There are several ways to take care of yourself and your time as a student. While you can figure this out on your own, advice from fellow peers can be helpful.
Your time is valuable and being able to stay balanced with school, sports, socializing, and self-care time can be difficult.
Francesca Gionfriddo, a junior from South Glastonbury, Conn., keeps a color coded calendar, a tip Mr. Berghoff taught her. She finds that it helps in “setting boundaries for [herself] and being able to say like ‘I’m not available,’ ‘I need time to do my homework,’ ‘I need time to call my family,’ ‘I need time to take a nap.'”
She adds that “having the ability to compartmentalize and differentiate what things are very very important to do, versus things that are more optional.”
Junior Chloe Raker from Longmeadow, Mass., loves some good old self-care time in her day.
“Anything that you enjoy doing to yourself or pampering yourself really helps with then the other stuff in your life,” she said. “I love coming home and finishing all my homework then doing a face mask, or making a healthy smoothie always makes my night feel satisfied.”
Pearl Rungrotkitiyot, a senior from Thailand, agrees with Chloe but puts an emphasize on sleep.
“I always make sure I get a good night sleep. Always eight hours, all the time.”
Forming your perfect beauty routine is just as important in self-care as forming a strong daily routine.
Everyone has their own unique skin type, so finding what’s right for you is essential. If you need tips on which products to start with, here are the top contenders.
Mel McCullough, a junior from Allentown, Penn., has sensitive skin and finds that a Cerva cleanser “and then just like a very unscented routine with like a gentle toner, maybe some sort of drops, and then a moisturizer all unscented, all gentle, made [her] sensitive skin really improve.”
Chloe recommends Hailey Bieber’s Rhode Beauty line for skincare as well as getting a basic face wash from La Roche Posay, claiming it’s her “go to.”
Francesca uses a La Roche-Posay cleanser; the La-Roche Posay “Clarifying Solution” with 0.5 salicylic acid and 2% glycolic acid, saying it’s “not very like harsh on [her] skin and it like gets rid of any blemishes or anything” she has; and a moisturizer from her dermatologist.
While Pearl doesn’t recommend a specific product or brand, she does give one valuable piece of advice about building your makeup and skincare routines.
“Make sure, like before buying makeup or skincare or anything, to thoroughly look through reviews and see what they say,” she said. “I feel like ever since TikTok and like skincare trends people have just been putting so many things on their faces which may not always be good.”
Speaking of makeup, it seems a general agreement among the girls interviewed by The Willistonian that there is no need to wear a full face everyday.
“I would say less is more with makeup,” Chloe said. “A light glams for school that doesn’t take up that much time is perfect.”
“Every single day I try not to do concealer, or foundation, or a full face because I just feel like that makes my skin break out and not look as natural as I want to look every single day. So, I try to do like a little bit of mascara, curl my eyelashes, and like a little bit of highlighter every day as my go to,” Mel said.
Similar to skin, everyone has different types of hair. The important thing is that you learn how to take care of your hair type and become knowledge on what’s healthy for your specific hair.
Francesca, who describes her hair as “wavy/curlyish,” has to come to her “own realization that [her] hair is different than my mom’s or my sister’s.” She believes this is important in “being able to take care of [her] hair the right way.”
When she’s not keeping her hair curly, she liked to straight it with the Revlon brush or the Dyson Airstrait. She prefers the Dyson Airstrait because “it feels like it doesn’t kill [her hair] as much or damage it.”
Chloe also has curly hair and loves the Dyson Airstrait for straightening her hair, claiming it “leaves [her] hair always feelings like [she] just left the salon.” She gives a reminder to not forget heat protectant and use a good hair mask when you wash your hair; she recommends the Ouai hair mask.
Chloe also notes that she has learned to embrace her curly hair “more by using curl products to benefit [her] hair.”
Mel, a Williston diver, spends most of her winter season in the pool, so she finds herself washing her hair all the time causing it to dry it out, not to mention the drying effect that New England winter has on hair. To tackle this issue Mel uses hair oil and attempts to use less heat by doing heatless curls or just letting her hair air dry.
Not only does New England winter dry out your hair, it also calls for layering clothes. Chloe and Pearl both note the importance of experimenting and being unique in your style choices.
“Most of the time I think it’s all about finding what style fits you. Also kind of experimenting with colors and see what looks good on you,” Pearl said.
“My biggest tip for dressing is to be unique!” Chloe said. “I know we all, including me, enjoy hopping on styles we see on social media, and I’m guilty of it. However, I think it’s important to take that but make your own style from it.”
Chloe’s favorite stores to shop at include Aritzia, Alo, Free people, and Bloomingdale’s.
Fran agrees that it’s important to not fall victim to social media trends adding “looking for versatility in pieces is really important.”
While it is important to not conform with everyone on social media, looking to influencers for some tips and tricks can be helpful.
“I like to look at influencers who are more honest about their reviews or something like that because I feel like it’s more the truth,” Pearl said.
Her favorite influencers are @theglownarrative and @judy.lim.
Chloe’s favorite influencers are @bethennyfrankel and @alixearle, saying they “both influence [her] a lot with skincare and makeup.”
Fran looks to many influencers for inspiration including @poppyyyjane, @summermckeen, and @danielameyler. Fran also notes that she gets clothing ideas from “iconic characters” in TV shows like Carrie Bradshaw from “Sex and the City” and Serena Van Der Woodsen from “Gossip Girl.”
Mel prefers to not have specific influencers she looks at because she thinks “sticking to one person is only one real perspective on like lifestyle and stuff so they’re only focusing on one way to dress or style yourself.”
