Habits and hacks for your morning routine
When you’re out and about, and you see other moms looking effortlessly beautiful, showing off their radiant skin and looking like they just came from the salon, do you think “How does she do it?” Or maybe you get a little resentful and catty? I know I feel that way sometimes. We can’t believe that they look like that all the time.
We all know what it looks like to be a mother of little ones. You roll out of bed, put on your leggings or sweats and just praying that they’re mostly clean and not inside out or backwards! But the struggle is real; we seldom have time to do our hair and make-up. We just try to make ourselves look half decent when we’ve got children running around.
So, what is the answer? Is it getting up way before the kids get up just to do our hair and make-up? That’s totally unrealistic. I’ve got some habits and hacks for your morning routine that will help you beat the clock and look put together in less time.
Identify the most time-consuming tasks
Maybe it’s your hair that takes the longest. Maybe you want to cover up sunspots or freckles. Whatever it is, finding a way to work smarter, rather than harder when it comes to your look is the key.
First, by identifying the most time-consuming tasks in your routine, you can learn habits and hacks to beat the clock. You can slowly perfect your makeup skills so you can get it done in 5 minutes, but there are techniques we can all use to learn this hack faster.
Contouring and highlighting are great habits and hacks for busy moms because you can wear minimal make-up if your face looks bright and clear. If you don’t know how to contour and highlight, this link provides a very useful guide for the so-called “lazy girl”. When it comes to beating the clock, you’ve got to work smarter.
Choose a few pieces of clothes that are staples in your wardrobe
You’ve got to act on the fact that you have minimal time to get an outfit together. You can plan your outfits the night before, but sometimes that’s not realistic. If you’ve had a horrible time getting the children to bed, all you want to do is slump on the couch in front of Netflix. So, you’ve got to find habits and hacks to make your wardrobe as flexible as possible.
Staple pieces that go with anything don’t have to be wide-ranging; you can pick a handful of items that go with the vast majority of your clothes. Then you don’t have to think about it so much. You don’t want the stress of deciding what to wear to add to your woes as a parent.
The best way to dress is according to the event, so this gives you fewer options to choose from. If you’ve been watching Tidying Up with Marie Kondo on Netflix, you’ve seen her method for organizing clothes. If a piece of your clothing doesn’t spark joy, get rid of it! Only keep what you love.
When you do this, you’ll have an even easier time choosing an outfit because you know you have things that you love and that go together. If you’re going out shopping and want to look a bit more put together than just the casual mom look (jeans, a big sweater that comes down to your knees, and those boots that go with anything), then think about those items that you have kept that spark joy. You’ll have a much easier time deciding what to wear.
Habits and hacks for doing your hair
Doing your hair can be one of the most time-consuming parts of your morning beauty routine. As a busy mom, there are times you can’t wash it in the morning, and it can become even more of a nightmare to get right. One hack for your hair is washing it the night before.
Take one evening a week to give it the care it needs. Do your deep conditioning treatment this day. When you can’t do it every day, or even every other day, look at your calendar and plan your hair care day accordingly. For example, if you have something going on on the Monday, wash your hair on Sunday night, and then on Tuesday, you can pop it up into a bun for the rest of your day. If necessary, put some more bobby pins in it during Wednesday to keep it up before washing it that night. One handy hint: if you want your hair to shine, use cold water to rinse it!
Simple practices
Eating a healthy diet and having a positive attitude affects your skin and how you feel, so it’s essential that you develop habits and hacks for taking care of yourself. That way if you don’t have the time or energy to apply make-up, you’ll have more radiant skin through the vitamins and minerals you are getting through eating healthy foods.
Are you aware of how much water you’re drinking throughout the day? Are you skipping a meal without realizing it? It’s these little things that we have to look at so we can examine if we are actually doing the things we need to do to look and stay healthy.
Beauty is about those little habits. So, if you are spending a lot of money on serums that work at hydrating your face, wouldn’t it be easier just to carry around some water? If you are spending a lot of money on collagen supplements, you can get this through bone broth, and the food you consume.
It’s these little habits that we can overlook, especially when we are busy in life. This isn’t just a problem for busy moms; it’s a problem that everybody has. And besides, if you want your children to have a healthy diet, you may as well practice what you preach!
The daily habit we all need
Moisturize! It’s as simple as that! If you don’t have the time, it’s important that you make time for this a daily habit. You can do it just before you go to bed along with brushing your teeth and winding down. If you feel like you don’t have time to add another habit, think about this: it only takes 21 days to develop a new habit. We can all take 3 weeks to help our skin look younger! Dehydrated skin will make you look older than you are! Moisturizing every day will provide your skin with that essential component, hydration.
Even while you’re trying to be a good parent, you’ve got to take care of yourself! As my friend Bert Anderson says in her book, Me Before Mom, you’ve got to put on your oxygen mask first! You know that’s what they tell you on the plane. As much as you want to put your child first, your health and well-being need to be a priority. You’ll be no good to anyone if they aren’t.
This means a good diet so you are getting an abundance of vitamins and minerals, as well as drinking plenty of water, as well as exercise which can help you to detox your body. Take time out of your day for you!
Be smart about how you use your time
There is nothing worse than looking in the mirror and realizing you’ve aged horribly. Since you can’t stop the clock, you can do these few things I’ve shared.
Highlight your attributes, especially when we look tired. Putting on that little bit of highlighting can lessen those dark circles. Even though it might feel like a waste of time to put a nice dress on and do your make-up and hair, it’ll make you feel better.
It’s not just about finding the right products; it’s about a combination of habits, hacks, and beating the clock! You need to “make time” for you, not only in your beauty routine but in putting yourself first sometimes. Being smart about how you use this time will make a world of difference!
Check out this video about getting ready faster!
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