by Carol Adams
Ever wondered why our grandma’s, great grans, and ancestors managed to remain so youthful for so long? I mean my gran was 69 when I was born and well into her 80’s, she still looked like she had possibly just reached the age of 50.
The same goes for the more oriental races, notice how Chinese, Japanese, and all those other wonderful “something’nese” who’ve stayed true to traditional methods of taking care of themselves just seem so vital and never-aging.
There’s a single practice that we can accredit most of these results to; and that is the inclusion of natural, sometimes alternative, elements into our beauty regimen. You know, the soaps that one can cook at home, the oils provided by nature, artisan hair-care, and a healthy diet that helps you glow from the inside out proving that when you feel good, you look good.
As a person who loves feeling like she’s grounded and as close as possible to what’s natural, I’ve put many traditional methods into practice when it comes to taking care of myself. at first, it was just a matter of not liking how toxins would eventually build-up from hair chemicals, skin chemicals and all these other concoctions we use daily without awareness. Then it became more about the fact that what comes naturally is less prone to needing artificial maintainence, therefore, less work and less fuss. I don’t even like taking tablets of any sort and will always search for a natUral remedy for ailments before resorting to pharmaceuticals.
So there started a journey to find the perfect God-given cocktails for everything we need in order to look, feel, and be our best selves.
It started out with hair – one of the body features that usually need the most attention. Natural, or processed, when it comes to women of colour, there are very limited things you can get away with doing to your mane before it starts acting up. Until December 2018, when I went completely bald, I had processed/relaxed hair. but boooy was it strong and flowing in the wind.
The secret was to only use store-bought products at the salon on the day of relaxing it. Other than that, maintenance was all-natural.
The key here was a once a week castor oil hair masque (massage cold-pressed castor oil into scalp overnight, cover with silk bonnet and wash off in the morning – castor oil darkens, strengthens and adds length together with volume). Daily maintenance was just applying sweet almond oil to maintain strength and shine. Sweet almond oil is a light, non-sticky, and fragrance-free alternative to regular hair moisturizers.
Now my hair is a natural type-C. When the doctor said “it’s a girl” I knew I’d have the task of teaching her to fully embrace the form she came into this world in. And since little people tend to be influenced by what you do rather than what you say, I’ve decided we’ll grow these afros together. The maintenance of which is a far more difficult subject, but being the doctor Sebi of beauty, I’ve managed to tailor my old regime to suit this change of style. Now with the addition of Shea butter, my locks are healthier than ever, and an avocado masque every now and then helps to keep my crown growing and glowing.
Then probably the most important – your skin, from head to toe, and from cleaning to protecting it. This is my favourite yet. I’ve had so many testimonies from people who’ve used my advice to remove blemishes, discolouration, pimples and pimple scars using homemade soap, oils, and other herbs. My next article is one a step by step guide for how any skin type can benefit from using natural ingredients to change how they feel about the skin they’re living in.
