Don’t you just love the amazing, delectable feeling of baby skin? I sure do, and luckily, I get to touch and kiss my baby’s skin every day! Here are two ways to get amazingly soft, glowing, and healthy skin: Dry Brushing and Salt Scrubs!
HOW TO DRY BRUSH:
Before starting: Purchase a dry brush at your health food store like the one pictured here. You can use it without the handle or put the handle on for back brushing. Or, you can purchase a similar one with a short handle. Make sure that the bristles are natural, not synthetic. Another option is a natural loofah instead of a brush. The best place to dry brush is outside, or in a bathtub. Sometimes dry brushing can make a mess with the dead skin cells being sloughed off.
- ALWAYS BRUSH TOWARDS YOUR HEART. At first, try soft short strokes. Once you’ve done the whole process and your body is becoming used to it, you can make the pressure more firm each time, just to the point of a nice tingling sensation. Keep the strokes short and sweet.
- Start at the bottom of your body, the bottom of your feet, brushing up towards your heart. Work your way up to your ankles, up the backs of your legs and knees, and then up the front of your legs. Avoid or go really lightly on sensitive areas like the inner thighs and knees.
- Start on your palms and go up the insides of your arms, then up the outsides. Be gentle with delicate inner arm skin.
- Go up and over your whole butt and hips.
- Go up your lower abdomen and up the ribs towards your heart.
- Go up your back towards the heart.
- Go DOWN your shoulders and chest towards your heart.
- Go DOWN your shoulders and top of your back towards your heart.
- Don’t do the face, save it for more gentle exfoliation. Skip the genitals, silly!
- You’re done! Enjoy your tingle, and nice energized feeling! (not good for at night before bed.)
HOW TO DO A SALT SCRUB:
Before starting: Purchase fine-grade sea salt or dead sea salt. Some people may like coarser grades for places like heels and other rough skin spots. Generally though, the finer grade the better.
- Have your bag or bowl of just salt. (Oils can clog the pores.)
- Take a nice hot shower.
- The motion of a salt scrub is circular. Again, start soft and once your skin is used to it you can try adding more pressure, but you really don’t need much pressure. If it starts to burn, you are using too much pressure, or too coarse a salt.
- While still in the shower, (you can turn the water off) Start at the lower end of your body, using circular strokes and work up towards your heart.
- Then Start again at the top part of your body and work down towards your heart. I do salt scrubs on my face, but only with the lightest of pressure and a nice fine-grade salt.
- Be gentle and careful on the face, front part of the neck, upper chest, inner arms, inner thighs, and butt crack. Of course, skip the genitals unless you want some stinging misery!
- Make sure to rinse your body well with hot water, then with cool to cold water. Cold water therapy is an ancient yogic technique called Ishnaan that will get your circulation going and create wonderful health and hardiness in your constitution!
- That’s it, you’re done! Enjoy your glow!
Helpful tips:
I like to follow up on these therapies with a nice self-oil massage. More on this in next week’s blog! Once you’re familiar with this routine, you will be able to do it really quickly! Some people even skin brush daily as part of their morning routine. I like to give myself a salt scrub once or twice a week. Please be extra gentle and careful if you have skin conditions like acne or rashes. I have had problems with rashes and find that salt scrubbing with gentle pressure is tolerable and helps the rash clear up.
Benefits:
Both of these therapies are wonderful for exfoliation, which opens up your skin to breathe more. They also help stimulate the production of new skin and expose your natural protective and healing skin oils, which ward off invaders to your immune system. They both get blood circulation going, providing a nice glow to your skin. Also, they move lymph. Did you know that your lymph fluids, the amazing fluids that carry toxins and infection out of your body have no pump? Your blood is obviously pumped by the heart, but not lymph. It requires exercise and practices like these to get it moving! Cool, huh? This means a healthier body in general, and helps reduce inflammation, or edema, and many other benefits.
Dry brushing is especially good at moving lymph. Dry brushing can also help remove cellulite because cellulite is just an accumulation of fat cells, created to store toxins. Once you get the circulation and lymph moving, you can move those toxins out. Add a Niacin Flush, and you’re golden! Learn about Niacin Flushing in this blog post.
Salt scrubbing is excellent at mineralizing the body. Your pores will be open from the hot shower. Then you are exfoliating and placing in your pores the rich minerals of the sea. This hydrates and heals your skin and body. Your skin will literally feel like baby skin!
Ok. That’s all. I hope you’ve enjoyed this yummy info.
Take action now! Please in the comments below tell me which of these you are going to try and any big Ahas or questions you had while reading this. Also, come back after you’ve tried it, and let me know how it goes!
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To your Blessed Wellness,
Love,