A Lifeguard's Entire Routine, from Waking Up to the Beach | Allure

I'm Brittany Austen and this is how I work it I'm gonna take you through 24 hours of my wellness and beauty regimen I work 40 hours a week ten hours a day and I probably spend about 14 hours a week in the water at least I'll have maybe eight rescues in one day on a busy day and I can go a few months without I'd probably say I've saved at least 500 people that first time you save a life will mark you for the rest of your life the best part about my job is saving lives and being on the beach while I do it it's amazing and it's beautiful and it's stressful and it's hot and it's exhausting funny guys it's about 7:00 a.m. before I leave the bed I do a couple of things I drink a nice big dose of water I usually leave it next to my bed he gives me a good excuse an extra five I'm good typically I wake up at least a good hour to before my shift I'll usually stretch out my back a little bit and stretch out the hamstrings early bird gets the worm right epidemic I like to wake up and wash my face with warm water you don't really use any creams or lotions Ernie's I said early in the morning just because I'm gonna sweat them off and the more cream to use more sweat there is drips on your eyes it's not a good whew my biggest beauty regimen would be our that process rosewater gives me a nice little scent supposed to be a good toner a little bit of hydration I spray it any and everywhere I use this in the morning before I go to work in the tower when I'm super hot and Nikki just to refresh myself even at night way too hot not to wear this amazing and then of course Irish my teeth for me accompany probably one of the best parts of my job is just my uniform suit I wear no pants I wear no shoes and that is a definite plus so this is my dating suit drawer I have literally more serious than shoes the navy blues are the work to all my work suits our Dolan Dolan is made specifically for the swimmer the surfer the triathlete the lifeguard those women who do active things in the water I need support and I need them to stay on in surf if I'm running out on a rescue I don't want to have to worry about my boob popping out you know which has happened in the Morley kress soft you know bathing suits and I've been in a rescue I remember where I came out and I'm just like ma'am ma'am fix your shoe cuz she had completely won out and she looks down at me she's like well honey you're the same boat and I look down and I'm just like Oh dios mio because I am a lifeguard and I'm constantly in a bathing suit I don't want to have to worry about you know shaving all the time I did get laser hair removal on my bikini line it's one of those things that just makes my life a little easier I get to work at 9:00 we have morning roll call I'm here on beautiful Miami Beach about 86 degrees now which feels with about 97 cuz the humidity we open up our towers by 9:30 this gives me about 30 minutes or so to set up make sure that all my equipment is in good working condition I wanted to show you my office my amazing view in the background got my supervisor there watching the water for me this is where I'm at 40 hours a week it looks like I'm camping you want to go to the tower because I have everything that I need because I don't have running water I want to be set for the day it's about 10 o'clock and I have sweated again opening up the tower and Here I am I start to get ready put on a little bit of sunscreen sun protection and lifeguarding kind of goes hand in hand I do not sit in a chair I sit in an actual tower it has doors and windows kind of protect me from the elements so most of the time you see a lifeguard we're gonna be trying to stay away from the Sun as you can see I've got my sun protection wherever I go most of the protective clothing they all have some kind of UV protection I go in the water with full tights to cover my legs as well I like to use a visor a hat and of course sunglasses ocean rescue gives us a 150 dollar allowance for sunglasses because as a lifeguard it's super important and not just looking out into the Sun I'm looking out into the ocean reflection of the Sun off the ocean is actually more harmful these are my clothes so that my they're made specifically for people who are on the ocean and they're super polarized it's just something that takes the glare off of the ocean I can actually see the victim better you can see the contours of the ocean floor and the sandbars are where the rip currents are I do wear sunblock what's really important is to make sure that it's reef safe I love the ocean it's my playground it's my office it's where I live where I work and for me protecting the reef is really important I have this beautiful engagement ring I'm deathly afraid of losing it so you won't see me actually wearing rings or bracelets on duty I usually get a break at around 11:00 or so I personally bring my lunch so that I can use my lunch time as a workout I can't stand staring at the water for ten hours a day and not being able to get into it I need to being peak physical condition on every given day I do at least one workout I bury it up depending on the conditions if it's a rough day I'm gonna go out there and do rough water training if it's a complete flat day I might take it easy and maybe swim or run and once I'm done with my workout the most important thing is to rinse off with fresh water and dry off so I keep these gallon jugs of fresh water in my tower so that after every workout or after every rescue I usually rinse off the fresh water reason being salt water dries out your skin also who wants to stay sticky for ten hours of the day I never sit in a widt bathing suit more than a few minutes it's very important for feminine health I'm not gonna sit here in a wet bathing suit for ten hours a day forty hours a week so I do change my suit at least two to three times a day depending on my activity levels it is something that that may be normal people don't think about but lifeguards it's kind of just heat lifeguards don't have days where you can just say I don't want to go to the beach because I'm on my period I have I like to call it my little goodie bag of feminine health items as soon as I change into it a dry a dry suit I change into a dried tampon we can't exactly wear pads we don't have restrooms on the tower so I use a glove glove goes on your hand pull the tampon inside out tie it and not throw in the trash