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We spend a third of our lives asleep—that means our bedroom is the most lived-in space in our homes. It’s the room where we start and end our days, and that’s why the rituals that happen there are extra important. In The Wind Down, we’ll be exploring the nighttime routines of people we admire and taking their advice to make the moments just before bed when we feel our best.

At just 18 years old, Haile Thomas is already the CEO of her own company, has a book in the works, and has earned Michelle Obama’s seal of approval. The food activist and vegan health cook certainly has a lot on her plate, so when she has the time to decompress at night, she sticks to a routine that keeps her clear-headed, motivated, and ready to start the next day on the right foot.

With a passion for healthy living (she also happens to be the youngest certified integrative nutrition health coach in the US), Thomas understands the importance of ending each day with plenty of relaxation, restoration, and inspiration. That’s why you can find her sipping homemade golden milk as she keeps up with her mindfulness journal and why her beauty cabinet is filled with tons of all-natural skin saviors. In her approach to wellness, a bit of compassion—to others and to herself—goes a long way. Here, she shares her full nighttime routine.

Deep clean: Around 8:30 pm or 9 pm, I start getting ready for bed by taking a shower and doing my facial routine. For my cleanser, I use a product called Soapberry. Wild soap berries literally sud up and make this amazing cleanser. They’re organic, fair trade—everything. It’s great for sensitive skin and it balances pH, in addition to having a really nice and luxurious feel. My toner, and everything else I use, is from Odacite. I use the Pure Elements Rose and Neroli Hydra-Vitalizing Treatment Mist, which smells like being in a field on a beautiful spring day. I also use the Black Cumin Concentrate serum and I mix it with either the Green Tea Lemongrass Serum or the Papaya Geranium Serum. The green tea is for radiance, and papaya is for hyperpigmentation, which I suffer from, unfortunately. It helps a ton and leaves my skin feeling moisturized but not oily.

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Rose + Neroli Hydra-Vitalizing Treatment Mist, Odacité ($42)
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Mask it: If I’m in the mood to do a mask, then I use Seaweed Bath Co.’s Marine Algae Overnight Mask. I love it. It has all kinds of amazing hydrating ingredients and it protects skin from free radicals.

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Restoring Marine Algae Overnight Face Mask, The Seaweed Bath Co. ($13)
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Aroma essentials: Then, I put some essential oils in my diffuser that I keep in my room. I use a deep sleep blend that’s a mixture of lavender, cedarwood, lime, bergamot, and marjoram essential oils.

Pajama party: Sometimes my pajamas are just an old, comfy T-shirt, but recently, I’ve been loving Ban.do’s loungewear sets. They’re so, so cute.

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Indigo & Sleepy Pink Short Sleeve Sleep Top, Ban.do ($48)
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Golden touch: I head downstairs and make golden milk. I love it so much and it helps me chill out a little bit. I make my own blend and sometimes will make a golden milk chai tea. I use turmeric, black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg with a mix of coconut and oat milk. I love adding fresh ginger and I use maple syrup to sweeten it. Even adding in a little bit of coconut oil makes it a thousand times dreamier and creamier.

Journal time: By then, it’s probably 10 pm, and I’ll try my best to do my daily gratitude journaling in my Mindful Life Journal. I do it in the morning and then again at night. I write down what I’ve accomplished, what I’m proud of, what I am grateful for, and my intention for the next day. After doing that, I go over my daily planner and see what I checked off and what I need to transfer over to the next day.

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The Mindful Life Journal, Better Life Journals ($10)
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Bedding buys: My bedspread right now is a deep lavender hue. I have a solid sheet set, but that’s just because my room has a lot of colors and a lot of plants, so I try not to have too much going on. I have this awesome throw from Anthropologie with this cool, almost mosaic pattern with yellow, pink, blue, and a little gold. I have one long pillow and five regular pillows. I am very much a pillow person. I just love the feeling of being surrounded and protected by them.

Nightstand necessities: I have a Google Pixel phone, so I always have its speed charger on my side table. I also have a little camel that I got in Dubai, just because it reminds me of adventure and all the amazing memories I have from that trip. I do have a humongous salt rock lamp that’s always on and gives off a cozy red-orange hue at night, which I love.

Read receipt: I try to do 30 minutes to an hour of reading every day. Currently, I’m reading The Paradox of Olbers Paradox. It’s a really interesting read looking into why the universe might not be scattered with millions of stars and why we can’t see them at night. It should be like completely blinding to us. I like fiction and nonfiction. I loved reading Dark Matter a few months ago, which is an amazing fiction book. I like mixing it up depending on what my mood is like. Some of my other favorites are Cultivating Food Justice, Magonia, The Motivation Manifesto, and Astrophysics for People in a Hurry.

Zone out: I try to listen to meditation music as I go to sleep. It’s really soothing to me.

Light’s out by 11 pm!

See more nighttime routines: Chef Sophia Roe’s Nighttime Routine Starts at 6:30 pm This Ballet Dancer Falls Asleep to Reruns of The Office LA’s Coolest Doula Erica Chidi Cohen Winds Down With Audiobooks and Palo Santo