Scrubs and their Benefits

I have always been a fan of salt and sugar scrubs.  Until the last five years or so, I have done my best to buy them when they were on sale at Bath and Body Works in my local mall.  I have gotten some great ones.  In the past year or so, I have been doing some soap making and they have come out well.  Well enough to give as gifts on holiday.  I think I want to try my hand at making some salt and sugar scrubs.  They are very easy to do.  I think that I will begin to experiment with some in various scents! 

Why should you use them?  They do have many benefits.  Sugar Scrubbing is a gentle way to exfoliate the skin just about anywhere on your body. A basic sugar scrub includes sugar and some sort of liquid and lotion or moisturizer. For a very simple sugar scrub mix some sugar with enough of your favorite body lotion to form a paste that's easy to rub into you skin.

But why would you want to use a sugar scrub in the first place? Sugar scrubbing is a great way to exfoliate your skin. Exfoliating removes dead skin particles, as well as any oil and residue. This will soften your skin and preparing it for anything else to follow such as a moisturizer. A sugar scrub stimulates the lymph system, which is responsible for eliminating toxins out of the body. The gentle massage of rubbing a sugar scrub into your skin also improves the circulation of the blood right under you skin, giving you that healthy glow.

Start your sugar scrubbing treatment by cleaning your skin with a gentle soap or other cleanser and warm water. Then grab a handful of the sugar scrub and massage it into your skin in circular motion. The grainy sugar will gently exfoliate your skin. Rinse the sugar off with plenty of cool water and use some more cleanser to get any sugary residue off your skin. Gently pat your skin dry with a soft, clean towel and follow with your favorite moisturizer. You should use a sugar scrub to exfoliate once or twice a week as needed to maintain that soft skin and healthy glow.
 
You can chase a butterfly all over the field and never catch it. But if you sit quietly in the grass it will come and sit on your shoulder. ~~Unknown~~

Pumpkin is NOT Just For Eating!

Some years ago when Oprah came out with her favorite things and one of them was the pumpkin mask made by Bath and Body Works, I like lots of others bought it. I fell in love with it and due to the Oprah Touch, I got about 6 jars at once.  I did use them all and even gave some away.  It lasts for a very long time.  I do not know what I was thinking about with 6 jars.  That is a very good mask.  The pumpkin is very beneficial for the skin and helps refine it.

Now I am on my last jar.  I had two but my daughter "borrowed" one jar.  I am thinking that it might be easy to make a homemade pumpkin mask as well.  Pumpkin is good for the skin because it is full of vitamin A, lots of other vitamins and phyto-nutrients.  It also has zinc to purify and enzymes to exfoliate.

There are lots of recipes out there for DIY spa products and I have found this one for a great home made pumpkin mask.  It is best to use the same day.  Let me know if you try it and how you like it.  I will be trying it once my last jar of the mask pictured above is all gone.  Happy spa-ing!


Warm Pumpkin and Honey Mask
Benefits: Nourishing, toning, lifting, soothing, purifying

Ingredients
5 tablespoons pumpkin, finely chopped
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon honey

Directions
Sautee pumpkin over low heat in water. Stir frequently to make sure the pumpkin doesn’t burn. Cook the pumpkin until it is smooth and soft, and then add one teaspoon honey. Stir well. Mash with a fork and set aside to cool to room temperature. Once cool, apply to your cleansed face and neck. Let set for ten minutes and rinse with warm water.

Storage
This mask is best used on the day of preparation.

You can chase a butterfly all over the field and never catch it. But if you sit quietly in the grass it will come and sit on your shoulder. ~~Unknown~~

Fish Pedicures

I have heard it all now. Fish pedicures! Check out this article! Would you do it?

Fish pedicures are creating something of a splash in the D.C. area, where a
northern Virginia spa has been offering them for the past four months. John Ho,
who runs the Yvonne Hair and Nails salon with his wife, Yvonne Le, said 5,000
people have taken the plunge so far.
"This is a good treatment for everyone
who likes to have nice feet," Ho said.
He said he wanted to come up with
something unique while finding a replacement for pedicures that use razors to
scrape off dead skin. The razors have fallen out of favor with state regulators
because of concerns about whether they're sanitary.
Ho was skeptical at first
about the fish, which are called garra rufa but typically known as doctor fish.
They were first used in Turkey and have become popular in some Asian
countries.
But Ho doubted they would thrive in the warm water needed for a
comfortable footbath. And he didn't know if customers would like the idea.
"I
know people were a little intimidated at first," Ho said. "But I just said,
'Let's give it a shot.' "

