“Love your skin. It lives, breathes and represents you.”- Boldijarre Koronczay
Riding in on the toxin removing coat tails of Day 16 is another one of my absolute favorite things: dry skin brushing (aka dry body brushing). Our skin is our largest organ with one third of toxins being excreted through it. Most of us (ahem, women) tend to focus on our face when we think about our skin’s health. Dry skin brushing is super easy, brushes are inexpensive and it takes about 5 minutes (or less, once you get the hang of it). I started doing it about 5 months ago, and I’m addicted.
What the heck is dry skin brushing? It’s a (hopefully, daily) practice that removes toxins and dead skin cells from the surface of your skin while stimulating your lymphatic system. Some people even report it has reduced their cellulite. {yay!} The basic steps are:
- Obtain a brush made from natural (not synthetic) bristles. One with a long handle works best to reach those unreachable spots on your back. They can be found at most health food stores, big-box stores and Amazon. My long handled one came from a local “crunchy” store, but I also use this one.
- Get buck naked and stand in the shower or tub, so you don’t have to clean up what you’re about to brush off {bleh}), since you’ll be bathing afterwards.
- Starting with the bottoms of your feet, brush using long, short or circular strokes, but always firm ones. The most important thing to know is you want to work towards your heart. So from the feet up to the heart and then from neck down to your heart. Take extra care (less pressure) with sensitive areas like your ta-tas and armpits. If you’re a visual learner there are tons of tutorials on YouTube. Maybe I’ll even make one soon. {eeeek}
- Brush each section 3-5 times, overlapping a bit as you go. It may tingle the first few times, but eventually your skin will get used to it. Your skin may turn a bit pink, but don’t use such strong pressure that you hurt yourself. Tingling is okay, pain is not.
- Once you’ve brushed your whole body, take your shower. Some people like to alternate between hot and cold water temps during their shower to increase circulation, but I’m not
crazya fan of cold showers, even for a moment. {brrrr} - Make sure you clean your brush regularly, about every two weeks (in my case), and make sure it dries well.
That’s it…dry skin brushing. Try it, I think you might just love it as much as I do. I know when I occasionally forget, because a child has run off with my brush {ugh}, I can feel a difference in my skin. t’s that amazing.
Light and Love,
♥k