When you’re a girl-on-the-go with things to do and places to be it’s easy to forget to recharge your batteries. You feel like every minute that you’re not working towards your goals or taking care of others is time wasted. But the truth is that setting aside time for self-care is a key component of success.
So today, I’m giving you tips on how to spoil yourself rotten for those days when you feel like you’ve been too strong for too long.
Clear out your schedule, put your phone on silent and take a deep breath. It’s you time.
1. Hair Treatment
From styling to heat, to braids, chemicals, and coloring—our hair takes a lot. All that manipulation leads to dull, dry breaking hair in the long term. The solution? A nourishing hair treatment to replenish those thirsty strands. Applying a healing herb infused hair mask will have the dual benefit of, healing your damaged hair strands and soothing your scalp. Personally, I prefer coconut and almond oil as carrier oils but olive, avocado, and argan oil are also great alternatives. Adding heat to the equation further guarantees that the nutrients in the oil will deeply penetrate your hair shaft.
2. Facial
The facial is a must for healthy, glowing skin. It shaves off years of aging, improves elasticity and makes the rest of your skin care regimen more effective. Ideally, the spa would be the perfect place to get this service, but realistically not everyone has access to that luxury. However, that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the benefits of getting regular facials. With the following steps, you can give yourself one, without leaving the comfort of your home.
• Cleanse your face with a cleanser that is suitable for your skin type.
• Exfoliate, either with a facial scrub, product or a rotating spin brush
• Steam your face by lowering it over a pot of boiling water and covering your head with a towel. This opens your pores and increases blood circulation. Feel free to throw in some rose water or essential oils to make it even more relaxing.
• Now that you’ve prepped your skin, it’s time for the real pampering to begin. To do that, use a treatment mask of your choice to soften, smoothen and detox your skin. It is important to pick a mask for your specific skin needs. Clay-based masks are better for oily skin, while gel and cream masks are suitable for dry skin.
• After 15-20mins wash it off with lukewarm water and apply your favorite toner, moisturizer or serum.
3. Sugar Scrub
Now that you’ve applied your facial mask, give the rest of your body some tender loving care with a sugar or salt scrub. These scrubs will exfoliate the surface layers of dull, dead skin, to expose the baby soft skin underneath. There are a lot of sugar scrubs out there to choose from, but I recommend Naked Bear’s luscious coffee sugar scrub. This black-owned company specializes in making hair and skin products with wholesome natural ingredients that guarantee a 5-star experience. Nothing like a little brown sugar!
4. Relaxing bath
Fill up the tub, throw in some bath bombs and dim the lights. Make it a sensory experience by lighting some candles with relaxing scents like eucalyptus, rosemary, and lavender. If you really want to be extra grab a glass of wine, put on some good music and just let yourself feel good as you gingerly slip into a delicious, scented hot bath and melt the stress away.
5. DIY Pedi
Fresh out of the bath is the perfect time to tackle those feet. Because they’re so hard to reach our feet get overlooked even they often require the most attention. Pedicures are always great, but sometimes you just want to chill at home. Luckily, with the following essentials, you won’t have to. If you don’t already have them, head to your nearest drug store and pick up:
• A basin
• Epsom salt
• A foot file
• A pumice stone.
• Cuticle oil
• Foot lotion
Start by soaking your feet in the Epsom salt solution before giving them a good scrub with the pumice stone. The next step is to scrape off the callouses with a foot file. Then, dry them off completely and apply a generous amount of foot moisturizer. The final step is to shape and paint them to your liking.
