How to Love your Skin More in Under 5 Minutes a Day

Learn how dry brushing can support lymphatic health, reduce bloat, and refine skin texture in this simple 28-day routine for beginners. Your glow starts here.

When I was younger I was embarrassed by the large-pores that formed a dot-to-dot skin texture on my legs. My answer was to keep my legs covered even in hot the weather!

No-matter what texture skin you may have inherited, or how any health issues or aging has changed your skin, you can learn to love your skin more in under 5 minutes a day!

Your skin is the largest organ in your body, acting as a waterproof wrapper for the whole body, first line of defence, and a crucial ‘sense’ organ that gives you important feedback. Certainly worth a little bit of TLC!

Hello and welcome to the Dry Skin Brushing challenge, which is easy to do, only takes 5-minutes, you see fast results and it FEELS good!

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The very first question to ask is…

Will this Dry Skin Brushing challenge support my well-being?

Is Dry Skin Brushing something that could support your wellbeing needs?

Here are some signs that dry skin brushing could benefit you. 

** Dry skin brushing is not performed on the face

• Your skin looks dull – has lost its glow
• Your skin is dry and flaky
• Skin is more oily
• Poor skin texture (feel & appearance i.e. skin bumps) and tone (colour)
• Visible pores and clogged pores
• Ingrowing hair
• Skin breakouts
• Fatigue and tiredness
• Bloating, puffiness & water retention
• Frequent headaches
• Recurring infections such as UTI or colds
• Constipation

**These are good areas to assess and score before you start the challenge

When to avoid skin brushing

Speak to a health professional first if you are currently undergoing immune-system  treatments, have ongoing skin infections, psoriasis, eczema, open wounds, burns,skin growths or take topical steroid creams.

What is Dry Skin Brushing?

Full disclosure: There are no scientific studies to back this self care practice.

Claims about reducing cellulite have not been proven…

Now that is out of the way – what do we know about dry skin brushing?

Dry Skin Brushing has been practiced for thousands of years – all around the world

• In Ayurvedic medicine it is called Garshana and traditionally uses a raw–silk or linen sock.
• In Japan it is called Kanpumasatsu and uses a dry towel
• In Chinese Medicine it uses dried fruit fibres such as a Loofah
• The Greek & Romans used copper Strigils
• In Native American medicine it used corn cobs
• In Polynesian cultures they used crushed seashells 
• And the Turks and Russians used the popular body brushing method.

Dry Skin Brushing is performed before a shower when the skin is dry. Use a dry towel, brush or loofah and brush over your skin causing a pleasant friction. You only need to do this for a couple of minutes and use a firm but not hard pressure. Then follow with your regular shower routine.

The general rule is to brush towards your heart.

** If your goal is to reduce lymph congestion (Puffy skin) see links below.

Because Dry Skin Brushing can be stimulating it is recommended to do it earlier in the day. Especially if you have sleep issues.

Honestly it is very simple to do (full instructions below) and feels great.

How Does Dry Skin Brushing Work?

When you brush your dry skin, you loosen dead skin cells, so that they can be washed off and reveal new, smooth and brighter skin cells. 

Dry skin brushing is a form of exfoliation speeding up the process of shedding old skin cells. It is thought that regular exfoliation improves skin texture and tone i.e. pink bumpy skin and enhances body lotion/product absorption.

Another aspect of detoxification is your Lymphatic system. This is like a slow moving canal carrying waste out of the body – that relies on body movement to squeeze it along the body . Old time healers believed dry skin brushing encouraged movement of the Lymph. 

Dry Skin brushing can be helpful as a regular practice if you are unable to be active most of the day. This might result in relief of puffiness and water retention much like massage.

Dry Skin Brushing also activates nerve endings in the skin which is what creates that pleasant tingling and invigorating sensation.

Preparing for your Challenge

Luckily this self care practice is simple to prepare.

You can use any of the following;

• An existing body towel (not too soft!) long enough to do your back
• A Dry Skin Brush with natural bristles (detachable handles are handy!)
• A Loofah

Optionally you can dive deeper in which type of Dry Skin Brush to use HERE

You will also need to capture details about your before and after assessments and tracking sheets to help you stay consistent.

If you haven’t already, grab my FREE Self Care Starter Pack which includes printables and walks you through the whole process.

How to do the Challenge

For the challenge you only have to do the basic routine at least 3 times a week for 4 weeks (28 days). * You can choose to skin brush every day

Assess and score your overall well-being – especially those areas mentioned at the start of this article – before you begin and again when you complete the dry skin brushing challenge. 

Remember you can use either a dry towel, special dry skin brush or loofah

Basic Routine

• Start from your feet and brush upwards in long sweeps along the front, back and sides of your legs. Include your buttocks. Medium pressure.
• Then go from your hands to your shoulder in the same manner. Don’t forget the back of your neck!
• Use a circular (anticlockwise to mimic the colon and aid the process) movement across your abdomen and then for your armpits.
• When it comes to your back, I always go upwards in short strokes from the base of my back and downward strokes from my shoulders. Don’t forget your sides under your arms which I do in short strokes.
• I go very gently if at all, over my chest area and avoid my face

It should take less than 5-minutes.

I have never followed a set number of times to brush each area or complete the routine – my routine is more intuitive. 

Once is fine but if you intuitively feel that you want to do more – do! Remember the benefit comes from repeating the routine 3 times a week for 4 weeks.

Start with a mild pressure – this should not make the skin red and irritated.

Notice how you feel when you have completed your dry skin brush. It should feel good!

Then have your shower as normal.

Tweak the Dry Skin Brushing Challenge to Your Needs

Following the basic routine 3 times a week is enough to see results.

You can also choose to dry skin brush every day. I would not do it more than once a day.

You can also tweak the routine to your needs. If dry skin brushing makes your skin very irritated try a softer pressure or material.

There are detailed routines that work more closely with your lymphatic system which a naturopath might advise to support specific health conditions.

 And of course you can leave out certain areas of your body if you need to.

Advanced Skin Brushing

What if you want to focus mainly on your lymphatic system with dry skin brushing?

I like to combine dry skin brushing with a manual lymphatic drainage routine to open up my lymph nodes first ** Simple challenge coming soon.

You might find it interesting to check out this dry skin brushing technique for lymph movement HERE

Drinking enough water and daily movement will work really well with dry skin brushing.

Assessing your Dry Skin Brushing Challenge Results

At the end of the 28-days you complete another assessment.

What differences did you notice? Write them down. 

I just like how good dry skin brushing feels and how soft my skin feels afterwards and I also know I am helping my body detox better.

How about you? Is this self care practice something you will include in your regular self care menu?

Not sure if you notice any difference?

Not seeing clear results can be frustrating – do you repeat the challenge, keep going anyway or leave it and move on? I have your back with this FREE Guide that can help you decide!

Conclusion

Congratulations on completing your Reduce Puffiness & Reveal Radiance: A 28-Day Dry Brushing Routine! I really hope you found it helpful, effective and fun!

Remember one month is only enough time to start to notice a difference. Self care works best as a long-term consistent practice.

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