Transcription
I can confidently say that you will never need to watch another video about glow-ups ever again, because this was me in spring of 2022. I lived in baggy clothing. The thought of being outside completely mentally drained me, because I was so conscious of how uncomfortable I felt in my own skin. And no matter what I did—every skincare trend, every workout, every morning routine—nothing worked. And it negatively impacted every single area of my life. Enough was enough, I thought. And I set out on the summer glow-up of my lifetime. I found science-based strategies to feel radiant, energized, but most importantly, confident in my own skin. And the best part, it wasn't just a summer glow-up. It hopefully will last me a lifetime.
By the end of this video, you'll have a step-by-step summer glow-up guide that will make you feel your best mentally, physically, and emotionally. Hello. If you are new here, then my name is FA. I'm a medical doctor working in London. And on this channel, we like to take a science-based approach to some of the biggest hurdles I've encountered in my life, and some you might encounter in your own. So, if that sounds like something you would be interested in, then make sure to hit the subscribe button and the notification bell so you never miss a video.
First, let's discuss why some women just seem to exude this effortless glow. It's not just genetics or the latest Korean skincare at play. Scientific research reveals that what society determines as beauty is profoundly influenced by our health, hydration, hormone balance, and consistent self-care habits. And do not worry, I did just audibly hear you wse at the sound of me saying consistent self-care habits. Because yes, I understand when you work full-time and you're trying to eat three balanced meals a day, self-care often falls to the bottom of our priority list. I do have a couple time-saving self-care habits that I will come to along the video.
Skin radiance is closely linked to proper hydration and collagen production. Studies have also shown that regular physical exercise can improve blood flow to the skin, which also promotes a healthier complexion. And you've probably heard that people with symmetrical faces tend to be more attractive. Well, this attraction to facial symmetry and clear skin may be evolutionary, because these features could serve as subconscious indicators of vitality and reproductive health. A really easy way to improve your facial symmetry is to lie on your back when you sleep, not on your side. But most important of all, what makes these effortless glowy girls glow? Confidence and energy. Because they make you more attractive than any makeup ever could.
So, the aim of this video is absolutely not to alter your appearance beyond recognition. Ironically, in the picture I showed at the beginning of the video, I had had all the cosmetic procedures that I've ever had done before that point, not after. This video is all about enhancing the beauty that is already within you. But beauty, you might need a little bit of help tapping into and remembering it's there, which is why I'm here.
Starting off, we need to nail down your radiance rituals. This is your consistent self-care routine that is going to get you through the next few months. Peel back the layers to reveal a beautiful shining pearl come June the 1st. Step one, we need to nail down your exfoliation and hydration part of your self-care routine. Because while the skin naturally renews every 28 days, the accumulation of dead skin cells can be a big big big barrier to unlocking that natural glow. Alpha hydroxy acids, otherwise known as AHAs, like glycolic acid, and beta hydroxy acids, otherwise known as BHAs, like salicylic acid, are your best friend when it comes to exfoliation. Gone are the days where we were scrubbing crushed up nuts over our skin to physically exfoliate, causing tiny little micro abrasions. We have better options available, so there really is no excuse. And incorporating an AHA or a BHA two to three times a week can effectively remove dead skin cells, improving the texture and appearance of skin. I personally love the Ordinary glycolic acid toner. It is super versatile. I also love some moisturizers that have these ingredients added into them. So, for example, Superdrug do a salicylic acid moisturizer as well as a glycolic acid moisturizer that I'll put on screen now. And if you want to really lock in that moisture after you've got out the shower, then applying a hyaluronic acid serum on damp skin can help retain the moisture, making your skin soft and supple.
