We love a bit ofself-care and all this time at home has really given us an excuse to look after ourselves inside and out. Each week, we'll be asking the celeb lot to share their Sunday self-care routines, because taking care of yourself is more important than ever.
This week it's all about Hyram Yarbro, the global skincare phenomenon that has an impressive 6.8 million followers on TikTok, 4.5 million YouTube subscribers and 1.2 million Instagram followers. PHEW.
He's known for exposing brands who fail to deliver on their promises, reacting to celeb skincare routines on YouTube as well as giving helpful and informative advice when it comes to understanding ingredients and creating a routine for your skin type.
He's now finally launched his own skincare range with the Inkey List, Selfless With Hyram, which is a collection of effective-yet-gentle products that also do good for the planet.
Hyram caught up with heat to discuss mental health, skincare tips and his top advice for anyone wanting to become a content creator.
On discovering skincare
Hyram may be one of the trusted experts on the internet right now, but has he always been passionate about skincare? Not quite.
"I grew up on a cattle ranch in Arizona, so skincare was not a thing. I really wasn't aware of it until I was in college. The moment that really changed it was I was really stressed in my first year in college and genetically I am predisposed to age very quickly. So I developed wrinkles on my forehead, my under eye area... to the point is that my friends were coming up to me and telling me, 'you should really start trying skincare out because you're ageing really quickly and you're only 18-years-old!".
"So I took that as a sign to start trying out skincare, which is something that I thought was fancy creams for people who wanted to feel nice. I didn't realise until I started using them that there are actually good skincare products that will deliver incredible results. That's when I was first intrigued by it and then as I grew more into the cosmetics industry, I realised my fascination with ingredients, functionality and formulas and conveying that information, that's really when the passion for skincare fueled up."
On Selfless by Hyram
Hyram's new skincare brand is full of hard-working yet gentle products that promise visible results. But what makes his range different from other brands out there?
"I'd say primarily it's focused on social change. Every single product has a direct and measurable social impact on the most pressing global issues. I really created this brand with the person in mind who wants to leave an impact just in their day to day life and know that every single day they're doing something to help the world. That's really who I had in mind when creating this brand."
"Then from a formulation standpoint, every single product revolves around a gentle active philosophy with powerful ingredients. You find a lot of products that are typically very high strength, very high performing or extremely gentle and only meant for people with very, very, very sensitive reactive skin. I feel like we've found a good middle balance."
His favourite product from the range? Enter the Retinol & Rainbow Algae Repair Serum .
"This one blew me away because not only do I love retinol and rainbow algae because of their benefits for helping to fade hyperpigmentation and dark spots and acne scarring which is the primary concern I see expressed on my channel."
Hyram adds that retinol products are typically very heavy creams or watery serums and this product is a nice all-rounder that can easily slot into your routine.
"Firstly cleanse. Make sure your skin is dry. Apply this afterwards you only need like three to five drops for your whole face and then follow up with your favourite moisturiser."
On skincare routines
So how does Hyram, the undisputed global skincare guru, do for his own skincare? Screenshot the below or grab your pen, as this routine is the best you'll find on the internet...
"I always go in first with a cleansing balm, just to remove all the dirt and sunscreen and everything else built up throughout the day and then follow up with a gel cleanser. I typically like to keep my routines, even when I'm treating myself a little bit more, quite minimal. So if anything, I may do like a face mask, I like to multi-mask for my oily-combination T zone and my dry cheeks. Then I'll just follow up with say like a retinol eye cream or something to help with under-eye pigmentation and, and fine lines and ageing. Then a good retinol serum, I use my retinol serum every other night.:
"Then following up with the moisturiser, but overall, I like to keep my skincare routine, to around five steps and keep it pretty simple. What I will do is just take my time, really just take it slow and focus on massaging into every area of the face and having that relaxing kind of therapeutic thing rather than slathering my face with a bunch of products."
Quality over quantity, people! So does Hyram ever commit the biggest skincare sin of all and occasionally not bother to do his PM cleanse, exfoliate and moisturise?
"I don't necessarily go through that thought process, but I will admit, my toxic characteristic is that sometimes I'll be working so late into the night that I will get so sleepy that in my mind, I justify, like, 'Oh, I'm just gonna like lay down for like five minutes and get back up to work.' And then all of a sudden, I wake up, and it's a few hours later, and I realise, 'oh my goodness, I didn't do my skincare routine!' That happens more times than I would like to admit. But it's not because I'm necessarily feeling like I don't want to do my skincare routine. It's more so I'm just so focused on working that I kind of ignore that, which is not good."
It happens to the best of us.
On dealing with breakouts
A lot of us suffer from spots, whether it's occasional hormonal breakouts to full-blown acne. What's Hyram's top tip for dealing with spot-prone skin? Don't overdo it.
"What I'm seeing a lot is people who struggle with breakouts and want to get rid of them, so they use so many exfoliating products, they use so many retinol products. They use scrubs and harsh cleansers because their mindset is, 'I need to just bulldoze my skin in order to like get rid of all the breakouts'. And often people are overexposing their skin to irritants and potentially causing the problem in the first place. Whereas you may have had a singular breakout before, now your skin is breaking out due to sensitivity from all these products that you're using, trying to get rid of that original problem, to begin with. I see that more commonly than not.
