230 Nadine Artemis: Renegade Beauty

Because if we're using soap a lot, what we now know is those surfactants go into our stratum corneum and stay there. And so using soap to wash your face for decades is just leaving residue behind and it's not allowing the bacteria to do what they need to do to keep your beauty optimal. And of course, you don't want to use shampoos with harsh sodium lauryl sulfates. When you're using a natural shampoo, you can hopefully shampoo a bit less. You can add things like baking soda to the shampoo to get rid of a lot of the residue from previous commercial soaps or polymers in your conditioner. And then you want to just try washing your hair less if you can, if you've got long hair, because then we can allow the scalp and the head's microbiome to kind of get back into balance as well. So a lot of often what I'm telling people too is something they could do is to actually just stop some of the practices that we think we have to do or like, look at it in a new way.

That's Nadine Artemis, and this is Episode 230 of Wellness Force Radio. What's up, my friend? It's your host, Josh Trent. And welcome back to another episode for your weekly access to global experts in all things wellness as we discover the physical and emotional intelligence we need to live life well. In this podcast, we're talking about the industrialization of beauty. We explore the mystery and the myth that surround toxic beauty, chemicals and personal care products. If you're a woman or a man who uses deodorant, well, hopefully that's all of us. All of us get to use deodorant. Personal care products is very important. If you've been curious about how to use personal care products in a healthy way, this is the show for you. We explore cutting edge research and investigations about the natural care product industry, its efficacy versus dangerous skin makeup and other harmful synthetic products that are pushed as normal and healthy, which they are not. This show is for you. If you've been interested about this conversation of toxic versus regular, normal and natural, the things that are healthy for you. This is the marketing and messaging out there around national beauty products in 2018 that are actually leading people astray because nine times out of 10, they are not actually what they say they are. So in this show we explore this topic and so much more with Nadine Artemis, the author of Renegade Beauty Reveal and Revive youe Natural Radiance, Nadine shares her decades of education and experience as a best selling author and aroma college, which is something I hadn't heard before. I think you'll actually like what it means to be an aroma College. We also explore the healing powers of natural plants, aromas and essential oils that you can easily add to your daily self care and beauty routine. We talk about sunscreens and go into depth about skincare and sunshine and vitamin D and toxins, the chemicals that are found in most products for skin care and how you can avoid those, why sunbathing is so beneficial for circadian rhythm, the best oil based skin cleansers, how you can limit toxic exposure and use natural everyday ingredients to clean your skin and your body and how all of this by the way relates to our wellness. We talk about Nadine's story of overcoming loss and tragedy and how these products actually give her energy and the best life possible. You can do this too. You can pick up a free copy of Nadine's book. Just go over to wellnessforce.com renegadebeauty Nadine was generous enough to give a free copy to our audience. We'll announce that in just seven days. And as always, show notes from today are at wellnessforce.com230 for this episode. Wellnessforce230 let us know. You heard Nadine on the podcast today. Her website is livinglibations.com now let's dig in to Renegade Beauty with Nadine Artemis. Nadine Artemis is a world renowned health and wellness speaker. A gifted, gifted Aroma College. I have not heard of this before. We're going to figure out what that is. And a visionary who gathers and works with the purest ingredients from across the globe. She also has written two books, one we're going to talk about in depth today. Renegade Beauty Reveal and revive your Natural Radiance and Holistic Dental care. A Complete guide to Healthy Teeth and gums. Now she's also the creator of Living Libations. This is a very exquisite line of elixirs and essential oils for honestly, anyone, men or women, who wants botanical, natural health and beauty products throughout the world. Nadine, welcome to Wellness Force Radio.

Thank you so much for having me on.

You know, I find it really compelling that on the first part of your book, the person who played Trinity in the movie Carrie Anne Moss actually opened up the book. We're gonna talk about this a lot, but first please tell us, how did you and Carrie Anne Moss meet? And also can you identify for us the undercurrent, the energetic intention of having Carrie open up this book and having this book be part of the Change that we want to see in the world.

Yes. Lovely questions. Carrie Ann is a dear friend of mine and it all happened through an email. She emailed me and she just said, I, you know, I've opened up a bottle of your Rose Glow Serum and I had to.

And that was it. That was it. She tried your product and she reached out to you.

Yeah. She's like, I was compelled to meet you. And I thought we would meet in Los Angeles because I was going there to do a conference, but. And then she had to. She had a shooting schedule. So then the next time. So then we were just corresponding and then she said, I'm coming to Toronto. And I. And it was for one night. And I was like, oh, my gosh. Because I don't live in Toronto, but that's our. That's our airport city. We live three hours outside of it. And I was just coming. I had a. I was going to go to San Francisco and I had. I was like, I really need to stay in Toronto one night to get some things done. So I had booked the same night in Toronto and I got off the plane and our hotels were even on the same block of the city. And I went over there and it was about 8:30 at night. And then we talked till 4:30 in the morning.

