Bad Beauty Habits The Experts Wish You’d Quit
New year, new you. Sound familiar?
There’s something about the flip of a calendar page and the change of a single numeral that pushes people to crave reinvention. Overnight we expect to be stronger, smarter, sexier. We aim to be more organised and more fulfilled and, on top of it all, more beautiful.
We love a makeover as much as the next person, but is it really such a crime to get through 2021 with the same haircut as last year? Will you really beat yourself up if you don’t road-test a new smoky eye trend, or finally experiencing life as a platinum blonde? Probably not.
In other words, don’t pressurise yourself to make extreme overhauls just because. If you have a nagging need to see some improvement, however, any beauty or wellness expert will tell you that it’s the little things that make the biggest differences. Like, why splash out on Botox or monthly facials when you’re not even washing off your makeup before bed? And signing up for that new gym membership and embarking on a series of Million Dollar Baby training montages won’t do you much good if you don’t have the fundamentals of fitness down pat.
Here, experts weigh in on the small changes that can produce big results without resorting to more drastic measures. Tiny new habits, same old (awesome) you.
Resolve to: Stop using brushes on wet hair
“Always comb hair when it is wet using a tangle teaser or a comb. Brushing hair with a hard brush when it is wet will cause damage. Next, apply a lightweight product that will seal in moisture prior to using a hairdryer or hot tool.”
Jo Hansford Salon Senior Stylists
Resolve to: Give your nails some TLC
“Healthy, natural-looking nails don’t require constant manicures. The trick is to always wear a conditioning base coat (with or without polish on top) on your nails to prevent moisture loss and maintain healthy nail condition. Nailtiques do an excellent protein base coat called Formula 2, which is basically nail food. Treat the nail like you would your skin. You should also always wear a daily body lotion to condition your skin, preventing dryness and flaking.”
Sherrille Riley, founder of Nails & Brows
Resolve to: Treat your locks to a new towel
“A simple resolution is to gently squeeze and pat your hair dry with a microfibre towel, instead of aggressively rubbing it with a regular cotton bath towel. This won’t pull or stretch the strands, which can ultimately lead to breakage; it also helps to preserve your curl pattern.”
Vernon François, celebrity hairstylist who works with Ruth Negga and Lupita Nyong’o
Resolve to: Cool down
“Pay attention to temperature when styling your hair! Some styling tools reach very high temperatures, and this created the ‘higher the better’ misperception. When styling the hair with heat, we are changing the hair’s hydrogen bond, which really never needs more than 370 degrees Fahrenheit (about 187 degrees Celsius) of heat. When going over 400 degrees (204 degrees Celsius), you can see the hair colour fading. For different hair types use different power, not different temperatures.”
Sharon Rabi, creator of the Dafni hair-straightening ceramic brush
Resolve to: Master your breathing
“The most important part of any workout is controlled breathing. Simply reminding yourself to do so before starting any workout will improve your progress. The same muscles that help us with our posture are the the same that help us respire. Good breath equals good posture. The better your breathing, the better the workout.”
Shara Tochia & Hettie Holmes, founders of fitness and wellness publication DOSE
Resolve to: Leave those spots alone
“As tempting as it can be, popping spots is a massive no-no! If you wanted to go down this route, I’d advise the help of a skin specialist such as myself. At my clinics, I offer treatments (even for those annoying, last-minute random spot flare-ups) which tackle this with either a medical extractor or a microlance needle. Whatever you do, resist the temptation to squeeze them as this only leads to scarring and the potential spread of bacteria across the face.”
Bianca Estelle, skin specialist and founder of bea Skin Care
Resolve to: Ditch the tweezers
“There’s never a right time to tweeze hairs on your face. Hairs sprout, uninvited, on female faces at all ages and while there are many great facial hair removal options, plucking with tweezers should not be one of them.
“The technique of tweezing damages the hair follicle, which results in the hair not only growing thicker but twisting as it grows, causing sore spots on the surface because the hair gets stuck and causes infection as it tries to break through.
“I would recommend all other forms of hair removal, dependent on your pain tolerance and skin, with laser being my most favourable — it changed my life and was, in fact, the gentlest on my face. But for the odd stubborn and thick ones, please choose electrolysis over tweezing. While you may have to treat them for as long as you live, you will continually be weakening the hair, meaning you’ll need to treat less often, without causing damage.”
Laura Ferguson, founder of The Light Salon
Originally published at https://refinery29.com.
