Hello my lovelies! How’s your week been? I’ve been busy working on several projects at the non-profit I work for, plus we were given an award for supporting apprenticeships along with some cupcakes! It was something that was simple and small and it really brightened up our week.
And it got me thinking about how in a few weeks time we have #RandomActsOfKindnessDay and how all of the little acts of kindness others do for us that can brighten up our day.
So I thought I’d list some of the small random acts of kindness I have received and given to give us all some ideas on how we can brighten up someone’s day.
1 . Giving someone a compliment. Give someone a genuine compliment on their personality.
2 . Opening the door for someone. Don’t you just hate it when someone has opened the door for someone in front of you but you’re just that bit too far away and they let it go just as you get there? Just holding the door open for that little bit longer can really make a difference to someone’s mood during the day.
3 . Put out your neighbours bins or defrost their car for them. I hate having to defrost my car in the morning, but whenever I do I defrost my mums too because she always leaves a few minutes after me, and it just makes the start of your day easier when you’ve got one less thing to think about.
4 . Check in on someone you haven’t heard from in a while. Living in an all work all the time era, it’s easy to forget to check in with the people you care about, so make an effort to check in with them. You never know, it could be just what they needed.
5 . Offer to babysit for someone who could use a break for some selfcare. Not everyone can afford to have a day/night off and get a babysitter, so offer to look after the kids for a few hours so they can have some well deserved me-time.
6 . Give the people who help you on a regular basis a small gift or thank you card, this could be your postman, postwoman, delivery driver, bin men or bus driver! It’s guaranteed to put a spring in their step!
7 . Simply smile at people, it’s infectious. Have you ever been having a bad day and had someone just smile at you? It makes everything just a little bit better, and it’s such a simple thing you can do!
8 . Give blood/sign up to donate your organs. I think everyone should sign up to donate their organs, and give blood if they are able to. It really could save a person’s life, and someone else doing the same could save yours if you needed it!
9 . Let someone go in front of you in the que. Have you ever been in the que trying to get just 2 things and someone in front of you have about 50? Isn’t it just amazing when they let you go first?
10 . Finally, be kind to yourself. Do something kind for yourself, after all, you’re the one who has to live with yourself for the rest of your life; and you won’t be able to go and be kind to others to the best of your ability if you’re not being kind to yourself first.
And with all of that, those are my 10 random acts of kindness you can do for someone. It might be hard to see how one simple small action can have such a big impact on someones day, but it really can.
What small acts of kindness do you do for those around you? Let me know in the comments!
It’s the time of year where we’re being bombarded with adverts to buy the latest slimming supplement, drink, diet and workout plan; and it sucks. For those of us learning to love our bodies for what they are (beautiful, in case you’re not sure), being constantly told that we need to lose weight now that Christmas is over is just horrible.
So for the past week and a bit I’ve been putting together a list of body positive and self-care Instagram’s that you need to be following!
Let’s get into it, check out these gorgeous humans below!
I wish I could keep going with this list but it’d go on forever! If you want to see more self love, self-care and body positivity accounts you should follow you should check out who I’m following on my insta. These accounts are a great help and reminder on those days when you’re struggling to feel good that you are beautiful and it’s okay to not be okay all of the time!
#EVERYbodyisbeautiful it doesn’t matter what your shape, size, weight, height, skin colour, race, gender, sexuality or age is. We are all beautiful. And our differences do not change that fact.
So, if you see an advert or someone online promoting a diet, weight-loss toll of some form of product that tells you how to get the ‘perfect’ or ‘bikini’ body; remember this: you already have a bikini body, you do not need to change your appearance, and those brands and just trying to get your money!
We all love having silky hair and smooth skin. And for me that’s been a bit of a journey; over there last year I’ve managed to put together my own extremely simple routine that does everything I want it to whilst still being pretty cheap.
I’d definitely recommend trying these quick and simple routines out for yourself as all of the products I use are less than the price of a fancy coffee.
I can’t guarantee everything will work for you, but it’s always nice to try something out!
So, my skin care routine. Well as some of you know, I have suffered with adult acne for a long time and also suffer with psoriasis, so finding skin products that work for me is sometimes a challenge. (Check out my Acne Journey here!)
I use acne medication prescribed to me along with a few other things to keep my skin in tip top form. (If you think you’re suffering with any form of acne then I highly suggest going to your GP where you can find something that works for you.)
My skin routine goes as follows:
First thing in the morning I take my first lot of acne medication, ‘Doxycycline’ with breakfast.
