Wellness Archives - Serendipity Mommy

10 Tips For Flawless Curls: How to Take Care of Curly Hair

May 25, 2020 by Mandy

Curly hair isn’t for the weak and the meek. Every day can feel like an adventure when looking for ways to tame curly hair textures.

Since most people on the planet don’t have to deal with curly tresses, it can be difficult to find a research-based hair regimen that makes sense for maintaining beautiful curls.

But the trick to naturally curly hair is nurturing your hair as it is and not attempting to make it conform to what it should be. Here are 10 tips on how to take care of curly hair and keep your mane looking majestic.

Co-wash Your Hair

Co-washing is a new trend for textured hair that helps your hair strands maintain moisture between washes. It’s a great trick for curly hair that can dry out if washed too often during the week.

Co-washing just means that you apply conditioner to your hair just like you would shampoo. There are specific co-washing formulas available from major brands, or you can simply use your favorite conditioner as a co-washing product.

Shampoo in Sections

Clumping large amounts of curly hair can create a tangled mess in the shower. Avoid rushing through a shampoo and take your time to work through your hair in sections.

Divide your curls into four sections and apply shampoo to each taking care to massage your hair from root to ends. The result is fewer tangles and product residue when you apply your conditioner.

This is important because your conditioner needs to penetrate the full length of your hair strands in order to leave it with a healthy shine. Too many tangles or leftover residue makes it hard for the deep conditioner to work its magic.

Don’t Shampoo Daily

Straight hair can stand up to daily shampoos. Curly hair doesn’t have the same maintenance demands. Too many shampoos throughout the week can mean dry hair strands that get unmanageable with time.

Help your hair hold on to moisture by reducing the number of times you shampoo your hair during the week. If you need a reset, co-washing your hair or finding a good leave-in are both great ways to keep your hair looking great during the week.

Use Cool Water

There is nothing sexy about a cold shower. But your hair will thank you for turning down the heat on shampoo days.

The cold water helps to seal the cuticles of your hair which means more body and shine. If you can’t stand the cool water for the entire shampoo, opt for cold water only during the conditioning treatment to get the best results.

Upgrade Your Towel Dry Experience

Upcycle old t-shirts into hair towels to gently rid your hair of excess water. Heavy towels often strip curly hair of moisture and should be avoided at all costs if they’ve reached their scratchy phase.

A microfiber towel or old t-shirt are two of your best bets when looking for a drying solution that’ll keep your hair healthy. If you have longer hair, hair plopping is a great option to extend your drying overnight. It’s the process of wrapping your hair in an old t-shirt or microfiber towel and sleeping in it.

Use Satin or Silk

Women with textured hair often use a satin or silk bonnet to help lock in moisture while they sleep. The roughness of cotton pillowcases leads to frizz in curly hair which means unpredictable hair in the morning.

If you don’t want to sleep in a bonnet, aim for satin or silk sheets instead. As you toss and turn throughout the night, your hair strands are still protected by the fabric.

Avoid Heat

It’s tempting to try out the latest sleek straight hairstyles. But doing so can lead to permanent damage to your curly texture if you have fine hair.

Flat irons, blow dryers and other heat tools are bad news for curly hair. Remember air-drying is your friend.

If you need to dry your hair quickly, only use blow dryers with a diffuser attachment to minimize the impact of the heat. Dry from tip to root on the lowest heat setting to avoid potential heat damage.

Remember Root to Tip

Comb your curls correctly to prevent breakage. Always start combing at the tips of your hair and gradually work your way up to the roots.

Like with shampooing, you’ll want to detangle your hair in sections to avoid creating more tangles than you started with. Curly girls don’t need to brush unless you are looking to put your hair in a sleek ponytail.

Brushing curly hair confuses the curl pattern and can leave you with a frizzy mess.

Make a Hair Cocktail

Until you find that perfect mix, don’t hesitate to mix up a few hair cocktails to find out what your hair likes most. Sample leave-in conditioning products together on your hair to create a ‘cocktail.’

Think of products with opposite traits like gel and coconut oil for the best results.

