How does bathing help you detox?

Your skin is responsible for eliminating 25% of the toxins in your body. It also absorbs up to 60% whatever is applied to it, this is why it is so  important to use natural, non-toxic skincare products. You absorb up to 7% of the oxygen you use through your skin!

The ingredients in detox baths both pull toxins from the skin and are also absorbed by the skin, providing minerals that support the body’s natural detox systems and overall health. That's why you must time your detox baths correctly, long enough to pull the toxins out, but not long enough to reabsorb them.

Extremely healing, relaxing bath recipe

• ½ cup bentonite clay This healing clay magnetically pulls toxins and heavy metals from the body.
• ½ cup Himilayan Sea Salt: Himalayan sea salt contains 84 essential minerals that are efficiently detox the entire body. A strong himalayan salt bath (1-2 full pounds of salt per bath… that’s a lot of salt) is claimed to be the equivalent of a 3-day fast in terms of detoxification. Start slowly. Drink ALOT of water.
  
• 1 cup Epsom Salts: Magnesium sulfate flushes toxins and also promotes relaxation, improves oxygen use, helps muscles and nerves function properly, and improves the absorption of nutrients.
  
• 1 teaspoon vitamin C crystals: Helps neutralize the chlorine and chloramine (chlorine and ammonia; used in water treatment and can be more dangerous than just chlorine).
• 1 cup baking soda: Baking soda helps neutralize the body’s pH. It also helps neutralize the chlorine in the water. Arm & Hammer is shown to be aluminum free in testing, you can find large bags at discount stores like Cost Co.
• 20 drops Lavender essential oil promotes relaxation and eases tension. Juniper Oil is also nice and can help diminish appearance of cellulite.

Shower and wash your entire body thoroughly beforehand. You can also dry brush your body before showering to stimulate my body’s detox processes and shed dead skin cells so the detox bath can more easily penetrate my skin, this stimulates your lymph system.

Fill your tub with hot water, but not so hot that it makes you uncomfortable. The heat of the water opens your pores and allows for maximum toxin output. It will also make you sweat, a natural detoxification process in itself.

Dump all of the ingredients into the tub as it is filling. The clay will likely clump — this is no problem. When you get into the tub, simply try to break the clumps up. You can wet the clay and rub it onto your skin if you have areas that you would like deeper penetration of the clay.

Stay in the tub up to 30 minutes, relaxing and deep breathing, enjoying the scent of the lavender. Drink water and/or tea before, during and after this process or you will feel dehydrated. If you feel bad at any point, slowly remove yourself from the water, sit or lie down and drink water When you are done, drain the tub and rinse off. Then apply a natural moisturizer like coconut oil.

You will lose some water with this process, but that's not the point of it, because as you are losing the water through sweat and the clay is pulling toxins out of you as well. You should also feel lighter and happier after, but remember that any detox stirs up toxins in your body and it also stirs up emotions. Realize that this is part of the detoxing process, it may be helpful to journal or listen to music, nap or talk to a friend. Also, try to eat a nourishing meal with fiber, like a salad and fruit after which will further help eliminate toxins from your body!

As always, you should never detox in any capacity while pregnant or breastfeeding, if you have any medical concerns, past medical history or problems or on medication you must check with your doctor before detoxing!