Detoxifying Beauty Treatments

While this is an important step toward healthy, vibrant skin, it’s critical not to ignore the practice of detoxing treatments — that extract harsh and sometimes harmful elements absorbed from our environments and diets.

Your skin is your largest organ and it ‘breathes’ in pollutants and chemicals from your environment every day. You may make an effort to reduce the toxins in your diet to stay healthy. Detoxifying beauty treatments are designed in a similar spirit — to help rid your skin of substances that can hinder it from looking and feeling its best.

When perusing your favorite spa’s menu of services (or when booking an appointment with Canyon Ranch), consider these detoxifying options:

Sea Salt Scrubs

Dead skin essentially blocks cell turnover and regeneration. It also traps in environmental toxins that can further contribute to dry, dull skin. In this detoxifying treatment, the grittiness of the sea salt sloughs off superficial skin — and the impurities in it — to cleanse and rejuvenate. After removing dead skin at the surface, the salt’s nourishing properties give the added bonus of remineralizing the skin, to improve its hydration and overall health.

Sugar Scrubs

These detoxify the skin the same way sea salt scrubs do. What makes sugar scrub treatments extra sweet, however, is the fact that sugar contains natural alpha hydroxy acids, which help cells regenerate properly.

Body Wraps

Your body has several ways it detoxifies itself naturally, and sweating is an important one. Body wraps can encourage this process while nourishing the skin. For example, a technician may place seaweed on your skin; wrap you in a hot, wet sheet, and then cocoon you in a warm, dry blanket. The bundling raises your internal body temperature to encourage the purging of toxins, which also makes the skin more prime to take in the antioxidants from this nutrient-rich “ocean grass.” Body wraps can come in many varieties, all designed with these end goals in mind.

Mud or Clay Treatments

The thought of covering your body in what’s essentially dirt may seem counterintuitive when you’re looking to cleanse your skin. As mud and clay dry, however, they detoxify the skin by pulling impurities out, which later get rinsed away.

Dry Brushing

This service may be offered individually, as an add-on or as part of another treatment. Like scrubs, it helps detoxify skin by removing dead skin cells that harbor impurities. The motion also helps stimulate circulation, which increases blood flow and, therefore, helps support another one of your body’s natural detoxification processes — circulation.

Lymphatic Massage

Your lymphatic system is a network of organs, nodes, ducts, and vessels that move clear fluid from tissues to the bloodstream, in part, to detoxify the body. Lymphatic massage is specifically geared to help this system function properly by opening up blocks in Lymphatic nodes, to allow the lymph system to flow. Did you know that 15 percent of your blood flow goes through your lymph system? And when connective tissues are tight, especially around the chest and underarms, lymph doesn’t flow and experts suspect that it is one (of many) causes for getting colds. While lymphatic massage is not a beauty treatment per se, you may notice less skin puffiness and inflammation as a result. It can also bring greater body-wide benefits, like improved energy.

Sauna and Steam

When you’re done with your detoxifying beauty treatment, it’s worth spending some time in the spa’s sauna or steam room. Remember that sweating it out helps your body flush out toxins. But if you switch between these hot rooms and cold environments, like a dip pool, you can also increase circulation.