Want to look like a million? Our fashion guides uncover the latest looks while offering cost-conscious tips to achieving great style and beauty.
How to Become a Natural Beauty?
We try to look beautiful but sometimes end up looking a tad artificial. This article not only highlights the ideals of a natural beauty but also reflects on enhancing yourself, body, and mind.
Steps
Believe that you are beautiful. There is nothing more beautiful than a woman who is truly confident in her appearance. Have you heard of Roald Dahl's story? 'The Twits'?
Live healthfully. This is essential to enhancing your natural beauty. This doesn't mean you have to become a health nut and only eat granola and yogurt. Instead buy health magazines like "Self", for easy quick tips that you can implement in your daily life - The most efficent way is eating a BALANCED diet and also get plenty of exercise. Start by walking with friends, taking up dancing or start to jog around the block every day.
Clear up your skin & even the tone. Embrace your face. Learn to accept and love your skin even if it is not clear or even toned. You can use natural products such as shea butter for more even skin tone, rosemary oil for acne, tea tree oil for inflammed acne, and witchhazel for a calming affect on redness. Just add a few drops to your nighttime moisturizer. Supplement by adding more veggies and fruit to your diet and getting plenty of vitamins D and C. Remember to exfoliate your skin no more than 3 times a week. Do not over exfoliate though because it will make your face go flaky and red. Rinse your face in the morning with cool water and use a cleanser that doesn't contain alcohol. Place the cleanser in a small spray bottle for a light misting that you can use throughout the day and follow with a moisturizing face cream with a sunblock.
Get pretty, healthy hair. If you want to dye your hair (which always makes your hair stand out and is a great way to change up your look) opt for ammonia free kits or ask your colorist or stylist at your salon to use ammonia free or "gentle" concoctions. Ask for a semi or demi- permanent dye and always embrace your hair colour and texture. No hair type is unattractive. Not only will this mitigate the time you spend with the flatiron or curling iron, it will also increase the strength of your tresses. If you must use heat-tools use a heat protective spray before you style or blow dry to keep your hair shiny and healthy. Wash your hair reguarly so its nice and clean otherwise it will go greasy and it will start to smell.
Brush those pearly whites. Brush your teeth at least twice a day, follow with a restorative mouth wash. Floss at night before you go to bed, and chew sugar free gum after meals to promote saliva flow which ultimately lessens the probability of cavities because it prevents plaque acid. Be sure to see your dentist twice a year for checkups and a cleaning. To keep teeth white and strong drink acidic drinks such as coffee and soda through straws to prevent corrosion of the enamel.
Don't make the makeup obvious. A good tinted moisturizer, brown mascara, nude or pink lipgloss, and a touch of rosy cream blush is all the natural beauty needs. But if you want to play up your look for evening, a great lined cat-eye in a charcoal or bronze looks incredible.
Get some exercise. Be body conscious, but never obsess. You don't need the fancy diet programs advertised on tv nor do you need to belong to those health clubs that are popping up everywhere. Just do you. Exercise what you enjoy. Thats why its called exercise which originally meant "the act of employing or putting into play". So if you like to walk your dog, run, hike, bike, dance, or even watch Richard Simmons. Do what makes you move and what you enjoy. Exercise also makes you feel more confident and happy because it releases hormones called endorphins.
Get enough sleep. Sleep! Sleep! Sleep! It is wonderful and we don't do it nearly enough. Aim for the bare minimum 6 and a half hours of sleep and shoot for 9/10 hours. Set a regular bedtime such as 9o'clock and don't eat two hours before bed, stay away from caffeine which has a half life of approximately 4.9 hours. That means that if you drink a cup of coffee, half of the caffeine in that cup of coffee is out of your body in 4.9 hours. If you have a cup of coffee an hour before bed... well you are in for a restless night. If you have a hard time falling asleep, systematic relaxation techniques are wonderful. Start at your feet and tense the muscles in your feet for a count of 5 seconds and relax. Proceed up the body tensing and releasing the leg, buttocks, stomach, arms, hands, neck and face muscles through counts of 5 seconds. If you have racing thoughts imagine that your thoughts are fish and you are catching them in a slow moving stream. Acknowledge that they are there and then send them on their way, Relaxing medatation music on youtube is very useful to. Finally, melatonin is a natural supplement that aids in relaxation and sleep. This should be reserved for individuals who have a very difficult time with sleep and are considering going on medication. Try melatonin first. It is naturally occurring, and non-habit forming.
Tips
Drink about 64 oz of water a day. It is a wonderful cleanser. You can also drink juice but stay away from the sugary or diet sodas and sports drinks. Instead, make a pot of iced green tea and add lemon or any fruit you like (I'm a mango girl myself).
Eat a healthy balanced diet with plenty of protein, whole grain, and vegetables. Additionally, fruit can be highly beneficial to the skin and is packed with vitamins. Aim for dark fruits such as blueberries, blackberries and strawberries. But don't go overboard with the "superfruit" fad. Just because you pay $25 dollars for a bottle of pomwonderful, doesn't mean you are reaping more benefits than eating a 10 cent apple.
