Andreína’s Morning Hair and Skin Routine … Exposed!
Good morning everyone! Meet Andreína and her Alaffia…she is a huge fan of this brand! She also has some great tips–check out her DIY mask recipe. She’s a recent transplant to California, and is certainly making the coast even more lovely with her presence. Read on!
Name: Andreína (but most people call me Andre)
Age: 29
Current weather: Port Hueneme, CA tends to have awesome breeze and chilly nights. It has not gotten too hot. Mostly fresh & easy (I’ve only been here for 2 1/2 months).
Hair: Dark brown, and a mix of 70% wavy, 15% kinky and 15% super-straight. Don’t ask me how I got there, I’m still trying to figure that out myself!
Skin: with a weird case of breakouts on my cheeks which I’m trying to control. It comes and goes. Used to be t-zone, all year round, and now I’m in a perfect medium.
Favorite star or icon from the past: Carolina Herrera, fashion designer with a super-simple style from my native country, Venezuela. She’s got everything I think of when it comes to elegance.
Also Diane Keaton. I just love her in every movie, I always like her jewelry (big rings!!!) and her style just comes across timeless. Image via.
In the shower…
Baking soda and apple cider vinegar are my go-to soaps. Even though I do not shower every day, I’m always able to clean my underarms with a mix of these two to really kill the smell and, believe it or not, help me with perspiration. I might use a bit of baking soda all over my body once a month, but when it comes to cleaning just the bare-essentials, I find that B.S. is all I need.
One thing I do not see here very often is people talking about their shaving abilities, and same as everything else, only 2 things have worked like a charm! 1. Dr. Bronner’s all-in-one baby mild and citrus liquid soap. I buy the 32 oz and dilute it 4 times, mix the two and keep it in the shower. I use this mix to shave my legs (warm or cold water) and the 2. preserve razor. I have always had such sensitive legs, with ingrown hairs and my hair gets really upset when it gets all shaved, so it grows really fast! which can be an issue. I also do not shave all the time, at times I let my hair grow real long and then try and shave up. My legs are happy.
My hair LOVES to be dirty, so I wash my hair only once x week. It is actually the third day that it starts to look amazing. With my textures and changes in product I’ve found that less is always more, and my hair has never looked better! My shampoo of choice is Alaffia’s Everyday Shea shampoo, unscented or in lavender (this is actually my 2nd bottle. They’re huge! one bottle went on for almost 2 years!). Right after I shampoo, I use Bragg’s apple cider vinegar, which really helps me de-tangle my hair. I never brush it because I want to keep my curls intact, so this is the, by far, less painful and most effective way for me to really soften all my hair and prevent the crazy nots. I also love to use Alaffia’s coconut & shea daily conditioner, and once a month I use Alaffia’s “beautiful curls” in Shea butter deep-conditioning treatment, super hydrating and gives my hair an extra shine that lasts long!
My face gets cleaned -almost- everyday. This might be the area I need improvement in, mostly because I hate keeping routines and I go as the day comes, so there are weeks that I’m really good at cleaning my face, and others not so much. I use a mix of almond, avocado, grapeseed, argan and tea tree oils and clean my face with a vegetable sponge. It is so easy! and I give my face a real nice massage with the oil, which tends to be an extremely awesome combo when there’s steam in the bathroom because it really cleanses my pores deeply. I do not rinse my face with water, as I find the sponge to be really helpful. I use the bronner’s liquid soap to clean the sponge.
Outside the shower…
No Skincare here. Whenever I feel I need a bit more of a dewey-texture, I apply more oil (mostly during winter). The choice are either the mix from above, or my ojio coconut oil. If there’s excess, I use the sponge to wipe it off. I also use these oils and sponge to wipe off any makeup too.
My hair gets more alaffia (I love this brand, can’t you tell? ;) with just a little bit of Beautiful Curls’ Curl activating cream and after their Curl Defining Gel. This is the perfect combo, and lasts me a whole week. My hair is also in love!
I don’t always use deodorant, but when I do I turn to Aubrey’s E plus High C, works like a charm!
I also apply a mask about once a month that I make with my mix of oils, bentonite clay and apple cider vinegar. It is rather painful and takes a while to dry, but really revives my skin every time! Clean pores, outstanding radiance, ultra-soft surface,
Finishing touches…
Makeup yes, everyday no.
My makeup is not really clean, mostly because I became obsessed with Bare Mineral’s eyeshadows shortly after I came to this country. I spent about 3 years collecting and I still use them, still love them. I have a mix of Josie Maran’s eyeshadows, which I really enjoy too, and are the ones I take with me when I’m out of town. I use Jane Iredale’s Petal or Lemon’s eyelid primers, and some eyeliners from Bare Minerals & Josie Maran. For my lips, when color comes, just get red. LOVE Josie Maran’s stains (flamenco & fox trot).
Mascara, (which is often talked about here) is always a subject on is own. It is often a girl’s fav makeup item, and for some the only go-to to lighten up and refresh the face! I’ve had issues with natural mascaras, but I’ve also not tried a ton! My fav natural mascara is Josie Maran’s GOGO, and I still use Bare Mineral’s flawless mascara because I’m a sucker for their brush!
