How to create SPA session at home? Useful tips & game-changing recipes

How to create SPA session at home? Useful tips & game-changing recipes

Autumn is a pretty depressing season of the year whereas winter evenings tend to drag on... Would you like to make this autumn blues a little bit cheerful? Why don't you create SPA at home? Not only is it in line with the autumn and winter magic and makes you feel relaxed but also gives a boost to your biological clock, adds energy and has an amazing conditioning effect on skin. SPA treatments don't have to be performed at a SPA resort. You can derive benefits from them at the privacy of your own home. We're about to share the best tips for creating SPA at home.

What is SPA actually?

SPA stands for the Latin sanus per aquam, that is "health through water". Trips to healing waters were a thing ages ago. Spa - Belgian city - is famous for hot waters and is like sanctuary of healthful treatments. The city has helped to create the name for them. Nowadays, the name spa comprises numerous relaxing and beautifying activities in a bath.

The past customs of using the healthful and healing power of water are still popular and cherished. Health and relaxation baths, fragrant oil massages, scrubs and other body treatments are the examples of SPA therapies. They aim at restoring vitality, health and beauty. Professional SPA entails paying big sums of money and hunting for a free date in a SPA resort. Still, the treatments you carry out at home will give relaxation as much as the ones you must pay for.

The purpose of SPA: Body bath, water temperature

Hands down, the most pleasurable moment in the whole SPA ritual is when you immerse in a tub filled up with fragrant, warm water. Wait up, what about water? Warm or hot? What's the temperature of water that will pamper your skin? Of course, it depends on your expectations and the time you want to lie down and laze around:

  • warm bath (37°C – 39°C) is a perfect yet quick form of relaxation for active people: it warms up and relieves sore muscles; 15-30 minutes is the optimal time you should stay in the tub.
  • lukewarm water (31°C – 36°C) is also very relaxing, relieves fatigue, makes you a bit sleepy. 15 minutes in this bath is perfectly enough.
  • chilly bath (25°C – 30°C) is a kind of freshening-up that we often need. A cool bath stimulates, boosts blood flow and metabolism. Stay inside the tub for up to 5 minutes.

How does the heat affect the body? Does a hot water bath have health benefits? We know that warmth is nice and a hot bath feels like heaven. Too bad it's not the healthiest thing you can treat yourself to. Never ever let your water temperature go beyond 40°C. Too warm water causes skin to dry out and triggers premature aging. The skin may start flaking and itching.

Recipe for the best at-home SPA: Eight steps to flawless skin & hair

1. Choose the time of the day

It turns out that the time when you perform your SPA rituals does matter. Ideally, do it in the evening when nothing and no one gets in your way and spoils your moment of relaxation. Warn your homemates and friends that you're unattainable, turn off your phone and let yourself be only with your feelings and senses.

2. Create the atmosphere

The mood is a secret to successful SPA rituals. Try to create a romantic atmosphere and get all that can calm your senses: fragrant candles, flowers, oils, put on some mood or relaxation music or nature sounds (rain, sea waves, forest). Decorate the bathroom with flashing lamps or cotton balls. Maybe you like poetry on the audiobook? You may as well take a glass of wine, a book, cocoa, green tea or strawberries. In other words, take anything that will make your relaxation and beauty care nicer.

3. Care for your body the SPA way. What to use and how?

The closer to nature, the better. That's why DIY cosmetics complement the whole ritual, and amaze with the effect as well as ingredients, texture, color, and aroma relaxing the senses.

During your SPA session, you might use many products you have at home: oils, butter, salt, milk, honey, herbs, hydrosols, coffee grounds, essential oils or cosmetic clays.

4. Prepare an aromatic bath

The possibilities are limitless and each of your SPA sessions may look and smell differently. You can enrich your bath with natural or aromatic oils, pour some salts or fizzy bath bombs, add some milk or put a tightly-closed, flaxen bag filled with aromatherapeutic and conditioning herbs in the tub. Remember not to keep water too hot. If you want to stay in bath longer, avoid too cold water as well. The optimal temperature is 36-39°C.

