Whether real or perceived, it wreaks havoc on our body. That chronic tension, head, neck or shoulder pain that plagues you?  Likely a side effect from the activation of our Sympathetic Nervous System {aka our Fight or Flight response}. Stressful situations, while unavoidable, cause immediate physiological changes in our body - both seen and unseen.  Hormonally, epinephrine circulates to sharpen the senses - the heart beats faster, the lungs expand and the pupils dilate {meaning extra light enters the retina and can later result in light sensitivity and headaches}.  Your brain signals your adrenal system to kick into high gear, pulling the building blocks away from necessary hormones {like estrogen and progesterone} and towards the production of cortisol.
As a little girl, I spent countless evenings watching my momma replace her makeup with wonderful smelling creams and secret concoctions - secret because she insisted that I didn’t need them yet.  The fact that these creams weren’t for me made me want them even more! I would sneak into her bag of goodness, crawl up on the counter, and mimic her actions, rubbing a little dot of that cream in just the right places.   I always wondered why she went through so many steps just to go to bed.  But I also knew that whatever my mom did, I wanted to do too. She was beautiful and I wanted to look just like her one day. I have followed the path that my momma modeled for me - nourishing my skin with beauty secrets and formulas - and now the legacy of beauty-secret-loving-ladies continues on with my girls.  I truly believe that ‘more is caught than taught’ in life, and an important beauty secret for my girls - daughters and friends alike - to catch is choosing products that are clean.