15 Self-Care Essentials Love Wellness Founder Lo Bosworth Swears By

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Welcome to Take the Edge Off, a series that breaks down the beauty and self-care routines of influencers, CEOs, experts, and celebrities. Find out how they unwind and decompress, while taking a closer look at the holy grail essentials they're currently raving about.

If watching early aughts MTV shows like Laguna Beach, The Hills, and The City was as ingrained in your adolescent life as homework, then chances are you're already familiar with Love Wellness founder and CEO Lo Bosworth.

The beauty and wellness entrepreneur, plus six of her high school classmates, were launched into households across the country when Laguna Beach premiered in 2004. And while Bosworth credits the hit show for providing her with a larger social platform, she tells BAZAAR.com that co-starring in the series was just the beginning of her greater career journey.

"Is Gen-Z interested in the show?" Bosworth muses over Zoom as I ask her thoughts on its resurgence among new and younger viewers. "It has been interesting because Laguna Beach is on Netflix right now, which has provided me with an opportunity to say hi, talk about my business, share my message," she says. "But I'm thrilled to be able to reach a younger audience, share the mission of Love Wellness, and help educate people on women's bodies and how they work. I think it's a really important part of growing up that my generation missed because the information wasn't readily available, but now that it's more accessible, my goal is to reach as many people as possible."

Along with some of her former teenage escapades, Bosworth's passion for health and wellness has also been well-documented, which ultimately blossomed in 2014 after a personal health experience sent her looking for answers to cope with it.

"I just became really depressed and anxious in a way that felt like an out of body experience. It was beyond a normal bout of depression and anxiety—it was really crippling. At the same time, I was experiencing recurrent vaginal infections; I kept getting UTIs, yeast infections, and the neurological things I was dealing with were pretty debilitating. And I started off on a journey to heal myself," she explains. "When you go to the doctor through the traditional Western lens, they're doing a lot of treatment of symptoms, right? Versus looking below the surface for what could be causing all of these different mysterious ailments, and are they connected somehow. It took me 18 months to find out that I was dealing with some really serious vitamin deficiencies, which immediately explained the neurological issues I was dealing with—the depression, the anxiety. And that set me off on a journey for more information."

Bosworth consulted OB/GYNs in addition to her primary care doctor about vitamin deficiencies. Going down this medicinal rabbit hole later led Bosworth to develop Love Wellness's first product, The Killer, boric acid-powered supplements that balance the vagina's pH and yeast levels. "It was really through the creation of the company over time that we were able to start drawing the connection between the gut and the vagina, and then the gut and the brain," she adds. "Our understanding of the body has evolved, just as the brand has evolved over the last seven years."

She recently released her brand's first book, Love Yourself Well, An Empowering Wellness Guide to Supporting Your Gut, Brain, and Vagina, which took over two years to create, and is something she considers a modern textbook of sorts for women's bodies. "The book really for the first time demystifies the science of the GBV (gut-brain-vagina) axis, and makes clear how critical gut health is to women's health overall," she notes. "It's everything that I wish I could have learned in high school about how to treat my body with care and love. I had no idea that what I was eating could be directly correlated to depression, anxiety, getting UTIs—I had no idea. And I think a lot of people don't understand that." In addition to detailing lessons she's learned on her personal journey about the body's interconnectivity, the book also includes medical insights from a panel of experts to weigh in on its claims offer their recommendations.

Here, BAZAAR.com catches up with Bosworth to learn more about Love Wellness's newest release, plus, more of her holy-grail beauty and wellness favorites that are primary in her routine.

What are you reading these days?

Love Yourself Well, of course. I actually am going through and re-reading so much of it because I'm doing media interviews, so I'm like, "Oh, I gotta brush up on this science fact, that little piece of information." After working on a project for more than two years, you can forget elements of it.

What are some of your go-to bath and/or shower products?

I posted about this on my Instagram, but I like to make a tea bath—I'm a big bath taker—I sometimes take two of them a day which people consider absolutely insane. But they really make me feel calm, and I like making tea baths which I first saw on TikTok a couple of months ago, it's kind of a DIY thing to do.

