Skincare Rituals and Body Dysmorphia: Finding Balance in Beauty

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Could your skincare routine be healing your mind or secretly harming it? Licensed therapist Alicia Racine Fink joins Nicky and Sandro to unpack the fascinating psychological dimensions of our beauty rituals.

When approached mindfully, skincare can serve as a powerful gateway to self-care and l. Alicia shares brilliant "habit stacking" techniques to transform your routine – like humming while cleansing to stimulate the vagus nerve, or listening to affirming messages during your regimen. These simple additions can elevate skincare from superficial to deeply nurturing.

But there's a shadow side to our beauty obsessions that rarely gets discussed. Contrary to its name, body dysmorphia affects the neck up 90% of the time, with people seeing their faces in fragmented pieces rather than as a whole. Alicia candidly shares her own struggles during the pandemic when skincare videos became a compulsion, and how easily self-care can transform into self-criticism under the influence of homogenized beauty standards.

The conversation takes a profound turn discussing "the fat attack" – how we often interject anger and direct it at ourselves instead of addressing our true feelings. This psychological insight provides a powerful lens for understanding those days when we suddenly feel "ugly" or "fat" despite nothing having changed.

Whether you're a skincare minimalist or enthusiast, this episode offers valuable tools for checking whether your beauty routine is serving your mental health. How do you feel after your routine? Are you avoiding mirrors or checking them obsessively? The answers reveal whether you're practicing genuine self-care or falling into harmful patterns.

Tune in for this beautifully honest conversation about finding balance in beauty, accepting ourselves as whole beings, and creating rituals that genuinely nourish both skin and soul.