Yasmine Naghdi is a Principal of The Royal Ballet. This interview contains her full wellness, health and beauty routines. We hope you enjoy this profile, and for more details on Yasmine please find her Instagram profile linked here.
THE MORNING ROUTINE OF A PROFESSIONAL BALLERINA
I love starting my day with a big glass of water and I add a scoop of the Klarskin Radiance Powder.I feel like this is the best thing to cleanse the system after sleep and sets my gut up for the day ahead. I have noticed more of a glow to my skin since using this product, I love it!For breakfast, which I will never skip, my go-to is a white bagel with sesame seeds, butter and jam, 3 handfuls of blueberries and a cappuccino with oat milk.
On a performance day when I need a more substantial breakfast I will have a bowl of porridge with honey, blueberries, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds and a spoon of peanut butter.
THE PHYSICAL ROUTINE OF A PROFESSIONAL BALLERINA
My every day routine varies as we don’t have a set schedule as a Principal dancer. 6 days a week we start with company class that’s an hour and a quarter 10:30-11:45. This is our warm up. It’s almost like a meditation for the body to set itself up for the day ahead.
We work all the muscle groups starting at the barre and bit by bit and gradually build up to centre work where we will start jumping to get the heart rate up and to work the cardiovascular system.
Once we are warm rehearsals begin. We rehearse from 12:00-18:30 with an hour break for lunch on a non show day, on a show day we would finish at 17:30 and the performance would start at 19:30-22:30. As a Principal dancer if you are the lead in the full length performance that night eg: Swan Lake (Odette/Odile) you would have the day free so you don’t tire your body ahead of the show.An intense week of rehearsing and performing could clock up something like 31 hours of physical dancing hours but like I said, each week varies. When Saturday/Sunday arrives, sometimes all I want to do is stay in bed and not move, but my husband and I try to meet up with friends, we love cooking at home together and hosting. I guess I have good stamina to try to balance recovering and resting but also enjoying having a social life too!
THE DIET OF A PROFESSIONAL BALLERINA
I’m lucky to have a naturally fast metabolism and a small frame so I’ve not had to ‘watch my weight’ as such. I like eating foods that make me feel good and are healthy. Lots of fruit, vegetables, high protein to help with muscle repair and rebuilding and balanced carbohydrates. I need carbohydrates for my body to function well and have enough energy to support me through busy rehearsal and performance days.As I do so much exercise, I find that I actually often have to eat a little more to make sure I don’t drop too much weight so I’ll add bread, butter and cheese to my dinners.My approach is to eat what my body craves, everything in moderation. (I have a sweet tooth) so I’ll always have some chocolate or biscuits after lunch and dinner. I won’t restrict myself if it’s what I crave. I’ll enjoy a few but won’t go over the top. On a weekend I love eating out at restaurants it’s all about balance.I am also interested in nutrition and how I can best support my body through training so I’ve done my own research and feel I have a good understanding of how I can provide my body with the best ‘fuel’. In recent years I have also been interested in good foods for skin and hair health, luckily they are all whole foods I enjoy eating.
I definitely have a carbohydrate heavy diet. Breakfast will include oats or bread, lunch is usually pasta or rice with some protein, and dinner will be more protein and vegetable heavy but still including carbohydrates.My snacks after company class will be bananas, yoghurts, oaty biscuits and snack bars that are practical when running from ballet studio to ballet studio. Treats after lunch will usually be 2 squares of dark or milk chocolate and 3-4 Jaffa cakes.Snacks after dinner will be a bowl of natural yoghurt with honey, fruit and a few cookies/wafer biscuits.I have 3 meals a day and 3-4 small snacks. I need to eat very regularly or I find my blood sugar drops and I start to feel weak, and get hangry!
YASMINE'S BEAUTY ROUTINE
I have added the Retingold serum to my nighttime routine and I’m obsessed with the results! I wake up with a more even complexion, smooth dewy skin that feels hydrated and clear. Since hitting 30 I started using Bobbi Brown hydrating eye cream which makes me feel more refreshed the next morning.
My favourite self care treat is to book a facial at Santi Spa in South Kensington. I’ve been getting a few light chemical peels to help to even out my skin tone, improve pigmentation and get rid of some stubborn scarring from breakouts. I went to Santi Spa for a course of hydrating facials in the lead up to my wedding which I loved and helped prepare my skin to be wedding ready!Before a holiday I love treating myself to a gel manicure and normal varnish pedicure (I’m lucky my feet don’t look too destroyed from all the years of dancing, I’d say they are in quite good condition aside from a bruised big toe nail, and a few toes that have thicker skin due to repeated rubbing in pointe shoes.)To relax and unwind when at home I’ll take a bath with Epsom salts that help with achey, tired muscles. Doing this really helps with sleep quality but I don’t always have the time to do so.I’ll light a Dyptique candle (Bais or Feu du bois are my favourites) to make bath time feel more cosy. I love a good Kerastasse hair mask and then put Celui hair oil on my mid lengths and ends to hydrate my hair further before drying it with my Dyson hair dryer.I have some sheet masks from 111 Skin which I enjoy using when wanting an at-home spa feel.