Lunchtime is when I take my next acne medication, ‘Co-Cyprindiol’ (you have to have frequent check ups when you’re on this one as it doubles up as contraception.
At the end of the day (this bit is typically once a week) I use a microdermabrasion skin care machine to exfoliate, promote blood flow and just generally get any nasty stuff out of my pores.
Before I go to bed I then apply my ‘Adapalene’ topical acne cream medication.
Some things I also do to help my skin stay clear and healthy are:
Drinking mostly water. I know I know, we hear this one all of the time, but water helps keep us hydrated and out skin looking moisturised.
I try to not touch my face as much as possible, (don’t want to spread any oils or any traces of stuff that could be transferred onto my face!).
Wash/Change my pillow case often. (dead skin cells, sweat and all sorts get on these and can cause breakouts after build up!)
I ALWAYS take my makeup off before bed. – I cannot stress this one enough!!
A balanced diet; this doesn’t mean eating super healthy all of the time, it’s about not eating mountains of sugary, oily, fatty food all of the time, you can still have your favourite guilty pleasures, but just in moderation.
Speaking of food: I always wash my face after eating any form of takeaway; I always feel super greasy after eating foods like Chinese or Fish & Chips, so washing my face after stops me from developing mountains of spots around my chin.
Sun cream. Wear sun cream no matter what weather it is, you skin is always vulnerable to the sun even when it’s cold outside. And if you’re not great at remembering to put it on, get a moisturiser with SPF already in it!
Now, onto hair care!
A bit of background on my hair journey:
My hair has been through it. Like really through the ringer. It’s been blonde, brown, auburn (so jealous of all you natural red heads out there!), orange, red, pink, green, strawberry blonde and several other colours. There was once a week where I decided I wanted to go from bright red to blonde.. my mum and I decided to do it in the space of two days; it involved 4 lots of bleaching and a lot of laughing. I’m incredibly lucky to still have hair on my head to be honest.
I have cut my hair off numerous amounts of times in order to salvage what was left of it after copious amounts of bleach and box dyes. One time I decided to go red again after bleaching my hair and putting blonde box dye on it and my hair was so damaged that after one wash my hair had millions of blonde and pink patches where the dye could no longer stick to my hair.
That leads me to now, I cut nearly all of my hair off in September last year in order to finally give up what had become a hair dye addiction (fellow hair enthusiasts know the struggle haha). And from January this year I have been growing out my natural hair in order to get it as healthy as possible again and not felling like straw. I am also slowly getting my naturally wavy and curly hair back!
Here’s just a few images of my hair journey over the years:
Here I am as a baby next to my older sister, that’s me on the right, and as you can see my hair is pretty curly and mad naturally.
As you’ll see in these photos, my hair goes from nice and healthy to getting more like straw and shorter as it kept snapping off!
Here’s me at 12 years old, my hair was still completely natural here!
Here I am at 14 years old, I think my hair might have been bleached slightly at this point?
Here is where my hair escapade starts to go downhill.. I had dyed it a few times by here so it’s big, frizzy and very straw like hair!
I dyed my hair red when I was starting sixth form and you can see how damaged my hair had become by the ends of my hair!
About 2 months into sixth form I decided to bleach all of the life out of my hair and fry it constantly by making it wavy every damn day.
After sixth form I decided to cut my hair into a pixie to try and salvage it, I then dyed it brown and then as it was getting healthier and growing out I decided I wanted blonde hair again.
A year later came around and I couldn’t stop myself from going auburn again, and here you can really see the damage!
My hair survived for a little while longer by going brown for a few months and it grew to a good length, then I wanted to go blonde so bleached it to bits, then I decided I wanted red hair again..
As you can see here, when my 21st birthday came around I decided to try and get my hair healthier again by cutting it into a pixie, and it was bleached blonde during the summer.
I actually have healthy hair in this photo! Here is my hair a few months after I turned 22, I’m starting to grow out my pixie here!
So that is what my hair went through, I’m sure there are more photos all over the place of even more hair colours but that’s something for another day, you’d be here for hours!
Here’s my hair now! It’s finally healthy and all my natural colour; I’m working on styling my natural air dried hair as it’s a big crazy at the moment!
So now you know a bit about my hair past, on to my routine!
I brush my hair to get rid of any knots or tangles before I wash it in the evening.
I then wash my hair with warm water, using ‘Tesco’s Pro-Vitamin B5 shampoo damaged hair’; I stumbled across this when looking for a new shampoo to try, and for 90p it’s a bargain! This shampoo is absolutely amazing on my hair and I definitely recommend it; it lathers nicely and is super cheap!
