I've mentioned before that in April I moved to South Korea to teach English. As part of my contract, I got a free apartment, which is great! Unfortunately there is no bathtub. So I purchased this big pink tub so I can still have baths
I had my first dead sea salt bath in 4 months last night, it was amazing!
So in honour of my lovely new princess tub I thought I would do a post on bathing, what works for me, and what I've seen work for others.
Throughout this withdrawal process, bathing has been my saving grace. It's the one place (apart from the sea) that I can feel totally relaxed and itch-free. Some people going through withdrawal spend most of their life in the bath in the early days, even sleeping in the tub sometimes because it's the only place they can get some relief.
There are many different kinds of soothing baths that you can take and I thought I would outline some of the main ones that I've come across and provide some help. Just click on any of the brands and you should be redirected to the websites. Starting with my personal favourite...
Dead Sea Salt
I could not go a week without these! I love swimming in the sea, it is one of the only things that can really turn my skin around in a flare and this is the next best thing. There are lots of blogs that can inform you about bathing in dead sea but personally, i use about 1 cup of salt per bath, depending how bad my skin is i may use less/more (worse = more, better = less). I run the bath quite hot and put the salt in while it runs. Then, I leave the bath to cool down and hop in! Most people recommend a tepid bath but I have no problems with a hotter bath so that's what I do.
Some people like to add bicarbonate of soda to the tub to prevent stinging and this really does work. But personally, I feel the stinging eliminates the itch so I actually prefer it. If you have little ones I would recommend adding the soda so it doesn't sting, it's hard for them to understand that it is for the best sometimes!
I usually soak for about 20 minutes, which is the recommended time for the minerals to really soak into your skin and work their magic. I've actually taken to watching an episode of the simpsons on my laptop (perched safely on a chair across the other side of the room of course!) because they are 23 minutes long and pass the time well!
Dead Sea Salt links...
Epsom Salt
I usually only take an Epsom bath if I'm out of dead sea salts as they are generally more readily available. I follow a similar structure to the one above, only I will add less epsom than I usually would DSS (Dead Sea Salt) because it tends to sting me a little more. EVERYONE is different but for me Epsom doesnt sting as much but creates a kind of tight feeling on my skin which isn't my favourite. BUT it does do the trick and softens my skin up nicely.
Epsom links...
Pink Himalayan Salt
A lot of people love pink himalayan and I do too! I find it very similar to Dead Sea Salt, the only difference being that I find DSS leaves my skin ever so slightly softer. Again, I follow the same process as the DSS baths, using the same amount of salt. I don't find this stings as much as DSS but, like I mentioned, I do actually like the sting in terms of the way it eliminates itch for me.
Pink Himalayan links...
I took my first bentonite clay bath yesterday and boy did it feel good :) Things can get a little messy and there are more things to keep in mind than with a sea salt bath but it is worth it.
For a clay bath, I use about 1 cup of clay for a normal sized bath. Many people use more, but I don't like to use too much because it's expensive and I find that 1 cup usually works fine for me. Experiment! There aren't really any set rules for how much you can use.
Instead of just putting the powder into the tub, I mix the amount of clay I'm going to use first with water in a plastic bowl and then mix this wet clay into the water, I find it dissolves much better.
Then I get in the tub and relax for about 30 minutes with this one, to really give it chance to detox me! I spread the water over my body but I'm always careful to keep the clay wet when it's on me, I don't like it when it dries on sensitive skin. I use
George's Aloe Vera Spray to keep the clay on my body wet.
Once I've soaked, I rinse off in the shower and then empty the tub, making sure to catch any clumps of clay so they don't block the drain.
And that's it!
Bentonite clay links...
& that's it for all the baths I have tried. I know a lot of people also have a lot of sucess with
BLEACH BATHS and
ESSENTIAL OIL BATHS (click the links for more info). Phew! I love my tub :) If you've got any more ideas for some great TSW baths please let me know, I'm always happy to spend more time in the bath ;)
Photos coming soon and an LDN 2 week update on Monday
Happy healing
S x
