Home Spas Beat February Blahs

February is the perfect spa month. It’s the time of the year when you need a pick-me-up–right in the middle of winter with barely a spring bulb in sight. Mark Spa Night on your calendar and circle the special date in red.

First choose the location–a bathroom with a lock on the door is best. Now for a check list of essentials: big thick towels and a bath robe, aromatherapy candles, music and a little plug-in kettle to make mugs of herb tea.

Part of the spa experience is to discover the many tantalizing products from which to choose. Aromatherapy is a good place to start. Not only does it bring wonderful fragrances to your home spa experience, but by selecting specific herbs you can relax both the body and the mind, a task which is not easily accomplished with hectic schedules.

Next choose a mineral soak. Ingredients to look for are organic minerals from the sea combined with essential oils. Camomile and sandalwood relax, rose wood or cedar wood calm and balance, and jasmine calms and soothes (and smells so good)! You will find some products are in a crystal form and some are oils-both are excellent.

Have a soft sponge or face cloth at hand to gently massage your body in the warm relaxing waters of your tub. A quality glycerin soap perfumed with pure essential oil is a special treat. You will also need a body moisturizer. Make sure the herbs include lavender, rose, ylang ylang or your own special relaxing herb. It is really worth paying a little more for a quality lotion with natural based ingredients, preferably organic.

Facials are great for refreshing a dull winter complexion. They do take practice to apply but the results are often well worth the clean up. Face packs may be clay- or cream-based. Some are ready-mixed and others are available in a dry powder. Masks containing clay or mud base are gray/black. Aloe vera and some herbs give a green color to the pack. Read the labels to ensure they are suitable for your skin type. The label will also tell you if it is a cleansing, healing, toning, exfoliating, nourishing or relaxing mask or a combination of several therapies. If you have an oily skin the you should choose a clay based product. The clay will tighten and firm the skin tissue and help remove excess oil. Those with dry skin should choose a nourishing cream base containing healing herbs such as camomile and vitamins E and C. To exfoliate choose a product with ingredients such as almond, or oatmeal.

A pedicure will round off the evening and leave your feet walking on clouds. Massaging the feet with a foot renewal cream will remove dead skin. Follow this with a moisturizer and you may become hooked on spa nights!

We can’t all afford the luxury and the time commitment of going away to a spa, but with such an excellent choice of products for a home spa evening you really do owe it to yourself to make an appointment–with yourself.