Tips to Practice Selfcare During Lockdown
In these circumstances, we’ve all had to make serious lifestyle adjustments. One such adjustment has been living without our estheticians and salons that many of us depend on. That means figuring out how to groom ourselves until we get the opportunity to reunite, and for many, learning to take care of your hair while it grows out. In a new series called (Hair)do It Yourself, we compiled some tips and tricks from the Fur team, as well as from a few of our favorite estheticians.
For those of us who typically wax, laser, or sugar, and don’t want to switch to shaving or at-home waxing from our typical routines, that means learning to live with (and maybe even learning to like!) our regrowth.
Best Ingrown Hair Treatment
Body hair regrowth doesn’t have to mean itchy, sharp stubble, as long as you’re taking the proper steps to keep the hair and skin conditioned. Fur Oil and Ingrown Concentrate are lifesavers: Fur Oil not only hydrates hair from root to tip, but it also keeps the skin underneath healthy and clear for fewer ingrowns. However, with the hair growing in, this can inevitably lead to a few trapped hairs and ingrowns. Ingrown Concentrate is a great SOS solution: it comes with an in-shower exfoliating finger mitt that buffs away dead skin, and its rich formula clears debris from your pores and makes the hair softer and easier to slide out. Used in tandem, these two products will make sure your regrowth comes in softer than ever and makes sure your skin is healthy and ready for your next salon appointment.
Two estheticians we talked to both agreed that this is an amazing time to focus on hair strengthening and nourishment. Rather than damaging your skin trying out new techniques, focus on making sure your next appointment is painless. Elizabeth Taylor of True Beauty Brooklyn, despite being a waxing professional for over fifteen years, has only waxed herself twice. “The second time that I tried to give myself a Brazilian, I lay spread eagle alone in my salon after hours and halfway through my wax, my mind refused to allow my hand to pull another strip, and instead started thinking of all of the ways that I could continue my life with this wax strip never being pulled. I swore that I would never again put myself through that torture!”
If you’d like to tidy things up around your pubic hair, we’d recommend getting a pair of sharp trimming scissors (don’t just use the ones you use to cut boxes) or a good electric trimmer. Panasonic makes a decent one, with a great attachment for adjusting the length.
Eyebrow Care at Home
As for brows, Aisha, an esthetician by the name of Brow Bandit, agreed that rather than causing trauma to your skin and hair this is a great time to treat yourself. “This is golden hour. Moisturize and take care of your brows. Oil every night—heck, oil every morning too because frankly, who's watching? Remember, overdoing your brows is not important right now. This is a great time to finally get them where you have wanted all along.” To go even further, she recommends treating your brows to a “three-point pressure” massage: “Massage with the direction of the hair to stimulate circulation and hair growth. Brows can suffer from stress too, so lay off the heavy pencils and powders if you can avoid them.” Two great oils for brow growth Aisha would recommend using are, of course, Fur Oil, or her personal holy grail: castor oil. For the latter, she recommends finding a castor oil with no additives or preservatives.
If you can’t resist the urge to do brow clean up, the tools you use are crucially important. Tweezerman is the gold standard for tweezers, but make sure yours are sterilized and sharp. A brow brush also helps define what you should tweeze—Elizabeth Taylor recommends brushing your brows upward, and only removing the excess hairs around the actual brow itself. These hairs are lighter and fuzzier and are not a part of your true brow hairs. Above all, abide by the less is more standard: over-tweezing, Taylor says, “is how you end up with 1.5 eyebrows, and a case of the Coronavirus Blues!”
While we can’t visit our beloved esthetician right now, there are also a number of great ways to support your salon in the interim. If they have an e-commerce website, consider buying your products from them rather than a big box store. Your salon might also do virtual consultations if you need a little extra help. Even just reaching out via DM with words of support can mean the world to small businesses. Right now, it’s not only important to take care of yourself, but the community around you, too. Though our brows and body hair clearly aren’t as valuable as our health and well-being, it’s still a nice way to relax and focus on ourselves in times like this.
