Beauty tips often involve buying this or purchasing that, but it’s fairly straightforward to boost your health and beauty for free.
Let’s start off by saying that there’s no pressure to look good all the time. In fact, pressuring yourself into looking good every minute of the day can be quite stressful, and obsessing over our looks has become somewhat of a 21st-century addiction.
In reality, it’s not all about looking good but feeling good. To feel good is to look good, as our warm and positive internal feelings project on the outside too. When we feel good, we smile more, we’re more confident, make more eye contact, and engage others more easily.
So, this is a list of things that will make you look good and feel good, without spending anything at all.
Let’s go!
1: Maintain Good Hygiene
Maintaining good hygiene is pretty much free, providing you can access clean water, own a toothbrush, etc. Of course, many of us take these things for granted when we should really be more grateful for what we have.
Some people swear by cleaning their face with water or simple cleansers. Take regular showers, but be aware of over-showering too. The aim is to clean oneself of dirt, not totally scrub oneself into oblivion.
Be careful of your teeth too, and cut the sugary stuff to keep them healthy throughout life. Nails are another aspect of good hygiene - keep them clean and tidy.
Besides, hygiene is fairly straightforward…and it’s pretty much free.
2: Smile More And Embrace Your Facial Expressions
Smile more is a bit of a cliche, but we have other facial expressions too. Many people feel self-conscious of their own expressions, whether it’s a resting frown, a default look of disdain, or even smiling too much.
Relaxing your facial expressions will help you relax your entire face, which will, in turn, help you relax your head, neck and shoulder muscles. Being tight and tense in the facial area make you feel tense all over. Accept your facial expressions for what they are - they’re part of you, after all!
3: Keep Moving
Staying busy is one of the keys to a happy life. Seriously, if you keep moving and keep busy, then it’s much harder to hit slogging low points that seem to drag on. Of course, feeling low is part of life too, and there’s nothing unnatural about feeling down on occasion but developing a plan to get yourself moving again will help you get yourself out of a rut.
If you feel like you’re starting to flag or fall into a rut, get yourself outside, do some exercise, no matter how little, and practice some mindfulness. Tell yourself that you are important, and that you can do it!
Learning how to pick yourself up from a low point will be one of the best things you have ever learned. When in doubt, keep moving. It will make you feel better and look better!
4: Focus On Your Sleep!
Sleep is SO SO important. Poor sleep is linked to all manner of health issues, ranging from cancer and heart disease to depression and anxiety. But that also means that sleeping properly will lower your risk of these issues, and boost your overall health and wellbeing.
Obviously, just telling someone to ‘sleep more’ is often insufficient. Sure, some people might be great sleepers but choose not to sleep as much as they can. But others are not as good at sleeping and might struggle to get a good night’s sleep.
If you struggle with sleep, it’s a good idea to write about how you spend the 3/4 hours before you go to bed. Note your routine from around 6 pm at night (earlier if you go to bed earlier than 10ish). Write down:
- What you eat and when
- Your screentime, including TVs, phones, tablets, etc
- Any drinks or other things you consume
- Noting how you spend the final hour before bed is crucial
If you’re spending much of those hours on your phone, then it’s simply got to go. Make sure you ditch your phone an hour before trying to sleep. Caffeine after around 3/4 pm is also a no-go if you have trouble sleeping. It’s a vicious cycle to rely on caffeine to keep you up when you struggle to sleep.
Try mindfulness or meditation before bed, and choose books instead of phones, TVs and tablets. Once you crack the code for a better night’s sleep, you’ll thank yourself forever.
5: Style What You Have
Gorjus London has written a few posts on how to style what you have. Fashion brands like ours are focussed on delivering quality at affordable prices, and when you’ve got a few solid pieces in your wardrobe, you can focus on assembling great outfits without shopping more and more and more!
When you do shop, shop smarter and not harder. Overwhelming yourself with so much stuff results in the ‘paradox of choice’. There will be so much choice there that you just end up wearing the same outfits time after time.
Also, consider opportunities to modify the clothes you have. For example, you might be able to chop some old jeans into shorts, or turn old dresses into skirts and tops. We’ve written an article on bringing new life to your wardrobe, containing some fun and creative tips for modifying upcycling and recycling clothes.
6: What Makes You Feel Good Makes You Look Good
Another slight cliche, but as we’ve already touched upon once, feeling good means looking good. If you’re confident on the inside, you can really get away with wearing pretty much anything, which is why we see some crazy fashion trends today. Fashion revolves around confidence, so try and focus on how you can feel good through fashion.
This is might sound simple, but it can take some thought. First, learn what your own personal style is - you might be hiding from what you really want to wear! For example, want to embrace your rock and roll or retro vibes but follow more modern trends? Well, don’t worry about the trends if they don’t make you feel good!
Want to dress in more colourful clothes, but your wardrobe is a sea of grey and black?! It’s a common situation…wear colourful clothes if they make you feel more expressive. Once you get over the initial mental block of wearing something new, you might find yourself becoming way more confident with what you wear.
7: Adjust Your Diet
Sure, you really can’t adjust your diet without spending any money. But, with that said, intermittent fasting is growing in popularity and boasts some serious health benefits when done properly. The science behind intermittent fasting is excellent now and books by well-known TV doctor Dr Michael Mossley have helped cement intermittent fasting in top-10 diet lists.
The principle behind intermittent fasting is quite simple - you simply choose certain days to consume a calorie-restricted diet (or not eat at all). While this sounds like a weight loss diet (and it’s very good for losing weight), it’s actually really good for you even if you’re already a healthy weight.
Moreover, intermittent fasting is cheap and easy. The crucial thing to remember is that this isn’t an excuse to reduce your nutrient content - you can’t fast and then eat chips and burgers the next day.
In terms of looking good…well, fasting can promote skin health and regeneration as well as boost overall mood and wellbeing, so we reckon it counts in this list!
8: Consider Your Makeup Routine
Many people have serious makeup and beauty routines that cost time and money. It can become a real habit, an obsession of sorts, which eats our time. So it’s worth considering whether your makeup and beauty routine is really paying you off by making you feel better, or whether it's worth making some adjustments or taking some steps back.
Moreover, there are more products on the market now than ever, and some people are stripping back their beauty routines to look more natural without compromising looks or confidence. This is called ‘no makeup make-up’ (not the catchiest phrase, to be fair). Check out this article at The Independent for more.
While these products do obviously cost money, you might find that simply cutting back on certain aspects of your makeup routine will produce the same (or better) results while saving you time and money.
Summary: How To Look Good…For Free
Looking good for free often involves feeling good for free. Gorjus London is all about body and mind confidence, and we thoroughly believe that feeling good will help you look good.
Of course, feeling good about everything you possibly can is not about simply flicking a switch and can take work and dedication.
We hope that these eight simple tips provide a starting point!