You are a goddess, but winter certainly doesn’t make you feel like one. Between itchy dry skin and scalp, acne from wearing masks, and cold toes with callouses, it’s a long, cold pandemic winter. What better time to do genuine self-care, taking care of your body from inside and out. Here are some great options for all skin types and tones while you’re hunkered down in some comfy sweaters! Hopefully, you can be prepared for the lovely spring to come.
Get Steamy
The Nordic peoples have it right: there’s nothing so refreshing or magnificent for the body in cold weather as spending time in a sauna. Saunas have been proven to relax your arteries, and help with blood flow to all the organs of the body. Those relaxed arteries can help lower blood pressure along with your stress. This includes the brain. Finnish studies show lower incidence of Alzheimer’s and dementia in men who use saunas once a week. Besides the help to chronic pain patients and benefits to the lungs, a winter sauna visit just feels wonderful as well.
Hair Masks
Your hair needs a mask for protection and health, just as your face does. You must have the right type of mask to use for your hair type and texture. There are many hair masks on the market for straight hair of varying textures and thicknesses, but also those for curly hair of varying textures. Make sure to read ingredients carefully and choose which ones fit your particular hair type. A mask can provide extra needed moisture in the winter cold, and help heal the hair itself to prevent breakage.
Varicose Vein Treatments
It’s common in winter for varicose veins to become more pronounced and uncomfortable due to winter chill. Besides being visibly unsightly to varying degrees, depending on whether they in need of deep vein or visible surface care, varicose veins can be intensely painful as they increase in severity. Wearing compression stockings helps minimally, but you might not want to keep wearing thick stockings in the summer. Varicose vein treatments are minimally invasive, can be done in-office, and require little to no downtime. This leaves you free to do more important things with your time.
Mani/Pedi
It’s been a long pandemic- getting a mani-pedi is more than just beauty care. Your hands and feet do a huge volume of the heavy lifting in your day. Taking care of both helps you look polished and professional as well. Your cuticles and calluses, though, can have a lot to do with how your hands and feet feel. Your manicurist also sloughs off dead skin cells and usually massages hands and feet, which can help with relaxation. Regular pedicures can help you to keep from getting painfully cracked heels as well.
Massage Therapy
Adding massage therapy to your beauty regimen can add a lot to your physical health as well as your beauty. It can eliminate toxins, and stimulate blood flow, critical in cold weather months. But, massage therapy can also lower blood pressure, and enhance your immunity. It also helps with fatigue issues and anxiety, which are both connected, and also a particular problem right now.
Dry Brushing
Far from being a magical way to heal every ailment, dry brushing is still a great way to help your skin to be healthy and clear. Your skin is your largest bodily organ and protects your body in many ways. Dry brushing gently stimulates the top layer of your skin, your epidermis, so that your dermis, just below, can be moved slightly. This keeps lymphatic fluid moving, which helps you not keep bloating water weight, keeps your skin moisturized. More importantly, your lymphatic system helps your immune system work properly, something you want to happen!
Meditation
Meditation has many known benefits, and there are many forms. Some people prefer to let their minds “zone out” during exercise or yoga. Others like to use journaling as a meditational option. Many use mindfulness apps or meditation apps to do full-body relaxation. Regardless of what you use, it’s important to make sure that you use some sort of meditational technique to help your body to release anxiety and have a good, healthy sleep. Whichever form of meditation works best for you, finding a version that helps your body is essential.
Your body has gone through so much this winter! Help your body heal and your mind relax by taking care of all of the various parts of it, including your skin and your mind! Taking care of your body is such important work, but soon you’ll be both looking and feeling your best once again. Hopefully, your spring will be particularly refreshing and lovely, with both your body and mind refreshed.
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