11 March 2025
Meet Hiya Bahukhandi: The CSM Fashion Student
Committed to Radical Craftsmanship
Standing out from her cohort at Central Saint Martins, Hiya Bahukhandi’s graduate collection embodies the beauty of slow fashion.
At this year’s Central Saint Martins MA Fashion show, craftsmanship took centre stage – but no student went as far as Hiya Bahukhandi. In an era of digital design, algorithmic trends and runway gimmicks calculated to achieve social media virality, Bahukhandi’s dreamy womenswear collection presented the possibilities of a future designed by human minds and hands.
Such a suggestion is radical in 2025 but for Bahukhandi, whose first love was art, making garments entirely by hand is central to her design process; beginning with a seed of an idea, the designer sketches, drapes and hand sews until the concept reveals itself. She stayed true to this meticulous process throughout her MA at Central Saint Martins – a course which places emphasis on industry readiness.
Every stitch of Bahukhandi’s four look final collection is hand-sewn, even in the experimentation process the designer didn’t touch a machine; one sample piece saw her spend 24 hours cracking open pistachios then puncturing and threading enough shells to string into a cape. Constructed from colourful yarns, fabric scraps and textiles pulled from charity shops or the back of her wardrobe, Bahukhandi’s collection embodies slow fashion in the truest sense - natural, instinctive, and entirely waste-free.
Raised in India, Bahukhandi first pursued fashion at New Delhi's Pearl Academy. In coming to Central Saint Martins, the artist’s aim was simple: to discover where London’s seemingly boundaryless fashion scene could take her creativity and future career. She stands out from the 2025 CSM cohort, not only for her meticulous process, commitment to craft and imaginative references, but for quietly rejecting mainstream fashion’s increasingly overt indifference toward sustainability and inclusivity. Rather than cut corners and produce six looks (the number required for inclusion in the official graduate showcase), Bahukhandi finished with four that remain true to her practise and values. She cast friends, who represent a range of body types, to model her fluid, seam-free garments, filled with surreal motifs that tell a story of self-discovery.
This body of work reveals that Central Saint Martins has indeed taken Bahukhandi’s creativity to new heights. Despite being pleased with the outcome, the fashion student is aware that the industry has little space for craftsmanship like hers. As with so many young designers, Bahukhandi questions where artisanship can exist in a system that prioritises immediacy and commerce over quality and care. Nevertheless, our conversation indicates that Hiya Bahukhandi’s determination will get her far.
Your MA Collection caught my eye because the pieces look like tapestries, can you explain the concept behind it?
It’s an accumulation of my experiences with people - friendships, heartbreak, making new
connections… everything. I’m inspired by Salvador Dali and I like to draw and write, so to
start designing this collection, I wanted a blank canvas which I could ‘draw’ on and tell
stories through. Every look is created from rectangular pieces of fabric, I took net as my main
fabric because it is transparent and works like a canvas. I started embroidering on it using
yarns which come from India, which is where I’m from, I experimented with knitting and
braiding and playing with the colours and gradients, like I was drawing.
At first, I struggled, I thought ‘I need to have a strong concept, I need to make something
people find beautiful’. I tried getting inspired by the types of things that seemed to be
inspiring my classmates but then I realised that I just have to take my own approach and use
my personal experiences. That’s why I ended up using my drawings in the garments. The
concept was inside me all along and I just had to start creating to find it.
It sounds like a very organic process and, like you say, more like the approach a painter might take. Why did you
pursue fashion design over art or writing?
I didn’t start writing until the end of my BA course actually but I find it really cathartic now.
In the end you want to earn a living and I knew that just being an artist, I wouldn’t get there.
For me, fashion was a way that I could do art and make something which people use and buy,
and which can still be exhibited.
I’ve been drawing ever since I was a kid and the idea of using fabrics and yarns and threads
and needles to do this was intriguing and exciting to me. It was actually a behind-the-scenes
video of Dior’s atelier which made me go ‘I’m doing fashion’. I remember they were
embroidering a bird onto a dress and it was like they were painting. Until my BA I’d never
touched a sewing machine but surprisingly I was really good, I knew how to manage fabrics.
What made you decide to study at Central Saint Martins after finishing your BA degree in India?
