Skin Care for Those Who Prefer Books

I love reading books, and I also love looking younger than my actual age. Both need money to maintain, and it is not like I have unlimited resources. To feed these two habits and myself, I have resorted to some measures. Sometimes I would buy a good quality skin care product, like Estee Lauder Night Repair or Clinique Repairwear Laser. Because there is a before and after difference, you do get what you paid for sometimes.

But when times get tough, and every penny counts, I try to stretch out so I cannot indulge myself so often. Sometimes I wish my kids are cute enough to be a model, but that will be unfair to them, because they wouldn’t have a fun childhood right?

My secret wish: to look thirty even though I am really fifty.

Homemade Skin Care

I am not saying that you should homemade everything, because that would actually defeat

the purpose of this practice: spending less money on skin care. Unless you already have all the basic ingredients, or you are doing it because you have other good reasons, chances are you will waste a lot of time and money making everything from scratch.

In this case, I am suggesting that you use what you already have at home. The simplest and best example would be coconut oil or olive oil with sugar and salt, to make a body scrub. If you use ground coffee, that works as a body exfoliate too. It’s dry July, a wine soak is good for the skin with all the reservatrols in it. You can save on skincare by using what you have, since you do not need much anyway.

Do not be fooled into thinking that homemade is cheap, frequently it is not. Not only you have to buy the ingredients, but the tool as well. Some products take a lot of time to make, which is probably better spent reading a good book.

There’s more to it, but I have already talked about it here about facial masks. Of course, alternative to homemade stuff, is buying things that have multiple uses. Rosehip oil is good for hair and face, you can even use it as a hand cream in a pinch. Or products like BB or CC cream, because multi-tasking is in.

Face Yoga

I know right? What is this world coming to? Face Yoga is nothing new actually, but the jury is still out on this one.

On one hand, it does make sense to exercise the muscles on your face. The theory is that if you exercise them, they maintain their elasticity to help you keep wrinkles at bay. On the other hand, a study in 2014 stated that the nine “researches” that was done was in poor quality. Basically, case studies and what a handful of people say is not enough to convince everyone that this is good for you.

It’s great if it works, but the study said that no one knows if it might hasten the aging process because you are over doing your face. That’s the worry anyway. But hey…

It is pretty fun doing funny faces with your brats. From these pictures, you can see that face yoga and be done any time and place. The problem is remembering to do it.

Ice Bath

Last but not least, the Koreans are loving the new old trend the ice bath. It is what it is: dunking your face into icy water or into a bowl of ice. Not only it will wake you right up, the cold water tightens pores and makes the skin firmer by shocking it into action. I am not a fan of this personally, because I have been washing my face with cold water and it is not fun at all.

But, a lot of people swear by it. If you have a lot of ice at home, and if it’s summer, why not give it a go right? Skin care is not only about creams and lotions, but daily habits as well. Good skin care habits like hygiene and using quality products are just one step in a routine.

Same with face yoga, not much prove that it works long term. But if you want to look refreshed and alert, icy face bath is a good free trick. It does not have to be a long dunk, and this is not a daily thing. If you are trying to save water (Australia water is expensive), just keep a wet towel in the freezer and use as needed, that works too!

Rich People will Always Look Good

Mainly because they have the resources to invest in their good looks. It will be cool to have facial every week, but I cannot afford it regularly. Doing it at home seems to be the only option for me presently, so I am looking for ways and tricks. If you do have a good tip for me, please comment and let me know.

Until then, I will be exercising my face and hope that my kids do not stress me out too much. Maybe I should take a more drastic action, like using derma roller. But since virgin bloods are hard to come by, it might be prudent to stick to the normal mainstream method of creams and lotions to stave off wrinkles.