Add Some Spice to Your Shower
By *Chloe Aiello
Who isn’t stressed or bored from time to time? Not everyone has the money to go to an expensive spa, or even has the time or privacy to DIY a spa experience at home.
But even if you’re low on money, time, or budget, you can find tips to trick out your shower so that it is more than just a way to cleanse your skin…it’s also a way to add some “spice” and relaxation to your daily routine.
Remedies Can Be Found Right At Home!
The easiest remedies can be found right in your home! You can even use these tips in your everyday showers!
Ready to relax? Get up from your computer and turn on your shower right now. Make sure to turn the tap as far to “hot” as you can!
Close your bathroom door and put down a towel or blanket next to the shower to lay down on.
Come back to your computer screen and let the shower steam up as you continue to read this article.
The steam will help keep your skin looking radiant, deal with sinus congestion, and relieve stress.
Now let’s get into it
Tip #1 Use a D.I.Y. Coffee Scrub
Ingredients:
-1 Cup Ground Coffee (You can reuse the coffee grounds from your morning cup to make a less intense scrub.)
-1 Cup Brown Sugar
-½ Cup of Olive Oil
-½ Tablespoon of Cinnamon (Optional)
-Small mixing bowl
-Fork/Popsicle stick
-Airtight container
Steps:
- Put all the ingredients in the mixing bowl.
- Mix the ingredients together with the fork/popsicle stick.
- Store in the airtight container of your choice or use all at once.
This D.I.Y. scrub is so easy to make. Apply it from your head to your toes! I use my D.I.Y. scrub every other week.
a coffee scrub is great for your skin!
This works as a face scrub, body scrub, foot and lip scrub (*make it “lip plumping” by adding ground cinnamon and leaving it on your lips for five minutes),
Scrub this onto your legs after you shave. Then, use an old razor to scrape it off. This works wonders with your skin!
Here are just a few of the many benefits:
-The caffeine in the scrub increases blood-flow, and may even reduce cellulite.
-The sugar helps to gently scrub away all the dead skin and toxins on you.
-The olive oil provides amazing hydration. It also prevents free radical damage to skin, provides anti-aging benefits, restores skin smoothness, protects against UV rays, and if that’s not enough, it deeply penetrates and cleanses the skin without clogging your pores.
Tip #2: Turn on your favorite music
What’s your mood? Blast your favorite music and jam out!
I recommend Despacito by Luis Fonsi (check out this YouTube Video)
I challenge you to sing along.I also love all of Bruno Mar’s songs.
Listen to whatever music gets you dancing and singing along to release all that tension!
Tip #3: Try out a shower bomb
pick a shower bomb in an invigorating or uplifting scent
Shower bombs are great for those of us that don’t have bathtubs.
They can be found pretty much everywhere where bath bombs are sold.
I really like these because they make the whole bathroom smell amazing! Try tossing one in your shower as it steams up!
Tip #4: Rinse With Cold Water:
Rinse off with COLD water after your hot shower.
Taking a cold rinse after a hot shower provides so many amazing benefits.
It strengthens immunity, keeps your skin and hair healthy, and increases energy. Navy SEALs and professional athletes regularly dunk themselves into cold water.
Don’t believe me? Check out the video in this link: http://www.businessinsider.com/navy-seal-explains-end-shower-cold-water-2017-3
There are plenty of beauty benefits, too.
The cold temperature helps tighten pores and cuticles, preventing them from getting clogged.
Cold water prevents the skin from being stripped of its natural oils (good to know, especially if you have dry or irritated skin).
A cold water hair rinse flattens the hair follicles, making hair appear stronger, healthier and shinier.
If you have ever experienced an ice bath or a prolonged cold shower, chances are you can attest to the euphoric feeling that occurs after such exposure.
Tip #5: Moisturize With Olive Oil
olive oil has skin, health and hair benefits. It tastes good, too!
As I said in Tip #1, olive oil has so many amazing benefits! I love using olive oil when my skin has been going crazy or needs to be deeply moisturized.
I use the oil on my face and body after my shower. Use any leftover oil to apply a thin layer to your eyelids and lips.
