Usually when someone speaks about a subject, and especially gives advice about it, it's because they are an expert on it. Let me say that is not the case here. And I am right there with most women not taking time out for themselves. One of the reasons for this whole idea was to work on this myself, with encouragement from other women (or men).
Now on to the first thing I need to get started on....my dry skin. It's winter, the air is cold, our houses are dry because of furnaces or possibly wood heat and it takes a horrible toll on our skin. I have found one thing to be most effective in this area and that is exfoliation. Quite often when I am giving a pedicure or other spa service my client will complain about their dry skin. Usually they tell me that they use lotion regularly and it just doesn't help. My question to them is always this, "Are you exfoliating?" I usually already know from the appearance of their skin that the answer is "no". Dry skin sits on top of the good skin and is very absorbent. When you apply lotion, it is "sucked up" by the dry, dead skin and never reaches the good skin below. If you first exfoliate that dead skin away you will notice a big difference after you use a good moisturizing lotion. There are all kinds of scrubs out there, sugar, salt, oatmeal, etc. My favorite to use for pedicures is called Sea Salt glow by Creative. It is very coarse, so you wouldn't want to use it on your face, but anywhere else would be fine. It has a subtle lavender scent that is wonderful. I know that Mary Kay makes a microdermabrasion scrub for your face that I have seen people have great results from as well. If you don't want to buy something (remember, I am thinking about budget as well) you can use things that you probably have in your kitchen. You can make a great scrub out of sea salt and olive oil. If you are prone to acne, be careful about sugar. Google it, find one you like, and share it here! Be sure with any scrub that you wipe down the tub when you are finished so the next person that steps in doesn't slip!
I have decided for the routines or habits I need to get into, face washing, exercising, that I am going to have to make an "appointment" for them. We all want to say we just don't have time, no it's that we don't make time for ourselves. A few of you have already asked about saying "no" to keep from overloading yourselves with responsibility and like the Nike ad says, you have to "Just do it". I have really started thinking before saying yes to a favor, or that client that wants in on my day off, or even the co-worker that needs me to cover for them. This may sound corny but the second I say "no" I feel a weight off of me, knowing I am not going to have to juggle my schedule or wear myself out for one more thing on my to-do list. This is a hard thing for me, because I always want to help out , but have realized that I just cannot do it all.
So, I have penciled myself in for 9:00 pm tonight. Household will be winding down, it will be a good time before bed to take a nice bath (and yes Jay, that is exactly the kind of thing I am talking about) scrub away the dead skin, and cleanse and moisturize my face before turning in.
I have a feeling you all are right about this blog thing becoming addictive, it is already alot of fun!
2 comments:
To go along with the dry skin issue... If you are waking up with a dry, parched throat, the humidity in your home is too low. The humidity should be somewhere between 30 and 50%. Anything below thirty is too dry and the ideal environment for sinus trouble and anything above 50% is too high, the ideal environment for mold and dust mite growth, also, causes of sinus problems. Ideal comfort level in the winter is 40-45%.
You can get a tool to measure the humidity in your home for around 5 dollars. Here is a link to one http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=79419-88123-90116-LG&lpage=none. Also, more humidity makes things feel warmer. When I keep our humidity level around 40 percent, I can keep the thermostat set on 65 and we may have to put on a sweat shirt but we're not freezing. When I first started measuring it, the humidity was right at 30% and we were keeping the thermostat on 72.
And since I've already almost written a novel here, I think I'll do a post during Chloe's naptime discussing the ways that I've raised the humidity.
Keep it up! Lot's of helpful discussion here.
Thanks Dana, I'll pick up one of those this weekend and let everyone know how it works for me.
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