Your Guide to After-Sun Self-Care
The Sun Doesn’t Care About Your Skin, But You Should - Here are 4 Tips To Help Recover
After another long, summer weekend, the fun is over and now it's time for our bodies to enter recovery mode. From too much sun exposure, to busy schedules and late nights, a weekend of excitement can also mean a few days of self-neglect. To help ease this transition, and bring our bodies back to homeostasis, our team has put together four of our favorite self-centered wellness rituals.
Return to Self-Care
Whether you've been shuffling kids from playdate to pool party or working on the perfect side-salad to bring to your neighbor's backyard barbecue, this weekend may have gotten the best of you. To help bring some of your focus back to yourself, try grounding practices that focus heavily on your body and not the world around it. We like practicing this ritual by using activities like gratitude journaling, gentle exercise, or our favorite self-centered meditation.
Chill Out and Cool Down
Your weekend in the sun may have left you feeling a little burnt out, in more ways than one. While sunshine delivers some amazing benefits, like vitamin D and serotonin, our skin may suffer the negative side effects from too much exposure. Most of us are familiar with the unflattering and painful sting of a sunburn and while we can't reverse the damage that has been done, there are a few ways to help cool the burn.
- To help relieve some of the burning sensations, products like our topical Merrimint balm have been shown to interact with immune cells to create an anti-inflammatory response, helping to calm aggravated areas and symptoms of irritation while providing a much-needed cooling feeling to the burned area. Pro Tip: store your Merrimint in the fridge for an added *chill factor*.
- Wearing tight-fitted clothing can often add irritation to the already sensitive skin. Try opting for loose, soft clothing items to prevent friction and added heat.
- To heal, your skin will need extra hydration, as a sunburn will pull water away from other areas of your skin's surface. Be sure to up your water intake during this time. One of our favorite things to do is to add a little pizzaz to our drinks by including fresh fruits and herbs.
Glow From the Inside Out
Chlorinated pools, alcoholic beverages, and the general fun distractions that may take you away from your glass of water are all factors that may leave your skin and hair lacking a bit of their usual hydrated luster. Our favorite summer activities are often to blame for our dry, dehydrated skin, but that doesn't mean we have to give them up to achieve a youthful radiance. In addition to upping your water intake, adding a hydrating serum, like Jihi's Petal Milk, can help restore your natural and vibrant glow. To help promote product absorption, try applying the serum while performing our 12 step facial massage!
Sleep on It
Ultimately, busy weekends can often disrupt your usual sleep patterns. Whether you're staying up late or sleeping in more than normal, your Circadian rhythm may be a little out of whack. According to the National Sleep Foundation, the average adult needs between 7-9 hours of sleep per night. To help get you back on schedule, we recommend resetting your bedtime ritual to promote healthier sleep hygiene. Our favorite ritual includes;
- Dropping the day. By writing down our to-do list, we find it easier to rest knowing that our thoughts have been safely released into a space where we can pick them up right where we left them.
- Blocking out the blue light. By placing your electronics on "Do Not Disturb", you create a space that is free from the day's distractions and the harmful effects of blue light.
- Hiding your clock. You should already have your phone tucked in but if there are any other stray clocks in the room it can be helpful to turn them over or cover them to avoid doing the "if-I-go-to-sleep-now-I-can-get-X-hours math". Get some sleep and don't do your alarm's job for it.
- Rethinking your sleep solutions. By adding gentle sleep-inducing tonics that include ingredients like melatonin and broad-spectrum CBD, such as our Reverie, you can create natural, healthy sleep patterns that will help your body fall asleep and stay asleep.
Merrimint Soothing Body Balm
This soothing body balm delivers powerful, cooling relief to stressed muscles and joints with 500mg CBD isolate and a sophisticated combination of organic ingredients, including menthol, arnica, and 19 oils and butters.
This highly concentrated body balm can be used throughout the day to soothe and relax your body, while deeply hydrating and nourishing skin. Try using before and after exercise on sore or high impact areas, or when relaxing - like before yoga, meditation, or bedtime.
