Bath Buzz: all links so far

bath buzz

• A (bath-time) Travel Quick Tip

• A Body Hydration Quick Tip for Bathtime (new!)

• Are you a “Bath Person”?

• Bathroom = Sanctuary—really!

• Bathtime Quick Tips (plus Do Not Disturb Me sign ideas)

• Ideas on when & where to do a clay mask

• Solutions for Stressed Skin

 

A Body Hydration Quick Tip for Bathtime

Using an oil in the bathtub to hydrate dry, flaky skin on your body solves two things at one time. First, taking a bath is relaxing and, even if you have a hectic family life, you can breakaway into the bathroom—alone—taking a nice bath for a little while and let the world go on without you temporarily. The oil will help hydrate what might be dry and dehydrated skin on your body while you relax in the tub.

If you don’t have any bath oil, you can use a body oil in the tub. Just pore a small amount into the bath (a little goes a long way), hop in, and soak it up. You can also use baby oil or even an oil from your kitchen. Remember, oil is lighter than water so it will float on the surface of the bath water. Also keep in mind that whatever the oil that you’re using smells like is what will stay on your body long after the bath.

Be sure to smooth the oil on your body while in the bath—getting it on all your dry spots. If you are experiencing really dry, flaky skin on your body, this is sure to do the trick in hydrating all the dry skin.

Most importantly: you have oil on your body and possibly on the bottoms of your feet so please be careful when stepping out of the tub. Because of the slip factor, I highly recommend not putting any oil intentionally on the bottoms of your feet. Still, some oil may find its way there—so be careful exiting your tub.

When getting out of your bath, I wouldn’t rub a bath towel on your skin; instead I’d recommend simply patting dry any remaining water. If you rub, you will remove much of the oil you just got on your dry skin. If you find you have a lot of oil still on your skin, then get off what feels comfortable and massage the rest in with your hands, as if you were applying body moisturizer.

Using oil in the tub can really help, especially in the colder winter months, to keep the skin on your body free from flakes and cracking and feeling wonderfully hydrated and soft.

For more information, see:

• Bathtime Quick Tips (plus Do Not Disturb Me sign ideas)
• Are you a “Bath Person”?
• Petroleum as an ingredient in your face & body products—updated

Bathtime Quick Tips (plus Do Not Disturb Me sign ideas)

If you are a bath person, you are well aware of the healing powers of taking a relaxing soak. It is a restorative pleasure. Baths give you a moment to slow down and take some time for you. The wet heat is one of the best ways to soothe aching muscles. I like to use bath salts because they are aromatic (a bath filled with bath salts is like incense for your home) and can help to relieve muscle aches as well as stimulate circulation. Bath oils are also aromatic and will help to moisturize rough, dry skin while you bathe.

Even if you don’t have a lot of time to luxuriate in the tub, try to find at least 15 minutes one day a week to close yourself in a room—alone—and just breathe. Tell your husband and the kids you are locking yourself in the bathroom, and short of an emergency, you are not available. (I jokingly told a client to get a “Do Not Disturb” sign for her bathroom door. Maybe it’s not such a bad idea!) Putting aside time for you gives you more energy to give to others. It’s a simple principle, although not always so easy to implement. 

For more ideas to take care of you, see:

• Are you a “Bath Person”?
• Bathroom = Sanctuary—really!
• HEADSPACE: Get your meditation on

Here are some fun examples for your own Do Not Disturb Me sign:

Solutions for Stressed Skin

Are you stressed out? If so, more than likely your skin reflects the stress you are experiencing in your life. Physical stress, such as injury, chemotherapy, or simply a hectic lifestyle, has an impact on the appearance of your skin. Even emotional stress can show up as tired-looking skin. The following are some of the many skin stress producers:

• a hectic lifestyle
• sun exposure
• sleeplessness/fatigue
• worry/concern/personal problems
• poor diet, smoking, alcohol  
• poor skin care habits
• physical injury or illness
• medication/chemotherapy

Any of these can have a negative effect on the health of your skin, producing a dull complexion as well as all-around tired-looking skin. Although stress takes a toll on the body as a whole, there are several ways to combat these ill effects and to experience healthy-looking, stress-free skin all year round. The following stress reducers can bring you closer to healthy, vibrant-looking skin.

As I discuss in my book, Timeless Skin: Healthy Skin for a Lifetime, exfoliation is paramount to healthy skin. Exfoliation helps to remove dead surface cells and increases circulation to the face, which gives your skin smoother texture and a healthy glow. I tell my clients when they can't come in for a facial—exfoliate! It is certainly not the be-all and end-all, but exfoliation can take away layers of stress from your face, revealing the natural beauty hidden beneath.

