My Beauty and Wellbeing: Lillian Ogbogoh

First of all, tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’m Lillian Ogbogoh; I am a coach. I’m a hypnotherapist; I am an author. I am a sister, a partner, an aunt and the work I do is centred around helping women to reengage and restart their own internal fire so that they can have the life that they want in the tiniest nutshell.

Why is Holistic skincare & beauty so important to you and how do you incorporate it into your life?

Holistic skincare has become important to me, for many reasons but first and foremost is about lowering my chemical footprint, not just for the planet but for myself. A few years ago was diagnosed with fibroids and started doing some research about the false estrogen that feeds the fibroids in our system and learning that is not just what we eat but also what we put on our skin and what we put in our body. So, I decided to change my skincare routine going for a more natural range as best as possible. Trying as best as I can on a day to day basis to choose a more holistic route to try to minimise my chemical footprint as best I can. Sometimes I find myself creating face masks out of things that I would eat. With the notion that if I eat it can go on my skin, my favourite to make is an oatmeal face mask, especially when my skin is flaring up.

 What are your fave skincare ingredients?

This one is a bit hard because outside of Vitamin E, Safflower and Argan oils which I like to see at the top of my ingredients list in the products that I buy. I will go for things that I can pronounce if it’s some very long-winded scientific word that I cannot pronounce, I tend not to use them. Now I would like to say I have switched to all-natural products, but my eczema laughed at me and said  “Sis you are not serious” when I went for 100% natural skincare. However, I am always looking for things that have a cooling effect on my skin, so anti colloidal is one of my dearest friends.

 What are your must have skincare products? what is the last product that you purchased that you’re loving?

My must-have is a good face wash, and I’m using the Neostrata exfoliating face wash my skin, Ren Cleansing milk, and I must have a good oil cleanser to take off my makeup because I tend to double cleanse. The one thing I cannot do without is a konjac sponge as it elevates my face cleansing routine.

I recently purchased one of face cleansing brush things after reading a few blogs on the benefits of owning one, so I got one from Amazon, and I have to say I love the little face brush because it really gets your skin feeling awake and alive.

As you know Wow Beauty is committed to promoting self-care, what are some of your non-negotiable self-care rituals?

I think my non-negotiable is the habit of having a bath once a week, 😊  I am not saying I only shower once a week,  I am talking about stopping everything and making time to have that ultimate soak time.  I set up the most amazing bath I can have, I have my crystals all around, with candles, depending on my mood will determine what essential oils go in. It must have Epsom salt, that is my go-to, to totally unwind and get back to myself, I also find that I get really amazing ideas while in the bath, so I have to have a bath at least once a week. My other self-care rituals are listening to music and watching cartoons, and I make time to watch cartoons especially the old school ones which keep me laughing, which in turn distresses me, so I do not give up on great cartoons and a good, long bath.

What difference has experiencing pandemic life made to how you practise self-care? What items and practices have helped to get you through lockdown?

Well, aside from the bath of which I started experimenting with different ones. I had to prioritise sleep. I remember there was a period during lockdown. I wanted to be uber-productive and do this and do that followed by  X, Y and Z. However, my body disagreed, and I realised that I just needed to stop and sleep, and I had to listen to what my body wanted, so I called a timeout and slept. I turned off the news turned off everything and just, listened to my body and took the time to nourish my body and mind, my body wanted to sleep, so I had to give my body the rest she needed.

My mind did not want any more scary news, so  I switched off. I think, as far as the other things that got me through lockdown was reaching out to friends.  I made a point to call friends and family, not on Zoom but a phone call, to see how people were doing to check in with them. I also became very intentional on what I was allowing into my digital space during that period. I had to say to people, please don’t send me the COVID posts, I didn’t want to see the whole of George Floyd video I didn’t want to see it or hear it. And anyone who violated that got blocked. I didn’t care who sent it; they were getting blocked. I had to protect my mental wellbeing that’s how I think I made it through lockdown.

 What is your typical daily skincare routine like? Has anything changed since lockdown?

Well, aside from the bath of which I started experimenting with different ones. I had to prioritise sleep. I remember there was a period during lockdown. I wanted to be uber-productive and do this and do that followed by  X, Y and Z. However, my body disagreed, and I realised that I just needed to stop and sleep, and I had to listen to what my body wanted, so I called a timeout and slept.

I turned off the news turned off everything and just, listened to my body and took the time to nourish my body and mind, my body wanted to sleep, so I had to give my body the rest she needed. My mind did not want any more scary news, so  I switched off. I think, as far as the other things that got me through lockdown was reaching out to friends, to talk and catch up.  I made a point to call friends and family, not on Zoom but a phone call, to see how people were doing to check in with them. I also became very intentional on what I was allowing into my digital space during that period. I had to say to people, please don’t send me the COVID posts, I didn’t want to see the whole of George Floyd video I didn’t want to see it or hear it. And anyone who violated that got blocked. I didn’t care who sent it; they were getting blocked. I had to protect my mental wellbeing that’s how I think I made it through lockdown.

What changes or developments would you like to see in the beauty landscape over the next year.

I think the dialogue that was happening during lockdown with more and more women/ men of colour coming out in the industry and speaking up for what Black skincare skin needs. With Skincare pioneers like Dija Ayodele, who is speaking up for our skincare and what we need, and the fact is that we need targeted skincare treatments.

I want to see going forward that the topic around black skincare sitting in the mainstream arena with more access to products that do not cost the earth.  It is one thing to read all the articles and blogs and read about these products that do a fantastic job, but a jar of it costs the equivalent of a baby’s arm. It makes it unrealistic and makes it feel that great products are only accessible for some. Having more accessibly priced products in the market is something that I would love to see more from the industry.

 What have you discovered about yourself this year that has surprised you?

I will say my capacity to reinvent myself during the pandemic. I decided to retrain. While I was studying my NLP, I had learnt about hypnosis but didn’t certify.  During the lockdown, I decided I wanted to become a certified hypnotherapist. I made the decision and studied and completed my hypnotherapy practitioner course.

Also, in that time, I produced an E-book titled The Seven Powers That Rob Us of Our Power. I was surprised that I was able to focus, even the midst of chaos.  During that time and I wasn’t afraid to explore, what made me happy, and started to explore different things about who I’m being and how I’m showing up.

Thank you, Lillian x

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