Do 10 minutes of pilates or yoga every morning before other work. Pilates and yoga work the body and stimulate blood flow ultimately promoting health and vitality. All you need is a mat or soft carpeting. Breathing is essential. Start with an inhale and breath through your nose, sucking the belly in. On the exhale, breath out through your mouth, puffing the belly out, concentrating on the breath. Deep breathing is a wonderful stress relieving technique as well. Try to extend the inhales and exhales to counts of 8.
Don't touch your face too often, avoid resting your face on your hands, and try to always remember to wash your hands before touching your face. Your hands contain natural sebaceous oils which can clog pores, coupled with the bacteria on your hands that you pick up from day to day activities... well there in lies a perfect storm for a nasty breakout.
If you lean your face on your hands, it stretches out our skin making it dry and giving you wrinkles earlier. Additionally, leaning on your hands is a sign of weak posture, continue with yoga and deep breathing in the mornings but also work on strengthening your core and extending the spine through proper posture. Overtime your posture muscles in your back like erector spinae will be strengthened and you won't have to rely on resting on your hands. This follows:
NO SLOUCHING! Slouching never makes anyone look confident and it orients the spine at an angle, compressing those precious posture muscles and ultimately leading to back pain. A natural beauty won't feel or look so beautiful if they are in pain.
Get your physical done! This checks your complete physical health and is always a good idea to have done annually. Make sure to tell your doctor if you have a history of any condition in your family so they better know what to look for.
See a dermatologist yearly and bring to their attention any areas of inflammation and any new moles or moles that have changed.
Remember: split ends, dry hair, dandruff, and unclean hair is NEVER attractive. However, don't overdo the shampoo. Shampoo (especially ones with sulfates) can strip the natural oils of your hair. Look for a cleansing shampoo that is sulfate free and use a dap of it, concentrating at the scalp. Aim to shampoo no more than three times a week and blow dry and heat style no more than twice a week. If you have oily hair find a dry shampoo to refresh strands between shampoos and extend the life of your blow dry. Spray at the scalp and let set.
When conditioning and shampooing, rinse hair with cool water, not hot or warm. (Rinsing with cool doesn't damage hair like heat does and it also smooths the outside of each hair, making it shine).
You can use makeup but aim to keep it as light as possible. Apply evenly and sparingly, you don't want anyone to know you are wearing it. Makeup should always enhance you and never mask you. This is the crux of the natural beauty. Apply a tinted moisturizer with spf 15 or higher all over, brown curling mascara on the lashes, golden or tawny eyeshadows on the lids, rose colored blush on the apples of the cheeks and chapstick on the lips.
If you want naturally wavy hair, just wash it and plait, braid, or secure into loose bun and let it dry overnight. In the morning you should have lovely natural waves without having to use any hair products. If your hair is still damp in the morning, blast with a blow dryer and use a wave enhancing spray to set the curls.
Finally, smile!! a lot. Happy people are sexy, beautiful, and brimming with confidence. Just remember to brush those pearly whites at least twice a day, chew sugar free gum after meals, floss regularly and don't overdo the whitening products. 3 times a year should be enough for the a good otc kit.
Remember to be active, healthy, and happy and natural beauty will follow.
Warnings
Wear sunblock everyday! Even in the winter, sun rays penetrate clouds and can cause damage. It is important to use a broad-spectrum sunscreen, which protects against both UVA and UVB rays and for goodness sake, turn the tanning bed off. If you must tan, tan before special occasions, vacations, or important life events. Alternatively, there are great self-tanning bronzers and products out there that make you look glamourous and sunkissed without berating the bank and your skin. But remember we are going for a natural look, so mix the self-tan product with your favorite moisturizing body lotion for a subtle effect.
Wear sunglasses! Just as you protect your skin, it is important to protect your windows to the world. Look for shades that protect against both UVA and UVB rays.
DO NOT SMOKE! The effects are absolutely horrendous. But for the smokers that want to become natural beauties, there are nearly thousands of treatment options out there to help you kick the habit. Start with consulting your primary care physician and she/he can point you in the direction right for you.
Temper the drinking. Let's face it, we all like to have cocktails with friends and attend parties, but binge drinking can wreak havoc on the skin and organs. Try to have less than a drink a day and never have so much that you don't remember events from the night before, vomit or pass out. Being a natural beauty means being in control and aware of your body and mind.
Be body conscious, not body obsessed. Just as being overweight can have adverse health affects, dieting fads, and over concern for body image can be just as damaging to your mental and physical well being. Begin by being conscious of your caloric intake, aim for about 2,000 a day but don't fret if you go over once or twice a week. Being a natural beauty means understanding that nobody is perfect!
If you need to lose a few pounds, understand the energy balance principle. To lose weight you must burn more calories than you take in. Know that in 1 pound of fat there are approximately 3500 calories. To lose two pounds a week, you need to cut out 500 calories a day. The easiest way to do that is to stop drinking so much soda!! 1 8-oz can of cola has about 105 calories and one fast food "medium" size cola has 250. Being the smart natural beauty that you are... you do the math.
If you need to lose more than 20 pounds, it is best to talk to a primary care physician, life coach, exercise physiologist, or dietician. They can look at the whole beautiful picture of you and prescribe the best and safest method of weight loss for you.
Finally, be happy! Depression affects more than 21 million Americans annually and is the leading cause of disability for individuals ages 15-44. If you feel like you may be struggling with depression seek help, either in the form of counseling, medication, meditation or self help literature. The resources are out there.
