Heal the Hairdresser, Sitting on the Floor & Sleeping on a Hard Surface with Christina Kreitel

Have you ever thought about the chemicals that hide in your hair products and the impact they might have on your health? Take a journey with us as we unwrap this hidden world with our guest, Christina Kreitel, a former hairdresser who unearths the dark truths lurking behind the shiny surface of the hair industry. Christina's deeply personal and touching journey - one that saw her grapple with chronic health issues linked to her profession - will make you think twice about your next hair appointment.

TIMESTAMPS TO HELP YOU NAVIGATE THIS EPISODE:
0:00 Intro
0:20 FREE Self Love & Sweat MONTHLY Calendar
11:54 Building Emotional Resilience
18:35 Healing the Hairdresser: Unveiling Healthier Practices
33:55 Sponsor: Snap Supplements 25% OFF using code LUNDEN25
48:14 The Transformation of Sleep
53:33 Transforming Living Spaces for Health

Connect with Christina Kreitel:
IG: @christainkreitel
https://christinakreitel.com/

Transcript

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Intro

Lunden Souza 0:01

Welcome to Self Love and Sweat The Podcast , the place where you'll get inspired to live your life unapologetically , embrace your perfect imperfections , break down barriers and do what sets your soul on fire . I'm your host , Lunden Souza .

FREE Self Love & Sweat MONTHLY Calendar

Lunden Souza 0:21

Hey , have you grabbed your free Self Love and Sweat monthly calendar yet ? This calendar is so amazing . It comes right in your inbox every single month to help you have a little nugget of wisdom , a sweaty workout , a mindset activity , just a little something , something to help keep you focused and motivated and keep that momentum towards your goals . So every day , when you get this calendar , you'll see a link that you can click that will lead to a podcast episode or a workout or something that will be very powerful and quick to read . And then you'll also see , on the top left corner of every single day , there's a little checkbox in the calendar and what that is is that's for your one thing . You can choose one thing every month , or it can be the same , something that you want to implement and make this something that you can easily implement , like daily meditation or getting a certain amount of steps or water , for example , and staying hydrated and even taking your supplements . This can be something if you want to get more regular , doing a particular habit and routine . You can choose what that checkbox means . So if you want your Self Love and Sweat free monthly calendar delivered right to your inbox every month on the first of the month , go to lifelikelunden . com/ calendar . Fill out the form really quickly and you will have your calendar in your inbox within a few short minutes . That's lifelikelunden L-I-F-E-L-I-K-E-L-U-N-D-E-N dot com forward slash calendar . Go , get yours for free and enjoy this episode .

Lunden Souza 2:07

Welcome back to the podcast . Today we have Christina Kreitel as our guest , so stoked to have her here . In fact , right before we pressed record , we were like when's the last time we saw each other ? Like when did we meet ? Like 2009 , 2010 , so like over a decade ago , and , quite frankly , I haven't really talked to you or seen you since , which is funny .

Lunden Souza 2:30

But I have been following Christina for such a long time because we worked together when she was doing hair early on in her career , fresh out of hair school , I was working in college for a clothing store that would do the clothing for the fashion shows where Christina would do the hair for and whatever .

Lunden Souza 2:53

And , yeah , I just have been following her ever since and it's been such an incredible journey , Christina , to watch you uncover what you've been uncovering about the hair industry in terms of what it does to our lives , the chemicals , all the things , your health elements , your health journey and having some parallels myself in terms of hormonal issues due to toxicity and things from being very deep in the fitness industry I just felt like this magnetic draw to you and to your story , and so I just , yeah , sent her a DM and I was like , hey , you want to be on the podcast , I want to , I want to chat more about your journey , and I think that the listeners will just be so inspired by your , your persistence , your tenacity , your curiosity and then the way that you've shared this message , and so I'm just so excited to have you here today . Thanks for being here .

Christina Kreitel 3:45

Thanks , mama . I'm so happy to be here . What do you message me ? I'm like what ? I haven't seen this girl in years . But it's just been kind of funny because you've been popping up at my feed here and there too and I'm like , wow , small world , but one of the blessings of social media , right , it's not all bad , it's , it's . There's a lot of good keeps cool people in your path .

Lunden Souza 4:04

Totally . Yeah , you took the words out of my mouth . I was like , yeah , sometimes we're like staying connected in a I don't know inauthentic or unhealthy way and I just felt like you've always been someone that when I follow , I feel uplifted , I feel empowered and just like , yeah , I had to , I had to reach out . I couldn't not reach out , um , but yeah , I want you to . So I want to start with . You know your journey of being a hairstylist and how you had some of these health issues and started to figure out that a lot of the chemicals and a lot of the different things that were disturbing your systems like what was that journey like for you ?

Christina Kreitel 4:40

So , figuring out how sick the hair industry made me didn't , like I didn't feel like I figured it out until I stepped out , until I stepped back and like backed off of the hair industry , and then when I came back , bam it was like , oh , here's floodgate , you closed that for a little while , here , let's open that back up . And bam , like it's almost like you don't realize how sick you are until you're not sick anymore and then suddenly it hits you like a truck again and then you're like holy shit , like I've been dealing with this for years , and so how I actually figured this out was all because of my son . I would have . I would never . I honestly don't know if I would have left the hair industry .

Christina Kreitel 5:18

I think that for a long time I just finally got resigned to the fact that my body just hurts because it hates me . This is just some random machine that I was doomed with . I never asked for this body right , and she's always going to be overweight , she's always going to be in pain and headaches are just a thing and infertility is just a thing , and like this , this is just what it is right . I will always have these problems . This is just . This was my lot in life , right , and I just kind of like just assumed that that's , that's what it is . And the depression and the anxiety , oh , that comes with being an adult . No , it doesn't . It comes with huffing chemicals every day , all day , for 13 years , right , and I actually didn't even figure out how bad and how toxic the hair industry was for me until I started healing my son , because you know how it is right , like we'll do anything for our loved ones long before we start going . Oh wait , I deserve this too . I deserve to be healthy , too and to heal , too . I can heal . It's like . It's like we can't even comprehend the fact that we can heal , that we're hurting , right , it's always I'm fine , I'm fine , I got this , I'm fine . By the moment you're a kid or a family member gets sick , it's like heller high water you will figure it out and you will cure them . So why won't we do it for ourselves ? And so it was after , and while I was working on healing him , that all the puzzle pieces started clicking together for me on why I was sick and I actually got canceled . That's why I left the hair industry in the first place .