I was enjoying my BA in India but I did struggle, it was much more restricting and also hard
to get jobs in the industry. I feel like my vision doesn’t really fit the market in India. For a
time I wondered if maybe I shouldn’t have done fashion. The reason I came to London is because
I felt that the kind of thing I make would connect with people here and I’d be able to grow more.
I definitely think that of the big four ‘fashion capitals’, London is where you see the most boundary-pushing
designers. Do you feel that you have grown during your time at CSM?
My objective in coming for the MA course was to discover myself. I think most MA students
already have in mind what they want to do and they just build on that. But I started with the
mindset, ‘I don't know who I am and I need to find out.’
I realised that whatever is happening to you right now is what you are. This was something I
had really struggled to understand before, that you are you and your designs are you, so just
make whatever you feel like. Yeah, I was lost before this. I was really lost.
Another reason that your MA collection stood out to me is because you were one of the only students in your
cohort to dress a range of body types. Was this an intentional pushback to the industry’s regression towards
size-zero runways?
It just comes very naturally and very organically to me. My project was very personal so I
asked my friends to wear my garments. It was strikingly different from everyone else’s
choices but I was cool with it.
I love draping, when you're making patterns, you restrict yourself to angles and lines which
for me doesn’t work, I like to expand. My garments don’t have seams to them. In fact, one
garment I stitched up on the model, almost anyone can wear it because you get into it and
then it gets fitted around your body. It just makes sense to me that my pieces should fit many
body types, I don’t intentionally make garments with this in mind, the same goes for
sustainability.
I think that’s the best approach to have, when those principles are forced into design they can end up feeling
ingenuine. Where does sustainability come into your collection?
It is literally zero waste because I was using pretty much just yarns. The scraps that I did end
up with, I stitched into the underside of the garments, so you can’t see them. I really don’t
like waste so it just made sense as a way to get rid of scraps from my room.
How do you feel about the state of the fashion industry right now?
I think the biggest problem in fashion at the moment is how fast it is. It makes me feel depressed
because it devalues creativity. This season I really noticed it on instagram, you see a post of a new
collection and then it just vanishes. It’s just so sad because so much goes intothose collections. I
spend months and months creating a garment, I don’t know how I could catch up to the current pace of
the industry, my aim is to tell stories that people would want to hold onto.
I came across this article which asked the 2025 CSM MA graduates where they see themselves in 5 years, the
headline was “Broke and Single”. Are you any more optimistic about graduating?
The job part is the worst part about being a fashion student. I don't know what I'll do after I
graduate but I need to make money to pay off all my student debts. I’d love to start my own
brand but I don’t have the money to do that now. My dream would be to work at Schiaparelli,
I’m a huge fan of Daniel Roseberry and the brand feels true to me, the way they use surrealist
motifs and materials like metal that aren’t typically seen in fashion.
The reason I came to London was to explore the fashion scene so in any case I’d like to apply
for a graduate visa and stay here. Yeah, there’s lots of uncertainty being in fashion, but then
I’m loving it. I’m trying to put myself out there through my instagram, I’m hopeful that the
right people will find me.
13 December 2024
The Story of GRWMs: How TikTok Beauty Tutorials became the Place to Share the Deep and Personal.
Daubing cheek, chin and nose with a baby pink blush, Rio Yager announces to TikTok: ‘Get ready with me while I talk about my stalker story.’ Picking up a beauty blender, the American TikTok-er (@babyriri) sets her T-zone with a highlighting powder and continues, ‘I’ve honestly been waiting like two years to tell this story because it was kind of scary.’ Before getting into the juicy plot of the video - posted earlier this year - Rio holds her hands up to the camera and adds, ‘also, ignore my self-tan hands, I haven’t figured it out yet.’
Anyone with social media will by now be accustomed to the ‘GRWM’ video, a content creator’s invitation to ‘Get Ready With [them]’ for anything from a date to a therapy session or a day of bed-rotting. Whilst it’s far from a new trend – early YouTube stars like Zoella were the OG pioneers – GRWM videos have dominated TikTok like never before this year, and morphed in the process. Viewed by 1.9 million TikTok users, @babyriri’s aforementioned video typifies what is quickly becoming the most popular kind of ‘Get Ready With Me’ TikTok content: those scored by accounts of wild, disturbing or troubling experiences.
