TikTok's Thursday Night Beauty Routine Trend Is Perhaps The Ultimate Self-Care Ritual
Let's be honest, beauty maintenance can sometimes feel like a full-time job. Skincare on the face and body can require multiple products and a few hours of your time each week. Plus, keeping up with the skincare trends, new products, and educating yourself about best practices can take up time even if you're simply scrolling through social media. But social media is where the concept of the Thursday Night Beauty Routine is beginning to gain traction.
TikTok user @alexatimmermann described her weekly Thursday night beauty routine, which includes going to the gym before taking an "everything shower." Now the concept of an everything shower is nothing new. Girls and women have bonded over taking showers that cover all their beauty needs in one sitting. But incorporating it into your weekly routine rather than sporadically is a concept that's beginning to gain traction.
Giving yourself this weekly self-care is a great way to pamper yourself while addressing some of the more special steps in your beauty routine. And Thursday is a great day to do it because you'll more likely have more energy than at the beginning of the week and feel like your best self for the weekend. You'll also have something to look forward to until Thursday. Here's how to structure your Thursday night beauty routine.
Give your hair some love
The Thursday night beauty routine starts in the shower and with a good hair care routine. Here's where you can do a hair mask, a detoxifying shampoo, and a good scalp treatment. Detoxifying or clarifying shampoos help to deep clean the hair by removing dirt, oil, and build-up from the hair and scalp. Depending on your hair type, once a week is the typical amount to use a detoxifying shampoo.
After clarifying, you'll want to add moisture back to keep your hair strong and reduce breakage and frizz. Use a hair mask to introduce oils and moisture back to your strands. You can find a hair mask that works for your hair type or issues you're trying to address, like repairing, softening, or adding volume. If you have color-treated hair, you'll want to look for a clarifying shampoo and hair mask that won't strip your color.
Scalp care is the new skincare, so don't forget to focus on this area. Your scalp can be oily or dry, just like the skin on the rest of your face and body. With that in mind, you'll want to choose products that are best for your scalp type. Dry scalps can be irritated and flaky, so you'll want to choose gentle and healing products that add plenty of moisture. But oilier scaps may want to swamp clarifying shampoos for sulfate-free shampoos and scalp exfoliating treatments to remove the buildup on oily scalps.
Exfoliate and shave everything
Next in your everything shower is tackling hair removal and exfoliation. First, you'll want to exfoliate to remove dead skin cells and any buildup. Because the skin on your body is thicker than on your skin, you can use a salt or sugar scrub to manually exfoliate. Rub the scrub in circular motions on your legs, arms, and other areas for softer skin. Exfoliating before shaving also allows for the blade to get closer, cutting the hair down to be smoother. If you're not a shaver, exfoliating before waxing or sugaring can reveal silkier skin and easier removal.
Then you'll want to tackle shaving. After washing your hair and your face, the water and heat from the shower will make the hair on your body soft. Use a moisturizing shaving cream and shave in the direction of hair growth. This will prevent the sharp, curving hairs that create in-grown hairs or razor bumps. Cleanse and rinse the area to remove any bacteria that could cause infection. It's also a must to replace your razor often to prevent in-grown hairs and razor bumps.
Multi-step skincare routine is next
After getting out of the shower, it's time to tackle that multi-step skincare routine, but you'll focus on your body, not only your face, with a luxurious Thursday night routine. A routine for after-hair removal can help your skin stay smoother and softer and just give you better skin in general. If you're prone to strawberry skin, bumps, or in-grown hairs, consider an exfoliating lotion that can help clean and clear out the pores on your legs. Then finish with a hydrating oil and moisturizing lotion. You may also want to invest in body serums that can address wrinkles, stretch marks, body acne, and dry skin.
Thursday nights are also an opportunity to take your daily skincare routine a step further. That's the night to do masks, whether they're exfoliating or hydrating, and give the skin under your eyes a little more love with hydrating pads. You can use a gua sha or skin roller for a facial massage. Or try out one of the red light therapy wands for a really high-end experience. Take the Thursday night routine to really pamper yourself and your skin.
Self-tanner
If you're one who likes a sunkissed glow year round, use Thursday night as the time to reapply your self-tanning lotion. After exfoliating is the best time to use a self-tanning lotion or oil because it will stick to your skin better. And if you have dry or flaky skin, your self-tanner can look uneven and flaky. Plus, if you apply self-tanner on Thursday, by Friday, and the weekend, the excess will wear off and you'll look more natural for all of your weekend plans.
It's also important to leave self-tanning towards the end of your Thursday night routine because it will give your skin a chance to dry from the shower. Wait at least ten minutes before grabbing the bottle. But if you want to do the self-tanning step, you'll have to skip some body skincare products like oils so the tan can soak into the skin. Apply self-tanner on towel-dried skin and in long strokes to create an even coat. Make sure to wear gloves so the palms of your hands don't get darker too. Wait 20 minutes to allow the tan to develop before putting on your pajamas.
Silence your phone and get in bed
The last step is to climb into bed and turn off your phone. Let Thursday be the night you unplug and prioritize relaxing without distraction. Get comfortable with soft pillows and blankets, and set your phone aside. You can read a book or magazine, or journal about your day. You can also meditate, do breathing exercises or do some light stretching in bed. If you're creative, use this as some uninterrupted time for a hobby like knitting or punch needling.
But if staying off your phone completely isn't for you, you can use it to listen to music, podcasts, or audiobooks as you relax into the night. Watching a movie or television show can also be a way to treat yourself. But if you're going to have your phone, stay away from work emails or anything to do with your job. Try to stay away from mindlessly scrolling through social media, especially since that can make time slip away quickly. Last on the Thursday night list: go to bed early. Put your phone down by ten and get a full and restful night's sleep.