Tarren Brooks - The Brides Guide to Glow: Everything you need for beautiful skin on your big day

Text copyright 2020 by Tarren Brooks.
Illustrations copyright 2020 by Seeta Roy.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available.

ISBN 978-1-4521-8398-5 (epub, mobi)
ISBN 978-1-4521-8337-4 (hardcover)

Design by AJ Hansen.
Typeset in Columbia Sans, Mrs Eaves, and Brandon Grotesque.

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Holistic skin care is cultivating a mindful pattern of self-care to improve skin health and well-being

Katie Woods

You and your skin have been on a long journey together. Since birth, your skin has been a virtual mirror of the inner workings of your body, signaling to you what is going on internally. And its the first part of you that people see, the way you greet and are presented to the world.

My skin and I have been on our own unique journey, involving a career of fussing around with varied techniques and products. What feels like a lifetime ago, I worked at a makeup counter selling pore-clogging foundation and terrible perfumes. At the time, that was considered high-end beauty, but the cosmetics were filled with terrible ingredients. I was unknowingly depositing nasty compounds into my body, and encouraging customers to do the same. These products wreaked havoc on my skin.

I didnt understand the trouble I was causing until I changed career paths and my skin started detoxing all the harmful ingredients I had been using. Applying all those silicones, parabens, and phthalates resulted in acne I had never had before, plus scarring and hyperpigmentation issues. These problems took a while to sort out. During that time, I learned how to care for my skin topically with simple, clean products, nourish my skin with my diet, and combat skin issues in the healthiest ways.

This discovery sparked my interest in holistic skin care and led me to pursue a profession in the field. After becoming a licensed esthetician, I dove deep into holistic esthetics. I took courses in formulating organic skin-care products, learned specific treatment techniques, and studied herbalism and nutrition. Now, through my work, I strive every day to help people detoxify their skin-care routines. I have helped brides achieve clear skin after struggling with everything from acne to hyperpigmentation. I find deep joy in helping people feel and look their best for big events, and for daily life. There is nothing that makes me happier than receiving a message from a client letting me know they are feeling confident in their skin and have completely given up makeup, or their skin is looking the best it ever has.

I am here to help you GLOW . I am passionate about skin care, in part because I know firsthand the problems that cheap, toxic products can create. This book offers a holistic approach to skin care by showing you how to nourish your face, mind, and body before the wedding. By taking into account your whole body, you can identify what is going on with different systems and how that shows through in your skin. Oftentimes, if there is a skin disorder, it means there is an underlying issue at hand. Unmanaged stress, poor nutrition, and lack of sleep all have a negative impact on the function of our bodies, and the skin can sometimes be the first indicator when a system in the body needs extra attention. Soothing and healing from the inside out is necessary for our best skin, so I offer ways in which you can support your skins natural functions and nourish it from the inside. Youll also find several routines to promote glowing skin in the lead-up to your wedding, as well as tips for dealing with skin-related emergencies on the big day.

There is a lot of pressure to look perfect for your perfect wedding, to solidify your perfect relationship. If you are thinking that everything must be perfect, please let go of that notion and the pressure that comes with it. (And if youre not thinking that, great. Youre already one step ahead!) The truth is, the stress of perfection will cause just that... stress. Unnecessary, harmful stress. Part of glowing skin, as you will learn, is stress management.

MANAGED STRESS = MENTAL HEALTH = GLOW

Remember, your partner wants to marry YOU , not some cosmetically altered, stressed-out version of you. We are imperfect beings, and you will be doing yourself and your skin a huge favor if you embrace that! It is important to accept the skin you have and focus on healing, enhancing, and supporting it. Not fixing it. Your skin is an extension of you. Learn to love it.

Our skin is our largest organ and very in tune with the rest of our body. Caring for your skin daily with the proper routines is mandatory for glow. It takes time and focus to determine what your skin is telling you it needs. Although you are shedding millions of cells a day, your skin is with you for life. I talk a lot about the skin on the face, but do not forget skin is full body! All of it needs your attention and has differing needs.

Think of your skin as having characteristics (often called conditions). What do you like about your skin and wish to highlight? What do you wish to balance? The basis of a healthy skin-care routine is discovering the right products to work with your skins natural functions and unique qualities.

Your skin characteristics are determined by your individual genetic makeup and ethnic background. Skin also changes periodically, depending on the time of year, weather, your menstrual cycle, geographical location, products, stress levels, and so on. The notion of having dry, combo, or oily skin and falling in line with everyone else who shares this type is an idea of the past. Our skin is much more nuanced than labels suggest. These generic skin-type terms are mostly used for marketing purposes, which can be helpful at times, but are vastly oversimplified. Skin can possess some of these qualities, like dry or oily, but that does not truly define how it should be treated. Although your composition generally remains the same, skin should be treated according to different characteristics, like the ones highlighted here.