September 30, 2019 at 04:21PM by CWC Out of all of the facial cleansing options that exist—makeup wipes, micellar water, milky cleansers and the list goes on and on—one would think that oil cleansers would be the most gentle of the bunch. They’re formulated with an oil as the base, after all, and facial oils are known for dousing your skin with moisture. But actually, they can be a double-edged sword. “The reason oil cleansing works so well for a deep cleanse is the ‘like binds like’ concept,” says Sarah Villafranco, MD, physician and founder of Osmia Organics. “Oil massaged into the skin binds with oil, sebum, and the contents of open comedones or blackheads. If you oil cleanse too frequently, you’ll pull too much of the skin’s natural sebum away, leaving your sebaceous glands in a state of panic—they’ll feel like they need to create more sebum.” So there can be too much of a good thing, especially if you’re using a washcloth or another cleanser after oil cleansing to make sure all of the oil is removed. “When you use a hot washcloth to wipe away the cleansing oil, you’re removing every last bit of your skin’s natural oils as well, leaving your skin smooth and soft and often a bit tight,” says Dr. Villafranco. Dermatologist and founder of Visha Skincare Purvisha Patel, MD, echoes the fact that dryness can happen if you’re going overboard on oil cleansing. “Vigorous oil cleansing when done either by itself and definitely with
Category: You and your body
5 yoga poses that banish bloat faster than you can say ‘namaste’
September 30, 2019 at 04:17PM by CWC Yoga class has reputation for relaxing you from head-to-toe. Not to be graphic, but your bowels are totally included in that. Amanda Sauceda, MS, RDN, a registered dietitian shared a post on Instagram of a five-pose, bloat-relieving flow that will “help you get pooping.” Beth Cooke, a New York City yoga instructor, previously told Well+Good the reason why a simple vinyasa flow can get your gastric juices flowing. “Because you’re moving around—maybe you’re twisting or maybe you’re folding—you’re pressing on your intestines, the air that’s already in there has to go someplace so it’s natural, and it happens, and I just pretend that I don’t hear it and I keep it moving.” Personally, I’ve felt these effects first-hand. Letting one rip in downward is practically a yogi’s right of passage. But if you happen to need to bid farewell to bloat—and fast—roll out your mat and try Sauceda’s moves on for size. 5 yoga poses for constipation View this post on Instagram Constipation yoga flow ⠀ ⠀ All of these poses are designed to help you relax and get your bowels moving.⠀ ⠀ Here’s the order I like to use for these moves..⠀ ⠀ 1. Downward-Facing Dog⠀ 2. Cat-Cow⠀ 3. Wide-Knee Childs Pose⠀ 4. Seated Twist⠀ 5. Wind-Relieving Pose⠀ ⠀ Honestly, you can mix and match these moves in any way that feels good to your body.⠀ ⠀ This gut friendly yoga flow can help you get pooping. Make sure to
‘I’m a cardiologist, and this is the one measure I want you to pay attention to on your Apple Watch.’
September 30, 2019 at 02:00PM by CWC In middle school P.E. class, my teacher taught me how to measure my own heart rate. I remember the moment being kind of magical. It was a brand-new way to take ownership of my own health and wellness, and I found myself taking my pulse in spare moments. You know, just for kicks. Now, it’s 2019—and if you have an Apple Watch, BPMs are just one of countless heart metrics your wearable is constantly recording. It’s fun to set aside an hour or so to learn the full span of what the Apple Watch can teach you about your own ticker. If you want to skip the homework and head straight for the heart measurement that matters the most though, Jennifer Haythe, MD, director of cardio-obstetrics and internist at NYPH/Columbia, says to look no farther than your resting heart rate. Your resting heart rate, as defined by the American Heart Association (AHA), is “the number of times your heart beats per minute when you’re at rest.” When you’re in the middle of a high-intensity workout, your pulse with quicken in your chest. But Dr. Haythe says that how it sounds when you’re doing, well, nothing tells a story of your overall health. “A person in excellent physical condition will have a low resting heart rate—50-70 BPM—and will return to baseline quickly after exercise,” she tells me. “This is because a fit heart has a larger stroke volume [or, a higher amount of blood
A tarot card reader’s top 3 tips for getting the most accurate reading
