Your hormones affect far more than your mood - they can also determine the best day to wax your legs or even when to introduce hyaluronic acid into your skincare routine.
Doing the math, day 13, right bang in the middle of your monthly cycle is the perfect time to tackle hair removal with minimal bother. Why? The day before ovulation is when your pain threshold is heightened so yanking out some unwanted body hair will be a somewhat less traumatic experience. We can even pinpoint the exact time of day to get stuck in.
Physiologically, 3pm is when the body is at its warmest. Post lunch, your skin will have softened and heated up, making the whole plucking process a lot easier.
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Even your skincare can be timed around your cycle. Typically skin is drier during the week of your period as there is a dip in oestrogen levels, which slows down the skin's sebum production. This is the time to flood skin with "hydrating ingredients such as glycerin, panthenol, urea and hyaluronic acid, which all attract water molecules and add them back to the skin," says celebrity aesthetician Dr Barbara Sturm, whose own Hyaluronic Serum is a cult buy.
Meanwhile, the week leading up to your period is when there's an increase in testosterone. "PMS and the drop in oestrogen drives acne and increased oil production," says consultant dermatologist Dr Anjali Mahto. This is when you might want to switch to a gentle foaming cleanser containing salicylic acid (Paula's Choice Skin Balancing Cleanser is good) to keep pores free of debris and follow with a balancing topical probiotic serum such as The Ordinary Buffet Serum.
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