Recently, my blogging group posted their question of the week and I thought it would be fun to answer and share with you all. The question posed was, “Knowing what you know now, what beauty advice would you give your teenage self?” Oh my! There is so much I would tell my teen self to do and not to do. I’m at an age now where I’m comfy being me and my teen self would’ve never thought that it was possible. I narrow my answers down to eight tidbits.
When I was younger I did crazy things. I laid out in the sun trying to get a tan using baby oil. Yes, don’t judge me. I will be the first to say I lived like I didn’t care. I think most of us when we are younger do things we regret…all that junk food and sodas.
Here are 8 things I would tell my teen self that my 30+ self had to learn the hard way. LOL
- Please for all that is good and holy in the world, moisturize your entire body. Lotion is your friend despite how much you hate the way it feels. My 30+ self is seriously wishing I would’ve picked up that habit for a number of reasons. I now have stretch marks, eczema, and cellulite (gotta love having children). I would’ve prevented some of this foolishness had I moisturized more. My mother tried to warn me when I was pregnant with my oldest, but I didn’t listen. Hardheaded!
- Keep up the workout habits you have now. Trying to tone and keep fit because trying at 30 is a pain. I would’ve warned myself about the effects of steroids and how much weight I would gain by taking them and not working out.
- What you put in your body does affect how you look. I wish I know how eating fruits and veggies would benefit my hair and skin. My grandmother had a garden and I seriously miss having fresh from the garden veggies. I would’ve told myself to enjoy the flavor because the things I eat now don’t taste the same. I say all the time how your diet will impact your hair growth, your skin texture, and overall well-being.
- Start a beauty regimen at 20 and stick with it. Stay consistent with whatever beauty regimen you pick. My skin would be so much better if I would’ve started early as my mother warned me to do. I remember being in high school and her trying to get me to take better care of my skin. The idea of washing my face with a bar of soap made her cringe. Now in my 30’s I see why. If I put soap on my face now…it would go crazy! I had no idea that my skin would become sensitive as I got older.
- Drink more water (your hair and skin will thank you). When I was younger I downed soda after soda. I hated water and you couldn’t pay me to drink even an eight-ounce glass of water. Now I’m older and I know if I don’t have enough water my skin will become seriously dry. Plus, I now have kidney disease, so I can’t drink sodas and I’m limited on how much water I can drink per day. Most people take being able to drink 64 ozs of water for granted. My max is three liters.
- Use sunscreen! I can’t tell you how many times I have fallen victim to sunburn. Can you imagine being pregnant with sunburn? Talk about the worst feeling in the world. More importantly, I’m starting to get sunspots from going out without sunscreen, and all the times I laid out in the sun with suntan lotion instead of sunblock. Mind you I do seriously need a tan right now but I don’t have any tanning salons near me. Bummer!
- Keep my hands off my face (acne is not your friend) and out of my hair (less manipulation = less breakage). My mother was also funny about people touching her face and as a teenager, I couldn’t figure out the big deal. I would tell my teen self that all that crap on your and your friend’s hands will cause your face to break out. Your hands have germs that can cause acne breakouts and that’s probably another reason why you are sick all of the time. The funny thing is now that I’m older I have OCD. I wash my hands constantly, but I realized somewhere in my 20’s why I was getting sick so much. You have no idea how many days I missed from school and how many acne outbreaks I had in high school. I was lucky that I didn’t have acne per se. I only had issues if I wore makeup, played with my face, or someone else touched my face. Keeping my hands out of my hair would’ve definitely made growing out my hair easy. You know when you are a teen you and your friend do each other’s hair and you change hairstyles like you change your undies. Yeah, bad idea!
- Wear lipstick colors that flatter you (black lipstick is not cute and years later you will ask yourself, “What the hell were you thinking?” Seriously! I have pictures of me with black and dark brown lipstick. It is not at all a cute site and now I understand why my father hated it so much. I went through a period where I was all black everything. I won’t say goth because that wasn’t it.
Are there things you would do differently now as an adult (if you are one) than you did as a teenager? What advice would you give to your teen self? Let me hear’em!
Jay of Relaxed Thairapy says
You’re so very welcome. Glad you decided to post them.
Jay of Relaxed Thairapy says
Oh my gosh, you’re beautiful, then and now!!! I love your photos.
Tiki says
Aww! Thanks Jay! I was almost hesitant to add my throwback pics. lol