Christina Kreitel 6:55

Is I got canceled in 2020 over a rumor and a lie . That was really trendy then . Remember 2020 , where lots of rumors , lots of lies , canceling people we don't like , right . What does that mean for you ? Like , did you get kicked off the internet ? Oh , not off the internet , but I had death threats . I lost both my ambassadorships I lost . I lost all of my contracts in the hair industry . They all kicked me out . I was labeled a racist and a fascist over something I didn't even do .

Christina Kreitel 7:24

It was a rumor and a lie that got spread and but thank you beauty industry and the internet . It went viral and to this day , whoever that whack job , nutcase chick who started this rumor and lie , whoever the hell you are , from the bottom of my heart , thank you . Thank you . You being malicious and angry and hurting or whatever was going on in your life that you felt the need to attack me . From the bottom of my heart , I am no longer angry with you and I am so grateful because if it wasn't for you forcing me out , I never would have healed my kid and , in turn , I never would have been healed , because I am one proud mother effort and I would have like stuck with the hair industry and kept going , because that's just what you do , and , to be honest with my personality , I had to get kicked in the ass in order for me to wake up , and so , whoever you are , bless you , mama . Thank you so much . I hope you're doing better .

Lunden Souza 8:24

Oh , I love that and those moments that we can look back and say thank you , I feel like , are the most healing , the most nourishing and like the best for us , because it allows us to shine even brighter . To have gratitude through what we think is like the most painful , the most shitty , uncomfortable situation ever . To look back with gratitude when you took me years .

Christina Kreitel 8:49

I don't think it probably took until the last six months , about six months ago , doing your own inner healing , right , like we're all working on our own stuff , right , and working on my own wounds . Finally , I got to the point where I was just like wait a second . If it wasn't for her , if it wasn't for her , who knows where my kid would be ? If it wasn't for her , who knows where I would be ? If it wasn't for her , I would still be stuck in the rat race . And suddenly all of my just I was so angry , like just cursed that girl to hell for so long , right , and finally I was just like wait a second . It , thank you , it was you . You know . Like , yeah , I had to go through hell and but if it wasn't for the hell , if it wasn't for the hard , I don't think I would have had the tenacity , like you said , the tenacity that it would have taken in order to get where I've come to , where I've come to , and get my child to where he is .

Christina Kreitel 9:47

And to be honest, I've gotten so strong . I like blow my own mind now , like no one can say anything to me , like you can drag my name through the mud . You can say well , you're wrong , da , da , da . And I'm like honey , I am so educated , I am , I know what I'm talking about so well and so deeply , like you can't , you can't convince me otherwise , right , like , I know what I'm talking about , and so , like haters and stuff , it doesn't even faze me anymore . And it wouldn't have gotten to that point had I not had to go through that crucible , you know . And so it's just about six months ago where I just , it was amazing , it was like 20 tons of anger and resentment just lifted off of my chest and instead I was just like , oh my gosh , thank you so much , and I do mean it . And if I ever meet her someday , she'll probably , you know , be terrified of me or something . But I'm just gonna walk up to her and give her the biggest hug and be like I hope you're doing better now because you changed my life .

Lunden Souza 10:45

Yes , a big bear hug , big bear hug . I think that will happen for sure , I can see that happening . And yeah , like you said , 20 tons lifted off of you . Yeah , I can remember when I was working in , as I call , I was doing all the workouts . But once I started working in , and it took a long time , a lot of family trauma , a lot of unlearning , a lot of reprogramming and all these things .

Lunden Souza 11:07

But I'll never forget that moment where I was like , oh , that anger , that resentment , that pissed off- ness , that blamer like is gone and I feel so light . And that was the moment I realized too , like it lives in our body too , like all of those emotions , that anger , that frustration that we just try to hold on to because we want to make it like I'm right and they're wrong , like it lives within our body . And I remember specific places in my body that would just consistently hurt . And , yes , I just stayed with it . And it wasn't a short journey , right , it took years of working in and still right , and you're still , you're still doing shit .

Lunden Souza 11:49

I'm like okay , I'm good .

Christina Kreitel 11:50

Oh , look another layer , oh .

Building Emotional Resilience

Lunden Souza 11:54

Yeah , and I don't know how you feel , but it's just like , once you've done it , it's like you build the . I call it like bicep curls for your brain or bicep curls for your heart , where , like you said , like it doesn't really faze me anymore and I'm not afraid to move through it because I'm not gonna go around it , I'm not gonna jump over it , like we really have to go through that pain to really get to the , the gold .

Christina Kreitel 12:18

The best lesson that I've learned about this is and if there's one thing you take away from this podcast guys , please hear me on this okay , write it down , put it on your mirrors , stick it on your phone , it's right wherever you need . And I want you to memorize this the shittier it is , the more glorious the outcome , right . So if what you're going through right now is hell , the exact equal amount of success and joy and happiness and light and healing is on the other end . It's karma , it's balance . There's balance in all things . So if you're hurting bad now , if you persevere , as bad as you're hurting is as Good as you're gonna get on the other end . And so I've gotten to a point now because I recognize that I go oh , this is shitty , oh , it's really shitty , this is gonna be really good . On the other end , you know . And so now it's like , oh , it's just a little shitty , okay , I'm gonna get a little good , you know .