That's how you know that there was definitely something else directing the whole thing. And we've talked about this on the show, you know, the spiritual component to what we do, which I know is a big part of why you wrote Renegade Beauty and honestly, why your voice is so renowned across the world. And I want to give people maybe your take on who you are and what you do. Can you tell us, Nadine, in a few sentences how you might describe yourself to somebody who's never met you?

I'm so bad at defining myself or my role, so it's a funny question that's like making me blush, but I've carved out a path in a lot of innovation in the realm of botanical formulating. I started really young. I definitely did a lot of experimenting when I was a child and early teens, but it really all came together when I was 18 and away at university. And that's when I really started understanding the whole food system and how to read food labels and then understanding that I don't really want to buy any food that has a label on it, like in that realm with lots of ingredients. And so it was really just a process. It only took about a month. And from that moment on, I started making all my own foods. Never eating processed food, only eating organic. And from there I went into reading all of my beauty care bottles and understanding that even what I thought was natural at that time, which was the body shop, that it wasn't. And that, you know, the pineapple face wash. I'd never met a pineapple. The fuzzy peach bath oil had never been impeached. And so all of that realm, it was just like, whoa, it was so toxic. And there really wasn't anything to buy back then if you were thinking of green. So it was really about exploring the raw materials. And then I just started making every single thing that I would have bought, which was, like, from perfume to lip balm to body oils and face serums. And through that, as I was studying in university, which was also really, you know, I was put putting connecting the dots because I was majoring in women's studies and film. And women's studies is so interdisciplinary that there's courses within all the subject areas. You know, you can do, like women in literature, Women in film Philosophy was looking at cultures around the world. And then in one of our classes, we had the textbook Our Bodies Ourselves, you know, which is not a normal textbook. You know, we're reading about IUD and birth control pills. I was doing projects on midwifery. I interviewed midwives. I, you know, I wrote papers on Madonna. I wrote my thesis on the female orgasm. I read the Beauty Bit by Naomi Wolf. I was, you know, I did essays on, like, feminism and its links to vegetarianism or how, you know, like, sort of like the correlation between, like, how animals are treated in a factory farming situation and our history of women and the medicalization of women's bodies. So it was like doing all that and. And at the same time really seeing, like, the issues with how our bodies have been medicalized or the insecurities around advertising, the falseness around advertising, the ingredients that we were putting in our body in the name of birth control or in the name of beauty and how they were harming us. And so I really feel like that was all interconnected. But when I wasn't studying or writing essays, then I was in my little kitchen, and that's where I was, like, making and exploring whether it would be food or beauty care products. And then I was researching and reading a lot of ancient or older textbooks from, like, 18th century Europe, which was fascinating to me because I felt like that was also a time period where in the 18th century, they were looking back to antiquity to see how body care formulations were made in, like, ancient Egypt or ancient Greece. And that was sort of the 18th century take on it, which was great because then when we get to the turn of the century, that's when synthetics are invented. Of course, I'm really generalizing here. And then that's when we have the division between the natural world and plant medicine and a world where perfumes and plants were seen as medicine, as one and the same, where ancient cultures of like the shaman or the medicine maker was also the priest, and they were seen as sort of like this one world. Then you're coming into the 19th century and then there's a division and there is like this reductionist scientific view of like, okay, what are we going to isolate? What's the active component? How are we going to replicate it? And so I found that fascinating. And then I was reading about ancient formulas or ancient ingredients, and those raw materials weren't available. And so I had to sort of scour the earth and find out where they were being made, where they're being distilled. And then I was getting in just gorgeous essential oils that I hadn't smelled before, or if it was something kind of common like a ylang or a bergamot or a tea tree, I was getting in samples that were just blowing my mind and just like, so much better than what was commonly available. So besides making skincare products, I started importing all these rare and wonderful oils. And then six months after graduating, because I was working on my concept for a store, I opened up North America's first full concept aromatherapy store in Toronto. And it was beautiful. And there were all my formulations. And we had this blending bar where you could come and get customized perfumes or buy essences by the drop. So. And that was when I was 22.

Do you feel like that's when the aroma collegiate that really. You call yourself an aroma college? Tell us what that is, because I'd love to figure out what that is. And then is, is that someone that just has a science and a background in essential oils and aromatherapy?

Well, it's really the study of aroma. And you know that you could be studying that and working with that, and it could be in a synthetic realm or a natural realm. Of course I'm exploring the natural realm, you know, and there back then too, there weren't. And then I call myself a botanical formulator, but that's all. It's not like that's actually. I mean, that's kind of me. That's what I do. But it's not like that's a set job, like a Librarian. Like a librarian or whatever. So, you know, it's not like growing up you have these set things to fall into. But yeah, that's what I do. So it's really the study of aroma, its effect on the body, and then botanical formulating.

What's fascinating to me too is you mentioned in your book here that when it comes to the flaws that all of us have, and honestly our flaws can be beautiful, very beautiful. But you write that our flaws in the industrialization of beau have been highlighted and criticized while supermodel's cheekbones get mythologized. Why did you choose that to open up the book.

