Have you ever been overwhelmed by the number of products and mass marketing concerning your appearance, health, and wellness? You can’t get away from the endless ads on social media, emails, TV advertisements, the list goes on and on promoting more and more products. The options are endless when it comes to preserving your youth and looking better. These companies promise a better complexion, fewer wrinkles or a more youthful glow through plastic surgery, botox, or one of the millions of products they offer. But truth be told, how much “stuff” do we really need. Do you realize that some of these products might actually be doing more harm than good?
Have you considered that the products you are applying to your skin are actually being absorbed into your body? On average, women use 12 personal care products a day, exposing themselves to 168 chemical ingredients. Men use 6, exposing themselves to 85 unique chemicals. Have you also considered how much waste you are throwing into the environment, products that can’t be recycled?
The time for change is now! It’s time to get back to the basics and concentrate on a beauty and health regimen that is most effective for you and the planet. The options don’t have to be one or the other. You can still care about what you are applying to your body and care about the amount of waste you are creating, all while looking fabulous. Here are a few beauty practices that provide the biggest bang for your buck, and reduce waste.
1. Face Yoga
Let’s start with what face yoga is. To put it plainly, face yoga is exercises for your face. Just like exercising keeps your body in shape, face yoga is a series of facial exercises intended to tone the muscles in the face which after time can reduce the signs of aging and improve skin elasticity. You can even slim up your jawline and define your cheekbones.
Facial exercises increase blood circulation in the face, creating a healthier, more vibrant complexion. Face yoga also strengthens the muscles in the face, which can weaken as we age.
One of our favorite You Tubers explains it all in fun to watch videos. Take a look!
2. Body Brushing
What in the world is dry body brushing? Also known as dry skin brushing, body brushing involves lightly brushing your skin with a dry brush, made from natural hair bristles, to help remove dead skin cells, improve skin tone and target cellulite.
The technique has been used for hundreds of years and is also thought to help stimulate circulation and kick-start the metabolism.
There are many health benefits associated with body brushing including glowing skin, reduction in water weight, detoxifying your body, and diminishing cellulite. Your skin is your largest organ and plays an important role in helping to remove toxins from the body.
For this reason, it is important that the upper layer of the skin (the epidermis) is regularly cleared of dead skin cells which block pores and cause the skin to become congested.
By brushing the body lightly with a dry brush daily you can help your body to:
- Remove dead skin cells and unclog the surface layer
- Encourage new cells to grow
- Stimulate blood and lymphatic circulation within the skin
- And control cellulite by bringing nutrients and oxygen to the upper skin layer
See how easy this routine is for yourself!
3. Cupping
This may sound strange and scary to some, but the results can make a huge difference. Face cupping is basically an ancient technique that uses suction cups to stimulate your skin and muscles. It can be done on your face or body.
The suction promotes increased blood circulation, which may help relieve muscle tension, promote cell repair, and aid in other regeneration.
The suction effect pulls blood into the area of skin underneath the cup. This saturates the surrounding tissue with fresh blood and promotes new blood vessel formation.
Facial cupping has been shown to:
- increase oxygen-rich blood circulation
- strengthen skin and connective tissues
- stimulate cells responsible for collagen production
- relax muscle tension
- brighten skin
- minimize the appearance of scars, fine lines, and wrinkles
- tone chin, jawline, neck, and décolletage
- decrease puffiness
- regulate oil production
- improve nutrient delivery and product absorption
- detoxify
A little tip: We prefer the glass cups over the silicone because they have better suction. These are our favorite:
4. Gua Sha
Gua Sha for the face and neck is called the Eastern Botox for a reason. This ancient Chinese therapy uses a tool to rub or scrape the skin’s surface in long strokes. Traditional medicine practitioners have used this method for centuries to boost circulation, increase blood flow, break up scar tissue, help chronic pain and generally improve the health of the entire body.
When using for the face, you want to be much more gentle and methodical then you would for the body.
A few of the benefits you can have from using Gua Sha are:
- Firming of your facial muscles.
- Smoothening of the skin.
- Reduction of the appearance of wrinkles on your face.
- Improves dark circles and puffiness under the eyes.