Christina Kreitel 13:18

And so right now , like yesterday , Lunden , yesterday , I pulled my kid from school and I am writing up an unlearning curriculum for my kid because he's a circle that they're trying to fit into a square, right ? And , like yesterday , I bald and the terror and all of that , but that terror is a lot shorter now than it used to be , right , and that tears just like , hey , this is scary man , this means is gonna be awesome , because it just happens over and over and over and that's the pattern of life . And I don't think you can truly believe that or understand that until it's happened to you two or three times . And then suddenly you start to recognize oh , okay , things aren't happening to you , they're happening for you . If you will look at it and go , wow , this is a shitty lesson , okay lesson , come here because you're gonna make me better . And it's just , it kind of turns into this life and death cycle over and over and over , and I just recognize each time . I'm like so yesterday , for example , I had a whole death cycle and it's funny because they're shorter now , right , like they don't take so damn long anymore .

Christina Kreitel 14:23

So yesterday I had a little death cycle of me going oh , I still , even though I've unlearned about food and I've unlearned about the medical industry and I've unlearned about the toxins of hair , I like I've unlearned so much , right ? I still subconsciously had it in the back of my head that I didn't want my kid to turn out weird or not be socialized or not be good enough , and I hadn't unlearned school system yet . And that's when I was like , wait a second . Every time I'm frustrated that's because something's not right . And I've been frustrated for several months now and the moment I made the decision like okay , I'm done , the frustration went away and the excitement came in and I was like , oh , okay , so whatever I'm gonna create is gonna be awesome , because that's just how it is .

Christina Kreitel 15:07

And so it sounds too good to be true . It sounds a little vain , it sounds a little crazy , but anyone who focuses and pays attention to this , like when you know what I'm saying right , like you've been through this , you know what I'm talking about . When you get to that point , suddenly life doesn't get so scary , it gets full of hope . Right doesn't mean things are gonna be easy , but instead of anxiety , your anxiety will slowly be replaced with hope and Life just gets a lot cooler . It's a lot . It's a lot more interesting when you can get to that point .

Lunden Souza 15:41

Yeah , and I love that you said death cycle , because I was really just texting one of my one-on-one clients where I was like , yeah , sometimes we have to have and sometimes they're long , but , as you said , they get shorter like little mini funerals for ourselves is like it feels like a death . And in the work that I do and you know , working with a lot of people on deep inner trauma and things like that , some of their biggest Fears are death and I'm like I've died like four times in my lifetime , you know where .

Lunden Souza 16:09

I actually had . Like I was in Costa Rica earlier this year and I had a burial Tharmonie for myself . I dug in the sand , I meditated , I put that version of me that was angry , that was resentful , that was hateful , just had all this extra weight and I like closed my eyes and saw her come out of my body and go into the ground . I buried her , I put some rocks up in there and then I remember walking away and like looking back and being like like you know , like it was literally like a death . And so I love that you that cycle , because I think that sometimes can be the biggest fear is like that final death . But I think one of the best parts about life is being able to like have multiple deaths and be like , oh , I didn't know that . Okay , I got to let that part go and it's gonna get easier and easier to do that . So I love that you shared that .

Lunden Souza 16:55

What specifically ? Okay , cuz my mom does hair, right ? My mom hair in the house , our whole like childhood , cuz she wanted to be at home with kids . Right , she has a hair salon . Now I also have a friend of mine who does nails that got really sick because she realized it was because of the acrylic , and now she does more . Everything like all natural mani-pedis , uses all non-toxic products and that's kind of really her mission with my mom . She's still using all the stuff that she's always used and doesn't ever wear gloves and like all the things right and what . I've no judgment , but I really want to judge you specifically because it hits home right . I think about my mom every single day in her hair salon , all the women that are there inhaling all of those chemicals over over all day . Like what have you learned ? Are there better alternatives for hair stylists ? Like are there actual products that exist that we can like still get our color done and still do different things ? Like ?

Lunden Souza 17:53

What are some empowering things for hair stylists that I know that are listening . Now that you've learned , that could really help them maybe take those next steps towards Unlearning . You know my mom's gonna be 60 this year and she started doing hair when she was 19 , right , so like that's so many years and also so many years of not knowing what we know now about certain chemicals and things like that too , and that unlearning process can be uncomfortable and scary and all the things . But like what specific things did you learn and like what specific things can those listening you know that might be in the hair space like start to think about and potentially implement , like today ?

Healing the Hairdresser: Unveiling Healthier Practices

Christina Kreitel 18:35

Okay . So not to push anything , okay , not selling . I did an entire class on this called Heal The Hairdresser . So if any of you guys want , go on to my website , christinakreitel . com and look up heal the hairdresser or you can DM me , k , and I can send you the link . But and it's like a three-hour class that I did it was insane and it went viral and it was awesome . So if you're needing something or you want to look at like Prompts and photos and things like that , that would be really helpful . So if you're more of a visual learner , go and look there . Here's number one .

Christina Kreitel 19:09

Everything you do affects three glands in particular . Okay , in our body we have something called the endocrine system . Your endocrine system is what is in charge of your hormone production . It's basically what makes you be who you are . Okay , we ? There's a very trendy term called endocrine disruptors . Everyone has heard it . Not everybody understands what they are .

Christina Kreitel 19:31

Okay , now in our head we have two glands right in the front it's your third eye right . There's actually a gland there . So if you look at your chakra points , they actually align with every single gland in the endocrine system . They they work with one another . They're the same thing . And so your third eye , right , your third eye , there is a gland called the pineal gland and the . If you go third eye , but back like cross-section , if you go like this cross-section , right in the back , in the middle , there's your pituitary gland . Okay , these two glands are the boss of your body . Okay , this pineal gland is right up your nose , like there's like this much room , like like a half an inch , between your skull and your pineal gland , and it goes right up your nose and right from your eyes . It's just so much easy access . This is the gland that basically , like , perceives the world and what you smell and what you taste and what you , whatever , all gets processed by this gland . And this gland then goes , hey , body , and , making this very layman's terms , okay , but it goes . Hey , body , we need this . Hey , liver , you need to detox this . Hey , stomach , just be aware this is coming . Hey , thyroid , be aware . Blah , blah , blah , blah , blah . Okay , and Endocrine Disruptor is a chemical that goes in and cuts that line of communication .

