Hydrotherapy is the therapeutic use of water, steam and ice. For centuries, hydrotherapy has been used to treat injuries and a wide range of illnesses. Whether it’s used for something serious or as a mental stress reliever (which, let’s face it, can also be ‘serious’), hydrotherapy is a wonderful way to unwind.

The three types of hydrotherapy are cold water, hot water and alternating between the two.

In warmer climates, we tapped into the benefits of cold-water therapy. With temps going down, hot water therapy takes center-stage.  Hot water:

• Stimulates the immune system
• Increases circulation
• Calms and relaxes the body
• Soothes nerves

Alternating between hot and cold water treatments have been found to alleviate upper respiratory congestion and stimulate organ function through improved circulation.

That’s a Wrap!

One hydrotherapeutic technique usually reserved for the spa can be easily done at home – with the help of a friend or special someone.  A body wrap can help you lose inches, speed up metabolism, purge toxins from your body and best of all – simply slow you down.

To do a DIY body wrap, you’ll need:

• Sea Salt body scrub: Napa Valley Bath’s Lavender Sea Salt Scrub is a divine choice.
• Essential Oil Moisturizer: Not surprisingly, we think our Lavender Massage Oil does the job best
• 10 wet washcloths rolled up and kept warm in a crock pot nearby
• Plastic wrap
• Heating bag
• Wool blanket
• Candles: Optional but recommended, especially the clean-burning  Organic Soy Massage Candle from NVB…

Follow these steps to hydrotherapeutic bliss:

1. Exfoliate arms, legs and torso in a circular motion. Rinse off in the shower or use washcloths

2. Apply essential oil moisturizing in circular motions. Take your time and enjoy putting it on.

3. Wrap legs and torso in plastic wrap, leaving arms free

4. Lie down on a flat surface. Place wool blanket over your body, and lie heating pad on top of that.

5. Breath deep, sweat, and detoxify for 15 minutes.

6. Cut yourself out of plastic wrap with safe scissors.

Are you hands in fighting form?

The term mano-a-mano  – translated in Spanish as “hand to hand” – originated with bullfighting and refers to a knock-down, drag-out direct confrontation.

Hopefully, your mitts don’t need to be on that level of fighting condition…but they do need some TLC from time to time.  In these DIY recipes, organic lavender partners with other non-toxic ingredients to keep your fingers frisky and fresh.

Before you get creative, don’t forget one of the easiest, chemical-way to clean fingernails – a toothbrush and good old-fashioned baking soda dipped in water! This is a quick way to refresh your digits, kind of like mouthwash for your hands!

Give a Hand for Lavender Love

Hand Rescue Cream: yields 5 oz.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 ounce beeswax (we recommend Mountain Rose Herbs)
• Juice of one freshly squeezed lemon
• 1 tablespoon sweet almond oil
• 5 drops lemon essential oil
• 2 drops lavender essential oil

How to: Melt beeswax in a pan. Add the lemon juice and oils and stir with a wooden spoon until blended. Transfer to a jar. Shake occasionally until the cream is cooled and uniform. Use as an all-natural hand cream every day.

Manicure in a Jar: yields 4 oz.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup organic brown sugar (or treat yourself to Napa Valley Bath’s Lavender Sugar Scrub)
• 1/2 cup grape seed oil
• 5 drops vanilla extract
• 2 drops lavender essential oil
• 1 drop sandalwood essential oil

How to: Combine the ingredients in a small bowl and transfer to a wide-necked jar so you can easily gain access with your fingertips. One by one, dip your fingertips into the jar, massaging the sugary mixture gently into cuticles and knuckles. Julie Gabriel, the creator of this yummy recipe, recommends waving your hands gently to please your senses. Then, briskly immerse your hands in warm water to remove excess oil. Dry your hands and apply Hand Rescue Cream.

Recipe Source: the green beauty guide, by Julie Gabriel

If you opt for a professional manicure, consider how your salon measures up on the green front.

