Smile guiltily to yourself if you’ve ever gotten less sleep than you should have.
Now that we’re all smiling, it’s good to remember that lost sleep doesn’t equal lost hope. Though there’s no getting back what we’ve missed, sleep will continue to be regenerative.
Beauty sleep isn’t an exaggerated phrase; it’s peer-reviewed science. As we sleep, our bodies and minds go to work rejuvenating themselves. But, we still have the keen ability to help that process reach its full potential.
You want to get the best out of your beauty sleep, bolster your bedtime beauty routine, rest well, and wake up looking and feeling good.
What Is Beauty Sleep?
Sleeping poorly, or not enough, has immediate physical signs. Dark circles and puffy skin around our eyes. Full on breakouts. A general air of fatigue and unwellness.
To achieve the opposite results, all you have to do is get adequate rest. According to experts, periods of “beauty sleep” occur as we transition into a deep sleep-- the third and fourth stages of the sleep cycle before REM. You can expect this plethora of positive effects:
- Fewer wrinkles and increased skin elasticity
- Brighter eyes and clearer complexion
- Reduced inflammation, meaning no red or blotchy face
- Less stress hormone, more growth hormone
- Better regulation of appetite and proper water retention
Why Is Proper Sleep Important?
Proper sleep impacts everything from your skin and face and weight to cognitive function, immune system, and your body’s aging process. Beauty sleep beautifies your being in ways that won’t be seen and ways you wouldn’t otherwise notice.
When you get sick, you rest more to get well; but resting in the first place is a valid preventative measure. It is a balancing act, though. Proper sleep takes into account both quality and quantity.
What Factors Affect Beauty Sleep?
We mentioned the sleep cycle before. If you aren’t falling in an undisturbed, deep sleep, then you won’t be getting much beauty sleep or its full effects. In a typical 8 hours, about 4 of them would constitute this stage. Our bodies naturally move towards more extended periods of REM the longer we sleep, however.
So, 20 hours of restless tossing and turning on a futon will leave you feeling unsatisfied in both the sleep and beautification departments. By contrast, you might feel groggy if you wake up during a rapid eye movement stage of sleep, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t get the deep sleep you needed.
In either case, you might positively affect your chances of successful beauty sleep by applying beauty products before you hit the sack. They’ll work in tandem with your body’s natural nighttime activities.
Why Should You Use Beauty Products Before Bed?
There are pretty much no downsides to beauty products before bed. Why wouldn’t you? All it takes it the right ones for the job.
Use cleansers and face serums to wash away the day and overnight products to prevent wrinkles just by going to sleep. Tone your skin and treat problem areas, too. Plus, if you work it into a standard bedtime practice, you’ll never go to sleep unmoisturized -- or worse yet, in a full face of makeup (well, that’s the goal anyway).
What Kind of Skin Products Are Best at Night?
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Makeup Removers & Cleansers
Time to clean away the day! You take the first steps, and sleep will take the rest of them.
Sometimes a makeup remover and a cleanser may be a single, multipurpose product. Whether water or oil based, be sure to use gentle over abrasive, especially as you’re winding down preparing for bed.
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Toners, Oils, Essence, & Moisturizer
Toners, which are meant to continue potential cleansing, might also reduce the appearance of pores, help clear up the skin, and balance skin’s pH. You may or may not find them effective for your skincare purposes, or prefer daytime use instead.
These products as a whole hydrate and condition your skin, even out tones, and make for less visible wrinkles. You can use one or a combination to start the nighttime prep of skin repair. Gold Mountain Beauty offers an organic rosehip oil and rose moisturizer with hyaluronic acid, which is suitable for both daytime and nighttime use.
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Face Serums & Treatments
What is face serum exactly? Sometimes they’re referred to in the context of being treatment products -- but serums for face issues are casual in nature. Just as there are many types of cleansing or hydrating products, there are many types of face serums.
Treatment products, on the other hand -- like our Original + Drying Lotion -- are spot treatments for problem areas, to halt and then prevent inflammation. You can use them casually, or you might have a prescription for more severe and ongoing concerns. In either case, getting beauty sleep will assist from the inside out.
There are serums for faces with all types of needs, but they should all be a lightweight product with a heavyweight punch. They moisturize at a deep level and lock in whatever ingredients they’re trying to deliver.
The answer to, “What is face serum?” is that it’s going to depend on what you’re using it for. There are face serums with vitamin C, ones to fight sun damage, offer simple hydration, and those that enhance a youthful appearance.
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Creams & Masks
While you don’t want to put on a face mask every night, a couple of times a week is fine. Masks come in different forms for the application-- sheets, scrubs, and lotions. Gold Mountain Beauty’s signature activated coconut shell charcoal is available as a powdered or pre-made face mask, but there’s as much of a variety to choose from as there is with face serums.
Face creams, by contrast, can be applied on a nightly basis, with specific ones for your whole face or just eyes, for general wrinkles and other purposes. There are even some referred to as sleep masks.
Why Is Nightly Oral Care Important?
Did you know that we produce less saliva as we sleep? That’s why it’s important to get in some oral care at bedtime, even if you already brushed earlier after your last meal. The action of brushing helps circulate things before your mouth shuts down for the night, and reminds mouth bacteria who’s in charge here.
While you’re already up tending to your skincare, take time for proper oral care, too. Activated charcoal for teeth has excellent whitening properties since it can bind to plaque and surface stains, lifting them away. Just consider it a part of your nightly beauty ritual and incorporate activated charcoal teeth whitening every day.
What Does a Typical Beauty Routine Before Bed Look Like?
Now you have everything ready. All the ingredients for your before bed beauty routine and the ensuing regenerative beauty sleep. Here’s how to put them all together into something perfect.
- Gently remove and cleanse away the day’s makeup and impurities.
- Pat face dry, then lightly apply toner by pressing it onto your skin.
- Apply treatments or face serums as directed.
- Apply creams, oils, or moisturizers last, over top of everything else. Rub in or spread as directed. Wait 10 or 15 minutes for everything to settle before jumping into bed and smashing your face into the pillow -- you can use that time to calm your mind for sleep.
- Don’t forget an activated charcoal teeth product if you’re interested in safe, easy whitening with each nightly brush of those chompers.
How to Make the Most of Your Beauty Sleep the Next Morning
If all has gone according to plan, you should wake up the next day feeling good and looking even better. Be sure to cleanse your face appropriately of any lingering oils, face creams, or spot treatments. Treat your skin as kindly as you did the night before.
Then really consider working on that bright smile to match your bright eyes and complexion. Activated charcoal for teeth can help get your teeth pearly white even as you eye a 14-ounce cup of coffee, so if that’s something that’s always been at odds with your beauty routine, it’s definitely worth investigating. It also alters the pH of your mouth in a way that may discourage acidic plaque and bad breath.
But, you might say, activated charcoal teeth products often come in messy jars of powder with its own set of best practices on how to use. It would be so much simpler if activated charcoal teeth whitening just came in a regular tube of toothpaste.
We agree. That’s why we have some.
What Are Other Benefits of Getting Proper Sleep?
Consider this your wake up call-- proper sleep isn’t simply about getting that beauty sleep in.
You can incorporate it into your skincare routine. You can consider it part of your nightly end-of-day ritual; just as you do your morning start-the-day makeup sesh. You should definitely utilize it to its fullest extent by working in the right products because there are no reasons not to.
But ultimately, proper sleep is an undeniable element of health and wellness. Its benefits can impact your entire being and whole day -- as will the consequences of not being adequately rested.
Getting to bed on time and sleeping well should be the first and last step of treating yourself because the benefits are numerous. And, you deserve them.
