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Morning Habits
Frosty the Snow Plow
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
No, this isn't about wankin' it. Sorry.
So as catchup from horribly unproductive depressive teenage years, I've been taking steps to better take care of myself. It's actually been going pretty well! Lost a lot of weight, gained some muscle, keep a clean residence, basic things that should really be in order for any fellow. Now, the natural progression of that has lead to taking better care of my appearance.
What sparked this was giving myself a proper shave for the first time in years and being shocked at how different I looked. This is completely ass-backwards, I admit, but the desire to shave more often actually lead to the desire to... well, shower more often. I've never really had a morning routine, taking care of my appearance only when necessity called than out of any discipline. I would just as often do absolutely nothing. In hindsight, I'm a goddamn idiot.
I figure it's a good time to remedy that. So right now, I'm easing myself into a routine, and I want to see what does it for other people. What works for you.
For example, I'm considering switching to both cold showering and cold water shaving. Other than waking you up fucking fast, cold water seems to treat my hair a lot better and encourages me to not take so goddamn long in the shower. Things like that.
Or, for shaving, I've been toying with the idea of getting a more traditional double edged safety razor, the hefty kind where you trade out the blades instead of using those shit disposable razors. I would go electric, but, for some reason, shaving feels more like work with an electric trimmer. I just like lathering up and doing the trimming myself.
So, H/A, what treats you right in the morning?
So as catchup from horribly unproductive depressive teenage years, I've been taking steps to better take care of myself. It's actually been going pretty well! Lost a lot of weight, gained some muscle, keep a clean residence, basic things that should really be in order for any fellow. Now, the natural progression of that has lead to taking better care of my appearance.
What sparked this was giving myself a proper shave for the first time in years and being shocked at how different I looked. This is completely ass-backwards, I admit, but the desire to shave more often actually lead to the desire to... well, shower more often. I've never really had a morning routine, taking care of my appearance only when necessity called than out of any discipline. I would just as often do absolutely nothing. In hindsight, I'm a goddamn idiot.
I figure it's a good time to remedy that. So right now, I'm easing myself into a routine, and I want to see what does it for other people. What works for you.
For example, I'm considering switching to both cold showering and cold water shaving. Other than waking you up fucking fast, cold water seems to treat my hair a lot better and encourages me to not take so goddamn long in the shower. Things like that.
Or, for shaving, I've been toying with the idea of getting a more traditional double edged safety razor, the hefty kind where you trade out the blades instead of using those shit disposable razors. I would go electric, but, for some reason, shaving feels more like work with an electric trimmer. I just like lathering up and doing the trimming myself.
So, H/A, what treats you right in the morning?
Frosty the Snow Plow on
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My morning routine is wake up at 5:00 (no snooze), trim beard if it needs it (I real shave once a week, electric touch up 3-4 times a week), get dressed, feed dogs, eat a decent breakfast (cereal and a glass of orange juice), play video games for 20-30 minutes, and then leave for work between 6:15 and 6:30.
I wake up at 5:40, never snoozing. I find that it becomes a bad habit and don't really provide any additional rest. I just end up anxious until my alarm goes off again.
Instead, I turn the space heater on in my room (again, I hate cold) and shower immediately. Shampoo every other day, conditioner every day. I check the weather, iron a dress shirt, get dressed, shave, do my hair, then leave around 6:40.
Breakfast is usually eat oatmeal with my coffee at work.
As I work alternating shifts, my routine alternates weekly. If I have to be at work only at ten I get up at six, put on slacks, go for a run (45 mins), breakfast, feeding the cats, quick shower (very little soap - soap is for when I'm demonstrably dirty, otherwise it's better for the skin not to overdo it) + brushing teeth + (usually) shaving, checking a few online newspapers and my mail, then off to work. The other weeks, when I have to be at work at 8, the run and the reading get moved to when I return fom work, everything else stays the same.
8:00 - Wake up, no snooze. Go to bathroom and turn on light. Adjust to light while peeing.
8:05 - Warm shower. Not too hot, as that drys out skin and hair. Make a conscious effort to flow from one step to the next; if you're not actively washing or rinsing something from the time you step in to the time you step out, you're doing it wrong. Long showers are for after hard days of work. If it's not freezing outside, I'll finish with a few seconds of cool to gently wake up a bit.
8:15 - Turn on tea water and then go shave. Wet face with warm water and lather. Mach5, rinsed under hot water. Rinse face with cold water to tighten up the pores.
8:20 - Pour tea, then dress and check emails. It's a small room, so it's easy to do both.
8:30 - Eat small breakfast. I've never been much for food early.
8:45 - Brush teeth and finish whatever needs doing before leaving/starting day
It's really about having the will to force yourself to do this for a week or two. The beginning days are going to be really tough, especially if you're used to using snooze and not doing half the stuff. Somewhere in the late-middle it'll get tempting to slack off as you feel totally in control (but you're not yet). Keep with it and it'll all become a reflex.
