One of the biggest challenges I found after becoming a mama, was maneuvering in some me-time in the morning to try and maintain some sort of a beauty regime.
It is all too easy, I think, to let this slip when you are in the trenches of life with young children, but I will argue that self-care, and making sure I both feel good about the way I look is an investment, and will, in the long run, also make me a better mum.
And guys, it is totally doable, trust me.
Want to try and shoe-horn in some me-time? Here are five easy ways to completely de-stress your morning beauty routine:
1. Get Up One Hour Earlier Than You Need To
I cannot even begin to tell you how much this trick has saved my sanity since returning to work after having my second baby. My morning hour is, apart from late at night, the only me-time I get in the day, and much as I initially do feel a little tired when my alarms beep-beeps at 05.45 every morning, once I do get up, I love knowing that I have the house and my time all to myself for the next full hour.
This is when I savour my morning cup of green tea in utter peace. Get my clothes for the day ready and put out the things for the kids. Check the forecast to see if anyone will need wellies or umbrellas.
And take my lovely time getting ready in the bathroom. I probably don't need to explain this further to anyone who has children, but the luxury it is to be able to do your hair or apply mascara without also, at the same time, having to break up fights over Shopkins or serve Cheerios is utter mama bliss.
2. Organize Your Bathroom For Speed And Simplicity
You probably already know what products you rely on to get you from zombie to siren in the mornings. I know I do. And so I came up with this handy little trick to make my morning routine so much smoother.
As in, instead of having to root through drawers or wash bags for my foundation brush or the perfume I am currently in love with every morning, I created a clever little tray with my morning essentials and left it out by the sink. That way I could always grab whatever I needed, and keeping it all on the tray ensured the bathroom counter never looked messy or chaotic.
3. Shower At Night, Wash Hair In The Morning
Since having children, I have learned that time in the morning is like gold dust, and needs to be used as cleverly and effectively as possible.
This is why I now always shower at night (or soak in the tub if time allows it), and leave only the hair washing until the morning. This means that I can take my time at night and dry brush, scrub and moisturize without having to worry about time running out or children coming in to ask fairly intrusive questions about my body parts.
It also means that all I have to worry about in the morning is my hair, which makes life so much simpler.
4. Invest In Some Multi-Tasking Beauty Products
Having beauty products that do double duty is a clever way to cut down on time spent getting ready in the mornings. Invest in a foundation that has a built-in SPF. Your lipstick can easily double as a creamy blusher. Or a neutral-coloured blusher can work perfectly fine as an eyeshadow too.
It might sound a little silly, but the fewer tubes you have to open, the more seconds you save.
5. Get The Most Our Of Your Blow-Dry
I have now perfected the art of making my Monday morning blow-dry last me for three days, meaning I save so much time on the mornings when I don't have to wash and dry my hair, only style it a little before skipping out the door.
On Monday I start the week with perfectly, bouncy blow-dried waves – such a great way to start the week.
On Tuesdays, I often clip it up into a half-up, half-down do as my hair still has a good bit of volume and waves from yesterday's blow-dry.
On Wednesday I tend to embrace the ponytail, which still looks good as my hair has some volume left from the blow-dry, and I find ponytails often work better on hair that is not too freshly washed.
And voila; I get from Monday to Thursday without having to spend too much time worrying about my hair looking good, and repeat the cycle on Thursday, for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
What about Sunday, you may ask? And to be honest, Sunday, in my house, is "throw your hair in a bun and get on with things" kind of day, often involving anything from grocery shopping to cleaning and food prepping for the week ahead, meaning glam hair is not needed, or even wanted. Which I consider a bit of a win-win.
So there you go. No need to skimp on your beauty routine just because you are busy, mamas. You should need to know how to make it work for you.
