Conscious Beauty And Beautiful Minds: Interview w/ Katie Brindle, Founder of Hayo’u
Katie Brindle is a practitioner of Chinese medicine. Chinese wisdom considers beauty to be the exterior manifestation of interior health. The way you look is a clear reflection of your overall health, as well as your emotional and spiritual state. A healthy shen, or spirit, produces sparkling eyes. Shiny hair is a sign of strong kidney Qi, full lips indicate a healthy spleen Qi and clear white eyes show that our liver is happy and well.
The very reason we prize beauty is because it reflects health and wellbeing.
Katie has distilled her deep knowledge of Chinese medicine into 3 fundamental principles of health. The techniques she uses to help people master their health happily also bring transformative beauty benefits. And so she created Hayo’u. Hayo’u is a gua sha tools and wellness brand, combining the ancient wisdom of Chinese medicine with innovative tools that achieve long lasting results in just one minute of daily use.
Katie fundamentally believes that it is not topical skincare that defines our beauty, but how we feel on the inside.
What was the first beauty routine you adopted as a child or teenager? Which emotions do you connect with this memory?
It was actually British botanical beauty expert Liz Earle. I remember slavishly following her beauty routines — and just being really moved by her ethos and her commitment to using natural products and to respecting the environment. I wish I could have told my younger self that I would have the privilege of working with her — and that she now embraces my products too!
And I love that her approach is now widely accepted within the industry. The emotion is of positivity and solution, rather than anti-ageing and fear based messaging.
CONSCIOUS BEAUTY — What meaning do you give this term?
In summary: To me, conscious beauty is embracing both the ageing process and beauty of all ages and forms; you can absolutely look more beautiful as you are older. Beauty is not the preserve of the young.
I’m a great supporter of the Chinese philosophy that beauty isn’t just found in the young. The fact that the beauty industry in the West has viewed the signs of ageing as ugly for so long is a world away from the truth. I think the wisdom and contentment that can come with age should be celebrated. As my friend and wonderful journalist Anna Murphy says; ‘Only the young will ever look young’. It’s so true! Why wouldn’t you want to proudly display the lines on your face that honour your life experience?
We are also learning that wrinkle free skin isn’t the only aspect to ageing skin. Just because you have a smooth forehead, it doesn’t mean that you have great skin, or look young. You can have radiant skin at any age, it’s about an inner glow; hydrated, nourished skin rather than sallow, dehydrated, lifeless skin. And that’s why the facial massage technique of gua sha is so brilliant, because it speeds microcirculation and directs oxygen to the skin, to nourish it from the inside out.
Youthful looking skin is elasticity, dewy, hydrated. Botox will erase your wrinkles, but it doesn’t address the rest. Gua sha gives you an immediate and visible effect, providing that same healthy glow that comes from a good night’s sleep or an invigorating walk in the fresh air. Great skin is a reflection of your interior health. And that is beautiful, whatever your age and however many wrinkles you have.
The beauty market has evolved exponentially in the last few years, and I think it’s now generally accepted that beauty goes deeper than skin deep.
Whilst facial gua sha is brilliantly effective in general as a skincare option — it is also working to balance the body energetically from the inside. And that goes for all the techniques I prescribe. Take jade body combing — our tool for example has won awards for its effectiveness as a cellulite treatment, and yet it’s actual deeper purpose is to clear stagnation in meridian channels to positively affect your overall health.
Body combing, particularly around the abdomen, stimulates the qi, which supports the digestive system and rebalances the internal organs. There is a meridian here called the ‘Dai meridian’. According to Chinese medicine, fat accumulation in these areas is often due to the blockages in this channel.
Which aspects of sustainability in beauty are especially important to you?
Our major contribution to sustainability is that we offer the ability to consume less. Our crystals are intended as one-time purchases. Buy one and it will last you a lifetime, replacing the need for disposable items that ultimately end up in landfill and in our oceans.
I love our Beauty Restorer gua sha tool because it offers you genuine beauty — and isn’t polluting the sea. I’m proud to be part of a movement that is empowering women by making active choices — we need to buy products that are going to answer our wider environmental questions and allow us to reduce our carbon footprint.
We have to take responsibility as consumers when we make our selections. What is the price of your beauty? If you subscribe to the theory that crystals carry energy — what was the production line of that crystal? Yes you can buy cheap products off Amazon, but in all likelihood, you may be supporting forced labour, child workers and unethical practices that have a negative environmental impact. The fair price of these products is to support worker’s rights. We have to start considering the wider context of the impact of our purchasing. I’m proud to be at the helm of a business that is trying to make a difference. Yes, we’d like you to buy our product. But we’d like you to get good value out of that product. Rather than countless, disposable products — purchase one quality product with a relationship to the founder. Because we’ll support you on your wider journey to mastering your health.
We don’t have a jade roller in our range, because they tend to squeak and fall apart after a while, contributing to yet more landfill waste. We are proud that our products are sustainable, one-off investments that should last you for a lifetime. I’m also committed to working with charities who protect the environment and supporting female entrepreneurs.
When I first entered the beauty market, the feeling was that you needed a whole cabinet full of skincare products for different purposes. We’ve turned that on its head. We’ve got one product that you can use in multiple different ways. It’s cutting out the confusion in the market. You don’t need so many products! The sheer volume of marketing messages thrown at you on a daily basis is really unhealthy, it’s estimated at well over 5000. In Chinese wisdom the liver channel opens to the eyes, and over stimulation by these relentless messages is really bad for our liver Qi.
When do you consciously feel beautiful?