I feel like there's, it's like so much everything. There's a standard, there's the message, there's the images of like this, right? This is what beauty is. And it changes throughout the seasons or the magazine or the fashions of the year. And it's so deep and so cross cultural and so deep in our culture. And really, you know, especially it only, it only grows. Like we got the 90s and advertising and magazines, but now we also have social media. So our imaging and what we are consuming has really sped up. So you know, there are ads and there are images that we're seeing all the time and we're not even really dissecting them or looking at like what's influencing us or if you look at the history of even advertising to women and men, like we go back to the 1930s, but there's like advertisers for douching with Lysol.

With Lysol? You mean like the table cleaner?

Oh yeah, yeah. And you can google these ads if anybody's listening, just google them right now. And that like this is what we're being targeted with like all the time. So it's really like to sell a product, it's fear based, you know, it's like even like anti aging or age defying. It's like all of that is really just like focusing on the insecurities. And here's the solution. Like you all smell, so here's the deodorant, here's the douche. And we just really want to undo that kind of cultural programming.

This is what you talk about in the book. And for people that don't know, this is a modern day guide for how to navigate kind of the twisted weaving and maybe toxic world of beauty products and skin care, you know, from the outside in and from the inside out. But tell us the concept of renegade beauty. I mean, why now with this book?

Yeah, well, you know this book's been in me for a while and I was so happy that, you know, all the stars aligned to finally get it out. I really feel like it's like, you know, my brain for the past 20 years all encapsulated in a book. And, you know, it's deep. There's from the poetic understanding to the scientific studies and the science behind everything. I do like to do a deep dive so that we can undo things that we think are the norms and the standards, have a look back. And then also, you know, how can we engage in a fresh way? And sometimes that does take depth and exploration. Like, for example, there's a chapter on the sun, and it's the sun and skin. What's the relationship between the sun and our skin and is it healthy? And, you know, that does, you know, it takes a chapter to do and dig away because, I mean, it's so, so programmed that it's like, not good for our skin or it's going to cause wrinkles. And so we really have to unpack that and then provide, like, ways to engage. So we have to unpack the old and then look to the future. And so that's what I hope that Renegade beauty will bring. I get thousands and thousands of questions every year, and so I really feel like I have a pulse. I have a finger on the pulse of what women's concerns are, what men's concerns are, where we're at with our skin. There's such an increase in microbiome, imbalances of eczema, rashes, fungal infections, and it needs to be addressed. There was such a big gap in the market, or a lot of beauty books are. Or natural beauty books are lovely. But we really need to go deep so that we can confidently enter the new terrain. And also the cultural messaging is so intense and it's so surface driven and it's so like every solution's in a bottle. So I want to take that back deeper and really explore that. Beauty isn't something that can be applied. It's something that we bring out and highlight and we really have to examine how can we replenish. And it isn't always just coming from a bottle. We need to engage with the elements, which is what I call cosmoetics.

There are so many great chapters in here too. And I remember reading there was actually a piece in the chapter on sunshine where you talk about these fine filaments on our bod. We have tons and tons, I mean, thousands of vitamin D receptors, like little antennas for the rays of the Sun. What is the effect? Let's clear up this. Since we have these receptors for vitamin D on our skin, what's happening when we put on certain types of sunscreens? And can you talk a little bit about sunscreen? Because I think that's on people's minds.

Right now for sure. Yeah. I love talking about the sun. And yes, our skin is designed to be exposed to solar rays. It's our form of photosynthesis, it's our form of cosmic pollination. And we have thousands of vitamin D receptors in our skin and also in our bodies in places that don't even see the sun. But when we receive the sun's rays through our skin, then we're able to literally fill up our vitamin D receptors. They need to be brimming with vitamin D. And I'll get questions like people wondering, can I just take vitamin D supplements? And then, you know, forget about the sun. And while vitamin D supplements are important, especially for people that live in winter climates or have, you know, have winter in their, in their seasons, then we do need that source. But we, we need to remember that the sun really is designed to be exposed, sorry, the skin is designed to be exposed to the sun and that we can trust this ancient design of our bodies. And also what we receive from the sun is a water soluble form of vitamin D, which is different than the fat soluble form of vitamin D that's in a supplement.

Let's talk about that for a moment too, Nadine. That's really big. I think people forget vitamins A, D, E, K. These are things that really need to have the transport of lipids to be properly absorbed. I think so many people are just popping their supplements in, in a rush in the morning. They're not even thinking about it. How do we actually address this vitamin D equation in a world where, let's face it, it artificial light runs our world?

Yes, artificial light. And you know, one of the studies I talk about in the book is when it's actually people that are exposed more to artificial light. And this is like, is it the new. It's either the New England Journal of Medicine or the Lancet. So both reputable journals and the incidence of skin cancer are more risky for people that are more exposed to artificial light. And this study was back in the 80s before we had like everybody working in front of computer screens, like, can we even imagine that we had no home computers in our lives back then? And so, you know, and then other studies I highlight show that really. And also the Cochrane Review study, so there's also studies that then bridge all the studies together and look at those findings. And so really, generally what we're finding is that, you know, the more sunscreen use, the more moles and freckles, the more outdoor activity, recreational activity outside, even outdoor workers outside, they are less likely to get skin diseases like melanoma or carcinoma.