Christina Kreitel 20:53

Okay , so , for example , you eat an Oreo . We all know Oreos are horrible for us , unless you make it yourself . Okay , you eat an Oreo . Oreos are chock full of endocrine disruptors . This means they have chemicals in them that when you eat the Oreo , your stomach goes oof , that's really sweet , yuck . Okay . Okay , we got this , though I'm going to process it .

Christina Kreitel 21:14

And then the stomach sends a message up to the pineal gland and says hey , pineal , I'm good , you can maybe have one more , but please don't eat anymore , because this is going to make me sick . Well , the chemicals in that Oreo cut that line of communication . So your stomach is saying stop , please , please , stop . I'm full . Okay , now I'm hurting . Okay , now this really sucks . Okay , this is going to take forever to get out .

Christina Kreitel 21:39

And your pineal gland is like oh , okay , everything seems to be fine because I'm not getting any messages . It's like the Wi-Fi got cut off right . It's like your phone shut off or the message didn't get delivered right . And so your pineal is like , okay , yeah , we can eat some more . Why do you think you can't just stop after one Oreo ? It's because of these endocrine disruptors . So what happens when we are working in the salon ? We are huffing pure endocrine disruptors all day . You're spraying some hairspray aerosols . You breathe that in wham . It hits your pineal gland immediately .

Christina Kreitel 22:12

Your pineal gland then goes absolutely berserk . It either falls asleep or she goes absolutely nuts . She starts telling your thyroid , especially your thyroid , to start producing too much or to not produce as much as she should . Right , show me a hairstylist without thyroid issues . That's another thing . You're breathing it in , you are swallowing it . Your thyroid is right here . It's this big butterfly right here in your throat . So when these things if you can smell it , you better believe you're swallowing it . If you can smell it , you better believe it's hitting your brain . If you can smell it , you better believe it's hitting your thyroid . And so what's happening is , when you're breathing this stuff in constantly , you're basically smothering your pineal gland and so your thyroid , which all this is going right past it . Your thyroid is now getting infused with toxins . Show me a hairdresser who started hair school with depression , anxiety , weight issues , arthritic issues , any of this crap . Show me one . There's maybe one Now . Show me your hairdresser who doesn't have one or all of those issues within five years of their career .

Christina Kreitel 23:23

And so what's happening is what you breathe in , not even what you breathe in , what you consume . Anything you consume meaning if it touches your body or it goes inside your body , anything that you consume , is either going to help your body or it's going to hurt your body , and if you won't take hairspray and go , ah , then you shouldn't be using it . And so what's happening is the chemicals from the lightener . I mean you're huffing formaldehyde . You're huffing oh my gosh , not Pufas , that's totally different . Pffas , I think . You're huffing all sorts of crap that are known carcinogens . A carcinogen is a chemical that causes cancer , and you're huffing all these , you're breathing them all in . It's hitting , going straight to your brain . It's disrupting all of your serotonin and your dopamine levels , because you are ingesting it , which then goes down to the gut and that's where all of that is created .

Christina Kreitel 24:20

But then , on top of that , you're not wearing gloves . You're not wearing gloves because you want to make sure the hair is fully saturated . You want to do a good job . I get it , I did it , so you're not wearing gloves . Now here's the thing . People seem to think oh , it's okay , I'll wash it off real fast , I won't wear gloves while I'm washing the color out .

Christina Kreitel 24:41

But the fact is is your skin is actually your second largest organ in the body , and it will absorb up to 65% of whatever touches it . It will absorb it straight into the bloodstream . Now here's what gets even scarier . The biggest pores on the body are on the bottom of your feet and in the palms of your hands . These are your biggest pores and on top of that too , the thinnest skin on our body is right here by our throat and right here on your wrist . Yep . So when you wear perfume , we were always taught okay , where do we put our perfume ? Right there , throat , throat , wrist . Why ? It's because the skin is so thin that the fragrance goes through the skin and immediately hits your bloodstream and then it goes throughout your entire body and that's why you smell good all day . It's because it's actually coming out of your pores .

Christina Kreitel 25:37

So now let's talk about what's happening as you're rinsing a toner or you are putting bleach onto your client's hair and you're not wearing gloves . Anything that is hitting the wrist or the palms is going straight into your bloodstream . And you're wondering why you can't lose weight . And you're wondering why you're dealing with depression . And you're wondering why arthritis is so bad . Why is your tendonitis and carpal tunnel honey ? Tendonitis and carpal tunnel is maybe half of the use of your hands . But these little babies , they were made to be used . Maybe they wouldn't be hurting so bad if you weren't coating them and garbage the entire time .

Christina Kreitel 26:12

So there's a couple of things I tell people that they can do . One you need to protect your body internally . You can do this by taking things like she was it , which is like a pure form of mineral vitamin E , which removes free radicals from the body . A couple of things like that . I have a whole list of it on my , on my little course that you can go and look at . And then another thing is an air purifier . Okay , you need to get an air purifier . My favorite one is the air doctor it's . They're a little pricey but damn , they are powerful and they work really , really well . And I think if you're in a salon , if you're in a suite , you need one . If you're in a salon , you need like four or five . Okay , this is going to help a lot with reducing how much crap is floating around in the air and getting into your lungs and hitting your pituitary or your pineal gland , okay , and your thyroid .

Christina Kreitel 27:02

Another thing is stop using aerosol products . If you can't control it , you can't control where it goes , right ? Well , I'm a I'm a bridal stylist . Honey , you can learn how to do bridal hair with a new product . Okay , you learned how to do it this way , you can learn to do it a different way . The reason people are so freaked out about trying new things is not because they can't do it . It's because you're being lazy . That's it , okay , it's just uncomfortable . It's not that it's hard , it's just new , and new is uncomfortable , right ? So stop with the aerosol .