- Lightens age spots and other skin discoloration.
- Brightens the complexion.
- It can help clear up acne, rosacea, and other skin diseases on your face.
- Its relaxing.
Our go to Gua Sha tool:
5. Hydration
This is a no-brainer, but one that we all seem to forget about. How important it is for our bodies and our skin that we are hydrated.
That beautiful skin your in is made up of about 64% water. And without enough fluids in your system, your skin can lose its elasticity. So all of those expensive creams your slathering on every night would be a waste of time and money.
The more elasticity your skin has, the less likely it is to form fine lines and wrinkles. That said, staying hydrated will help keep your skin plump and prevent signs of aging. And of course drinking a lot of water helps flush toxins from your body which improve your appearance as well.
Staying hydrated will help plump up your skin so that it looks and feels more smooth. This is due to the fact that the outermost layer of the skin has the moisture it needs to flush away toxins and carry nutrients to the skin’s cells. Skin that is well-hydrated also is less sensitive to irritants and germs that can slip through the lipid barrier when the skin lacks moisture.
Skin that is lacking the hydration it needs often becomes itchy, flaky, red, or even inflamed. Dry skin can even exaggerate the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles due to shrinkage of skin cells. An easy remedy to all of this is to drink water.
Staying motivated to drink enough and keeping track can be a little difficult at times. We chose our favorite drinking bottle to help keep you on track. Of course we want to avoid plastic and glass is a great way to go to keep it sanitized.
6. DIY your own products
When it comes to products and caring for your skin, the options are endless. It is a bit overwhelming. Not only that, but have you ever considered how long the product you are purchasing has been sitting on the shelf or what the actual ingredients are made of.
A few things to take into consideration. 1. Are the ingredients in your products still active or beneficial to your skincare routine. Fun fact, vitamin c ( depending on the ingredients its mixed with) can break down in up to a week or two then becoming completely ineffective. 2. Mixing certain ingredients can actually do more damage the good, or it can cancel out the benefits of the other product. 3. Do you actually understand or know what the ingredients are in your products. 4. How much waste are we really creating by not using a product entirely then throwing it away.
A way to avoid all of this is to make your own! These are a few of our favorite skincare DIY recipes.
DIY Rosehip Retinol Cream with Lavender
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 tablespoon organic rosehip seed oil
- 10 drops organic carrot seed oil
- 1 tablespoon organic almond oil
- 1 tablespoon organic apricot oil
- 1 teaspoon organic shea butter
- ¼ teaspoon green tea extract
- 10 drops lavender essential oil
- 10 drops frankincense essential oil
- 1 drop lemon essential oil
- small glass measuring cup
- shallow pan
- glass storage container
Directions:
- Pour the rosehip oil and carrot seed oil into a glass measuring cup.
- Place a shallow pan on the stove with about 2 inches of water in it and heat the water on low.
- Place the measuring cup in the pan, acting as a double-boiler.
- Add the almond oil and the apricot oil to the oils in the measuring cup.
- Next, add the shea butter and green tea extract to the mixture.
- Add the lavender, frankincense and lemon oils and blend well.
- Remove from heat and allow it to cool. Once cooled, place in a glass container.
- Apply a small amount to the skin at night before bed. Make sure to apply it to clean, dry skin.
DIY Rosehip Retinol Cream with Lavender
DIY Under Eye Balm
INGREDIENTS
2 tbsp shea butter
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 1/2 tsp candelilla wax
1/2 tsp rosehip seed oil
1/2 tsp calendula oil
3 drops geranium essential oil
Small lip balm jars
INSTRUCTIONS
Place the coconut oil, wax, rosehip and calendula oils in a bain-marie (or heat-proof jug over a pan of boiling water).
Turn the heat down to medium, and allow the wax to melt completely.
Stir well.
Add essential oil (if using).
Pour into pots and allow at least two hours for it to set up. You can speed up this process by putting the pots on baking sheet in the fridge.
DIY Soothing Eye Balm
We would love to hear some of your favorite at home sustainable beauty and health tips! Until next time~ xoxo pretty simple beauti
Photo credit Tyler Nix