Dry brushing has been an underestimated practice for a long time. However, because of its health and beauty benefits, its fame has been increasing recently, and more and more people have started adopting this practice in their daily skin and body pampering routines.
Dry brushing is efficient for getting rid of cellulite and chicken skin condition, as well as for strengthening the skin’s protective barrier, deep exfoliation, and improving the lymph and fluid circulation in the different body tissues.
Unfortunately, people who adopt his practice often don’t get the most of the benefits mentioned above, simply because they don’t do it correctly.
This article will give you 4 useful tips to take into account when you dry brush, in order to see a difference in your skin and body only after a week!
Let’s get started!
Buy a suitable brush
There are plenty of brushes for dry use on the market: small, big, with or without handle, round or long, hard, soft, stiff, thick… the list goes on and on.
But focus on what you want to achieve with your brush.
In all cases, avoid brushes with either too stiff or too soft bristles. Buy one that is hard enough, so when you move it on the skin, you feel slight massaging scratch (when we say scratch, we mean light scratchy feeling). If the sensation is painful or leaves physical scratches or severe redness, try a softer version, or if you don’t feel any scratch, go with a stiffer option.
Besides, the bristles should be thick and not placed far from each other in order to achieve better efficacy without spending a long time brushing your skin.
In terms of shapes and handles, I would recommend buying a round brush with either short or without any handle. This way, you will have better control over the motion and pressure you apply to the skin.
A long handle is only practical if you try to reach difficult body areas such as spine and back. But if you brush your thighs, such a handle will decrease the pressure of application and, at the same time, will tire your hand pretty quickly.
Don’t add water
Dry brushing contains the word “dry” for a reason. But despite that fact, many people practice it under the shower or damp the brush before they start.
However, adding water to this ritual has no positive effects and two major disadvantages:
- Water destroys the brushes. The specialized ones for dry application are usually made out of wood, which, by being damped, often loses its strength. In that case, you can expect bristles to start falling off, or the handle to break.
- The practice is less effective on wet skin. The water reduces the grip level between the bristles and the skin, resulting in a less efficient exfoliation process and diminished benefits of the practice.
Get the right direction
The direction of the brushing motion is not the same for every body part. Keep in mind that as the lymph system drains in the heart/chest area, all the movements should be directed towards this body zone. Find the right movements below:
- Arms: From fingers and hands upwards, towards shoulders/armpits.
- Neck: Starting below the chin towards the chest.
- Belly and waist: Starting below the belly button towards the chest.
- Legs: From feet upwards, thought the knees and towards the butt/end of the thighs.
- Butt and back: Upward direction towards the neck.
Don’t overdo it
When adopting the dry brushing practice, people often do a kick start, repeating the treatment every day or every two days. In reality, such time slots can cause severe damage to the skin and hurt it more than benefit it. The reason for this is the fact that the skin itself is not used to the treatment, and when it suddenly starts being dry brushed, it finds it harsh and damaging.
What is better to be done is to start dry brushing one or two times per week until your skin gets used to the treatment. Only after that, can you increase the number of practices per week.
In terms of longevity, the optimal time is from 3 to 5 minutes.