Christina Kreitel 27:35

Absolutely under no circumstances Should you not be where ? No , sir , any circumstance . Should you not be wearing gloves ? And when you're wearing gloves , I want you to get as long a freaking gloves as you possibly can . If you can get them up halfway over your forearm , the better . Okay , you need to protect this skin . You should , absolutely .

Christina Kreitel 27:56

I don't even I don't do hair much anymore . I have like five friends whose hair I do and even when I shampoo and condition them , I'm wearing gloves and I never put product in their hair anymore . They're like you see , you used to be such a product junkie and I'm like no , if I take care of your hair , I don't need product . Right , if they are using quality shampoo and conditioner quality , not professional Quality , okay , there is a difference . They don't need it . If their nutrition is good , they don't need it . My five people who I still have I keep them because we're kindred spirits and they've listened to everything I've said and they have better hair than they've ever had the entire time I've been doing it because their health is on point right . So , stop using aerosol sprays , make sure you're always wearing gloves .

Christina Kreitel 28:41

And when it comes to color Okay , color I still color my hair . I love it . Okay , I , I grew out my natural hair . I absolutely hated it . I miss having my red , but color does not touch my skin anymore . Well , how can you have red hair , Christina ? Not let it touch your skin .

Christina Kreitel 28:58

There is this beautiful technique called air touch . If you don't know how to air touch , you've been sleeping . Look up air touch , because my sister she will air touch it and she pulls that color all the way up to my scalp , but no color ever touches my skin . I've actually developed horrible contact dermatitis because of color and how much I touched it . If it touches my skin , my entire body will break out in hives . It's awful , okay , so there are ways to have your cake and eat it too . Just don't be stupid . Right ?

Christina Kreitel 29:28

Take the necessary precautions . Your body is not weak , they're incredible . Your body is just about the coolest thing on the whole damn planet and all she wants to do is heal . But you got to be her teammate . You have to have her back , right ? So if you're getting your hair colored every six weeks , cool man , that's fine , you're gonna be fine , nothing is gonna hurt . You just make sure it's not touching your skin , make sure that you're , you know , not doing aerosol products .

Christina Kreitel 29:53

But if you're working behind the chair , the best thing you can do is , after you apply color of any kind , you go outside . You take your client outside , get out of your hot box . Okay , you're literally hot boxing each other in the salon . That's what it is . So both of you stand up . But it's winter , I don't care . Cold air is good for your lungs . Hello , cold plungers . Okay , take your client , put your coats on , go outside for a minute or go somewhere with some fresh air . Put an air purifier in the break room , so it's just clean , perfect air . Back there with no garbage , right , and while they're processing , that's where you go . Then come back , do your work and then get out again . Your body's awesome and she can handle a lot .

Christina Kreitel 30:37

Now , different product lines . That , because here's the thing . I was one of the best hairdressers in the industry . Okay , I am very hard to please when it comes to hair . And when it comes to product , it has to work , it has to smell , it has a look , it has to perform well . Well , that didn't go away . My high expectations did not go away just because I went hippie-dippy organic . So you can imagine I have used every product line you can imagine and only a few have have Hit my what's the word , my level of quality , meaning this is clean . But it also works really well .

Christina Kreitel 31:12

And I've only found a couple . So one is the Viori Beauty Shampoo and Conditioner Bars . Fantastic , if you're a bright , bright , bright blonde , I would not use their conditioner bars just because it doesn't strip your color . But I've had several people say that it can give like a yellowy hue . I haven't seen it , but people have said it . So there you go , okay , so Viori Beauty Shampoo and Conditioner Bars . And then I absolutely adore Under Luna . Under Luna Shampoo and Conditioner . She's an herbalist as well and she was also a beautician and having a similar story , right , wanting something that worked but also wouldn't kill her , right , wasn't gonna harm her or her kids , love her Innersense is actually pretty damn good . They're really good and they're a beautiful product line .

Christina Kreitel 32:00

And then , when it comes to color , there's no such thing as a clean color line . I found some that are better , right , like 40 , 50% better , and they're all from either Italy or Australia . They are way pickier about what goes in their beauty products in those two countries and they are O way and O and M , so organic , mineral and or O way , which is organic way . Both of those they're great color lines . It's just like having to learn a brand new color line . The difference is it's not convenient . You have to order it right , like you have to order it in . You can't just stop at Cosmoprop and stop at Salon Centric , and so if you wanna keep using the color lines that you love , that's fine , but make sure you stop hot boxing yourself .

Christina Kreitel 32:45

Make sure you're wearing gloves . Make sure when you're mixing bleach , put a mask on . I was one of those hardcore anti-maskers during the whole mask thing during the pandemic . I hated them . I thought they were stupid , and they were stupid and maybe even proven that they didn't work in the first place . Now , right , but I did notice that when I started wearing them just in the beginning before , I was like I'm not doing this anymore . I was like not getting headaches and I was . Oh , it's because I'm not huffing everything .

Christina Kreitel 33:12

And so when you're mixing your bleach or you're doing stuff or you have to use an aerosol , put a bandana on , put a mask on , put something on . It's not gonna block everything , but it will block most , right , and anything is better than nothing . The biggest thing is fresh air . No aerosol . Wear your freaking gloves and protect your body from the inside by taking a freaking lunch break . Don't wear high heels . Okay , get your spine aligned the way it's supposed to . Take a lunch break . Don't snarf your food down . Take a second to eat it slowly and take a break . If you can hear my daughter , don't mind her and make sure you're taking like your vitamin E and like your other things

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Christina Kreitel 33:55

that can help with the free radicals .

Lunden Souza 33:57

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Lunden Souza 35:55

Cool , yeah , I love all of those tips that you shared and that's why I asked I'm like what are some tactical takeaways that hairdressers listening can start with today ? And when you mentioned the color , being from Italy or Australia and their strict regulations , like I remember . So the term endocrine disruptor , endocrine system that is not a stranger to me . I had to really learn that process within my body because I had PCOS cystic acne from all the fitness supplements , all the things I thought I was supposed to take to like build more muscle and protein and daytime fat burners and nighttime fat burners and this and this and all the things right . And when I lived in Austria for eight years , I was so surprised and excited to learn that , like in Europe and a lot of those countries .