Sleep in a Pineapple

Put your hair in a top-knot before going to bed at night. This trick helps maintain your curl pattern overnight while preventing ‘bedhead.’

As long as you’re using the right pillowcases, you’ll wake up to bouncy curls in the morning. Simply take out your ponytail and give your hair a shake to release your curls.

Learning How to Take Care of Curly Hair

Expect the process of learning how to take care of curly hair to take months, if not years to master. There’s no magic bullet that produces perfect curls every day, but there are strategies that can help you avoid damage that leads to frizz and tangles.

Keep your hair in good health to increase your chances of maximum shine and natural volume. Hair treatments for curly hair are all about locking in moisture and letting your curls live their best life.

For more information and lifestyle tips, check out our blog for updates.

Workout Tips for Moms Stuck at Home

May 14, 2020 by Mandy

It’s tough being stuck at home with the kids. Your time isn’t your own anymore, and you barely have time for a shower, let alone a workout. So here are a few tips to help you squeeze a workout in at home.

Short, But Effective

You don’t need to find time to workout for a whole hour. Just grab 10 minutes here and there. Make the time count by doing a targeted workout, and working on one area of your body, instead of all over. For example, if you want to tone up your legs, try doing some quick inner thigh exercises like these ones from the 30 Day Fitness Challenge app.

Go for a Walk

The kids need exercise too, so go for a walk with them. It doesn’t have to be far, but even walking around the block will get you all moving and out of the house.

Distract the Kids

Persuade the kids to play in the garden, and get your workout in at the same time. You should get at least 15-20 minutes to yourself, so make the most of it and complete your workout for the day.

Play with the Kids

Playing games with your kids can be great exercise, and can really get your heart pumping. Run around the garden with them, get on their trampoline, or put some music on and dance around with them. This won’t only be good for you, but your kids will benefit too.

Involve Your Kids

Set a time each day to do some exercises with your kids. Make them fun so your kids will want to join in, and get your workout done at the same time. Star jumps are always popular with the kids. Think of a silly phrase to shout out when you’re all jumping. Squats are another great idea for kids. See who can squat down the lowest, or who can do the most in a minute.

Mini Workouts

Fit in a mini workout whenever you can, even when you’re doing chores. Keep a stool in the kitchen when cooking dinner, and do some step-ups whilst you’re waiting for the food to be ready. When picking your kids toys up to put them away, crawl along the floor on your stomach, as this will be great for your abs. If you have a young kid, lie on your back and lift them up for an airplane ride. Fun for them and a great workout for you.

Those are just some of the ways you can still enjoy a workout whilst taking care of the kids. What workout tips do you have, and what do you find helps you maintain your fitness whilst at home?

How to Get Rid of Age Spots: The Only Guide You Need

May 8, 2020 by Mandy

More than 85 million people in the country are affected by skin diseases. If you’re concerned about the state of your skin, it’s time to consider assessing some of your specific issues.

For example, you might have noticed a number of small, dark spots on your skin. These livers spots will become more common as you grow older. They’re also common in younger people who spend a lot of time out in the sun.

Prefer a smooth, clear complexion? Keep reading to discover how to get rid of age spots. With these tips, you can keep these benign, pigment spots at bay.

Don’t let the sun ruin your skin. Instead, learn how to remove those skin spots with these eight easy tips.

1. Sunscreen

Wearing SPF 30 sunscreen every day can help prevent age spots from getting dark in the spring or summer. Before you head outside, prevent new age spots from forming by protecting your skin. Sunscreen is the best over-the-counter option to minimize your current age spots as well.

You don’t want the liver spots you already have to appear darker. Make sure your sunscreen is easier SPF 30 or higher. You can also use a moisturizing sunscreen to keep your skin hydrated.

Are you outside a lot throughout the day? If so, you risk sweating your sunscreen off.

Make sure to reapply your sunscreen as needed, whether or not you plan to spend more time outside.

Skin spots form when your body produces too much melanin—a pigment that grants your skin its color. Exposing your skin to too much sunlight encourages it to produce excess melanin. In order to prevent future age spots, you need to avoid the sun’s ultraviolet rays.

