A Year of Natural Health & Beauty:

52 Tips to Enhance Your Body, Mind, and Spirit

I’ll be updating the list as the year progresses! Here they are so far:

• Tip #1: Drink Lemon Water

• Tip #2: Make Your Own Face Scrub

• Tip #3: Make Your Own Hair Lightening Spray

• Tip #4: Quick Morning Eye Massage

• Tip #5: Practice Legs Up the Wall

• Tip #6: Drink Green Juice & Smoothies

• Tip #7: Stretch Once an Hour

• Tip #8: Rinse Your Hair with Beer for Volume and Shine

• Tip #9: Use Lemon to Fade Skin Discolorations

• Tip #10: Yogurt & Honey Mask to Reduce Redness and Irritation

• Tip #11: Use Magnesium for Relaxation

• Tip #12: Use Tea Tree Oil to Zap Zits

• Tip #13: Floss to Benefit Your Whole Body

• Tip #14: Enhance Your Hair’s Red Tones with Hibiscus

• Tip #15: Soften Calluses with Vinegar

• Tip #16: Use Green Tea as a Skin Toner

• Tip #17: Get Dirty to Get Happy

• Tip #18: Take a Cold Shower

• Tip #19: Make Your Own Body Scrub

• Tip #20: Change It Up

• Tip #21: Practice Mindfulness Meditation

• Tip #22: Homemade Face-Lifting Mask

• Tip #23: Homemade Protein Hair Mask

• Tip #24: Use Coconut Oil to Remove Makeup

• Tip #25: Use Apple Cider Vinegar as a Skin Toner

• Tip #26: Take Epsom Salt Baths

• Tip #27: Practice Progressive Relaxation

• Tip #28: “Palm” Your Tired Eyes

• Tip #29: Give Yourself a Foot Massage

• Tip #30: Exercise and Massage Your Hands

• Tip #31: Steam Your Skin with Chamomile

• Tip #32: Make a Strawberry Face Mask for Oily Skin

• Tip #33: Walk There

• Tip #34: Practice Savasana (Corpse Pose)

• Tip #35: Use Raw Honey to Heal Wounds and Prevent Scars

• Tip #36: Make Your Own “Beach Hair” Texturizing Spray

• Tip #37: Set Boundaries for News

• Tip #38: Let Music Transport You

• Tip #39: Enhance Your Hair’s Dark Tones with Coffee or Tea

• Tip #40: Relax and Focus in Just Ten Breaths

• Tip #41: Take Off Your Shoes

• Tip #42: Make a Tennis Ball Massager

• Tip #43: Soak Nails in Lemon to Remove Stains

• Tip #44: Make Your Own Olive Oil Moisturizing Hair Mask

• Tip #45: Make Your Own Microdermabrasion Scrub

• Tip #46: Sweat It Out with a Ginger Bath

• Tip #47: Twist to Help Digestion

• Tip #48: Make Your Own Dry Shampoo for Light, Dark, or Red Hair

• Tip #49: Go On an Artist Date

• Tip #50: Roll to Release

• Tip #51: Do Nothing

• Tip #52: Be Here Now

Thanks for visiting! This is a yearlong project, in which I post a new tip each week. All the tips included here are easy, frugal, and all-natural. These will include recipes for homemade beauty items plus tips on nutrition, exercise, and stress relief. I wanted to make sure the tips included in this project are:

• Simple: All tips, especially those requiring steps, should be straightforward, clear, and easy enough for my 10-year-old niece to follow.
• Frugal: Many of the beauty ideas require only ingredients that you very likely already have in your kitchen or pantry! If you need to buy new ingredients, they are probably things you would buy anyway (salt, sugar, oils). Containers can be anything you might normally recycle: used yogurt tubs or jam jars and empty travel-size shampoos work great.
• All-natural: I know that’s a vague term these days and I’m not going to get into details here about the FDA and cosmetics un/regulation in the US. Suffice it to say, for this blog, “all-natural” means the following: for beauty tips, if I can’t eat it, it doesn’t go on my skin (except for essential oils, which you should never consume orally); for health tips, the go-to methods are food, exercise, rest, and spirituality, not pharmaceuticals.

Always remember that natural health and beauty need a solid foundation of wellness and self-care.

Here’s a quick review of  The Basics:

1. Get plenty of sleep
2. Exercise regularly
3. Eat right
4. Drink plenty of water
5. Use sunscreen daily
6. Brush AND floss twice a day
7. Exfoliate all over
8. Smile 

For more in-depth analysis of The Basics, keep reading!

1. Get plenty of sleep.

Lack of sleep contributes to everything from stress to weight gain to loss of brain function and memory and decreased sex drive. Getting your “beauty sleep” really does count, as lack of sleep also results in sallow skin, dark shadows, and puffy, bloodshot eyes due to excess cortisol, which breaks down the skin’s collagen and inhibits its ability to repair itself.

2. Exercise regularly.

At least 30 minutes a day of walking, running, dancing, biking, swimming, yoga, Pilates ~ whatever floats your boat, just do it! Break it up into 10-minute segments if you have to. Shopping counts, if that’s all you have time for. So does gardening, cleaning, and having sex. Not only will it help your weight and metabolism, it will help to improve your mood, brain function and memory, and will increase cellular turnover, keeping your skin looking fresh and young!

3. Eat right.

Of course, it’s not up to me to say what’s “right” for you. But one thing that’s right for everyone is whole foods! Nobody has summed it up better than Michael Pollan: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” (Note: he didn’t say only plants.) Vegetables and fruit provide vital nutrients that help to increase cellular turnover, which is basically your body’s natural fountain of youth. Eat the rainbow every day! Stay away from refined and processed foods, fake foods, additives, and sugar ~ choose whole, organic, wild, unrefined, unprocessed foods, instead. Your natural health and beauty will thank you.

4. Drink plenty of water.

You’ve had this drummed into your head but I’m saying it again. Dehydration shrinks your brain, dries out your skin, contributes to wrinkles and splotches, and can make you depressed and irritable. Hydrate up!

5. Use sunscreen daily.

With all the super-sheer, chemical-free, and fragrance-free options available today, you really have no excuse. I love a tan as much as anyone, but I love my body’s largest organ even more.

6. Brush AND floss twice a day.

Another one that’s been drummed into your head, but sometimes you just need to hear it again. Both, twice, every day. Not just for your gorgeous pearly whites but for your overall health.

7. Exfoliate all over.

Skin covers everything! Even if you’re eating right and getting plenty of antioxidants and vital nutrients, your skin could use some extra help on the outside. Be gentle but be consistent. Your skin will glow from a daily scrub!

8. Smile. 

It improves your mood, boosts your immune system, attracts friendly people, and makes you look beautiful no matter what your skin, hair, nails, and outfit have to say.

 Questions

1. Do you have any favorite health and beauty tips you’d like to share? Please feel free to do so in the comments!

2. Is there any particular area of natural health and beauty you’d like to learn more about?

About andrea drugay

Space traveler, part-time genius, firestarter.

View all posts by andrea drugay →