I then use ‘Tesco’s Pro-Vitamin B5 conditioner for damaged hair'(it is nowhere on the website at the moment but you can find it in store!) on the ends of my hair and work my way up avoiding my roots, like the shampoo, the conditioner is also 90p and makes my hair feel so silky and less frizzy.
I then rinse the conditioner out with cold water (it takes a bit of strength to not jump out of the shower at this point haha!).
Then, if my hair is feeling a bit dry I put some spray in conditioner onto the ends of my hair. I use one I picked up by chance at Aldi (it was on their special buys) which is a dupe of the ‘Aussie Miracle Hair Detangler Conditioner Spray’!
If I have time I’ll let my hair dry naturally and if I’ve got to be somewhere then I’ll dry my hair on the cool setting with my hair dryer.
I usually leave my hair overnight and style my hair with my straighteners in the morning, this is usually straight, but if I do style my hair in the evening it will be curly ready to be clipped half up the next day.
And that’s my hair routine!
Some things I do to help with my hair growth and health:
Brush my hair before washing it so it isn’t too knotting when I wash it and there’s less damage when I wash it as your hair is a lot weaker when it’s wet.
Rinsing my hair with cold water is something I found makes my hair less frizzy, shinier and it helps promote blood circulation to your scalp, which helps with hair growth!
Use heat protection sprays even when just using the hair dryer. I recommend putting heat protection spray on your hair when it’s wet, as you avoid potentially making your hair feel greasy when applying it to dry hair.
I avoid washing my hair everyday as this can strip my hair of it’s natural oils and prevents any oils from penetrating into the hair.
So that’s my skin and hair routines! What’s your hair journey? And what is your skincare routine? Let me know in the comments, I love reading and responding to them all! I hope you all have a great weekend my lovelies!
We all know that feeling when pay day hits; you know, the feeling you get when that little voice in your head says treat yo self! You deserve it! And then you go and buy a load of stuff that you forget about until you’re surrounded by loads of mystery packages.
I’m pretty bad for buying stuff that I don’t need when pay day hits, and I always forget about budgets and keeping track of my spending habits, which is until the week before pay day where I don’t stop checking my bank balance.
This is why I’ve decided to create a list of 10 presents you can buy yourself for a treat which are great for some self-care without breaking the bank! And they’re all available on Amazon!
Because who doesn’t need a little pick me up every now and again? These are little quotes, inspirations and motivations to give you a boost every day for a month and are great for if you’re having a bad day and need a little positivity boost! 2 . Mini Elephant Shaped Candles Gift Set. £5.11
These are just so cute! They are all scented as follows: Purple is Lavendar, Green is Jasmine, Pink is Rose, Red is Strawberry and Yellow is Lemongrass. These would be great for when you have a big bubble bath to relax! 3 . BiC Coloured Pencils. £10.00
Coloured pencils are always a good treat, and are necessary when you buy the next gift for yourself!
Colouring isn’t just for little kids; it can be really therapeutic and great for mindfulness. I personally love tuning out and doing a bit of drawing, so being able to chill out and just colour is great!
Bath bombs are great for going with those cute elephant candles and these are a great gift to buy yourself and forget about. They come in a cute box so it really is like getting a present in the post!
Sweets and chocolates are a great way to do a bit of self-care; and retro sweets are so yummy! This should keep you going for quite a few weeks too, and are great for a movie night! 8 . Weighted Fitness Hula Hoop. £12.99
We’ve all heard a million times about how exercising is good for our mental health as well as our physical health, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun! Which is why I’ve put this fitness hula hoop in here! 9 . Glow In The Dark Star Stickers. £11.99
I’ve had these for quite some time now, and they’re just plain great. I will warn you though, I stuck all of mine above my bed on the ceiling and it took about 1/2hours in total. But the result in completely worth it! Especially as someone with mental health challenges, these really help my mind settle when I’m trying to get some sleep. 10 . Burt’s Bees Tip and Toes Kit. £9.99 in the sale and £12.99 usually
Finally, good ole Burt’s Bees! Because who doesn’t like stuff from Burt’s Bees?! A great way to take care of yourself is with a bit of pampering, and using things like this are a great way to distract yourself from any anxiety or panic thoughts.
So that’s it for this weeks post! I just thought that a little bit retail therapy never hurt anyone? Well at least these prices won’t! And the majority of these can be bought with prime so you get free next day delivery!
And remember, no matter whatever some people may say, ‘self-care is not selfish.’
Have a great week everyone! Let me know if you decide to get any of these gifts to yourself! Love,
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