Along with exfoliation, using a cleansing or clay mask will help to remove dirt and debris that may have built up in your pores. A mask also stimulates blood flow to your face, giving your skin a healthy, well-nourished glow. One of my favorite recommendations for accomplishing these two steps (exfoliation and masking) is to give yourself a facial at home.

An at-home facial is an attempt to simulate the benefits of a professional facial in the comfort (and convenience) of your own home. As with massage, nothing takes the place of having an expert do all the work for you, but you can duplicate many of the steps of a facial, which will benefit your skin and help you feel relaxed and de-stressed! 

The ingredients in an at-home facial include exfoliating, using a clay mask, and relaxing. These three steps are beneficial to all skin types, from dry to oily. You’ll need about half an hour or so for your at-home facial. You can embellish my suggestions or tailor them to your particular schedule. If you can't find the time to take too long of a breather and actually relax, you can just exfoliate and mask, then get on with your day. But taking a few minutes out of a hectic day to relax and unwind sure feels good. And dare I say if you can’t find time to relax, you most likely really need to relax!

Make your bathroom a temporary relaxation sanctuary. Fill the room with candles, draw an aromatic bath, and listen to relaxing music to ease the stresses of the day from your body. If you’re not a bath-type person, find a room in your house where you can relax—undisturbed—for 15 minutes or so. It would also be nice to have soothing music to ease you into a calm, meditative state.

To start your at-home facial, you’ll want to:

• Clean your skin with a facial cleanser
• Then apply use your exfoliator of choice, which might be an abrasive scrub or a gel-type, non-abrasive peel (like Yonka’s Gommage)
• Be sure to take a little extra time to exfoliate all the places you might be neglecting, like around your ears, hairline, and under your chin
• Next, apply a clay or hydrating mask. (Please read How to use a Clay Mask—Important Instructions if you don’t know to keep the mask moist. See link below.)

Then go to your peaceful place (either your quiet room or bathtub), and relax. Be sure to breathe! Simply inhaling and exhaling slowly can help to reduce stress on the spot. When you’re ready to face the world again (or just ready to get out of the tub!), remove the clay mask at your sink—not with the bathwater—with tepid (not hot or cold) water. Follow with spray toner and your day or night cream, depending. Remember eye cream as well. 

An at-home facial can be done whenever you need a mini-break from a stressful day. Traveling can offer an ideal opportunity to have some uninterrupted “me” time, especially if you are away from your family and the normal stresses and responsibilities of home. It may seem impossible to take time out for yourself, but once you know it is possible, at-home facials can benefit you on several levels. Enjoy your treatment and know you are helping yourself, not just your skin, in many ways.        

Even if you can’t erase the stress from your life, incorporating these few simple steps once a week can help reduce stress from your skin. Just remember, it only takes a few minutes to keep the stressed-out look away!

For skin care recommendations, see:

• Yonka’s GOMMAGE Instructions
• How to use a Clay Mask—Important Instructions 

For some anti-stress solutions, see:

• Relaxation—can you dig it? 
• Accepting what is—or else
• HEADSPACE: Get your meditation on

Ideas on when & where to do a clay mask

Step 1: Put a clay mask on your face. Step 2: Take that necklace off!!!

Where to use a clay mask:

If you are a bath-type person, this is a good place to do a clay mask. Put the clay on your clean, dry face, then grab your spray bottle** and hop into the tub. Relax, enjoy, and every so often spray your face. I don’t recommend splashing the bathwater on your face to keep the mask wet, especially if you have used any bath products in the water. This can really irritate your skin, and the water will probably be too hot for your face to tolerate.
**You never want a clay mask to dry on your skin. Using a spray bottle filled with clean, filtered water is an easy way to keep the clay moist the whole time it’s on your face.

Using a clay mask in a steam room is the perfect marriage of protection and cleansing. The steam is great for stimulating the body’s circulation, but remember the capillaries of the face are very fragile and cannot withstand the intense heat in a steam room. Putting a clay mask on your face creates an occlusive, protective barrier between your skin and the hot steam. And since the clay will stay perfectly moist in this environment, it is an ideal place to use your mask.

Also note that if you find yourself in a steam room without a clay mask handy, I highly recommend wetting a few paper towels and putting them over your face while steaming. The heat is just too intense for your face and can really cause a good deal of capillary damage if you frequent steam rooms “unprotected.” Usually the paper towels at a gym are stiff enough (even when wet) to make a good cover for your face.

