Sallie’s Morning Skin and Hair Routine… Exposed!
Oils and orange blossom, abhjenga, Stark, RMS and Pai? Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens! Sallie’s morning routine features more than a few of our favorite things.
Name: Sallie
Age: 27
Current Weather: I live on the Texas Gulf Coast where it is always ALWAYS humid. Growing up on the east coast, I thought I knew what humidity was… but… I didn’t. That being said we’ve been experiencing some fine late autumn days – usually sunny and in the mid to high 80’s.
Hair: Light brown with some natural blonde highlights from the sun, fine but there’s a lot of it, wavy and chin length.
Skin: Golden/olive-y. Tans easily, burns rarely. Oily – especially during the intense summers. I’ve been experiencing some hormonal acne since getting off the pill about a year ago, which had me feeling pretty crappy for awhile. Within the past few months or so it finally seems to be normalizing, although stress is still a huge trigger for me.
Favorite Star: Angelica Huston
In the shower…
First thing I do in the morning (after feeding the cat) is to drink a big tall glass of water with lemon and a few drops of vitex elixer I picked up from Whole Foods. This is supposed to help support female hormones. I only just started adding this to my morning water and I can’t say its been a miracle cure or anything – but I also haven’t noticed anything terrible, so I’m just going to go with it, even if it’s a little placebo! Then I head to the bathroom. I have two routines, one long and one short. The short one is not so interesting (just a little splish splash of cold water on my face, some sunscreen and deodorant or a bit of a soap-up at the sink if I “need” it – meaning if I stink…) So I’ll go with the long one: After reading about Alexandra’s morning abhyanga ritual I’ve been incorporating this into my mornings too, and I’ve seen outstanding results! Softer, clearer skin all over, and an improved mental state (possibly some balanced hormones – but the jury is still out on that one.) First I dry brush my skin in the shower for a couple of minutes, then I do a full body massage with coconut oil, head to toe (I like to spend a long time on this part.) This makes my skin incredibly soft, clear and “glowy”, very important if you live in a beach town. Since I don’t love straight coconut oil on my face I use Stark’s Grapefruit Cleansing Balm, which is lovely and amazing. Then I sit for awhile and breathe and try to relax. After that I jump in the shower and wash my hair with John Master’s lavender and rosemary shampoo or the Ctonics for oily hair. I find that when I rub my scalp and hair with coconut oil I don’t really need to condition it after I wash it (and it leaves it incredibly soft and shiny – seriously ah-mazing!) Then I wash my pits and bits with some Dr. Bronner’s Unscented.
Outside the shower…
I dry off and wrap my hair in a towel. I use a Pai Muslin cloth and hot water to remove the Stark Grapefruit Balm on my face. I like to lay the cloth over my face to get a little steam action and then gently exfoliate. I try not to do too much manual exfoliation since I usually have a break out or two. I’ve relied pretty heavily on chemical exfoliators like Tata Harper’s mask and sometimes just straight lemon juice – which I do at night. But since my skin has been pretty clear (dare I say “radiant”??) a gentle manual scrub with the Pai cloth is something that I’ve been incorporating more. I’ve learned to be very gentle with my skin, not over-cleansing it, or picking at it, and it makes a huge difference. After I remove all the oil from my face I give myself a big smile! Really! My body skin doesn’t get moisturized because its still got some coconutty goodness on it and my hair just gets combed and then air dryed. I brush my teeth with Tom’s and use Tom’s unscented deodorant. I really like Soapwalla, but Tom’s is readily available to me at the grocery store. Depending on how my skin feels I might give myself a little spritz of Stark’s White Willow Bark tonic and a quick slap slap slap with the Stark Cypress oil… or I just skip right to the John Master’s sunscreen which I wear everyday, rain or shine, indoors or out. I actually think wearing a sunscreen with zinc in it has helped clear my skin – and it definitely helps prevent the dark marks a zit can leave behind.
Finishing touches…
I used to be really into makeup but that love has faded over time. If I’m just going to be home I usually don’t wear any, but on workdays I usually do a little spot concealing with RMS uncoverup (this doesn’t really offer much coverage for any hyperpigmented areas, like the occasional lingering acne scar – so I think I might try something else in the future) and a little dab of RMS Lip2Cheek in smile (smile!) and my one dirty product that I don’t know if I’ll ever change (sorry!) L’oreal Voluminous mascara in black – it’s my favorite! If I’m feeling glamorous or I have an event to attend I’ll wear some eyeliner, eyeshadow or lately its been a dark plummy lipstick, but those are all dirty products from either MAC or NARS that I have yet to part with. I’m not much for perfume, but sometimes if I want to smell a little special I douse my neck, arms and decolletage with Santa Maria Novella orange blossom water. And that’s it!! Thanks Siobhan and Alexandra!
No, thank you Sallie! This is a truly delicious morning routine.
Thanks for sharing your routine Sallie..
One thing that got me wondering though,was the notion that Tata Harper Resurfacing Mask would be loaded with chemicals ..? Maybe a misprint of some sort..
And if you want to try a mascara on the clean side to replace you beloved dirty one, you may want to look into Couleur Caramel Cils Long..
Thanks again
Woo! Hey! That’s me! What a fun surprise to head on over here this morning and read about myself! Thanks you guys!