Lunden Souza 36:44

They're banning like tens of thousands of chemicals in our personal care products , whereas in America we hardly ban anything and it's not until we , like you know , have enough people that go to legislation that are fighting relentlessly to do that , and sometimes it takes years and years , and years , and years , and years to do that .

Lunden Souza 37:04

In fact , I forget the girl's name off the top of my head , but she works with Beauty Counter , which I love because they're a very clean beauty product system , and she said , yeah , to change legislation , it usually takes about nine or 10 years to like you know , and that's a shit ton of time . Like what ? Like this is harming our bodies and our endocrine systems , and then it's gonna take nine years of like relentless , tenacious , not gonna stop me type of people to like be banging down the doors to get this like to be passed . And so that was something that I loved about . Living in Austria was just like that , that peace and that ease , knowing that I could go to like your normal everyday store . It didn't have to be , to use your words , even though I love it you didn't have to think about it .

Lunden Souza 37:48

Yeah , I didn't have to go to , like a hippie-dippy store , right , like even though I'll fall down for those but I didn't have to really think much about it because I knew that they were in the business of protecting us , not necessarily creating opportunities for us to get sick , so then they could cure us and make a bunch of money , right , and I'm a firm believer of that too . And so , and then I was listening to a podcast the other day about , yeah , the chemicals that are in our fragrances , that we put on our skin , and how we've seen this huge decline of testosterone in men because , specifically , of what they put in fragrances to make them smell good . And , like you said , we're putting them on our bodies and whatever .

Lunden Souza 38:29

and like my house smells like me and Sage my body smells like me , you know , and the other day I was yeah , I was doing something and a couple of people walked into the room and I was like , oh , it smells like cotton candy in here . Like I very much knew right away that whoever walked in had put like I don't know fucking bath and body works or something on their body before they walked in you know , and it makes you sick .

Christina Kreitel 38:52

Now , now that you've completely detoxed from it , you're like , oh , an immediate headache , and you're just like , like it physically affects you . I hate that smell .

Lunden Souza 39:01

If I get into a car or an Uber and there's a glade plug-in , I'm like I don't care how cold it is , I'm rolling the windows down and my head is out the window , like my nasal passages like literally start to like burn in this way because I just I'm like I cannot , like I would rather smell like me than and my house smell like me than- .

Christina Kreitel 39:21

Well , and the thing is More essential oils or stuff like that .

Lunden Souza 39:23

yeah , Well and the thing is , people are like well , what about ?

Christina Kreitel 39:25

Like I can't , I don't want BO . Honey , if your body is working correctly , you'll never have BO . Bo happens when there is garbage in your body that your lymphatic system is trying to get out . It's toxins . Bo is toxins . If you don't have toxins pumping through your body , you don't need deodorant and you won't over sweat either . I don't remember the last time I wore deodorant . Usually if I eat something shitty and then I'm like , oh crap , yep , that's cause I ate that three days ago and here it is here , it's coming out .

Christina Kreitel 39:58

That's great right . So , just yeah , you're not supposed to smell bad , you're not supposed to look bad , you're not supposed to feel bad . Your body is awesome . She just wants to be fit and beautiful and she wants to move and she wants to create . If you just feed her right and stop poisoners , she's gonna do everything you ever wanted her to do .

Lunden Souza 40:17

Yeah , I know , and I think sometimes the I mean you and I are so passionate about it and we're like in it and we've been in it . And sometimes I do know that people can get into this space of overwhelm where it's like oh my gosh , everything is toxic . And then I sometimes think that the thought that everything is toxic actually is toxic to our own selves . So that's why I always like to , you know , be um , yeah , have compassion and grace for people that don't know this information yet , and be like Okay , here's where you can start . First , here are some okay , take out the glade plugins out of your home . Okay , swap this for this . That's why I asked I'm like I love that you mentioned the name of your course . I love that you mentioned those brands , because we need , you know , not to just say use something that's better for you , but we need brand names , we need the specifics when do we get it ? Where do we order it ? Like , how do we start , you know ? And so I really love that you shared that and everything you mentioned . I'll link in the show notes so that people can like , look at and check out and just make sure that they um can get connected , um , with products , with information that will help them .

Lunden Souza 41:25

You know , and yeah , same for me , I still get my hair colored . But you know a lot of other things . I'm like , yeah , I don't remember the last time I used , yeah , I don't like body lotion . That wasn't like I use coconut oil , you know , like I don't remember . Like the , I remember well , I do remember like I used to drench myself in Chanel number five or whatever , and just like , and now , if someone's like , hey , you want some perfume , I'm like no , no no way for me .

Lunden Souza 41:53

In fact , like I , uh , I was recently in Dubai with my ex , who I love , were great friends , but he , as soon as I , we were staying together , I , uh , I was like , oh my gosh , that smell like ew of his cologne . I was like new rule If you're going to spray your cologne , you have to go out on the balcony and spray it right before we leave , and then we're immediately going outside . Like I can't with that smell being in our space . Like , like , maybe it's not a turn on anymore . Yeah , yeah , maybe at some point I liked it , but like , no , not at all .

Lunden Souza 42:25

Um , one thing I want to bring up too , because I thought this was so interesting Um , you had back issues and then you made your bed into a wood with no mattress . Can you talk about this a little bit more , Cause I ? I didn't follow a ton of that story , but I remember you sleeping on the ground and then , like , you built your bed , so half of it was hard and half of it was not for your husband . Why , how , how are you feeling ? Do you still sleep on the wood bed ?