so one of the things that's very unique to lifeguards is that we're constantly in humidity keeping dry is important and the most important thing as far as hair care is just letting it dry before I put it back in a bun I have heard millions of horror stories from my swimmer friends for my lifeguard friends that the constant in and out with wet hair and the hair back in a bun or ponytail and next thing you know their hair is breaking it's rotting it's falling off this isn't Baywatch I can't do a rescue with my hair down I have to keep it up but I brush my hair out I let it down I let it air dry before I put it back in the bun I've never dyed my hair in my life all this golden highlights that I have naturally acquired through the Sun it's basically the Sun baking and burning my hair I don't really use a lot of products but I do get in the ocean every day so I do wash my hair every day I condition my hair everyday I just used the normal Herbal Essence reminds me of childhood this one's the coconut one so it gives me extra moisture a common problem with lifeguards and swimmers is that we get these these humidity spots on our shoulders that's the thing that works is dandruff shampoo as long as you're consistent with it I like to eat throughout the day I sit down and have a very big meal and I'm now full all of a sudden I have a rescue the last thing I want to do is throw up on their way to the rescue it just does not feel great so a lot of times you'll see lifeguards munching throughout the day eating smaller meals an example of like one of the things that I like to eat and bring to lunch to what I call chia pudding it's basically chia seeds almond milk some agave nectar cinnamon pecan and I'll put like a banana in it what happened to another thing that's really important is hydrate I'm gonna basically in a wooden box all day long there's knowing see it's just in the elements and I'm working outside this is my gallon water bottle I drink at least one of these in a day it's habit 8-hour shifts so it usually lasts me through the day it's a really hot day I might have to go back in and refill this is what I like to use it's a little electro pack I have at least on really hot days at least one of these a day pretty tasty it's easy to carry around put in my water bottle as a professional lifeguard I have my EMT for my medical response most the time we're first responders on on the beach on the sand in the ocean so we need to recognize what's going on what we can do to help the fact that he can turn into a major medical condition is very real on Miami Beach we do get a lot of people with heat exhaustion I do a lot of medicals on the sand a lot of people come for spring break or for summer break and they want a party and they want to have fun but they're not really recognizing what they're putting their body through it's something that has a lifeguard that we have to remind people because they're just coming to have fun and that's their help is sometimes not on their radar there's a lot of myths just because of they watch and a lot of other shows the Sandlot a lot of people think that most lifeguards are seasonal jobs that were all college kids just looking for a summer job South Florida is specifically Miami Beach we have the luxury of having great weather all year round that means you have people in the ocean all year round there's some people that don't even understand that there's lifeguards they come up to my towers they ask me to rent an umbrella I have a lot of overeager tourists most of them mean well they want to take pictures they're excited and I do have to remind them my tower is my office and my equipment is the tools that I use to save lives so I don't mind people taking pictures however I do have to remind people please don't stand on my stairs I prefer not tackling people as I run out for a rescue I do keep my nails very short I'm constantly in the water so my nails tend to break also I don't want to reach for somebody and scratch them with my nails a lot of times people when you're saving them they're in a panic they don't know what's going on and you'll get everything from people trying to jump on top of you to the the boyfriend leaving the girlfriend in the back and trying to save himself it happens girls don't follow them when they tell you just a little bit further if you're not comfortable you know when in doubt don't go out but I've had occasions where that person just has this glassy-eyed stare and you get to them and you thrust the bully in front of them and they'll try to climb completely on top of it because they don't recognize that all they need to survive is just just right here this is all I need out of the water sometimes it just takes the hey calm down I'm here you're going to be okay grab the buoy and sometimes that's just enough to like snap them out of it and then you can calmly calm down you start to crack a joke or two it is interesting you know people's reactions and some some people say thank you some people run away from you as fast as they can as soon as they get out of the water because they're super embarrassed there's certain rescues that kind of stick with you there's drowning and major medicals and as any medical provider will tell you there's certain times where you're not going to be able to save them and those things are definitely they're impactful and there's something that once you live through them it really puts you puts your passion for the job in perspective just the sheer idea of well I've now lived through the worst and if I still want to do this job and I still want to save more people then I know that this job is for me and it's it's something that you learn from and it's gonna happen to every lifeguard in their career at least once and that happened probably to me probably about the second year of my profession I had a very hefty case and when I went home I had Lucas there to help Lucas is my fiance and he's been with Miami Beach ocean rescue for about 15 years it's actually really awesome to have my significant on there do the same thing as I do we're lifeguards you swim we run we save life so your life so I'm very lucky to have met my my significant other who is very supportive [Music] and giving yourself we have this big container and we have our ice machine and we fill it with ice water and we get in there for eight minutes and give ourselves ice baths have a clean garbage can and I love the water I'm