This woman's face (and capillaries) would be so much better served by applying a clay mask before getting in the steam room.

When to use a clay mask:

Clay can be used as often as desired. If you have normal to oily skin, blackheads, or any congestion, you will want to use clay at least once a week to keep the pores cleaned out. If you have problem skin and especially if you have acne, you’ll want to mask several times per week. And finally, even true-dry skin can benefit from using a clay mask. Oil-deficient skin doesn’t require the same deep cleansing as does an oilier skin type, but you can still derive many benefits from using a clay mask once every week or two.

It’s best to mask after exfoliating if you’re using them together. Exfoliation will help get rid of excess dead skin as well as superficial debris in the pores. The clay mask further deep cleans the pores along with helping to soothe and calm the surface. Exfoliating and using a clay mask can be done in tandem, once a week (or more) as a mini, at-home facial. They do not need to be done together, but it’s nice to do both if you have the time. Exfoliate, run a bath, put the clay mask on, hop in, and relax. After removing the mask, use your toner and moisturizer along with eye cream.

For more detailed information, see:

• PLEASE—No Hot Water
• How to use a Clay Mask—Important Instructions 
• At-Home Facials—A DIY How-To

No clay mask required

A (bath-time) Travel Quick Tip

Who needs a bath pillow in this tub!

If you travel, packing an inflatable bath pillow can help you enjoy your bath-time while on the road. They are inexpensive (usually under $10) and won’t take up much space in your travel bag. Simply deflate, put the pillow (if already used) in a plastic bag or baggie. Once you're in the hotel room or guest area, inflate, run your bath and enjoy. I hope you brought some bubble bath or bath salts with you, too!

For more information, see:

• Bathtime Quick Tips
• Are you a “bath person”? 
• Bathroom = Sanctuary—really!

Are you a “Bath Person”?

I am definitely a bath person. There is nothing I love more than soaking in a hot tub of water. Many days in the coldest winter months, if I can’t get warm inside my home, I’ll take a bath simply to get my core body temperate up. Sometimes I use products, sometimes I don’t. But taking baths, for me, is a part of my life that I truly enjoy—often.

For an inexpensive bubble bath, you can use bath gel in place of more expensive bubble bath products. Bath gels contain ingredients that will foam up just like a bubble bath product but for a fraction of the cost. My health food store sells its own brand of bath and shower gel for under $3 for a 12 ounce bottle. You may get six to eight baths with this, compared to many bubble bath products that cost ten times as much. However, I do have an array of actual bubble products; each one with different scents and actions. I’ll use bath gel in a pinch or if I’m traveling without a true bubble bath product.

If you find you’re sensitive to foaming bath products, get one made for young children. Why? Because the ingredients in these infant bath products should be more gentle for more sensitive baby skin. Try one and see if you have a better tolerance to this gentler product so you can relax and enjoy a bubbly bath.

I never use bubble bath products that are alkaline—and neither should you. Here is another good use for your pH test papers. Many bubble bath products have alkaline ingredients in them; these ingredients help produce the foaming action, similar to bar soap. Some of these ingredients include sodium laureth-13 carboxylate and disodium laureth sulfosuccinate. If your bath water becomes alkaline, this not only will cause your body’s skin to get dry and flaky (just like your facial skin will with alkaline soap), but women have the added worry of developing urinary tract infections (UTIs) from sitting in an alkaline bubble bath.

I can remember as a kid loving my Mr. Bubble® baths. Even now when I see the box at the store, it triggers happy memories for me. But I also remember having chronic UTIs, no doubt caused at least in part from my wonderful Mr. Bubble. I tested Mr. Bubble and a few other commonly found bubble bath products. The results were as I expected: they all turned the pH papers dark purple. In other words, the test showed they were alkaline.

The above mentioned shower gel I have used as bubble bath is acidic. I checked the label, and it has few ingredients (that’s a good sign) and although it contains sodium laureth sulfate, which is a very common soap-like ingredient derived from coconut, it did not contain either of the alkaline ingredients listed above. Test your bath products to ensure the skin over your entire body is being pampered with the proper products. Then draw a bath and relax!

