never ask another woman who I think has great hair, skin or whatever, what does she eat? I don’t know her background. I don’t know her circumstances. I don’t know her. And that makes a huge difference in how what she’s going to react to her nutritional intake. I’ve met people who’ve drastically improved their health through macrobiotics. And I know people who’ve tried macrobiotics and it made them severely ill.
My cradle cap eczema has been largely reduced by trying methods other women shared about what they put *on* their hair. Not by what they ate or did for exercise. My overall health isn’t perfect and it never will be because our bodies change as we grow older, so our habits need to change with them. And it takes time to find that balance as you progress through life. (I’m 37 years old btw.)
I understand if you took my reply as me being bitchy, but that certainly wasn’t my intent. I felt I communicated my disagreement in a respectful manner, but I know writing doesn’t always capture the nuances as the spoken word. My main point was that I meet women on a regular basis (in person and online) who live somewhat healthy lives — I say somewhat because *no one* is healthy ALL the time — who constantly seek out information and do their own research with friends, doctors and independently, and they rarely ask other women with natural hair “What are you eating?”
Hi Candace !
Welcome back !
“Ban you forever” ? What ? For what ? For having your own opinion and beliefs ? Why would I do that ? 🙂
The only reason I would ban someone from my website would be for being aggressive, insulting, or expressing violent and inappropriate thoughts. I wouldn’t ban someone for politely expressing what she thinks and believes, even if we disagree, come on. 🙂
I hope you like your new job !!
You see, although you said you hate it, I actually like that phrase :
It is indeed appropriate as I don’t think we’ll come to see things through the same glasses anytime soon. 😉
So I started by writing an article about eating well and drinking water in order to have healthy hair and skin, and I end up discussing Eastern medicine, IBS, the whole health industry and – funny that you mention it, although it’s not that big of a coincidence – hiatal hernia – which I also had. Had. Again. 😉
You said in your first comment and in this one now, that women with natural hair are doing their own researches and that there’s no reason for a natural woman to ask me what I eat to get healthy hair.
As you’ve repeated yourself, I’ll repeat myself too : I meet women and girls all the time who have NO CLUE what they’re doing, wether with their hair or with their health. I personally had no clue what I was doing for quite a long time !
I also have very young girls following my blog who didn’t go through all that questioning yet, and I would love for a 12 yo to realize that what she eats affect her hair by reading my blog, and then make the connection between her health and food too. I would LOVE it.
I didn’t write this article for women who already know that there’s a connection between food and hair and skin, I wrote it for the other ones, and there ARE other ones.
Putting aside all the talk about the health industry, not being aware that there is a connection between good hair/good skin and food is total non-sense to me. So I do and still hope some people will ask me what I eat to get healthy hair instead of only asking what products I use, as the hair products are, to me, exactly like any kind of drug a doctor will prescribe : it is something that HELPS but that won’t do any good if you don’t help yourself and your body by treating and feeding it well. That’s ALL I was saying.
I was not including people with specific hair or skin conditions. I was talking about women facing ordinary dissatisfaction regarding their hair or skin.
Now, back to the general health issue.
I never said that Western medicine has nothing to offer. It saves lives. Who am I to say it’s useless ?
What I say is that before the cure, before the doctors, before the symptoms, before the disease, there is the way a body is taken care of. It’s not the other way around. Again NOT INCLUDING extreme or complicated health issues.
We’re in the same age zone you see, so my body changed too since I was 20. But the way I eat solved more issues than you would believe. And it solved so many issues amongst people I know that there is not one person on Earth who could make me think differently.
As you said, you don’t know me and I don’t know you. I’m sure you do everything you have to do to be healthy, and that you rely only on people you trust, and you are right to do so. I do exactly the same thing, but probably differently than you. And it works, too.
So why not just admit that there is not one truth in this world and that for that very reason, we can’t do anything but to agree to disagree ? 😉
Lovely article, it makes u think on the little things, that altogether can help us feel great….as for me i would mention moderate exercise, it makes u feel healthy to!!
I really enjoyed this write up! So real. So raw. So simplistic. I love your new sidekick,too! She’s #gorg
Thank you for sharing, I do forget that stress screws me up (eczema anyone) every now and again despite drinking plenty of water and eating fruits and vegetables. I also forget that lack of sleep messes with my nerves, and my weight, and makes me more stressed, and makes me snappy and irritable … you get the picture, so thanks for the reminder.
Love the new layout.
I like your new design. I’m excited to see what’s next.
This was such a beautiful article and very well written. I recently went Vegan after 5 years of being a vegetarian. And yet, I sometimes forget the simple things (like water and rest!) Thank you for the reminders, the motivation, and the art. I will never forget your illustration of the plant. I look forwrd to your health/beauty articles!
Thank you so much for your message Victoria 🙂 Yes… sometimes the simple things are the ones we forget ! Tell me about drinking water when I’m trying to figure out how much iron and omega 3 I just had 😉 Hoping to see you soon on another article and thank you again for reaching out 🙂 Take care !
I like your new sidekick, but then I’m a sucker for big earrings! I love the new layout, too.