Glow by Lady E

  I don’t count the hairs that fall out of my head. I have a much simpler system. I look at my brush. Most days, I brush my hair, pull out whatever has collected in the bristles and don’t think much about it. But every now and then, there is noticeably more. That’s when my hairbrush stops being a hairbrush and becomes a tiny daily report from my body: Excuse me. We need to discuss some things. For me, more hair than usual tends to coincide with periods when I haven’t been eating as well, particularly when I haven’t been getting enough protein, or when I’ve been under more stress than usual. Or I haven’t had enough sleep.  So I pay attention. Not obsessively. I’m not counting strands or turning my bathroom into a laboratory. I simply take it as a cue to check in with myself. Have I been eating properly? Have I been getting enough protein? Have I been pushing too hard? Have I actually rested lately, or have I merely stopped moving while continuing to mentally run seventeen depar...

 Remember when moms say:  “You’ll feel all those late nights when you’re older.” I never partied until sunrise. I didn’t survive on coffee or late nights. I actually avoided sleep deprivation like the plague. But even with all that, I’ve come to realize that how we care for ourselves in our teens and twenties shapes how we look and feel in our thirties and beyond. Your skin remembers everything — The nights you didn’t remove your makeup properly. The weeks you lived on fast food and instant noodles. It adds up. I’ve watched enough K-dramas to know the line by heart:  “I don’t want to eat instant noodles at night. My face will be puffy tomorrow.” They know. And they’re right. That puffiness becomes a pattern. That pattern becomes texture. And later, you’ll wonder why your skin doesn’t bounce back the way it used to. Here's the thing: Your future self is built by your current habits. How you treat your body in your teens and 20s is what your 30s and 40s inherit. That one ba...