A good shave kit is going to cost you a chunk of money. I wouldn't suggest getting into that until you've got your routine down and the novelty of shaving wears off. See if you're still interested in the full set up, then head to the Badger & Blade forums and get your manly shave on.
Nah, when I do hot razor it irritates my skin.
Once you get into a routine, things just go easier.. even if you're super tired, your body will go through your morning stuff on auto-pilot (or at least mine does).
I'm another one of those warm/hot shower type people. Cold showers make me grumpy in the morning. I prefer the gentle waking a non-cold shower provides.
My routine-ish:
545 Wake up
545-610 Pee, wash face, shower, get dressed (picked out clothes the night before), do hair
610-625 Prepare and eat breakfast while reading on the compy, then go brush teeth
625 Put lunch (made the night before) in bag and head out the door.
A good rule of thumb is do things night before to make your morning easier and less stressful.
That's my advice.
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For example, I've lately been making a big batch of oats to let them sit in the fridge overnight. Lasts me for four breakfasts, and cooking eggs each morning only takes a few minutes.
A few pounds of chicken or turkey (usually baked in the oven) with some rice and veggies keep well in the fridge and last me for several lunches. I can put them in a tupperware when I need them and get on with my day.
I also absolutely avoid going on the computer first thing in the morning. It really kills productivity for me. I try to do it while eating breakfast, or something like that.
As far as shaving goes I use hot water and foam/soap, then rinse with hot water (good at getting soap/foam off), and then rinse with cold water (tightens up the pores). I got rid of the winter coat early this year, when I wear a beard it gets shampooed (hot rinse) and conditioned (cold rinse), and then trimmed when dry.
I can't imagine doing a cold shower in this season. Nowadays I crank up the hot water on the shower so I can get some heat into me.
Safety razors are less forgiving than disposable when it comes to cuts. It takes some practice. I cut myself only once with my safety razor, and it was a fucking massacre. It is as easy as having the blade at the wrong angle, and when you're used to disposables, that's very very easy to fuck up.
My name is Katsuhiro. I'm 25 years old. I believe in taking care of myself and a balanced diet and rigorous exercise routine.
In the morning if my face is a little puffy I'll put on an ice pack while doing stomach crunches. I can do 1,000 now.
After I remove the ice pack I use a deep pore cleanser lotion. In the shower I use a water activated gel cleanser, then a honey almond body scrub, and on the face an exfoliating gel scrub. Then I apply an herb-mint facial mask which I leave on for 10 minutes while I prepare the rest of my routine. I always use an after shave lotion with little or no alcohol, because alcohol dries your face out and makes you look older. Then moisturizer, then an anti-aging eye balm followed by a final moisturizing protective lotion.
I'm talking burr grinder, French press, quality bean, black coffee. That stuff is so amazing. I can't drink any other coffee black without feeling a little sick.
5:00am - alarm goes off
~5:20am - crawl out of bed (no snooze) and go in bathroom
Take off underwear, throw in clothes basket
Pee
Get out morning stuff (deodorant, clearasil, moisturizer, small comb, toothbrush, toothpaste)
Turn on shower
Brush teeth, put up brush and toothpaste
Rinse out sink
Get towel and hang on edge of shower
Get in and shower (rinse, clean and clear on face, shampoo on hair, shampoo on beard, body wash, rinse)
Dry off, hang up towel
Get q-tip, clean ears
Use small comb on beard
Apply deodorant, clearasil, and moisturizer and put away
~5:40am - Get clothes, exit bathroom
Go in office, put clothes in chair, turn on computer, get shoes and put by chair, turn off porch light
5:45am - Go in other bathroom and do business
5:55am - Go back to office, get dressed, get on computer
6:15am - Put on shoes, shutdown computer, get breakfast and lunch ready for day
6:25am - Leave house
As far as shaving, I have a full beard so I only shave my neck once a week, on Sundays. For that, before I get in the shower I use an electric to get the majority of stuff, then finish up with a disposable, no shaving cream. From there I get in the shower and rinse off any stray hairs. The reason I shave before shower is every month or so I'll trim my beard with some scissors, so I get hair all over myself.
Man, I am like a robot.
Wake up 1:30 before I have to be at class/work
Shower, go to the bathroom
Brush Teeth Deodorant and do Comb my hair (Not big on shaving Trim my beard when needed)
Sit around on the computer until 10 minutes before I have to leave
Get Dressed and walk to work/class.
I am not big on working out in the morning or eating breakfast, but different things work for different people.
