The Beauty Routine Clean Beauty Guru Jazmin Alvarez Has Been Using As Of Late

Technically, Jazmin Alvarez has been in the beauty space her entire life. While her résumé will describe her as a 14-year veteran of the beauty and fashion industry, she spent most of her younger years in the hair salon. 

Her mother and grandfather sparked her initial love for the industry, two beauty entrepreneurs in their own right. Flash-forward to the present day, and you'll find Alvarez in her very own curated clean beauty store in New York City, Pretty Well Beauty. 

Alvarez spent years exploring clean beauty in person and online, only to be met with overwhelming, unwelcoming, and noninclusive shopping experiences. It was then that Alvarez realized there was room for something better, something where everyone is welcome. 

Whether you shop online or in person, PWB is the antithesis of what Alvarez experienced before. The shop holds only 40 retailers, all selling exceptionally clean and natural products. What's more, Alvarez ensures there are products to shop for every skin color and hair type—something many beauty retailers neglect. 

Not only are these products available, but many of them come from small, Black-owned businesses that provide ingredient and sustainability transparency, so you can shop with confidence. To put it simply, PWB is a curated shopping experience, done in the most thoughtful way possible. 

"It's a night-and-day difference if I go a week without using a hair mask. In other words, my hair cannot thrive without it. I have curly hair, which is naturally on the drier side. Other people might be able to get away with not hair masking, but I'm not one of them.

"My surprise hit is this scalp mask for hair growth; it's called No.1 by mFlorens. When I was going through the hair transition, I cut all of my hair off. I'm someone that has had long hair my whole life so I had short hair for the first time in my life, and I hated it. I was desperate for my hair to grow back faster. I was using all of these different hair growth oils in different places and nothing was really working.

"One day this brand reached out to me that I had never heard of. Their founder had alopecia and she regained all of her hair growth and wanted me to try the scalp mask. Essentially, it encourages quicker speed of the hair growth cycle.

"I was apprehensive because I thought it sounded like a gimmick. But this product made my hair grow 8 inches in six months.

"I've been seeing a lot of butterfly pea in skin care products. I'm really excited about it because I love butterfly pea. A lot of people don't know that it has so many health benefits for our gut as well as the skin. It's not just a pretty tea that changes colors.

"In skin care, it's so beneficial because it promotes collagen and elastin production. I'm excited to see more blue butterfly popping up in natural skin care versus just drinking it as a tea.

"There's a serum by a brand called Luna Nectar that we carry at Pretty Well Beauty that has the butterfly pea flower in it. If you look at the serum it's a pretty purple color, and that's the natural color; there's no artificial coloring in it.

"If I had to prioritize anything, whether it be a massage, a wrap, or a facial, I will always do a facial. That's just something that is so important for me not only because I want to maintain my skin health, but I also just love them.

"I've been getting facials since I was 14. I've had all different kinds, and I'm always really excited to try different facialists, but I do have one person I've been going to for many, many years. They're always customized. She always does extractions, but she'll add something a little bit different each time.

"When I travel I like to have things that serve multiple purposes, like shea butter. You can use it on your face, you can put it in your hair, you can put it on your body, or you can put it on your lips.

"One thing my mom told me that I still practice is to only trim your hair on a full moon. That's the harvest season, and if you follow the moon and understand what the moon represents at its fullest, that's a time for shedding, getting rid of the old, and starting a new, preparing for a new moon.

"Cutting away old hair during a full moon ritual is one thing my mom taught me, and that's how my hair has always been, ever since I was growing up.