September 30, 2019 at 01:00PM by CWC I’m a fan of getting my tarot cards read, but I’m also highly anxious about it. This means while in the midst of a session, I’m simultaneously analyzing what the reading means for me and whether the tarot reader is judging me, as a person, for the way my cards fall. So when I came across a recent Reddit AMA with Tarot Card Lady Theresa Reed, my eyes lit up—especially when I saw she nailed down her big tips for getting the most accurate tarot reading possible. “Be clear about what you’re coming to the reading for,” Reed says. “Don’t play games. Be open to the information. Listen. Don’t interrupt. My favorite clients are the ones who are direct because I’m a direct person. My least favorite are the ones who say ‘Oh I don’t want to tell you too much…’ which always gets an eye roll from me.” It makes sense: To get accuracy, you can’t skimp on the details you offer, and you also have to trust the reader. And though I do trust this reader, I decided to get a second opinion from intuitive energy reader and spiritual advisor Alexis Alvarez about how to get the most accurate tarot reading possible. Below find a few pieces of advice she wants you to keep in mind to get a reading that’s Good with a capital G. 1. Be clear, concise, and open-ended with your questions Whether it be a live card
This lower-body stretching series is the perfect warm-up for runners
September 30, 2019 at 12:00PM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xObddmVyXD4] Welcome to Trainer of the Month Club, our brand-new fitness series, where we tap the coolest, most in-the-know fitness leaders to create a month-long fitness challenge. On Mondays, we have our “sweat drops” where you’ll get access to the week’s workout that you can follow along at home. This week, Nike Master Trainer and run coach Traci Copeland is taking us through a running workout warm-up routine. When it comes to running workouts, it can be tempting to just get up and go—especially when it’s 55-degrees, sunny outside, and all you want to do is pound some pavement while the latest Lizzo blasts in your AirPods. But as Nike Master Trainer and run coach (and all around motivating human being) Traci Copeland shows us in this week’s Trainer of the Month Club and United States of Running workout, your running warmup is actually just as important—if not more!—as the miles you’re logging. In addition to being one of the best forms of cardio you can do, running is also a pretty intense workout for your lower body, which is why it’s important to get your glutes, quads, and hamstrings prepped and ready before you hit the road. (BTW: Have you heard that we’re training for a 5K and a 10K race?) Loosening up ahead of time can not only help you go longer and faster, but it can also help you avoid some of that second-day soreness after a particularly grueling
Hold up: We’ve all been exfoliating our skin wrong this entire time
September 30, 2019 at 02:00AM by CWC Just as there are many ways to eat an avocado or do an oblique exercise, so too are there many ways to exfoliate your skin. As a beauty editor, I thought I’d heard them all (and knew exactly which ones not to try for myself), until Ada Polla, CEO of Swiss brand Alchimie Forever, brought an entirely new method to my attention: Scrubbing your skin with an oil-based exfoliant when it’s dry, instead of wet, will help you reap its maximum skin-softening benefits. Because oil and water don’t mix, using an oil-based exfoliant (like Alchemie Forever’s Gentle Refining Scrub, $45) on dry skin is the best way to ensure it’s working to its full potential. “Physical exfoliation to dry skin is very much an ‘old-style European’ way to exfoliate the skin versus the American way that incorporates a lot of water in all skin-care steps,” says Polla. “Part of the benefit comes from massaging the product into the skin in true European gommage fashion, which does not work on wet skin.” In case you’re reading this and wondering, “WTF is a gommage?!”, allow me to explain: The term gommage comes from the French word “to scrub,” and usually refers to products that utilize a combo of gentle physical and chemical exfoliants to remove dead skin cells from the surface. And while it may seem like the question of using them on dry versus wet skin should come down to preference, it actually comes down to
I’m a yoga instructor and I have to get ready without a shower—these are my secrets
September 30, 2019 at 12:05AM by CWC https://www.youtube.com/embed/ii9mlNKygsY” frameborder=“0″ allow=“accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture” allowfullscreen> Pulling off the transition from “sweaty mess at the gym” to “fresh-faced glowing angel” is a skill that, alas, eludes me. But who better than to teach us all how to rush from a workout to dinner plans than someone who pulls it off nearly every day, sans shower? In the latest episode of Well+Good’s Self-Care Nation series, yoga teacher Tess Koenig shares her workout-to-night beauty routine. “Over the years of teaching, I’ve gone from full-face feeling like I need to look professional to not, because we’re sweating,” she says, explaining that she now comes to her classes makeup-free instead of totally glammed up. “Obviously it’s your choice, whatever makes you feel good. But just by trial and error I learn that I feel best when I don’t wear makeup working out or teaching, and then I do a little bit to go out and be social.” Her easy, 10-minute routine uses products that are easily stashed in her gym bag. Pro tip: If you tend to be in a haze post-workout, make sure all these products look very different from each other, Koenig says. “I definitely have done the thing where I think I’m using a dry shampoo and really I’m using a tinted moisturizer on my hair just by not looking,” she explains. To which I say, “been there.” Included in her routine is a genius hack for preventing buttne, tips for turning