That's fascinating. That goes against traditional wisdom because I think some people would say, well, you know, if I go out in the sun, I'll get burned. But is it really? And I've heard many Czech practitioners talk about this. Is it really the time out in the sun? Can we wear certain types of clothing? What's a general rule of thumb for people to be out in the sun? And maybe some natural products they could use instead of these toxic sunscreens, for sure.

And it's funny because you said it traditional against traditional wisdom, but I would say that's actually sort of modern wisdom, because traditional wisdom will say be in the sun. You know what I mean? So, yeah, the issue with sunscreen, besides the chemicals and the toxins that are carcinogenic and endocrine disruptors and parabens and all that, what we know is that sunscreens, SPF products, they divide the rays or isolate the rays. So you put on the sunscreen and then you're only going to receive uva. Normally, we would get UVA and UVB together. So when we separate the UVA and the uvb, we don't get any vitamin D because that's coming from the UVB rays. And when we just receive UVA alone without its ultraviolet partner, uvb, then we're looking at a ray that will just cause skin damage. So it needs its other light. And we don't even know all the light spectrums. All the rays, they haven't even all been named, so to speak. And so besides the chemicals, what we're doing is we're just isolating the ray and getting the uva. And that's like if you're in your car and you're always getting exposed to the sun on one arm through the window, that arm will have more freckles and stuff.

Ooh, I'm just looking at my left arm right now. And you're right, there is a little bit more freckles on my left arm. You talk about sunwise interaction in your book too, where we really get to gradually build up this melanin five to maybe 10 or 15, 20 minutes a day. It's this gradual exposing of our skin to the sun over time. And you actually say specifically in spring, that can be the solution that we don't have to spray on these toxic sunscreens. How do we do this, though, from like a case by case kind of pragmatic standpoint?

Well, you want to start early and you want to start in the spring. So by February, March, I'm just like at the stage where I'm opening up my sliding windows and like laying in the sun that's coming in on the floor, but not through the glass because the glass will separate the UVB out as well. It might feel nice and you can definitely have light in your home. But I'm just saying if you're sitting in direct sunlight in front of a window eight hours a day, you're going to have, you know, a UVA issue. So we start early and then slowly go out to the decks. They're sort of wind blocked, but the gray is really great. And this was from Drs. Auguste Rollier's work in the 1920s, where he had clinics in Switzerland for healing with the sun's rays, healing tuberculosis and rickets and arthritis and all of that. And he was really studying and developing the work of the Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Niels Feinson from 1902. So we know a lot from that era. And he, you know, so he would have people go into the sun. It was like this hospital, but they're all verandas and every, all the beds are out on the, on the deck. And then you do, you know, you do like below the calf for like 10 minutes for a few days. And then you'll move up to the whole leg and then the whole body. Like, people would wear these little kind of diapers and they'd be out. And what he also noticed was that the cool air is also really great for building muscle tone. So when you're sunbathing in the cool air, you're going to develop muscle tone, which is really, I think, a fun way to develop muscle sound by lying in the sun and. Yeah. So any notice to do it slowly and really build up the melanin. And also things like if people wore sunglasses, they wouldn't get the healing effects of the sunshine. So even if your eyes are closed. So again, you can wear sunglasses. But just when you're sun tanning and stuff, you'll want to take them off, you'll want to use the sunglasses at practical times.

I've heard of this before too. We have certain receptors, photoreceptors in our body that help us with circadian rhythm, with our natural sleep, wake cycles and then we also have this too, from the sun, Nadine, where you actually say that we have to have most of our sun in before solar noon. This is fascinating. I don't know what that exactly means. Is that noon like 12pm or what is solar noon?

Yeah. So I say solar noon because it depends what time zone you're in. So in the summer, it's like, you know how we do the daylight savings time, which, you know, is debatable if we should have it or not, but we do.

I wish we could get rid of it, honestly. No, it's fun. It's so funny too. Everybody says that. Can we just get rid of it? It's like, can we vote on that yet? Anyways, I digress.

So for here in my time zone in Canada, that's actually one o' clock in the summer. So tuning into the sun before 1 o', clock, which is against this modern wisdom of, you know, avoid the sun between 11 and 3. So we're saying go till noon. And then on a more esoteric level and looking at some of the more ancient texts, what I'm also understanding is, and I hope I can explain it properly, but just, you know, like, there's negative ions and positive ions, that kind of thing. And we know negative ions are good. There is that same thing with the sun and the solar rhythm. So up until noon, it's more of a different molecular charge. And then in the afternoon, it's sort of more of a positive molecular charge. And so the morning sun is a little bit healthier for all of our needs.

Yeah. What I think is really great about the morning sun too, is it actually wakes me up. I mean, every morning I'm here in my apartment, I go out and I'm, you know, after I do my morning ritual, my M21, which, by the way, this is a great time to talk about this. If you're looking for a morning morning ritual, we've mentioned this on many shows, go to wellnessforce.com M21 it's practices that Nadine is talking about, you know, getting that sun on your skin. Tell us about your morning routine when it comes to this, too. I want to shift here just a little bit because you've given us some gems about skincare and sun. But what does your morning routine look like when we understand it through the lens of renegade beauty?

