5 Summer Self-Care Ideas to Help Nurture Yourself

Here at Facial Expressions, we focus on whole-body health… which is why our founder and lead skin therapist, Kristen Cheyne, is here to explore 5 summer self-care ideas that may help you nurture yourself from the inside-out this season.

Each of these tips has personally assisted Kristen in exploring the many benefits of self-care. That’s why she’s happy to be sharing aspects of these tips that she personally loves (as well as new ones that she’s recently come across!)

The biggest takeaway? That self-care is, at its core, fully customizable: as such, tweaking these to your wants and needs will help you to get the most out of each experience. 

Without further ado, the first of these 5 summer self-care ideas are…

Summer Self-Care Idea #1: Opt for Botanically-Inspired Canadian Body Care This Season

Skincare is self-care. From nourishing our skin with professional products and treatments, to adhering to a healthy lifestyle to support our skin and overall health, to the calming routines we build around skincare, everything about it acts as the foundation of day-to-day whole-body health.

Kristen recommends opting for conscious, botanically-inspired body products this season to make the best of the seasonal skincare on the market. This includes:

• LOVEFRESH organic bath, body, and beauty works (namely in their summery lemon verbena, waterlily, and grapefruit scents)
• Routine deodorants, which are recyclable, refillable, and made with purely organic ingredients

Feel as good as you look knowing that these Canadian brands are high-quality and rich in skin-healthy nutrients and botanical extracts. Both can be shopped via the Facial Expressions online store.

Is there a specific summer-centric all-natural skincare inclusion that you’re personally excited to try out (or reintegrate!) this summer?

Summer Self-Care Idea #2: Reinvent Your Summer Barbeque 

Whether it’s testing a new dish out weekly or taking the time to lovingly prepare tried-and-true favourites, embracing the healing properties of healthy, well-prepared, eaten-with-friends-and-family (even over Zoom!) dishes is another one of Kristen’s top 5 summer self-care ideas to help nurture yourself.

One of her personal favourites? The Pioneer Woman’s Grilled Corn Guacamole. 

(Are you drooling already? We are!)

Fresh, nutrient-dense, and quick to prepare, this large-batch guacamole recipe is a long-time favourite of Kristen’s family. On top of being fun and breezy to prepare, making it also helps to soften the blow of not being able to visit her family this summer due to border closures. 

If you have a personal summer barbeque go-to, please feel free to contact Facial Expressions with it: Kristen is always on the lookout for new favourites!

Summer Self-Care Idea #3: The Grass is Greener Where You Water It (Especially When Gardening in An Apartment!)

Self-care is, in a sense, recycling our energy in a way that helps us restore it to its full original state.

This involves:

• Planning ahead
• Being consistent
• Daily care

The same can be said for gardening, whether you have an acre of land, a city plot or a container garden on your apartment balcony! 

Since moving into a new-to-them apartment this past Fall, Kristen and her husband Bryan have made a project out of turning their rooftop patio into a container garden oasis. If you’re new to gardening in an apartment, they recommend keeping it simple with herbs, salad greens, and/or succulents, all of which require minimal soil, sun, and water.

Are you a gardener? Which specific set of plants that are easy to nurture over the summer? What about any that you haven’t tried growing yet but would like to? It’s all a lovely experiment!

Summer Self-Care Idea #4: Explore Self-Care Through Self-Focused Hobbies

Another one of Kristen’s 5 summer self-care ideas to help nurture yourself is to take up self-focused hobbies.

After all, like plants, we require sufficient attention in order to grow and thrive! That means that dedicating our free time to hobbies that make us feel soothed, empowered, and emotionally fulfilled are crucial to our wellbeing long-term.

Examples of self-focused hobbies include:

• Yoga
• Meditation
• Reading (skin science books, biz books… and also some escapist sci-fi and fantasy!)
• Practicing gratitude
• Time with pets (ours absolutely adore our new patio)

Which of these have you not explored yet? Are you thinking of giving them a try this summer?

Summer Self-Care Idea #5: Embrace the Photodamage-Protectant Properties of Vitamin C Skincare

 

Getting back to the topic of skin health, what Kristen knows for sure is that summer is also time to embrace the photodamage-protectant properties of vitamin C skincare to prevent long-term pigmentation and aging issues. 

Along with providing protection from free radicals and oxidative stress, vitamin C has the additional benefits of reducing pigmentation, aiding in collagen production, firming the skin, and brightening one’s overall skin tone.

As an added bonus? Layering skincare products that are rich in vitamin C beneath your daily SPF will work to strengthen its sun-shielding effects!

Have you already started your photodamage-recovery skincare plan for the summer? If you haven’t, be sure to reach out to Kristen for custom recommendations. 

Remember That Self-Care Boils Down to 3 Key Aspects: Personalization, Consistency, and Discovery!

Just like how personalization, consistency, and discovery is key to successful skincare, the same goes for successful self-care.

We here at Facial Expressions hope that this summer of self-care is your most rewarding one yet. Which of these ideas will you be trying out first?