Aveeno® has two bath products for dry skin. One is called “Daily Moisturizing Bath with 43% Natural Colloidal Oatmeal.” (Colloidal means crushed.) It is meant to help give soothing relief for dry, itchy skin. It is also fragrance-free. The second product is “Soothing Bath Treatment with 100% Natural Colloidal Oatmeal” (there are no other ingredients). Oatmeal helps relieve itchy, irritated skin due to poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac rashes, insect bites, eczema, prickly heat, chicken pox, hives, and sunburn. Both products are powders and come in individual packets. The average cost is close to one dollar per bath, and eight packets come in each box.

In the winter I use these products a lot. The oatmeal really helps to moisturize the skin, thus taking the itch of dry, winter skin away. Be sure to clean the tub after the water has drained out. These as well as most bath products leave a slippery substance in the tub, so be careful!

Why is it beneficial to soak in Epson salts? Is there anything else that is good to put in my bath that is relaxing and will help sore muscles?

Epson salts are high in magnesium. This mineral is a well-known muscle relaxer. Adding these mineral salts to your bath can really help relieve sore, aching muscles. Even if you are just tired after a long day, soaking in a hot (not too hot) salt bath can help to revive your body and relax your mind.

Many companies make mineral salt bath products. Many of them are predominately Epson salts along with other ingredients. You can get plain Epson salt very inexpensively at the grocery or drug store, then add some essential oils to your bath. This will give you the benefits of the salts and the essential oils, which are therapeutic and wonderfully aromatic, without spending a lot of money.

Adding essential oils to your bath can have a wonderful effect not only on your body but on your psyche as well. Lavender is relaxing; birch and juniper are both good for soothing aching muscles; and any of the mints (wintergreen, peppermint, spearmint) are invigorating and energizing. Usually, 10-15 drops of assorted oils is what you would add to your bath water.

Note: Essential oils are lighter than water, so they may float on the surface of your bath water. When you are soaking in the tub, wherever your skin meets the water you may get a concentration of essential oils. I recommend once you have stepped into the tub to then splash the water around, helping to disperse the oils. If you are using strong oils like birch or peppermint, you really need to use this splashing technique or you may end up causing skin irritation. I usually add the drops as I’m filling the tub. This seems to disperse the oils. Even using 15 drops of peppermint hasn’t irritated my skin.

Even if you don’t consider yourself a “bath person,” try a relaxing soak now and then. Perhaps you will become a convert! For a great (and my favorite) bath product plus a few more helpful articles, see:

• Yonka’s Phyto-Bain—aromatic, relaxing bath oil
• Questions about pH & pH papers
• Bathtime Quick Tips

This is my kind of bubble bath!

Bathroom = Sanctuary—really!

Recently I had a client in for a facial who was living a very stressful life. She was so excited to be in my treatment room experiencing some relaxation and “down-time.” In the confines of my facial room your kids, phone, and any other distractions simply can’t find you. And although there is something wonderfully relaxing about a facial treatment, there are things you can do in your own home that can help you find a bit of peace and quiet. It’s as simple as...going to the bathroom.

I recommended to this client that she use her bathroom as a sort of secret sanctuary room. While in the bathroom with the door closed rarely does anyone come knocking; usually you are left alone to do what you need to do. I suggested she use this truth as an opportunity to get some relaxation time—even if only for a minute or two.

Although we were laughing through this, what I said I really meant. Go into the bathroom, preferably the one that is used the least (less traffic) and shut the door. Put the toilet seat down and sit. I suggested having a lavender scented candle there she could lite (something that wouldn’t even be unusual in a bathroom) as well as an iPod with earphones in a nearby drawer. Simply turn out the lights, lite the candle, put the earphones on and tune into some relaxing music, like the kind I play in my facials.

Five minutes in the bathroom could be like an hour of relaxation to your body. Don’t or really can’t take 5 whole minutes? Then start with one. Taking just sixty seconds, literally, to sit on the closed toilet seat, drop your shoulders, take some healthy deep breathes, and R-E-L-A-X can make a world of difference to your psyche. Peace and quiet—even if it’s only for 60 seconds—means a lot. And one or two minutes away from your family and responsibilities is nothing!

Knowing you have this secret, accessible place to go into will help to ease any stress you may be going through in the household. Just tell whoever you have to go to the bathroom. No one will question this—really! Then take a minute or two to decompress and relax, and you’ll leave your sanctuary room/bathroom in a more peaceful and balanced place, ready to take on the goings on with your family life. Try it—what have you got to lose?

For more ideas, see:

• Bathtime Quick Tips (plus Do Not Disturb Me sign ideas)
• Solutions for Stressed Skin
• Taking Time Out—Less IS More

Ha Ha—If only!!!