Unwind with: Dani, Wellness Coach — Los Angeles
Dani is the kind of person who will talk your ear off about lymphatic drainage and then admit she gets In-N-Out on Fridays. She’s been on the green beauty road since her late twenties when she had a bad reaction to a derm-recommended acne treatment plan, and rebuilt from scratch—mostly through Credo and the occasional Detox Market haul when she’s in WeHo. “I’m not trying to be perfect. I’m trying to feel good.”
My body is genuinely my livelihood—I teach three mindful meditation sessions a day, I'm leading, I'm demonstrating, I'm touching people and telling them to breathe. So by the time evening comes I'm not just tired in the way an office person is tired, I'm physically and connectively wrung out in a very specific way. My evening routine is how I return to myself after giving so much of myself away all day. It started as just skincare routine I inherited from having acneic skin in my youth and became something much closer to a ritual of skincare as ritual. I'm not going to call it self-care because that word has been completely hollowed out, but it's—that. It's me deciding the day is over and that what happens now is for me.
Before the shower
I try to get ten minutes on my Celluma red light panel while I sip Moon Juice Magnesi-om in warm water. It sounds fussy but it’s the most passive thing I do all day—I literally just lie there. I’ve noticed real texture improvement and I think it helps with the hormonal breakouts I get on my chin. If I have the time and energy I’ll dry brush beforehand, always toward the heart, always spending extra time on the legs after a long day of teaching.
IN THE SHOWER
I shower at night almost every night—I can’t imagine going to bed without one, especially after teaching multiple classes. I wash my hair about four times a week with Innersense Pure Harmony Hairbath. My hair is fine-ish and tends toward oil at the scalp, so I do two shampoo passes and use Innersense Hydrating Cream Conditioner only on the ends. For my body I use Wonder Valley Hinoki Body Wash—it’s become so routine and grounding that I feel like something is wrong on the rare night I use something else. I shave with a reusable razor and Fur Shave Oil, which I cannot recommend enough if you shave anywhere and care about ingrowns.
Out of the shower
Still slightly damp, I use Nécessaire The Body Lotion, in Eucalyptus—I think skin absorbs lotion a lot better when it still has a little wetness, then body lotion over the top. I chose Eucalyptus because it feels clean, and the green bottle totally matches my aesthetic.
About Dani
Location: Los Angeles
Job: Wellness coach
Skin: Formerly acneic, now loves moisturizers, and anything that helps with texture and pigmentation
Hair: Fine with scalp that needs frequent washes but hair that can easily get dry and brittle
At the sink
I double cleanse every single night. Of course I want to feel totally clean so a double was a given. First cleanse is the True Botanicals Ginger Turmeric Cleansing Balm—it took me years to find a balm that has the perfect texture and rinsed clean, and this is the one. Second cleanse is the Gentlerist Halcyon Cleanser. I found this to be the cleanser that totally made my skin feel clean, in that way where the day is off and I can breathe again, while leaving it comfortable in a naked, nothing needed manner. My skin never feels stripped and it never complains. It magically looks better afterward, every time.
A few nights a week I follow with Tata Harper Resurfacing Serum—the one exfoliant that doesn’t wreck my barrier. On off nights I use True Botanicals Vitamin C Booster instead and mix it into my moisturizer.
The Part I Look Forward To
I press a few drops of Gentlerist Gold Drops Face Oil into my palms, warm it, and do a full face massage before anything else sinks in. It’s become almost meditative. I don’t think people appreciate how magic face oils are. I’ve always loved face oils because they feel alive in a way other skincare doesn’t. A good face oil feels like the soul of the plant, so you’ve really got to invest in organic, fresh, as much as possible rather than something from a lab. And the Gentlerist line is just amazing for the way they work with plants, you can really feel it once you’ve experienced it. Gua sha follows. Then Augustinus Bader The Rich Cream—I held out for two years because of the general hype of it all, a friend gave me her sample, and I was completely done. Under my eyes is Agent Nateur holi(glow) eye and lip serum, I just love the way Jena talks about products, it always gets a sale out of me.
One thing I'm trying to quit but can't
Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm. It’s not the cleanest thing in my routine but it’s in my mouth area so I’ve made a separate peace with it. The Sweet Mint one is the one.
A Question for the community
Instead of vitamins, I ingest my organic plants. Are there any supplements that people who tend to stick with natural, particularly certified organic, products actually like using?
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