Christina Kreitel 42:55

Yeah , I do , I do so , I totally do . I sleep on a hard surface . So , um , I was getting that you know , the buffalo hump right , like people are this , like getting that humped back and that hunched back and and everything always hurt and I'm always cracker , cracker , cracker , right . And , um , I mean , of course , of course that was happening to me with doing hair for so many years , cause I'm also tall , like I'm not short you remember how tall I am , like I'm a tall girl , and so I was always having to hunch over and and , um , my back was just always killing my hips . We're always out of place . My knees were always , like everything just always hurt , and this is one way that I learned . I have gotten to a point where I , now that I recognize this , I'm just open , like I just I keep my eyes open for things for me to go what's that ? Why are you doing that ? Like that's how my brain works . I was that kid . Why , why , why , right , like that was me , and I'm still that way .

Christina Kreitel 43:50

And I was actually watching a show I don't remember what show it was , but it was . It was in Japan , and these characters were sleeping on the floor and I'm like , why ? Why are you sleeping ? Why are you sleeping on the floor , like you're loaded , like this is a rich , a rich family . Why are they rolling mats out on the floor ? Why ? Why do Japanese ? Why do I keep seeing this ? Now , I haven't been to Japan so I can't confirm it for myself , but on TV I kept noticing . I'm like why do they sleep on the floor ? Is it just a culture thing , like , why ?

Christina Kreitel 44:19

So I got curious and started Googling and I started looking stuff up and started looking how , yes , cultural , it's also a minimalist thing , right , because a lot of people live in very , very small houses . So the same room , that's the bedroom , is also the living room , is also the sitting room , is also the dining room , right , and so they have to fold it up and keep it like clean and minimalist . But more than anything , what they always do is if someone strains their back or somebody gets hurt , they have to sleep on a hard . They have to sleep on the floor , on a hard , flat surface . For days , and the more I looked into it , it was because when you lay on a flat surface , your body , spine will realign , and I'm like , well , that sounds incredibly painful , but hey , let's try it Like why not ? So I started sleeping on the ground just to see , oh my gosh , the first day , like the first three days , was torture . I didn't get any sleep at all . My body , it felt like I got hit by a truck . It was awful . And then suddenly I started being able to sleep but still waking up sore .

Christina Kreitel 45:23

It was about two weeks of my body just aching and just super sore . And it was interesting because the places that I was really sore hear me on this the places where I was hurting were all the fatty deposit places where I had the most cellulite issues , right , and I had the biggest , like lumps and bumps and grossness right , all those spots that I'm like man , I wish I could just get rid of this the the saddlebags on the side of my thighs I used to have right , like the fatty deposits right here on my sides , right the side boob , like all of that . That's where I'm sore and I'm like this is so weird . And so after , about , it took about three weeks , about , yeah , about three weeks one day I woke up and I wasn't sore anymore and I went into my bathroom and I looked in the bathroom and I was like , oh my gosh , my buffalo hump is gone . This hump right here that was starting to grow , this fatty deposit on the back of my neck , on the upper part of my back , was totally gone .

Christina Kreitel 46:18

And I called my husband . I was like what , Get in here . And I just stripped down naked and I was like look at me . And he's like Baby , you're like smoothing out . And I'm like what do you mean ? I'm smoothing out . He's like you're not like . He's like forgive me , I love you , please don't , please don't hate me , but like you're not lumpy , you're like not as lumpy as you were and I'm like interesting .

Christina Kreitel 46:40

And so at the same time , I already was learning about lymphatic massage right and where the lymph system lives , and what's interesting is all of the places where I was having the lumpiness also happens to be some of the biggest clusters of lymphatic nodes that were blocked and weren't draining Exactly the fatty armpits , the fatty down the side , right that . There's a big cluster in your back , there's a big cluster right here , right Inside your thighs , a whole bunch right . And so after about two months I have perfect posture . I can sit cross-legged on the ground and not get tired when you're sitting cross-legged and your back goes like that ? No , it's totally straight . And the reason I was sore is because I had to .

Christina Kreitel 47:25

I was massaging literally eight hours worth of deep tissue and lymphatic massage all night long , while I'm laying on a flat surface Now . So my husband got sick and tired of me laying on the ground because he's like we just like come be in bed . I was like , no , it hurts my back . Right and think about it . Of course it hurts my back . My butt is the heaviest part of my body . Your butt , your hips , your thighs , ladies , that's where your center of gravity is right . And if you're laying on a mattress and it is pulling down , your spine is going like while you're sleeping and you wonder why you wake up with all these aches and pains . And so I went to Costa Rica too . So when you said Costa Rica , I'm like what is it about Costa Rica and all the healing ? I swear there's like a healing portal there .

Lunden Souza 48:08

But I went to Costa Rica . Oh yeah , there's a blue zone there and it is so healing and I love Costa Rica

The Transformation of Sleep

Lunden Souza 48:14

.

Christina Kreitel 48:14

I loved it , it's so much . That's where all my beginning of healing all my feminine crap , what started , was there , anyway . So I go to Costa Rica on this trip and when I come back , clint is the one who built it . He surprised me and he was like babe , I understand why you're doing this and I see I mean you'll look great and you're obviously feeling better , but I miss you .

Christina Kreitel 48:36

And so he got rid of our mattress . It was like a three $4,000 mattress that we bought a few years before because it was the most high end and my back was hurting . So get a higher end mattress , right ? No , you want more . You want to heal . Do less , seriously , do less . And so he built a twin size box and leveled it and went and got himself a twin size mattress and then leveled it . So it's perfectly level and the same king size sheet fits over both .

Christina Kreitel 49:03

But I have my hard surface and I have like about a half inch of memory foam just because it's wood on top of it , and I still sleep on that to this day and it's so comfortable and I can fall asleep anywhere , like you're at the airport and you have a 10 hour layover and you're exhausted . Yeah , I just lay down on the ground and it's like I'm at home . It's great so . But it did so much for me .

