Skin Recipes: The Humble Art of Zen-Cleansing Yourself

Pilgrims traveled, pirates pillaged, cowboys rustled, prairie women homesteaded, and explorers sailed from one flat edge of the planet to the other without any need for cuticle cream, pop-up wipes, or volumnizing shampoo-and-conditioner-in-one treatments. And even despite the lack of indoor plumbing, most found adequate ways to keep clean — well, once they realized that bathing was actually good for them.

If you are looking for practical cleaning tips using old-fashioned ingredients, Clean Body will provide you with a full ration of both. Author Michael DeJong, a self-described “clean freak,” takes readers back to the absolute basics of cleanliness. This recipe for zen cleansing skin recipe can be done at home using everyday products.

Recipes

Mix together equal parts of extra virgin olive oil and salt to create a wonderful skin softener. Mix the two, so that the salt soaks up the olive oil, and then scrub your entire body, head to toe. Expect to be energized as well as exfoliated. Massage the mixture into your body and wash off thoroughly. You’d pay good money for this treatment if you were at a spa!
Cut two lemons into super-skinny slivers. Dribble half a dozen drops of olive oil onto the citrus slices. Give it a toss, and finish with three cups of sea salt. Then, it’s hands off while the concoction cures for at least five minutes. Add your citrus dermadip to a hot and steamy bath. Lock the door, put on some soothing music, and submerge yourself into the citrus mix by loosening up and settling down for a long, luxurious, lazy soak. Reappear recharged and revived. You owe yourself this one!
Liberate yourself of dead skin cells with this awesome all-over exfoliator. Blend three quarters of a cup of sea salt or coarse kosher salt, three tablespoons of baking soda, and one-quarter cup of olive oil in a bowl. Jump into a warm-to-hot shower, douse yourself down, dip a washcloth into the mixture, and scrub everything you can reach with the all-over exfoliator. Rinse well. Find your newly revealed, stunningly soft skin sparkling fresh and re-energized.

Michael DeJong, author of Clean Body:The Humble Art of Zen-Cleansing Yourself, is an environmentalist and eco-activist.