I get different kinds of dried, organic ingredients: my favorite mix right now is chamomile, calendula, nettle, plus, a couple other ingredients like lavender and things like that. And you can combine it all in a giant tea bag and just drop it into your bath. It's a really nice experience for someone who takes a lot of baths. You've got to switch it up between bath salts, oils and different types of things. I also dry brush pretty regularly—it's not exactly a bath product, but it's sort of bath adjacent. I'm a big fan of lymphatic massage. And I'm somebody that like does get bloated and does carry extra water weight around, so I try and do it at home around once a week using a wooden drainage tool and OSEA's Undaria Algae Body Oil.

After the bath—again, this is like bath adjacent—I started using the Advanced Clinicals Retinol Advanced Firming Cream, which makes it easy to use retinol on your whole body. And it's just $15 for 16-ounces, which goes to show that you don't have to pay big bucks for good skincare.

What beauty or self-care products do you use on a regular basis to help combat Zoom fatigue?

I use Lumify's whitening eye drops pretty religiously. Ever since having Lasik surgery, my eyes have always gotten pretty red, which makes me look tired. I'm constantly using these eye drops, especially before Zoom calls to be like, "Okay, I'm awake, I'm up, I'm fresh."

Do you have a favorite hand sanitizer, soap, and/or cream right now?

I love Byredo's Tulipmania scent, so I always get their hand wash and rinse-free sanitizer in it—smells so great.

Do you ever light a candle or stick of incense to decompress? If so, what are some of your favorites?

Lighting pretty much any candle from Otherland is my go-to, but especially the Core Collection. Right now, I have Mountain Lace lit in my office, which has a really nice fruity, floral scent.

What was the last beauty product you put on today?

I'm not wearing makeup today, so I'm just wearing my favorite Eclipse Sheer Mineral Sunscreen from a company called Earth Harbor—it's incredible. And it's the only sunscreen I've ever used that doesn't burn my eyes.

Are you into bold makeup, no makeup, or no-makeup makeup right now, and why?

No makeup-makeup—that's my general look. I use the CC Cream Foundation from It Cosmetics, and I love Drunk Elephant's O-Bloos Rosi Glow Drops and D-Bronzi Anti-Pollution Bronzing Drops. Just a little bit of that and maybe some clear lip gloss, and that's it. I also use this salve called Egyptian Magic, which is kind of a culty product but still affordable. So, I'll use that as a lip balm, or to make my hair and eyebrows do whatever I want, and I use it for slugging at night—it's an amazing product.

What's the last fitness class you streamed or attended in person?

I'm doing this obé program called Simply Strong. I started weight lifting during the past six months, and it's the first time I've ever done it—I used to be a high intensity cardio girl. Now, I'm focused on weight lifting, strength training, and Pilates.

What's one piece of self-care advice you'd recommend to our readers?

I think it's really important to create boundaries for yourself, especially when it comes to work-life balance. I'm someone who pretty much calls it a day at 5:30 p.m., and I encourage my team to do the same. It relates to burnout: when you're burned out, you're never doing quality work, and when you create space for yourself for rest, fun, and play, you wake up the next day actually ready to go to work and create something great.

Do you have any tips on keeping your body in balance during the holiday season?

So I would say it's definitely tricky during the holidays. I think you have to recognize that there are moments where you can't do everything perfectly. But you can be focused on the things that are more problematic for you, because everyone has a hint of what their body doesn't agree with. And I would just make a concerted effort ahead of time to keep that in mind throughout the season. If I have a gluten sensitivity, I'm going to focus on consuming all these other snacks and dishes that I love and can have easily. So, it's sort of like making peace with yourself.

If you you know go off your diet, it's okay, if you have an extra drink, it's okay—the same approach I have for work-life balance is the one I have for the body if you look at every day throughout the year. You have a couple of days to be with your family—you can focus on the productivity and "sticking to the routine" things 350 days out of the year. But, it's okay to give yourself this time, it's okay to give yourself this break. It's healthy, it's good for you.

What about to avoid feeling groggy or tired the next day after indulging in a few drinks?

I like to take a liver supplement the night before I go out that have ingredients like milk thistle and anything that can coat the stomach and help with detoxification. I personally really like Nuun tablets, but any type of like liver support supplement I find really helps the severity of my hangover. So, I take it before I go out for the night, drink a bunch of water, and then focus on rehydration and healthy eating the next day.

How do you typically deal with stress during the holidays and beyond?

Getting in some type of exercise every day is great, and also something you can do if you need a moment to yourself. If you need alone time, try and build it into your workout routine, or into your shower or bath routine. And that's where you're most likely to find some extra peace and quiet.

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