We chat to four award winning brands to find out about their ideal day and get them to reveal their self-care secrets
Lindsey Hedges lives in a tiny cottage in the middle of Pembrokeshire, where she lives with her partner Neil and magic cat, Wishes. They're surrounded by beautiful countryside and have a tiny garden, which is a little patch of paradise. She is the founder of Akamuti.
“I’ve always had a passion for nature, trees and herbal medicine. As an aromatherapist it was easy to combine my love for mother nature, flowers and oils and create products designed to promote health, happiness and wellbeing. It has always been my vision to create affordable, people and planet friendly products ever since I started 21 years ago and nothing has changed to this day!
My favourite product changes from time to time, as it's really hard to pick just one! At the moment I am loving our lavender, geranium and chamomile relaxing bath salts. They are just such a wonderful combination of healing flower oils that support a lovely healing night’s sleep, something that feels more important the older I get!
An ideal day
My ideal day would be a sunny day spent in the garden, armed with coffee and notebooks. I enjoy relaxing and designing products in the garden surrounded by birdsong, and growing flowers for my bees. It's where I get my inspiration.
3 self-care secrets
1. I find it empowering and restorative to break with routine. Whether it be a spontaneous walk in the woods, an unexpected nap or running myself a therapeutic, aromatic bath, whatever it is that you need to recharge and reset, make time to do it.
2. My foundation to functioning well through the day is to get a good sleep, or finding ways to promote total relaxation.
3. Find time to keep your body moving! Whether it be walking or dancing, just keep moving. I love the ritual side of self-care, making time and taking time to create a restorative experience for myself, whether I'm creating a nutritious breakfast or whipping up a face mask.
Brigitte Flower is a Partner at HRI Herbal. She lives in a village in Bucks with her husband, 8 year old daughter and two cats, next door to her two step-sons, mother-in-law and extended family. A commune of sorts….
“My parents, Patti and Terry set up HRI Herbal over 45 years ago and it’s now a second-generation family business with myself and two of my sisters at the helm. Our parents were always passionate about health and natural remedies; growing up, I learned the power of holistic medicine to heal and I developed my own interest in herbal remedies.
I’m currently studying a foundation course in herbal medicine and I’ve worked with a herbal practitioner for many years to support my own health journey. It’s incredible to witness the power of herbs to heal across your whole system and it still makes me smile when someone gets in touch to share their story of how one of our products has helped them feel better.
I regularly use HRI Coldcare to help stave off a cold when it inevitably starts, which is often in a household with children!
An ideal day
It begins with a cup of tea brought to me in bed by someone I love. Then plenty of time in the morning to potter and read in my dressing gown. There would be food at some point, shared with my family, time in the garden and a walk. I love the theatre so I’d end the day with a play, a good meal and a glass of wine with my husband.
3 self-care secrets
1. Find a quiet 10 minutes in the day. No phone, maybe a cup of tea. Just sitting quietly.
2. Reframe problems; there is always another way to look at something.
3. Move as often as possible and make it fun (dance round the kitchen, race your child to the swing, learn to do a handstand…whatever makes you smile).
Franchine Young lives in Belfast with her husband of 38 years. She has two daughters and 4 grandchildren. She is the founder of Franchine Young Ireland.
“I had been diagnosed with ME and Ramsey Hunt Syndrome in my early forties. For a long time as I journeyed through perimenopause I often mistook symptoms for ME flare ups. Eventually I became so ill with perimenopausal symptoms I had to take extended leave from my career. During this time, I observed what I was eating and using on my body - and I realised that many of the ingredients they contained could have been exacerbating my symptoms. This was a time of great mental and physical discomfort for me - and I wanted clean and easy to use ingredients. When I couldn't find what I was looking for I decided to make it. I spent months researching plant oils, skin health and endocrine disrupting chemicals that I wanted to avoid going forward.
FYI Wonder Balm multi-award winner, is my 'go to' for most of my skincare needs. It's a multi-use product developed to help you look after your skin with amazing clean organic ingredients, and if brain fog is an issue for you, as it was for me, it is such a simple routine but at the same time powerful as the ingredients I chose work in harmony with my body. Wonder Balm is a make-up remover, cleanser and moisturiser and more! And if your travelling it's a 'must have'!
An ideal day
My ideal day would begin with meeting good friends for coffee and a walk along Cultra beach, just outside Belfast. I would then spend an afternoon with my daughters and grandchildren - in the summer we have adventure Fridays where we explore beaches, forests and all that our beautiful Northern Ireland has to offer. My evening would finish with tea and catch up with my amazing parents and finally my husband and I would snuggle up in front of the fire to watch a series.
3 self-care secrets
- Rest - when our bodies need time to heal and adjust, especially during hormonal transitions, it sends us signals, and if we ignore them sometimes we end up with no choice but to stop and listen.
- Clean up your space! I am mindful of everything I use now at home - for washing, cleaning and personal care. We don't need more stuff! We just need less things that help make our lives better without harming our bodies, planet and others.
- Goldie Hawn has an amazing attitude to life and mental health. I love her tips and words of wisdom. Gratitude is hard to find when you're going through hard times - but I believe that it helps us to reconnect with our strength and purpose. Having a sense of purpose in this world is so important. It teaches us to respect and to know that we only get one life, so do the best we can with it.
Laura Rudoe is the founder of Evolve Beauty. She lives with her husband and 3 children in Herts where the company’s wind-powered studio and office are located too.
“When I was younger I suffered from bad skin and so I have always been interested in skincare and learning about the best ingredients and natural solutions for skin problems. After I graduated from Harvard Business School, I followed my passion for natural skincare and I ended up helping to set up a brand called NUDE, another natural beauty brand. I loved being a part of the clean beauty revolution and I later decided to take the plunge and create my own natural beauty company, Evolve Organic Beauty.
One of the things I’m really passionate about is giving people natural organic and effective product choices for their entire beauty regime if they want to lead a toxin free lifestyle. I created Evolve Organic Beauty with a mission to create sustainable organic products that could help people live a little healthier and greener every day. I believe that natural, organic and eco-friendly ingredients are better for us and for the planet.
I genuinely love all our products and due to my job I also get to test a lot of new products and formulas that we’re coming up with! So my favourite products as well as my skincare routine keep changing. But some of my current favourites are:
Gentle Cleansing Melt which is one of our first products we developed and it still works so well and cleanses skin in a gentle way removing impurities. The next product I keep loving is Hyaluronic Serum 200, which is actually our global best-seller and a staple in my skincare. I’ve also been loving The Green Parent Natural Beauty Awards winner, our Age Defying Lifting Serum which helps keep my skin plump!
An ideal day
My ideal day would start with some yoga in the sun, quick meditation and as I absolutely love what I do my ideal day would be spent at work with my amazing team. Then spending time with my family in the afternoon and the evening would be just a perfect day!
3 self-care secrets
Even if my days tend to get busy I love practicing self-care whenever I can. I love meditation, yoga, walks in nature and of course my skincare routine which helps me unwind!
MORE INSPIRATION
READ About all the winners of this year's Green Parent Natural Beauty Awards in the Beauty Bible, available with issue 120 of The Green Parent, which will be published next week. Click here to get your copy before everyone else.
DISCOVER For our next self-care instalment from beauty brand founders, check back on Monday 8th to read about why creating a morning playlist can change your life!