Introducing Peter Minkoff, a fashion stylist and writer for High Style Life, currently living in the UK … I have the good fortune of him writing an article for our blog today…You can find abit more info on Peter at the end of this article. Enjoy reading and if you want to check out another great article of Peter’s that I loved, you can check it out right here – ‘The Far East Fashion Movement’
Beauty & Style Tricks We Should Steal from Japanese Women
Geisha (芸者 ?), Geiko/Geigi (芸妓) are traditional Japanese female entertainers who act as hostesses and whose skills include performing various arts such as classical music, dance, games and conversation, mainly to entertain male customers.
While the first association the uneducated have with the notion of geisha is a prostitute, truth is – these women were everything but. They were pioneers of high education, culture, sophistication and style. Geishas have become synonymous with good taste and fashion-forward pieces women everywhere tried to copy and imitate. Even today, Japanese women look up to their Geisha role-models while women in Europe and the US are trying to pick up and adopt Japanese beauty techniques and tricks that will not only help their skin be and stay nurtured but also help them cultivate and upgrade their fashion style. After all, Japanese women are known not only for their smooth and glowing skin, but for their unique intricacy, sensuality and superiority of expression, as well.
For all of you gorgeous women out there finding inspiration in Japanese style and beauty, we are giving you a few tricks to steal and model your hair, skin and diet regimen after.
Hair Care
Who wouldn’t be envious of the dark, full locks complementing a flawless white face! The hair quality of Japanese women is exceptional and everything to wish for. Apart from their regional genetics, Japanese women do have a few tricks up their sleeve that are helping them maintain their hair quality as it is – gorgeous, thick and shiny.
Unlike Western beauty regimens, Japanese ones are reduced to a rather minimalist approach; instead of treating their hair with multiple products, Japanese women are opting for gentle ones, devoid of sulfates or other harsh ingredients that dry and damage hair.
Japanese ladies use a mixture of seaweed powder and water and, prior to each wash, they treat their hair with Camellia oil. Never thought of that, did you now?
What’s also an important habit of the women of the Far East is that they almost never brush their hair. When they do (and this is commonly after they’ve washed it), they use a wooden comb to untangle their ends, and that’s it. Often times, these ladies don’t even own a brush!
Yet another trick is a balanced and healthy diet; it is an essential ingredient in helping them achieve the perfect hair volume and stamina. Along with the traditional foods such as fish, the Japanese consume a lot of fruits full of vitamins and minerals that are essential for healthy, luminous and glossy hair.
Skin Care
For women from the Land of the Rising Sun, skin care is so much more than that one product they put their trust in. Actually, cosmetic products they use are a side-benefit to their main ingredient – a healthy and balanced lifestyle.
To keep their skin free of blemishes, redness, irritation and scaring, Japanese women rarely ever eat meat or sugar and base their meals on cooked and/or grilled fish and veggies. Due to a healthy diet, their skin is glowing and rarely has any irregularities.
As for make-up, most women in Japan like their makeup kits on the shelves rather than on their skin. Usually, they are keeping make-up routines as simple as possible and are strong advocates of the thesis “less is more”.
Body care
Would you be surprised if, again, we were to tell you their slim and slender built is due to their diet and lifestyle? Sure you wouldn’t. Obviously, their collective obsessiveness with corsets and body shapers that are giving them curves they genetically don’t have has some say in it, too – but it’s the diet for the most part.
When you think about it, magazines and fitness experts around the globe are just now promoting lifestyle rich in veggies, fish, cooked and grilled fish and lean meats, rice and soups. Sounds familiar? To the Japanese, yes – definitely. No wonder Japanese diet is one of the most beautifying in the world.
Japanese philosophy is all about what you put IN your body, rather than what you put on it – these gorgeous women (and men) load up on vitamin-packed “brassica” (vegetables much like broccoli), and of course, lots and lots of fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Further, they detox regularly by drinking a lot of green tea daily which is proven to have a ton of anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antioxidant properties. In fact, they appreciate green tea so much that they use its concentrate to treat acne.
With these basic guideposts, it doesn’t seem that hard working on perfecting your look, don’t you think? As long as you are dedicated, that is.
Peter is a lifestyle editor at Shlur magazine from UK. After graduating at Australian Institute of Creative Design he worked as a freelance fashion stylist around AUS and UK! Beside writing, he loves cooking exotic meals, making DIY cosmetics and to travel around tropical destinations. His future plans are in creating a business for beauty and style advising.
