With just a few days of chilly temperatures, my body is already feeling the impact of the change in weather. Low moisture in the air, cold wind and central heating often cause our skin to look flaky while feeling dry and tight. If this is happening to you, I would suggest spending a couple minutes dry brushing your body to help your skin exfoliate and reveal softer skin.
When we exfoliate, pores are unblocked, skin is decongested and dead skin cells drop away, revealing brighter, more radiant skin. Dry brushing also stimulates our blood and lymphatic systems. This is particularly helpful now as we might feeling low on energy due to short days and long nights. Stimulating blood and lymph brings more vitality as we move nutrients through our body more efficiently and eliminate toxins.
So, how do you dry brush?
To begin, you need a dry brush. One that’s going to cause a bit of friction on your skin, turning it pink, but not something that will leave you red and raw. Most people use a brush made of natural bristles or a loofah. Personally, I find these a bit too traumatising for my skin, so I use raw silk gloves or a loofah mesh sponge.
Start at your feet, stroke toward your heart
Before you hop in the shower, use your brush to stroke over your entire body, except for your face (too harsh for this area). Your movements should flow in the direction of your heart, overlapping from stroke to stroke and repeating two to three times in each area. Pass over you body in sections, starting at your feet (including your soles) moving to your legs (front, back and sides), then going to your buttocks and back - this is where it is handy to have a brush on a handle or a long loofah - and then your neck, chest and arms. Complete your routine with several clockwise circular movements over your abdomen, which will stimulate your colon.
How often and how firm?
Ideally, you will dry brush your skin every day, particularly in winter, but if this seems daunting, set yourself a goal to do it three times a week. Once you’ve seen the benefits, you may want to do it more frequently.
While dry brushing will help to stimulate collagen and elastin production, remember to be gentle with yourself! You don’t get extra points or more suppleness by scraping your skin aggressively. Gentle strokes are all that is needed. And if you have any broken skin, be sure to avoid this area until it heals.
Rinse off and hydrate
When you’ve finished, hop into the shower and rinse away the dead skin cells. After your shower and before toweling off, apply your favourite body oil - I like warming sesame in the winter and cooling coconut in the summer - or moisturiser. Applying at this stage boosts your skin’s ability to drink in the extra hydration you are offering.
Turbo-charge with AHA
BTW, even with regular dry brushing and body oil application, when temperatures are extremely low, I can still experience occasional dryness on my shins. When this happens, I add a bit of alpha hydroxy acid to my body oil to further stimulate my skin exfoliation. With just one or two applications, this sorts me out and leaves my skin smooth again.