Just a note: the John Master’s face sunscreen broke me out so, so very badly. I tried it for a couple months and couldn’t figure out why my skin had more zits than usual. I then tried using a different sunscreen and my face cleared up within a few weeks…..you might want to try taking a break from it to see if it helps with what you think right now is hormonal flare ups…!
Dr. Bronners, coconut oil, Pai cloths, RMS, JM sunscreen…love them all! I agree about the zinc in the sunscreen clearing skin.
I love this routine!! I have the same struggles with my complexion after going off the pill almost 10 months ago. It’s so difficult to stay positive about it. I am also liking RMS – it doesn’t have a ton of coverage, but I don’t feel like my face is super gross by the end of the day, either. I usually layer Alima Pure foundation over it for a bit more coverage. I like the Pai Muslin Cloths, too, though I wish they were big enough to reach my neck when I am oil cleansing – the step with the hot washcloth is heavenly.
What a great routine! Simple but indulgent :) resembles mine with a little extra here and there… I think I’ll have to try abhyanga once and for all.
As for concealer, I just bought Vapour Atmosphere foundation and I use it as a concealer, it’s expensive but a little goes a long way, and it provides great coverage. Try a sample from spirit beauty lounge!
Lovely routine! Great and simple. Very similar to mine, but I don’t mind coconut oil on my face- I find it’s a great mask for dry skin and breakouts. And no L’oreal for me- they test on animals! I would at least try to trade it out for even a dirty brand that at least doesn’t test, like Almay.
This is my favorite, love everything about this routine. Thanks for sharing!
Loved this routine!
Especially the coconut oil massage pre- shower! Will definitely incorporate in in my routine!
I am very curious about the Ctonics, but have never tried them….any suggestions?
I have shoulder length, wavy hair, very fine, slightly oilier roots and drier ends…
@Nancy: No, the Tata mask is not loaded with chemicals. What Sallie means (sorry to speak for you, Sallie) is that there are two types of exfoliants: physical (i.e. scrubby beads/grains of some description) and chemical (i.e. things that are acidic in one way or another and “dissolve” the dead skin). Many skincare experts agree that chemical exfoliation is better than physical because it doesn’t traumatize the skin by scratching it. It’s like the difference between a peel and microdermabrasion. So the Tata mask is not loaded with chemicals in the non-clean way, but it does have chemical components (likely things like papaya enzymes, etc) that eat up dead skin cells.
@nancy-
I think Sallie was referring to chemical versus manual exfoliation. Chemical exfoliation generally refers to using acids on the face that slough off the top layer of skin, while manual would be using a grainy face wash, a washcloth, or Clarisonic to scrub the skin physically. “Chemical” does not necessarily mean artificial chemicals; AHAs and BHAs can be naturally derived, oftentimes from fruit (as is the case with Tata Harper, Juice Beauty, and many other natural products). Putting yogurt or lemon juice on your skin technically provides chemical exfoliation.
@Lolly @Silvy,
Silly me. Thank you two.
All the best,
@Nancy, Lolly and Silvy – Yes! What I meant was that the Tata Harper mask uses acidic enzymes – papaya I think, rather than scrubby stuff to exfoliate. Experts usually tell you to avoid the scrubby types of exfoliation (washcloth, a scrub with bits of almond in it, the clarisonic etc.) if you are breaking out because it can cause more inflammation and spread bacteria around, therefore causing more zits – and for myself I’ve found this to be true. However I feel like the Pai muslin cloth is much more gentle than a regular washcloth. I should also note that I wash mine with hot water and a disinfecting soap after every use because I’m paranoid about it collecting bacteria.
@ Clara – I like the Ctonics for my hair – it sounds like our hair texture is pretty similar. My roots to midshaft can get pretty oily – especially since I try to go as long between washings as possible (about 4 days for me) I really only massage the Ctonics into my roots (this is easiest for me if I flip my head upside down) and I use about 2 applications, one for the front of my head and one for the back. Then I twist my hair up and let it sit on my scalp, like a mask, while I do the rest of my showering – rinse it out at the end. Its a little drying to my ends, but not bad. And it smells nice!
@Silvy – I didn’t know L’oreal tested on animals! Boo! Well I’ll definitely have to make the switch (it’s so hard!)
@Sallie- PETA has good lists of companies that test and don’t here: http://www.peta.org/living/beauty-and-personal-care/companies/default.aspx
Also, I’ve been using Dr. Hauschka mascara for year and love it. Just a thought. Good luck!
Sorry, I meant to write “years” not “year” (about 4, actually)
Hey Sallie! I used to use L’Oreal voluminous too! I made the switch to some clean(er) mascaras.. the best are Couleur Caramel volumizing, Josie Maran GoGo, and the new Korres Volcanic one. All give the same sort of lift/density that the L’Oreal one does. Hope that helps!
Hey Sallie!
I have a tiny warning on the Vitex… I suffered from a lot of spotting before I found out that it was actually counteractive in treating my particular hormone imbalance. Like you I was taking it to treat acne flareups after going off the pill until recently when I finally got my hormone levels checked. If you (or anyone else) are like me and have a high LH:FSH ratio, then Vitex could be doing more harm then good since it can promote LH production. If you’re experiencing hormonal acne, I highly recommend getting a blood workup done to find out exactly what the problems are before you self-medicate. Otherwise, I’m all for the herbal supplements! They can be quite potent and effective.
Best of luck
xx