Oh, for sure. Let's pretend it's summer, because it is. It's a beautiful day and I can suntan. So, you know, we always have family time. I'll meditate before people get up. And then we have family time and breakfast and that kind of stuff. And then as soon as we can or even we'll have breakfast outside, but we roll out onto the deck and then we sun up as you know, all depending on the weather and the time of day. So if it's early in spring, I'll be, I could be out there for an hour. And then if it's July, might be like just 20 minutes or so because I've already built up my tin and it's hotter. And then we go swimming in the lake, in our fresh spring fed lake. And then the favorite part is when you get out of the lake and then you get to go in the sun again. And then I'll just lather my body in a beautiful body oil like everybody loves the sunshine or my rose best skin ever and just do that until I feel like going inside and then starting my work day.

This body oil, what is the chemical composition or the natural chemical composition? I should say. What is that?

Yes, it's interesting because an spf, that term can only be used with synthetic ingredients. So we can kind of metaphorically explain things like jojoba olive oil and coconut oil have kind of this natural SPF of about a 6, 7 or 8. But that's, you know, again, that's not a scientific technology. We can't use that word for naturals, but just to give a feel. So combining plant oils is great. And I did a lot of testing in my twenties I'd go down to Sedona in the desert and just work with plants and the skin to really get a really maximized combination. So we have the natural fatty oils that have, I call them sun harmonizing properties. And then to that adding really potent essential oils that have either really rich in pigments or also have shown through my work or through studies to show that they're able to help or able to stop cells from going down a more malevolent pathway. So it helps to organize the cells and refresh them. The essential oils, they're really quite active in the skin. They can, you know, so they have so many properties which would be like a whole other call. So combining those to really come up with a formula that really it can extend your time in the sun. It all depends on your location and skin type. But for some that could give them another 15, 20 minutes out in the sun. For another, it could be all they need for they could be sitting out for a few hours. So depending on if you got Irish skin or Mediterranean skin, are you In Hawaii? Are you in Canada in the summer? So there's all of those factors and there's a really good app for that as well. It's called Dminder. And you put in your longitude and latitude, time of day, that kind of stuff, and it will tell you how long to be out in the sun to get your daily dose of vitamin.

D. That is fantastic. We're absolutely going to link that in the show notes. Now, before we go on from the sun to something that's a little more controversial, I wanna ask you one more question. I noticed that in one of your products here it's Everybody loves the sunshine with zinc beach balm. There's a combination of things. There's jojoba, there's sea buckthorn, there's zinc oxide. But then there's also schizandra berry, which that's more of an adaptogen that really helps people with immune and natural body functions. Why did you put that in? What does that have to do with sun care?

Well, for the immune properties as well. And it's also got a nice pigment to it and all the pigment plants are also very protective when it comes to our pigment. So there's that. It also has really good skin properties which you might be less familiar with because you probably also use it a lot as probably a herbal. Like are you probably putting it in smoothies or supplement? Yeah. And it's just such a fascinating plant. But everything's been chosen for, you know, its ability to soothe the skin, boost immunity and activate the skin cells in the way that you want.

So we're talking about the power of holistic living and natural skin, personal care and beauty products. And the same thing applies to what you put on the outside of your skin, to what actually feeds your skin to be healthy from the inside out. This is why I'm always excited to give our show sponsor a huge shout out and thank you to Organifi, creators of the red, green and gold superfood powders found in the Wellness Force Bundle. Now this bundle is a huge discount, 20% off for the Wellness Force audience. A lot of the superfoods inside of this gently dried powder help to give skin, hair and nails a rich appearance and strength from the inside out via Adaptogens. These natural plant compounds found in many of the products that Nadine is discussing on the podcast today, are also found inside of the superfood bundle from Organifi. So pick it up today so you can give your skin strength from the inside out. You get 20% off. Use code WellnessForce over@Organifi.com WellnessForce that's 20% off with code WellnessForce over at Organifi.com WellnessForce we look at shifting gears, resilience. You know, I think some of the things that we all deal with is massive amounts of stress. This can actually put more wrinkles on our face than anything else. And I look at the way that people move from their busy lives from task to task. I want to paint a picture here. You know, let's say we have a mom who's in her 30s or maybe even early 40s, and the kids are very young, so she's putting out a lot more energy than she normally would have, especially when she was single. She's not necessarily educated to the highest degree on skincare products that'll help her. If there was three, that would really help her. Not only, you know, protect her skin, but also give her kind of the calmingness to her nervous system that will help her run the family, run the busy world that she lives in. What are three things that she could do from a Renaissance renegade beauty standpoint?

