Everyone has a slightly different shower routine, but overall we tend to jump in, take 5 minutes, and then jump out again. It’s simple, and it gets us ready for work or the gym first thing in the morning! However, paying a bit more attention to your shower routine can be very beneficial for you, and you’ll be reaping the rewards after only a couple of weeks.
So, in the same way that your skin needs its own specialized care, you might just benefit from following a new shower routine too! After all, this is where the majority of your skin and hair care happens, and knowing you’ve got a good showering foundation to lay the rest of your beauty treatments on top of will help you to feel healthy and happy in your own skin.
And with that in mind, here are some of the most beneficial things you can do to change your shower routine for the better.
The Length and Temperature of Your Shower
How long do you tend to shower for? Because long and hot showers aren’t as great for your skin as they sound, but neither are blistering cold and quick showers either. You need to find the perfect middle ground here, which means turning down the heat just a little, and hopping out of the shower a little earlier than you’d really like to.
Otherwise you’ll likely strip your skin of the oils it needs to keep healthy and supple, and you’ll come out feeling dry as a bone. If you come out a bit earlier, you’ll save on the amount of moisturizer you need to use, and you’ll certainly save on your electric bill too!
Being Gentle with Your Skin
Do you like to be in and out when you shower? If so, why not take a bit more time to be more careful with yourself? Your skin needs a bit of tender loving care whenever you get into the shower, so try to invest in gentle scrubs and soaps that’ll help to keep your skin feeling soft.
Try to get a more gentle and soft flannel to wash with as well. Using a shower puff or a loofer can make the job much more efficient, yes, but it won’t do your skin any favors in the long run. You’ll be washing a bit too hard, and your skin might go red or a bit blotchy, and that is neither a nice look or feeling!
Picking the Right Shampoo and Conditioner
When you get into the shower, washing and conditioning your hair is a big part of the process. If you use a leave-in conditioner, it’s probably the first thing you do when you get into the shower, or maybe you leave it until last and just scrub and go. Either way, your hair gets a good seeing to, and it leaves your roots and ends feeling refreshed for the day ahead!
However, depending on the type of hair you have, and the way you treat it, you may need to add a few more products into this step. For example, if you’ve got dyed hair, it’s a good idea to look into washing color treated hair and how that tends to differ from washing natural hair. Aside from this, think about your type of hair. Is it dry, or overly oily? Is it straight or a little wavy? Or is it naturally curly? For the latter alone, you’d probably benefit from looking into the ‘curly girl routine’, and how you can adapt this for your own use.
And sure, maybe sometimes you don’t have the time, or you simply just want to get in and out and then climb into bed, and that’s fine! But make sure your hair type is matched up with a shampoo and conditioner that treats it gently, and helps put moisture back into it, to stop the elements from making your strands frizzy, brittle, and dry when you’re out and about.
Using a Body Brush
A lot of people don’t realize body brushing is actually very good for them! It’s a form of dry brushing that you can do with a long handled brush, and you don’t need any other products to get the most out of it. Simply start at your feet and brush in circular motions up your body, and don’t forget to get your back as well.
But if this sounds like just another job to do in the shower, remember that body brushing is good for a variety of reasons. Most of all, it can help with lymphatic drainage, which helps to drain your body of toxins – in other words, it’s incredibly immune boosting!
Aside from this, body brushing can help reduce the appearance of blemishes like varicose veins and even cellulite, both of which can bother a lot of people. For the latter, brushing on a regular basis helps these little pockets of stored fat to ‘break up’, which can help to ‘smooth’ out your skin, and lessen the look of ‘cottage cheese’ on legs, arms, and your belly.
Getting Out of the Shower
Once you’re out of the shower, it’s time to throw away the towel you were going to wrap around your hair and replace it with an old t-shirt instead. Clothing is made of much softer fabric, which works better with your hair, simply because it stops so much rubbing damage from occurring.
Similarly, make sure you’ve got a moisturizer ready that you can rub into your entire body, and try to get an exfoliator for your feet ready to go as well. The soles of your feet have been soaking in shower water for at least 10 minutes now and that’ll make dead skin removal a lot easier to do! It’ll also help your feet to feel softer, which is always a bonus.
Your shower routine might need a boost here and there, so keep tips like those above in mind for your washday.
