My Whole Life Regimen
Top Hair, Beauty, Skin, and Spirituality Tips
Get your Life right and everything else—including your relationships, health, and hair will follow. Here’s my routine:
MORNING:
- Wake up before the sun (usually 5:15am) with the immediate intention to remember, before my feet even hit the floor, that ‘Only Love is here’, or ‘I am Love, and all that I see- every person, place, and thing, including ‘me’, is only Love appearing as person, place, and thing.’
- Down a glass of room temp water, sometimes with lime.
- Meditation/Japa for 1.5 hours w/ my tulsi bead mala
- Record Go(o)d Mornings with CurlyNikki
- Journal for 15 minutes
- Read or listen to something spiritual, like THIS.
- Yoga (6 rounds of sun salutations) — haven’t been diligent about this one lately
- MUSIC and walk to the beach (if it ain’t raining!) OR sit on the dock
- MUSIC, shower and sanging lol
- Cold water face wash +Water spritz + Osea’s Hydrating Face Oil + Vitamin E Oil
- No breakfast
DAILY:
- Vegetarian lifestyle minus the eggs
- Read or listen to uplifting things intermittently (one airpod stays in haha)
- No face make-up unless I’m on TV, recording, or in another fancy situation. Just… Osea face oil, lipstick, and Go(o)d energy! If I’m recording, my go-to is a simple, fresh face– an under-eye concealer by Il Makiage, mascara by Thrive Causemetics, and a matte lipstick by Uoma.
- No alcohol, no coffee, no caffeinated teas (been breaking that rule lately cuz I’m tired!)— I’ve always tended toward high anxiety and cutting coffee and tea helped tremendously. Conscious, deep belly breathing also changed everything!
NIGHTLY:
- Meditation/Japa for 30 minutes with Gia aka Boogie
- Rinse face with cold water, sometimes Cetaphil’s Gentle Facial Cleanser (or makeup wipes if I had any on) and follow up with Water spritz + Osea’s Hydrating Face Oil + Vitamin E Oil
WEEKLY:
- Wash and detangle sessions with any deep conditioner– style either with Innersense’s Inner Peace Whipped Creme Texturizer if I’m doing a chunky twist-out, OR using Nairobi Setting Foam for a bantu knot out on tension blown-out hair. I mostly use this blow dryer, now.
- Himalayan Salt Bath
- Humanrace’s 3 minute Facial or HumanRace’s Rice Powder Face Cleanser
- Work, work, work, work, work—while remembering that ‘I am Love’. Check out The Practice of The Presence of God by Brother Lawrence or any book on Karma Yoga. If every act and movement is done for Love, for God, for Life, you’ll notice that Peace never leaves your conscious awareness. Everything is always all Go(o)d.
YEARLY:
- Travel somewhere I’ve never been (but Covid)
- Silent retreat!
- 2-3 New projects that scare me
What’s your Whole Life routine?
Hi Curl Nikki,
I hope you’re doing well! I recently read your article reviewing the ELLE documentary on Black natural hair, and I just wanted to say how much I appreciated your insights. Your analysis really highlighted the depth of the conversation around Black hair politics, and it resonated with me deeply.
I also absolutely love your book Better Than Good Hair! The message of self-love, confidence, and embracing natural beauty is so powerful. Your work has played a major role in shifting perspectives and empowering Black women to own their hair journeys unapologetically.
I’m currently working on a term paper exploring the historical, social, and political implications of Black hair in the U.S. and would love the opportunity to ask you a few questions or even schedule a brief interview if possible. Some of the topics I’m exploring include:
The historical and social factors that have contributed to the politicization of Black hair in workplaces and schools
How African American hairstyles have evolved as forms of resistance and identity
The impact of colonial beauty standards and how they shaped modern hair discrimination
The role of social media, influencers, and celebrity activism in shifting beauty standards
I know you’re incredibly busy, but even a short email response or a quick conversation would mean the world to me. Please let me know if this is something you’d be open to. Thank you so much for your time, and thank you for all the work you do to celebrate and uplift natural hair!
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Hi Nikki,
Can you share your morning and eveving chanting practices and what you eat in a day. Your such an inspiration.
Cathy 🙂
Hi Nikki,
Can you share your morning and evening chanting practice and what you eat in a day? I would really appreciate it. Thank you.
Cathy 🙂
Fіrst of all I want to say w᧐nderful blоg! I haⅾ
a quick question which I’d like to ask if you don’t mind. I was interested to find out how you ϲenter yourѕelf and clear
your head before writing. I have haⅾ a hard time clearing my mind in getting my idеas out.
I truly do take pleasure in writing but it just seems like
the first 10 to 15 minutes tend to be wasted just trуing to figure out һow to begin. Any rｅcommendations οr tips?
Appreciate it!
Hey hey! I once heard a talk by Tolle and Dyer about their writing rituals. Eckhart Tolle said that he sits everyday, for at least an hour with his note pad and pencil. Some days, writing happens, some days, writing does not happen. But he shows up everyday no matter what. He said if on the days that nothing came he felt bad while thinking, “i have writers block, etc”, that would be the mistake. Instead, he sits peacefully and may think, ‘hmmm… today, just sitting is happening’. So you let it come, you let it flow. If you like, you can close your eyes, and find that sweetness inside (your inner smile that makes your face smile) that the writing comes from. Connect to it without any expectation. Just marinate in that sweetness. When I write, I write from that place. I hope that helps! xoxo
Thanks for sharing!!
xoxoxoxo
Thank you for sharing! I’ve been trying to wake up before the sun but I’m finding it very hard to do consistently. Would you mind sharing how many hours of sleep you get each night? ☺️
Hi Antoinette! My sleep. lol. I get about 4-5 hours a night. But according to my watch it’s almost all deep sleep! I wake up (mostly) refreshed and sit to chant again and again! When I do feel sleepy, I notice that the ‘fatigue’ or ‘grogginess’ is noticed… it is observed… I am not that. I see the tiredness. I then notice the Peace that’s there, too and lean into that… I give my attention to the Peace, the river of Love flowing right next to and through the tiredness. And without fail, the tiredness lifts, just like a fog in the sun!