Why I've Created a Beauty Schedule to Stay Motivated During Quarantine

The days of the COVID-19 pandemic are quickly starting to melt together for me, and not in a good way. Without meeting reminders from my Google calendar and the little letters printed across my pillbox, I wouldn't have many ways of telling apart a Monday from Thursday or a Thursday from a Saturday. When I've got no places to go or people to see, days of the week start to lose a lot of their purpose — and in turn, I feel like I lose a lot of my purpose.

This might sound dramatic in the grand scheme of the world's current crises, but because of this lack of structure, sticking to my usual beauty routines has become difficult. Now that I'm not being seen face-to-face by anyone but my roommate, it's become easy to stop caring about my appearance and self-care, making me feel increasingly sad and alone as a result. And I'm not the only one feeling that way.

"Our regular routines outside of self-quarantining tend to have 'anchors' that help us keep track of time and schedules: work meetings, social plans, workout classes, and other events or scheduled tasks serve as time landmarks," explains Jessica Stern, a clinical psychologist at NYU Langone Health in New York City. "When we do not have those anchors, or when the events in our schedule are less diverse from each other, those differentiating landmarks get lost." The long stretches of time inside without social interaction, she adds, can lead to lower mood, poorer quality sleep, and loneliness.

Setting aside daily time for certain talks, Stern explains, can help ward off some of those negative feelings. "Finding small ways to tweak your schedule or environment wherever possible can be helpful," she says. "Keeping a schedule can definitely benefit someone who is self-isolating, especially when it comes to protecting time for self-care tasks."

Even if it's hard right now, sticking to a beauty routine does help me feel more normal and even provides a little creative release. That's why I've started keeping a beauty schedule so I know exactly when I need to put on a face mask, groom my eyebrows, or even tend to my body hair — and so I can keep track of what day it is or how much time has passed.

I'm one of those type-A folks who absolutely thrives on planning and consistency (unsurprisingly, I am also a Virgo), so this is just the kind of thing I like to dedicate myself to in order to stay motivated and content. While some might find comfort in the lack of a rigid schedule, if you're anything like me, you may also benefit from penciling in some time dedicated to beauty into your calendar. Here are the little things I like to keep track of weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly.

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Skin-Care Treatments

To conserve products and energy, I've cut my daily skin-care routines down to a few key steps. These days I rely more on weekly masks and treatments to keep my skin free of breakouts, dullness, and dryness. For one day during the week, I set a reminder to apply my favorite at-home glycolic peel by Sobel Skin Rx during my nightly skin-care routine. It only takes a couple of extra minutes but keeps dead skin cells and extra oil at bay. On another weekday, I set a reminder to indulge in a 15-minute hydrating mask, like Korres's Hydra-Biome, to ward off the dehydration caused by the cold, dry air in my apartment.

These two things alone greatly help to separate the days and give me the feeling that I'm doing something valid with my time. Still, there are plenty of other tasks to do.

Hair Maintenance and Trims

Now's a great time to let hair marinate in its natural oils, so I'm only setting aside one day per week to shampoo and deep condition. I use Kristin Ess's Ultra Hydrating Curl Cowash or simply rinse my hair with hot water on other days I shower. On my wash day, I still style my hair with curl creams and gels and let it air-dry, just like I would before going to work or brunch.

Aside from that, I'm not doing much with my hair other than trying to let my natural texture thrive and avoid heat styling as much as I can. It's been ages since my last haircut and I've yet to trim my own hair at home, so I set an additional reminder to check my hair for split ends once every couple of weeks.

For those of you that have had your hair cut or trimmed recently, experts say trims aren't usually necessary until you hit the three- or four-month mark, so you might not need to worry about cutting your own hair at homr. But if your ends are starting to split, then you might need to bust out the scissors. "Split ends are usually a sign you have to cut your hair because you don’t want those hairs to keep splitting up the hair shaft and cause irreversible damage to the hair strands," says hairstylist Erickson Arrunategui.

