A DIY Beauty Bath

Back in the 70s I acquired a book about natural beauty treatments. This was the era of communes and going natural. They call it green and Do It Yourself (DIY) today. I wish I still had that book. It was useful and interesting to read. I didn’t put a lot of the natural methods into frequent use but I tried several of them at the time. The one I remember the best was for a beauty bath. I used for years and recently revived part of it.

It seems that back in the days of Cleopatra she liked to take beauty baths. Being rich she would indulge in a milk bath. She had the milk of asses poured into her sunken tub. I imagine it was the size of a small swimming pool or so the movies showed us. That may be the fancy of some film genius but most of us don’t have tubs that large. The book told me you could recreate this effect by pouring 1 or 2 cups (maybe 3) of powdered milk into your bath. I guess the more water you put in the more powdered milk you use. The milk is soothing and softens the skin. It doesn’t leave you smelling strange and I rather liked the results.

The other part of my remembered beauty bath included the use of salt. Sea Salt was recommended but you could use regular table salt if that was too pricey. So that’s what I would do. You pour a small pile of salt into the palm of your hand. Then you drip a few drops of water on to the dry pile to make it into a paste like consistency. You have to be careful here because too many drops of water and you’ve got salt water which won’t help with the next step. After you’ve dampened the salt, take a little of it and scrub your skin with it. This exfoliates the skin and does not hurt your ph balance. Warning though, if you have any open sores it will sting a bit. After scrubbing to your hearts content rinse and you’ve got inexpensive exfoliated skin that is much smoother.

I did these two things in the same bath. The results were skin that felt like velvet afterwards. I mentioned it to a guy once and upon stroking the skin along my arm he was impressed. The part I’ve revived for the time being is the salt portion. This is so inexpensive that almost anyone can do it. I even used it on my face and am pleased to say that this morning my facial skin feels smoother than it usually does after a nights sleep. So if you want to try this feel free. It doesn’t cost much for salt although powdered milk may seem a little dear. Considering the price of commercial bath exfoliating scrubs and softening soaks I think it’s worthy substitute. Hope you’ll let me know if you try it.