Wake Up Glowing With This $3 Detox Ritual

I am obsessed with bathing. Growing up in Japan, taking a long bath every night and making trips to the onsen, or public bath house with water usually sourced from a local mineral hot spring, were a part of my routine. To this day, nothing is more relaxing to me than a long soak in a bath tub, hot tub, or hot spring.

Until relatively recently, my bathing habits were minimal - shower, draw a tub of hot water, soak. But now, as I find myself increasingly interested in DIY beauty rituals and living a holistic and healthy lifestyle, I've been experimenting more with taking my baths to the next level. Which brings us to the point of this Instructables - the $3 detox bath!

You'll Need:

• Epsom salts
• Box of baking soda
• A bathtub
• Towels
• Loose fitting cotton pajamas, tshirt, or similar

The Detox Ritual:

• Draw a hot bath - as hot as you can stand it!
• Pour the baking soda and Epsom salts into tub.
• Immerse your whole body, including your hair, and soak at least till you are sweating.
• Towel off, but don't shower or put on any products. No lotion, nothing.
• Put on your PJs, lay a towel under your head so you're not sweating into your pillow, go straight to sleep and sweat it out!
• Shower and exfoliate (and wash your sheets) in the morning.

Why Does This Work?

You've probably already heard of or personally experienced the healing properties of soaking in Epsom salt, which is actually pure magnesium sulfate - most commonly used for relieving muscular aches and pains.

I learned to add baking soda to an Epsom salt bath from my favorite astrologer, who calls this the Alchemy Bath. I highly recommend reading this post by Breanna Redwin for more data on the benefits of the detox bath.

Basically, the baking soda creates an alkaline environment to soften your skin and open your pores, allowing the magnesium sulfate to better penetrate your skin barrier. Sweating overnight releases even more toxins, and like magic, you wake up glowing and feeling way more relaxed and lucid. Redwin covers the health benefits in great detail so I'll just let you read her post for yourself. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading! You can hit me up at KirikoKikuchi@gmail.com or on Instagram @KirikoKikuchi if you want to chat further and discuss health, beauty, DIY, and everything in between!