Time for a Mom Glow Up? Try These Quick Beauty Tips for Busy Moms:

If you’re anything like me, you’ve learned a TON about time management and being efficient since becoming a parent. I seriously cannot believe how much time I used to waste on every. single. aspect. of my daily existence, from dealing with basic chores to getting up and out the door in the morning. Once I had kids, I suddenly found that all that time I used to fritter away was needed for managing these two small beings in my care. Gone were the days when my morning routine took forever, because there just weren’t enough hours in the day.

There’s no place where this holds true more than in the basic tasks of self-care that we all have to perform, day in and day out. (I’m not talking about those of you who are parents to newborns; if that’s you, I hereby give you permission to cut yourself a ton of slack for the first 6 months, if not the first year, of Baby’s existence!) Beauty for moms is NOT a contradiction in terms, but I don’t know a single mama who hasn’t streamlined her mom beauty routine significantly since giving birth. It IS doable, with these time saving beauty hacks.

Sometimes the easiest way to get a mom glow up is to just rethink how you approach your whole beauty routine, so that you can get great results in less time and with less effort (even on those mornings when you’re running on empty!). Sound good? Then read on:

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Life Hacks for Moms: Busy Mom Beauty Tips

A. Simplify Your Hair Care

If you still have a high-maintenance, time-consuming morning hair care routine, that is the first place to look when considering what your beauty hacks for your new mom routine might include.

Maybe mom-dom is the perfect excuse for a whole new look. A quick online search for easy hairstyles for moms should give you lots of inspo to take with you to the salon. There are plenty of ‘dos that look good without taking hours to get to that point, or even heavy daily upkeep.
When picking your new ‘do, consider your hair type and personal preferences also. If you have oily hair, or a daily hair wash is part of your wake-up routine that you don’t want to ditch, consider a short wash-n-go style. (It’s also worth looking into dry shampoo for those days when even that few minutes of hair washing isn’t in the cards.)
On the other hand, a longer cut gives you options that don’t involve daily hair washing. This is why I keep my hair long sometimes; it’s easy to pull back into a low ponytail, sweep off my temples with combs, or pull back with a barrette or headband for totally different looks for days after washing.
Got curly locks (as I do)? Adding some leave-in conditioner plus the right styling products, as well as sleeping on silk pillowcases, will keep your curls looking fresh and moisturized for days longer. Silk resists absorbing moisture, so your. curls won’t dry out or get frizzy; if they do, there are plenty of curl refresher sprays you can try.

B. Streamline Your Skincare Routine

But your new mom beauty tips should NOT end with simplifying your haircare. There are so many other ways you can hack your morning skincare routine, depending on your preferences and your tastes:

Do you really need twelve skincare products on your face in the morning? Consider how many you can ditch and/or combine. My fave is an anti-aging moisturizer with built-in SPF 30; most days, this and some lipstick or tinted lip balm are all I wear. (Unlike lipstick, it’s easy to get tinted lip balm on in two seconds without a mirror, and the effect is just as good.)
Other combos you might consider are products that work for both lips and cheeks or eyes and cheeks, combo foundation/under-eye concealer, tinted foundation and/or moisturizer, and/or a foundation that doubles as blush or finishing powder.
Some of my mama friends swear that nothing fakes a “wide awake” look faster than false eyelashes. There are plenty of affordable strip lashes or magnetic lashes you can pop on in just a few minutes. They make your eyes look bright and open—even if you only slept four hours—and mean you can skip mascara and liner most days. It’s a hack that makes a huge impact, fast.
And keep a small to-go stash of your must-haves whenever you’re out and about. (Don’t leave it in your car, where temperature changes can be brutal to your products.) Whether it’s in the school drop-off line or in the parking lot at work, you can always steal a few minutes there to finish putting together your look for the day.
The one exception to leaving supplies in your car is a small toothbrush and travel-sized toothpaste. I’m often still working on my morning coffee when heading out for the day, so being able to brush my teeth quickly in the parking lot before applying my lipstick is huge!

C. Prep Ahead and Other Mom Self Care Tips

The remaining low-maintenance beauty hacks I’ve figured out over time involve broader mom self care tips as much as anything else. Everything in my life seems to run SO much better when I’m doing the little things, day in and day out, to make my own life easier and take better care of myself – and no amount of glow-up magic can erase tons of chronic stress as effectively as taking better care of yourself in the first place, as I’ve learned the hard way.

Again, if you’re a mama to the under-1 set, please cut yourself a LOT of slack (I promise, things get easier once they’re past that first birthday!). But otherwise, it’s worth checking your big-picture habits to see which of these might need a little tweaking, so your inner beauty is better able to shine through WITHOUT so many extra steps to remove the surface damage:

There’s no substituting for the basics of exercise, fresh air, balanced healthy meals, and especially a good night’s sleep. If these areas need some work, that’s always a good place to start seeing what small changes you can make.
Even the little things like staying hydrated throughout the day can affect how radiant your skin looks. And while we’re at it, if you’re not already using a daily moisturizer with a built-in SPF of at least 30, why not?
While we’re talking about your beauty morning routine, it’s also a good idea to see if other parts of your morning routine could use a tune-up. Heading out the door as a ball of stress is not a good look, trust me. Those little things you can do the night before – checking the weather and choosing your outfit for tomorrow, packing the kids’ lunches (or, for older kiddos, having them pack their own), etc. – can help save time and stress in the morning, which gives everyone a head start on looking and feeling their best for the day ahead.

The bottom line:

Yes, there ARE shortcuts that work. Here’s hoping soe of these low-maintenance beauty hacks can help you look put together even on those days when you feel as if you’re running on fumes!

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