Healthy Beauty From the Inside Out
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It only seemed appropriate to begin my journey of blogging with what inspired most to write in the first place.
If my years of being a hairstylist have taught me anything, it’s that just about every woman struggles with who they are or with some part about themselves.
For many of my clients, coming into the salon to get a fresh new look would somehow satisfy them with the way they felt about themselves …but only temporarily.
Too many of my lady clients would come in with slumped down shoulders, an exhausting look of defeat on their face, or just flat out frazzled.
They would come over, sit in my chair, stare at themselves in the mirror and almost gag at what they were looking. Some of my clients would actually ask me to turn the chair a different direction so they wouldn’t have to look at themselves in the mirror while I did their hair. That’s how much some of these beautiful ladies despised themselves.
Of course, after an hour (or 2 or 3) of sitting in the chair getting beautified, along with dumping out all the spills they had going on in their life somehow, would magically perk them up. All of a sudden, they could look at themselves in the mirror and like what they saw.
With shoulders rolled back, chins held high, and phone out ready to take a picture of their new selfie, they would now strut out of the salon ready to take on the world.
Of course, as their stylist I naturally took some credit for this new energy a client would strum up after their time spent with me. It was, in fact, what I loved most about my career… helping women feel beautiful.
So often I wondered at what point these women would find themselves again during their appointment.
Was it the permission they had to talk to and unbiased ear who would listened as they went on about their struggles in marriage, parenthood, family, career or even weight?
Or was it simply the fresh new look they now possessed that made it easier to look in the mirror without grimacing?
The easy answer to this would be question number two. Right?
Because, for most of our whole lives as women we have, in one way another, been programmed to believe that everything on the outside is what truly matters.
Is my hair trendy enough?
Do I have acne or other blemishes on my skin? I have to use makeup to cover any and all imperfections.
What does the scale say? Oh wow, I guess salad is all I get to eat for today.
Are my clothes the latest fashion? Does my butt look big in these pants?
Does any of this sound familiar?
I heard it all far too many times from far too many women sitting in my chair. And believe me when I say how imperfect I was to this way of thinking, too. I mean, my profession literally caused me to stand in front of a mirror for 8-12 hours a day.
Now, let’s go back for just a moment think about the first question that was asked about having permission to talk.
First off, lets just face it, there’s something seriously so invigorating when sitting in a hair stylist’s chair and then to top it off, having someone play with your hair for over an hour is not stimulating and extremely relaxing. The human touch is gold.
I could literally feel my clients melt into the chair the minute I began running my fingers through their hair.
At this point it’s almost as I had given clients permission to just let go of everything.
And for some clients, they really do let go… of everything. Client’s spill it all to their stylist and stylists have literally heard it all… Sometimes a little more than bargained for.
Seriously though. This is when clients start to vent about all of the above.
This stuff has been bottled up now for six weeks since the last appointment and today is her moment to sit down and tell all because she knows she has a listening ear. This is the best kind of therapy to her.
This is 75% of the reason why my clients left the salon feeling more confident, more vivacious, and more alive than when she came in.
It wasn’t just about the new ‘do. Yes, that did help the switch in energy, but truly, the ability for the client to come in, clear out the junk she held within, get some positive feedback and validation was the real winner.
As a hairstylist I got really good at learning about my client’s biggest struggles and figuring out how to guide the conversation in a way that helped them to feel amazing when they left.
That was where I knew I was making the biggest impact. And years later (now) what led me to becoming a health and life coach.
In my journey I have become very passionate about helping women to see their true worth and to teach them that in order to look and feel good on the outside, we have to begin by working on feeling good on the inside.
“Healthy Beauty from the Inside out” has 3 independent, yet united categories.
Mental
Physical
Spiritual
In this article, I want to pour some super valuable nuggets into you to help you better understand what ‘Healthy Beauty from the Inside Out’ really means, and what steps you can take in achieving it.
I am beautiful
Say it with me…
“I AM BEAUTIFUL”
The reality is, you are already beautiful. You might have been told this before and hopefully you took it as a compliment.
Most women just roll their eyes, disagree and say something like “people say that just to be nice, but they don’t really mean it.”
It really is the truth though. You really ARE beautiful. You just haven’t figured out how to see it for yourself.
To really see the beauty you possess on the outside, for you to truly be able to look at yourself in the mirror-- square in the eyes and admit to yourself that YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL, you have to be willing to do the dirty work and start recognizing the thoughts, beliefs and behavioral patterns of your life first.
It’s not an easy thing, I’ll admit that, but anything worth going after usually isn’t very easy, so you may as well get started now. It’s worth it, I promise.
Healthy beauty on a mental level means you are healthy in the thoughts, emotions and feelings you have about yourself. Yes, the thoughts you have about yourself can impact your physical health and can lead to mental games causing major conflict and destruction in your life.
Consider how you talk to yourself. Are you as kind to yourself as you are to other people around you?
Can you look at yourself in the mirror and give yourself a nice compliment? Do the thoughts you have about yourself reflect how things just ‘happen’ in your life? These are all things to consider.
What you think is what you are. Clearing up the thought processes is important and it will serve you well. It will improve your mood, which will improve your emotions, which will improve your energy, which will improve your motivation for general things in life which can improve the way you eat, the way you move and the way you do things on a daily basis.
So, you see. It all begins with cleaning up the mindset.
Why wait? Let’s being now.
I have a challenge for you. It’s simple and its eye opening. For the rest of the week I want you carry around a little notebook and a pen or pencil with you. A piece of paper will do, and if you must, the notes app in your phone will be just fine, too. Preferably it’s paper and pen though.