According to the influencer trends and insights platform CORQ, 2024 has been the year of ‘Chaotic Creators’. Rather than thought-out, polished content, a new allure has been found in the frenzied, self-titled ‘hot messes’ of social media personalities. In between hectic chronicles of day-to-day life as a quasi-celebrity-cum-brand, filming a GRWM beauty regime becomes a chance for influencers to debrief. The more intimate the life update, the more a GRWM starts to feel, for both parties, like a voice note to a close friend.
“[GRWM] is now an integrated part of internet culture,” says Dina Zubi, trend analyst at CORQ, “it’s a recognisable, easily understandable and simple format that works for all kinds of creators.” Zubi has led recent studies on the GRWM trend and found that there has been an increase in unfiltered versions, both in the literal and metaphorical sense. “Audiences crave authenticity and ‘reality’ from influencers,” she explains, adding that with this comes a growing demand for sharing insecurities and ‘imperfections’, “this applies to everything from body image and skin to parenting struggles and mental health issues.”
In the half decade that TikTokers have been building and getting comfortable with their fanbases, social media culture as a whole has been shifting to favour the more authentic. First came the unashamedly quirky YouTuber-turned-fashion darling Emma Chamberlain, then the ‘candid’ Instagram feeds, before BRAT summer and the blurry photos which everyone, including Kim K, is posting. These spiralling phenomena have blurred the lines between the cool and uncool, the socially acceptable and unacceptable, the public and the private. Simultaneously, increased mental health awareness has seen people become more open online, and therapy-speak to enter mainstream lexicon.
Olivia is a New York-based TikTok-er who has dedicated her page to chatty, ‘Storytime’ GRWMs. “People like the story time content, it’s personal and relatable, it feels more real than a random person just, like, giving you makeup tips and maybe a discount code for something,” Olivia says, acknowledging that product-featuring videos risk seeming like adverts. Whilst Olivia’s content has a general nonchalance, a number of her videos discuss rather troubling incidents. The word ‘creepy’ appears in the captions of three of Olivia’s recent GRWMs, as her flawless makeup look comes together, it is revealed that the ‘creepy’ refers to perturbing male attention.
A TikTok search of #storytime #GRWM draws up a host of recent videos which touch on heavy topics – toxic partners, family estrangement, identity crises and relationship grief all came up in top-watched videos - meanwhile the ‘getting ready’ component takes a back seat. Whilst some stories are simply pure fun, many of the recent wave of ‘Storytime’ TikToks come across as light-hearted entertainment but are rooted in a personal experience that isn’t so happy-go-lucky (‘How I discovered my partner was cheating!’ is a video headline that comes up a lot).
Better let it out than bottle it in, right. Perhaps, but why unload traumatic experiences to strangers, whilst demonstrating jawline contour? Dina Zubi has a theory: “people say it’s easier to talk about difficult topics when you’re in a car because you can’t look at each other, I think the same rationale applies to GRWM - it’s easier to talk about problems and personal issues if you’re doing something mundane at the same time.”
Neuroscience professor and author of Mirror Meditation, Dr Tara Wells agrees that there are psychological factors at play. “Combining verbal storytelling with the nonverbal activity of makeup or skincare application creates a dual engagement that can facilitate emotional regulation,” explains Dr Wells, elaborating that engaging in a creative task whilst processing emotions can help individuals to more effectively articulate their feelings. Added to this, the ritual of a beauty routine and the tactile nature of makeup application can stimulate stress reduction and oxytocin release – something addressed by ‘neurocosmetics’ which has been the beauty industry’s buzzword for 2024.
London-based TikToker and stylist Jessica J earned her following from GRWM and OOTD (outfit of the day) videos, which she began posting in 2022. As well as offering style inspiration, Jessica shares stories about her dating life and relationships as a 23-year-old lesbian. Her ‘Storytime’ TikToks are mostly jovial but in a recent two-part video – one logging morning skincare, the other a hair routine – she addresses the sexual harassment she receives from men who can’t seem to fathom how an attractive femme woman could be gay, and not interested in them. “Using GRWM helped to make it less heavy for people, to give them an ‘in’ to talk about the subject,” Jessica explains, “I speak about my experiences on social media for other women to feel like they’re in a safe space where they can be heard.”
