How your skincare routine can improve your mental health.

There is something about a skincare routine that draws us back to ourselves. Skincare is a personalised routine promoting self-attentiveness and the devotion to pause and rest. Turning our skincare routines into a mindful place helps to bring us back to the present moment and feel nourished from the inside out. In this blog post, we take a deep dive into how your skincare routine can improve your mental health

Skincare is self-care

Just like self-care, your skincare routine is unique to you and offers the opportunity to tend to your skin and inner compass. A skincare routine goes beyond the products we apply to our skin, it’s about the act of holistically taking care of yourself. 

On a deeper level, skincare makes you feel like you’re honouring yourself by taking time out to nourish your skin. Applying a face mask once a week or applying SPF might not feel like the biggest achievement, but those few moments of shifting your attention onto your skin are, in and of itself, the act of self-care. 

Your skin is your body’s largest organ, and skincare and hydration is one of the most primal ways to regularly attend to this. A skincare routine is something that encourages us to shift into a genuine mode of feeling secure, more confident, and better about ourselves when carried regularly. 

When done rhythmically, calmly, and purposefully, those few minutes are almost meditative. Massaging your skincare products like moisturisor is a conscious act of fostering the skin, which brings you back into the present. 

Your skincare routine is a routine. 

Routines are nourishing and make you feel good. Your skincare routine is a routine that is created by you, for you. As you work towards great results for your skin, routines are invaluable for keeping your mind in a healthy place. Having a consistent skincare routine that is adhered to on a daily basis brings alignment and balance to your life.

Your skincare routine helps you anticipate something at the start and end of the day, known to have mood-boosting benefits. A personalised skincare routine is there to help us overcome our monkey minds and return to the present. As you embrace skincare as a form of self-care, it becomes conscious and productive.

Your skincare routine can improve your mental health.

When your skin improves, your feelings around it also improve. Skincare paves the way to building healthy habits. An article written by The Skin Nerd on How Skincare Benefits Your Wellbeing highlights that not only can mental health affect your skin, your skin also affects your mental health; so the goal is always to look after both of them. 

Having a skincare routine can help manage stress.

A skincare routine promotes a well-deserved serotonin boost. Stress affects your skin; when you feel stressed, your sympathetic nervous system releases stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline into your body. Cortisol causes increased oil production in your skin glands, leading to clogged pores and acne breakouts. Meditative or “quieting” tasks help manage stress and hormonal imbalance. 

Healthy habits maintain balance and harmony, so let’s discuss how skincare works to help manage stress.

A survey conducted on individuals suffering with chronic skincare conditions states that 21% of those surveyed rated mood and stress levels as the top factors affected by their skin conditions. In the same way that getting enough sleep, exercising, and eating healthy can alleviate everyday stress, a skin-care routine can help you feel rested and calm.

The effects of having a skincare routine not only clears your skin, but makes your skincells blossom.

A self-care routine involves the process of trial and error, experimenting with different products that may work or may not work for you. So don’t get discouraged if you can’t find a routine that works straight away! Give yourself some grace and time until you find a regime that suits you best.

“Skincare is rewarding because with consistent skincare routines, you are likely to see visible effects such as smoothness or radiance, and that in itself can boost self-esteem, which in turn will boost mood,” says Dr. Sanam Hafeez; “As opposed to other types of meditation, skincare is a twofold way of feeling better, both on the inside and the outside.”

A skincare routine can pave the way for other healthy habits.

Six ways to incorporate wellness into your skincare routine.

 

1. Position your skincare products in easy access places like next to your toiletries. 

2. Make your night time skincare routine exciting.

• Set an alarm 15 minutes before your bed-time to begin your skincare. 
• Look forward to your skincare routine by making it intentional and special. Try doing this with these positive bed-time affirmations with a moisturising night time facemask. 
  

 

3. Stash SPF strategically:

• Better to be safe than sorry! Always stash SPF travel bottles in your bag, car and work desk for those lunch-time walks. 

4. Be realistic, and stay consistent. 

• We’re all human and getting out of routine is a part of life. The best way to stay on track with our skincare routine’s is by tracking our habits in our diaries or setting reminders. Ticking things off our to do lists always brings the best satisfaction!

5. Remove barriers to adherence 

• Make time rather than excuses. Theres only one you in the world and we must tend the skin that loves and protects us the most!

Incorporating these habits into our day paves the way for building healthy lifestyle habits. Skincare coincides with our wellness, and incorporating a mindful skincare routine can significantly enhance our inner and outer compass and feel our best.