When you’re short on time, an at-home exfoliation treatment is an easy addition to your shower for the health and glow of deep cleaning.
Skin is the body’s largest organ with many vital functions, including the protective barrier it provides, its role to help regulate body temperature and the important sense of touch. As a secondary organ of elimination, similar to the lungs, unusual skin eruptions can be one of the visible signs that inner cleansing or diet changes are overdue. It takes between 20 to 30 days for healthy cells to regenerate, sloughing off old ones as new are formed. A little attention between seasons will help your skin stay in top condition.
An exfoliation salt scrub is purifying, helps to remove dead cell layers and leaves your skin satiny-smooth. The salt is the medium to remove old cells, so either fine-grain table salt or sea salt works well. Mix the salt with a small amount of water to make a thick paste or simply have a salt dish ready to dip damp hands into after wetting your body in the shower. It’s easier to turn the water off to avoid rinsing away the salt scrub before you’ve finished the treatment.
The rubbing motion of your salted hands over your skin exfoliates top layers of dead cells, leaving your skin soft and refreshed. The hint of oil and smooth glide you notice as you rinse the salt off is the natural oil of your skin surfacing.
Adding oil to the salt paste is not necessary and will merely coat your skin with an oily barrier, resulting in less exfoliation from the salt paste and a residual film that hides your skin’s natural oil. Done too frequently, the salt scrub would be drying, but is beneficial at least seasonally or for a special occasion when you’d like your skin glowing. The walnut-shell scrub is an alternative to the salt scrub for more frequent exfoliation.
There usually is no need to use soap after this treatment. If you do use soap, notice whether or not you then have a squeaky-clean feeling instead of the smooth glide after the salt scrub. If so, it means there is a soap residual left on your skin that hides the natural skin oils. You could try a pure liquid soap the next time, preferably with moisturizing aloe content to see the difference.
The finishing touch of a good-quality lotion year-round will help your skin retain its softness. As to the usual reminder of water intake, drinking adequate amounts will help your skin by flushing wastes out through the kidneys instead of through the pores. That just leaves diet and what you feed your skin – but that’s another subject for another time.
