Clean Beauty School

“When our fascia and tissue is healthy, it is very resilient,” says fascia and lymph expert Shalini Bhat DC, IFMCP, CFMP, In this episode of Clean Beauty School, host and mindbodygreen beauty director Alexandra Engler chats with Bhat about the deep intricacies of our fascia, the ways in which it affects our skin, how to identify unhealthy fascia, and how to care for your own. A major bonus? They d...

“If you had asked me 10 years ago, if I thought that I was healthy, I would have told you 100%. Now looking back, I know that I was very much not healthy. But that was when health and wellness was totally all about the way it made me look—and had nothing to do with how I felt,” says supermodel Emily DiDonato. In this episode of Clean Beauty School, mindbodygreen beauty director and host Alexandra...

"You really just have to build a relationship with your hair and listen to it. Learn what your hair needs and give it to yourself," says curly hair expert Sunny, founder of the wellness and hair salon Lumiere Vive. In this episode of Clean Beauty School, host & beauty director Alexandra Engler chats with Sunny about bringing curls back to life, the problem with hot tools, how hormones affect your...

“Beauty seems surface level, but it’s something that once you start talking about you can get really deep on. If someone talks to me about a breakout on their skin, usually we end up talking about something that’s going on in their personal life. So it becomes this thing you can really build relationships around,” says Brooke DeVard Ozaydinli, host of the Naked Beauty Podcast. In this episode of C...

“Like your stomach is not just a tube, your skin is not just a covering. Just because your skin is literally placed superficially, doesn’t mean you can treat it superficially,” says mbg director of scientific affairs Ashley Jordan Ferira, Ph. D., R.D. In this episode of Clean Beauty School, she chats with mbg beauty director Alexandra Engler all about the vast world of beauty supplements, common m...

“Now I can finally walk past a mirror, stop, look at myself, and say, ‘I am enough. I am worth it.’ As women, that is sometimes the most difficult thing for us to be able to do. You have to repeat it and repeat it and repeat it until you finally believe it,” says teacher and TedX speaker McKenna Reitz, who has alopecia universalis. For Alopecia Awareness Month, Reitz joins mindbodygreen beauty dir...

“I feel like the beauty industry is failing society by not taking advantage of the opportunity to exhibit really strong leadership in this space. They should be leaders into a world where people can feel the best about themselves—not just for what they're putting on their skin, but the impact that they're making on the environment,” says eco-justice advocate and founder of Brown Girl Green Kristy...

“The EU follows the precautionary principle, which means that they are not going to let a chemical onto the market until they have received a certain amount of data that it's safe. In the U.S. it's the reverse—so we have more of a philosophy that we assume something is safe until proven otherwise,” says Melanie Benesh, legislative attorney with the Environmental Working Group (EWG). In this episod...

“What actually makes you most beautiful is embracing what feels good. I find that the more work you have to put into trying to be something, it sucks the joy out of what it is that you're doing,” says joy expert Erica Lasan. “Especially being a black woman, my journey to beauty has really been a journey to self-love and acceptance.” In this episode of Clean Beauty School, host & beauty director Al...

“Eating clean really guides my whole self for the day, for the week, for the month. It’s the thing that really runs my life. Eating is really the primary source of energy, skin clarity, and feeling good in my body and self,” says supermodel and Sports Illustrated cover star Kate Bock. In this episode of Clean Beauty School, host and mindbodygreen’s beauty director Alexandra Engler chats with Bock...

“There are some rituals that are universal to the human experience. Many of these fall in the intersection of where beauty rituals meet spirituality: In these we're purifying our spirits, but we're also cleansing our skins,” says healer Deborah Hanekamp, (or, Mama Medicine). In this episode of mindbodygreen's beauty podcast Clean Beauty School, host and beauty director Alexandra Engler discusses t...

“Holistic plastic surgery is the idea that in plastic surgery, you look at the body as a whole picture—and you want to start with the basics. And the basics aren't Botox or facelift or breast implants. The basics are lifestyle, nutrition, exercise, and reducing the environmental toxins that you're exposed to,” says board-certified plastic surgeon Anthony Youn, M.D. “I really look at surgery as a v...

“If you use natural and organic ingredients in your skincare, or even in your diet, you will in the long run, look better, healthier, and more beautiful than those who go for the quick fixes. Quick fixes and aggressive treatments may look good for a night, a week, or even a month or two. But If overused, they can damage the skin. And as the months and years go by, the skin can actually look worn a...