3:30AM - Alarm, no snooze, put on gym clothes, put in contacts
3:40 - Out the door with coffee (set on timer) to gym
3:50 - At gym
5:05 - Get home, microwave my oatmeal, go shower and dress (clothes laid out)
5:17ish - Prep oatmeal with milk and some maple syrup, prep 2-3 eggs, eat and surf internets
5:45 - Go to work
Wow. What time do you go to bed to wake up regularly that early? I'm not entirely convinced that the day has really started until 5:00 AM and even then I'm pissed that I'm up when it's still dark out.
This might all just be conjecture, but it's how I do it and it feels great.
As for general waking-up advice, if you're a snooze-abuser, put your alarm clock somewhere far enough that you can't easily hit it while in bed. Having something to get you out of bed and into the shower tends to work pretty well (for me), anything from iced coffee in the fridge to a hidden alarm clock can do the trick.
I'm not a fan of a big workout early in the day, I'm not really a morning person so I don't operate very well until the afternoon. A light morning workout is great, experiment to see what works best for you. Getting 15-30 minutes of activity in plus some stretching works wonders.
The key to shaving is; everybody's skin/hair is different. There is no one cureall for everyone to get a good shave.
Carcass, since you seem to be someone concerned about your complexion (clean and clear, Clearasil, etc.) you should wash your face last while in the shower. At the very least, after you wash and rinse your hair. Even if you rinse leaning your head back, some dirty/oily residue from your hair is going to go on your face, and if you've already washed your face, it's going to stay there all day long.
Hmm, I never thought about that.
I don't have a bad complexion, per se, just my noise and forehead get oily and if I don't use clearasil on my nose everyday I can get little pimples on it. I started using the clean and clear to see if it helped, and it really didn't, but it's just a routine now. I'm usually on auto-pilot in the shower, but I'll see if I can start doing it at the end.
I'm saying in my experience hot razor = uneven/painful shave. Others I know have the same impression, and the only people I see have razor burn on a regular basis refuse to try the "cold razor". I also have to use sensitive skin stuff, but some people can just rock it with water.
7 (at the latest) - get up, stumble into the living room. Lamp comes on (blackout curtains make it dark!). TV (CNN, in case there is a new World War...) Check email/RSS feeds/Penny Arcade, probably log into an MMO briefly.
7:30 - Long, hot shower. Thinking about replacing that shower head, though, because everywhere except under the water stays COLD during the winter and the water doesn't project very far.
8 - Fix my lunch and dick around on the computer while eating breakfast. Then I brush my teeth
8:30ish - head out to work.
I'm lazy in the morning. Rarely even shave during the week, or cook breakfast. I got more done when I went into work later. Need to make two changes: get a mirror for the shower, so I can shave then. Also, cook breakfast the night before so I can do something healthier than pop tarts.
If your room setup supports it and you'll hear the alarm move it to your dresser (or somewhere else out of reach from the bed) so that you have to get out of bed to turn it off.
Cold water for the hair, warm water for the face.
What kind of lunches do you make the night before so that they're good the next day? You just bringing leftover dinners, because that does not work well with sandwiches... Just curious.
Usually around 9. I sleep until 5 or 6 on the weekends. It's been an adjustment (it took about a month of forcing myself out of bed through sheer will before I could do it without thinking). However I'm working 40 hours a week and going to school half time (I do this routine during school only), so fitting workouts plus a social life in is a challenge.
Note the times aren't recommendations, but I think I've reached peak efficiency for accomplishing stuff in a short amount of time. I think the key to this, is consistency in everything. I get thrown off a bit even if I have to untie my shoes to put them on or take time to find my thermos. So setting things out the night before helps tremendously.
*Also, for waking up, getting in my car and driving helps tremendously, especially in the winter when the cold shocks my system into awareness. The gym helps a lot too for starting the day with an awesome mindset, 10 minutes of cardio or lifting and I'm awake, 45 minutes of either and I'm ready to kick ass and take names.
**Final edit regarding food and what's helped me eat cheaper, healthier and more conveniently...Every Sunday I take like 2-3 hours and make a massive meal (lasagna, soup, chili, pasta, some type of casserole...this week is chicken/veggie/rice curry), enough so I can just throw it into 5 containers for my lunches, and then I eat on it for my dinners too. It gets repetitive sure, but that curry cost me about $25 and gave me all my non-breakfast meals for the week (which translates to between $2-$3 per delicious and healthy meal depending on how much I actually get out of it)
I've done that, but it doesn't help. And when I had my alarm set for 7 instead of 6:30 (I changed it when I started picking up a co-worker) I would still hit the snooze at least once before getting up.
Half the time I'm "awake" in some semi-conscious state before the alarm goes off the first time, anyway.
I also set my alarm every day, even on my days off. Since moving it from 6:30-7 I have a real hard time getting up on Saturdays and usually end up turning it off and going back to sleep. But I also stay up too late on Fridays.
People who don't shower in the morning, you smell. Your workmates can smell you, and you smell like musty sleepy bedtimes.