really looking forward to the I mean yes and now it's gonna hurt it sounds kind of a painful but at the end of the day as a life bird in the hot environment it's important to stay cool it's a big minutes to go because the amount of physical activity that we're doing it's good to kind of help revive and rejuvenate okay that's good thank you fastening is a lifeguards best friend salt water is pretty abrasive so I tend to chase and in this case Vaseline is a lifesaver as you see I don't have a thigh gap so Vaseline put it right here on that chub rub if I'm gonna go for a long swim along row anywhere around the the swimsuit line also sometimes these rash guards can be cut a little weird a little tight just on the underarms is a nice spot as well even just a small cut or anything that kind of burns in the salt water vaseline will just solve all your problems a little bit Vaseline a little bit of neosporin and you're good to go alcohol is something that all the lifeguards have as a medical professional it's important to disinfect we don't have running water so a lot of the times guards will just grab a thing alcohol and just do one of these also you know I have a pimple I've got none of my you know acne products or anything cause bad alcohol straight on the temple alright it is time to reapply with a little bit of SPF 3 [Music] most of my job has to do with rivet actions sometimes I'll be down on the sand hours on end specifically those times before and after low tide on busy holidays as well as a lifeguard we consider having a lot of rescues in the same spot as failure on our part because it means that we've not prevented if I see a rip current at a specific tide two hours before low tide or two hours after low tide and I see a family I'm definitely gonna go down there and redirect them to a safer spot to swim because it can become dangerous on every life for soon we have a flag system this flag system is nationwide green yellow red just like a stoplight green means that there's low hazard yellow means moderate hazard and red just means high hazard due to rip currents when we fly that double red flag that means that the waters close to public flying are double red flag for quite the moment it could be lightning it could be hurricane serve or any kind of bacteria in the water and our purple flag is for marine life usually in a summertime wound jellyfish and the cooler months at the be Portuguese Manoir people are really surprised that in the ocean there is marine life we get everything from Tarpon to manatees to stingrays we have sea turtles that actually wash up on our shore usually at night the mother Seto will come up later nest every once in a while we'll have one of those nests hatch these baby turtles are very vulnerable to heat we make sure that those turtles are accounted for by Christ already days we get to kind of have a breather and take us a moment in the tower to kind of just relax for a bit usually around six o'clock I'll start to close down this hour I'll start to pick up my combs put my rescue board away clean out the tower I get off the tower at 6:30 we watch the vehicles put away all our emergency equipment leave it ready for the next day and I'm leaving the beach at 7:00 p.m. at the end of the day the most refreshing thing is to just walk into the AC I get to get out of the seat the Arab it's like the cloud automatically lifts and you're like seeing clearly for the first time in like 10 hours get home by 8 by 8:30 and kind of just relax and take a nice long hot shower obviously my job does not include a full face of makeup because I don't get to use makeup on a daily basis sometimes just to run errands I like to put on a little bit of a face this is my makeup bag this is pretty much the extent of it this is just a brush on sunblock it's a nice kind of sheer powder I do have very short eyelashes so I do use an eyelash curler my aunt and my grandmother used to try to teach me how to curl my eyelashes with the spoon I was never quite as skilled as they were I have waterproof mascara because you never know when the girl needs to jump in the ocean and then I have a basic eyeliner little accent for lip gloss so yeah that's my daily like on a day off makeup routines if I'm gonna go out to the store and I want to look a little pretty and make me feel like I'm a little bit more girly on special occasions I do like to break out the really dramatic red lip I like the deep red matte on and like a little trick that my grandmother taught me to make sure I don't get lipstick on my teeth and now it's out to party one thing about sitting outside in the heat all day is that when I get home the only thing I want to do is lock myself inside a dark room and crank up the AC for at least a good two to three hours before I can even move I have a cream that I use at night I buy this in Mexico from the market it's actually made of honey and pollen and a whole bunch of other good things it's something that I can wear at night and then the next morning by the time I wash my face I don't go into my workout feeling like my goggles are slipping off my face that's my nature I do walk in the sand a lot so my feels tend to get really dried out but something that I'm constantly battling with trying to file them down and I use this heel tastic and I sleep in socks I tend to go to bed around 11 o'clock I'm a little bit of a night owl hi guys it's about 11:30 and Rocco and I are about to go to bed so hola me llamo Brittany Austin here assist como lo trabajo

Channel: Allure

Views: 7,999,035

Rating: 4.9529176 out of 5

Keywords: lifeguard, work it, miami beach lifeguard, swimmer routine, work it allure, work it 2019, how to be a lifeguard, beach watchtower, ocean lifeguard, ocean rescue lifeguard, daily routine, lifeguard watchtower, lifeguard routine, ocean rescue routine, day in the life of a beach lifeguard, lifeguard entire routine, day as a lifeguard, lifeguard ice bath, lifeguard gear, lifeguard skincare, lifeguard day, beach safety, beach rules, beach guards, beach guard, allure

Id: 7OAALdwdQ9s

Length: 19min 38sec (1178 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 27 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/rsoneill13]

I liked that!

[u/ZohanDvir]

🍍

[u/TheCirieGiggle]

Lucas & Brittany are one of my favorite teams of all time. I really hope they race again in the future!

[u/Apple_Slipper]

Her marriage during The Amazing Race was absolutely adorable!