Scent: Fresh and uplifting. Notes of Tiare flower and jasmine with soft magnolia petals, violet leaves, green bamboo, and palm fronds evoke the smell of the dewy tea fields of Indonesia at sunrise.
Texture: Buttery, whipped yet fast-absorbing
Color: Cream
Benefits & Features
Features essential fatty acids with omega-rich candlenut, avocado, and carrot seed oils with antioxidant vitamin E and indulgent Illipe butter. Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory ingredients help protect skin from environmental stress, sun damage, and dry climate.
Has a signature hydrating yet non-greasy feel, leaving skin feeling smooth and velvety.
Directions
This product can be used daily for maximum benefits.Warm the desired amount of product in the palm of your hand, letting it warm just slightly, and then massage creme gently into the skin until it is fully absorbed.
Apply generously on freshly cleansed skin or re-apply any time of day for a boost of moisture.
Ingredients
Candlenut Oil: Moisturizes and softens skin with a non-greasy, velvety feel. Rich in linoleic and linolenic acid, candlenut oil moisturizes and helps mend rough, chapped skin.Rice Bran Oil: Maintains elasticity. Rich in natural Vitamin E and essential fatty acids, rice bran oil intensely hydrate and help maintain youthful elasticity.Avocado Oil: Nourishes and calms. Traditionally used in Indonesia, Avocado Oil is richly hydrating and highly soothing.Illipe Butter: Moisturizes and protects. Provides a cushiony barrier to protect skin from dehydration, hard water and harsh elements.All Ingredients: Water/Eau, Cetearyl Ethylhexanoate, Emulsifying Wax NF, Cyclomethicone, Illipe (Shorea stenoptera) Seed Butter, Candlenut (Aleurites moluccana) Oil, Avocado (Persea gratissima) Oil, Stearyl Alcohol, Rice Bran (Oryza sativa) Oil, Dimethicone, Carrot (Daucus Carota sativa) Seed Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Carbomer, Fragrance/Parfum, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, Glycerin, Glyceryl Caprylate, Phenypropanol.
“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla quis diam lorem. Praesent auctor dapibus purus, eu facilisis nunc auctor et. In fermentum nunc et est vulputate malesuada.”
If anyone ever told you that beauty is skin-deep, they were wrong. For thousands of years, people have understood the connection between the mind and skin.
We explore the research behind this mind-body connection and share ways you can use spiritual practices to support your skin health.
Key Takeaways
Your skin and nervous system developed from the same embryonic tissue, called the ectoderm, leaving them intimately connected.
Emotions have concrete, and sometimes immediate, effects on the skin. Negative emotions like stress can undermine skin health.
On the other hand, positive emotions and spiritual wellness practices can support skin health.
Metta Murdaya, co-founder of JUARA Skincare, says:
"The mind-body connection is stronger than many people realize. Taking care of our skin can support our mental health, and caring for our inner self can support our skin health."
It's easy to think of skin trouble as something purely physical. While moisturizers, cleansers, topical ointments, and other skincare products can certainly help you support your skin, taking care of your mind is just as important.
Physical health is intimately linked to mental health. When it comes to skin conditions, there's often some kind of psychological element involved. Difficult emotions affect the skin in many different ways and can wreak havoc if left unaddressed.
Fortunately, this means that supporting your mental health brings more benefits than you might expect. By taking care of your inner self, you'll address both the psychological issues and the skin conditions those issues might be contributing to.
And what better time to explore this than during National Spiritual Wellness Month? Held every March, this celebration of spirituality encourages us all to reflect on our lives, practice mindfulness, and build healing self-care routines.
Of course, all that's easier said than done. Getting in touch with your subconscious mind can seem intimidating. But it's truly worth it. And in a moment of circularity, skincare can actually be a great place to start.
We'll get to that later. First, we need to explore the science behind why our skin and mind are so closely connected.
Exploring the Mind-Skin Connection
The mind-skin connection isn't new. For thousands of years, our ancestors knew the importance of caring for body and soul.
For example, Indonesia is home to a centuries-old herbal wellness tradition called Jamu.¹ Communities used natural, botanical ingredients like turmeric, ginger, and candlenut to maintain glowing skin, promote healing, and support overall wellness. Often, these ingredients were used in Jamu drinks! ²
In the past few decades, modern research has confirmed the intimate connection between mind and body.
You've likely heard of some of these connections. The brain-gut axis, for example, is one important example. Research has shown that gut microbiota can impact mood and vice versa.
Our skin is the largest organ in the body. It's in constant communication with our brain and nervous system, sending and receiving signals constantly. Skin cells and nerve cells actually develop from the very same embryonic tissues.³
How Skin Reacts to Chronic Stress
The nervous system influences the skin in many different ways. You've likely experienced this connection. If you've ever become so stressed that you began to sweat, for example, you know just how powerful the mind-skin connection can be.
When we experience stress, our brains tell the body to release hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones trigger a number of changes throughout the body, including in the skin. They can decrease blood flow to the skin and interfere with the immune system.⁴
When stressed, the brain also sends various signals through the nervous system. These signals reach the skin and influence it in various ways.⁵
Long-term exposure to psychological stress has serious impacts on the skin. Research has identified and measured many of these impacts.
Dry Skin
Stress hormones can interfere with the functioning of the skin barrier. The skin barrier refers to the skin's outer layer. It's like a brick wall, working to retain moisture and protect the body from potentially harmful external substances.
