The Top Beauty Habits You Should Do Every Night (and a Few You Shouldn’t!)

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There you are, at the end of a long workday, you’ve just finished dinner, the dishes, put the kiddies to bed, and you are already thinking about the next workday. You’ve done everything, it seems, except take a moment to relax and to think about yourself. It’s all too easy to just fall into the lazy habit of wiping a wet washrag over your makeup-covered eyes and lips and say “good enough,” but the truth is, that is really NOT good enough. With just a few extra minutes, you can develop some serious beauty habits that will keep your face, skin, and hair beautiful, clear of blemishes and wrinkle free for years. When you are in your 20’s, thoughts of wrinkles seem far away, but it’s actually what you do in your 20’s that shows up in your skin in your 50’s,so start now with some of the best beauty routines you should be doing at night; and a few that you should stop doing!

Things to start:

1. Remove Your Makeup

And we mean every single bit of it, not just a quick wipe with a wet towel. If you want to wake up fresh and zit free, then remove every bit of makeup before you hit the hay.

2. Relax in a Warm Bath

If you have one! Just a 20 minute soak in warm tub with a few candles and some essential oils like rosemary, lavender, or chamomile will help relieve stress, remove toxins, and allow you a few minutes to do a couple of other beauty routines (keep reading for those.) A warm bath will also help you to sleep better. Read more about therapeutic baths that could change your life.

3. Hot Oil Hair Treatment

Just before you slip into that tub, heat up a bit of extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil. Pour it over your head (make sure it’s not too hot) and massage it into your scalp well. Allow it to soak down into your hair. You can put a bit extra on the ends if you tend to have frizzy or dry hair. Put your hair in a shower cap, then sit in that tub and relax. When you are done with your soak, simply rinse out or wash your hair as you normally would. Find out all natural remedy for your hair, eyelashes and eyebrows.

4. Soften Your Feet

Even if you don’t spend all day on your feet, that doesn’t mean they don’t need a little TLC! Just before you hop into bed, apply a foot lotion that contains either tea tree oil or peppermint oil, and then cover your feet with your favorite fuzzy socks. In the morning, your feet will be as soft as a baby’s bottom.

5. Face Masks

OK, so you might look like Mrs. Doubtfire or Michael Myers, but if you really only have time for one beauty treatment, this is the one to do. Use a face mask before bed.

6. Go Wild with Lotion

Our hands tend to get dried out during the day from air conditioning, chores, and excessive hand washing, and we rarely think to apply hand lotion during the course of the day. At bedtime, feel free to go wild with that hand lotion, especially some thick, super moisturizing hand cream that will have your hands looking and feeling super soft by morning. Add some to your elbows too, while you’re at it.

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7. Spot Treatments

This is a great way to help stop acne before it starts. Take a purifying mask and, using a cotton swab, apply it directly to any pimples that might be starting or that popped up during the day. Allow it to dry and let it sit overnight. The longer it sits on your skin, the more time the benefits of the mask can help.

8. Try an Exfoliator

Your skin is working it’s hardest to repair itself while you sleep. This is a great time to apply a leave-on exfoliator. This will allow the ingredients plenty of time to absorb and repair daily damage.

9. Use Eye Cream

Even if you are in your 20’s, eye cream is important. Start using quality moisturizers and eye cream at night so that in the morning, your skin will be well hydrated and plump. Read also about beauty oils you should be aware of.

10. Pin Up Your Hair

Unless you wash your hair in the evenings, your hair has oil and dirt that can transfer from your hair to the pillowcase, and then to your face. Either braid your hair or put it up in a bun so it won’t rub on your face or the pillowcase.

11. And Speaking of Pillowcases…

Go super deluxe! Using a silk or satin pillowcase will avoid both wrinkles on your face and frizzy hair. Most cotton pillowcases are very rough on your hair cuticles and make little creases and folds that transfer to your face.

12. More About Pillows

Think about using two pillows instead of one, or using one of those foam wedges. This will prevent puffiness and dark circles under the eyes. Let gravity work with you for a change!

13. Get Your Beauty Rest

Those old adages about getting your beauty sleep or beauty rest? They really knew what they were talking about. A good night’s sleep really does affect the way you look. A good night’s rest will reduce dark circles and puffy eyes. Lack of rest also causes your skin to look pale and dull. Also, most of your skin repair happens while you are sleeping, so be sure you get 7 to 9 hours of beauty rest every single night.

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Photo credit: bigstock

We won’t bother to go into all the problems of sleeping with your makeup on or the dangers of popping zits- you’ve been listening to that since high school and you already know all about it. However, let’s take a look at the other ugly little habits that you might have picked up over the years. This would be a good time to break them, don’t you think?

1. Working Out in Makeup

OK, we know, you’re busy. So you rush out of work and hit the gym, and say to yourself, “What’s wrong with a little makeup?” Getting in a little sweat time is a good thing, and a good thing for your skin, but it simply cannot breathe underneath all that makeup. Makeup blocks your pores and prevents the sweat from escaping, which will cause pimples. And seriously, no one wants to see you on the Stair Master with your mascara running down your face and your towel smeared with makeup. Put some makeup removing wipes in your gym bag and wipe off most of it before you hit the yoga class.

2. Focusing Only on Your Face

Although it’s a good thing to take care of your face, that’s not the only part of your body that ages. By excluding your neck, décolletage, and shoulders from the moisturizing and exfoliating that you do to your face, you are doing yourself a great disservice. It’s very easy to overlook those things in your 20’s and 30’s, but when that turkey neck starts to show or your décolletage starts to wrinkle, you will wish you had not neglected them. Use sunscreen and don’t forget the moisturizer.

3. Rubbing Your Eyes

You rub your eyes because you have itchy contacts or allergies, or whatever, right? As long as you don’t mess up your makeup, it’s OK, right? Nope. The skin around your eyes is very fragile and rubbing it will cause damage to the elastin and collagen, and all the eye cream in the world can’t fix the damage continually rubbing your eyes will do. If your eyes itch, try some eye drops or artificial tears instead of all the rubbing.

4. Brushing Your Wet Hair

Your hair is at its weakest when it’s wet. If you rub or twist up your hair in a towel, you are causing your hair serious damage. Instead of a bath towel, try squeezing and blotting the water out of your hair with an old T-shirt, which is much more gentle on your hair. Also, no brushing until it is 90 percent dry. If you absolutely must untangle your hair, use only a wide tooth comb.

You’re beautiful, it’s true, and don’t you forget it.

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