A blog chronicling skin care, DIY beauty products, wishes and daydreams, life transitions, and other random stuff...

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Hey Ladies: Stop STRESSING OUT! Hints for Glowing Skin

I'm already performing facials and let me tell you, looking at skin up close is teaching me a lot.  I've always been my own guinnea pig.  Now I see how different everyone is and it's fascinating.  But there's one thing that we all have in common: STRESS.  


Women's skin has changed over the decades.  We now have full time careers (often the breadwinners), while taking care of kids and partners, trying to be healthy and pretty, on top of dealing with traffic, debt, processed office air, crazy people on the street, crime, office politics, housekeeping and pollution.  I'm getting stressed just thinking of the numerous ways that our daily lives are assaulted by ugly situations.  And most women put themselves last on their list of priorities.  Who has time for pampering?  The skin shows it.


Stress takes it's toll in a variety of ways.  First, we stop doing the things that are good for us:  drinking lots of water, working out, eating healthy, avoiding alcohol, smoking or caffeine.  Some nights, we collapse in to bed and the last thing we want to do is wash our faces and floss our teeth.  I totally get it.


Well, this causes break-outs (stress and hormones cause congestion specifically around the chin area).  Stress also causes dehydration, blotches, allergies, puffy eyes and (shriek!) wrinkles.  So, the fight for equality has some pitfalls.  Whatever. We're smart enough to look amazing while taking over the world, right?


So I have a few tasks that should help ease you in to getting prettier skin while kicking the world's ass:
1) Drink a lot of water, especially if you like to party!
2) THIS IS ONE IS CRUCIAL: Wash your face with a gentle cleanser (no soap) for at least ONE FULL minute, every morning and night and follow with a good fragrance-free & dye-free moisturizer.  Your face will get clean, and the massaging action stimulates circulation to get rid of a lifeless complexion.  This also massages out those worry wrinkles - seriously.  DO IT.
3) If you have acne or break-outs, BE GENTLE.  People tend to attack their skin with harsh products to dry up the break-out quickly, over exfoliate and touch, pick and obsess over the pimples.  Nobody's perfect, let the pimple run it's course or you will make it worse and possibly create a scar.  Over-cleansing and scrubbing causes the skin to overreact and perpetuates the problem.  A break-out is your skin saying "I need TLC, not punishment."  Be patient, it  has it's own schedule.
4) Take a multi-vitamin every day.
5) Take deep breaths when you feel overwhelmed.
6) Put yourself first every once in while.  Scratch that.  Put yourself first EVERY DAY, even if it's for only ten minutes while you wash your face and treat yourself with a little kindness.  You deserve it.



Bookmark and Share



1 comment:

  1. Thanks Steph! Great info. I'm so happy and proud of you for going for it! Escape the office monotony! Follow your bliss!!! Yay!!! A great posting, love it. - Maria

    ReplyDelete