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5 Ways To Simplify Your Morning Routine

I was leafing through Real Simple magazine in a doctor’s office when I ran across the following article. I normally don’t read the magazine, as it doesn’t promote true simplicity in my mind; instead it seems to emphasize materialism with its many articles on products to make your life easier.

This article really irritated me. Titled “Simplify Your Summer Beauty Routine”, it gave eight ways to simplify, along with the time saved by skipping these items. Here are the items to skip: face washing in the morning, exfoliating your face, washing your hair daily, moisturizing your face, body lotion, foundation, hair serum and blow drying your hair. All in the name of saving time.

Simplicity vs. Saving Time

The thing is, simplicity is not about saving time. It’s about cutting out items that don’t add value to your life. You will probably save time if you cut out the extraneous, but that is not the purpose of simplifying.

Every single item in the article is something I do, and I would not consider skipping. If I followed their tips, I might save 5 minutes (their time saved estimates were overblown), but I would have greasy, frizzy hair that was curling every which way, my face would be splotchy and streaked from the tanner, and I would probably be sunburnt. Not to mention stressed from not having my daily time in the shower where I relax.

Real Simplicity Tips for Morning

As I thought about the article, I thought about ways that I have simplified my morning routine. Here is my take on the list.

1. Lay out your clothes the night before. This saves the time spent staring in the closet with half-closed eyes wondering what you will wear. Plus it will allow you to see if something can’t be worn because of stains or rips that you might not have noticed before.
2. Simplify Your Shower. If you can wash your face in the shower, do so. Eliminate unnecessary products. For instance, in the winter I need to use hair conditioner. In the summer, it weighs my hair down so I skip it in favor of a once-a-week deep conditioning to control frizzies.
3. Use Double Duty Products. My skin is such that I have to moisturize. I use a thick cream in winter, which would not be appropriate in the heat. In the summer I switch to a formula that is a light moisturizer combined with a sunscreen.
4. Eliminate Some Makeup in Summer. Summer looks are lighter. I pare down and skip the blush and eyeshadow most days. I still put on my foundation (which has sunscreen in it), mascara and eyeliner. A coworker of mine skips the makeup altogether in favor of a tinted sunscreen.
5. Simplify Your Haircut. I have problem hair. It is curly and wavy and obeys no one’s will. It is also extremely thick. When it was longer, I used to spend literally an hour to dry it, then smoothing it out with a curling iron. About three years ago, I got a cut that makes use of the waves and curls, eliminates the weight, and allows me to partially dry it and then go. I’m down to about 5 minutes. A good friend of mine braids her long hair wet and pins it up.

Simplifying is all about finding what works for you. Revisit what you do in the morning and see if there are things that don’t add value to your care or your day, and see if you can get rid of them.

Technorati : morning, saving time, simplicity

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