Clean Kiss Lifestyle

The concept of self-care has been around since the days of Socrates in 5th Century BC but it seems to me that everywhere I look nowadays in 2022, kind of "post-pandemic-ish", there are messages of self-care popping up. Is it overused? Misunderstood? Or the necessary messaging that we all need nowadays? 

While I couldn't agree more that if ever there was a time for self-care: IT IS NOW. The pandemic taught us that our time on earth is fragile, misused and misunderstood. Our entire world and being was turned on its side and we had to learn to question everything. 

But, what really is Self-Care anyway? 

"First off, the Greek word for "care" would have been understood to include meditation, regular fasting, prayer, education, music, exercise -- anything that can be said to feed the soul.

Thigh chafing is a real struggle that almost all women face, no matter what size body you have or how large or small your thighs are. #chafinghappens

I was recently on a beach vacation in sunny Punta Cana, Dominican Republic and walked 2kms on the beach in my bikini to visit some friends at a neighbouring resort. By the time I arrived, my thighs were on fire with the worst thigh chafing I have had in a long time. Lucky for me, my friend uses my favourite natural cream deodorant and was able to help me out and calm my rash very quickly! 

Yes, I used natural deodorant to make it all better and to prevent further chafing for the walk back along the beach which I was dreading badly from pain. 

I escaped my computer today, at noon on a Monday, in order to visit my yoga studio for a hot vinyasa yoga class. Of all the things I have been missing during the pandemic, my in-person hot yoga practice at my studio has been top of the list. I didn't realize how much I even missed it until I had the chance to return to it these past couple days.

This may not seem like a big deal to you but it's a big deal to me. Monday's are usually the worst day of the week for me. The most stressful with the longest "to do" list ever, my most anxiety-filled day that I just power through with all my masculine energy to tackle all the "stuff" on my list. In fact, I almost cancelled my yoga class booking but felt bad to do that to my friend who owns the studio knowing they have been closed for months. 

As I lay there on my mat, I felt calm and peaceful.

I felt at one with the other humans in the room who were also there sweating their butts off from the minute of entry into the hot studio. If you have never experienced this, you must. And you may hate it. But that's part of what I am writing about here today. 

To me the part of being in the hot studio is that it is uncomfortably hot. That's the point. Doing yoga in this hot studio, like actually moving your body and getting into challenging poses, is also uncomfortable...and furthermore part of the point. 

When it comes to aging skin, we always like to think and speak of Healthy Pro-Aging, not anti-aging. We just don't believe in using the term anti-aging because it has become a systemic issue of negativity associated with aging in our society. We like to say "Age Gracefully", with style, confidence and great health!

This is what it means to live a Pro-Aging life!

Especially as women, it can be very hard to reject the negativity around aging and the stigmas that are associated with it. Sadly, many skincare and wellness brands, along with health professionals (aka "weight loss" and fitness trainers) use negative tones that make us feel bad about our body, our skin, and about aging, when trying to sell their products and services. 

Just because I am over the age of 35, doesn't mean I need to anti-age. Since when did aging become a bad thing? 

Although you may not think of that skin rash or acne breakout as inflammation, there's a good chance it is. In this article I will explain what inflammation is, what causes it, and how to reduce or eliminate it from your body (and thus your skin).

I promised to share with you my 5 Promising Ways to Calm Your Skin Inflammation (Quickly). A word of caution, by quickly I mean 1-3 months not 1 week. It will take that long at a minimum in order to rid your body of the toxins,  to figure what ingredients to avoid, or to make lifestyle changes to impact what is causing the inflammatory flare-ups.

You may start to see improvements right away and so I encourage you to keep diligent until you see your skin calm down and to heal.

Keep reading to get all of my 5 Promising Ways to Calm Your Skin Inflammation through natural methods including swapping out any toxic skincare for clean, toxin-free natural skincare.