According to a 2024 influencer marketing report by Collabstr, 76% of influencers that fall into the beauty, fashion and lifestyle categories on TikTok identify as female, those engaging in their content are likewise majority women. With the help of the algorithm, the niches within these women-dominated TikTok arenas can become online communities where grievances specific to the female experience can be aired and shared. “Influencers open themselves up to a lot of scrutiny and hate when they’re posting online,” says Dina Zubi, who has observed a rise in influencers fostering communities by being open about personal issues, she continues, “perhaps talking about sensitive issues while doing a GRWM is perhaps a way to shield themselves from some of this?”
The ‘Get Ready With Me’ meets ‘Storytime’ trend took over TikTok in 2024, as the year has gone these videos’ plots have deepened - here we ask why.
Daubing cheek, chin and nose with a baby pink blush, Rio Yager announces to TikTok: ‘Get ready with me while I talk about my stalker story.’ Picking up a beauty blender, the American TikTok-er (@babyriri) sets her T-zone with a highlighting powder and continues, ‘I’ve honestly been waiting like two years to tell this story because it was kind of scary.’ Before getting into the juicy plot of the video - posted earlier this year - Rio holds her hands up to the camera and adds, ‘also, ignore my self-tan hands, I haven’t figured it out yet.’
Anyone with social media will by now be accustomed to the ‘GRWM’ video, a content creator’s invitation to ‘Get Ready With [them]’ for anything from a date to a therapy session or a day of bed-rotting. Whilst it’s far from a new trend – early YouTube stars like Zoella were the OG pioneers – GRWM videos have dominated TikTok like never before this year, and morphed in the process. Viewed by 1.9 million TikTok users, @babyriri’s aforementioned video typifies what is quickly becoming the most popular kind of ‘Get Ready With Me’ TikTok content: those scored by accounts of wild, disturbing or troubling experiences.
According to the influencer trends and insights platform CORQ, 2024 has been the year of ‘Chaotic Creators’. Rather than thought-out, polished content, a new allure has been found in the frenzied, self-titled ‘hot messes’ of social media personalities. In between hectic chronicles of day-to-day life as a quasi-celebrity-cum-brand, filming a GRWM beauty regime becomes a chance for influencers to debrief. The more intimate the life update, the more a GRWM starts to feel, for both parties, like a voice note to a close friend.
“[GRWM] is now an integrated part of internet culture,” says Dina Zubi, trend analyst at CORQ, “it’s a recognisable, easily understandable and simple format that works for all kinds of creators.” Zubi has led recent studies on the GRWM trend and found that there has been an increase in unfiltered versions, both in the literal and metaphorical sense. “Audiences crave authenticity and ‘reality’ from influencers,” she explains, adding that with this comes a growing demand for sharing insecurities and ‘imperfections’, “this applies to everything from body image and skin to parenting struggles and mental health issues.”
In the half decade that TikTokers have been building and getting comfortable with their fanbases, social media culture as a whole has been shifting to favour the more authentic. First came the unashamedly quirky YouTuber-turned-fashion darling Emma Chamberlain, then the ‘candid’ Instagram feeds, before BRAT summer and the blurry photos which everyone, including Kim K, is posting. These spiralling phenomena have blurred the lines between the cool and uncool, the socially acceptable and unacceptable, the public and the private. Simultaneously, increased mental health awareness has seen people become more open online, and therapy-speak to enter mainstream lexicon.
Olivia is a New York-based TikTok-er who has dedicated her page to chatty, ‘Storytime’ GRWMs. “People like the story time content, it’s personal and relatable, it feels more real than a random person just, like, giving you makeup tips and maybe a discount code for something,” Olivia says, acknowledging that product-featuring videos risk seeming like adverts. Whilst Olivia’s content has a general nonchalance, a number of her videos discuss rather troubling incidents. The word ‘creepy’ appears in the captions of three of Olivia’s recent GRWMs, as her flawless makeup look comes together, it is revealed that the ‘creepy’ refers to perturbing male attention.
A TikTok search of #storytime #GRWM draws up a host of recent videos which touch on heavy topics – toxic partners, family estrangement, identity crises and relationship grief all came up in top-watched videos - meanwhile the ‘getting ready’ component takes a back seat. Whilst some stories are simply pure fun, many of the recent wave of ‘Storytime’ TikToks come across as light-hearted entertainment but are rooted in a personal experience that isn’t so happy-go-lucky (‘How I discovered my partner was cheating!’ is a video headline that comes up a lot).