Otherwise, your skin will produce more melanin, which will make your skin spots even darker.

Age spots usually appear on areas of the skin that are often exposed to sunlight, including your:

Face
Arms
Back
Backs of the hands
Shoulders
Tops of the feet

You might notice lone age spots or a few clustered together. While they vary in size, they usually range between 0.2 and 2.0 centimeters in diameter.

Remember, it’s not enough to learn how to get rid of age spots. By using sunscreen, you’re preventing future spots, too!

2. Non-Prescription Lightening Creams and Serums

You can also find lightening creams over-the-counter. These creams can help reduce age spots by suppressing melanin production. However, non-prescription lightening creams work best on lighter, new age spots.

If you plan on searching for lightening creams, consider looking for active ingredients such as:

Hydroquinone
Glycolic acid
Kojic acid
Licorice root extract
Niacinamide

Hydroquinone is ideal for lightening. However, it’s almost known for acting a little harsher on the skin. If you have sensitive skin, it could trigger reactions such as skin irritation or rebound pigmentation.

You can also try products with tranexamic acid, which offers less irritating lightening capabilities. Products with glycolic acid and hydroquinone, on the other hand, can help exfoliate your skin.

You might want to add a vitamin C serum to your routine as well. Vitamin C is an antioxidant, meaning it can protect your skin from sun damage and help prevent dark spots.

3. Prescription Fade Creams

If these over-the-counter options aren’t working, consider a prescription topical drug instead.

prescription fade creams can help slowly lighten age spots. However, these work over the span of a few weeks to months. If you’re looking for faster results, don’t forget to wear sunscreen!

Speak with your dermatologist about a prescription fade cream that contains hydroquinone and tretinoin. The hydroquinone will slow the production of melanin. Meanwhile, the retinol cream tretinoin will improve your skin texture.

The combination can help reduce the pigmentation from your liver spots.

While side effects are minimal, it’s still important to make note if you experience any after using a fade cream. The most common side effects include dryness, redness, or itching.

4. Intense Pulsed Light

There are also in-office treatments available that can help you discover how to get rid of age spots. One of the common treatment options available is intense pulsed light or IPL.

IPL treatments use light to target brown pigments on your skin. The pulsed light will destroy the pigment. After about a week, the age spots will darken before sloughing off altogether.

Most people need about four or more treatments to see results.

One of the advantages of this treatment option is they’re quick, easy, and require no downtime. The treatments are also fairly pain-free!

5. Laser Treatments

If you’re exploring in-house treatment options, consider laser treatments as well.

The success of these treatments depends on your skin color, skin tone, and location of your age spots. However, this is often the preferred option among many dermatologists. Laser treatments offer quick recovery times and long-lasting results.

For example, you might use a laser that uses ultra-short picosecond pulses to break up skin pigmentation particles.

There are also fractional lasers that used focused beams of light to deliver heat to the skin. The heat vaporized the pigmented skin cells and encourages collagen to remodel, which can help your skin look tight, smooth, and youthful.

You can learn more about liver spot removal through a laser treatment here.

6. Cryotherapy

If the heat doesn’t appeal to you, consider cryotherapy to remove your liver spots.

During this procedure, liquid nitrogen is applied to your existing age spots. The freezing agent will freeze and destroy pigment-making cells. Then, the spots will flake off.

Once your skin heals, the spot will appear lighter.

7. Chemical Peels

Chemical peels can also reduce the appearance of your age spots. Your dermatologist will apply an acid to the treatment area, which burns the outer layer of your skin. Once the outer layer sloughs off, a new layer will take its place.

Side effects include drying skin and peeling.

8. Dermabrasion

Dermabrasion treatments involving sanding down the surface area of your skin. As with chemical peels, a new layer of skin will take the top layer’s place.

You might experience temporary redness and scabbing after your treatment.

Microdermabrasion, on the other hand, is less intense. These treatments will require more in-office visits before you see results.