Customers were quickly hooked.
Tracy Roberts, 33, of Rockville,
Maryland, heard about it on a local radio show. She said it was "the best
pedicure I ever had" and has spread the word to friends and co-workers.
"I'd
been an athlete all my life, so I've always had calluses on my feet. This was
the first time somebody got rid of my calluses completely," she said.
First
time customer KaNin Reese, 32, of Washington, described the tingling sensation
created by the toothless fish: "It kind of feels like your foot's asleep," she
said.
The fish don't do the job alone. After 15 to 30 minutes in the tank,
customers get a standard pedicure, made easier by the soft skin the doctor fish
leave behind.
Ho believes his is the only salon in the country to offer the
treatment, which costs $35 for 15 minutes and $50 for 30 minutes. The spa has
more than 1,000 fish, with about 100 in each individual pedicure tank at any
given time.
Dennis Arnold, a podiatrist who four years ago established the
International Pedicure Association, said he had never heard of the treatment and
doubts it will become widespread.
"I think most people would be afraid of
it," he said.
Customer Patsy Fisher, 42, of Crofton, Maryland, admitted she
was nervous as she prepared for her first fish pedicure. But her apprehension
dissolved into laughter after she put her feet in the tank and the fish swarmed
to her toes.
"It's a little ticklish, actually," she said.
Ho said the hot
water in which the fish thrive doesn't support much plant or aquatic life, so
they learned to feed on whatever food sources were available -- including dead,
flaking skin. They leave live skin alone because, without teeth, they can't bite
it off.
In addition to offering pedicures, Ho hopes to establish a network of
Doctor Fish Massage franchises and is evaluating a full-body fish treatment
that, among other things, could treat psoriasis and other skin ailments.
Ho
spent a year and about $40,000 getting the pedicures up and running, with a few
hiccups along the way.
State regulations make no provision for regulating
fish pedicures. But the county health department -- which does regulate pools --
required the salon to switch from a shallow, tiled communal pool that served as
many as eight people to individual tanks in which the water is changed for each
customer.
The communal pool also presented its own problem: At times the fish
would flock to the feet of an individual with a surplus of dead skin, leaving
others with a dearth of fish.

You can chase a butterfly all over the field and never catch it. But if you sit quietly in the grass it will come and sit on your shoulder.
~~Unknown~~

Spa Treatments Defined: Vichy Shower

How tranquil does that look? Wow! I have not had one of these but I want to. A Vichy shower has five to seven shower heads, which pour water onto you while you're lying on a cushioned wet table. Normally it will follow a salt rub or a sugar scrub or some other sort of skin treatment. Instead of jumping up and getting in a shower to rinse off the salt or mud, you simply lie there basking in the glow of being pampered.

There is some covering to hide your important parts. But if you are fearful of showing your body, you might just have to. In the event you turn over, those wet coverings or towels might slip. Showing a little does not compare to the luxury you will feel while taking a vichy shower. Go for it!

You can chase a butterfly all over the field and never catch it. But if you sit quietly in the grass it will come and sit on your shoulder.
~~Unknown~~

Spa Treatments Defined: Salt Glow

Recently I went to Bath and Body Works during the semi-annual sale and stocked up on body exfoliants. I bought sugar and salt glows. Yum! Now you can do these at home as I will but it is nice to have the salt glows done at a local spa. It is so nice to be pampered. If you cannot afford or have the time to get to a spa, then the do-it-yourself at home version is just as nice with a partner.

So...what exactly is a salt glow? A salt glow (also known as a salt scrub or sea salt scrub) is just about the most popular offering at most spas. It would be my first choice. Who does not want skin that feels like velvet? It is the ultimate in exfoliation. A salt glow also hydrates your skin because the salt is combined with aromatic oils like lavender or citrus.

If you go to a spa to have this done, you most likely will be on a massage table in a room with a shower. The technician will do the exfoliation one one side of your body first and then you will turn over so that the other side will be done. Once she is done, you will rinse off in a shower. It could be a regular shower or a vichy shower. Either way, just rinse. Do not soap up as that will wash away the beneficial oils that have just been worked into your skin.

I have one tip: All therapists have different pressures as they massage. Some can really work you over. The salt used in the salt glow is course so, if your skin is sensitive, be sure to speak up and let the massager know. You don't want to leave red and irritated. That defeats the whole purpose. On that note...let me go get out my new salt glow. I am going to get skin like velvet in the next 30 minutes!

You can chase a butterfly all over the field and never catch it. But if you sit quietly in the grass it will come and sit on your shoulder.
~~Unknown~~