Portable wonderfulness - Create your own lovely, calming Office Spa!
Millions of us spend at least eight hours a day, five days a week in an office, sitting at a desk, doing perfectly ordinary things. It seems harmless enough. But an office environment isn't always the best place for your skin, nor is it the most relaxing place in the world. If you suffer from eczema, rosacea or psoriasis, office environments can make things worse. So what can you do to tip the balance? You might want to try what we do in our own Holistic Silk haven, or as others call it, our office!
We've called it our “Office Spa” and it makes such a difference to our skin, to the way we look and how we feel that we wanted to share it with you and hopefully inspire you to try it for yourself.
Environment is everything
Offices are noisy, hectic places with computers, printers and all manner of electrical devices pumping out warm air from their fans, which let’s be honest are usually quite dusty. So we have been tackling the air issue in some simple ways.
Air conditioning can make already-dry skin even drier, unbalancing its natural moisture levels as does central heating, and sitting close to either exacerbates the issue as the dry chilled air or dry hot air flows around you. So, if you can, turn off the air-con and open a window. We have been known to sit in our offices in scarves with Hot Water Bottles on our laps because we love the fresh clean air and what it offers us so much. Apparently being cooler helps you to concentrate better too…
A vase with a few drops of essential oil added not only helps to diffuse the air but the wonderful relaxing aroma, known to help reduce blood pressure and reduce your heart rate, helps us deal with the stress any office environment brings. And adding plants to your workspace has all sorts of magical benefits, including reduced stress. Because plants remove air pollutants they improve the quality of indoor air and help stabilise humidity so it doesn't get too dry. Low-light foliage plants grow well even if your office doesn't get much natural light and Spider plants hanging above our desks are our thing. It has been suggested that these particular little gems can help to limit our exposure to the suggested damaging effects of Wi-fi.
And whilst we would love to avoid screens we simply can’t. But with some evidence that the light from screens, including phones, causes skin damage we always make sure we take regular breaks from them and keep our skin hydrated. We can frequently be found after lunch tipped back in our chairs with our Lavender Eye Pillows over our eyes talking through our afternoon tasks. And we keep lovely hydrating mist sprays on our desks to add moisture to our delicate facial skin during the day.
Our top tip for dry offices… Silk Moisturising gloves! Our wonderfully light, almost weightless pure Anti Ageing Silk Moisturising Gloves used with or without hand cream protect hands from drying out and thanks to silks natural ability to regulate your body temperature, keep your hands cool in summer and warm in winter.
BEAT THE OFFICE STRESSES
Our best-selling products make every day at the office a beautiful one and help to reduce the stress all office dwellers encounter…
A facial at your desk or on the move
When we first received our Chi Gemstone facial rollers we all sat at our desks trying them out and realised very quickly that these weren’t just for using as part of our skincare regime at home but ideal for any time relaxation at our desks, relieving tension and soothing our minds, even when on the phone! And in addition to stimulating the acupressure points in your face which promote clarity and calm points, they work to tone your facial muscles and smooth your skin. It’s a facial at your desk! Our handbag heroes these little wonders are also great for using on the daily commute.
Taking Time Out
Our fabulous 100% Dupion silk eye pillow is our office BFF, helping us take a short but sweet 'power nap' that leaves you feeling more alert. Filled with real Lavender flowers and organic seeds which are naturally cooling we simply place it over your eyes and let it stimulate the acupressure points to deliver clarity and calm, always handy at work! In fact, a piece of research by NASA revealed a 40-minute nap improves astronaut performance by 34% and alertness by 100%. Now we may not be astronauts (although we all secretly harbour that dream!) but if we need a 10 minute time out, even a little nap, to help us through the day, we aren’t afraid to do it.
Positive Hydration
There’s always someone on a coffee run in any office but after lunchtime instead of topping up the caffeine, we like to indulge in some crystal tonic. Let’s face it, water is boring but the crisp fresh taste of crystal infused water changes all of that. It is thought that adding Gem Crystals to water creates a positive energetic structure and our selection of crystal water products contain various mixtures to bring this positive energy and crystal healing powers. So you will always find a jug of water in our fridge with our Chinese 5 Elements Wellbeing mix infusing away and when we work away from the office we take our crystal tonic with us in our gemstone water bottles.
Take some comfort
We all have difficult days when we feel worn out, un-appreciated and quite frankly fed up. Days like that we just want to curl up under our desks and hug our knees but it’s hardly professional so we don’t do it. But we do like to comfort ourselves with a hottie. Covered with silk velvet you can’t help but stroke our Hot Water Bottle it’s our own version of an office teddy bear.…and yes sometimes we do argue about whose it is! Some might call it an indulgence, we call it a necessity. Warm, cuddly and sweet-smelling it’s the comforting hug we all need from time to time.
Wear your slippers to work
It may sound like a dodgy fundraiser involving an extreme amount of Tartan booties, bobbles and embroidered butterflies but seriously, we always wear our slippers in the office. Not your everyday plastic soled, Velcro relics but pretty silk ballerina style slippers with massaging insoles treating us to a foot massage as we work. People who don’t work in offices never believe it when office workers complain of sore feet. Yes, we sit down a lot but the effect that has on our circulation can often be felt at the end of a long day; aching legs, lethargy and a slower metabolism. So these clever removable massaging magnetic insoles in our slippers were designed to improve your circulation and metabolism and soothe aching legs and feet. There is also something very relaxing about wearing slippers that we, quite frankly, just like!
Designed, tested, developed and refined by us
All our products are designed, tested, developed and refined by us in our Cornwall offices, and every single one of them acts as an antidote to the speed and pressure of contemporary living. We know exactly how effective and transformative alternative health, Chinese medicine and good sleep can be, and we've based everything we do on these ancient principles.
Office Spa – if you need help or advice, please feel free to ask.
