NURTURE YOUR BODY WITH THESE 10 TIPS
Feel more appreciative of your body by spending time with it. Use these 10 body loving practices to get you started. From using spent coffee grains as a diuretic massage, to banishing under eye black bags with almond oil, and face massage for a youthful chin we get you in the mood for grooming and nurture.
MASSAGE AWAY CELLULITE with coffee grains
Empty your espresso machine or filter coffee grains into a glass jar that you leave on your bathroom shelf. While showering use them to massage any areas you think need a little help. A vigorous massage with the grains uses the diuretic properties of caffeine to help circulation and assist with smoothing away cellulite.
The Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology reports a Brazilian study that shows evidence that caffeine based creams minimized the appearance of cellulite. The study treated 99 women twice daily for 30 days with a caffeine based topical cream. After careful measurement, more than 80 percent of the women had a reduction in their upper and lower thighs, and nearly 68 percent also had a reduced hip measurement. Whether it was the caffeine itself, or the massage or the combination is less clear.
SCHEDULE A WEEKLY FACE MASK using fruit
Make an exfoliating mask using fruit that matches your skin type.
DRY SKIN: banana or avocado
SENSITIVE SKIN: banana or pineapple
OILY SKIN: strawberry or papaya
Cleanse as normal. Make a pulp from your chosen fruit. Work onto the face with a gentle massaging action. Lie down for 10 or 15 minutes, keep your legs raised to get more blood to the face. Rinse with water and moisturise as normal.
SMOOTH AND COLOUR YOUR LIPS
Give your lips a natural shade of red by cutting a strawberry in half, rub the end of the strawberry over your lips and rinse with warm water (crushed raspberries, mulberries or redcurrents also work).
Learn to pout – lips need exercise too. Curl them over your teeth and press them together so you feel your teeth against your lips. Relax for a second then purse your lips out into a pout. Repeat 5 times. Keep your lips together and push the ends of your smile upwards to make a huge grin, count to four then relax and repeat 5 times. These exercises will stop lines from forming around your lips and will make your lips fuller preventing lipstick from feathering around your mouth.
REVIVE AND RENEW TIRED FEET
Renew tired feet by soaking them in warm salted water. Add 20 large marbles and roll your feet up and down over the marbles. They will massage and relax them. Rub with lemon juice to revive tired and sore feet. Dust blisters with corn flour to sooth and heal.
BANISH THAT DOUBLE CHIN
This facial exercise strengthens the thyroid gland, improves metabolism and corrects a double chin which results from poor metabolism.
Seal the lips, pull the corners of the mouth upwards as hard as possible into a huge grin. Breathe in through the nose, tighten your cheek muscles and stretch your throat and neck upwards. Hold for as long as you can then slowly breathe out as you release and relax your face and neck muscles. Repeat this 6 times. Jut out your chin, then use the back of the fingers from each hand to gently tap upwards helping circulation and blood flow. Make your tapping firm but don’t slap too hard. Do this for 40 seconds every day.
UNCLOG YOUR PORES
Use a tea steam to unclog pores, deep cleanse and soften. Make a pot of Ceylon tea, add a few slices of lemon rind, some dry or fresh marjoram and mint. Pour into a deep bowl, position your face above the bowl and cover your head with a towel to prevent the steam escaping. The steam combined with polyphenols in the tea will draw out impurities. For dry skin, add jojoba or evening oil to the tea mixture. You skin will absorb the mixture through the steam.
WAKE UP YOUR SKIN
Get touchy feely.
Touch is the most personal experience of all the sensations. Every inch of the skin is made for touching and being touched.
Touch should play a huge role in human experience but mostly, it doesn’t. We live in a ‘low-touch’ society even getting machines to massage and exercise the body. Pick up a baby, pat the dog, hug your friends. A nurturing touch elicits positive endorphin responses and sends love messages to your cells.
SEAL IN SOME MOISTURE
Where we used to believe that oils clog the skin, we now know how good they are for the skin. Mix up your own oil according to your skin type:
For dry skin use oils that are sweet, soothing and warming: Nutmeg, cardamom, ginger, saffron, champa, jasmine, geranium, red rose, red sandalwood, lemon, neroli, vanilla
Add these to base oils like black sesame, sesame, avocado, olive, almond, walnut, peanut, castor or ghee.
For sensitive skin use sweet, soothing and cooling: rosewhite, sandalwood, vetiver, coriander, cumin, mint, ylang-ylang, camphor
Add these to base oils like almond, coconut, sunflower, apricot kernel, olive, ghee
For oily skin use oils that are pungent, stimulating and warming: patchouli, eucalyptus, camphor, clove, lavender, bergamot
Add these to a base oil like canola, corn, safflower, mustard, grapeseed, almond, apricot kernel
Almond oil used under the eyes is said to help get rid of black bags. Tap it on gently, going from left to right and then right to left.
BRING ON THE RED LIGHTS
Red lights make your skin look amazing. Change the light bulbs in your low lamps in the bathroom or bedroom to red if you really want to feel good.
NURTURE YOUR BODY WITH THESE 10 TIPS: Enlist some help by booking yourself a great massage in Johannesburg.
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