How to make the world a better place, your way

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Walk along the road, go to the park or visit the local woods, and we are pretty sure you will see litter on the street, mess in the gutter and writing on the walls.

A sign of the times – maybe?

Something you can change – definitely.

We have some ideas on how small actions taken by each of us, can make a big impact for all of us in the world we call home.

Plogging
Don’t know what plogging is, where have you been? Well, the Scandinavian’s have come into their own again, as they conied this phrase by combined picking up litter as you run. Doing this means that as well as getting fit and active, this helps you clean up where you live and as you only need your trainers, a bag for life and some gloves to get started, what’s stopping you?

Catch the rain
Water butts are great because the rain water you collect keeps your garden healthy during the dry summer months without draining other resources. If you don’t have the space for a water butt, reuse bath water or collect the water when you’re in the shower and not only will you have green grass but lower bills.

How about a town makeover
Whether it’s a collapsed fence, stagnant pond or graffiti-covered wall, if you offer some time and TLC you can make your corner of the world look better. If you want to give something a new lease of life, get permission from your local council first, then get family, friends and neighbours involved and bring people together, for the better.

Cut down your emissions
Reducing the amount you use your car can really help to cut your carbon footprint, and it isn’t that hard to do. Instead of drving the car to go to the local shops, walk instead, share your commute to work with people who live close by and why not holiday in the UK, rather than taking a plane somewhere else in the world?

Give back
Life is busy, but giving your time to someone in need can be rewarding for you and very much appreciated by them. Helping an elderly friend with their library books, tackling the weeds in your neighbour’s garden, or helping out at the food bank might only be an hour to you, but it could offer a life line to someone else. By doing a quick online search you will find something that will work for you, and no matter where you volunteer, you will make a difference to others.

Buy less
If you want to produce less rubbish, why not simply buy less stuff? When you do shop, go for packaging that can be recycled, freeze what you aren’t going to have time to eat and before you splash the cash, make sure you really need what you are about to purchase, there are only so many jumpers and pairs of jeans you can wear.

Donate
Old and unwanted clothes, furniture and food might not seem much to you, but you will find that homeless shelters and charity shops will be more than happy to take them from you and there will be someone out there will give them a much loved home.

Grow your own
Flowers, plants and trees look pretty but they also remove CO2 from the air and replace it with oxygen, which is what we need. Why not think about taking up gardening, be that at home or in a local space, community garden, old people’s home or school and before you know it, you’ll be creating a welcoming environment and giving back to the world at the same time.

Grow your own
If you’re fed up of having to buy your fruit and veg in plastic bags, why not grow your own? By doing this, you will cut your plastic use, your food will be fresh and organic and if you freeze what you grow, you will have fertiliser free produce on tap.

Team Pure Beauty

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Top tips for keeping calm

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Keeping calm can be a challenge when time is tight and someone then cuts you up in traffic, closes a door on you or doesn’t deliver their report by an already extended deadline. Anger is a normal, even healthy emotion, but only if you deal with it in a positive way. We have some simple tips that could help you, help yourself.

Think before you speak
In the heat of the moment, it’s really easy to say something you will regret later, so take a moment or two to collect your thoughts before saying anything. Hopefully others will do the same, and the situation won’t escalate into a disaster.

Talk when you are calm
Once you have time to think about things, and your anger has subsided, it is easier to be assertive, and not confrontational. Talk over your concerns without hurting others or controlling them, and life will be easier and calmer and you will stay calm.

Take some timeout
We often think that timeout is just for children, but it is helpful for grown-ups too. Having short breaks during the day offers you a little bit of quiet and can stop you getting angry and irritated. Have a cuppa, walk in the garden, sit and meditate, or just listen to some music and you can catch up with yourself – prevention is better than cure when it comes to heightened emotions.

Exercise = calm
Taking time out to exercise is a brilliant way to look after yourself, and to keep calm. A brisk walk or run, a swim, game of netball or even an afternoon spent gardening, can get your heart rate going and those feel good endorphins will make you feel happy and calm rather than cross and bothered.