Step number two, please, there's no need to yawn. Sun cream is non-negotiable. And yes, I do recognize every doctor on the internet is saying the exact same thing, but I'm coming at this from a different angle. This was me in Buenos Aries a few months ago. I did not wear my sun cream. This advice is not coming from a place of superiority. It is coming from a place of I also incessantly need to remind myself to wear sun cream, because no amount of expensive skin care or treatments can reverse the damage done by UV rays. It's estimated that up to 90% of visible signs of aging stem from the sun. Now, I hate that women aging is made out by marketing companies to be criminal rather than a privilege of getting old, but at the same time, I really want my foundation to sit really nicely on my face for as long as possible and not seep into my fine lines and wrinkles. So, yes, consistent use of sun cream is very important to me and it should be for you. For the girlies who love a bronze glow, then I empathize. My mother is Irish. So, as you can tell, I do often look like a sickly Victorian child. There are actually foods you can eat to avoid this sickly palette. Consuming beta-carotene-rich foods like sweet potatoes and carrots can actually slightly alter your skin tone to make you appear a little bit more orange, which doesn't sound great, but imagine it as though you're able to up the saturations on your skin just ever so slightly. And of course, making sure that we're getting in enough iron. And when we're consuming a meal that is rich in iron, not having our coffee or our tea within 30 minutes of that meal because that can inhibit the absorption of the iron. The SPF that I'm currently loving is the Super Goop Unseen sunscreen, which goes incredibly under makeup.
Step three, let's talk about hair health. Because if you saw in those pictures, my hair was not looking great. It was fried. It was crusty. It was bleached within an inch of its life. And because I hated the condition of my hair so much, I never had it down. I always had it slicked back in this tight low bun, normally with a lot of oil in because I thought that this oil would somehow reverse years and years and years of bleaching. Little did I know, the oil from these masks was clogging up my scalp, making it extremely unhappy. And the tension from my hair being in a low bun was just causing more breakage and damage. My hair is probably the area of my glow-up routine that I'm most proud of, given how damaged it was to start with. So, I do want to do a full video breaking down all my products and the science behind it all later. But for this video, I'm going to give you a quick whistle-stop tour of my hair care routine. Step one, before I wash, I put glycolic acid on my scalp and leave it on there for about 30 minutes. Just the ordinary glycolic acid, which is why I love it so much because it is so versatile. Step two, I'm going to wash my hair. Now, if you live in an area of hard water, e.g., London, then I would consider getting a product like Hello Clean. This is a shower head that softens the water and I had it in my old flat. I felt it really helped. I just haven't got around to putting one on the shower head in this flat. And I've definitely noticed a difference. Once a week, I'll use a detox shampoo. So, at the moment, this is the whey one. All the products I will link down below, but if I've forgotten, just give me a ping in the comments. Twice a week, I also use a ketoconol shampoo, as studies show this may help hair growth, because for about 5 years, I really, really, really struggled to grow my hair past my shoulders. And using a ketoconol shampoo over the last year has definitely helped. And then just my regular schmegular shampoo and conditioner at the moment is the Redkin acidic bonding concentrate because I did break and go back to bleaching my hair in January, but I'm hoping to maintain the condition. When I get out of the shower, I then wrap my hair in a t-shirt. You can use a microfiber towel, but if you don't want to go out and buy something new, then a t-shirt is also fine. Next, I blow dry my hair on a medium heat with a healthy amount of either the GHD heat protection spray or the ColorWow Dream Coat, which may surprise some of you because for so many years, I avoided blow drying my hair and opted for air drying it because I thought that blow drying it would increase the damage, but hair is actually its weakest when it is wet. So, by leaving it wetter for longer, you're leaving it vulnerable to damage and breakage. By leaving your scalp damp for a long period of time, the scalp also becomes this perfect warm, moist breeding ground for bugs that can negatively impact scalp health. I've worked very hard to get my hair to grow and be healthy again. But to maintain the length, I oil the ends regularly. I also sleep on a silk pillowcase to minimize breakage. And very importantly, as a girl who needs to have her hair tied up in work, a because I'm in a hospital, but B because I can't stop fidgeting with it, tight hairstyles are an absolute no-go because they increase breakage of your hair. So, normally I tie my hair up loosely with a claw grip for work.
