00:00 Time for Tea with Mikita is a podcast about redefining self-care.
00:12 It's about looking at every aspect of our life from music, career, family, relationships,
00:18 and everything in between.
00:20 It's about spilling tea on those conversations that are sometimes hard to have.
00:25 Well, we're not afraid to have those conversations right here.
00:30 Join me as we spill tea on every conversation you ever thought about, dreamed about, or
00:36 whispered about.
00:37 Hey, y'all, it's definitely time for some tea.
00:43 Welcome back.
00:44 It is definitely time for some tea.
00:46 Thank you so much for sharing your time, your space, and your amazing energy with me today.
00:51 So today, I am super excited, and I know I say that each and every time that I have an
00:55 amazing guest.
00:56 But this time is so different because I'm sitting down with one of my daughters, Kalaura,
01:03 and we're talking about not just skin care, but skin care for women of color and how that
01:11 transition has looked like since I was growing up as a kid and now seeing how it has grown
01:17 and evolved so much throughout time.
01:20 And even now, it's still kind of challenging finding the right skin care solutions.
01:25 We're going to dive in.
01:27 Go ahead and grab your cup of tea and get comfy because the tea is definitely hot.
01:34 All right.
01:36 So Kalor, skin care is something that has been, for me, a struggle.
01:42 I remember as a kid growing up, the only type of skin care we had was Noxzema, and that
01:48 was kind of Noxzema.
01:50 Noxzema.
01:51 Is that the thing that came in the blue thing?
01:56 Fuck it.
01:57 Wow.
01:58 Telling my age.
01:59 Yeah.
02:00 Yes.
02:01 Yeah.
02:02 It came in a blue thing, and back in the day, it used to be a cream that you put on your
02:09 face and you wash, and then they came out with alcohol pads, which was good, but it
02:13 burnt your face.
02:15 You could really feel your face burning and drying up.
02:19 The cream did that for me too.
02:21 I remember Talia had it, and I used to steal hers.
02:25 Steal some to wash my face.
02:30 Well if she's wondering what happened to it, she know now.
02:33 I can see all these videos.
02:37 I will say there wasn't a whole lot of options, though, and I don't think it was until I was
02:44 in my 20s that they came out with like Proactiv, and that was the first experience that I had,
02:53 though, with a skincare that talked about eating better to have better skin, not just
02:59 using this face wash, but eating better and combining the face wash and drinking water.
03:07 So that was my first introduction to how would I eat showed on my face.
03:12 I remember seeing the Proactiv commercials and wishing that I had it when reality I was
03:20 what like eight, nine, maybe even younger.
03:24 Well, I didn't even have that option back then.
03:28 I just wanted to, you know, be included, I guess.
03:33 What was your first, do you remember what your first face wash was that you ever tried?
03:40 I think it was the Clean and Clear.
03:44 Yeah, the Clean and Clear, the morning burst thing.
03:48 It had like these orange beads, and I found out that they were causing like micro tears,
03:55 apparently, in people's skin.
03:57 In people's skin, that's not funny, but apparently they cause micro tears, and they're really
04:04 bad for your skin barrier.
04:07 But that's what I was using every morning, and it would dry out my skin, and I didn't
04:13 use a moisturizer or anything.
04:17 I think I had the hardest part with finding a good moisturizer.
04:20 Like when I was able to finally find a face wash that worked, there wasn't really room
04:27 for like, okay, now I need a moisturizer to, you know, moisturize my face so I don't look
04:34 ashy afterwards.
04:35 But what I learned was really the products I was using was probably too harsh, though.
04:39 Was probably just drying me out really bad.
04:42 And of course, you know, you want to use a moisturizer so your face has that glowy, dewy
04:49 look to it, and healthy look to it, but sometimes we can use too much of a good thing.
04:56 And I struggle with still finding a face wash that I absolutely love that makes my face
05:05 feel clean.
05:06 I did find a natural soap bar with turmeric in it, the one that I have in the room.
05:14 That's the only thing that I've ever used that I love when it comes to face wash.
05:19 And that's, I don't even know if that's strictly, you know, you could use it for your whole
05:23 body, but that's like my favorite thing that actually makes my face feel clean.
05:29 I'm still, I'm in the same boat with you with the whole face wash and finding one that works.
05:36 I'm currently using CeraVe.
05:39 It's supposed to have, I can't think of the word, it's like narrow sun eyes or something
05:43 like that.
05:44 And it's supposed to help with acne and like cleaning up the skin and everything.
05:50 But my skin's still breaking out.
05:53 My skin's still breaking out probably from, I think it's from the water here.
05:58 There's a lot of factors that go into acne and everything and not a lot of people talk
06:03 about that.
06:04 It's not just, you know, what you eat or what you use on your face.
06:07 It could be, you know, hormones or the environment and they stress me out here.
