Ritualised beauty: external practices for inner peace

Staying within the confines of home would elicit a level of anxiety, even in the strongest of minds. One way to extract the drudgery of life indoors is to embrace a ritualistic approach to daily grooming and hygiene for an extra dose of calm. From nurturing supplements and a CBD laced milk bath to a line of elegant hair care tools and a candle set designed to aid meditation, here are some examples of how we can elevate our daily routines.

Soak in serenity

Digging into the idea that health is harmony, Nature of Things (which we nominated for Best Grooming Product in this year’s Wallpaper* Design Awards) curative and preventative formulas bolster high-powered botanicals like broad-spectrum hemp extract, lion’s mane mushroom and marula oil, with potent natural minerals such as magnesium chloride and rose quartz powder. Its recommended rituals take a three-pronged approach, which starts with a targeted bath soak that’s followed by a companion bodycare product and an ingestible elixir for either recovery or clarity. Choose from a fortified magnesium soak for deep relaxation or a floral milk bath to replenish and reset the nervous system.

Comb through your thoughts  

Basic grooming couldn’t get more therapeutic than with the thoughtfully made wares of Crown Affair, a newly minted label focusing on hair care. Its signature hairbrush, a boar bristled beauty, distributes hair oils evenly along the length of one’s hair while also massaging the scalp. Brush for five minutes before bed or washing to ensure a more even clean. 

To elevate a hair care regime further, the inclusion of a hair oil is in order. The well-appointed Canadian skincare label F. Miller has created a restorative blend that nourishes hair and the skin beneath it. Stimulating botanicals like jojoba, pumpkin seed and hemp seed oils improve shine and resilience while also ensuring conditioning nutrients reach the hair follicle as well. Section hair into three and deploy overnight as a mask or use on wet hair for a deep conditioning treatment. Suitable for softening beards and body hair or as a strengthening eyebrow serum.

Wash the dirt away 

As a pioneer of the clean beauty movement, the holistic facialist Tammy Fender has been keeping clients coming back for more of her plant-based, rejuvenating treatments at her West Palm Beach spa. Fender’s at-home facial treatment kits could not come at a better time. Neatly packaged with everything you need to recreate her signature double-mask treatments at home, the two kits contain Fender’s renowned Epi-Peel – a natural exfoliator, mask and peel all-in-one, along with a targeted cleanser, toner, serum, another mask and body moisturizer to either purify or restore skin.

Digest your day 

Skincare guru Dr. Barbara Sturm has taken the same philosophy behind her cult line of cosmetics and created a collection of supplements to match. The scientifically backed formulas target skin health on the molecular level to quell inflammation and boost hydration, regeneration and nutrition from within. For these current times, the Repair Food supplement is packed with anti-inflammatory ingredients like frankincense extract, curcumin, and the healing superfood purslane, which is at the core of the brand’s products. Taken daily, the power-packed, vegan capsules not only nourish and restore cells from oxidation, but also improve the functions of joints, muscles and organs throughout the body.

Burn your concerns 

For anyone looking to develop or amplify their meditation practice, the mindfully charged collective 3rd Ritual has created the BEL kit, made up of a brass candle holder, three coconut wax candles and three brass pins that can be embedded in each taper. As the palo santo, French lavender and sage scented wax melts, each pin eventually falls out, landing with a ding on the candleholder to poetically mark the passage of time or conclusion of the meditation. The brand’s founder Jenn Tardif says, ‘Having a point of focus helps hold our attention so that for a few moments, you can let your senses guide you towards a more mindful state of being.’ 

Given that the walls of our homes now define the boundaries of our existences, a little energy clearing couldn’t hurt. Le Labo’s energizing room spray Palo Santo 14 takes the earthy, hippie mainstays of palo santo, incense and patchouli and refines them with warm cedarwood and dark labdanum. With burning palo santo known as a way to disperse negativity and misfortune, we say spray with abandon.