Dry skin brushing

This article is about the ancient technique of skin brushing, how to do it and one of it's little know benefits. 

So many of us with chronic illness have talked about ITCHINESS lately on our social media platforms. We often put on creams and lotions to stop this issue but the thing that has helped me the most is skin brushing. For those who aren’t familiar with the technique, it involves daily body brushing with a dry, stiff-bristled brush.

According to the Cleveland Clinic it "is wonderful for exfoliating dry winter skin. It also helps detoxify by increasing blood circulation and promoting lymph flow/drainage. Dry brushing unclogs pores in the exfoliation process. It also stimulates your nervous system, which can make you feel invigorated afterward."

It also is the best thing for me in reducing itchiness and that's why it is my Product Of The Month!

I use a natural stiff-bristled brush with a long handle. The stiffness of the bristles is essential.

Also I do have peripheral neuropathy in my feet and find the skin brushing does NOT aggravate it. This obviously is something you would have to try for yourself and see how it goes. 

When you live with chronic illness.

For a variety of reasons including muscle weakness and muscle pain in the wrists or arms you may want to start slowly. By this I mean just choose one area of the body to start to try skin brushing instead of doing the whole body. This is how I started, just with the arms, and it was still beneficial. It reduced the itchiness on my arms, exfoliated the dead skin and got the pores breathing better, reduced the lumps and bumps, on my upper arms, and eventually even made my skin less dry. Over about 2 months I went from someone who would never show their upper arms in public to happily wearing singlet style tops. This was a big thing for me!

Here is my morning skin brushing technique. 

Use a dry brush on dry skin.

Avoid any broken skin areas or varicose veins.

Stroke moving towards the heart. Quick strokes are energizing. 

Repetition over the same area is fine. 

Start at the feet. Stroke on the bottom of the feet from the toes to the heel. Then on top of the feet and up the legs to the knees. Then long strokes from the knees up the thighs.

Then work up the butt, on one side, to the small of your back and then the other side. 

Then up the stomach area.

Start with the hands and do the same as moving up your legs ie strokes up the hands to the elbows and then from the elbows to the shoulders. Use very light pressure on the underarms. Some people suggest circular motions on the underarms. 

Be gentle with your neck and chest area. Start with the jaw and move down to the heart area. 

Now the back area - first using the brush in one hand, to reach as far as you can and then with the brush in the other hand.

Take a shower as usual but do NOT use body exfoliates because skin brushing has done that for you.

Here is a great short video that shows a mini version of my technique as it only does some areas of the body and does not show the back. For me the back and the arms are the most important areas to reduce itchiness. It is difficult to do the back yourself but the long handle of the brush really helps and the technique turns into just trying to reach all the areas of your back the best you can.

  

How often should you brush?

I brush every second day but some people suggest to do it every day. It's really up to you. In Ayurvedic medicine, garshana or dry brushing is prescribed every morning to stimulate blood circulation, refresh the skin and revive the mind.

How to clean your brush. 

I wash my brush, once a week, in warm soapy water, and rinse it till all the soap is gone and then put it in the sun to dry completely. 

Where to purchase a brush.

You can buy them at The Body Shop, some chemists/drugstores or on Amazon (where I am an affiliate) 

Here is my affiliate link to my favourite brush at the moment. Being an affiliate means I would receive a tiny percentage if you purchase through this link at no extra cost to you.  

I hope you will try skin brushing and that you find it an enjoyable part of your health routine. I would love to hear from you about your experiences.