New Year, new you - January 2002 - Cover Story - relax with a herbal bath

START OFF RIGHT WITH ADVICE FROM

Monday      1
Tuesday     2
Wednesday   3
Thursday    4
Friday      5 EXPERTS

Dive in

Herbalist Amanda McQuade Crawford, author of the Herbal Menopause Book (Crossing Press) and Herbal Remedies for Women (Prima Publishing) says her absolute favorite idea for a new you is a sea salt bath. She recommends not only indulging in this bath for New Year's, but throughout the year. It is like taking a rejuvenating trip to the sea, except you don't have to journey farther than your own bathtub. The hot water soothes your nerves and relaxes tight muscles while the salts cleanse your skin and detoxify your entire body.

Crawford doesn't skimp on the salts. An entire cup of sea salts gets dumped into her bath. She uses Dead Sea salts for the extra mineral content, but any sea salt will do. Enjoy bathing for at least 25 minutes with the water as hot as comfortable. If you have time, keep soaking for an hour, adding more water to keep the temperature hot. When you're finished, be sure to ease out of the tub instead of quickly standing up to prevent feeling light-headed.

If you have arthritis or a skin condition (such as psoriasis), or you are undergoing chemotherapy, increase the salt to three or four cups to make each bath even more detoxifying. Sprains, sore or pulled muscles, or any sports injuries respond better to soaking in magnesium salts (e.g., Epsom) rather than sea salt. Use a cup of Epsom salts per bath.

If you're in the mood for a deluxe treatment, turn Amanda's Sea Salt Bath into an aromatherapy experience by adding four to six drops of your choice of essential oils. She notes that citrus scents feel especially cleansing to both body and mind. Crawford finds that grapefruit helps conquer that morning-after feeling after staying out late partying--even if you only toasted in the New Year with sparkling cider. A nice combination is three drops grapefruit, two drops lavender, and one drop lemon in the bath. (If you design your own citrus bath oil recipe, use no more than a couple drops of lemon or orange since they can burn skin.)

Amanda's full Sea Salt Bath treatment also includes a conditioning treatment for the hair. First, warm either coconut or olive oil in a pan, then massage the oil into your hair. It will take one to four tablespoons, depending on the length and thickness of your hair. Then, wrap your head in a towel. Finish your bath with a shampoo to rinse out the oil. (Crawford's personal choice is shampoo scented with lemon and rosemary.) The result is clean and shiny hair. Ready for a real New Year's change with a new look? Then add the herb henna to this treatment to give your hair new color or highlights. You can also get neutral henna that brightens without coloring. Follow the instructions on the box, but since henna dries the hair, do combine it with the oil. Herbalist Diana DeLuca, author of Botanical Erotica and owner of a body-care company by the same name, chose an aromatherapy oat skin scrub as her favored new beginning. She says that it's "a great way to have super-silky skin that has a healthy shine." The scrub removes dead cells on the skin's surface that tend to make your complexion look dull and your skin feel rough. She recommends it as a daily routine. The most common use for scrubs is cleansing the face, but they are suitable for the whole body. In fact, use your scrub anytime in place of soap.

AMANDA'S DELICIOUS RELAXING DETOX TEA

Make sure you stay hydrated before and during your sea salt bath by drinking herbal tea. Amanda McQuade Crawford's choice is this relaxing detox tea.

3 oz. lemon verbena leaves
1 oz. lemon balm leaves
1 oz. verbena leaves
1 oz. calendula flowers
1 oz. violet leaf (optional, if available)

Pour hot water over the dried herbs and steep for 15 minutes, then strain and drink.

You'll find this scrub doesn't dry or irritate skin like chemical-laden soaps can, but cleanses just as well.

Skin scrubs made with wholesome ingredients are available in the health and beauty department of natural food stores. Or, make your own scrub following Diana's favorite recipe. Gently apply the scrub on your face with your fingers, adding a little water as you go to thin it out. Then rinse it off at the sink. For a body scrub, gently rub the mixture all over your wet body while you are in the shower and rinse with warm water.

Glow, Girl!

Rosemary Gladstar, well known for her books and seminars on natural body care, agrees with Crawford and DeLuca that the best fresh start for a new you is to scrub away the old. Her favorite body treatment is a loofa salt glow body treatment. It feels divine," she says. "And, it is so simple." DeLuca loves how this salt glow makes her skin feel and look renewed, refreshed, and baby soft. Friction from rubbing salt over the body improves circulation, sloughs off dead cells, and softens the skin. She promises that although it sounds elaborate, a full treatment takes only l0 to 15 minutes. She suggests that you continue to enjoy it after New Year's as a monthly practice.

To make the salt glow, mix a cup of fine-grained sea salt with one-quarter cup almond oil, grape seed oil, or any vegetable oil that has very little scent. Then spice it up with about 16 drops of your favorite essential oils. Gladstar's current favorite is a blend of two drops jasmine, four drops patchouli, and 10 drops of either grapefruit or tangerine.

