Self Care Tips and Ideas | Top 10 Self Care Life Hacks

The importance of self care is widely talked about but it can be difficult to think of self care ideas. A planned daily self care activity can also give you a little something to look forward to!

To help you out I’ve listed my top 10 self care ideas for a bit of inspo!

1. Coconut Oil Hair Mask

This is the holy grail of haircare and an absolute essential part of my hair care routine. Coconut oil prevents protein loss from the hair, it’s made up of lauric acid, a fatty acid that is the most easily absorbed deep into the hair shaft.

You can use any coconut oil for this, it doesn’t have to be for hair, my favourite is Lucy Bee Organic Cold Pressed Coconut Oil. You can pick it up from the supermarket for £5 and it lasts for ages.

Melt the coconut oil by putting the jar in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes. Then apply it to dry hair, I use as much as I need to coat all my hair so just keep going until your hair is all oiled up! I then put my hair in a plait and blow it for two minutes with the hair dryer on a low heat (very important, you just want to warm it up slightly not deep fry it!) . Leave it on for at least 2 hours or overnight for a really deep treatment. Wash off with your normal shampoo, you’ll probably need to wash it twice to get all the residue off. Finish off with a conditioner and you’re good to go with soft and shiny, healthy hair!

2. Practice Meditation or Mindfulness

Meditation and mindfulness are two scientifically proven ways to reduce stress and anxiety. By taking some time each day to check in with your self and your emotions, you can make a huge difference to your long term mental health.

A few ideas for this are:

• Find free guided meditations on YouTube, this is one of my favourites
• The Headspace app is highly recommended. There’s some free content on there to use or you can pay a monthly subscription to unlock everything.
• Mindfulness activity books – there are lots of these on Amazon, I particularly like this one because it has lots of different questions and activities inside.

3. Tidy Up

I know, I know – don’t shoot me! I’m the untidiest person and I hate housework but there really is something to be said for tidying and organising when you need a bit of a pick me up. It’s weird but if I’m ever arguing with anyone I find myself folding things and tidying without realising! So strange. Even if it’s organising your underwear drawer or tidying your makeup bag, there’s a certain satisfaction that comes from setting something straight and you’ll feel good afterwards I promise!

4. DIY Face Mask

This has got to be the epitome of self care! Having a pamper sesh and putting on a face mask doesn’t just care for your skin, it also helps your soul too because it feels good to be kind to yourself!

You can always buy a face mask to do this but I find even more satisfaction in using one I’ve made myself. Here are my 3 favourite DIY face mask tutorials:

5. Exercise

Ok so hear me out, if you’re like me and aren’t a big exerciser it’s important to find something you enjoy. I’m not referencing exercise here as a way to get fit, it’s a means to end to generate those lovely happy hormones that make us feel so good!

Like I say, exercise is not my thing. I find it difficult to volunteer up much of my time to it which is why I advise keeping exercise to 15-30 mins so it doesn’t feel like such a sacrifice.

My two favourite forms of exercise are yoga (good for mind and body) and hula hooping. The only yoga videos I watch are Yoga with Adriene. I love her teaching style and there are so many videos on her channel. For hula hooping, I have a weighted hula hoop from Amazon. I’ve created a playlist of high energy songs and just hoop away for quarter of an hour – it’s alot of fun and makes you feel like a kid again, I always feel great after. There are different exercises you can do whilst hooping to increase fitness or you can just freestyle it!

6. Brain Training

Self care isn’t just about the emotional side of things, it’s also super important to keep your mind active and engaged. It also reduces the risk of dementia in later life according to scientific studies. In the truest form, there are loads of brain training apps and games available. Other ways to train your brain are to do crosswords or puzzles, learn a new skill or teach someone else, read a book, do a jigsaw, play cards or even learn a new language!

7.Give Yourself a Manicure/Pedicure

Similar to the self care benefits of giving yourself a face mask, spending a bit of time on your appearance can have a positive effect on the inside and outside. I’ll be posting soon on tips for giving yourself a full home manicure and pedicure. If you don’t want to miss it follow me on Bloglovin or sign up for email updates on new posts!

8. Write a Diary

Getting your feelings out on paper can be a cathartic experience and can be a really useful coping mechanism if you suffer from stress and anxiety. There are lots of different forms of journalling. It doesn’t have to be in the strictest sense of writing paragraphs of text. It can be a fantastic creative outlet. Have you heard of bullet journalling? You can create beautiful layouts to organise your life – two benefits in one! There’s loads of bullet journal layout inspo on Pinterest.

9. Make a ‘Me Time’ Playlist

Spend some time adding all your feel good songs into a playlist and make some time to listen to it. While it’s playing do whatever you want, lie down and have a rest or dance around like nobody’s watching! Just enjoy the music and let it improve your mood!

10. Have a Nap

I’ve saved the best for last! This is my all time favourite self indulgence – ahem, I mean self care idea ;). Joking aside, we can’t ignore the real scientifically proven benefits to napping. It can reduce stress, improve memory, make you more alert and even improve your mood! So if you’ll excuse me, I’m just off for 40 winks!

Hopefully these tips have inspired you to factor some self care time into your own routine and given you some ideas for ways to look after yourself. If I haven’t mentioned your favourite self care method then leave it in the comments below so I can give it a try!

Thanks for reading.

Cat xx