If you’re subscribed to my YouTube channel or follow the weekly schedule over at the ZGYM, then chances are you’ve watched one of my recent Coffee Talks, where I talked about Hot Towel Scrubbing.

Doing a Hot Towel Scrub is one of the easiest ways to pamper yourself without having to pay for a massage or trip to the spa. You can do this right at home in your own privacy.

When doing a Hot Towel Scrub, you’re basically just warming a towel in hot towel and scrubbing your entire body. One of the reasons why this is so effective is the fact that you’re making contact with your skin, which is the largest organ of your body. The heat from the towel helps to open up your pores and loosen tight muscles, which gives an energizing effect throughout the entire body.

In fact, when done in the morning, a Hot Towel Scrub will help to wake you up and break up the stiffness we all feel after getting up from bed. The scrub itself increases circulation and blood flow, which comes in handy for those of us with sore muscles.

It also softens the hard deposits of fat underneath our skin that cause cellulite and store toxins. When the deposits get soft, they resurface to the surface, where they can be discharged instead of forming deeply around some of our most vital organs. Their toxins also get swept away once the pores open, which makes this kind of scrub a natural form of exfoliation. If you make it a routine of doing a Hot Towel Scrub you’ll start to notice an improvement in the quality of your skin as these toxins get discharged!

Now, if you don’t have enough time to do this in the morning, no worries! You can actually do this in the evening and still reap the benefits. The only change is that you may feel a little more relaxed versus energized, since a nice, warm scrub can also help to relieve the tension from the day. This calming benefit is also good for easing stress, so try to do this around bedtime to help you wind down. You may start to sleep better as a result!

One way to make your evening scrub more relaxing is enhancing the hot water you use to wet your towel. Try adding a few drops of essential oils, such as lavender, to the mix, or a bag of chamomile tea. Remember what I said earlier about your skin being your largest organ? Whatever you apply to it gets absorbed to the bloodstream, so by adding calming herbs like lavender and chamomile, you’ll get a more soothing benefit that literally affects your mind. As a bonus, you can definitely create some ambience by playing some soft music in the background and lighting some candles.
No matter what time you decide to do this, let it be your ritual. Get creative with different ways you can make this as personal and rewarding as it can be.

Now, as far as how to do the scrub, it’s really quite easy:

Find a clean wash cloth or towel, and fill your sink with hot water.
Soak the wash cloth/towel in the water for a few seconds, then wring it out (while making sure it’s still hot but not enough to burn you or feel unpleasant).

Begin to scrub one body part at a time. You can start anywhere you like- it can be from your hands, moving up into your arms and chest, and working down your stomach all the way to your legs and toes. It’s up to you. But make sure to scrub each section for a few minutes (at least until it starts to become pink), and re-heating the towel to keep it from getting cold.

And there you have it! Have you ever done a Hot Towel Scrub before, or are thinking of giving it a try? Give it a try and let me know how it works.