06:13 So I think that's why my face is breaking out now.
06:16 For y'all that don't know, Kalora is away at college.
06:21 So we are just Zooming right now having this conversation while she is at school.
06:28 I just thought it was a great conversation because as women of color, we have, I think
06:33 a hard time finding moisturizers.
06:35 I recently found a really good moisturizer, two really good products.
06:40 Well I will say four really good products for me right now.
06:44 So in the winter I use this moisturizer called Butta Skin and it's by Dorian Renaud.
06:54 I hope I'm not messing that up.
06:56 But in the winter it makes my face look so glowy and dewy.
07:02 I absolutely love it.
07:03 I don't like it too much in the summertime because I sweat and my skin is more oily I
07:08 feel during the summer.
07:10 So that kind of clogs up my pores.
07:13 But I love the Keys, the Alicia Keys.
07:16 Her moisturizer is really light and you can wear in the winter and spring for me anyway.
07:23 And then I have Murad, it's a toner.
07:27 It's I love it.
07:28 That's like my favorite to clarify.
07:31 It's great.
07:32 And then I use Eucerin for all over body because as much as I used to love the Bath and Body
07:38 Works, I think the older I get the more I don't care about the smell.
07:42 I just want something that makes, actually hydrates my skin.
07:45 And the Eucerin, I put it on and my skin start glowing.
07:52 And all those ashy spots go away.
07:55 And recently I've discovered a makeup called Makeup by Mario and Kallur.
08:00 I know you haven't tried it yet, but girl.
08:03 I've been seeing a lot of TikToks about it.
08:09 It's everything they say it is.
08:11 It's good.
08:12 Like it's, I put it like literally it makes my face look like, I don't know.
08:19 I don't know how to do it, but it's not heavy.
08:21 It's really light.
08:23 And as you know, finding a makeup color for your pigmentation for women of color is hard
08:30 to match it just right.
08:32 So I got lucky.
08:34 And it was the last one that they had in Sephora at the local Sephora here.
08:39 Yeah.
08:40 That's how you know it's good.
08:43 Yeah.
08:45 So what are four or if not four, what are your favorite products right now that you're
08:52 using that you feel you would recommend to someone else?
08:57 Vitamin E oil.
09:00 I've been using that mainly at night.
09:03 You know, I don't know if you heard the term slugging, but it's basically when you put
09:08 like a petroleum based moisturizer on at night and then you put like something heavy.
09:15 It doesn't have to be petroleum based, but that's mainly why they say slugging.
09:20 But something heavy to kind of lock into moisture.
09:24 And then when you wake up, your skin is smooth and it's soft.
09:27 And even though like it may look like it has texture when you touch it, you don't feel
09:31 like the texture and everything.
09:34 So vitamin E oil, I like my CeraVe Acne Wash thing.
09:41 I think that really helps me out a lot.
09:44 Not with like small bumps, but mainly like, you know, big breakouts and everything and
09:50 then acne scars and then pimple patches when I get like bad pimples and everything, just
09:57 pop a one on.
09:59 And then if you have a mask on or something and no one can see it, but they also make
10:03 pimple patches that have like, you know, stars or something.
10:07 It looked like a sticker and it's cute.
10:10 I don't have a fourth product.
10:12 I do like the, right now I do like the, what is it?
10:17 I think it's like a watermelon thing that you gave me.
10:21 You got it for your birthday Sephora, like a little birthday gift.
10:26 Yes.
10:27 I do not know what it is.
10:30 I don't know what it was though, but I chose it because I knew you would probably like
10:35 it.
10:36 I do.
10:37 I use the toner and it makes my skin very bright.
10:41 I use it like under makeup and stuff.
10:45 Okay.
10:46 So when it comes to, you were talking about earlier about how sometimes your skin, what
10:54 you eat, it could be hormonal or a lot of different factors that play into this role
10:59 that comes when it comes to our skin.
11:01 What has the best advice or best information you've learned about eating or different factors
11:09 that affect your skin?
11:14 The best advice, you know, everybody say, well, drink water, drink water, you know,
11:19 but you know, I guess when I heard it all the time, I was like, well, I am drinking
11:23 water and you know, X, Y and Z.
11:27 You drink all the water.
11:30 Even though the, oh, just drink more water statement seems dismissive to people who,
11:37 you know, you have, you know, hormonal acne or you have maybe like environmental issues
11:46 or something like that.
11:48 It's another thing that you can check off the list.
11:50 You know, it's not because you're not drinking water or just that and a third.
11:54 So then you can go into, well, what foods are you eating?
11:58 You know, and I love sweets.
12:02 I eat a lot of sweets and I have, you already know that I have a sweet tooth and I guess
12:11 it's one thing that I had to, you know, slow down on.
12:14 And it's not that I can't have sweets at all.