Better let it out than bottle it in, right. Perhaps, but why unload traumatic experiences to strangers, whilst demonstrating jawline contour? Dina Zubi has a theory: “people say it’s easier to talk about difficult topics when you’re in a car because you can’t look at each other, I think the same rationale applies to GRWM - it’s easier to talk about problems and personal issues if you’re doing something mundane at the same time.”
Neuroscience professor and author of Mirror Meditation, Dr Tara Wells agrees that there are psychological factors at play. “Combining verbal storytelling with the nonverbal activity of makeup or skincare application creates a dual engagement that can facilitate emotional regulation,” explains Dr Wells, elaborating that engaging in a creative task whilst processing emotions can help individuals to more effectively articulate their feelings. Added to this, the ritual of a beauty routine and the tactile nature of makeup application can stimulate stress reduction and oxytocin release – something addressed by ‘neurocosmetics’ which has been the beauty industry’s buzzword for 2024.
London-based TikToker and stylist Jessica J earned her following from GRWM and OOTD (outfit of the day) videos, which she began posting in 2022. As well as offering style inspiration, Jessica shares stories about her dating life and relationships as a 23-year-old lesbian. Her ‘Storytime’ TikToks are mostly jovial but in a recent two-part video – one logging morning skincare, the other a hair routine – she addresses the sexual harassment she receives from men who can’t seem to fathom how an attractive femme woman could be gay, and not interested in them. “Using GRWM helped to make it less heavy for people, to give them an ‘in’ to talk about the subject,” Jessica explains, “I speak about my experiences on social media for other women to feel like they’re in a safe space where they can be heard.”
According to a 2024 influencer marketing report by Collabstr, 76% of influencers that fall into the beauty, fashion and lifestyle categories on TikTok identify as female, those engaging in their content are likewise majority women. With the help of the algorithm, the niches within these women-dominated TikTok arenas can become online communities where grievances specific to the female experience can be aired and shared. “Influencers open themselves up to a lot of scrutiny and hate when they’re posting online,” says Dina Zubi, who has observed a rise in influencers fostering communities by being open about personal issues, she continues, “perhaps talking about sensitive issues while doing a GRWM is perhaps a way to shield themselves from some of this?”
February 2023
Why we should be Wary of Wellness Coming for our Guts
Guts, once strictly a matter for medicine, are now the hot topic of 'wellness', but does this glamorous, Gwyneth Paltrow-guided industry really hold the key to our gastro-health?
The wellness industry's interest in our intestines has surged in recent months. Back in 2021, the Business of Fashion predicted this when it published the article: ‘How gut-health became beauty’s latest arena’. Two years on and wellness trend reports across the board are naming gut health as one of 2023's biggest beauty/wellbeing obsessions. Indeed, last summer, the hashtag #hotgirlshaveIBS went viral on TikTok, garnering 80 million tags. Elsewhere influencers and celebrities like model-turned-actress Halle Berry - who not long ago founded the online wellness community Re-spin - are partnering up with upmarket probiotics brands, Pendulum, in Berry’s case. And just last month, guts became the subject of another viral TikTok trend: ‘parasite cleansing’, where self-proclaimed ‘gut experts’ insist that thousands of us are harbouring worms in our intestines and must be cleansed by quitting all processed foods, drinking blended papaya seeds and taking deworming supplements – those made by ParaGuard are widely promoted.Increasingly left-field wellness trends have, in recent years, invited scepticism. This may explain why we’re witnessing the medicalisation of wellness and beauty: a so-called 'gut health scientist’ giving instructions on how to balance our microbiomes feels more legitimate and convincing than the crystal collector explaining how she meditates her way to health and happiness. According to registered nutritionist Hebe Valiant, this shift isn’t necessarily positive: “the wellness industry often exploits health conditions, the people who suffer from them are the most vulnerable to falling into the trap of following this non-evidence-based advice,” she says. Valiant fell into this trap herself as a teenager, when the vegan chef and entrepreneur Deliciously Ella was at her peak popularity. With the following of these trends causing more anxiety around food than health benefits, Valiant has since been distancing herself from wellness. Whilst Deliciously Ella's pastel-coloured clean eating manuals might be passe, the new obsession with gut health comes as no surprise to the nutritionist, she explains “a lot of these wellness trends begin with tiny pieces of truth or evidence, gut-health research is new, it’s exciting for people - and ripe for manipulation.”
