It started on a Saturday afternoon when I was trying to find space under my bathroom counter for a new hairdryer. As I pushed and shoved things around causing various bottles and jars to tumble out onto the floor, I asked myself in frustration: Do I really need all this stuff??

A lot of modern "beauty routines" seem to be rooted in a kind of subtle aggression toward ourselves—scrubbing, stripping, peeling, freezing, burning, injecting. Procedures and products that essentially say, "Your natural state is SOOO not good enough. Let's scrape it off and start over!"

You may value simplicity, environmental stewardship, health, authenticity, or compassion. But do your daily beauty routines actually support these core values?

Have you noticed how many of the most innovative "new" wellness practices we're seeing on social media and elsewhere these days are actually rooted in ancient wisdom?