Here’s the challenge. You are going to track your thoughts. Every negative thing you think of or blurt out needs to be written down on list.
“I’m so stupid.
I can’t do anything”
“I hate how fat I look”
“My butt is too big”
“I am not pretty enough”
And don’t stop with just the negatives about yourself. Become very aware of what you think or say about other people or a situation:
“Wow. What is up with her hair?”
“He is so annoying”
“Seriously, why are people such idiots?”
The idea here is to pay attention and identify everything you say or think.
NOTE: As you do this, do not feel guilt or shame. This experiment is simply to help you become aware of yourself so you can get better. Quickly forgive yourself and moving forward in kindness to yourself is key. I challenge you to try this experiment and find out for yourself how much different you feel at the end of the week just by becoming identifying the behaviors you may not even be aware of.
I’m excited for you to take this challenge and I’d love to hear how the experience goes.
Getting healthy on the inside on a mental level is the first and most important step to feeling amazing and beautiful. It will help you see yourself and your true beauty as well as get you onto the next phases of “Healthy Beauty from the Inside Out”
The Physical Side of Beauty
I want to be very clear so please, please, please hear me.
BEAUTY DOES NOT START ON THE OUTSIDE.
My dear beautiful friends, we have been so caught up in the lies of image on the outside is everything. Now, here we are in 2021 with coaches like myself all over the place trying their hardest to help women like you change that very untrue programming.
So, this is NOT going about beauty tips, and hacks on looking thinner, or hairstyles that go best with your face shape.
And, I assure you that when I do start pulling the tricks out of the bag on any type of beauty tip, it will most certainly be on a level that demonstrates health and wellness.
But for today, we are going to keep it tight and talk about how food and exercise work on an internal and external level.
As women, it’s not unusual to have a bad relationship with food. Sadly, eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and even binging has plagued many.
We worry about calories and watch every teeny tiny portion that goes into our mouth until the weekend comes and we decided to shamelessly pig out on cookie dough.
Somehow, we missed that part in health class that food was our friend. Food gives us energy, stamina and … well, life.
Food delivers vital nutrients to our cells to boost our immune system so our body will fight off disease and unwanted inflammation. It also wakens up our metabolism to give us sustainable energy throughout the day helping function such as our blood sugar levels, thyroid and hormones.
Eating good, healthy whole foods (and drinking plenty of water) revitalizes hair and brightens up our skin. Not only that, but good food consumption has been shown to help to improve mood and stress.
With all of this, how can food be our enemy?
**To be clear, I am speaking directly on whole, real food. Fruits, vegetables, grains, healthy fats, proteins and carbs. Don’t be afraid of the last 3 in that sentence. They are important to our health in the right portions. Just wanted to point that out so you don’t go off buying a bag of potato chips saying I told you any kind of food will do. Ha!
Couple the right food with good exercise and the 2 go hand in hand.
It might seem obvious that exercise is focused solely externally, but since we are talking about being Healthy from the inside out, I think we can find a couple of reasons why exercise is important on an internal level.
For example, exercise can actually help with mental wellness such as anxiety and depression by releasing feel-good endorphins. Movement in general helps to boost confidence, too, and it really doesn’t take much.
Even 15 minutes a day of walking or jogging is sufficient enough. Just get outside and enjoy the fresh air and let the stresses drift away.
How can my spirituality help me feel more beautiful?
Whatever your beliefs may be in a higher being, the one single most important thing you need to know is that you are a beautiful creation of something much bigger than you.
For me, God is my higher power and I know that He has a divine purpose for you and for me and for each and every human being on this planet.
Maybe you don’t see yourself as a super spiritual person, and maybe you do, either way you have an intuition that, when tapped into can help guide your path of life.
Interestingly enough, to be able to truly trust this internal guide you have to begin by trusting yourself and then trusting that there’s something and someone out there bigger than you are to help pave the path.
To really know your true beauty and divine worth, de-junking the negativity is the first step. Just like going back to the mindset and mental part of being healthy from the inside out, this is the same.
I want you to think of every woman around you. Right now, I’m thinking of every woman that sat in my chair staring at themselves in the mirror. While you’re thinking about these women, I want you to truly see them. Do you see their external beauty? Do you see their internal beauty? Do you see their scars? Their frustrations? Their fears? Their stress and anxieties?
I’ll bet you can, because most of them are not far off from being just like you. As you picture these women, do you love them? Do you want to hug them and comfort them when they’re down? Do you want to lift them up and encourage them?
I truly hope your answer is YES!
Now, I want you to pick up your phone, or if it’s in your hand now I want you to turn on the camera and flip the camera towards you so you can see yourself.
The woman staring back needs just as much love from you as you give to the other women that you just pictured.
To truly see yourself as a beautiful woman from the inside out you must know that there is also a being out there who loves you and all of your imperfections.
You can go through the motions of eliminating negative thinking, eat every meal perfectly and exercise and be fit enough for ninja warriors, but if you struggle to seek out your true divinity as a woman, the true change will be a struggle to make.
One of my favorite ways to connect with myself and with my higher power (God) is through meditation. To sit quietly for several minutes and become in tune helps me to know I am loved.
It’s hard sometimes to love yourself, but it’s the secret sauce to total happiness.
To live your healthiest most beautiful life, be brave and go to work on YOU! In the process you will find yourself and love single every bit of you.
You will see that true beauty really does come from the inside out.
Start your amazing journey on discovering your true beauty
Jodi Ashford is a Certified Life and Health Coach specializing in helping beauty service providers stay fit and focused doing the work they love.
If you’re ready to move to the next level, no matter what your industry, reach out to Jodi! She loves to help!