How to Get Rid of Age Spots for a Smoother Complexion

Say goodbye to those liver spots! With these eight treatment options, you can discover how to get rid of age spots with ease.

Searching for more tips? Check out our latest Health posts today!

HOW TO GET CLEAR AND HEALTHY SKIN

April 22, 2020 by Mandy

Source

These days, clear skin is like a dream come true. Every woman craves a skin that is free from wrinkles, dark circles, acne, pimples, and freckles, but our skin is fragile and complicated. Sometimes, you notice pimples making their way on your cheeks, while at times, your skin is glowing with oil. All these problems are too ordinary to bug a dermatologist. So, what can you do about it?

Firstly, get over all the ‘skin goals’ created by celebs. It is nothing but a mere deception covered with hundreds of filters and skin treatments. You have to take care of your skin but without any extraordinary expectations. If you are wondering how? Look below to see the ways to get clear and healthy skin.

Moisturize your Skin

Honestly, people with dry skin can’t even think about living without a moisturizer. Those dry patches on the face need a high-end moisturizer to keep your skin hydrated and fresh. On the other hand, people with oily skin keep themselves away from a moisturizer. They believe their skin is already oily, eliminating the need for moisturizer while welcoming numerous skin problems. Remember, all skin types need moisturization to close doors for dull skin. Hence, rather than opting for traditional moisturizers, people should opt for water-gel ones to hydrate their oily skin.

Use a Facial Toner

Sometimes, your skin starts acting weird because of open ‘pores.’ You might be taking care of your skin by cleansing and exfoliating, but you can’t leave your skin like that once you are done. It opens the pores of your skin to remove all the dirt from inside. Hence, it is important to close them too. For this, you have to use a facial toner. The majority of acne happens due to open pores. So, it can also work as acne skincare, rescuing you from the bad skin days.

Switch to Healthy Diet

All those high-end products are of no use if your skin lacks nourishment from the inside. Yes, you have to provide your skin with all the nutrients and vitamins it needs, which is only possible through a healthy diet. Hence, you need to replace your snacks with nuts and cereal, burgers with vegetables, and start having fruits for breakfast.

Also, omega fatty acids work like magic for skin, reducing inflammation, and helping you get clear skin. Believe it or not, but eating highly processed foods can worsen your skin condition. It results in a lot of oil on your face, leading to pimples and acne.

Don’t Forget Your Sunscreen

The ultraviolet rays of the sun are more dangerous than you can imagine. Alongside giving birth to dark spots, it weakens the elasticity of your skin, resulting in skin aging. Thus, it is essential to protect your skin with a reliable sunscreen. You have to apply it all over your face at least 15 minutes before stepping out in the sun and after every 2 hours when in the sun. It is available in different SPF levels; you need to consult your dermatologist to see how much amount is right for your skin. So, next time you step out in the sun without sunscreen, think twice!

Wash Your Face Properly

Although coming back from a party late night is tiring, you can’t just sleep with all your makeup on. Most of the cosmetic products have a lot of chemicals, and if it stays overnight on your face, it can deeply damage your skin. Thus, you need to use a makeup remover, and then a face wash to make sure there is nothing left behind. Don’t rush over it, massage your face gently for about 30 seconds to deeply cleanse the pores. There are so many brands offering facewashes with different ingredients. However, rather than going after what is trending, use something that makes your skin better.

Get Enough Sleep

Those dark circles are not going anywhere if you continue sleeping 3 to 4 hours a day. After all, the lack of sleep results in more skin breakouts because your body feels tired all the time. However, if you face difficulties in sleeping, then stop drinking alcohol or coffee after 4 in the afternoon. Since caffeine is a significant cause of insomnia.

Keep Your Skin Hydrated

Is your skin looking dull even after applying moisturizers? It happens when your skin is dehydrated from the inside due to the lack of water intake. Hence, drinking eight glasses of water a day is important for your skin too. Alongside flushing out all the toxins from your body, it pushes out the bacteria by hydrating it from the inside. Hence, reducing the risk of acne and pimples. If you don’t believe us, continue this practice for a couple of days, and you would automatically feel the change in your skin.

