REFY Co-Founder Jess Hunt Unlocked Her Health Issues With A Strand Of Hair

Sometimes it’s the smallest changes that can make a big impact. This rings especially true when it comes to one’s health. In TZR’s series Step-By-Step, tastemakers speak to the minor moves that can lead to mighty changes.

As the creative director and co-founder of one of fastest-growing beauty brands of the past five years, REFY Beauty’s Jess Hunt knows how to make and market a crowd-pleasing makeup product. Between the brand’s viral lamination-like brow gel, blurring concealer, and juicy lip blush, the influencer-turned-entrepreneur may have had you fooled that beauty is in fact just skin deep. But that’s not her intention, nor is it her truth.

“I think one thing we're all learning now is that skin care and your internal health are such a big part of your makeup routine now,” she says to TZR. “That’s one thing that I've massively learned.” The London native adds that, despite the glowing, glistening flawless skin portrayed on social media, she’s struggled with some very real — and common — skin issues. “I've not really spoken about it, but I've really been struggling with breakouts, I would say for two years now,” she explains, adding that the topic is still a bit uncomfortable to share, which is why she hasn’t broadcasted it to her millions of social media followers. “And it's obviously a bit disheartening when you have a makeup brand because you really want to show up looking your best and feeling your best and showcase the products in the best way.”

But, ever the proactive mind, Hunt hasn’t taken her skin challenges lying down. Since the initial bouts of acne began to surface, the business owner got to work in facing them head on, focusing on an inside-out approach. “I think my nutrition, my sleep, and supplements have been a real big thing for me the past two years to try and obviously turn things around,” she says.

While looking and feeling her best has always been a priority to the REFY co-founder, she admits that prior to starting her business, she was going about it the wrong way. Instead of focusing on what her body and mind needed in the moment — and every day — Hunt says she fell into the buzzy yet toxic “girlboss” ethos that was all about pushing oneself to their outer limits .. and then some. “It was all about who can stay awake the latest and who can work the latest and get up earliest in the morning and who's had three hours of sleep, was in the gym for whatever amount of time,” she recalls. “You started your day at six, but then finished at midnight. That was a cool thing to do and that meant you were successful. I think that narrative has massively changed, which is a great thing.”

Indeed, the hustle culture that had so many on a hamster wheel of exhaustion has surely been eclipsed by the wellness boom of the past few years. And even as one starts to pivot in a more mindful direction, these old habits indeed die hard, and they sometimes linger on your face and body. For Hunt, in addition to her sporadic breakouts, her low energy levels were impacting how she showed up as the leader of a burgeoning beauty brand. “[My job] is an amazing thing, but it's also a really big thing to manage and I need to be showing up feeling my best as much as I possibly can,” she explains. “I think I was getting to the point where I just felt like I had very low energy a lot of the time. I'd get to a certain point of the day and just feel exhausted. I'd be having coffees and caffeine all day and it wasn't really sustainable and it wasn't really fixing the problem.”

Hunt began meeting with nutritionist Sarah Elizabeth who specializes in female health, addressing buzzy issues like hormone imbalances, gut health, and burnout. The makeup guru’s eyes were immediately opened after a preliminary hair mineral test revealed the literal root of her daily challenges. “I didn't realize, but your hair actually tells you so much about the history of your body as well as its current state,” says Hunt. “It really sheds a lot of light on how you've been treating it and what's been going on.” For the REFY founder, the spotlight was placed on her incredibly low cortisol levels.

“It almost validated me in a way because obviously I'd been thinking, ‘Why do I feel rubbish all the time? Why do I have no energy?’” she recalls. “I feel like I'm doing everything right. I exercise, I sleep well, I do all these things. But it was just genuinely down to the minerals that make up our bodies and allow our body to function, which was a whole thing that I never had a clue about.”

Empowered by this knowledge, Hunt started working supplements into her daily routine — as well as some much needed protein. “My energy levels are a lot better,” says Hunt, who says this boost created a domino-like effect in other areas of her life. “I'm now thinking, ‘Oh, I could do running. I could do a bit of weight training,’ because I physically have the energy to do it.”

A daily supplement regimen has also worked wonders, as Hunt now incorporates omega 3 tablets, Free Soul Greens superfood powder, and electrolytes via coconut water every morning and magnesium at night for a deeper more restful sleep. For fitness, Hunt says she’s made room for more low-impact movement by way of Pilates. “I think I'm getting to that happy medium,” she says. “So my weeks are looking like I'm doing a little bit of weight training, a little bit of Pilates reformer. And I've also started running. I think that's one thing I'm super aware of now as I'm getting a little bit older is about my cardio and my heart health. So trying to prioritize all the things that make me feel good, but I'm not trying to be the best at everything. I'm just doing my level of best at everything.”