Yeah, that's a great question. And. And one thing to sort of not preface, but to sort of create a foundation here is that, like I was talking about, sort of the medicine and the perfumers were sort of seen as one and the same. So, you know, before this century, all of our skincare really was this. It was a reverence to the body and to nature. And now all we have are these lifeless liquids that we also now have the study to show that they're not helping us, they're not helping our immune system. You know, diseased breast tissue is showing to have parabens in it and that kind of thing. So we can really think of what we're putting on our bodies as part of our health and our immune system, because we're going to be doing it anyway. So, you know, why be applying something that's going to be challenging your health, your immune system? And of course, it's not going to be that day. It's just this subtle buildup. It's the decades of using aluminum deodorant with the micro dosing, like 30 years later, that's going to add up to be a problem. So besides just finding something that might be neutral and natural, then we want to look at things that can really just boost our function and our health. And, you know, one of the things I think would be a great option would be what we call the best skin ever, which we have different kinds. There's a frankincense Best skin ever Rose. Best skin ever Sandalwood Sea buckthorn. So there's a variety for different skin types and stuff, but that would be the one thing that could be a great start because you want to ditch the soap. You don't want to be washing your face with surfactants, with foaming cleansers or with soap ever. And so the best skin evers can be used to, you know, moisturize your skin when you get out of the bath or shower. You can use them in the sun. You can, you know, use them for a hair oil, a shaving oil, anything like that. But the main thing they also do is they help people get off soap because you start washing your face with oil, which sounds crazy, especially for people that have acne, but it's the ancient method of cleaning your skin. And of course it matters what the ingredients are. So not just any oil, not petroleum oil and not rancid almond oil or grapeseed oil, but working with. Because even right there could be natural and synthetic. And then we get in the natural world and then you want to make sure you're using the best of those ingredients. And for example, we always use jojoba because it's so compatible with our sebum. It helps to unplug pores. And then we're soothing the lipid barrier and the stratum corneum, which is our natural sun protection layer. It's our natural anti aging layer. It's our natural innate immune system layer. And so we can work with our microbiome and the health of our skin.

This jojoba, along with two others, those can be found put together in one type of product like you offer on your site. And then we also think about people that are kind of going through their day and maybe they don't shop at health food stores. Do they have to use the Internet to their guide or can they find something in Avons or Ralph's that'll actually help them?

You could maybe. I'm not, not that I've been there, but if they actually have a genuine authentic olive oil, that would work. Or a real coconut oil. Other useful items you could find is like a baking soda and apple cider vinegar. You know, you could, I have things, notes on those, those natural ingredients that if you had no budget and you, you know, or not no budget, but a little bit of a budget.

Sure, sure.

You could just ditch all your commercial products and go with that. And you'd be far better off and less wrinkly when you're 90.

The challenge with this is when we're experiencing emotional stress. It can show up on our skin. And I'd love for us to talk about this here. I know it's a very sensitive subject, but it's something that is all over. When your business and your home burned down, I can only imagine how much stress that might have caused you both internally and externally. Tell us how you went through that and maybe share some guidance for someone that goes through kind of, for lack of a better term, having the house burned down.

Yeah, that was luckily. Yeah, that was. It was about four and a half years ago, so I'm not crying about it anymore. But, yeah, it was a really devastating moment because our whole home and our whole business burnt to the ground. And literally, like everything, every raw material, every special, you know, heirloom, it was all gone. And it was a really challenging moment where you really look to the love and support of your community and your friends and family and mental fortitude that, you know, that emotional resilience and mental fortitude was really what I had to rely on besides the friends and family. And, you know, you really have to just find a way to. In your mind, to find that next best thought. You have to consciously, I think of it, not that I'm a rock climber or anything, but you kind of like. You know that. That thing of, like, where you have to find that next. That next thing to get a hold of. To let yourself.

Just to get a grip. Yeah. Just to get a handhold.

Yeah, yeah. And it's also. It was interesting, too, because we're really. It was. We're just. You're left with like. Just like in a really. Like my son and my husband Ron. It was like such a. We're very close anyway, but it just makes you, like, here we are. It's just us. It's sort of this sort of naked moment when you're. Everything. You know, everything's gone. And then you also expand out and it gives you a moment where you feel the sky is your roof. You know, on a metaphorical level, you're like. Where you feel the universe is also a home. Just for a moment, you know, you get in touch with that again. It refreshes it. If you were taking anything for granted, it refreshes that button as well.

Yes.

And then you just keep, you know, just. It's really about. It's a real mental game. You just have to keep finding what's positive. Well, there's this. Oh, there's this, you know, and you just. That's how you have to climb out of it.

I love that you said the next best thought. And I think, you know, there is this correlation between being in this physical body. You know, we're in a meat suit, we're on a rock in the middle of outer space. We're kind of figuring that out as we go along. And, you know, when you went through this stress, you know, having the house burned down, maybe for somebody in the audience, they lose someone they care about, whatever it is. What are some botanicals, some natural things, some oils, let's be real, some plants. These plants have the capability to nourish our skin and also calm our nervous system. So when you were going through that, Nadine, what were you taking from a natural plant perspective to help you deal with the stress?