Use your salt glow by vigorously rubbing and massaging it on your dry body, before a shower. Start from the toes and work up. Be sure to get your feet, work up both legs, thighs, stomach--rubbing the salt it in circles in both directions--and down the arms all the way to the fingertips. Include breasts, neck, and face, rubbing gently on these sensitive areas. After thoroughly covering your entire body, turn on the warm water and liberally douse a loofa with a liquid soap. Real soap is a better choice than the synthetic liquid detergents typically sold as liquid soap.

Diana's Aromatherapy Oat Skin Scrub

This scrub is easy to make. Mix 1/2 cup of oat flour and a tablespoon of rice flour with 1/2 cup honey or glycerin to make a paste. (Rice and oatmeal can be ground into flour in a blender or coffee grinder then poured through a sifter to remove any large pieces.) Stir in three drops each of orange and lavender essential oils. The glycerin or honey provides a smooth texture, cleanses the skin, and helps the scrub adhere. Glycerin has the advantage of preserving the scrub so it will last for months without refrigeration. That means you can place it next to the bathroom sink and in the shower, ready whenever you need it.

MINDY'S AMBER UNGUENT PERFUME

9 drops sandalwood oil
6 drops frankincense oil
3 drops vanilla oil
3 crops jasmine oil
2 drops Atlas (or Himalayan)
  cedarwood oil
2 drops vetivert oil
2 drops spikenard oil
1 drop ambrette oil
1 drop nutmeg oil

Combine the essential oils with a teaspoon of jojoba wax or pure grain alcohol for a perfume fragrance. Combine them with 4 ounces of a vegetable oil like almond oil for a massage or body oil. This is Green's favorite blend. She calls it Amber Unguent because the earthy, sultry fragrance is reminiscent of ancient times, when many of these scents were used as unguents (or ointments) to cultivate a sense of spirituality. --from Natural Perfumes (Interweave Press) by Mindy Green.

Gladstar's recommendation is Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Soap in the morning to get energized for the day or Dr. Bronner's Lavender Liquid Soap to feel calm in the evening. Give your body a once-over with a loofa sponge, then finish with a final warm water rinse.

Making good scents

Herbalist and aromatherapist Mindy Green is the author of Calendula (NTC Publishing), Natural Perfumes (Interweave Press), and co-author with me of Aromatherapy, A Complete Guide to the Healing Art (Crossing Press). Green's secret way to a new you is to create your own personal natural perfume. She chose custom perfume because "New Year's is a perfect time to don a new fragrance. After all, it is the time of new beginnings, new hopes for the future, and the perfect time to empower yourself with new ideas for joyful abundance. It can nurture a renewed sense of confidence." What better way to enter the coming year?

It is easy to make natural perfume using essential oils, and they have the additional benefits of having aromatherapeutic qualities. Follow a recipe or design your own.

A mist opportunity

Another innovative body care idea comes from herbalist, aromatherapist, and author Jeanne Rose. She says, "Start the new year with hydrosols." It's no wonder this is Rose's choice. As the founder of The Aromatic Plant Project in San Francisco, Calif., she's devoted to developing the production and use of hydrosols.

She considers these fragrant distilled waters the ultimate form of aromatherapy. They're produced when steam is passed through fragrant plants to extract their essential oils. The resulting hydrosols contain micro-portions of essential oils and the plant's water soluble compounds. This gives them medicinal properties and makes them excellent skin moisturizers. As with essential oils, the scent impacts emotions so it enhances well being.

Hydrosols can be used on the skin and hair undiluted. Their most popular form of application is a mist from a spray bottle. Be creative and use them to scent your surrounding by misting them on yourself, in the air, on your sheets, and on clothing. They can also be incorporated into lotions, creams, salves, and other skin products.

Hydrosols are produced from a limited number of herbs. Some of the ones that are especially good for skin are rose, lemon verbena, rosemary, geranium, clary sage, and chamomile. You can read more about hydrosols and their properties in the latest of Jeanne's books, 375 Essential Oils and Hydrosols.

For many people, the clock striking midnight on New Year's Eve is symbolic of an "out-with-the-old-and-in-with-the-new" attitude. But before making resolutions that will only last for a week or setting unrealistic goals, why not start the new year off with a "new you"? A different hairstyle or new outfit can certainly be one way to change your look, but an even better place to start is with yourself at your most basic. Treat your skin and hair to a treatment that will renew and invigorate. This will not only make you feel beautiful, but will also give you a dose of good health. Five herbalists--all nationally known bodycare experts--shared their favorite New Year's ideas to start 2002 off with a bang.

COPYRIGHT 2002 PRIMEDIA Intertec, a PRIMEDIA Company. All Rights Reserved.
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group