“Guasha has been around for centuries, and in the East is seen as folk and family medicine—something that is passed down from generation to generation. And the reason it's been around for so long, and it's still around, is because it works,” says skin care expert Debbie Kung, DAOM, LAc. In this episode of Clean Beauty School, mindbodygreen’s beauty director Alexandra Engler and Kung discuss guasha...

“If the only advice you’re saying to someone is to wear sunscreen and ignore the rest, that might be a little problematic,” says science journalist George Zaidan. In this episode of Clean Beauty School, beauty director Alexandra Engler and Zaidan discuss the many misconceptions we have about sunscreen, what your SPF labels truly mean, and how real user behavior throws a wrench into the works.  Sho...

“When a patient comes in, I sit down with them and ask all about their stress, sleep, relationships, work, exercise, and sex lives. Usually they’ll be confused and say ‘Oh, I’m here for a skin thing,’ but a lot of people are walking around with undiagnosed and therefore untreated disorders, and we need to start there,” says double board certified dermatologist & psychiatrist Amy Wechsler M.D., one...

“It’s about creating a mental framework that removes you from needing to be perfect to being OK with being good enough,” says Perpetua Neo, DClinPsy, who specializes in helping executives, perfectionists, and type-A individuals. In this episode of mindbodygreen’s beauty podcast Clean Beauty School, beauty director Alexandra Engler and Neo discuss how being a perfectionist can set you back in your...

“I wish clean beauty would care about toxic beauty standards the same way it cares about toxic beauty ingredients. Because when you look at the physical and mental harm caused by beauty standards versus beauty ingredients, there's no contest: Beauty standards are so destructive to our psychological harm and to our physical bodies,” says beauty expert & journalist Jessica DeFino. In this episode of...

“I always felt like if you can do better for yourself and the planet, why not? And now the clean beauty industry is freaking fantastic now, there’s no reason not to try,” says former social worker, clean beauty expert, and celebrity makeup artist Katey Denno. “Now I would never in a million years suggest that it's fine if you don't have clean beauty skincare, and to just grab anything that's not c...

“The sense of smell is processed differently than any other sense. You actually experience the sense of smell—it triggers our emotions and the memories—before you're able to actually process it,” says fragrance expert, reiki healer, and founder of Perfumerie Mindy Yang. In this episode of Clean Beauty School, mindbodygreen beauty director Alexandra Engler and Yang discuss the scientific reason we’...

“When you follow quick fixes [from social media], you wind up spending a lot of time, energy, money, and resources on things that may not work for your individual case. And I think it's so valuable to understand you are unique—we have a lot of similarities, but your particular situation may not fit neatly into a box,” says board-certified dermatologist and hormone expert Keira Barr, M.D. In this e...

“Hair loss can be so traumatic for women—it's so stressful. This becomes a vicious cycle because stress can worsen hair loss,” shares board-certified dermatologist and hair care expert Raechele Cochran Gathers, M.D. In this episode of Clean Beauty School, mindbodygreen Beauty Director Alexandra Engler and Cochran Gathers discuss hair loss causes, if regrowth is possible, and how to care for your s...

“I would really hope that we evolve as a sector to get to a point where the consumer doesn’t feel that they need to read the ingredient list to make sure that their product is safe,” says clean cosmetic chemist Krupa Koestline—but in the meantime? There’s a lot to learn. In this episode of Clean Beauty School, mindbodygreen beauty director Alexandra Engler and Koestline discuss how to decode your...

“If somebody is really upset about their fine lines, wrinkles on their forehead, or the lines around their mouth, I'm like, ‘OK, so you smiled a lot and you were thinking a lot. When did that ever hurt you to be thoughtful, laugh, and to express yourself?” says holistic esthetician Hayley Wood. In this episode of Clean Beauty School, mindbodygreen beauty director Alexandra Engler and Wood discuss...

“Sometimes we just need to stop. Stop to see what's happening. Is my skin getting better? Is my skin getting healthier? Do I feel that my skin is getting stronger and more resilient?” says natural skin care expert and brand founder Tata Harper. In this episode sponsored by Tata Harper Skin Care, beauty director Alexandra Engler and Harper talk about taking a skin care diet, extremophile endurance...