Wrapping Up

Skin problems are real, but you don’t have to let them stress you. After all, a little effort can change everything. So, consider adopting a skincare routine for better and clear skin. If you are wondering how the routine should be like, look above to snap up clear and healthy skin.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO A FLAWLESS AND HEALTHY SKIN

April 22, 2020 by Mandy

Image Source

Only certain people are blessed with beautiful and flawless skin, unlike others who have to make some efforts from time to time. Achieving healthy skin can be a difficult task for some people, but where there is a will, there is a way. There is nothing wrong in expecting to have a healthy and flawless skin. People who think wishing for healthy skin is more like asking to become perfect have got it all wrong.

Dreaming of being in good physical shape should be everyone’s goal in this fast-paced world. No matter which type of skin tone you have, it should look and feel healthy 24/7. Which shows the level of love and care people have for themselves and something like this should be encouraged. When people have healthier and supple skin, they tend to be more comfortable in their surroundings. Such people also have a higher confidence level because of their appearance.

Skin is the largest organ of the body and needs proper nourishment daily. Now, it does not necessarily mean that you go out and buy all the expensive skincare products. Feeling beautiful inside out does not relate to wasting time and money on worthless things. Instead, it is about finding organic and healthy ways to treat something from the core.

To help you out, we have created the ultimate guide to have flawless and healthy-looking skin. Without further ado, let us have a look at this amazing guide and learn more about different tips and tricks.

1. Pick up a good moisturizer

With so many changes happening in our daily routine, it becomes absolutely important to keep your skin moisturized. Be it summers or winters; a good moisturizer will help in hydrating your skin in the best way. Usually, some skin treatments like laser hair removal and wax can leave skin looking dry and patchy. In such situations, moisturizers help in adding that radiant glow to your skin. One of the best moisturizers is made up of Shea butter and coconut oil, which aids in skin lightening and blemish removal.

2. Eat all the right foods

Well, what you eat impacts your skin’s health a lot. Instead of avoiding the condition of your skin, try to take some responsibility. Try to cleanse your body from inside out, so your skin starts feeling better. Most of the skin-related issues take birth from having an unhealthy diet. As soon as you start eating the right food items, your skin will start improving automatically. Eat nutritious foods with fewer carbohydrates and some juicy fruits with lots of calcium and vitamins. Moreover, stay hydrated as much as possible and avoid sweets to get that glow.

3. Find a holy grail cleanser

Well, you need to take care of all that dirt that keeps landing on your skin. The best way to do so is by using an exceptionally amazing daily cleanser with organic ingredients. A daily cleanser works like a fairy godmother who is always trying her best to make you happy. It removes the unwanted bacteria and the dirt build-up from your skin. There are different facial cleansers available for different types of skin, so get the one that suits your skin type.

4. A facial toner is a must

If you have sensitive and oily skin, then a facial toner is a must-have skincare product for you. Toners are extremely beneficial in getting rid of the excess oil from your face, making you look even more beautiful. Moreover, it helps in restoring the PH balance of your skin, which then rejuvenates the skin. Pores also shrink at an alarming rate after using a good facial toner. Most people like to use rosewater infused toners almost every day after taking a shower as it works like magic.

5. Show some love, use sunscreen

Medical professionals will always ask you to wear sunscreen before going out. Honestly, they advise you to use it for your benefit. So take their advice seriously and prevent your skin from getting damaged. To appear young and healthy, it is important to use sunscreen and block those dangerous UV rays. Also, if you want to know a secret to a wrinkle-free glow, then start using your sunscreen religiously.

Conclusion:

Your skin will always need your love and support, no matter what happens. So try to be a little gentler and invest in some good skincare habits. Change your overall lifestyle and start putting your health first. Soon, you will notice a major difference in the way your skin looks and feels. The tips mentioned above are for your guidance, so follow them with more of a positive mindset. If you think positive, then you will get to see amazing results within no time. Not just that, but your flawless and healthy skin-to-be will always remain grateful for your endless efforts.