"So to people I usually recommend, take a step back, take it easy, you know, step away from the really hard stripping cleanser, choose one exfoliant to use and make sure you're using it at a healthy rate, not two to three times a day. Just make sure you focus on the health of your overall skin and not the instantaneous results. Because if you invest in the health of your skin, it will deliver as good results over time and it won't be this process of absolutely pummeling your skin with treatments and inevitably irritating it."
On trolls
Despite building a positive and empowered community online, it's sadly a sign of our times that being a big presence ultimately brings negativity and trolling.
"If you have any type of presence online, you know, you will see the good and the bad, that is exactly like the real world, there's good and there's bad everywhere. It's difficult at first to learn how to handle that, because I think, as a person who wants to be open to feedback and receptive to constructive criticism, it's easy to just get walked all over because you want to be open-minded to self-improvement. But a lot of people online are just focused on negativity and get a rush off of that.
"For me, it's important to keep a balance of being receptive to any good feedback or working on improving myself while not letting myself be vulnerable to a lot of negativity. My rule of thumb is, if I see a negative comment or a hate comment, I'll read 10 positive comments, to remind myself that I'm trying my best. I also take a step back and look at myself and say, 'am I doing the best I can? Am I trying to help people? Am I doing the best in my power to make the world a better place?' If I am, then who cares what other people say, that's what's most important. So I just have to remind myself that sometimes it gets a little bit overwhelming. But like I said, I go out in nature, I read positive comments, I surround myself with friends, and it becomes really manageable."
On self-care
The pandemic has meant that for a lot of us our day-to-day life has been completely turned upside down. For Hyram, it's meant he's been busier than ever, especially as his audience has been stuck at home.
"I'm actually in the process of getting myself out of an endless cycle of working, I think with the pandemic and my growth kind of happening during the pandemic and me wanting to create as much content as possible for my subscribers who were inside all day at home. It kind of created an unhealthy relationship with always working 24/7, pulling all-nighters go go go, that I never took any breaks. Certainly not any days!"
He's now trying to recognise the importance of seeking out moments for self-care.
"I think it's hard for me to schedule in time. If a friend invites me on a hike or something like that, I typically will struggle to like carve out time because it will always be pushed to the side. But in the moment, it's good for me to be like, 'you know what, yeah, I'm gonna just take this opportunity'."
"But that's also why I think, I love skincare is that it provides a few minutes every day of just complete, almost meditation, in a sense. Just complete focus on the moment, not thinking about work and to-dos and stress and life and all that stuff. You just get to really focus on just taking care of yourself in that moment. So if anything, my opportunity to do my skincare is kind of my daily self-care."
On the one book that changed his life
"I'd say The Obstacle Is The Way. I absolutely love that book because it goes through history and shows so many different world leaders or really influential people and the challenges that they faced, all the horrible things that happened in their life and how they turned each of those moments into their strengths and turn their obstacles into opportunities. It dissects each of the different patterns and strategies they use to be able to take those hard things and actually make them into a good thing."
"It opened my eyes so much, because, you know, I've gone through a lot of difficult things throughout my life in a bunch of different ways and definitely felt totally alone and with mental health struggles, different things like that. Because of that book and that philosophy and mindset, I've learned to now be so grateful for the challenges and things that I went through because it turned me into such a stronger person. I like to look at the positive lessons I learned out of it rather than feeling negative and trying to ignore the past. I highly recommend it."
On becoming a content creator
It's fair to say Hyam has the successful content creator thing nailed, so what are his top takeaways for anyone who fancies themselves as a YouTuber?
"So I'd say there are two primary things. One is consistency and that I feel most people know that when it comes to creating content, you have to be consistent, you have to upload a lot of content. But the challenge is that people think consistency is the only thing you need, which is not true. Creativity and innovation are absolutely necessary. I see so many content creators that have so much potential, but they create content that is exactly the same as some of the biggest content creators where it's mirroring the same thing. And I understand why because they've seen what works and they want to replicate that.
"But truthfully, you have to be completely different from anyone that you see online, totally yourself totally authentic and find ways to really show the parts of yourself that are different from anyone online. When you pair that with consistency, that's really when opportunities will open up. Because if you're taking time to think of innovative new content ideas, staying consistent and being yourself and not creating content, like anyone, I feel like that's really when you'll start to see success and it'll take a while and it will be a lot of upfront work and it'll feel like it's going nowhere for a long time, but if you stick with it and you keep being creative, you know, it's like a muscle that you develop. And it's only a matter of time before you'll be successful."
Selfless by Hyram is now availble to buy online, here.
Now! More news!
Olivia Attwood talks #extra wellness treatments, manifestation and her ultimate self-care Sunday
Courtney Black talks mental health, beauty routines and her go-to fake tan for bronzed skin
Amber Gill talks journaling, self-care rituals and the £9 gel cleanser she swears by
Non-rubbish ways to feel er, less rubbish
- Start a new hobby: whether it's pottery or baking bread, now is the time to make the most of your free weekends and quiet evenings. Anything that gets us off our phone for a bit gets a yes from us.
- Make your bed first thing: a tidy bedroom equals a tidy brain, people. It will take you less than a minute and will help you feel more... y'know, together.
- Invest more in your friendships: the pandemic has meant we've felt more alone than ever before. Remember second and third-tier friends? Send WhatsApp messages, forward memes and even make their day with a thoughtful letterbox gift. Ah, we feel better already.