12:17 It's just that I don't need to eat a lot of it in every single day.
12:23 So I think that's one thing that helped with like acne and everything is just slowing down
12:29 on greasy foods and sweets and stuff like that.
12:34 So found in balance have been like one of the best things that you've learned about
12:39 your skin health.
12:41 Definitely.
12:42 Well, this has been a very insightful conversation.
12:46 Anything else you want to add when it comes to skincare?
12:48 I'm probably not going to like this, but sunscreen.
12:53 Okay.
12:54 Let's talk about it.
12:56 Let's talk about sunscreen.
12:59 I know a lot of people are very dismissive when it comes to, you know, using sunscreen.
13:05 And I will say, I don't use sunscreen every day, but I probably should.
13:09 You know, some people are like, I mean, you need sunscreen every day.
13:12 If I'm going to be indoors all day, if I'm not going outside, I'm not going to even open
13:18 the blinds.
13:19 There's no point.
13:20 And sometimes even when I do step out, I don't have a sunscreen right now.
13:26 I just wash my face, put on moisturizer and then go about my day sometimes.
13:31 But I feel like sunscreen does help when you use a lot of acne products like benzoyl peroxide
13:36 and everything, which is known to lighten the skin and everything.
13:41 And you can burn very, not burn very easily, but being in the sun makes your skin very
13:48 sensitive because of, you know, benzoyl peroxide and other acne products.
13:52 So using sunscreen is very helpful with that because you protect your skin from possibly,
14:01 you know, feeling that type of, you know, irritation and everything.
14:08 So ice in your skin can help with inflammation.
14:12 I noticed that whenever I have pimples that are like hurting and you're just like, why
14:17 do they hurt so bad?
14:18 Just put ice on it.
14:20 And it really does help with inflammation and it helps like I noticed in about two days
14:25 it'll go down.
14:26 It's still there, but it will go down.
14:28 It doesn't hurt as much.
14:29 Oh wow.
14:30 I've never heard that one, but I know you didn't get that sunscreen from me because
14:34 I'm not a sunscreen person, unless we go into the pool or something.
14:39 I never really promoted sunscreen.
14:42 So when did you like get into, what was your first introduction to me?
14:47 Like, Oh, this is something that is new to me that I want to make a part of my skin routine.
14:54 Um, TikTok.
14:56 But there's a rabbit hole with TikTok.
15:01 Yes.
15:02 But, um, I was seeing a lot of people talk about it and I'm like, okay, but then I saw
15:07 people that look like me and we're talking about, you know, hyperpigmentation and talking
15:12 about how to reduce that and help with that.
15:15 And they're like, if you're using a lot of, um, products that are helping with acne and
15:20 dark spots, you being in the sun is going to really hinder your sensibility.
15:29 And helps with that.
15:34 But there was this, a person on TikTok who I saw them go from having like really bad
15:43 hyperpigmentation, acne and everything.
15:45 And I saw the transformation, I think they had PCOS.
15:51 So I saw the transformation and they completely changed their skin barrier and everything.
15:57 And they were preaching about sunscreen and they use black girl sunscreen.
16:03 That's the brand.
16:05 And I was like, wow.
16:07 Okay.
16:08 And I like black girl sunscreen.
16:10 I used the non greasy one because some people use the kids one because it's non greasy,
16:18 but I don't like feeling greasy and like, you know, like I have product on my skin.
16:23 So I do the same thing.
16:26 But yeah, use black girl sunscreen.
16:30 I was just excited when you were talking, when I remember you first mentioned sunscreen.
16:35 And it was funny because I had just listened to a podcast on one of my favorite, one of
16:39 my favorite podcasts is balanced black girl and the, the host last, she had this guest
16:46 on and they were talking about sunscreen design for melanated skin.
16:52 And I think that's when I, I was telling you about it and we were able to find it in target,
16:58 you know, we love target shout out to target.
17:01 Yeah.
17:02 But the fact that they carry so many products, you know, for people of color and that being
17:10 one of them that I know if we, if I ever use the sunscreen, that would definitely be the
17:16 sunscreen that I use just because of the research that I did on it and looked into it and saw
17:21 how it was done that I really liked it.
17:24 Yes.
17:25 And that's all I asked for.
17:27 Just do research about sunscreen and figure out like, maybe you don't want to use it for
17:34 whatever reasons, but please don't just say, Oh, I'm not going to use it because I don't
17:38 need it.
17:39 Do more research, find out about it.
17:42 And from there you can make your opinions and you know, formulate your own thinking.
17:50 And like you said, you don't have to use it every day.
17:52 You know, you can figure out when it, what works best for you and in your skin.
17:59 Yes.
18:00 What about like drinking different things?
18:06 I know we talked, y'all have tried like the chlorophyll.
