Body wraps have probably been done for millennia in some form: wrapping the body with cloth that is soaked in essential oils. In today's fancy spas, you can get a salt body scrub and therapeutic mud slathered onto your face and body before "cocooning" inside of a body wrap.
The mud and essential oils are believed to help draw out toxins from the skin and soak the skin with plant and flower extracts to help improve the appearance and health of the skin.
This can be done at home if you do not mind a messy scene. Use old linen, plastic gloves and old flip-flop sandals and old towels you don't mind soiling with the mud used for the body wrap.
Instructions
1. Take a hot shower and use a loofah sponge and pumice stone to exfoliate dead skin.
Use baking soda if you don't have ready-made body scrubs or salts to use. Shampoo hair and leave a thick hair conditioner in your hair. (Rinse it out after your body wrap).
Before drying the skin, add several drops of jojoba oil to the skin to seal in moisture.
2. Make a simple salt scrub by combining 2 lbs. of coarse kosher salt with 2 lbs. of sea salt, and essential oils of your choice such as rosemary, lemon or lavender. Place into a steel bowl and mix thoroughly; store in a dark glass jar.
For a sugar scrub, use 2 lbs. of white sugar, 1 lb. of kosher salt, and essentials oils such as geranium, clary sage, lavender or peppermint.
3. Prepare the mud body and facial treatment. Combine 3 lbs. of clay (French, Morrocan, bentonite all are good choices; see the links below) with essential oils that suit you. Lavender for sensitive skin; lemon verbena for oily skin; rose geranium for dry skin; or cedarwood for a more masculine scent. Combine all ingredients in a steel bowl and store in a dark glass jar.
4. Add 1 cup of distilled or filtered water to 1 lb. of your mud spa mixture. Slather the mud on your face, neck and the rest of your body; wear plastic gloves if you don't want mud to stain your palms or nails.
Spread about half an inch of mud to cover the face and body.
5. Using the floor or a massage table, drape a large sheet of plastic to protect the surface. On top of that, place 2 old, large flat bed linens that have been soaked in your essential oils of choice. (In a bathtub, soak the linens in water and 20 drops of lavender, geranium, or cedarwood essential oils). Wring out.
Lie on top of the linens and wrap them around you as if bundling a small baby; fold the edges around yourself and lie back with your head and neck supported on a rolled up thick towel. Set a timer for 45 minutes to an hour.
Place a phone near you if you feel you may need it, in case you decide you need help to unwrap yourself later.
6. Carefully sit up and unwrap yourself after the allotted time has passed. Shower off the mud and use a loofah to clear it completely away. (You might use one of the salt or sugar body scrubs).
Dab on jojoba oil before toweling off to track moisture onto your skin. Apply additional
jojoba as needed.
Tags: essential oils, body scrubs, body wrap, dark glass, face body