Bath Time Beauty Tips

It didn't cross my mind until a couple of days ago, but I had pretty much just realized that I can actually take a bath where we currently live now! Back where we used to live, our tub was way too small and cramped, and fairly shallow, so it made taking a nice, soothing bath somewhat difficult. Anyways, I've been taking an advantage of soaking in the tub over here, and I thought that it might be a good idea to share some of my bath time beauty tips with everyone! So, here they are...!

1.  Just add milk!

We all know that drinking milk helps build strong bones, but it also does wonders for the skin, too! The lactic acid helps exfoliate and remove dead skin cells, and the protein helps keep your skin hydrated, leaving it feeling soft and silky to the touch! All you need to do is add 2-3 cups of milk into your bath water (you may also use powdered milk, I just prefer to use normal drinking milk), and then let yourself soak in it. After about 5-10 minutes of soaking, take a loofah and gently scrub your skin.  Then allow yourself to soak some more for another 10 minutes. This will help your skin look more healthy and radiant, and also, it seems to help very much with keratosis pilaris (they're usually little reddish bumps that resemble chicken skin. Keratosis pilaris is more commonly found on the upper arms, thighs, and sometimes even the face). I personally have keratosis pilaris on my upper arms (mainly on my right side), and doing this has proven to be quite effective in helping it clear up!

2.  Or would you prefer tea, instead?

Another option is to add green tea to your bath! You can use either matcha or teabags, it doesn't really matter much either way (if you use tea bags, I suggest using either two or three of them, and I would keep them in the water for the entire duration of your bath). Green tea baths are great for cleansing your skin, helping with acne, and can even help speed up the healing process of cuts and scrapes! It also has lots of antioxidants and vitamins that can keep your skin looking younger. Not only that, but it'll make you feel very relaxed and rejuvenated after your bath is done! 

3. Don't just sit there!

Okay, So most people take a bath to relax and wind down, but did you know that exercising in the bath is quite good for you, too? The water provides some resistance, so you can get a nice, light workout from it! I like to start off by doing some stretches, such as trying to reach for my toes as I sit down in the tub with my legs stretched out, bringing my knees to my chest, and stretching my arms up toward the ceiling. Then, I follow this exercise routine (be sure to place a bath mat down at the bottom of the tub before you start, though!):

A) Reverse Crunches

Lay back as far as you can without submerging your head under water. Keep your arms to your sides and use them as an anchor to keep yourself from floating. Lift up your legs and bend them at a 90 degree angle. Using only the lower half of your body, lift your legs toward you, then bring them down away from you. Try not to bring them down too low!

B) Sit ups

Lay as far back as you can in the tub (without submerging your head under water) and place your hands behind your head. Place one foot on each side of the water faucet and press them a bit against the wall. Have your knees slightly bent (they should be pointing toward you a little bit) and begin doing your sit ups!

C) Body Lifts (?)

So, I don't really know what to call this exercise or it's proper name, but what you have to do is sit straight up, with your legs stretched out (again, keep them together) and toes pointed. Your body should be at a 90 degree angle. Then, take your arms to your sides (palms facing down at the bottom of the tub) and then slide them back a couple of inches. Use your arms to lift your body up and hold it for as long as you can. If your bottom touches the floor of the tub, set yourself back down, and try again.

D) Flutter Kicks

Lay out far enough to where you can stretch out your legs out comfortably. Place your arms at your side with your palms face down on the bottom of the tub. Point your toes up. Now, start kicking, but don't let your legs go above the water or touch the bottom of the tub.

After doing these, finish off with more light stretches and some breathing exercises, and you're done! ^_^

Extra Tips

* You can add in some essential oils along with your milk or tea bath such as sandalwood, rose, jasmine, or lavender to make your bath even more relaxing and beneficial!

* Be sure to rinse off and wash up after a bath! Bath water contains all of your dead skin and dirt, so you definitely don't want to keep all of that on you!

* Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize! It's always good to re-hydrate your skin, especially after rinsing off!

And there you have it! Hopefully you guys find this information to be helpful! :D

It's Like Watching Grass Grow...

...Except instead of grass, it's my hair. I have a few more inches to go before I'm at my desired length, but it feels like it's taking forever.... I keep measuring it often to see if it made any progress, but I know I shouldn't do that because it'll make the process seem even longer. :P I can't help it though, since I'm just too excited and eager to style my hair in so many different ways! That's most likely why I've been so obsessed with cute hair accessories lately. ^^;

I've never really had long hair, except for when I was very little. Apparently back then, my hair was all the way down to my tiny tush. xD Eventually though, my mom had it cut quite short because it was such a pain for her to style my hair at that length on a daily basis, and it didn't help that I had a lot of hair that was fairly thick. Ever since then, I've kept my hair short to medium, never touching my shoulders. I have to admit, shorter hair is much easier to maintain and wash, but I just got bored because there wasn't much I can do with it. I pretty much always just wore it down. I want to do more with it, especially when I see these lovely girls on youtube with long, beautiful hair making cute hair tutorials. It just makes me want to try out all the different looks! x3

Right now, my hair is about an inch or two past my collar bone, and lately the best thing for me to do with it is tying it up into two little pigtails. It makes me feel like I look a lot younger than I am, but for now it looks better than just leaving my hair down. It tends to flip outward at the ends, especially in the back, but I am slowly getting past that. It was really bad when my hair was like, right at the curve of my neck and resting just slightly above my shoulders... -_- Talk about annoying... Not even my straightener could make it lay flat!

Anyways, I'm doing my very best to help my hair grow healthy. I changed my diet (though, that was mainly so I can lose weight, so I guess that's actually killing two birds with one stone), I've been taking vitamins, and I really, really try to cut down on using my hair dryer and straightener so much, and I try not to dye it as often, too. It's actually been pretty easy doing all of those things, especially since I mainly stay at home most of the time. I have no urgent need to style my hair every single day. The only thing that I can't really keep up on is scheduling a hair appointment to remove dry/split ends every 8 weeks... Thankfully I've never really had any split ends or breakage before, even when I used to abuse my hair like crazy. The worst I suffer from is dryness, which I do try to fix with deep conditioning masks and leave in conditioners, as well as drinking plenty of water. It really is surprising... o_o I used to do so many hair don'ts... It makes me shudder thinking about how badly I've treated it before, and I can only thank my lucky stars that my hair was never beyond repair. I hope to keep it that way by taking care of it as much as possible now. ^.^