Dry Skin Brushing
Easy to add as part of your morning routine, dry skin brushing is one of the simplest and healthiest self-help methods available to us. Stimulation of the skin, the largest organ in the body, sets in motion natural healing pathways within your body and encourages better surface blood and lymphatic circulation.
Some of the benefits of dry skin brushing include:
- Stimulating your lymphatic system, aiding in detoxification. When your lymphatic system is not working properly, waste and toxins can build up and make you sick.
- Boosting your circulation providing increased oxygen and nutrient delivery to the skin
- Exfoliating your skin and helping to shed dead skin cells and increase cell renewal
- Helping to tighten the skin
- Helping with muscle tone and more even distribution of fat deposits
- Helping your skin absorb nutrients by eliminating clogged pores.
- Rejuvenating the nervous system by stimulating nerve endings in the skin
- Offering both stress relief and invigoration
What you need:
A natural, non-synthetic, bristle brush or loofah. It is preferable to use one with a long handle so that you can access hard to reach areas.
Method:
It is best to do your skin brushing on dry skin, before showering or bathing, so that you can then wash off any dead skin cells right away.
Using gentle circular counter-clockwise strokes, begin on the soles of the feet and move up around the ankles, calves, thighs, buttocks, abdomen, breasts/chest and back. Then proceed to the palms of the hands, around the wrists and up the arms and shoulders. You should always be brushing toward the heart. The face and inner thighs are sensitive areas and can be avoided.
The brush should not scratch but you should feel some friction against your skin.
Wash your brush in soap and water every one to two weeks to remove any accumulated debris.