Look for solutions
It might seem easier to focus on what depletes your calm reserves, but a better use of your time would be looking to resolving the issues bothering you. Does your son’s mess drive you crazy? Then walk away and close the door, he can clean it up. Is your bestie always late when you meet up? Then take a book and catch up with some reading and make the most of the quiet. Anger doesn’t fix anything, but it can make you feel worse, so curb it and will be calmer and happier.

Don’t bear a grudge
You might not want to forgive and forget, but bitterness can make you feel even worse. Why not be the better person and reach out an olive branch and that way you might learn from the situation and grow calmer and stronger, rather than being angrier than ever.

Have a laugh
If you can to see the lighter side of what is going on, if you search harder enough even that mouldy sandwich on a plate left by your partner under the sofa, might seem funny…….might!

Try to relax
As well as taking some exercise, you can work on your anger by relaxing a little bit more than usual. Meditation, long baths, listening to calming music, writing a journal, doing some yoga or watching a funny movie could help take your mind of your worries and help you to relax.

Seek help if you need to
While anger is a normal emotion, if you are finding it hard to keep things in check and your calm has disappeared, speak to your GP and look at what help is out there so that you and others are safe and well.

Team Pure Beauty

Find the right yoga for you

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Yoga is as popular as ever and for good reason. As well as helping you to relax and sleep better, it also improves flexibility, builds muscle strength, perfects posture, increases blood flow, helps you focus and improves balance.
If you want to start practising yoga, but are confused where to begin because of all the choice, you aren’t alone. We have had a look at the main types of yoga, and are sure there will be something that will make you want to strike a pose.

Hatha Yoga
Hatha yoga is one of the most popular yoga choices and is a good place for beginners to start. Hatha is known for slow-paced, gentle postures, and not only will it give you time to get to grips with yoga, but will also be a great chance for you to start to unwind and relax.

Vinyasa Yoga
With Vinyasa (flow) yoga there is an emphasis on matching your breath with the key yoga postures like sun salutations. Postures practised during a class effortlessly flow from one to another, with deeper stretching exercises at the end of a class. Vinyasa yoga tends to be a little more demanding than Hatha because of the continuous flow of movement, but it is still a good choice at the start of your journey.

Ashtanga Yoga
Ashtanga yoga is a faster-paced, more intense, flowing style of yoga founded by Pattabhi Jois in the 1960s. In an Ashtanga class you always performs the exact same poses in the exact same order, which makes this more physically demanding because of the constant movement.

Iyengar Yoga
Iyengar yoga is about bringing the body into its best possible alignment, often using yoga blankets, blocks, and straps to assist students as necessary to get the most from their class. Iyengar practice usually involves holding poses over longer periods of time rather than moving swiftly from one pose to the next, so it could be something that can be tried once the basics are mastered.

Bikram (Hot) Yoga
Hot yoga was pioneered by Bikram Choudhury and is where classes are taught in a room heated to around 95 degrees. The reason behind this is because the heat allows tight muscles to relax and encourages sweating, which is thought to be cleansing. The Bikram method is made up of a series of 26 poses and because your muscles warm up thoroughly, there should be no aches or pains the next day, just a sense of calm and wellbeing.

Kundalini Yoga
Kundalini yoga focuses on the breath and physical movement, and is meant to help free energy in the lower body and allow it to move upwards through all the chakras.

Restorative Yoga
Oh, this sounds nice, because it is . Restorative yoga is all about relaxing the body into poses over several minutes, then holding the poses for more time than usual to enhance stretching. Seated forward bends, gentle backbends, and twists are the type of poses that can be adapted to be restorative and with the addition of props like blankets and blocks, it can be used by many people.

If you are still unsure what type of yoga is best for you, ask at your local gym or yoga centre and they will be happy to help explain more.

Team Pure Beauty

How to get back on the dating scene

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Anyone who has had their heart-broken, and let’s face it, most of us have, knows that getting back on the dating scene can be tough. Your confidence may have been shattered, you may not feel like trusting anyone again and seeing your ex on Facebook with someone new might send you crashing back under your duvet not wanting to face the world ever again.

The thing is, time really is a healer and at some point you will start to feel better and will want to get out again and even meet someone new.

