Skin Care Expert & Barefaced Founder Jordan Harper Talks Self-Care Strategy

In TZR’s franchise Scare-Free Sundays, industry leaders discuss the all-too-common weekend anxiety (aka Sunday Scaries) that can rob one of the relaxation and rest they so desperately need to properly take on the week ahead. Here, we sit down with Jordan Harper, founder of Barefaced, for her tips on how to keep work stress at bay.

Jordan Harper is working double time. The mother of four (including a set of twins) has her schedule packed as both a board-certified nurse practitioner and the founder and CEO of Barefaced skin care. “I’m definitely not an aesthetic influencer — the house isn’t perfectly clean, but I’m doing my best, and I think people relate to that,” Harper tells TZR.

She discovered her passion for results-driven skin care incidentally, through her medical work in Charleston, South Carolina. After tuning into her patients’ concerns about everything from acne to sun damage and discoloration, Harper knew there had to be a simpler solution that her clients could maintain between professional treatments. From there, the Barefaced line was created — featuring consumer favorites like its signature SPF and viral Toning Pads, loved by influencers and fellow moms, including Lauryn Bosstick and Valeria Lipovetsky. “Skin care is something that should be easy as much as it is effective and still only take two minutes of your time,” Harper affirms. Adding to her philosophy, “I will always say, ‘Your skin care routine should be about prevention, protection, repair and correction,’ and so there’s a core four products that your skin cells needs to function properly. You have to start there. It’s like a foundation to a house.”

Still, a simplified routine is just one of the ways Harper dissolves stress between managing a business, experimenting with new products in the lab, and enjoying time at home with her four kids younger than 6 years old. “You think you have no time, and then you have children, and you realize you really do have no time,” Harper says with a laugh. “It’s important for me to feel present in everything I do.”

Ahead, Jordan Harper takes TZR through the most time effective, self-care induced routine to create a scare-free Sunday week after week.

How do you start a typical work day?

So I have four kids. They’re 6 and under, and the only way I can get “me time” is by waking up early. Something I’ve implemented just over the past year is a 5:30 a.m. wakeup, and I head straight to the gym. This shift has made the biggest impact on my confidence and productivity during the day. I do Mel Robbins’ 54321 method, and I do not let myself snooze. It’s still not easy for me, but I’ve made this mantra for myself — I say “snoozers are losers,” and I’m not going to be a loser, so I get up.

Working out quells my anxiety a ton. During the work week, I hit the gym every day, so I do strength training workouts three days a week and some form of Zone 2 cardio the other two days. I’m 38 years old now, so I have to protect my bones, you know? It’s good to build muscle — I learned a ton in Peter Attia’s book, Outlive.

What has been the most impactful strategy to help ease anxiety as a business owner?

I time-block all of my days, and that alone has been incredible for my mental peace. I can actually be more present, because I know I’ve blocked the time to do the things that I need to do. I don’t just time-block my work days, either — I time-block my entire life. Of course, it’s not perfect, but when I can stick to it, it makes a huge impact. For example: When my twins don’t have school, I love to have one-on-one time with them. So I block off my morning, and that’s my twin time.

[In regard to] work, I split my week into “meeting days” and “maker days.” On my meeting days, which are about two days a week, I just do back-to-back meetings. During those times, I’m really relying on that AI note-taker. And then, on my maker days, I’m more focused on strategy, content creation, and the brand. This includes product ideation, growth channels, and more. I travel about once or twice a month for work depending on events we have going on, so time blocking has created these little routines to help me stay on track.

As a nurse practitioner and wellness conscious creator, what are nonnegotiables in your routine?

I love my drinks and stuff. I do a lot of supplementation through my drinks. Before I sip anything though, I’m tongue-scraping right away, swishing with water. Then I’m getting ready. I’m not really doing anything else skin care related. I will spritz my face with a hypochlorous. We just launched one, and it’s perfect if you’re acne prone. I want to keep my skin clean, but I’m not going to do my whole skin care routine before the gym. I’ll make my workout drink, which is made of liquid aminos, Baja mineral salts, vitamin C, and creatine.

Do you allow yourself days off? What do weekends look like for you?

I love slow mornings on the weekends. This is where I alleviated a lot of my stress — the weekends are really dedicated to family time. I’m not doing extra stuff. We might see friends or something one of the days, but on Sunday, that’s all me. I always say, “No one gets more done than a mom on a Sunday.” You’re just ready; you’re motivated. Personally, I take 30 minutes during my twins’ nap to really dig into my planner — it’s called Full Focus.

What are your tips for calming anxiety with so many moving parts in your business, and at home?

My anxiety comes in the form of feeling overwhelmed. Something I’m really grateful for — my mom working on this with me since I was younger — is the power of positive self-talk. It is almost second nature at this point for me, but I do coach myself a lot. When I found out I was having twins, I was weeping — I just sat in my car afterwards, because I was just so scared. And then I told myself, “You can do this; you can handle this.” I’ll do that in a lot of situations.

It’s so cool as a parent too, because I heard my daughter trying to do something that she was scared to do — a cartwheel or something — and I heard her say to herself under her breath “You can do this, you can.” It can be as simple as asking yourself the question “What would a successful person do right now?” So as far as anxiety goes, I can catch it pretty quickly. It’s all about focusing on what you can control.

I love that — positive affirmations are so powerful. What are some of your other mindfulness rituals?

Guided breath work. I’ve been doing Wim Hof — it’s simple, but it works.

With meditation, I will go through seasons where I’m doing it every single day, and a lot of times what I do instead is make sure I have at least 20 minutes silence. Being really intentional about noise. It took me a while to realize how much exposure we have to noise, even music. I love to turn everything off and just sit in my car.

Do you do anything in particular to mentally prepare yourself for the week ahead?

A daily skin care routine is an important aspect of my self-care. Making daily investments in yourself. I think of my skin care just like oral care and working out — all of these are just daily investments in yourself and the person that you want to be; the person you’re becoming.

The Toning Pads work very quickly, so people love those, myself included. They make my skin really glowy for the week ahead. A good retinoid is important. Our Retinol Skin Therapy is a step down from Tretitoin — so it’s very powerful, but also very well-tolerated. The Liquid Gold SPF is a nonnegotiable product when I wake up to feel and look my best.

BarefacedToning Pads$50

BarefacedLiquid Gold SPF$136

BarefacedRetinAL Skin$145