I love larenim’s blushes, cherub and innocence. I also use Bare Minerals’ highlighter & well-rested eyeshadow, which I mix and place in the inner corner of my eye to illuminate. Again, part of a collection I’ve had for years.
I try to be real clean with my brushes, and clean then well with my all-in-one soap.
Needless to say, I spend about 1% a year of what I used to spend before in skincare & makeup. And I am 100% happier than before!
Thanks, Andre! Happy to hear you are happy :) Anyone else using Alaffia for the hair? Siobhan reviewed one of their conditioners awhile back here.
I love Alaffia products too! I only rarely use liquid shampoo, but when I do it’s their coconut shea one. Once or twice a week, I condition with their coconut shea daily conditioner, which is very moisturizing. I’m also a fan of their Beautiful Curls line — which has been amazing for my wavy-to-curly hair. In the winter, their hair oil and leave-in conditioner are great when my hair gets particularly dry. I just got a tube fo the curl defining gel, and so far it’s working great in the warmer weather when I want something lighter!
Also, Aubrey’s E Plus High C is hands down the best deodorant for me — I guess we are on the same product wavelength!
Oh, I’m thankful for a routine by someone with curly hair! I have stick-straight hair, but my partner’s little girl has fine, curly hair, although her curls are currently obscured by frequent brushing and chlorine from the pool. She’s been growing her hair out this year, and I’m trying to figure out how best to care for it (her dad is a real “guy” in this area, so not much help from that sector). Any suggestions on how to prevent/repair chlorine damage (she’s a water bug)? She’s only 6, so it needs to be a simple routine. Any opinions on which shampoos are best for swimmers? Sulfate? Non-sulfate? Special anti-chlorine formulations? I’m also curious to see if we could bring out those curls (and I know she misses her “baby hair curls”), but I’m worried that maintaining curls requires too much effort for a young’un.
How does it work regarding smell, oilyness for washing your hair once a week. I am afraid to start doing that because I like to go outdoors hike, etc. At the end of the day, I want to wash it because it has that sun smell and I have been sweating. I wash my hair every other day and want to start doing that every other 3 days.
I use Alaffia Beautiful Curls for my short wavy hair. I generally wash my hair every other day, although sometimes I can go a little longer between washes. I use the Shampoo, Leave-in Conditioner, Curl Defining Gel and Curl Reviving Tonic. These have been my favorite products for the past year, reliably turing my straight-to-wavy hair into wavy-to-curly hair. The Leave-in contains magnesium sulfate which encourages hair to curl. The Curl Defining Gel contains aloe vera, which also encourages hair to curl. Every so often I wash with John Masters Organics Bare Shampoo just to prevent any product build-up.
All you girls that don’t need deodorant or even much soap really are crazy lucky!
@Dee, I do a lot of outdoor sweaty stuff too and I feel like I need to wash my hair at least a few times a week. Sometimes I’ll just wet it and put in some conditioner and rinse, and my hair still smells fine as far as I can tell. If I’ve really been sweating a lot I use shampoo but try to get just the scalp and not load the shampoo throughout my hair. For oiliness between shampoos I use a dry shampoo. I like Lulu Organics from Spirit Beauty Lounge. I have a DIY too which I can’t recall the recipe for but there are lots of recipes out there.
Hi Jen, I’d like to recommend a book called Curly Girl: The Handbook by Lorraine Massey. It has great tips for anyone with wavy to kinky hair and features a chapter on children. She talks about how so many mothers straighten or cut off their curly kids’ hair because they don’t know what to do with it. It really takes a simple routine and I think it’s awesome you want to help her keep her beautiful curls!
@Dee, I wash my hair once every six days (long, sorta thin, wavy). I did it every day until I was in college, and with that lifestyle gradually went from once every two days to three, four, etc. I comb and brush my hair a little each night and morning to help with the oiliness, and wearing it up helps. I haven’t heard any complaints about a smell, unless someone enjoys how it smells the day I wash it. My mom thinks I should go back to once every three days, but I enjoy the low maintenance.
@Rebecca to be honest with you, I sweat like a pig! I love and enjoy activities that make me sweat. Long walks, volunteering 2days in a row @sdzsafaripark (a lot of walking & standing and, many times under the sun!), bike riding, anything that might make my body shake a bit for more than 5 minutes will make me sweat. It is the ability I’ve acquired only in the past 3 years… Like I said before, less is more. I’ve been in california for 7 years now. I lived blocks from the water in Long Beach and most of the year, even getting breeze (and ignoring 3-4months of winter), it was most of the time hot! Anything under 24°C makes me sweat, so, you see, I sweat a lot!
You can do it!
@Zzabee I think my mom could have used that book when I was a kid! I have naturally curly hair but I am of mixed race. So my mom being from Trinidad knew how to care for her hair but not too much of a clue for mixed hair. Her products made my hair too greasy so I ended up as a kid with very very big frizzy hair…usually with a headband stuck in the middle, not cute!
I love natural oils I use them on my face & body a lot. Glad to see others do too! May have to look into some of those eye shadows!
Nicole <3
Really enjoyed reading Andreina’s routine! :)
I use Alaffia’s Authentic African Black Soap (in Tangerine Citrus) every night to get my make-up off and wash off any grime. Sometimes I use it wash my hair, and it feels so nice!
Excellent routine and info! Love it!
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