My morning activities are sometimes an affair that begins in early afternoon. I just depends on whether my day is a day off or if I'm going to work or if I have other items on the menu for my day.
First thing I do when I rise from sleep is to rush to the bathroom and go pee, then brush my teeth, find out in the mirror what my hair looks like, then either do something about it or leave it alone.
Second thing I do is: make coffee.
Third: read the news (ie: check email, read news blogs and if I have time, I come here to read too).
Fourth: The 'morning routine':
I'm a bath girl in the morning (usually) and a shower girl in the evening. Sometimes when I take a bath in the evening - it's for relaxation: lots of mineral salts scented in beautiful flavors (coconut is my favorite) and I like the water to be steaming hot so I can enjoy a very long soak while I read a good book or just lay in the water and close my eyes while I lay awash in the bath waters.
Fifth: The face and hair routine:
My hair: It is longer than it has been in years and I tend to use shampoos to wash my hair that will help it be clean and sparkly. I keep a vast assortment of shampoo on hand because I never use the same kind on a day-to-day basis. I condition my hair once a week and that process takes about a half hour. My hair is curly and silky fine, so conditioning my hair too often is not a good thing, in my case. (Examples of shampoo brands: Aveda, Paul Mitchell, Bumble & Bumble to Breck or VO-5 to specially made shampoo products by MOP or Aubrey to shampoos I buy at Escentials, down in the Hawthorne dist - fav there is Dragon's Blood scented, shea butter, shampoo).
My skin routine varies: I always use a heavy shea butter cream for my face lately - I think I started doing that about 3 years ago. I used to do a Noxema cream facial once a week and nowadays I do that about once a month. Once a week, I cleanse my face with an organic apple cider emulsion. Sometimes I extend the apple cider application to other parts of my body too, especially a foot soak when I do my own pedicure (once a month).
Makeup: I wear makeup daily, but not to bed; though I have gone to bed with my makeup still on. I love makeup. It's on my face in beautiful ways and the days I don't wear makeup would probably be if I was on a vacation out in the woods. Other than that, a person usually sees me with some sort of makeup application on my face. And, I use a variety of makeup and lip products. (Examples of brands: MAC, Estee Lauder, Revlon, Bare Minerals, Cover Girl, Physicians Formula, Lancome, Kiss of Color, etc).
Generally, it takes me about two hours to make a presentable appearance for the day.
On other days, it might only take about half an hour.
