How many times have you come home late and just stumbled into bed after exhaustively changing into pyjamas? Many of us are guilty of living stressful lives which leave us with little energy and mental focus to concentrate on things like skin and hair care before going to bed. Unfortunately, that neglect tends to pile up and lead to much more serious problems like hair fall, split ends, acne, pigmentation and other skin and hair issues that can hamper your self-esteem.
Hair and Skin Care before Going to Bed
That is why it is important to make a few small but significant changes to your night-time ritual which will protect your skin and hair in the long run.
Hair Care before You Sleep
Depending on the length of hair and personal preferences, some women choose to do nothing with their hair before bedtime, others choose to braid it or tie it into a loose ponytail, and a few will leave their hair loose and lay it out on the pillow above their heads. There are a small number of women who will leave their hair the way it was styled through the day – bobby pins and scrunchies included.
You probably already know that tight hairstyles while you sleep will give you a roaring headache in the morning. When you’re tired though, that thought doesn’t really come to mind.
While you sleep, you may toss and turn and your hair makes those movements with you. However, since you are lying on them, your hair can get pulled and break, or it can get all knotty from the irregular, haphazard movements. This will make for a fine mess when you wake up in the morning, delaying your routine for the rest of the day as you struggle to unknot your locks in frustration.
The fabric of the bed sheets you use can also damage your hair. Some types of cheap fabric can be far too rough for a full night of constant contact with your tresses.
Here are a few simple things you can do and others you simply have to keep in mind to tackle all these problems or keep them at bay.
- Never sleep with wet hair. Wet hair is at its weakest and all the moving around will cause a lot of breakage.
- Make sure that you get rid of any hair accessories that have helped your hair look pretty all day. This includes hair bands, bobby pins, clips, scrunchies, elastic bands, head bands, sequins, etc.
- Brush your hair a few times to untangle knots. No, 100 times isn’t necessary or indeed even healthy. Just brush enough to get the knots out as well as dislodge flaky scalp skin, particles of dirt and other environmental paraphernalia that may be making its home in your tresses.
- If your hair is about shoulder-length or longer, then it is ideal to do your hair in a loose braid before you sleep. This will prevent a lot of movement, thus minimising breakage. What’s more, it will give you a sexy, wavy beach look when you undo it in the morning!
- If your hair is too short to go into a braid, you can simply wrap a scarf around your tresses for the night. Choose something in a luxurious fabric like silk for best results. You will see a noticeable softness the next morning.
- The night is a great time to rejuvenate your hair and scalp with either hair oil or a hair serum designed to deep condition for long hours. You may not want to oil your hair every night but once or twice a week will show wondrous results. There are hair serums that you can apply nightly to prevent knotting in addition to de-stressing your locks.
- Change the fabric of your pillow case to something more hair-friendly like silk or satin. These may be more expensive, but it’s a worthy investment to protect both your hair and skin from unnecessary and totally preventable damage.
- If changing your pillow cases is too much for you, try a silk or satin night cap or bonnet. These may look a little old-fashioned but the long-term benefits for hair care are priceless.
Skin Care before You Sleep
Most of us don’t realize that the things we do not do for our skin are about as harmful as the things that we do. One of the biggest beauty mistakes that we make is not taking five minutes before bed time for a minimal skin care routine. Half of all skin problems will disappear if you just take care of your skin prior to sleeping.
- Removing makeup is an absolute must. If nothing else, just do this. When makeup sits on your skin through the night, it harbours harmful bacteria and dirt right on the surface of your skin which will soon penetrate through your pores and lead to problems. Lucky few are the women who do not break out when they sleep with their makeup on.
- You don’t go scot free if you do not wear makeup. Cleansing skin is still important before bedtime to get rid of the dust, dirt and grime that has collected on the surface from your long, gruelling day. Don’t forget to include your neck and ears in this cleansing regime.
- Apply a moisturizer that is suitable for your skin type. Left alone all night on your face, the moisturizer will deeply hydrate your skin and leave it feeling much softer the next day. Avoid heavy application on your T-zone if you have oily skin.
- The best time to use anti-aging formulas with antioxidants and vitamin E is at night. The formulas work with your body’s own rejuvenating processes thus ensuring double the protection and benefits.
- Changing your bed sheets to silk or satin ones will benefit your skin too. Sleeping on rough fabrics literally wrinkles your skin during the night and it may take its time popping back into smoothness the next day. As you get older, your skin’s ability to pop back into place diminishes, thus leading to wrinkles sooner. So change those pillow cases now to buy yourself a few more years of younger-looking skin. Also ensure that your sheets and cases are clean before you set your precious face and hair down on them. To be on the safe side, change those pillow cases every few nights and your sheets at least once a week.
- Have a glass of water before bed time. Your body uses the time during sleep to refresh skin cells. Hydration is a big part of this, but it cannot hydrate your skin if you do not first hydrate your body. So down a glass, perhaps two if you have a strong bladder that won’t wake you up at night, to aid in the rejuvenation of your skin.
- How much and how well you sleep will greatly contribute to the health of both your skin and hair. So avoid heavy meals, caffeine and TV a few hours before bed time as these are all known to cause interrupted, uncomfortable or minimal sleep, thus preventing your skin and hair from gaining the advantages of your body’s natural nightly maintenance routine.
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