With 30 years as a beauty therapist under her belt, Janine Tait re-skilled to study nutritional medicine and create Bestow Beauty, a range of organic superfood powders and oils that nourish the skin from within. She talks to Professional Beauty about the importance of looking at skin nutrition from within – and how it can make all the difference to your skincare therapy.
When did you create Bestow Beauty?
Our flagship product, ‘Bestow Beauty Oil’ was developed in 2009 and the range has developed and expanded since then.
What is the philosophy behind the brand?
Bestow Beauty is a range of skin super foods, but it is much more than that. It is a philosophy and holistic approach for total skin and body well-being. We promote wellness in the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual dimensions of people’s lives. We support people in their positive lifestyle changes with skincare superfoods, self-care rituals and wisdom for healthy, beautiful living.
What made you decide to create the brand?
Ten years into my career as a beauty therapist, I went through a crisis of confidence. Despite using all the tools at my disposal I found that there were often times that I just could not get the results for my clients that I hoped for. Skin disorders particularly became the elephant in the room that I didn’t want to mention, because I wasn’t confident that I could really make a difference. My frustration sent me on a quest for answers which led me to the woman who would become my mentor, Janice Sarre-Smith. Janice was decades ahead of her time in the way she treated skin holistically; she showed me the importance of working from within through skin nutrition and took a three dimensional approach to skincare which recognised that diet, environment, mental and emotional wellbeing were essential elements to consider alongside topical skincare and treatments. We now call this philosophy the ‘Slow Beauty’ way.
Can you tell us what Slow Beauty is?
Putting this ‘working from within’ approach to work completely transformed my career. I became a confident skincare therapist and began to get amazing results with the skin conditions I used to be afraid of treating.
The Bestow Beauty range was born out of my desire to support clients to care for their skin from within. I was aware of the key nutrients the skin needed to thrive and equally aware that our modern diet was inadequate to supply these. My clients were inspired by the idea of nourishing their skin from within, but I realised I needed to create a range of skin-specific super foods that made it easy and practical for them to do so.
Bestow Beauty Oil and Bestow Beauty Powder were the first two products I developed. These products nourish your skin from within by providing essential skin-specific nutrients on a cellular level. I call them the ‘Twin Skin Essentials’ because the way they feed the skin is absolutely foundation to skin health.
Is it true that our skin is a reflection of how we live our life?
The way your skin looks and feels reflects far more than the skincare products you use. Your skin also tells the story of the food you eat, the air you breathe, the alcohol you drink, the amount of stress in your life, your hormonal balance and the self-care practices you use to rebalance your mind and restore your soul. The journey to creating beautiful skin is actually a journey to creating a beautiful life.
How important is skincare?
What you are put on your skin is only half the story. To achieve beautiful, healthy skin for a lifetime you need to work deeper in the skin and nourish the cells that are responsible for building the skin.
Bestow Beauty’s dermo-nutrition boosters are designed to complement topical skincare and to naturally support a clear, glowing complexion. They are foundational to healthy skin for every client who walks through the door, whether they are dealing with acne, ageing and everything in between.
What do the Bestow Beauty Rituals involve?
I noticed that clients who did small positive things for themselves and their skin consistently throughout the years had noticeably more beautiful skin than their peers. This motivated me to shape the Bestow brand to be beautiful and inspiring and to educate women about the power of establishing healthy rituals in their lives. Bestow Beauty exists in the space where skincare meets self-care. I think we live in a ritual starved society and we need encouragement and inspiration to start introducing positive, health supporting rituals back into our lives.
What is your background?
I am a beauty therapist with over 30 years experience in treating skin. After discovering the power of nutrition to treat skin I became so fascinated that I went on to study nutritional medicine. Dermo-nutrition is my specialty which is the study of how nutrition specifically impact on skin. I am skin health coach and beauty therapist trainer.
To what extent can good inner health help solve skin issues?
Most skin problems are caused by an internal imbalance so if we don’t address the underlying causes we won’t get great results for our clients. We will simply be treating the symptoms only. A holistic approach to treating skin disorders includes focusing on skin-nutrition, exercise, lifestyle, and environmental factors. I have seen truly remarkable skin transformations when working from within, but it does require a commitment to healthy lifestyle changes from the client.
