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Looking and feeling clean has a massive impact on your emotional and mental well-being. Taking steps to clean and embellish yourself are major acts of self-care and demonstrations of self-value. If you’ve ever gone a couple of days (or even a week or more) without a shower, you know the indescribable satisfaction of having water hit your body and the gentle abrasion of a lathered, sudsy loofah (or even after an intense workout or outdoor activity/labor on a hot/humid day).
Here’s 15 things you can do consistently to keep your body—and mind—fresh AF 24/7.
- Take time to relax and know your body when you shower/bathe. Being positively aware (and not ashamed) of your body is an indescribably powerful thing, including aspects you don’t like about it or find inconvenient (pubic hair, odors, toes/toenails, cellulite, stretch marks, scars, asymmetry, etc.) Being aware allows you to understand what you do and don’t like and explore why. This way, if you like certain things, you can enhance and flaunt them more, and if you truly dislike others, you can change them (provided they are, in fact, changeable and it’s safe physically, mentally, and emotionally to do so). Read How To Look (And Feel) Beautiful.
- Your skin is your largest organ so attend to it and its various components (hair, follicles/pores, melanin, etc.) diligently. For example, shaving your pubes and dry brushing your skin for better exfoliation, elasticity, evenness and circulation. Enhance your cleansing by dry brushing your skin before you shower to efficiently remove dead skin cells that might otherwise cling on and topically improve your skin’s overall blood circulation and lymphatic drainage (toxin/waste removal process). Read How To Get Glowing, Out-Of-This-Galaxy Skin.
- Smell good all the time, even when working out/doing intense physical activity that allows you to sweat well by making sure your clothes smell good. Fabric holds smell (good or bad) quite effectively (which is why hair does the same—and why you may want to opt to keep your pubes shaved or trimmed). Use fragrance oils on your clothes in cream instead of water like eau de perfume or eau de toilette (body splash). The fragrance oil is far more concentrated and the cream is thicker and more viscous than the volatile alcohol and water used to make perfume. So, the fabric of your clothes will hold onto it much, much longer, essentially until you wash it off. Whereas traditional perfume will evaporate and dissipate far sooner as it has a significantly shorter lifespan. Soft, feminine notes are ylang-ylang, jasmine and rose. Look up the top, middle and base notes of your favorite perfume(s) and get their fragrance/essential oil components and mix those in with a viscous, water-based body cream or lotion and rub the fragranced cream into your clothing so it absorbs in inconspicuous areas like the armpit area or inside the hem of the collar. When your clothes smell amazing, so do you. You wear clothes all the time so it makes sense that if you want to smell great all the time easily, just have your clothes smell great with your preferred scent in a mixture/substance that won’t wear off or evaporate.
- Wash your clothes, bedding and towels/robes regularly and thoroughly. Choose your laundry detergents and cleansing agents carefully so they clean your clothes really well and don’t irritate your skin. Dirty clothes and shoes hold on to odor so keep them clean always. Designate days and create a schedule so you always have clean clothes and innerwear available.
- Practice good dental hygiene and use diluted baking soda to sanitize and deodorize your mouth, teeth, gums and tongue as an oral rinse and use a water pick to floss. Traditional floss can accidentally cut into your gums and cause bruising and micro tears and wear between your teeth over time, especially if you have sensitive gums or your teeth are closely packed together.
- Deodorize your body from the inside out. This is a much more efficient and beneficial step than using external deodorant. Taking chlorella deodorizes you all over, including your breath over time and provides so many other nutritive and detoxifying benefits. If you need to use an external deodorant, opt for one that is more gentle, natural-based and pH balanced for your skin and safe to use near a major detox zone like your armpits. Remember, your armpits are a lymphatic drainage hotspot and they are close to your breasts (thinner, high-absorbing skin) so what you use on them gets absorbed in to your boobies over time. This is particularly important if you are breast-feeding or plan to. Look out for your girls and they’ll do right by you.
- Take care of your feet. Your toes and toenails can be oft neglected, just because they’re all the way down there, particularly if you wear closed-toed shoes or socks most of the time. Wear cotton socks over other fabrics to absorb sweat and change them at least weekly. Give your feet a salt soak once a week to keep them clean and free of debris and fungi. If you do have a toe/nail fungus infection, (athlete’s foot, etc.) use an antifungal essential oil like tea tree oil (diluted in a non-essential oil like jojoba oil) on the area 1 to 2 times a day until it clears up and keep your feet free, dry and uncovered as much as possible.
- Keep your hair and scalp clean and smelling good. This includes dry-cleaning your scalp with warm baby wipes or a damp cloth if you choose not to water wash your hair as frequently or don’t have the time. You can also use some diluted tea tree oil to keep your scalp free of any fungal or bacterial build up in between water washing. Using a fragrant essential oil (like ylang ylang and jasmine) diluted in another botanical carrier oil or hair grease will allow your hair to smell nice all the time (basically, a hair perfume) while nourishing your hair and scalp at the same time.
- Use a clay mask on your face and neck and upper chest weekly or biweekly. Rhassoul clay is an amazing choice for a satiny, soothing mask that will leave your skin smooth, soft and clear, especially with continued, consistent use.
- Clean your earrings, jewelry and other piercings regularly (especially the backs). They hold buildup over time that produces a nasty odor. Clean them and your ear holes or other piercing holes properly with soap and cotton swabs and soak your jewelry in baking soda solution once a month for about 30 minutes, especially everyday earrings and necklaces. It will deodorize, clean, and restore the metallic parts or reverse any discoloration from oxidation.
- Keep your fingernails clean and properly filed/shaped and maintained, especially if you like to grow and wear them long.
- Practicing internal cleaning by drinking enough water, juicing and enemas/colonics will go a very, very long way in keeping you clean and healthy, reducing the workload on your skin, liver, kidneys and other detoxifying organs and, therefore, you end up producing/eliminating waste (sweat, pee, poop, vaginal discharge, menstrual blood, etc.) that doesn’t smell as malodorous/concentrated).
- Opt for silicone menstrual cups for more sanitary and comfortable periods. (Pads/tampons/period panties are all made of absorbent fabric and fabric holds odor), especially if you have heavy periods. If you can’t use them for one reason or another (difficulty inserting, leaking, discomfort, public restrooms) organic, pesticide-free cotton pads are a safer alternative. Speaking of public restrooms, remember to always stoop/crouch over the toilet bowl when you pee and line the seat with toilet paper before you sit to poop. Basically, “don’t sit if you can help it”. Also, don’t flush sanitary napkins, pads or tampons down the toilet. You’re going to end up clogging it. Wrap it back up in the individual wrapping you first took it out of and toss it in the trash can.
- Pee right after sex and drink lots of cranberry juice to prevent UTIs and eat plenty of yogurt/fermented foods/probiotics to keep good intestinal and vaginal bacteria in balanced, optimal numbers.
- Avoid vaginal douching. Use plain yogurt (which contains natural probiotics) soaked in a natural, pesticide-free cotton tampon to get rid of malodor-producing vaginal bacterial and yeast infections.
There we have it. Share one way you keep fresh and clean below, and the role it plays in building the person you want to become.♥
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