Smog, pollution, rain, frenetic lifestyle, smoke, UVA, make-up, air-conditioning, sweat, dust, stress: all the enemies of beauty in one city and in a student’s life.
Everyone at first contact with London and its rhythms will look for quick solutions for these small but annoying problems. At the beginning you will probably notice that the colour of your skin will too pale or that the fast food you are having will make unaesthetic spots appear on your face. Not to talk about hair. Rain will start being your enemy number one, together with humidity and smog. They will oblige you to wash your hair very often, something that could ruin your hair in the long term.
How can you bring your shine back to you? All around you there are plenty of advertisements giving you answers to this question. However, most of the times the products they advertise are way too expensive for a student. Is beauty, then, only for those who can afford it? Not at all! Let’s rediscover together some old, but very powerful, remedies.
First of all, as every grandma would tell you, the solution for your problems starts with good food: simply, eat well. Prefer vegetables, fruit and fish to make sure you have your dose of antioxidant. Even if you don’t wear makeup, make sure you clean your face at least twice a day: impurities close pores and make you have unaesthetic spots. Grandma’s solution for face washing: milk! You can also have good results with neutral soap or tonic water, that you can find at the supermarket for good rates. Water can contain lots of limescale and therefore be heavy on the skin. A trick is to boil it or use bottled water, but this last case can be expensive. How do you know if there is too much limescale in you tap water? If you have little foam the water is too heavy. This will help remove the “film” that impurities create on your skin making you appear pale and feel dirty.
Instead, to protect your hair from pollution without spending too much, there are several things you can do, using natural products that you can easily find in the shop at the corner. You can start using olive oil before shampoo. This, together with a long massaging (and a good rinse!), will make your hair last clean longer. Also, lemon juice, almond oil, aloe vera or white vinegar can guarantee you the same result for less money, compared with branded products.
If you feel more courageous and you have a bit more time, you can try want some masks. Here there are two recipes:
1) Take 1 mashed banana, add 1 egg, 3 tbsp of milk, 3 tbsp of honey. Mix well and apply on your hair and scalp. Wash off with a mild shampoo after 30 minutes.
2) Take 2 eggs, add 5 tsp of olive oil. Mix well and apply this on the scalp covering with a shower cap. Leave it for 30 minutes and then wash off with mild shampoo.
Some other tips: after washing the hair, allow it to dry naturally. Use hair dryer only after the hair is mildly damp and comb hair regularly and gently. At last, rain. Unfortunately, there is not much you can do against rain without buying specific products. The only advice I could give is to go for a natural style. Straightening your hair patiently and regularly can be stubborn, useless and dangerous for your amazing mane. But if you just make sure you wash your hair well and dry it naturally, you will secure yourself a style that won’t turn into a disaster once wet.