You Are Beautiful

You are beautiful. You cannot be anything other than beautiful. The first step to great skin is appreciating and accepting yourself in all your magic and beauty. You are worthy of love and care. I hope you truly feel that today. We are constantly being bombarded by advertising that subtly tells us that we are lacking or not enough without a particular product. All that information goes deeper than we realize. It is important to bring awareness to the way we view and talk to ourselves in order to combat these messages. If you start thinking negative thoughts about yourself, ask where they are coming from. Are you comparing yourself to others or an unrealistic standard of beauty? Are those feelings rooted in a need for the approval of others? Are those negative voices coming from bullies? Are you feeling drained or depleted and in need of care and nurturing?

I’d like to share a bit of my story with you in the hopes that some of you out there may feel seen. As a child, I grew up wishing my skin was different. Black beauty was not often celebrated or normalized. I felt that no matter what I did, I would always be ugly compared to everyone else because of my skin. I used bleaching soaps to try and lighten my skin tone. I avoided the sun whenever possible to the point of struggling with vitamin d deficiency. As a kid, I even thought I wasn’t allowed to dance ballet because my skin did not match everyone else’s. I missed out on many opportunities thinking I did not have “the look”. I did not have confidence and became withdrawn from others.

I finally began to feel comfortable in my skin in my early twenties after realizing that how I looked was not going to change but what I thought about it could change. I could own it and be grateful instead of picking myself apart. Today I can say I am thankful for how I was made and I’m able to celebrate it. My skin is doing its job to protect me and keep me healthy. It is not a billboard for perfection. There’s no one else I’d rather be but me and that feels so liberating.

I started this skincare company as an outflow of the liberation I now feel. I believe representation matters. I hope that my healing journey can bring healing to others. I had to unravel all the messages I learned from my environment about who I was. That is why this company is called UNRAVEL|skincare. It is about getting to the root of the issues we all struggle with as humans. I hope to offer practical and effective skincare solutions as well as a positive message. I hope this platform can grow into a space and community where empowered people can support each other. That is my dream. I want us to lift each other up. Thanks for following along on this journey and thank you for your support.

Aloha,

Tamara