September, the month of new beginnings. I’m always sad that summer is unofficially over, but I love the left-over ‘back to school’ feelings, and always get excited to start over and reshuffle things.
Apparently there is something evolutionary about this organizing feeling as well, as in the early days, fall was the time to organize life and prepare for winter. No, I didn’t know that either.
But regardless of any prehistoric significance or dropping temperatures, fall is the loveliest season to cozy up and work on our self care a bit more. So today I want to share my self care ideas for fall with you.
Something we forget nowadays, is to actually live with the seasons. Throughout the year we eat a lot of the same things, use the same products and do the same things. Seasons seem to be something that happens around us. They’re affecting our environment and our clothing options, but they don’t seem to affect us or our behaviour.
That is where we are sorely mistaken, and it’s time to rectify that.
After this post, you’ll be properly prepared for fall and the changes you should make in your life to accommodate it.
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Skin care for fall
As the air starts getting dryer in September, it is the perfect time to adjust your skin care for fall and introduce some more moisture and warmth.
This is a perfect time to start giving yourself oil massages before you shower. Take a good quality oil (sesame is perfect for fall/winter) and massage yourself with it from top to bottom. This doesn’t have to take an hour, 5 minutes is plenty.
Let it sit for a couple of minutes or hop straight into a warm shower. The steam from the shower will open your pores, allowing more oil to sink in.
I try to do this a couple of times a week, and if I do it daily I feel so nice, soft and accomplished. That simple act of self care in the morning helps me feel good all day long.
As for your face, grab some more moisturizing products. Add in a serum or an oil if you don’t have that already, as your skin will love the extra hydration. You could also add hyaluronic acid for moisture, I love this one from The Ordinary.
Hair care for fall
For your hair, also consider your scalp may be drier. You could switch to a shampoo for dry scalp, or take the time to put in some extra hair masks. I have noticed a big change in my scalp after I started doing regular castor oil masks, and it seems much healthier than before. A counterintuitive benefit is that my hair doesn’t get as greasy as quickly as before!
Additionally, add some extra oil or moisturizing product to the ends of your hair, as they usually suffer a lot in the dry weather. Especially when we start wearing scarfs which they rub against and lose moisture to, it’s essential to take extra care of your ends.
Self care ideas for fall
On top of skin and hair care, of course there is more self care to consider.
I always feel like after all the hustle and bustle of summer, fall is the perfect time to wind down. Especially with school and work starting back up, make sure to set some time aside to relax.
I love cooking with fall produce (more on that later) or snuggling up with a good book.
This is a perfect time to start a journaling routine, implement a new morning routine or work on your personal development. Here are 50 journaling prompts you can use to get started with both journaling and personal development. Or, if you prefer to read books, these are the 5 books every woman should read. Or maybe you prefer fiction books?
You ould also take this time to create your perfect self care kit, so you’re always ready for your self care sundays or any bad day.
Fall is such a lovely time to spend more time indoors, light some candles, bake a pie and make the house smell amazing while you’re reading a book. What more could you want?
Physically, you may also notice that your joints are becoming a bit more stuck and creaky in fall. The oil massage will definitely help with this, but you can also improve it with gentle stretching or by practicing yoga.
Imagine rolling out your mat on a rainy day, banana bread or anything pumpkin in the oven and a cup of tea or chai next to you? Divine.
What to eat for fall?
A often ignored part of self care: our food.
Like I said, we usually don’t pay too much attention to food seasons. We seem to eat a lot more pumpkin in fall, but other than that, not much seems to change. Which is a shame!
There are so many seasonal fruits and veggies that are at their best in fall, and I feel we need to take more advantage of them! So find a seasonal fruit/veggie calendar to tell you what grows then, and make a meal plan with them!
I especially love sweet potatoes, pumpkin soup, apples, pears and beets and eat them a lot in fall. These sweeter vegetables contain more of the nutrients we need in fall than summer veggies like cucumber or tomato. Nature is one smart system, so the things we need naturally grow when we need them.
Therefore, choose like apples, beets, sweet potatoes, cabbage, sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, kale, pumpkin, oats, dates, pears and nuts.
Some of my personal favorite ‘recipes’ to eat in fall are grilled pears with cardamom, sweet potato fries, pumpkin soup and dates with almond butter.
Other foods to eat more of are:
When the summer humidity leaves the air, it is easy to get dehydrated. It is so important to keep drinking plenty of fluids in fall, even when you feel like you don’t need it.
You might be able to see when your skin is dry, but that is usually a sign that your digestive tract is dry as well, which makes it easier for your body to digest food. So aside from fluids, fall is also a time to introduce a bit more fat into your diet. Whether it’s good quality oil or nut butters, a bit extra fat won’t hurt at this dry time.
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There you have them, all my self care ideas for fall! incuding my tips on skin care for fall, hair cair for fall and any other self care for fall. Of course self care is a year round thing, but these are very specific fall self care ideas.
I love the seasons we have and I enjoy adapting my life to them. I think it’s also good for your immune system to eat with the seasons and slow down a bit.
By eating with the season and adapting our self care for fall, we can keep our bodies a lot happier and are less likely to suffer from dryness, nutritional deficiencies or digestive issues. Small effort, big payoff!
Let me know if you alter anything in your routines when fall starts in the comments below!
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