Dry Brushing - The Real Deal or Just A Fad?

If you have never heard of it, dry brushing is exactly what it sounds like. You gently rub a dry brush over your legs and arms. Now I’m sure you’re thinking, why would I ever do this? The science behind dry brushing is to promote blood circulation and to reduce signs of cellulite. Sound too good to be true? It might be.

Dry brushing dates all the way back to Ancient Egypt and India. It is traced back to Ayurvedic practice of medicine, which is one of the world’s oldest holistic healing systems. Ayurvedic practice of medicine is a belief that health and wellness connects the mind, body and soul. Even the well known Ancient Egyptian Goddess Cleopatra has been linked to dry brushing. Imagine taking a milk and honey bath in the morning, followed by dry brushing with a gold face mask on. It wouldn’t be a bad life to live. Our girl Cleopatra was the queen of beauty and looked after herself, taking extreme measures to insure she always looked her best.

According to Dr. Raja Sivamani, a dermatologist at Pacific Skin Institute, “Dry brushing does help you slow down and focus on your skin—and hopefully that means that people will also take the time to moisturize their skin as well.”

It’s a simple three to five minutes out of your day to give your body some self-care, especially in our society where self-love has become more and more important. Many people just simply draw a bath or slap on a face mask and call it a day. You might want to add dry brushing to your list of care for a full day of taking a step back and caring for yourself.

So, how exactly do you dry brush?

All you need to do is simply take your dry brush and rub upwards towards your heart. You can rub your legs and arms, and you can even rub your stomach and chest. Make sure you rub in long, gentle strokes. Dry brushing shouldn’t hurt, make sure you’re very gentle on your skin or it could possibly cause irritation.

After reading and hearing so many positive things, I decided to test out dry brushing for a week after constantly seeing influencers doing the same. I didn’t see any results, but it did make me feel a certain way. I was able to take some time each day to really look after my skin (which I should do more often) which resulted in feeling better about myself. Although I didn’t see any results of reducing the sight of cellulite, I did notice that it made my legs and arms much softer. I decided to test out putting body oil on before dry brushing, to make the oil sink deeper into my skin rather than just sitting on top. This left my skin feeling softer than it ever has been, even in the harsh NYC winter weather. The routine of dry brushing everyday allowed me to take some time to look after myself and look after my skin as we all should.

Whether you’re looking to see results in your body’s appearance or if you just want to try out another form of self-care, give dry brushing a try. There is a wide variety of brushes you can buy, ranging from more expensive ones that swear they will do the trick to ones that are more inexpensive that you can find at your local beauty store. Although not many people have talked about using an oil along with dry brushing, it was personally a nice touch to get silky smooth skin. Similar to the brushes, there is a wide array of body oils on the market that vary in price.

Check out some of the brushes and oils that you can buy right now:

Happy brushing!