Gastroenterology is a heavily under-researched area of health, it wasn’t until 1969 that it was acknowledged as its own subset of medicine. Even now only 2% of the UK’s medical research funding goes toward the digestive system – despite it spanning 10 organs. “I’d imagine this is why [gut health] is being swallowed into spaces outside of conventional medicine, because people have felt let down,” says Jenny Holdsworth, head of communications at Guts UK. Since its founding in 1971, the charity has been raising awareness about gut health, and finally people are paying attention. “A lot more magazines are approaching us," says Holdsworth, "it shows how much people are looking for the answers [to their gut health problems]…but it’s interesting to see the direction things are going in at the minute.”
Google 'gut health’ and the direction things are going is pretty clear: the top search results are websites of beauty brands and women’s magazines not legitimate medical sites. ‘lookfantastic.com’ comes up first in my own search, the ‘Ultimate Beauty Destination’ promises its products - charcoal capsules, multivitamin gummies, herbal teas and probiotic pills - will optimise digestion, the key to ‘looking fantastic’. Scroll further and I find countless articles offering tips on ‘How to improve gut-health’, the vast majority being diet and exercise oriented with a few probiotic and herbal remedy recommendations thrown in. Sometimes, the voices of medical professionals are included in articles but, in a dialogue which lacks nuance, this isn’t helpful. Almost always, the articles are accompanied by images of toned, flat and perfectly smooth stomachs. Holdsworth acknowledges the benefit of gut health entering wellness conversations, “It’s great that people are talking openly about this uncomfortable subject,” but, she believes the consequences override this: “where there’s interest, there’s profit to be made…we’re seeing desperate people being taken advantage of.”
Most of these people are women. Digestive issues disproportionately affect females, the NHS reports that 2/3 of IBS cases (the most common gut-health condition) occur in women whilst a recent survey lead by Guts UK revealed that across the severity spectrum, women are worse affected than men - from bloating (62% compared to 41%) to the debilitating gut disease microscopic colitis which women are 700% more likely to suffer from. Another issue highlighted by the survey was that 41% of those with poor gut-health had never visited their doctor for advice. Jenny’s theory, “there’s this attitude of ‘come on get over it’ when it comes to women’s problems.”
Selma, 21, has been suffering from digestive issues for five years. Lacking a diagnosis, Selma has had to self-manage her symptoms; when gut health began gaining traction online, she felt hopeful, “I thought, finally someone has answers!” More recently, this optimism has waned, “I’ve tried all the different diets - gluten free, dairy free, even keto. I’ve also tried several supplements and microbiotics…it’s so frustrating none of them have a lasting impact, if any.” Despite knowing now that false claims are rife, Selma’s desperation (and worsening symptoms) make her willing to try anything, “I’m trialling L Glutamine powder at the moment…I’ve also heard great things about Symprove but right now, as a student, I can’t afford it.”
If wellness products and services were as effective as they claimed, the industry wouldn’t be so expansive, or lucrative. In order to sustain consumer interest, wellness buzz-words change but, Hebe Valiant tells me, the rhetoric stays the same: “That our health is completely within our control, if we do XYZ all our ailments will be cured.” Nowhere is this cure-all narrative as pervasive as it is in gut health conversations: the menopause, brain fog, anxiety, sluggish metabolism, acne… you name it, someone, somewhere is saying poor gut health is to blame.
The consequences of this have the potential to affect both those with actual gut health conditions and those without. “It does much more harm than good, they [the wellness companies] are either selling false information or inducing unnecessary stress and paranoia,” Hebe Valiant tells me. Unlike most nutritionists, Valiant came to nutrition through academia. Her nutritionist degree at Kings College London had a strong focus on the critical analysis of medical studies and clinical trials, meaning Valiant knows to take product's ‘scientifically approved’ claims with a pinch of salt. For an untrained eye however, medical claims are convincing, “you’re told something has been proven to be a cure, so if it doesn’t work then you assume you're doing something wrong or not doing enough - it rides on guilt,” says Valiant.
So, what is the wellness industry telling us to do for our guts? Halle Berry swears by her $215 probiotics (the cost of a one-month supply), others regimentally practise GRIT (gut resilience interval training) and hundreds more will hail gut-healing liquid formulas like ‘The Beauty Chef’s’ cleanse. The advice is overwhelming, confusing and, especially when it comes to probiotics, often misleading.