As a 2025 scientific review noted, stress hormones can undermine the skin's barrier. Cortisol, for example, reduces the concentration of key moisturizing and plumping lipids and structural proteins in the skin barrier. In turn, that increases water lost through the skin, drying it out.⁶
Stress can also interfere with the immune response. A 2024 scientific review described how stress can disrupt the balance of the skin's immune cells, making it more susceptible to skin issues.⁷
In fact, research has found that stress can interfere with the immune system as a whole, not just in your skin. Studies have shown that it can cause normally healing immune cells to express their genes in different ways, ultimately causing a suppression of the immune response.⁸ Stress can also cause a decrease in the number of protective immune cells, like cytokines and T-cells, making your body (and therefore skin) more susceptible to damage.⁹
Inflammation
Meanwhile, chronic stress can also trigger other parts of the immune system. For example, studies have shown that stress can stimulate mast cells in the skin, potentially causing them to release more histamine and increasing inflammation.¹⁰
Allergic Reactions
Mast cells also play a key role in how the body responds to allergens. When your body undergoes an allergic reaction, it releases histamine. Stress can also trigger the release of histamine, potentially stimulating allergic reactions or causing skin issues like rash or hives.¹¹
How Skin Conditions Cause Stress
The skin-mind connection isn't one-way. As multiple studies have noted, skin conditions can worsen mental health.¹²
Left unaddressed, this connection can turn into an unfortunate cycle. Negative emotions cause skin reactions; in turn, those cause low self-esteem.
Spiritual Healing and Skin Healing
If your skin issues are caused or worsened by a related psychological problem, products alone may not be sufficient. To experience complete recovery, you may need to look inwards.
Spiritual practices can do wonders for mental health. In doing so, they can support our skin, too. But what are they?
In essence, spiritual practices are techniques that help us deepen our connection with ourselves, others, and the world around us. Ideally, a practice will help you engage with your inner self.
One popular example is mindfulness, the practice of rooting yourself in the present. Research has shown that mindfulness can reduce stress.¹³ One review of over 200 individual studies concluded that mindfulness can help reduce stress, and it may even help support the immune system. ¹⁴
Practices like mindfulness can also be steps on a path toward spiritual awakening. In fact, implementing mindfulness in everyday interactions is one of several signs you might be approaching such an awakening.
Holistic Wellness
You might consider skincare to be separate from spiritual practices. But that's not the case at all.
Take Jamu, the ancient Indonesian herbal tradition we mentioned earlier. The practices of Jamu were used to support both skin, body, and soul. All three aspects are connected, so why not uplift them all?
You can apply the same principle to your skincare. Think of it like a spiritual skincare routine. For example, you might apply a delicate eye creme as part of a nightly ritual after you shower. Or attune yourself to your body with a coffee-infused body scrub.
Of course, high-quality skincare products are packed with ingredients for glowing, clear skin. JUARA's products are formulated with botanical actives based on ancient skincare traditions. But using them in a mindful, spiritual, intentional way can lead to even more potential benefits, for your mind and body alike.
"Beauty is not only skin deep," explains JUARA co-founder Metta Murdaya. "It's a whole mind-body situation.… It really is more than a product you put on the skin. It really is inside-out, outside-in."
Conclusion
Our skin is often our body's first line of defense from external stressors. Internal stressors also impact the skin in many ways. Negative emotions and stress can cause all kinds of skin problems, from dryness to inflammation, which in turn can undermine mental health.
Fortunately, this cycle works the other way, too. Spiritual practices can bolster mental health, which support skin health; mindful skincare practices can help support the skin and mind.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Emotions Are Behind Skin Problems?
All kinds of negative emotions can manifest as skin problems. Negative emotions often manifest as stress, which can cause dryness, inflammation, and other problems.
What Emotions Are Connected to the Skin?
Our mind and skin are intimately connected, so all emotions are technically connected to the skin. Research has demonstrated how stress can affect the skin in many different ways, while positive emotions can promote healthy skin.
How is Skin an Emotional Organ?
Skin cells and nervous system cells develop from the very same embryonic tissue. That shared origin leaves skin and mind deeply connected, and research has shown that our emotions can influence skin health in all kinds of ways. For example, the skin responds to hormones released by stress, often in real-time.
Juara Skincare incorporates ancient rituals with Western skincare science, creating the ultimate beauty experience. We aim to transport you from the mundane to the extraordinary with our exotic ingredients, intoxicating scents, and powerful, skin-improving formulas. All of our products are nutrient-rich and botanically based. We are proud to be certified cruelty-free. Get the latest skin care tips and info on Juara products by learning more about our founders and following us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
Metta Murdaya
Co-founder and CEO
Metta Murdaya is co-founder and CEO of JUARA Skincare, a skincare and beauty company inspired by the Indonesian wellness traditions of Jamu. Her award-winning book, Jamu Lifestyle, captures the essence of the Jamu philosophy, emphasizing the power of healthy, intentional, and joyful living. Guided by a deep commitment to societal betterment, Metta inspires individuals to thrive in mind, body, and spirit. As a wellness speaker and retreat guide, she contributes to the Global Wellness Institute’s Aesthetic Health Initiative and serves on the board of Mentari, supporting trafficking prevention and education initiatives in Indonesia and wellness programs in the U.S.
