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Appearance!

How to better take care of yourself!

By Ashley BeardPublished 3 years ago 8 min read
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Appearance!
Photo by Amy Shamblen on Unsplash

The biggest thing we look at when it comes to ourselves, is our appearance. I even do this! I stand in the mirror for hours upon hours most of the time, or I’ll even take my snapchat and make sure everything looks good. I am guilty when it comes to this! I even spend almost an hour and a half making sure my hair and my makeup looks good, but then I will come back and check over everything again several times throughout the day.

However, somedays I just really don’t care, so I will literally take my children to school in my pajamas and while I am looking like a hot mess. People will tend to stare at me, but honestly some of these people who do not have children do not understand that when you are a single parent you just aren’t up too getting all fancied up all the time.

Although, I will say this much. You can avoid this by making sure you are managing time management appropriately. People will say they never have time, but honestly you do have time. You just don’t want to and you want to follow through with an excuse, when you shouldn’t.

What I have done to better this situation, is that I actually now wake up at 4:30 in the morning, to give myself time to workout and time to properly make myself look decent for the day depending on my mood. The reason I have decided to make this change, is because I have always been caring about how I present myself. I have also been more OCD about the way I have been taking care of my appearance is because, it also shows others that I do not care about myself when in reality I do. I just have been slacking, and it shows that I am lazy, and that’s how I feel I am being sometimes.

I know I shouldn’t care about what others really think about me, or about how they see me but honestly, I just want to look good most days because it makes me feel good. I have become so much more involved with the way I care about myself.

I will be honest here, sometimes I can’t afford to buy certain materials, and sometimes I can’t always afford to get things done to look good. However, I will be explaining several ways on how you can avoid this and how you can take better care of yourself by creating a list below. I have even given my family and the people around me the same advice below and it has helped them a lot.

Tips & Advice

• How to save money.

• Know your products.

• Social Media.

• Professionals.

• Time Management.

SAVE YOUR MONEY!

You do not need to spend money to look outstanding! You can do a lot of things on your own! Personally, I think people look great the way they are, but it just seems like the media has made a lot of people oversensitive about how they look or feel about themselves. Also don’t feel discouraged because of how someone else looks around you. You are your own person! Do not let the media fool you or make you feel down about yourself!

KNOW YOUR PRODUCTS!

Make sure you are checking certain materials out before you use them. I highly suggest checking reviews! If you do buy something, and your skin starts to break out/feel irritated or you feel different in a not so good way, I would advise discontinuing the product and look further into a different type of material.

SOCIAL MEDIA!

You do not need to spend your money to learn how to do something that you are unsure about. You can use any kind of social media, especially YouTube or even books to learn how to do things as well. Don’t let people fool you, because a lot of things that are learned are shown in a lot of videos or pictures with a step by step.

PROFESSIONALS!

Even though we have certain materials to utilize, we can also ask a professional like a stylist. A lot of the times they will show you or tell you!

TIME MANAGEMENT!

Utilize your time management so you can dig deeper into materials and so that you can find what works best for you!

YOUR SKIN AND HELPFUL TIPS!

Face- Very delicate! Do not ever touch your face with your hands! If you see acne, do not ever pick at it as this can lead to it being worse! You can use ice or a lemon to reduce the redness & irritation! Just a tip, I do not suggest toothpaste as it does dry out the skin!

Face Wash/Mask- If you need a face mask, I suggest Aztec Clay with apple cider vinegar. You can find the Aztec Clay in a lot of stores and online! Now you can also go on google to even find recommendations on DIY (do it yourself) masks! I suggest the facemask with oats, honey, rosewater, and apple cider vinegar! One thing I do not suggest, and do not believe the advertisements is the green mask stick! I have used this personally and have checked the reviews, and it doesn’t work. Now the biggest thing too is finding a good facewash as well! You want to find a product that will not irritate you! Now before you wash, I suggest a soft cloth, or a soft brush to wash your face with. Now before you apply the soap make sure that you are using luke warm water to open your pores, and using cold water to close the pores! When you dry, make sure that you pat and not scrub. At night put a hair band on to make sure that you keep certain things away from your face to avoid bacteria! Make sure to follow with a moisturizer! I suggest rosewater as well, as it makes the skin shiny and soft.

Makeup- The trick to wearing makeup is to make it look like you aren’t wearing any! When you do wear makeup, make sure you are buying the best products that work for your skin, because if not you will be looking like an orange crayon, and your skin may even start breaking out. Do not ever leave makeup on when you sleep, this will make your skin oily and will breakout the skin as well. Make sure that you are cleaning your brushes, and not using other’s makeup!

Teeth- Brush after every meal! Make sure you are flossing, and using mouth wash every day! If you are going to use white strips, I would not suggest using them all the time because it will irritate your gums a lot. However white strips do work! Make sure that you are replacing your tooth brush, when the bristles are getting brittle!

Eyelashes- Mascara can cause your eyelashes to fall out and cause infections if you fall asleep with it on, so make sure that you are removing it completely before you go to sleep. If you want them too grow, I suggest castor oil as this has helped me a lot! I always get asked if my lashes are fake, but they aren’t! My lashes are real!

Hair/Body Hair: Check certain products before you start just using certain shampoos, oils, masks, hair dyes, and conditioners! Certain products with sulfate, you want to avoid as much as possible as these products create buildup and can damage your hair! When washing your hair, do not wash your hair all the time with shampoo, and do not wash everyday as this creates damage to the hair and will strip out the natural oils. However, make sure that you don’t wait days to wash out your hair because it will cause too much buildup and will cause your hair to breakout. Let the conditioner sit in your hair for at least 3 minutes, and wash with cold water as this will help with growth. Also, a hair mask, such as olive oil or coconut oil, prenatal/biotin vitamins, certain foods, and a lot of water will promote growth and healthy hair. Try to avoid heat as much as possible, and do not ever apply heat when your hair is wet. If you do use heat, make sure you follow with a heat protectant, and light heat. If you aren’t using heat, and you need to make your hair look nice there are videos and tutorials on certain hairstyles. When your hair is wet, never use a brush, always use a comb. Rubber band hair ties will cause your hair to follow with split ends so I would suggest a scrunchie! Now for body hair, never shave when the skin is dry! This will cause irritation to the skin! Make sure that you change out your razors when they are dull, and make sure that you never use other’s razors!

Body: Make sure you are washing your body every day, especially after intercourse, your monthly, swimming, physical activity and working out to prevent bacteria, and infections!

Foods/Drinks: Not all foods, and drinks are good for our bodies especially is we are trying to lose weight. Eating out all the time is not good for us! All that grease, and most of the products companies’ use are not good for our bodies. Soda actually makes our bones brittle if you didn’t know that either.

When it comes to our body, and how we care for ourselves, a lot of these tips and advice can be helpful. You can take my advice, or you can just read it, but it has helped others!

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About the Creator

Ashley Beard

Single Mom of 2!

Strayer University College Student!

Looking to get my voice out there, and become something great!

Wanting to follow my dreams!

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