A Journey in Adulting & Self-Care

 I consider myself a very lucky girl because I was recently gifted the Dyson Airwrap for Mother's Day! This crazy piece of technology uses the coanda effect to literally suck your hair and wrap it around the wand. It also delivers blowouts and curls with less damage than traditional hot iron tools. After cutting my hair shorter than I usually do for the bi-annual lockdown haircut, I am trying to grow out my hair and low heat is a great way to keep it healthy. So read on for my thoughts on the Dyson Airwrap! Initial Impression "For the price, this thing is huge! And heavy...why is it so heavy? My arms already get sore when I have to blow-dry or braid my hair too long..." Yes, this is not travel friendly and the case is bigger than your old-school caboodles, so think like a small toolbox. The leather bound cover is nice and they lined the inside with velvet so it should hopefully be easy to wrangle the parts and keep them together. The wand is the heaviest part and it has

 I've decided that my stance on getting older is that I don't want to feel older than I look and I don't want to look older than I look. This means that if I can combine feeling good and having my exterior match that, even better! My recent spinal surgery had be thinking, are there ways that I can expedite healing at home without aggravating my muscles? That's when I discovered red light therapy. What is Red Light Therapy? Basically, light is a form of energy and our cells use energy to replicate and perform necessary functions, right? You can have light as low as 400 nm like gamma rays which is bad for you and as high as 800 nm which is radio or tv. Some light isn't visible to the human eye (infrared, UV) and some is, like the visible light spectrum of colors.  As you can see from this graphic, different wavelengths of light  permeate the skin at different depths and is measured in nanometers (nm). Blue Light (400-450 nm) Can be used for treating acne and reversing

 What is Microneedling? Microneedling is a procedure that has been around for a while and basically is the act of creating micro-wounds in the skin or channels which help activate your body's natural healing process. These wounds are not significant enough to damage your skin but enough to signal that your body needs to produce collagen and heal itself. Done properly, microneedling has a variety of benefits such as reducing fine lines, appearance of pores, scars, hyperpigmentation and even hair loss. Risks of Microneedling Since you are essentially inflicting damage on your skin, you run the risk of further damage and scarring to your skin. If the equipment or environment is not sanitized properly, you also run the risk of infection and complications that could result from it. You could end up with skin worse than the issue you were trying to fix. I am sharing all this with you to make sure you do not take the decision to microneedle at home lightly. This procedure is done best by

 So, one of the perks of quarantine has been researching and just learning from others...usually through online forums. This has lead me down a rabbit hole of things that seem very obvious and commonplace to others but apparently no one knew or shared with me as I was growing up. Hence, the first in what I hope will be a series.."why didn't anyone tell me?" As a child of the 90s, Bath-and-Body Works and Herbal Essence were a staple of my shower routines but beyond that, everything else was learned through the pages of glossy teen publications and hearsay from friends. I remember being surprised that my friend brushed her hair in the shower and thinking..."wait, is this something everyone should be doing??" Now, I've come up with some things I found new and surprisingly but has made a big improvement in my shower routine. Pre-shampoo My curly girls sisters may already know about this but apparently your shower strips moisture and natural oils from your hair s

 Tretinoin, retinol, Retin A, Differin, adapalane...is your head swimming yet? Chances are you have heard of one of these and maybe even how amazing retinol is but don't know what it does or how to add it to your routine. This mega-post will help you make sense of things and hopefully get you started on this super ingredient. I would like to note, r/tretinoin on Reddit was super helpful and informative on my tret journey. This treasure trove of information and resources made it so easy for me to figure out what to do next and what to expect. What is Tretinoin? Tretinoin is the ingredient in brands such as Retin-A that is an active derivative of Vitamin A. If you've heard of retinol, it is the much weaker version that is available over-the-counter. The way it works is by helping expedite cellular turnover, a process which is as quick as 15 days when we are young and slows down as we get older. This is why our soft, babylike skin becomes dull, tired and wrinkly as we get older.

 Welcome! So you are ready to enter the mystical and magical world of tretinoin. If you are unsure of what tretinoin is, please check out my earlier post about the basics of this wonderful active ingredient. The following post will break down in a week-by-week basis on how to add tret but please know, your skin will determine the speed and number of steps to take. The important thing is that you don't go to slow (otherwise your skin will never get used to it) or too fast (or you risk compromising your skin barrier). Week 1-4:  Your dermatologist will start you at a low strength, something around .01 or .02. If you are getting it with a prescription, go with a low strength so that your skin can get retinized or adjust to this new ingredient. Again, too fast or too furious will mess up your skin unnecessarily and remember, you do not need to purge or have a reaction to know if the tretinoin is working.  Do not apply everyday. You derm or online provider (Curology, Apostrophe, etc.)

The inspiration of this blog came from my friends and families admitting that all the information and products out there about skin care was so daunting that they didn't even know where to start. I am a self-professed skincare nerd so I love learning about the chemistry and science behind it but I can certainly relate to it being complicated. Here I will provide different tiers of a morning routine to get even the very beginners off to a right start! Level 1: Help! I splash water on my face...when I remember First of all, yay! You are inspired enough or have come to some sort of realization that maybe you want to do some sort of routine. For the very, very beginners, all you really need in the morning is: - cleanse your face. I personally just like to splash water on my face . That's it! My sensitive, oily skin does better if I don't strip it of all the natural oils and goodies that have been on my face from my PM routine the night before. You do not need to use a cleanser