The new moon is in Libra and has a message to deliver: You do you
September 29, 2019 at 11:00PM by CWC In the aftermath of the recent new moon in Libra, now’s the time to take an in-depth look at your relationships and initiate new habits or commitments. That’s because this Libra moon, specifically, offers fertile soil to sow new seeds of growth through the beginning of the week. One reason for this is atmospheric setting is the balance of life Libra season offers. It’s a time of the year when day and night briefly come into equal length with one another, inviting equanimity in our lives. As astrologer Rebecca Gordon teaches, the daytime energy correlates with our sense of productivity, responsibility, and action, while the nighttime correlates with our inner world of emotions, subconscious needs, and dreams. With the duration of both day and night in equal proportions this week, take time to find the balance between your outer world and your inner needs. Basically, be mindful of your overarching goals, priorities and relationships, but also, you do you because you need to nourish yourself. Consider this: Is your ego and drive to succeed dominating your life? Is there space for the softer, more gentle voice of your subconscious and your emotions in your life? Take a moment to tune in and decipher whether one force is more prevalent than the other, and if this is the case, consider what you need to do to adjust. With the duration of both day and night in equal proportions this week, take time to find
How rediscovering the forgotten art of penmanship is helping me spark joy
September 29, 2019 at 09:00PM by CWC When my two daughters were young, and slowly and diligently working on their penmanship, I delighted in their keen interest in my own handwriting. “Mommy, you are a good writer,” my youngest, then 5, announced one day, nodding over a grocery list I’d left on the countertop. It was some years before she would distinguish writing from writing, but in the meantime, I took pains whenever drafting a family calendar to stick on the fridge, or a lunchbox note or birthday card, carefully configuring the cursive loops and whorls as I’d learned to do so long ago. It wasn’t calligraphy—I was never known for an elegant hand—but the script I used was appealingly deliberate, smooth, and simple. This year, however, with my eldest in middle school, more often than not our family conversation involves emojis, and I’ve found myself missing the act of taking that slow, rhythmic approach to communication. One evening, a friend, a professional modern dancer in New York, helped me breathe new life into my interest in writing by hand. “The best movement exercise I ever did in a dance class was one where we were asked to write our own names in cursive with our bodies,” she said. “I had a teacher who asked us to do that every year and it was profound.” There was structure to this exercise, a prompt: Write your name with your body. But there was also freedom to explore. I liked the idea
Makeup artists say nothing wakes your face up quicker than a swipe of this (and it’s not concealer)
September 29, 2019 at 07:00PM by CWC I may not wear foundation or eyeshadow or lipstick every day, but I always swipe on a blush as a way to look put together in a flash (and mascara, but, duh). I strongly feel that a pop of color on the apples of your cheeks is the easiest, quickest way to fake that you’re wearing a whole makeup ~lewk~ without actually having to put much effort in. And I’m not kidding about the effort thing. Lately, I’ve fallen in love with a handful of blushes that take a total of two seconds to apply, blend, and look incredible. They’re now staples in my makeup bag, and applying blush is newly my favorite step out of my entire beauty regimen, skin care included (no joke). Rocking a hint of pink or coral on my cheekbones makes me feel like Disney princess who just found out her prince has a crush on her (in the best possible way), and this cute look lasts all day long. “I love blush because it adds an instant aliveness to the skin,” says Jeannie Vincent, a Boston-based makeup artist. “And if you’re good about your sunscreen, blush can help you fake a sun-kissed glow. A true instant pick-me-up.” Her hot tip? Stick with cream formulas since they’re so easy to apply. They’re basically “goof-proof,” she says. Now let me share with you the best-of-the-best blushes to add to your bag, stat. Photo: Lancome Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra Wear Blush