In Indonesia, Beauty and Wellness Are Inextricably Linked—Let This Expert Lend Some (Joy-Inducing) Insight
Welcome to Worldly Beauty, a quarterly franchise in which we highlight beauty products, ingredients, and traditions rooted in culture. To offer an in-depth look, we're sharing perspectives and recommendations from local experts and tastemakers. A celebration of diversity, this column goes beyond what we know to shed light on the beauty practices and philosophies that make the world go round.
The beauty industry is many things, but balanced isn't one of them. Even though access and connection to other cultures are at an all-time high (thanks in no small part to social media), the West often reverts to a predominantly Eurocentric point of view. One way that manifests is in the seemingly innocuous term "beauty and wellness." The first word, ”beauty,” has a purely aesthetic, surface-level connotation. The second word, “wellness,” encompasses the internal and conceptual—things like sleep, digestion, movement, and more. Sure, the conjunction “and” proves they’re related, but they’re still separated in the West's collective consciousness.
That’s not so much the case in other cultures. Take traditional Chinese medicine (China) or Ayurveda (India), for instance. Both see beauty and wellness as inextricably related. The same goes for Indonesia. For centuries, the Indonesian approach to beauty has been intimately tied to matters of health and wellness. There’s no better example of that than Jamu, an ancient Indonesian herbal tradition used to improve everything from colds to fatigue, digestive issues, sexual wellness, and skin.
To learn more about Jamu and the Indonesian approach to beauty and wellness, I reached out to Metta Murdaya, the founder of Juara, a skincare-and-wellness line inspired by the Indonesian Jamu tradition. Ahead, she shares invaluable insight into Indonesian culture, speaking on traditional ingredients, the power of taking a holistic approach to beauty, and more. If you can’t immerse yourself by hopping a flight to Jakarta or booking that getaway in Bali, this is the next best thing.
How would you describe the Indonesian beauty philosophy?
We have a health-and-wellness tradition that goes back to the dawn of time. Beauty is really just an extension of health and wellness. The skin and the way you look are considered a part of your whole body, your whole self. It’s connected to your mood and the way you feel. It’s a natural extension—just like the health of your stomach, for example. Ironically, we’ve been on the microbiome since before the term was created. All of these things naturally extend to the surface—skin and hair.
That’s why we use similar ingredients. We’ll use these roots like turmeric and ginger to ingest, but at the same time, they’re really good for skin. We even use them in jet-lag remedies. Or, there’s the betel leaf. It has benefits that are good for you both internally and externally. There’s betel leaf that you drink for medicinal purposes, but it’s also a great refresher of odors. So it's also in toothpaste and vaginal washes. It’s so funny. In traditional beauty stores in Indonesia, it's by ingredient, so you'll get toothpaste and vaginal wash in the same section, and it makes sense.