When I’m well! Shiny hair, a healthy weight, glowing skin — in Chinese wisdom, these are all signs your organs are happy. Looking after and improving your overall health is one of the biggest investments you can make in your appearance. There isn’t the separation of beauty and health that we are used to. And that’s why you need an integrated approach — focussing both inside and out — in order to look your best.
More importantly, I feel beautiful when goodness is prevailing. Taoist masters tell us to think good thoughts, do good deeds and say good words. If your shen, or spirit is thriving, it will be directly reflected in your appearance.
Did your approach to beauty change within the last 1–2 years?
I’d say yes. In a couple of different ways. Firstly by extending my gua sha and body combing practices. But also because I’ve been on a deeper journey with Qigong. It’s this ancient energy work that has really shown transformative benefits, and that is because it works on what I call the 3 pillars of preventative health:
A — Ensure the free flow of Qi and blood circulation
B — Purge and nourish
C — Strengthen the 5 key organsI hold a free class every weekday on my Instagram feed, where we explain this in detail and practice together. And I’ve had hundreds of people getting in touch to tell me it has been life-changing, which means everything to me.
How would you like to see the image of beauty change within the next 5 years?
A deepening of what I see is already starting to happen. We are still in the early stages of the sentiment that diversity is to be celebrated. Acceptance and love and high virtue are beautiful things — and they are all reflected in our appearance. I hope that over time the industry will accept that beauty is a profound reflection of the inner workings of the soul. And that takes many, many forms. We are already looking deeper than skin deep, and so I am hopeful!
What or who inspires your beauty routine?
Chinese wisdom! I practice gua sha facial massage at least twice a day, every day. It really is a game changer and my clients are always telling me love the way it has transformed their skin. It’s often the first yang sheng (self-care) technique that people adopt, because you tend to see visible results quickly. Gua sha floods the skin with fresh nutrients, boosting levels of collagen and elastin. It smooths and plumps the skin, reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. And, it’s great for eliminating morning puffiness and congestion by gently encouraging the movement of lymphatic fluid, which can’t flow by itself. Plus, it feels amazing!
The lovely thing about gua sha is that it is such a holistic treatment. There’s really no wrong way to do it. I have a suggested ritual which people often use when they are getting started — because it’s a new concept it feels reassuring to have instructions to follow. This ritual works really well as a general treatment, but you can really do as much or as little as feels good to you, or depending on how much time you have in the day!
What is your best beauty advice to others?
Work from the inside out. Beauty is intricately linked to our circulation. Effective circulation gives you glowing, hydrated nourished skin rather than sallow, dehydrated, lifeless skin. It’s about nourishing from the inside out. I practice body tapping and gua sha every day. This goes back to what I was saying about the 3 pillars of health. Be balanced on the outside and it will positively impact your appearance. And to maintain those 3 pillars only takes few moments a day.
Is there anything you would like to share that we have not asked you here?
Over the last couple of years we have become much more enlightened and accepting about wellness. That said, I’d argue that right now we also face an unprecedented level of stress. Green juices and mindfulness alone is simply not an effective approach. I truly believe we need to go beyond wellness. We need to be more focussed and more serious — and we are in desperate need of a dynamic, integrated and holistic approach. It’s time to trade in wellness for preventative health.
The fantastic news? Chinese medicine is uniquely positioned to deliver. Put simply, it offers the best preventative healthcare system in the world.
But what does preventative health mean in real terms? In the West, we take our good health for granted, often viewing the body as a machine. When parts break down they are repaired or replaced. The approach is more ‘wait for something to break, then get it fixed’.
There is a great Chinese proverb, ‘A drop of prevention is worth a bucket load of cure.’ The theory being that taking steps to stay healthy is better than getting sick and then making yourself better. You may well know that in ancient China, doctors were paid to keep people well.
And — there is a lot more to Chinese medicine than just acupuncture and herbs. Self-care makes up a huge part of Chinese medicine — this is the philosophy of yang sheng, which is my speciality. It offers a vast array of other phenomenally powerful self-healing solutions; using nothing more costly than a breath, or a stretch, or a jam jar lid.Why have you not heard of this before, if it’s so effective? Well, the problem with much of this wisdom is that it can be difficult for us to interpret and understand from a Western perspective.
What I learnt from my 20 years in clinic is that people don’t even know the basics.
And the basics are free. So before you start spending money on supplement and yoga retreats — here I am to teach you the basics.
Let’s just check in — how well are you feeling right now? Exhausted? Stressed? Anxious? Struggling to sleep? And does how you feel reflect in your appearance? Have you got stubborn fat, is your face showing signs of aging? Do you look gaunt and tired?
In my experience, this is many of us. The really good news is that our bodies are designed to self-heal and feel well, all the time. We’ve just forgotten what that actually feels like and how to manage it in our busy modern lives.
And here is how.
There’s an ancient Chinese expression: ‘A drop of prevention is worth a bucketload of cure’. And, you literally only need 3 principles to help you stay well and master your health:
A — Ensure the free flow of Qi and blood circulation
B — Purge and nourish
C — Strengthen the 5 key organsIf you’d like to know more watch my free masterclass and I can explain all.
THANK YOU!
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Demee Koch about the MEDIUM interview series on CONSCIOUS BEAUTY:
Hello! I am a serial entrepreneur with more than 2 decades of experience in the health & beauty industry. This interview series is intended to create awareness about the movement of Conscious Beauty.
We are in a beautiful time of Conscious Beauty — you may have heard of this term, but what does Conscious Beauty mean, and why does it matter?
For us, beauty is a way to love — it is about self-care, art, nutrition, exercise, life, self-love. I invite you to become part of a movement that re-defines beauty. Let’s empower beautiful minds.
Thank you for being the change. I’m looking forward to learn from you. Reach out to me via LinkedIn.
Demee ❤︎