5. Make a perfect body scrub

A homemade coffee or sugar scrub is second to none when you enhance it with a high-quality natural oil and add some variety with the right essential oil. DIY body scrubs are often more effective than ready-made exfoliators. Remember to use it on a regular basis so you can shortly show off your firm smooth cellulite-free body.

6. Don't skip the face area: make a natural mask

SPA bath at home is an ideal moment for a DIY face mask because the skin is more absorbent and softer due to the warmth, and thus it absorbs nutrients better; open pores and soft epidermis allow for deep cleansing.

When lying in a tub, don't forget about a good mask; ideally, do it yourself! The one that nourishes, conditions and cleanses skin at the same time. A pink or white cosmetic clay makes a perfect ingredient. Combine it with a chosen floral water, aloe juice, oils, herbal infusions - all this to get a perfect cosmetic for the needs of your skin type.

7. Care for your hair with the best oil

Hair oil treatment - similarly to SPA - came into being long time ago and brilliantly complements the idea of wellness. It consists in deep nourishment of hair and (what's important) follicles with a natural oil or well-composed blend of oils. You smooth the oil over damp hair, including the scalp. After the SPA ritual, rinse the oil well and shampoo the hair.

8. Condition your skin with a natural DIY lotion

Natural oils are your biggest allies so reach for them whenever you can. A natural body lotion based on shea butter and macadamia oil gives striking effects taking the form of perfectly-moisturized, elastic and smooth skin. This kind of balm is also suitable for hands and feet so you can have it on you in a small jar and smooth over the skin whenever you feel like it. Your own fragrance composition will hands down put you in a good mood (flashbacks of your home SPA session).

Easy and effective DIY cosmetics for SPA at home

SPA at home: DIY aromatic bath oil

Mix 25 ml of jojoba oil, 25 ml of avocado oil with approx. 10 drops of lavender essential oil (you may as well choose another relaxing essential oil which has a smell that you like or combine a few oils). Just make sure the oil is safe, neither causes allergic reactions nor irritates the skin.

SPA at home: DIY relaxing, nutrient-dense bath salt

Mix a cup each of sea salt (fine or coarse-grained), pink Himalayan salt and bitter salt (known also as Epsom). If you like, you can combine various types of grains to make your fragrant bath enhancer look lovelier. Just remember that coarse grains take longer to dissolve. Salt, especially magnesium sulphate (Epsom), is a rich source of minerals and is famous for its detoxifying, relaxing and skin-repairing effect. It's haven for oily and acne skin, frees the body from all blemishes and leaves it smooth and nourished. The salt absorbed by the skin in a bath stays inside from 4 to 9 hours. If you don't like salt grains at the bottom of the tub, put the salt in a small  (organza or flaxen) bag and soak it in water. This way, the salt melts giving off all conditioning substances.

SPA at home: DIY herbal bath bags

Apart from bath salt, you can put other amazing ingredients in a bag. The noteworthy ones are herbs and oat brans. You can mix them with a few drops of favorite essential oil (they also have a strong conditioning and relaxing effect), and add citrus peels, dried flowers (linden, marigold, thyme), cinnamon sticks or vanilla beans.

Meadows and forests for your bath. Which herbs are cut out for SPA?

We are spoilt for choice and should definitely devote some time to getting more information about beauty benefits of herbs. We present the most popular mixtures you can make for your at-home SPA.

LOVAGE, MINT & MELISSA BATH

This bath relieves the muscles and menstrual pain. It can even help you relax tired muscles after a workout. Lovage has antifungal effect whereas melissa calms down and alleviates.

SAGE, OAK & HYSSOP BATH

The bath calms the nerves, eases off painful muscles and joints. Sage affects the nervous system, boosts the mood and keeps stress away whereas oak bark has an astringent, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, anti-inflammatory and skin-strengthening effect. Hyssop is a rich source of numerous bioactive substances, has amazing conditioning and healing effect on skin, stimulates with the aroma and soothes the senses.

LAVENDER BATH

It's a classic among all kinds of SPA baths. Lavender has a characteristic smell that many of us adore. It calms both your body and mind, restores balance and relieves the stress. Lavender aroma is relaxing whereas lavender infusion affects muscles all over the body and is a saver after a hard workout. Lavender bath is ideal for people suffering from neurosis and nervous disorders, chronic headaches and migraine.