Well, I didn't have anything. People would donate my products back to me, so that was kind of funny. But yeah, then when I got gathering things again, I mean, frankincense is such a thing to reach for because it's very. It's like fortitude and it's ancient. And all the essential oils, you know, they, they all have their unique properties and stuff. They are also all antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral. Many of them are anti inflammatory. So they've got, they're such potent remedies and they're all in one draw. And then they're also beautiful because they have this whole other element to them because they, they smell so awesome and they're all unique. And that really taps into our emotions and our mind and our physiology in a way, you know, that, that other, other things can't or like just, you know, we all experience plants through like eating or taking a herb or having a herbal tea. Yeah, but the essential oils just have this other element and it's, you know, know, it's quite frankly, it's a little bit magical because it's these tiny drops that are so potent and they really, when you inhale them, they go into the hypothalamus. So there's like this sort of etheric, spiritual, emotional thing that kicks in. And then the neat thing is that can really be traced and tracked in the body on a physiological level as the scent molecules travel up into your brain, into the hypothalamus and the limbic system, and then they're, you know, creating then that can be measured where you're getting alpha brain waves and, you know, so it's like all the things that we speak about in a more spiritual realm have all been mapped out physically where Even in the 80s there's, like, a professor in Italy studying essential oils in Milan University. And really seeing that, like, yeah, bergamot helps with anxiety. Frankincense does help with depression. And so there's just such special extractions of the plants. It's such a neat way to relate to the plant. And, you know, rather than just this little resin of frankincense, which I also love, and you can chew that and do so many things with it, but when you distill from that plant, you're really getting their essence. And, like, one drop of rose oil contains the equivalent of 60 Rose Head. So there's just such alchemy with these oils, and they're so fun to play with. And one of the, you know, if you don't, you know, you think, oh, I'm not going to blend in that kind of stuff, or I'm not going to have a diffuser. That's totally cool. You can just have it in your body care and get to be with that life force in a way that you're going to be taking care of your body anyway.

I think of how many plants are pushed into these little tiny containers, which typically cost so much, but you only need a drop or two. And this is big because not only have I heard Dr. Axe talk about this, I know you have a ton of resources@livinglibations.com, which is your site. This is where you have so many of the things we've talked about today. Just a quick review. We talked about the healing powers and the protective elements of jojoba. And then also the things you can find at everyday stores, like olive oil, coconut oil, baking soda, and apple cider vinegar. So those are things that don't cost a lot, but especially frankincense. I have sprouts here in Southern California. I went to go get some frankincense, and I think it was like $80. And I thought to myself, wow, maybe there's another way that I can get this in besides an $80 vial. So anything else we can mention about stress reduction or dealing with any kind of loss or stress through some of these healing powers of these plants and aromas.

Yeah. So you could take that. The frankincense doesn't have to be $80, by the way. I mean, it's definitely more expensive, but I think ours is 30 or 40. But anyway, so you can just take one drop. You can rub it in the palms of your hand and inhale it. You can put it under your nose for meditation, so you can use it in these ways. That whatever you're doing for stress, it can add to it. You can help be part of your toolkit for that. It can help you. Because then maybe it's more fun to breathe and meditate when you're inhaling frankincense.

That's a good point. I didn't think about that.

Yeah. And it's also going to get those brain waves going for real if we then hook up, up the.

Yeah, the EKG metrics, the leads.

Yeah, yeah. So it's just amplifying and enhancing and inspiring. You know, you can use it for focus, you can use it for creativity. They really are just here to really enhance our lives. They're such a gift for us.

Let's talk about, as we wind down the show here, the things that people can do every day. We already talked about the jojoba and the olive oils and the natural oils. But from a other personal care aspect, is there a certain type of soap and shampoo that people get to use? Talk about that a little bit, because I don't know anybody that doesn't need to bathe every day.

Well, you don't need to bathe every day, and we certainly don't need to use soap in the way that we've been using it. So obviously you want to have soap in your house and you just want to do, like a natural bar soap or something. Have that in. We just this year made our clay soap, the clay soap and a charcoal soap, which are super nice, and they're really high in good oil fat, so they're moisturizing. But even with our soap, we even say, like, don't use it, like, on your thigh and your arm. Like, you don't have to. There's nothing that requires to be soaked or cleansed there. And you just want to save it for pits and bits and, like, scrubbing your nails and washing your hands. And there's much less microbiome on your hands and stuff, too. Because if we're using soap a lot, what we now know is that those surfactants go into our stratum corneum and stay there. And so chronic, you know, using soap to wash your face for decades is just leaving residue behind, and it's not allowing the bacteria to do what they need to do to keep your beauty optimal. So that's the deal with soap. And of course, you don't want to use shampoos with harsh sodium lauryl sulfates and, you know, use it. You want to try. And when you're using a natural shampoo, you can hopefully shampoo a bit less. You can add things like baking soda to the shampoo to get rid of a lot of the residue from previous commercial soaps or polymers in your conditioner. Sort of clear the slate. And then you want to just try washing your hair less if you can, if you've got long hair, because then we can then it can allow the scalp and the head's microbiome to kind of like get back into balance as well. So a lot of often what I'm telling people too is something they could do is to actually just stop some of the practices that we think we have to do or like look at it in a new way.

