The Shiffa philosophy is revealed in the beauty brand’s name: Shiffa means ‘healing’ or ‘to heal’ in Arabic. From her native Dubai, Founder Dr. Lamees Hamdan has been creating natural products based on the principles of dermatology since 2004. After training as a doctor at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dr. Lamees developed what would become Shiffa’s first product, the Pregnancy Body Oil. Being pregnant at the time, Dr. Lamees was able to test the oil on herself and formulate it to nourish fragile and sensitive skin by providing maximum hydration and conditioning to firm, tone and restore the skin and body. Following the success of this first product, Dr. Lamees set out to create a complete range of natural skincare products, drawing inspiration from her background and knowledge in dermatology. By combining her passion for holistic healing and her vision for integrating nature with science, Shiffa was born. Here, I hit her up to share her 5 Rules For Life. Here they are, in her words.

1. Work on being happy.  Yes, happiness does not always just magically appear, most times you need to work on making sure you are acting in a “happy” manner, which means erase negative thoughts, replace them with memories or things that bring a smile to your face or make you feel grateful.
2. Eat well.  Enjoy your food, don’t feel guilty for eating, but also try to eat healthy 80% of the time. I find too many people obsessing over the piece of cake they had yesterday, so what! You had it, and I hope you enjoyed it, and now move on!!  My advice? Try eating a rainbow, and try eating cooked meals rather than processed ones.  And enjoy every mouthful! (Eating is at #2 so you understand that I really enjoy eating :))
3. Take 10 minutes to meditate. I quote Tony Robbins, if you don’t have 10 minutes for yourself, then you don’t have a life! No excuses, every day clear your mind and think happy thoughts for 5 minutes, and then visualize what it is you want like you already got it.
4. Be well mannered. I love good manners, and I think it is way overlooked these days, where everyone thinks it is cool to be otherwise.
5. Do stand up for others.  Too often we don’t help someone who is being bullied, or mistreated. But our silence is really being complicit. Wrong is wrong, and we need to politely stand up and say it.

Thanks, Dr. Hamdan! Stay tuned for more Five Rules installments. 

“Five Rules,” is a series on Rouge18 in which I ask others to share their five rules for life about anything and everything. You can learn a lot about a person by reading which five things govern their actions, no?