The temptation for many people is to get carried away and jump into a full-on relationship with the first person you meet. We aren’t saying this never works and love at first sight doesn’t happen, but if you don’t know someone very well, then getting into an intense relationship too early could spell disaster in the long-term.

We have put together some top tips you may want to consider before going out there and dating someone new.

Don’t compare them to people from your past
When you first meet someone new, it is hard not to compare them with your ex, but you need to. For any new relationship to stand a chance of going somewhere, it is best to start with a blank canvas that doesn’t have the cloud of your past experiences overshadowing the possibilities of something new. Just because your last partner was a cheat, it doesn’t mean that everyone else will have a roving eye or everyone will lie to you. You may still hold a candle for someone you thought was ‘the one’, but they weren’t and if you compare everyone to them, you could be heading for a table for one.

Put the deal-breakers on the table
You don’t want to scare someone off but sounding out deal-breakers such as marriage, kids and location is something you may want to do early on, but not in the first five minutes. If you really want to have children in the future and your date is totally against it, they aren’t going to be the one for you. If you are happy living in London and their long-term plan is to sit in the sun in Sydney, you might want to consider what life with them would be really like and if you are willing to give up your dreams so they can make theirs come true. We aren’t saying only go on one date, but if you aren’t willing to compromise, and they aren’t either, this won’t work out, so have fun, but don’t get in too deep!

Are you on the same page?
If red flags are flying, there is usually a reason for this and we would suggest that you follow your gut instincts. Maybe they’ve never had a serious relationships, it could be that they have been married four times already or maybe they are addicted to dating apps. We all have a past, but you will soon get an idea of what someone is like and whether they are on the same level as you when it comes to emotional maturity and stability.

Find common ground
They say that opposites attract, but if your date lives and breathes football, and you hate it, how will you feel when it takes up every weekend and three evenings a week? If you are a vegan and they love a burger for dinner, how does that sit with you? You love being outside and they are a keen gamer – will that be a winner for you? No one is perfect, but you do need to be with someone who shares some of your interests and values or it could be a lonely love affair.

Take it slow
Many relationship grow organically over time, alongside trust, so don’t be in a rush. If you are feeling that they are too clingy, absent or let you down time and again, address that sooner rather than later, and if you think this could be it, just take your time and see where things are going.

You deserve to be happy, so enjoy dating, find someone you really click with and trust, and once you take off the rose-tinted glasses from the past you may well find the perfect partner for your future.

Team Pure Beauty

Five Ways to Speed Up Your Shower

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Photo by Seth Doyle on Unsplash

For many of us, our daily shower is the time we take for five minutes of peace and tranquillity, a private moment where we get to relax and unwind. However, showers don’t have to take an age, and if you’re looking to cut down your showering time, be that to get more sleep, save water or simply because you don’t like taking forever in the bathroom, we have five tips to help you to speed things up:

Don’t Put the Shower on Ages in Advance

The average shower takes just 30 seconds to get to the right temperature, but many of us put the shower on up to five minutes in advance and then potter around while the water is running. Try to put the shower on just before you get in and actually get in once the shower reaches the right heat. This will save water and reduce aimless ‘pottering’ time.

Use Your Time Wisely

Most of us have a routine we follow once we get into the shower, but there are a few steps which can be done at the same time. If you’re washing your hair, time spent with conditioner on your head can be used for shaving, tooth-brushing or exfoliating.

Use Multifunctional Products

If cutting down on time is your priority, opting for products which do several jobs at once could really help. Use a moisturising body wash, for example, which could cut down the need for additional moisturisers (unless you have very dry skin). Dermalogica Conditioning Body Wash contains purifying essential oils and natural extracts to cleanse the body without over-drying while conditioning the skin

Remove Some Steps

Often, people take ages in the shower because they do things that don’t really need to be done every time you shower. Shaving, hair washing, exfoliating – are these absolutely essential, every day? If not, do them every second or third day, or spread them out across the week, which will save time and water.

Only Wash Once

If you’re a ‘wash once’ sort of person, this may seem odd to you, but it’s a fact that there are LOTS of people out there who wash their body once…and then do it all over again in the same shower! In fact, lots of people wash two or three times, which is completely unnecessary and could even dry your skin out. Try to complete just one full wash per shower o protect your skin and your water bill!