Beauty Beyond Borders: Self-Care and Wellness Essentials for Studying Abroad

Introduction

There are so many things to think about when you are getting ready to study abroad. From making travel plans to creating a packing list to saying goodbye to family, countless things need to be accomplished before you leave for your host city and prepare for a semester at a new university. One thing that I think is commonly overlooked when planning for a semester abroad is self-care and wellness! These are very important things that should not be forgotten. Today, I want to share with you all my self-care and wellness essentials for studying abroad. It will help you remember some items that slip through the cracks when you are packing your bags and help you decide what you should and should not bring with you to your home-away-from-home. Hopefully, this blog post will help prepare your skin, hair, and body for your study abroad adventures!

Skin: Stocking Up on Necessary Products + Changes in Routine to Protect Against Pollution 

I want to be very honest with you all when I say that I have struggled with my skin my entire life. Since I was eleven or twelve, I have struggled with painful cystic acne, and my skin is extremely reactive. I tried everything that I could before my dad told me that it was time to go to a dermatologist. I am eternally grateful for my dermatologist because she prescribed me a retinoid (which is a synthetic derivative of Vitamin A that is designed to accelerate skin cell turnover) that helped heal my hormonal acne. Something that I had not thought of when I was preparing to study abroad was the fact that I needed to have a four-month supply of my retinoid in my suitcase. The vital thing about retinoids is that they need to be used diligently every single day to make a true difference in your skin, so I could not take four months off and maintain my acne-free skin. If you are in the same boat as me, my biggest piece of advice is to talk to your doctors about how to get your prescriptions abroad AT LEAST TWO MONTHS before you leave for your host city! I asked my dermatologist about it, and she recommended Express Scripts to obtain a three-month supply of my retinoid before I left for London. Because I left in early September, right after I picked up my prescription from my local pharmacy, this guaranteed that I had a four-month supply that would cover me until I came back to the States. It is also important to talk to your doctors about studying abroad because they can also provide advice about how best to take care of your health. London is one of the most polluted cities in the UK, and that pollution affects almost every aspect of our health, including our skin. My dermatologist told me about how the city's pollution and air quality could really affect my skin, especially since sensitive skin can react very strongly to the change in location. She recommended a cleansing oil to help remove the pollutants from my skin at nighttime and a hydrating toner to replenish the moisture that is lost due to pollution particles. These skin care recommendations helped my skin remain clear and happy while in a new city. Depending on your skin, you can buy many of these products while you are in your host city, especially if you want to try something you cannot get in the States. Although be careful with that since you might have to stock up before you return home!

Hair: The Dangers of Hard Water + Caring for My Curls Abroad

I have gone to the same hairstylist since I was thirteen because she is the only person I trust to cut and maintain my curly hair. So, when I told her that I was moving to London for my study abroad, she instantly warned me about the dangers of hard water. Hard water is water containing high concentrations of dissolved minerals (like calcium and magnesium). It is created when water travels through underground deposits of limestone, chalk, and gypsum. While hard water is not dangerous to our health and well-being, it can be hazardous to the health of our hair. Hard water can leave a filthy, thick residue on our hair, which causes dryness, dullness, frizz, breakage, split ends, and mineral buildup on the scalp. Hard water is prevalent in the UK, as well as throughout Europe, including France, Spain, and Italy. Thankfully, my hairstylist knew that my hair (which is already prone to frizz) would not do very well with the hard water present in London, so she gave me the Malibu C hard water wellness hair remedy packets to take with me. This honestly saved my hair! I used a packet once every two weeks, and it completely removed the damage from hard water and kept my curls healthy and shiny. I recommend buying them when you are in the States and bringing them with you to your study abroad host city because it is easier to buy them online. Also, if you have curly hair, I recommend that you bring your own hair products with you to your host city! I am very picky when it comes to my curl products, and some of them are harder to obtain abroad since they are from US-based companies. I brought jumbo sizes of every hair product, and they lasted me the entire four months I was in London. Also, your hairdryer and hairstyling tools will most likely not work in London because of the different plugs and voltages, so you can either take a break from heat styling (which is what I did!) or you can buy something when you are there. While I did get a few teasing laughs from my friends about my haircare while abroad, it helped me maintain the health of my hair in a foreign country!

Body: Finding a Study Abroad Perfume

I am a huge perfume girl! Any time I visit a beauty store, you can always find me in the perfume section. Although I love all my perfumes at my apartment in St. Louis, I only brought a little travel-size perfume with me when I studied abroad in London. This was because I wanted to buy a new bottle of perfume in London so that I could have a scent that would always remind me of London. Our sense of smell and our memories are powerfully linked in our brains. Scent molecules take a unique and direct pathway to the amygdala and hippocampus (which are the parts of the brain that are in charge of emotions and memory). This makes smell trigger extremely vivid and dynamic memories. I thought that it could be fun to pick out a scent that was unique to London so that I could return to my study abroad memories whenever I was missing my host city. It took a little bit of time to find something that I loved, but I finally found it at Lush Cosmetics. While I did not know it at the time, Lush is actually a British company that was founded in 1995 in Poole, England. I visited the Lush store on Oxford Street, which is absolutely beautiful. I decided on the Sticky Dates perfume, which has a delicious buttery caramel scent. I quickly became obsessed, and I wore it every single day I was away from home. Now that I am back in St. Louis, any time I pop into a Lush store at my local mall and smell Sticky Dates, I am instantly transported back to my time in London. Every though it has been a year since I returned home, I can imagine myself on busy London streets when I smell Sticky Dates. I recommend that everyone does this, especially if you can find a perfume that comes from a local shop. It is a wonderful way to remember your host city in a special and unique way! Also, begin to think about how you will treat any common illnesses while you are abroad. I am someone who suffers from chronic cold sores every winter. I do not feel like the cold sore medication available in the United Kingdom is as effective as the medication in the States so I packed a bunch in my suitcase before I left St. Louis. There are some minor differences in the dosage of medications from the US and the UK, like ibuprofen, so it might be helpful to bring your own. Also, some popular medications in the States are not as readily available in the UK. For example, melatonin requires a prescription in the United Kingdom, whereas it can be purchased over the counter in the United States. Keep that in mind if you are an insomniac! These are just some quick and easy ways to guarantee that you are physically taking care of yourself while studying abroad. 

Conclusion

No matter how busy you are embracing life in your host city or traveling from country to country during the weekend, it is important that you continue to take care of yourself while you are away from home! Self-care and wellness do not need to be super time-consuming. Just a quick spray of your new favorite perfume or using a hair product that reminds you of home can make all the difference in the world. These tips helped me feel more myself while I was away from my regular routine in St. Louis, as well as aided me in creating a new life for myself in the city of London. I hope that this blog post gave you some ideas on how you can continue your wellness routines in a new city or try a new self-care technique while abroad!