Self-Care Sunday - Skincare
A little backstory to kick this off…
My lovely husband has been on a work trip for two months now (yes, the military does “work trips”) so I’ve had a lotttttt of time alone. A weird amount of time, actually - this is the first time we’ve been separated in two years! It took a minute for Bach Pad Riley to reemerge, but she’s here now and she’s functioning nicely. While mundane things like “grocery shopping” and “taking out the trash” have increased, I’ve dedicated much of my spare time to (you guessed it!) self-care.
On another note, this is generally a tough time of year for people…it’s endlessly winter (thanks Phil), very cold, very miserable, very blah. There’s just nothing to get excited about. So I’ve decided February is the perfect time for a Self-Care Sunday series, aka “things-I-wish-I’d-considered-more-throughout-law-school-but-will-bring-with-me-into-the-real-world-as-they’re-now-integral-to-maintaining-health-happiness-and-personal-sanity.”
Not ideal that it took me until my final semester to really lean into self-care, but I’m here now and loving it! I do credit the pandemic + last semester with making me really, really appreciate the little things though.
Anyway: Self-Care Sunday. No joke, someone told me my skin was g l o w i n g and asked what products I use just yesterday (my wannabe influencer heart was so flattered, I took the selfies below to commemorate the occasion). I figure that was a sign to kick off the series with a law school (and life!) essential:
✨ skin & hair maintenance ✨
FACE
There’s something about a law school classroom that is incredibly…drying.
Maybe all that stress just sucks up the moisture. But it’s ESPECIALLY bad when you’re wearing a mask for hours at a time and drinking less water than you should (my specialty 🥰).
1L quickly proved that daily cleansing + thick face cream was not going to cut it. Luckily, I found a face place right down the street from my apartment and they’ve been GREAT at slowly easing me (and my bank account) into a long-term skincare routine.
These are my favorite products at the moment and my face has NEVER been happier!!!
Obagi Hydrate Luxe for use in the morning and at night. This is the only moisturizer (besides literal Eucerin) that keeps my skin hydrated. I truly thought I’d be stuck putting old lady cream on my face forever until I found this!
Obagi Elastiderm Eye Cream, also for use in the morning and at night. Lack of sleep really got to my poor eye sockets last fall, and a little dab of eye cream twice a day has worked wonders.
Obagi Vitamin C (20%) for use in the morning, before everything else. It’s brightening, refreshing, smells amazing, accounts for ‘the glow’…no cons here. Except the price.
Elta MD UV Sport SPF 50, all day every day! Admittedly I’m not great with this one but trying to get better.
St. Ives Apricot Scrub as an evening face wash. I actually use a CVS dupe brand, and many internet reviewers report this scrub is too harsh for everyday use. But I really like the daily exfoliation and my face girl assured me it’s fine.
Once every few months, I also do go a professional for dermaplaning; she takes a literal scalpel to my face and gets off all the fuzz, surface dirt, clogged pores, etc. I am genuinely obsessed with this procedure - my skin looks clearer, moisturizer goes on easier, and is crazy smooth for a while.
Next up for my skincare regimen: adding in a lowwwwww low level of retinol.
BODY
Yea, I don’t do a whole lot here. Never have, probably never will tbh.
I’m honestly in awe of people who extend their skincare routine below the neck. I just don’t have the patience! My laziness will absolutely come back to bite me but…oh well🤷♀️
EXTRA MOISTURIZING L O T I O N. That’s about all the effort I can muster for my flaky, ashy skin. Whatever’s cheapest at CVS is great.
Multi-Vitamins. My doctor friend insisted that I take daily vitamins about a year ago and I really feel like they’ve made a difference!! Generic brands for the win here as well.
Humidifier at night. I’ve always been a dry skin gal so running a humidifier at night helps a bunch. Again, I have my face gal to thank for this tip.
HAIR
I struggled for a reaaaaally long time to get my hair under control. This was definitely a pre-law school problem (military buns, anyone?), but 1L didn’t exactly make things better. Then the pandemic hit and things went from bad to worse.
In a nutshell, my hair was incredibly dry but the roots felt greasy right after washing (how???), fell out like crazy, and looked frizzy and gross 90% of the time. I just kind of ignored it because I thought I just had crappy hair; like my face, it took a professional to come through and show me otherwise.
When I expressed my concerns to my hair dresser, she gave me the BEST recommendations. All those concerns have been drastically reduced (if not eliminated) and I’ve never been so consistently “okay” with my hair on the daily.
Eleven (an Australian brand) Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner. Pro tip: wash twice to remove all the build-up from your scalp. For a long time I thought I just sucked at getting the shampoo out of my hair, but the double wash solved my grease issues asap.
Kevin Murphy ‘Fresh.Hair’ Dry Shampoo. I used to wash my hair daily and it was verrrry very damaging (I guess everyone is different but it just wasn’t for me). Now I use dry shampoo between washes (as well as the trusty slicked-back bun, of course). Pro tip: put it on the night before you need clean hair. The dry shampoo will suck up all the excess oil while you sleep!
Eleven Miracle Hair Treatment. This goes in your damp hair before brushing and blow drying and it’s easily my favorite product on this page. My hair feels immediately softer, I have absolutely zero frizz or tangles, and the smell - amazing.
Ceramic + Ion Tourmaline Brush. The exact one my hair gal uses when she blow dries my hair and, while I can’t replicate her exact results, it’s FAR better than my generic Target brand. Between the hair treatment and this brush, I don’t dread washing or blow drying my hair because I know it won’t look like total garbage at the end.
Bottom line…if I walk away from law school with nothing else, I now have manageable hair and somewhat glowy skin. I’ll take that.
That wraps up my first Self-Care Sunday! Up next week, The Essentials: aka, little things that bring me daily joy & I couldn’t live without ✨
