Lifestyle – House of Ravissant

AGING

In this age of Botox, vampire facials and tummy tucks, women have taken the concept of forever young to a whole new level. Women like Mo Abudu, Halle Berry, Sade Adu, to mention but a few in their 50’s and 60’s are giving women in their 20’s a run for their money and believe me most of them never paid a visit to DR 90210 if you know what I mean.

To join this league of ladies who have succeeded in aging so graciously, you need to work for it and earn it; don’t be deceived it is all about good genes. Overall, there are some things you definitely need to know and do, as early as when you are in your 20’s in order to age gracefully. It’s okay if you are way older than that, there’s no better time to start than now

First you need to identify likely problem areas and pamper them before they start to show. Ever heard the saying “Black don’t crack”? Well, it will definitely crack if you don’t take care of yourself.

Eye bags – Your face is the first thing anyone will notice about you when trying to determine your age, and the most prominent tell on your face is the presence of eye bags. These mild swelling or puffiness under the eyes is natural effect of aging. The tissues around your eyes, including some of the muscles supporting your eyelids, weaken, normal fat that helps support the eyes can then move into the lower eyelids, causing the lids to appear puffy. Sometimes they are simply caused by retention of water, due to high concentration of salt in the area. Although there are common quick fixes like placing a cool cucumber or a tea bag on your eyes, you should take the following long term and preventive measures earlier.

* Change your sleeping position- If you are not pregnant or have any medical condition that requires you to sleep on your side, switch and start sleeping on your back with your head slightly elevated. This is important because this posture allows fluids to drain from your face. Use an extra pillow so that your head is at least a couple inches above your body.*

Catch up on your beauty sleep- You see why it’s called “beauty sleep”? An average person needs at least 8 hours of sleep. It is rather obvious that when you do not sleep well you get bags under your eyes, and the more often you get bags, the higher the likelihood of them getting permanent.

Skin on your hands and Feet

As you age, your natural supply of collagen (the protein in human body that holds the body together) reduces. Collagen apart from its several usefulness, helps plump up your skin, and as its supply reduces, it leaves your skin patched and it dries up and cracks. As the skin on your hands and feet are quite thin, the dryness gets very noticeable on them first. Most people pay too much attention to their face and not enough on their hands and feet and after you get fooled into thinking they are young, the hands and feet gives them away. There is only one way to avoid this, HYDRATE AND MOISTURIZE. Drink as much water as you can (my daily goal is 3Liters, don’t worry, you are no balloon, so you won’t burst) and keep your hands and feet as moisturized as possible. Keep a small bottle of Bio oil, shea butter or even your regular moisturizer in your bag and do touch ups during the day, don’t depend on only the morning and night ritual.

SKIN ON YOUR NECK THE FAMOUS TURKEY NECK /WATTLE

This reminds me of a character (someone please remind me of his name) in an old series I watched in my twenties Ally McBeal, who loved dating older women so he could touch their necks and feel their wattle- disgusting right!

Anyways, aint nobody got time for a Wattle, so to prevent the early onset of this you need to include your neck in your daily facial regiment and when moisturizing your neck, use upwards stokes. The use of sunscreen cannot be overemphasized, we black women always assume sunscreen is for whites and this is far from the truth. The sun screen breaks down collagen and elastin in your skin so you need to pay extra attention to your neck.

You should also do some targeted exercise such as the neck tilt and avoid any rapid weight loss program (losing more than 1kg per week) as this leaves you with flabby skin.

In addition to all of these, two major things that cannot be overemphasized are proper hydration, healthy diet and a fit and healthy lifestyle. If you can take care of your skin, most of your problem areas will be fine. So remember to take at least 2.5 liters of water in a day and stay active- walk, jog, join a gym, dance classes or simply always take the stairs.

You can look like any of the women in the picture above as you get older. The Choice is yours.

Deyodee

WORK-LIFE BALANCE

HAVING IT ALL AND MORE

Have you ever come across a woman who seems to have it all figured out? A typical “super woman”, who has somehow gotten the secret formula and is successfully juggling a promising career, and successful marriage, motherhood and a business of her own, Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying having all of these defines how successful a woman is, however, if this is what you are all about and would like to achieve, then this article is for you.

The major key to having it all is PRIORITIZATION. Yup. You need to prioritize. Nobody sets out to having it all on day one. So to start off, you need to consider what the end game is. Not all you seek to achieve will grow at the same rate and as you know, the grass is greener only where it is watered so you need to determine what you want to achieve at each stage in your life, and focus more energy on it.