At-home SPA: DIY coffee scrub

Mix a half cup of coffee grounds with avocado oil (to get a smooth pulp). Enrich the resulting blend with a teaspoon of cinnamon and add 5 drops of essential oil (ideally grapefruit or orange oil to make anti-cellulite scrub).

Pour the blend into a nice jar. Rub the scrub into the skin for a few minutes and rinse well. Instead of coffee, try minced oat brans or sugar grains (you massage the skin until the sugar melts).

At-home SPA: DIY salt scrub

While making this scrub, use fine-grained salt to avoid skin irritations. Mix it with natural oil (ideally use a mixture of castor oil and avocado oil). Next, slowly add essential oils: up to 10 drops not to trigger skin irritations. Mix all ingredients well using gentle motions. Put the resulting scrub into a fancy jar or other container you can close tight to keep the aroma inside.

At-home SPA: Body massage oil

A massage is an essential part of SPA ritual. It's the most powerful way to relax the muscles and soothe the nerves. You can massage the body on your own, especially when you want the massage to condition the skin. For this purpose, make use of natural oils: avoid synthetic drugstore oils (they are often made of parabens and alcohols which isn't good for warmed skin after a bath). Mix a chosen natural oil with a few drops of essential oil: many of them have a conditioning effect, stimulate blood flow, detoxify and soothe.

Massage the skin by gently pressing it. If you like, you can get a special massaging tool. Such treatment clears cells of toxins, stimulates the lymph flow and has a firming and anti-cellulite effect.

At-home SPA: A fluffy body lotion enriched with macadamia oil

Put approx. 200 g of shea butter and 15 g of beeswax in a pot and slightly heat it on the stove so the ingredients melt (don't let them boil). Take the pot off the stove and let it cool down a bit (but don't let it harden). Add around 50 g of macadamia oil and 20 g of jojoba oil. To make the lotion smell amazing, infuse the mixture with your favorite essential oil. The next step involves mixing the components. Make sure the mixture cools down yet it's soft enough. Use a mixer and blend the pulp until it's as fluffy as a a bunny. Put the lotion in a jar and use it after every bath. Feel free to massage it into the hand and foot skin as well.

At-home SPA: DIY cosmetic clay & oil face mask

A cosmetic clay is a concentration of valuable minerals which have an amazing cleansing effect. White clay is the mildest but choose the one that suits your skin type best. It's powdery so it's best if you mix it with jojoba, argan or avocado oil so it gains extra qualities e.g. it firms up, repairs, improves the appearance and conditions the skin or has an anti-wrinkle effect. You can leave the mask on as long as you take the bath and rinse it afterwards. If you've got a flower water, spray it on the face after rinsing the mask. Hydrosols nourish the skin, balance its pH and act as a toner.

At-home SPA: An ideal hair oil mask

If your hair needs repair whereas the scalp cries for nutrients and cleansing, nothing works better than a natural oil. Choose the right oil for the type of your hair porosity or pick the one that works for all hair types (argan oil, macadamia oil, castor oil). If you dream of top-of-the-range hair care, use professional hair oil blends. Nanoil is a line of advanced, perfectly-composed oils for hair growth and nourishment. They block hair loss, strengthen, condition both hair and scalp. Do a hair porosity test and choose one Nanoil which will take care of your hairdo professionally.

Essential oils for SPA: A cheatsheet

SPA Essentials & your bath aphrodisiacs

  • rose oil: stimulates senses and boosts libido
  • patchouli oil: triggers secretion of hormones and boosts sex drive

SPA Essentials & bath chill-out

  • sandal oil: ideal to treat insomnia, anxiety disorders and nervous tension
  • lavender oil: enhances treatment of headache, anxiety, depression, stress symptoms
  • geranium oil: used for treating depression and mood swings

SPA Essentials & vitality oils for a bath

  • eucalyptus oil: better concentration and mood
  • basil oil: its fresh aroma gives the energy boost and enhances concentration
  • rosemary oil: enlightens the mind and increases energy levels

Feel encouraged to share your opinion about the article with us.


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