Now, true beauty transcends physical appearance. So, by far the most important part of this video is this section all about your mindset. I know this because FA of spring 2022 was not a good friend. I was extremely insecure, to the point I found it very difficult to be happy for other people, and I did a lot of projecting which not only negatively impacted my relationships with other people but negatively impacted my relationship with myself and the box that I put myself into. So, I would be doing a huge disservice if I went through all these beauty tips without targeting the root issue, because it's just like putting a plaster over a gaping hole. So, here's what you're going to do. Step number one, you need to build self-trust. The most important thing I did for my confidence was remind myself that I was a squidgy ball of play-doh, not a hard concrete block. Let me explain. When we're kids, we seem to learn things really, really quickly. We move up in school years every single year. We're constantly picking up new hobbies, meeting new friends, but then as an adult, suddenly we're stuck in the same routine, often for decades and decades on end. And with this repeated mentality, we often build a box around ourselves that ends up keeping us stuck exactly where we are. Now, while neuroscience does tell us that our brains do become less squidgy and easy to mold as we get older, that doesn't mean that it's impossible. To remind myself that my brain is still squidgy, I make it a priority to continue learning. So, at the moment, I am taking the yoga for flexibility challenge—five minutes for 15 days class—on Skillshare. Skillshare is the largest online learning community for creatives with thousands of creative classes in countless categories ranging from beginner to advanced. But the best bit, they're from experts in the field. I also recently completed the learning path creative productivity kickstart and sustain any project where I learn exercises to overcome creative anxiety, spark original ideas, and start taking consistent, efficient action on my own personal and professional projects. If you drive, I want you to imagine the first time that you set foot in a car and you're trying to steer and change the gears at the same time and you think to yourself, "Oh my gosh, I am never going to be able to do this. It seems so impossible." And then a couple months down the line, you're able to do it like it's second nature. This is why learning new skills is so important for our growth, regardless of whether it's even relevant for our long-term goals. In this class, a world-renowned yoga instructor takes you through a systematic progression of videos designed to improve your flexibility from head to toe. And it only takes 15 minutes a day. So, it highlights that even small actions, when repeated every single day, can lead to much bigger goals as long as you stay consistent. Because Skillshare are kindly sponsoring this video, if you want to access thousands of their classes completely for free, then the first 500 people to use my link in the description will get a free 1-month trial of Skillshare. Completely free. It is a no-brainer, and I promise your future self will thank you for it.
Step number two for our mindset shift, we need to talk about one of the biggest downsides that comes with striving for growth and goals. It often means that people who are ambitious are never content or happy with what they've got. It comes with the territory in a lot of ways, because how else do you find the motivation to strive for these bigger goals unless there's a part of you that's unhappy with where you're at. So the solution may be found in this idea called the three colors of happiness, which basically describes happiness as three different types: the happiness of grace, the happiness of pleasure, and the happiness of excellence. So the happiness of grace is essentially the contentment associated with being grateful for what you've got. And if we have too much happiness of grace, we can find that maybe we don't appreciate more intense highs in our life or we lose the motivation for pursuing our bigger goals. Then the happiness of pleasure is the happiness associated with those quick dopamine kicks: sex, drugs, food, binging Netflix for hours on end. And if we have too much happiness of pleasure, we might lose sight of all the simple things there are to be grateful for in our life, like a roof over our head or food on the table, or forget to strive for our longer-term goals that require determination and patience because the gratification is generally delayed. And finally, the happiness of excellence is the happiness associated with achievements and purpose, putting your time towards issues you're really passionate about. And if we have too much happiness of excellence, we forget to let our hair down every once in a while or forget how bloody lucky we are just to be alive. This concept has helped me navigate so many different phases of my life. For example, in 2022, I was all happiness of pleasure. I used to go out, drink too much, watch way too much Netflix, and it was just this self-perpetuating cycle because I felt crap, which I numbed with these quick-hit bursts of happiness. Or in my first year of being a doctor, I was getting virtually all of my happiness from happiness of excellence—happiness of succeeding and doing a job I'd dreamed of for years and years and years and years—whilst spending every single day narrowly dodging the one-way train to burnout town. In today's society, I generally think that the most deficit we see is in the happiness of grace. And the easiest way that you can boost your happiness of grace is by practicing gratitude. I don't care how you do it. Whether you write it down on a piece of paper, whether you have a gratitude group chat, or whether you just use it as a means of connecting with the people closest to you in your life, I do not care. But every single day, you are going to outwardly express three things that you are grateful for. Just three. The simpler the better: a roof over your head, running water, food on the table, it does not matter—anything—because practicing gratitude physically rewires our brain to focus on the positives in life, and it is the easiest way to make yourself happier for the rest of your life.