Guts UK has done extensive research into these so-called ‘miracle pills’, Jenny Holdsworth explains, “The thing with probiotics is they can work but only in very specific instances, for example there’s a strain of bacteria which helps with anti-biotic induced diarrhoea but won’t have any benefit if you’re not suffering from this.” Because probiotics are, in Europe, considered food supplements rather than medication, they don’t undergo the same rigorous testing, “whether they actually reach the gut alive or not is unknown in most instances,” Holdsworth affirms.
Beauty E-comerce sites have become the home of probiotic supplements. ‘Cult Beauty’ is one popular beauty retailer which recently introduced a tab dedicated to gut health. One of the 10 brands listed here is ‘The Beauty Chef’. Founded by Bondi-beach born Carla Oates, the company’s philosophy is that ‘beauty begins in your belly’; by investing in their ‘Inner Beauty cleanse supplement’ (a super-green, stir-in-water, wholefoods powder) you will ‘look and feel a million dollars’.
Even after such a product fails to deliver on its sales pitch, it’s unlikely that consumers will stop their gut health journey there, after being told that the organ is not only our second brain, but the secret to beauty. Diet programmes are the other type of solution that the wellness sphere offers to gut health, which, on the surface, seems completely valid. ‘GutTok’ is home to thousands of ‘good-for-the-gut’ diet plans, recipes, and routines (a number of which are branded partnerships) however, the content creators posting them often have no legitimate credentials in nutrition. One TikTok creator I came across claimed her ‘gut-healing diet’ would achieve in 7 days what would normally take 6 gruelling years.
The general advice for those that have gut trouble is to cut certain foods from your diet. While this can help some people, like probiotics, it’s very case specific. Hebe Valiant explains: “people who suffer from IBS could consider the Fodmap diet, you take certain foods away and then reintroduce them, but this needs to be done under the guidance of a professional.” It’s a process of elimination which aims to determine which foods inflate symptoms, “a lot of people doing these [diets] themselves will remove all these things from their diet and never touch them again, they end up being really restricted – it can lead to a lot of anxiety around eating.”
Wellness sceptics have long argued that the wellness space is rife with diet culture messaging, and this would seem to apply to gut health rhetoric too. Hebe Valiant believes that with the body’s food processing unit being framed as the core of our well-being, people are at risk of becoming obsessed with what they eat; “There’s potential that people will start looking into things that are quite normal - like if your stool is a bit different one day - you could jump to thinking ‘there’s something wrong with my digestive system, I’m eating something bad’.”
In some cases, this mindset can lead people down the path toward disordered eating. “They might feel panic around eating particular foods because of what it might do to their digestive system,” Hebe says, emphasising that she frequently encounters this in her work. “It becomes a vicious cycle, when we become anxious about food, digestive issues can worsen… stress has a big impact on the gut.” It’s not only stress that has an impact, “when we’re restricting food or not eating enough, our gastric motility slows down.”
In the wellness landscape, the pursuit of health is all too often intertwined with the pursuit of beauty. Many of the wellness ‘gurus’ who are now making noise in the gut-health arena look alike; as they promote their diets, pills and other products they are inadvertently also promoting an image. Jenny Holdsworth notes, “It’s mostly skinny, white women…of a certain affluence.” This creates an exclusionary narrative around gut health - something the Guts UK charity is fighting against, “if people don’t see themselves represented, it’s hard for them to relate and so they can be discouraged from getting healthier when really all it takes is a few simple steps.” Like for example eating fibre, “at least 30 grams a day, most people in the UK only have 18, fibre is basically gut-health in a bubble.”
Jenny Holdsworth and Hebe Valiant echo the same advice, if you don’t have a gut condition: eat a varied, fibre-rich diet, drink lots of water and avoid falling down the GutTok rabbit hole. If you regularly experience digestive issues, Holdsworth advises, “don’t get carried away by the false promises of the Wellness industry, if it seems too good to be true - it probably is.” The Guts UK employee recommends checking unbiased, reliable sources (like the Guts UK website) for information. “If you feel like you need support… speak to a medical professional,” says Hebe Valiant, referring to registered nutritionists like herself, a dietician, or a gastroenterologist, “not a ‘gut-health expert’ – there’s no such qualification.”