Suzanne Somers on Happy Hour, Hormones and Her Very Fine-Tuned Nightly Bath Ritual
It's probably no secret that Suzanne Somers is a self-proclaimed “takes-chemicals-very-seriously” kind of person. The 72-year-old, who is known for being outspoken about health and hormones, is proud to live “as natural of a life as she can control"—a passion that inspired her to start her own beauty brand, SUZANNE Organics, a line of certified toxic-free skin care, hair care, and makeup. Somers is super involved with the promoting, research and development and is especially proud of her part in "keeping the formulation guidelines strict" but, as she recently told us, she also leaves time in the day for her daily 5 p.m. tequila happy hour.
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Love letter to the line: “In order to achieve the toxic-free insignia, it must be grown organically, extracted organically, and nothing upwind or downwind of the product can be toxic to contaminate it. The guidelines are very strict. When you consider skin is the largest organ of the body and that under a microscope pores look like little holes, then you can create a visual that whatever you put on your skin drops in through the pores into the bloodstream. If it is something the brain recognizes, it knows what to do with it. If it’s a foreign substance, the brain it has to figure out how to store the toxic chemicals to keep them away from your precious organs and glands. So it stores chemicals in the fat cells creating unexplained weight gain. Who thought you could gain weight from your skin care choices?”
Summer must: “We make a toxic-free, sunless tanning serum called Golden Tanning Serum ($55). It really works and turns you the color you are supposed to be. It’s all natural, doesn’t turn you orange, smells delicious and is a completely safe product to put on your skin. So many of the commercial tanners are loaded with chemicals and smell bad. This is a fantastic product.”
Desert-island product: “One of my favorite products in the SUZANNE Organics line is our Liquid Oxygen Therapy Facial Serum ($55). After I wash my face it’s my first step and it’s like giving your skin a drink. Liquid Oxygen is oxygen suspended in liquid (don’t ask me how they do that) plus we have watermelon, lentil and apple extracts added to provide nutrients, so it makes your skin look and feel alive.”
Dream invention: “We have chemical-free hair color for dark hair but my dream invention is hair color for blondes with no chemicals. New products come up in our line regularly and most of the inspiration is from my customer base. I do twice weekly Facebook Live shows that stream on Facebook and IGTV and it is there that the customers ask me for specific things. Organic hair color is one of the most requested items.
Photo courtesy of Suzanne Organics
Daily rituals: “My daily rituals morning and night have to do with cleaning my face with our beautiful olive-based Everyday Facial Cleanser ($25). It’s wonderful in that it’s so mild you could put it on your eyes and lids and take off your makeup and mascara beautifully without any burning. The burning we feel on our eyelids from certain eye creams and eye makeup removers is from the chemicals.
My evening ritual is the bath: Three cups of Epsom salts and two droppers of our beautiful Coconut Oil Moisture Serum ($50). I put our organic Recovery Mask ($50) on my face. It is made from glacier silt which gently extracts, tightens, and refreshes and then I soak in that tub for 20 minutes. The magnesium from Epsom salts is very calming, making for a great uninterrupted night’s sleep of eight hours and in the morning, it makes you very regular. So that’s a win-win. Oh, and by the way, I take this bath with my husband and we both do the same thing. We love it. Very sweet dreams.”
Guilty pleasure: “I have one bad habit that I love. At 5 o’clock, I meet my husband at our bar—we call it Big Al’s Bar—and we both sit and have a tequila on the rocks listening to music while talking and sometimes dancing. We only drink clear tequila because that has little-to-no sugar. I enjoy this time of our day immensely.”
Always in my bag: “I always have those little toothpicks that come in a small plastic box and have little brushes on the end, so that if I am out having lunch or dinner I can go into the restroom and make sure I have no spinach in my teeth. It’s a little thing but they’re very important to me, so much so that last year on Mother’s Day, my son gave me a whole case of them!”
Morning routine: “Cleansing with Everyday Facial Cleanser, Calming Toner ($35), Liquid Oxygen Therapy Facial Serum, Glutathione Skin Reform Serum ($70), Ageless Serum ($40; with sea algae) and Bioactive Moisturizer ($40) with CoQ10. It sounds like a lot, but our products are designed to go into the pores and plump them up, leaving the skin looking smooth and flawless. It is not greasy. In fact, I call it superfood for your skin. The CoQ10 is important because CoQ10 activates the energy center of each cell, which is the mitochondria. As we age, our skin loses CoQ10 and that’s why it looks sallow and gray. With our moisturizer your skin comes alive and looks young again.”
On speed dial: “I firmly believe to be beautiful on the outside, you have to have a healthy interior. I have a coterie of doctors whom I’ve interviewed for my books that I go to for different reasons: Dr. Wright (who’s always right) for nutrition, Dr. Galitzer for energy, Dr. Hertoghe for hormones, Dr. Hall for all things female. I pride myself on having optimal health. I work at it and I take it seriously. As my friends are aging and sadly some of them dying, I realize it’s not about wealth or success it’s only about love and health. I have both; I’m extremely grateful for the life that I live.”
