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Beauty Tune-Ups in Time for Summer

If you are dreading taking off your socks and bearing your feet, or can't stand how your hair feels after you style it, you're suffering from the end-of-winter challenges that face women every year. Winter is tough on the skin, the nails and the hair, and recovering from that can be hard.

Here, then, are some tips to giving your hair, skin and feet a little respite from the ravages of winter.

Hair
First, remember that much of how your how behaves has to do with how you treat it. You can do much during the winter to keep hair healthy, like conditioning regularly and giving it a break from harsh treatments whenever possible.

But this isn't about being regretful for things not done in the past. We're trying to make things better in the sunny (read: summer) future. Consider these options:

♣ Go to the salon and pay for a deep conditioning treatment. Yes, times are tough, and this might seem like a luxury, but for the cost of a few coffees, you can have soft, shiny and silky hair again. Seems like a bargain, doesn't it?

♣ If you don't want to go the salon route, you can do a deep conditioning treatment at home, or you can try a serum that is of good quality. Use a small amount each day and apply strand by strand for best results.

♣ Finally, in the summer, your hair will dry quickly. See if you can lay off the blow dryer for a few weeks (or even take a break every couple of days). Even better? Lay off the curling iron and flat iron. Give your hair a break from the heat damage, because applying heat like that to already damaged hair is a recipe for hair distress.

Skin
Your skin takes a beating in the winter. Particularly if you live in a cold, harsh climate, skin is battered and often dry at the end of winter. But restoring its youthful and supple luster isn't impossible.

To get your skin into summer shape quickly, consider these tips:

♣ Skip the hot baths, which are harsh on your skin. Instead, opt for a quick shower under warm (not hot) water.

♣ Use a good quality lotion all the time, not just when your skin feels dry. Even in the summer, when you think your skin has been restored somewhat to its natural condition, use the lotion with consistency. This will help your skin stay moist when winter rolls around again.

♣ Find a few extra pennies in the budget and buy a good quality gentle soap, not the cheap and drying soaps that are inexpensive and plentiful. The difference in cost is really just a few cents but the impact to your skin is significant.

♣ Finally, use a cortisone cream on any red, dry patches of skin you have. For those little itchy annoyances, the plain lotion won't be enough. You need the cortisone to really make a difference.

Nails and feet
Your cuticles are dry and cracked and, unfortunately, so are your heels. Fixing the feet and hands becomes high priority when summer rolls around.

♣ Get a manicure and a pedicure. Many women find that they can get just one or two pedicures a summer and keep their feet looking great in between. But nothing will replace having that professional treatment on your feet at the beginning of summer. When you also come away with a new manicure, your hands will be refreshed, moisturized and your cuticles will look healthy.

♣ Use lotion regularly on your nails and hands and find one that's for the nails specifically. These often have a proprietary mix of ingredients that are designed to moisturize and protect nails as well as skin.

♣ Buy a product (like a Ped Egg) that will slough the rough patches from your feet and make them sandal ready. If you use the Ped Egg regularly during the summer, you will dispel the idea that summer must come with rough heels. Your heels can stay smooth and attractive instead.

With a little planning, and some investment of time and money, you can restore your skin and hair to healthfulness after a dreary and harsh winter.

by Deb McLeod