Can you explain your internal supplement products? And what they contain?
Bestow super skin-foods are organically sourced from New Zealand and Sri Lanka. The designer superfood blends include bio-available phytonutrients, minerals, vitamins, and amino acids. Ingredients across the range include cold-pressed virgin flax-seed oil, wheatgrass, blackcurrant, alfalfa, coconut, kelp, spirulina, hibiscus, cinnamon, licorice, slippery elm and ginger to name just a few.
It is important to understand that Bestow offers super-foods with skin-specific nutrients rather than supplements in tablet form. Bestow products are primarily food-based and designed to be incorporated into food because this makes the nutrients more bio-available and better absorbed by the body. This is also how the Bestow rituals and recipe books have developed – they all support people incorporating the Bestow range into their daily diet through smoothies, salad dressings, soups and stews amongst other things.
What sort of skin results can slow inner health bring?
A skin that is well-fed from within has the nutrients and EFA’s it requires to produce soft, clear, glowing skin. There are many factors that contribute to skin health and all need to working together, but Bestow beauty products lay the vital foundation for beautiful skin. Used as part of a wider holistic approach to treating and healing skin we have seen many skin’s transformed.
I think it is vital to consider what is happening from within with every skin problem. Even for clients who do not have visible skin problems, it is important to feed the skin cells that make the anti-ageing structures that impact how our skin appears as we get older.
What are some internal health issues that present as common skin issues?
Poor digestion and elimination are principle causes of skin problems because these problems not only result in nutritional deficiencies that impact on the skin but they also make it harder for our bodies to rid themselves of toxins and waste hormones. My mentor used to say to me that ‘you can’t treat a constipated skin’. Toxins are recycled and reabsorbed by the body which is reflected in a dull, tired and congested complexion.
The majority of people are also deficient in EFA’s. EFA’s are essential for preserving the integrity of the skin barrier function and for regulating oil flow. Clients who present with dry skin and clients who present with oily skin are both suffering from a lack of oil regulation. Bestow Beauty Oil addresses this deficiency with a specially formulated blend of flax-seed and safflower cold-pressed oils.
Food intolerances are also a common cause of problems resulting in everything from acne to eczema.
Do you think internal health is a growing area of the beauty industry?
Absolutely! I was introduced to the importance of internal health over twenty years ago and in those days it was a very unusual approach. Only the therapists that had a strong personal belief in the importance of treating from within were prepared to challenge the prevailing culture and work more holistically.
Now there is a huge demand from our clients for this approach as the ‘Slow Beauty’ movement has followed and the trajectory of the ‘Slow Food’ movement. This holistic way of work aligns with people’s values more and more these days. Wellness is a revolutionary movement and clients are increasingly well educated about wellness approaches.
Are skin professionals more interested in internal health these days?
Yes definitely. There is a huge movement that is growing with each day that passes. Certainly in New Zealand we have seen a groundswell of therapists who are committed to treating the skin from within as well as topically. Our clients are more and more exposed to this message from other wellness sources, so therapists are realising that we all need to be skilled in this area to maintain our position as skin health experts.
How do you prescribe your products to clients to give a more holistic approach?
I would start with our Twin Skin Essentials, the Bestow Beauty Oil and Beauty Powder. Between them these two products help address the nutritional needs of our skin. From there I would work with my client to see what additional Bestow rituals resonate with them as a way to introduce some further skincare and self care benefits.
What is your favourite product and what does it do for the body and skin?
I would have to say that it is the Bestow Beauty Oil. Deficiencies of essential fatty acids would be one of the most common causes of skin problems. It isn’t the whole answer for skin health, but I can never get a great result for my clients if I don’t address EFA deficiency.
What has the feedback from salons been so far?
Therapists are excited to learn a new skill and to have another tool to help them treat their clients skins. More and more therapists intuitively recognise that a holistic approach to skincare is really the only approach that works, so they are hungry for the knowledge and the tools that will help them to become the kind of skin health coach they desire to be.