To get maximum results, use extra virgin olive oil straight out of the shower and let it absorb into your skin for 5 minutes. Pat your skin dry.
budget beauty bargain soap from France
The Advice Sisters Beauty and Style has reviewed a lot of different products featuring oils for Body and Hair. Check “Search This Website” to Find them.
A super-affordable way to add olive oil to your shower routine is with Le Petit Marseillais 72% Extra Pur Olive Oil Soap (read advicesisters.com review) It’s from France. Find it in the USA in places in mass market retailers (Price: under $4)!
Oil Your Hair!
Hair oils have been used throughout the ages. In fact, in ancient Egypt and Greece, olive oil was used to beautify, protect and lubricate the hair. It also provided softness and sheen.
David Stanko – Redken Ambassador & Colorist at Licari Cutler Salon NYC (@thedavidstanko) says olive fruit conditions from the inside-out and adds incredible suppleness.
Advicesisters.com has reviewed lots of other products including nourishing oils (check “Search This Website”). Two Redken products for hair we like are Curvaceous and Diamond Oil.
Redken CURVACEOUS (read advicesisters.com review) is for every curl type. The Curl Memory Complex contains Moringa Oil to hydrate dry curls for increased bounce, frizz control and shine.
ask your stylist about Redken Diamond Oil
Redken Diamond Oil shampoo and conditioner (read advicesisters.com review) contains Coriander Oil to coat and smooth the cuticle to boost shine, Apricot Oil and Camelina to add and lock in shine.
Tip #6: Dry your hair with a Tee:
Replace a towel with a cotton T-shirt. Towels cause friction. Because a T-shirt is smooth, it reduces frizz. I would recommend this tip for those who have curly or thick hair.
I would especially recommend this tip for those who have curly or thick hair.
A towel will mess up your natural curl pattern, but a T-shirt won’t.
Professional hairstylist Isabella Vazquez has said: “When [our hair is wet], it becomes weaker and softer. If we use a regular towel to dry it, the grooves of the towel become aggressors to the cuticle of our hair.
Towels absorb all the moisture from hair, but what you want to do is absorb the excess water without taking most of the moisture that helps our hair from becoming frizzy or creating frizz.
A tee shirt is a flat surface, so the water sinks into that surface and it slides through the hair instead of [roughing] it up.
Redken’s David Stanko advises: Take special care when using a towel to “pat” the hair to remove excess moisture. This is good advice for all hair types.
“Blot” the excess water from the hair, just like your delicate silk blouse that you hand wash. Never aggressively rub your hair – it can lead to tangles and breakage.
If your hair is naturally curly, towel-rubbing can cause frizzy and fly-away hair. No one wants that!
Tip #7: Use a Gentle Hair Comb
use a wide tooth comb on wet hair to keep things gentle
If you must brush your hair after your shower, be kind to your strands. Use a wide tooth comb and not a brush.
David Stanko says that hair is in a weakened state when wet and can stretch approx. 25-30% of its length.
Be careful when de-tangling your hair, especially if your hair is damaged from hair coloring, bleaching and even mechanical damage from hot tools: blow dryer, curling , and flat irons.
The reason to start the ends, not at the roots, is that this way tangles are, well – detangled.
Starting at the scalp just pushes the tangles further down the hair strand and amount to a teased ‘birds nest’ mess which could lead to breakage.
Tip #8: Wear Sweatpants and Keep Warm
sweatpants are chic, cozy and comforting
Put on sweatpants to help warm and protect your legs after a shave. This will give you dolphin-soft legs!
This is my interpretation of advice from a 2016 article in Good Housekeeping about the best time to shave your legs. This article claimed: “When legs are still warm in the morning, they will appear smoother.”
Since I do not always have time to shave at night, I have found that wearing sweatpants for a few hours during the day works just as well.
(*editor’s note: We have seen this advice is several women’s magazines but we can’t verify this. It can’t hurt to try it and if this tip works for you, great –tell us about it)! Sweatpants feel so comfy after a shower and for hanging out.
*Editors Tip: If you want more spa-style beauty products, check out the Advice Sisters Beauty and Style’s Must-Try Spa Products Organic, Luxury, Budget
Meet Our Teen Correspondent, Chloe Aiello!
Chloe Aiello
*Chloe Aiello is the Advice Sisters Beauty and Style’s first Teen Correspondent. To learn more about Chloe, and connect with here, Click Here.