Christina Kreitel 49:25

My hips stopped cracking , I no longer have to pop my back anymore , my shoulders realigned my knees don't hurt . It's crazy . I loved it . And so I was like , oh , okay , interesting . So a lot of the health stuff that I look for is I'm like okay , america , you got it messed up . We have a lot of things here , but we've lost a lot of wisdom , and so I'm like I don't care , I'm looking elsewhere . I'm looking like show me the oldest person on the planet and I want to talk to them . And so , yeah , that's why and it's great it was absolute hell the first few weeks , and it was worth it because I don't have to go to the chiropractor anymore .

Lunden Souza 50:01

Right , and I love your curiosity . I love that you stuck with it because you're like huh , I want to see for myself . I'm very much that way too , Like I'm like I'm going to do the hard thing if I know the hard thing , right .

Christina Kreitel 50:14

I'm like .

Lunden Souza 50:15

I know it's going to be beneficial , moving forward , and I want to try it for myself first before I start sharing it or , like you know , with others . And I'm right there with you with what you said and like , show me the oldest person in the world and what they do . And I , recently , I like I never watch TV . What I mostly watch is YouTube fireplace channel , because it's like this fireplace with all this crackly and I don't have a fireplace in my house , so I put it on my TV .

Lunden Souza 50:41

But I found the blue zones and I've heard of the blue zones before , read the books , all the things , but there's like a documentary on Netflix and I love it . And they follow each of the blue zone places and then when they're in Japan , specifically , as you mentioned , okinawa , okinawa they don't talk about them sleeping on hard surfaces or things like that in the particular episode , but they talk a lot about how they sit on the floor and how a lot of like being able to sit on like these are 105 year olds , 100 year olds , sitting on the floor and then easily just standing right back up and have the ability to get all the way down like cross-legged , eat their food and then stand all the way up , I love it and I look .

Christina Kreitel 51:19

if you look at our biology , if you look at our physiology , right part of the reason we have so many digestion issues here in the United States is because we sit up on chairs or we lean back or we hunch over forward or we eat while we're standing . It's called Tsukasana . It's called sitting cross-legged on the floor . Tsukasana , you eat cross-legged on the floor . It will improve your digestion by over 50% . And so I got rid of my table and took the legs off of it and had my husband build me like a 16 inch platform . We all sit cross-legged on the ground in my own house . All my digestion issues stopped .

Lunden Souza 52:00

I love that Mobility . Yeah , I also thought it was more of a cultural thing rather than what you just suggested , that when I was in Japan , I remember just loving like we would take our shoes off and then sit down . And anytime I've traveled I've always loved to like fully participate in the like you said , the wisdom or the ways , and sitting on the , I just thought it was very comfortable and cool . And I think my neighbor told the other day he's like I saw you meditating sitting by the lake and you have such good posture and mine I don't . I don't sleep on a hard surface but I meditate a shit ton and I do it sitting , you know , and sitting up nice and straight .

Lunden Souza 52:37

And what you said about the pineal , I say pineal but I don't think it matters , pineal , pineal , whatever land is a main focus of my meditation practice and healing and connecting and reprogramming , rewiring a lot . And so , yeah , a lot of what you shared resonates with me and I'm just so grateful to have been able to reconnect with you and have this conversation . For those of you listening , you can hear us and probably hear our excitement and our voice , but like I'm like moving , I'm walking back and forth , I feel like I'm being moved by this conversation because I think these are so important , and so thank you , Christina , so much for your time . I appreciate you so much and your passion and your work in this world is so needed . I know you mentioned heal the hairdresser is your course that people can get .

Lunden Souza 53:29

I'll link that in the description Yep , I'll just show it

Transforming Living Spaces for Health

Lunden Souza 53:33

to you .

Christina Kreitel 53:33

So if you go on to Instagram , it's Christina Kreitel , just @christinak reitel . So I, Heal The Hairdresser was a course , just a one , two , three hour course that I did just off the cuff for people . I actually have a full blown course called Harmony . It's a two step course , it's Harmony and then Sovereign Harmony is all the unlearning .

Christina Kreitel 53:54

So if you're at the point where you're sick and tired of the confusion right , because it's confusing and the overwhelm , I take it all away , because health , Lunden , to agree with me , health is simple , it's very simple . It was complicated for the sake of industry , right ? And so the entire point of Harmony is I help you understand reading a food label , where this came , where the history of all this happened , why we got f'd up in the first place , how to take get rid of that . I already did it all for you . I'm the one who bridges the gap between the complicated , or what you think is complicated , and you actually knowing where to go forward from here .

Christina Kreitel 54:30

So Harmony is the unlearning , the understanding what food is good for you and what is garbage . And I'm just going to tell you right now real food is good for you . That's it . Real food is good for you , period . That includes sugar guys . That includes chocolate . Real chocolate is one of the greatest sources of magnesium you could possibly get , so I teach that and then after that , that's when we get into the advanced health modalities like reflexology and iridology and TCM practices and stuff like that . But you can't do that If you can't even understand why you're addicted to soda in the first place . Right , if you can't understand where this is coming from and how to stop it , there's no point in you doing this other stuff . You got to start from the foundation , and so that's what that is , and if you have questions , just DM me . I'm an open book . I'm here . I'm here to help .

Lunden Souza 55:19

Yeah , that's what I did . I DMed you . I'm like , hey , you want to be on my podcast , you want to talk , want to hang out ? Yeah , and I appreciate you so much , you guys . Everything that Christina mentioned I'll put in the show notes , Instagram links to courses , all the things , the products and stuff like that , so it's easy access and you can dive in . Again , Christina , thank you for your time , thank you guys for listening , and we'll see you at the next episode . Thanks , thanks so much for listening to this episode of self love and sweat the podcast . Hey , do me a favor Wherever you're listening to this podcast , give us a review this really helps a lot and share this with a friend . I'm only one person and with your help , we can really spread the message of self love and sweat and change more lives all around the world . I'm Lunden Souza , reminding you that you deserve a life full of passion , presence and purpose , fueled by self love and sweat . This podcast is a hit spot . Austria production .