Brush Your Skin! Say Whaaaaaat?
By Danielle
Dry brushing leaves your skin glowing and as smooth as buddah! But how does that lower your body burden?
Dry brushing not only keeps your skin smooth and silky by exfoliating it but it also helps to detoxify your body (via the liver and kidneys) by increasing circulation and promoting lymph flow and sludge drainage.
Lymph flow and drainage are important because the lymphatic system is an important part of your body’s immune system and anyone who has taken a child to Chuck E Cheese knows the importance of a healthy immune system! Amirite?
Dry brushing also stimulates the nervous system which can wake your ass (literally and figuratively) up in the morning!!
I dry brush (almost) every morning before my shower. If I don’t do it before my shower, I forget. So, while the water is warming up I take a few minutes for some self care to start the day.
Ok sounds great but how the EFF do I do it?
Start at your toes, using long fluid strokes in an upward direction toward your heart. I usually go over each section 3-4 times. Go easy on your abdomen, chest, and neck. Imagine you are gently directing the blood up toward your heart. I pay particular attention to anywhere I have pain (usually my low back and knees) and where my bra squeezes the freaking life out of me. If I want to supercharge it and not have gravity work against me (like it does to my face!), I lie down and do it or ask my husband to do it for me.
If you’re not up for investing in a dry brush it’s no biggie. It’s all good. Just use a rough wash cloth. You know the one—you probably got on sale because it was the perfect shade of dusty rose (hey 90’s!) but after the first wash it turned to shit. Yeah, that’s the one. It’ll work just as well as a brush.
I also dry brush my kids skin at night as part of our nightly “calm the heck down” ritual. I use a wash cloth on them as I find the dry brush is too rough for their sweet squishy skin. We originally started doing this when my youngest had massive anxiety when she was in Kindergarten. It helped her relax and fall asleep easier. Now she loves it and asks us for it nightly;— although, Mommy seems to do it better than Daddy does 😉
If you have eczema, sensitive skin or other skin conditions you should contact a medical professional before attempting this.
Easy
Using either a hand held soft bristled brush or a dry washclothPeasy
Use long fluid strokes brush in the direction of your heart. Brush each section 3-4 timesLemon
Increase circulation and detoxificationSqueezy
Just 5 minutes a dayGive Me the Sugar
Eco Tools Dry BrushDusty Rose Wash Cloth (you know, in case you want to bring that color back!😂)