There is this popular story about prioritization where an old professor of the School of Public Management in France, was invited to lecture on the topic of “Efficient Time Management” in front of a group of 15 executive managers representing the largest, most successful companies in America. The lecture was one in a series of 5 lectures conducted in one day, and the old professor was given 1 hr. to lecture.

Standing in front of this group of elite managers, who were willing to write down every word that would come out of the famous professor’s mouth, the professor slowly met eyes with each manager, one by one, and finally said, “We are going to conduct an experiment”.

Jar of rocks

From under the table that stood between the professor and the listeners, the professor pulled out a big glass jar and gently placed it in front of him. Next, he pulled out from under the table a bag of stones, each the size of a tennis ball, and placed the stones one by one in the jar. He did so until there was no room to add another stone in the jar. Lifting his gaze to the managers, the professor asked, “Is the jar full?” The managers replied, “Yes”.

The professor paused for a moment, and replied, “Really?”

Once again, he reached under the table and pulled out a bag full of pebbles. Carefully, the professor poured the pebbles in and slightly rattled the jar, allowing the pebbles to slip through the larger stones, until they settled at the bottom. Again, the professor lifted his gaze to his audience and asked, “Is the jar full?”

At this point, the managers began to understand his intentions. One replied, “Apparently not!”

“Correct”, replied the old professor, now pulling out a bag of sand from under the table. Cautiously, the professor poured the sand into the jar. The sand filled up the spaces between the stones and the pebbles.

Yet again, the professor asked, “Is the jar full?”

Without hesitation, the entire group of students replied in unison, “NO!”

“Correct”, replied the professor. And as was expected by the students, the professor reached for the pitcher of water that was on the table, and poured water in the jar until it was absolutely full. The professor now lifted his gaze once again and asked, “What great truth can we surmise from this experiment?”

With his thoughts on the lecture topic, one manager quickly replied, “We learn that as full as our schedules may appear, if we only increase our effort, it is always possible to add more meetings and tasks.”

“No”, replied the professor. The great truth that we can conclude from this experiment is:

If we don’t put all the larger stones in the jar first, we will never be able to fit all of them later.

The auditorium fell silent, as every manager processed the significance of the professor’s words in their entirety.

The old professor continued, “What are the large stones in your life? Health? Family? Friends? Your goals? Doing what you love? Fighting for a Cause? Taking time for yourself?”

What we must remember is that it is most important to include the larger stones in our lives, because if we don’t do so, we are likely to miss out on life altogether. If we give priority to the smaller things in life (pebbles & sand), our lives will be filled up with less important things, leaving little or no time for the things in our lives that are most important to us. Because of this, never forget to ask yourself,

What are the Large Stones in your Life? And once you identify them, be sure to put them first in your “Jar of Life”.

With a warm wave of his hand, the professor bid farewell to the managers, and slowly walked out of the room.

Identify the pebbles, stones and water in your life and you will be surprised at how things will change once you change the way you look at things.

Most Nigerians are trapped in the Wok-Traffic-Home rat race. Live a little, go dancing, goof around with your kids, learn something new, don’t say there is no time, you know you can make time.

You were not born to pay bills and die.

I will love to hear from you. Are you good at juggling? Do you find yourself with little or no time to do anything apart from work every week day? How do you maintain that work life balance? Please share and comment in the section below.

REMEMBER, YOU HAVE THE SAME 24HOURS IN A DAY JUST LIKE BEYONCE,…

TO BLOG OR NOT TO BLOG? THAT IS THE QUESTION

I have always loved the idea of putting pen to paper to express my thoughts, but with a full time job, a business to run, kids to raise and a hubby to wife,…

Did someone say excuses, excuses and more excuses?

I decided to build a website for my retail business, and the thought occurred to me to add a blog to the website.

As a child, I loved reading, I always had my head buried in one book or the other and it’s sad to see the reading culture in Nigeria dying. I visit different blogs daily and see entertaining and enlightening articles and news but after reading, the first ten comments are from people complaining about the length of the article.

So here I am, lounging on a couch, listening to the reggae version of Locked up by Adam Levine and wondering, do I really want to blog and can I make that commitment without flaking after just a couple of articles? To make this decision, I decided to try an old trick. I flipped a coin (finding the coin itself is a story for another day). Before the coin landed, I silently prayed and wished for it to land head first, so here I am!

The whole idea is to bring you some fun reads, motivational, fashion, lifestyle posts and lots of vlogs. If you thought this was going to be a strictly fashion and style blog, am glad to disappoint you.

I will love to hear from you in the comment section below about what else you will like me to blog about, please share and let’s have some fun!

Deyodee signing out,…