Eyebrow Shaping

The stark contrast between my dark eyebrows and pale skin makes stray hair growth super visible, and my brows grow quicker than the rest of my hair, so I like to check in on the state of my brows bi-weekly. According to experts, plucking and trimming eyebrows more frequently than that can end in disaster — to avoid doing too much, I just use a small dermaplaning tool to clean up the stray hairs around my outer edges and use a trimming tip from brow artist Robin Evans: "Brush the brow hairs up, trimming individual hairs that are the longest and most unruly."

Manicures and Nail Art

Once every week, usually sometime over the weekend, I dedicate 30 minutes or so to nail maintenance. Just like a professional would at a salon, I like to soak my hands in warm water, slather my cuticles in oil, then push and trim them before filing my nails and painting on a nail strengthener. I've challenged myself to grow my nails out as long as strong as I can while self-isolating and a weekly mini-manicure has definitely helped with that.

I've also discovered that now is a prime time to play around with nail art and get better at doing it myself. I haven't set specific reminders to practice, but I play around with a new, simple design every couple of days while I'm sitting in front of my TV at night and itching to do something to distract myself. You don't need a huge collection of polishes or tools to be creative, either. I find I can play around with endless designs by using a few contrasting shades, a topcoat, and a tiny household object as a tool, like a toothpick or painter's tape.

Body Hair Removal

Shaving and waxing feel more pointless than anything else while cooped up in sweatpants and leggings a majority of the time, I know. You might already not remove your body hair at all, or you might find you get a newfound sense of freedom from temporarily putting down your razor. In that case, enjoy letting your body hair grow as you see fit. However, I personally get very itchy when my body hair grows too long and get a strange sense of relaxation when shaving my armpits, bikini area, and legs.

Once or twice during the week, I spend an extra 10 minutes in the shower exfoliating my whole body with Frank Body's Original Coffee Scrub before shaving all my regular spots. Not only does that give me a meditative moment to connect a little with my body, but it also gives me that same feeling I get while preparing for a night out with friends or a hot date — like anything could happen but fun is surely on the horizon. That's one of the feelings I've been missing the most recently, so I especially savor this routine. Sure, it's disappointing that I can't actually go to a bar or restaurant to act on that feeling, but I'd rather experience the excitement and letdown in tandem than not feel either to begin with.

Makeup Sessions

Doing my own makeup is the primary way I explore creativity and express myself, so I've been setting aside Saturday afternoons to try new products, application techniques, and looks, like the lime-green lashes shown above. Similar to body hair removal, it gives me that fluttery anticipation I feel when I'm prepping to go somewhere important. If I don't like whatever look I've come up with, I can take it all off and feel sound that I've got no time limits and that no one will see it. When I do like it, though, I can post it to my social media feeds and open up another line of communication with people.

Putting on a killer beat and maintaining my appearance in all these other ways revives the sense of normalcy I had previously been lacking. More importantly, they offer me extra opportunities to connect with my body and figure out what it needs from me most, whether that's food, sleep, exercise, or something else. My version of a beauty schedule might seem really intense, but dedicating yourself to even a couple of small weekly tasks can have a big mental impact.

"Maintaining protected time, even if only a small amount of time, to get ready in the morning or to relax in the evening allows us to set self-care as a priority," Stern says. "Especially at a time where we tend to use one space for all aspects of our life, it can be important to designate the time and space to care for ourselves so that it does not get lost in the shuffle."

More tips for social distancing:

• Here's Everything You Should Know Before Plucking or Tweezing Your Eyebrows at Home

• A Comprehensive Guide to Removing Gel Nail Polish at Home — Without Damaging Your Nails

• Here's Everything You Need to Know Before Cutting Your Own Hair at Home

Now, see how eye makeup has evolved within the past 100 years:

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Originally Appeared on Allure