Day 1 - Hand Rescue!

In the past I've been great at picking up "lotions and potions" and convince myself each time I will use them on a daily / weekly basis and start a new regime to take care of my skin. For the first few days I'm great but then I lapse to every other day to eventually not using the products at all! Sadly many of which have ended in the bin.

Since losing some weight recently I've gained more confidence in myself and I want to start taking better care of my skin. So with the winter creeping in upon us I thought a good place for me to start would be my hands.

I treat my poor hands terribly, never wearing gloves when cleaning the fire or when using cleaning products about the house. I feel sorry for my poor hands being neglected so much and worried too of how they are going to look in the coming years compared to the rest of me! I say this as I recall reading an article some years ago in a Sunday magazine and it compared images of peoples hands and their faces! Their faces said one age but their hands told the truth - OLD! So with this in mind and the season that is in it, I'm going to make a start on caring for my little hands and get them into better shape!

So the products I recently purchased with good intention to help my hands and nails are Aveeno Hand Cream, Sally Hansen Maximum Growth and one from the kitchen cupboard - Vinegar! Vinegar you might ask? Well, I'd read recently that it is a great softening your cuticles so I thought it would be worth a try!

Before Pics! 

What did I do?

Step 1: Vinegar Soak 

After washing and drying my hands I soaked my finger tips in Vinegar for 5 minutes one hand at a time. 

I did my left hand first and after soaking it for 5 minutes, I gently pushed back my cuticles using my right hand thumb nail. I've used cuticle sticks in the past but have always found using my nail easier. 

When I completed my left hand and followed the same procedure with my right.  

Step 2: Hand Cream

I used the Aveeno Hand Cream and massaged into my hands taking care to rub into my cuticles too. While I thought I'd only used a little, I may have used a little too much! This goes a long way and ended up using the excess along my arms. Next time I will use less and will get more if I feel needed

Step 3: Sally Hansen Maximum Growth

Once the hand cream had dried, I used the Sally Hansen Maximum Growth as directed which was one coat daily.  

After Pics!

You will have to wait and see on Day 8! 

Day 1 Verdict!

Vinegar: 

I was very surprised at how well this worked at so softening my cuticles. It was very easy to push them back. I've used cuticle creams in the past and found using the vinegar a lot more effective. 

Seemingly too it helps your Nail Varnish last better, so this will be interesting to see! 

Aveeno Hand Cream:

After only one application my hands feel a lot smoother and not as dry or as tight as before. The pics may not show it as well but to the eye, they definitely don't look as dry. 

Sally Hansen Maximum Growth:

Well, so far lovely shiny nails so I will just have to wait and see how they are after daily usage!  

Next Step:

So, the plan is that I will apply the Aveeno Hand Cream as I feel needed during the day day, taking care to massage into my cuticles and keep them back. If I feel my cuticles need more attention I will use the Vinegar soak again. 

I will apply the Sally Hansen Maximum Growth as directed which is daily. 

Finally, after 7 days of following these steps, I will pop back with my review to see what the changes are! 

If you have any tips / comments please free to share ... I could do with all the help I can get, lol! 

Jogging out of the Cul de Sac

Recently I started down a path to a healthier and lighter me! My journey began 1st June this year and through exercising, eating better and taking part in a "Drop a Dress Size" program I was delighted to see on 13th November that I'd lost 23 pounds! I felt fantastic! I had more energy, my attitude had changed becoming more positive and I could fit into my old wardrobe, Happy Days!

Since then, only 11 days on, I've slipped and started letting the old habits creep in. Between celebrating my achievement, making up for not being able to enjoy my birthday the week prior and eating extra treats during the day I was cornering myself into the same old Cul de Sac I'd only just gotten out of! I was telling myself "but you had a healthy breakfast" or "you can Jog it off".
Over the last few days I've felt sluggish and was disappointed with my myself for letting myself do this. I've had amazing support from my husband, kids, family and friends and I felt I was letting them down.

Today I seemed to hit rock bottom, I felt just BLAH! While there's been a lot going on over the last few weeks its been no excuse to let myself slip back into my old habits especially when I was enjoying my new regime. So once the kids were in bed I got myself togged out and got out the door for a jog and a good talking to!

I mentally gave myself a "clip across the ear" for being so stupid to let myself go backwards. There's always going to be lots going on and there's going to be treats but I can't let myself slip like this. I reminded myself that I'm doing this for a better me which will in turn benefit my family.
I've watched my 3 year old son having fun exercising like his Mammy and its given me great motivation.

I need to refocus and keep on track so I can reach my goals. Its going to be tough with the festive season upon us so I've set myself a new goal to start a training app to jog 5km over the next 8 weeks. Its not a tough one but it will get me back on track til I start my next challenge in January!

A Chirpy Introduction!

Some of you may recognize the attached image or a variation of it and others may not. 

The story of "The Little Red Hen" is about a hen who finds some seeds and asks her farmyard friends to help her sow them to which they responded "No". Along her journey to planting the seeds, cutting the wheat and bringing it to the mill to make flour to bake bread, she again asked her farmyard friends at each stage for help to which they again replied, "No"! When it came to eating the bread her friends were happy to join her but to their disappointment she replied .... "No" 

My reason then for choosing this as a title for my blog was because, if I've an idea and I ask for help and someone says "No" I just get on with it. Once I've an idea I look to just get on with it with or without the help of my friends. 

From an early stage of meeting my now mother in law she would always comment that I would put teeth in hens so it seemed fitting to use this story! Little did she know that I would put a tooth in this hen but that's another tale to be told ;-) 

I hope on my journey with blogging that I can share some of my "Clucks and Downs" with you and that you enjoy them and maybe even inspired to plant your own seeds! 

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