Last week we had a long weekend, so Monday seemed like a great day to plan a girl's spa day. Nothing fancy, just relaxing in the saunas at the local Korean spa...Unfortunately everyone else in New York City thought it was a great idea too, and we couldn't even get in the door! We wound up heading to another great little place for a massage instead, which was lovely, but it left me longing for some spa style pamperin'!
But I didn't want to spend any more money, and it's snowy and freezing out and therefore indoor activity was preferable. So I decided I would design my own spa-style pampering that I could do at home, with things I already have!
THE HAIR MASK:
So first things first, a deep conditioning treatment for the hair. The reason you want to start here is it's easiest to put this on your hair and let it soak in and marinate while you prepare your next spa-like treatment. Planning things out well helps make it a more calm and relaxed experience, and the whole point is to feel relaxed, pampered and beautiful!
As some of you have read before, I am partial to my
"Maple Coconut Hair Mask" . Unfortunately I didn't have any maple syrup laying around, but there are plenty of things you can use to deep condition your hair! What I did have laying around was a tiny drop of Aussie "3 Minute Miracle" a jar of coconut oil and a bottle of olive oil. Coconut and olive oils both make great treatments, but on their own can be a bit drippy and messy, so to solve that I mixed some oil in with the last few drops of my Aussie treatment. I opted for coconut because I like the smell better, but if you only have olive that works really well too! Actually, now that I think about it, mixing both of them together might be good too...
Just use a spoon to mix your ingredients together in a tupperware or a bowl and then apply them like you would any other hair mask. Once it is on your hair tie it up securely and it's time to move on to the next part!
THE BODY SCRUB:
Body scrubs are a great way to feel pampered, and I'm not talking about the body wash you have with the little gritty bits in it. I mean a full on, dry skin killing, rough patch annihilating, serious scrub! What you need is an oil that is good for your skin (again I used coconut but olive works very well too) and either sugar or salt. I used brown sugar, because I had a lot of it, but I have used coarse sea salt, regular sugar, regular salt and all of them have worked really, really well.
Once you have figured out which oil, and which type of granule (LOL that word sounds silly) you will use, mix them together in a bowl, or a mug, or a cup or a tupperware, whatever is easiest for you to bring into the bathroom. The amounts that you need of each will vary depending on the ingredients you use, so just mix a bit at a time until it forms a thick paste. I needed about 3/4 of a mug of the mixture to scrub my whole body.
Here is the important part where most people go wrong. Begin by applying the scrub to your body while it is dry! Just use your hands to scoop it out of the container and rub it into your skin in circular motions. You may want to stand in your shower because it will get a little messy. You can even sit in the tub, but no water yet. The water will start to dissolve the sugar or salt before you have a chance to scrub it in well, and you want all the scrubbing power you can get. The oil will make it move around on the skin well, and also add moisture to the skin. You won't miss the water, I promise.
You want to scrub everything! Make sure you get every inch. I even do my face, but you can skip that if you have oily skin or if you just plain don't like to scrub your face. I do really recommend scrubbing your lips though. It makes them so soft, and it usually tastes pretty good too!
Don't be shy with it, scrub vigorously! Once you have scrubbed every inch you can turn the water on and start to rinse. BE CAREFUL AT THIS POINT BECAUSE THE SHOWER OR TUB WILL GET SLIPPERY!!! I actually sat down the whole time just to be safe because I'm a total klutz.
Once the water is on you will notice that the granules have dissolved but the oil is still on your skin. That's good, that's what you want. At this point you can shave and wash out your hair mask and do whatever you need to do, but don't wash with soap. You don't want to cut any of the oil you just scrubbed in, it is part of what makes your skin so soft after this treatment. You will notice as you shave that you feel insanely smooth, albeit super greasy.
Once out of the shower you can remove the excess oil by toweling off. This should leave just enough. Then apply your usual body lotion.
I use Aveeno daily Moisture Lotion, but you can use whatever you prefer. The idea is to lock in all of the moisture and smoothness you just created with that scrub.
I also like to apply a thick lip balm...
I love palmer's coco butter stick for this, but again, whatever you usually use will do. After you scrubbed your lips really well, it's good to really slather them up with something soothing and moisturizing. I love this Palmers stick, but it can be hard to find in stores so I hoard it whenever I find some. But I found it on amazon for a decent price so I'll link that below.
As for your hair, after you have shampooed and conditioned it in the shower (which you can do as you normally would but it may take 2 washes to get the mask out) you can style it as usual.
At this point you should feel like this....
And there you have it, the pampered spa feeling at home!
Let me know if you give it a try! And if you want to know where to get the things I used, I will link them all below.
<3
PRODUCTS MENTIONED:
Aveeno Active Naturals Daily Moisturizing Lotion
Palmer's Cocoa Butter Swivel Stick
Aussie 3 minute Miracle
(This is a bit pricey now because it is no longer available in stores, but even at this higher price, it is still an amazing value and a really great kit to have on hand)
on the waterline.