18:09 Is that something that was like good for skin or?
18:12 Oh my God.
18:13 Thank you for bringing that up.
18:16 I have my chlorophyll with me right now.
18:22 I drink, well, I haven't really been drinking it every day.
18:25 This one's supposed to be an energy booster and that's mainly what I'm focusing on.
18:32 But chlorophyll has, sorry, has scientific research because I haven't really done the
18:44 research myself and like looked it up and like seeing actual proof.
18:50 Y'all do your own research and figure it out for yourself.
18:53 But I've heard many people praise chlorophyll and talk about how chlorophyll has cleared
18:57 the skin and everything.
18:58 And I've seen the before and afters of it.
19:01 I haven't been using it long enough to fully like inconsistently enough to fully see the
19:07 difference because some days I use it and then put it in my water and it doesn't taste
19:13 like anything to me.
19:14 I just have the regular, what is it, the regular flavor, but there's different flavors if that's
19:21 what you're into.
19:23 But I like it because it's another way to get greens and everything.
19:29 And I know a lot of people are like, well, just eat greens, just eat your vegetables,
19:33 but who got time for that?
19:35 No, but some people don't have access to healthy and like fresh fruits and vegetables every
19:42 day.
19:43 And when you're on the go, it's nice to have that.
19:47 And yeah, I'm a stick beside it.
19:49 I'm a stick beside chlorophyll.
19:51 You're going to ride for the chlorophyll.
19:53 I am.
19:57 You said a product that you like has turmeric in it and you know everything.
20:05 And I will say that I'm thinking about getting this soap.
20:09 This has turmeric and I think kojic acid.
20:14 I don't know if that's how you say it, but it's supposed to be really good for discoloration
20:20 and for inflammation and like acne and stuff.
20:26 So I want to try that.
20:27 Yeah.
20:28 And I think that's the one thing I like about turmeric because it is grateful inflammation.
20:33 And when I do use that bar soap, it does not dry my face out at all.
20:37 Like my face actually feels clean afterwards.
20:41 I should stick with it.
20:42 I don't know why I keep looking for like more stuff, better stuff.
20:46 I think this is how the human brain goes.
20:49 Like okay, let me see if I can have a backup just in case.
20:54 I was just going to say that's how we're wired.
20:57 We always want more.
20:59 We do, but I'm going to let you go in a few minutes, but I just wanted to talk, we were
21:04 talking about the chlorophyll and drinking and different things, but what about this
21:10 notion that if you drink pH balanced water, that it'll help balance your body out, which
21:19 in turn will also balance your skin out.
21:22 Have you ever like, no?
21:25 Yes.
21:27 The alkaline water.
21:29 Yeah.
21:30 Yeah.
21:31 Those are expensive.
21:32 Those are so expensive.
21:36 I think with a lot of stuff that's good for you, obviously they're going to be expensive.
21:42 People are, that's the way capitalism works, sadly.
21:48 But yeah, I think it just, science, it makes sense that if your water is alkaline, that
21:56 it will help your body and everything clear your skin.
22:00 But the sad thing is, is that if you can't afford that and, or maybe you just live in
22:08 an area where maybe you can't afford to get the nicer water, or you can't afford to get
22:19 a filter to filter out your water, then it's kind of like you're at a disadvantage.
22:30 Yeah.
22:31 Unfortunately we see that a lot.
22:35 Yeah.
22:36 But yeah, it's scientifically proven that alkaline water is very good for your body,
22:44 good for your skin.
22:46 It tastes better too.
22:48 I'm a firm believer that all water has a different taste.
22:52 You can taste the difference, it tastes crisp.
22:55 Clean.
22:56 Yeah.
22:57 I think it's important to know that.
23:00 I love the fact that over the years since I've been a kid to see how our health has
23:10 changed, wellness has changed, wellness for your skin has changed and how you look at
23:15 that is so different now.
23:16 Well, Kalaura, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to chat with me.
23:21 But just in case people want to connect with you, tell them where they can find you on
23:26 your TikTok.
23:27 It's earth, the number two, and then Kalorox.
23:33 You want me to spell it out?
23:35 Yes.
23:36 Okay.
23:37 So you gotta see how it's okay.
23:41 K A L O R X.
23:45 I'll be reposting stuff on TikTok.
23:48 I don't actually post my own content, but I love being on there.
23:53 All right.
23:54 Sharing and connecting.
23:55 So if anybody got some tips, they'll send them to you and you can connect with them
23:59 that way.
24:00 All right, you guys.
24:02 Well that is all the juicy tea that we have to spill today.
24:06 But if you have not yet connected with me, you know where to find me.
24:09 You can find me on Instagram at Mikita Smith and I will see you next Tuesday for some more
24:15 delicious hot tea.
24:16 Until next time, namaste.
24:19 Namaste.
.png)
