What every girl wants? Great hair, skin and figure, of course.
While some are blessed with good genes for all three criterias, most of us have to work a little harder to achieve that near-perfection.

However, I also think that a lot of us do not have the beautiful hair, skin and figure we want because of neglect - which ultimately, is our fault and we cannot fully blame our genes for that. Think about it, if we actually listened to our mothers, you would notice that mom's advice now makes more sense compared to when you were a teenager. Remember, it's always the little things that makes a difference. Mom's always right when it comes to these things. Here I'm listing down some of mom's advice along with some of my own.


For smoother, silkier hair - rinse off your conditioner with cold water
This actually works. The theory is that cold water seals the hair follicles, creating a shinier surface and a smoother feel. If your hair is really dry/damaged, try to incorporate this into your hair wash routine along with some weekly hair masks, you will notice the results in a few weeks' time.

For fresher skin - SCRUB!
This goes for both your face & body. We all know that our skin cells are always renewed every few days, but they don't really show unless we remove the dead skin cells off the surface of our skin. I would recommend two weekly scrubs for both face & body. All you need is to invest in a facial scrub & a loofah. Just use your facial scrub instead of your daily facial wash about 4 days in between. You can also use homemade face masks after a good scrub for that additional conditioning. As for your body, give it a good scrub-down with the loofah twice a week (or while having a good ol' milk bath). Don't scrub everyday though, give your skin some time to renew itself.

Promote healthy hair & skin growth - load up on H2o
We've all heard this a million times, and yet we don't comply. Water is what 70% of our body is made up of, which only makes sense to be drinking more water as we expel water through breathing, sweating, talking and in the toilet. Think of our body as a plant; without water, a plant's leaves wither. Our hair & skin are the leaves of our body, so load up the H2o to avoid withering.

For a lean figure - don't skip your meals
Many of you (myself included) once thought that "if I skip a meal, I lose more weight faster." I can tell you now that's NOT true. Let me explain. Our body recycles food throughout the day, converting it into energy. However, when we skip a meal, our hungry stomach alerts our body, which then goes into 'survival mode' where it stores the remaining food as fat as a back-up energy source. Then, when you decide to eat again, your body will think "oh, I guess I don't have to use the back-up right now" and will use the newly-ingested food instead. Therefore, that stored fat is stuck, and will accumulate every time you skip a meal. So don't skip a meal, have about 5 small meals per day and drink more water to trick your stomach into thinking it's full. Of course, you still need to have everything in moderation to avoid the extra pounds.

For that spring in your step - stretch!
No kidding, stretching is pretty important, something that most of us neglect. When you wake up in the morning, don't just leap right out of bed or drag yourself out sluggishly. Lie down for that extra 3 minutes and stretch your entire body. Just stretch as far as your body allows you to go, yawn deeply and then only get out of bed. When we sleep, our body sometimes stay in the same position and our muscles relax, which in turn puts them in 'lazy mode'. Stretching is a good way to warm-up your muscles and to let them know a new day of activity is about to begin so that they can prep themselves to serve you better.



For healthy eating & keeping the excess weight off - substitute the junk
Want to quit that unhealthy habit of stuffing all that junk food down your throat? In this case, just remember that "out of sight, out of mind." If you don't buy or leave junk food around your home or office, you are less likely to have any - it's all psychological. The best advice would be to buy more healthy snacks like oats, granola bars, etc and leave them around so that when you feel the need to have a midnight snack, it'll at least be something that's good for your body.



For that feel good vibe - sleep that extra hour
I know that a huge majority (myself included, again) don't get the recommended 8 hours of sleep every night. Too many distractions, too many thoughts - I get all of that. Let's try this, you don't have to go to bed by 9pm, but why don't we try to just adjust our sleeping time by ONE hour. If you, like me, go to bed at 2am, try for 1am instead. That extra hour makes up an additional 7 hours in a week, and that makes a whole lot of difference in the long run - and you'll definitely feel it too.


So all you really need to do is to alter your daily routines just a little bit (at none or minimal extra cost), and you'll soon see & feel the difference.

No harm in trying, really! ;)


p/s: Psst! Part two continues here.

xxx