Yes. The number one resource for people that they complain about the most would probably be money. And then followed right next to that is time, Nadine. So thank you. So thank you so much for giving these this. You've gone so practical with us today. We're gonna link the book Renegade Beauty in our show notes today. Just a couple fun questions actually as we say goodbye. I noticed that Alanis Morissette, you know, one of my, when I was in high school, favorite singers, I think so many other people. But you've been her essential oil mentor since she was 19. Tell us that quick story.

Yeah, so when she was 19 she came to Toronto to do a concert and she remember when I went back and told you I'd opened up North America's first aromatherapy store? So she heard about the store in the city and she was just asking around or saying I've got to go there. And then somebody said, I know her. And so I got a call to meet Alanis at the store after the concert around midnight and she came in and we had the best time ever. We were just like at the scent bar, smelling and giggling about all the oils. She's just like, was like a kid in a candy store. And I'm only like a few years older than her, but I remember she was leaving and she's just like, when I grow up, I want to be just like you.

Little did you know how many albums she was going to sell? Huh?

Totally. Well, yeah, that was still. Yeah, she was still. That was Jagged Little pill days.

Yes.

But we've remained friends since. And she still has oil from that day. She still has bottles from that moment.

Well, Nadine, this book, I think it represents obviously the change that we wanna see from a holistic self care perspective. But how do you see this? This is the last two questions for you. The first one being what do you think the change that this Book actually is for the world. And how are you leading that with Renegade Beauty?

Well, I feel like there's a ton of the practical tips, and you can find out from acne to eczema to, like, you know, breast health, yoni care, it's all in there. But I really feel like the. Because I love to give that message and we need to know those really practical things. But if we widen the purpose of the book, it's really about engaging with the elements again, getting back in contact with nature, which is really a part of our bodies. We need to engage with the water, air, sun, and earth aspects of our lives. And then it's also about understanding that our body is alive and our cells and the bacteria in our bodies. We have billions of points of consciousness in our bodies besides what's being radiated from our. From our thoughts and heart. And so it's about understanding that ecology of our bodies and allowing ourselves and our bacteria and ourselves to thrive.

It's funny, I'm thinking of an alliteration here as you were speaking. And I'm visualizing this. If we want to heal ourselves, we have to first heal ourselves. And I know that sounds a little bit interesting, but it's so true. And there's a direct impact by what we put on our skin and the kind of beauty products that we use for both men and women, how they affect our microbiome and everything else. Nadine, we scratched the surface on your book. You've been kind enough actually to give our audience a free copy. So, you guys, if you're listening here, just go to wellnessforce.com renegadebeauty her team is gonna send you a book right to your doorstep. Last question for you today as we wrap here. We talk about physical and emotional on the show so much, and I'm curious for you, how would you define this intersection? What does wellness mean to you? How do you define wellness in your life?

Wellness is feeling good. It's about feeling satisfied with the present moment. You know, it may not be like a complete party in the present moment, but, like, there's always something good in that moment that you can really go, you know what? This is really great right now. And if you keep tuning into that, you just start to have a garden of wellness surrounding you from moment to moment.

I love how you communicate in metaphor. I do that as well. It's been a joy to connect with you. And where can people learn more? Where can they dig into your work? LivingLibations.com is one place. But where are you the most active?

Personally, I'M the most active on Instagram. That's my favorite social media channel. And you can see all the beautiful pictures of our land and the flowers and all that. And then really, I mean, if you read the book, that's like, that's everything.

That is everything. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show. It's been a true pleasure to connect with you and I just want to take a big breath here because breathing is such a great tool. We talk about it all the time on the show. With this deep breath, I'm giving you acknowledgement. I'm just really spotlighting your work and allowing people to have you be seen for someone who has taken what some consider to be the biggest tragedy of life, having everything burned down and then create something that can really serve the world. So thank you for writing Renegade Beauty. Thank you for coming on the show and being someone that people look for for these practical solutions.

Thank you so much. Josh.

Hey my friend. Thank you for hanging out and growing with me on today's show. Remember to hit subscribers, subscribe Share this podcast with somebody you care about that you think gets to hear this message. Support the show by leaving a five star review for the podcast right now simply by tapping on your show artwork. On your iPhone, click that purple link that says review this podcast. It helps the show reach more conscious and smart people like you and your voice will attract more world class guests that want to come on the show. So let them hear your voice. For all the downloads, videos, links and free resources mentioned on the episode, go to wellnessforce.com and while you're at my house on the web, join us in the Wellness Force Community newsletter on that page and I'll send you four free guides around staying healthy with your eating, moving and sleeping while you travel. But don't let this conversation stop here. Join a group of people like you over at the Wellness Force Community Facebook page. This is where we talk about the things that really matter. We share our wins, inspirations, struggles and a lot more. So join us. Tap on the show artwork on your phone and hit that purple link that says join the Facebook group and I will welcome you at the door. Okay, now you get to go out into your world and create impact for the people that you care about. So until I see you again real soon, I'm wishing you love and wellness.