Step three, you are going to do a social media detox. I'm going to hazard a guess and say that your screen time is at least a couple of hours. And we need to recognize that in the same way that what we eat directly impacts our body, what our mind consumes directly impacts our mind. Your social media detox doesn't have to be deleting all social media apps from your phone, but it should definitely be curating your social media feeds to reflect how you want to feel. If you are constantly being bombarded with unrealistic ideals, then studies have shown this can increase your body dissatisfaction and reduce your self-esteem. So, I need you to firstly charge your phone as far away from your bed as possible. Your morning sets the tone for your day. You do not need to start it with the 21st-century answer to a slot machine. Next, I want you to unfollow the influencers that make you feel like [___]. That also includes me if I make you feel like that. Anyone who persistently makes you feel inadequate or demotivated. Social media is an incredible way to get information and connect with like-minded people. But so much of it is still filtered, airbrushed, and unrealistic. If it's making you feel low instead of inspired, then just get rid.
Next section I want to talk about sculpted sexiness. And this is not about being sculpted like one of the Hadids, but sculpted like you. What we eat and how we move directly impacts our energy and confidence, regardless of what the scales say. I can easily think of two points in my life where I've weighed the exact same on a scale, but my glow and confidence have been at two polar ends. Step number one, your glow-up workout routine. Regular exercise improves blood flow, benefiting skin health and overall energy levels. But what exercise is best? Strength training like Pilates or weightlifting can increase lean muscle mass, which is not only key for long-term health, but can boost metabolism. Cardio like running or dancing is great for heart health—again, really important for long-term health outcomes. And mobility and flexibility exercises like yoga or stretching can improve posture and core strength. And team sports, which are too often neglected when it comes to typically female exercise, are an incredible way of socializing in a way that does not even feel like exercise whilst incorporating cardiovascular, strength, and mobility. But honestly, how you exercise really does not matter. A mixture of all the different types is wonderful, but honestly, movement is movement. And I think too often we get caught up on what is the best type of exercise or what is trendy at the moment that ends up creating this decision paralysis that stops us from moving our body at all. Extensive studies have shown that physical exercise is linked to improved mental health and well-being. And as a wonderful added bonus, it is a much cheaper way to get your lymphatic system moving in comparison to a lymphatic drainage massage.
Step two is my Glow-up diet. And I'm going to hold your hand when I say this, but the girl in 2022 was skipping her breakfast, counting her calories, all for it to get to 6 p.m. and binge eat an entire packet of Colin the caterpillars. She was stuck in a constant cycle of binging and restricting and seeking out any fad diet or supplement on the internet that told her it could help her lose a little bit of weight. On the other hand, the girl sitting in front of you today eats breakfast every single day, snacks when she's hungry, and I cannot remember the last time I checked a packet to have a look at the calories. Main difference between these two girls is this girl focused on what she could not have and restricted herself. Whereas this woman focuses on what I am privileged enough to have access to eat in my diet. I am lucky enough to have access to foods rich in omega-3s like walnuts or chia seeds that possess anti-inflammatory properties promoting clearer skin; polyphenols found in green tea that can combat acne-causing bacteria; or protein from eggs and tofu to support strong hair and nails; and healthy fats from avocados, nuts, and olive oil to promote hormone balance. And of course, the most overlooked ingredient for any glow-up diet, water.
Now you know how to glow up for summer, but maybe you want to know how I stay fit and healthy whilst working a full-time job by watching this video here. Or maybe you want to watch this video just below, which has been recommended just for you, based on what you're interested in. Thank you so so so much for watching. If you did enjoy the video, please don't forget to like, comment, subscribe. I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful week and I will see you in the next video. Mwah.