How to Dry Brush and Why Everyone Should Try It

Perhaps you start your day with a nice yoga sequence to waken your mind and activate your body, or a hot shower with essential oils to help brighten your spirit and revitalize your senses. You can amplify these benefits with dry brushing!

How we feel on the inside has a direct correlation with how we look on the outside. Our wellness rituals embrace this connection. Dry brushing is just as important as the nourishment we provide our bodies through food, our movements, and the way we manage stress. Many people mindfully nurture the skin on their face, regularly cleansing, exfoliating, and moisturizing, while the skin on the rest of the body is neglected.

The skin happens to be the biggest organ of the body, working sinuously with the lymphatic system. Together they form one of the most important waste management systems in the body, responsible for eliminating up to a pound of toxins a day! Not caring for this special system makes you prone to a stubborn complexion, swollen lymph nodes, allergies, inflammation, fatigue, and even a weak immune system.

What is Dry Brushing?

Dry brushing is a full body experience. With long, gentle strokes toward the heart using a natural bristle brush, it cleanses the body and rejuvenates the skin, leaving you energized and uplifted. It’s a gentle exfoliation to the skin, encouraging a fresh blood supply to return to the skin surface.

The benefits of dry brushing are more than skin deep…

The lymphatic system circulates lymph fluid that carries white blood cells and antibodies throughout your body, helping you fight infection and sickness. When your lymphatic system isn’t working properly, waste and toxins can build up and make you sick!

Ever notice how your hands or feet swell when you sit for long periods of time at work? The action of dry brushing stimulates the lymphatic flow to eliminate this build up of fluids that are trying to exit the body.

The Benefits of Dry Brushing

• Unclogs pores and exfoliates, leaving skin soft and supple.
• May help reduce the appearance of cellulite by softening the fatty areas beneath the skin.
• Promotes the production of collagen and elastin, which also helps diminish the appearance of cellulite.
• Increases blood circulation to the skin, helping to prevent premature aging lines.
• Decreases fluid retention.
• Can help even skin tone by reducing the appearance of scars and hyperpigmentation.
• Stimulates the lymphatic system, helping to speed up the process of toxin elimination.
• Improves digestion and nutrient absorption.
• Strengthens the immune system.
• Energizes the spirit and invigorates the body.
• Relieves stress and soothes the mind.

How to Dry Brush

It’s important to set enough time aside to practice dry brushing so that you can magnify your experience. Dry brushing can help cleanse your body inside and out; move with intention, and check in with each part of your body, even the far-reaching spots that may feel unloved during your normal wellness routine. Remember, this helps to relieve stress and soothe the mind, so it’s important to take your time.

Find a natural bristle brush with a long handle. Consider purchasing different bristle strengths for different areas of your body, like a softer brush for the delicate skin on your stomach, and a harder bristle for the thicker skin on your legs and thighs.

Dry Brush In the Morning Prior to Your Shower

Experts recommend dry brushing in the morning prior to a shower. Think of it as preparing your body for the day ahead. The added boost of energy will send you into your day with positivity and focus. Your skin and lymphatic system will thank you.

Taking a shower will eliminate the dead skin cells removed during the dry brushing process, and alternating between hot and cold temperatures will intensify this process, providing deeper stimulation to the lymphatic system.

Direction Is Everything

When dry brushing, it is important to brush in the direction of lymphatic flow, which is toward your heart. Brushing against this flow can cause build up of lymph fluid, which is what you are trying to avoid.

Starting with the bottom of the feet, use long, gentle strokes in the direction of the heart. Move upwards, and right to left. For the upper body, use the same technique but move down towards the heart.

Be Thorough

This process should only take five to 10 minutes, but remember, take your time and be mindful. Reach out to those unloved parts and bring them back to life. Don’t forget about your armpits, the backs of your arms, and your ankles!

Practice controlled breathing throughout this process and welcome motivation. Use this time to your advantage to melt any stress away. Remember, dry brushing is a full body experience.

Follow Dry Brushing Practice with Massage

After you’ve dry brushed and rinsed away the dead skin, follow up with an oil massage. This will further stimulate the lymphatic system and nourish the skin, leading to that supple glow.

Tips: Drink a glass of lemon water to reactivate your internal organs and encourage movement in your digestive system. A few yoga inversions and twists will flood the liver and kidneys with oxygen forcing increased blood flow to the organs responsible for elimination.

When to Dry Brush

Because dry brushing is an incredible aid in the detoxification process, adding this practice to your daily wellness ritual will ensure your lymphatic system has the opportunity to operate at its peak.

If you are feeling sick, or before and during a special diet, dry brushing more frequently will allow your body to release more toxins and bacteria, potentially opening the way for quicker healing.

Continue this practice before every shower, and after two to three weeks you will start to see and feel the benefits of your new routine. Your body will love you and thank you for bringing this new practice of dry brushing into your wellness ritual.