In TZR’s “Scare-Free Sundays” series, industry leaders discuss the common weekend anxiety known as the “Sunday Scaries,” which often steals the rest and relaxation needed to face the upcoming week. Jordan Harper, founder of Barefaced skincare, shares her insights on managing work stress and maintaining balance.
Jordan Harper juggles a busy life as a mother of four, including twins, while also working as a board-certified nurse practitioner and leading her skincare company. “I’m definitely not an aesthetic influencer — my house isn’t perfectly clean, but I do my best, and I think people relate to that,” she says.
Her passion for effective skincare grew naturally from her medical work in Charleston, South Carolina. Listening to patients’ concerns about acne, sun damage, and discoloration, she realized they needed a simple, easy-to-maintain routine between professional treatments. This inspired her to create Barefaced, known for favorites like its signature SPF and popular Toning Pads. “Skincare should be as easy as it is effective, taking just two minutes,” Harper explains. She emphasizes a core four-step approach: prevention, protection, repair, and correction, comparing it to building a house’s foundation.
To manage her hectic schedule, Harper starts her day early, waking at 5:30 a.m. to work out before her kids wake up. “This has had the biggest impact on my confidence and productivity,” she says. She follows Mel Robbins’ “5-4-3-2-1” method to get out of bed without hitting snooze, adopting the mantra “snoozers are losers.” Exercise helps ease her anxiety, and she balances strength training with cardio, mindful of protecting her body as she gets older.
As a business owner, her most effective stress relief comes from strict time-blocking. Harper plans not only her workdays but her entire life in blocks, allowing her to be fully present in each moment. She divides her workweek into “meeting days” and “maker days.” Meeting days are filled with back-to-back calls, often aided by AI note-taking tools, while maker days focus on strategy, content creation, and product development. This structure helps her stay organized, even while traveling one or two times per month.
Harper also prioritizes health rituals. She starts her mornings with tongue scraping and rinsing, followed by a simple skincare routine that includes a spritz of a newly launched hypochlorous spray—ideal for acne-prone skin—before heading to the gym. Her workout drink includes liquid aminos, mineral salts, vitamin C, and creatine to support her body.
Weekends are sacred family time, especially Sundays, which she dedicates to rest and planning. “No one gets more done than a mom on a Sunday,” she laughs, sharing that she uses her twins’ nap time to review her planner and prepare for the week ahead.
Harper admits that her anxiety often feels like overwhelm. She credits her lifelong practice of positive self-talk, a habit nurtured by her mother, as crucial in managing stress. When she found out she was having twins, she recalls breaking down in fear but then telling herself, “You can do this; you can handle this.” She encourages asking, “What would a successful person do right now?” to quickly shift her mindset. Hearing her young daughter say the same encouraging words to herself warmed her heart and reinforced the power of positive affirmations.
She incorporates mindfulness through guided breathing exercises like the Wim Hof method and values periods of silence. Sometimes she simply turns off all noise, even music, and sits quietly to recharge.
Daily skincare remains a key part of Harper’s self-care routine, which she views as an investment in herself, much like exercise and oral care. Her go-to products include fast-acting Toning Pads that give her skin a glow, a gentle but effective retinol, and her must-have Liquid Gold SPF that helps her look and feel her best every morning.
Through disciplined routines, positive mindset practices, and simple but effective self-care, Jordan Harper manages the demands of family and business while keeping the Sunday Scaries at bay.
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