Your body feels supple and smooth. Your skin is glowing. Your busy brain is at rest.

The Zen-tastic feeling you get when you leave the spa is like nothing else. If you’re like me, you feel rested, relaxed – and ready to take on the world in a calm, self-assured way.

Home is Where the Spa Is

On the the reality front, frequent visits to your favorite spa can be pricey and time-consuming. As fall approaches – along with harsher climates that may dry out your skin – now is the perfect time to commit to an at-home program of sumptuous bath and beauty that delivers benefits beyond great skin.

• Add it to the Agenda: It may seem silly to add ‘take bath’ or ‘give self massage’ to your calender…but if you don’t, will it get done? Prioritize yourself the way you prioritize so many other things. You deserve it.

• Gifts from the Heart: Check out Napa Valley Bath’s gift packages and gift one to the CEO of Your Life: YOU.  The Ultimate Body Care package is a great value and includes Lavender Lotion, Lavender Sugar Scrub, Lavender Salt Scrub, and Organic Lavender with Flowers Soap. This is the starter kit you need to combine the therapeutic affects of aromatherapy with the all-natural skin care (from sloughing to soaking) your body craves.

• Light My Fire: There is a reason fabulous upscale spas are alight with flickering candles. Napa Valley Bath sells a unique Organic Lavender Soy Massage Candle that serves double duty as both massage oil (soy has a lower burn point so the oil is warm to the touch…not boiling hot like synthetic candle wax). A friend of Peggy’s swears by the soy wax as a cuticle softener!

• Lost and Sound: While silence is golden, you probably need at least some kind of soundtrack to drown out the noise of your home or the world beyond it’s doors (urban dwellers, I’m talking to you). Visit iTunes, search for “Spa Music” and download a couple of tracks for under five bucks.

• Sip to Sanity: A cup of tea (ideally rich with antioxidants) can transport you. Add a spoonful of artisinal honey and all the sweeter!

• Daily ‘Do-Nothing‘ Time: Call it meditation, checking out, me-time…whatever nomenclature you use, put 15-20 minutes aside – every day – to shut your eyes, breathe deeply and clear your mind. After all, a high end spa experience delivers solitude and peace in addition to rubs and scrubs.

Your skin is more complicated than it looks. The average square inch of your skin holds:

• 650 sweat glands
• 20 blood vessels
• 60,000 melanocytes (pigment skin cells)
• 1,000+ nerve endings

All three main layers (epidermis, stratum corneum and dermis) work in harmony with one another. If any of the following are a part of your daily life, dry skin may disrupt your natural ability to moisturize:

• Exposure to excessive sun
• Excessive bathing
• Use of conventional, detergent-based soaps
• Low humidity
• Central air and heating

It’s time to get rid of pesky dry patches one and for all!

Moisturizing Madness to the Rescue!

Napa Valley Bath’s Moisturizing Madness gift set includes 3 steps to moister, smoother skin:

1. 8oz. Lavender Lotion – Certified organic herbal extracts, the highest-quality natural food-grade safflower vegetable oil, nourishing seaweed (algae) and healing aloe vera blend with four lavenders selected from around the world. Decadent, delightful…and mortal enemy of dry skin.
2. 4 oz. Body Butter - Combines the highest quality shea butter from Uganda, healing herbs, health-food-grade fresh vegetable oils, natural vegetable waxes, and soothing aromatic lavender water from the Aromatic Plant Project. A must-have for cracked, callused and parched skin.
3. Hoof Cream – This tin of rich balm revitalizes your hands and feet with a blend of olive oil, coconut oil, beeswax, tocoperol, orange essential oil, lavender essential oil and peppermint essential oil

…given the prices of typical department store brands (which are chock full of synthetic ingredients, toxic fragrance and may even be tested on animals) the Napa Valley Bath Moisturizing Madness package is a steal at $58!

Yes, we want to age gracefully.

No, we don’t like wrinkles.

How do you marry these two simple premises?  If your skin detox program isn’t quite eliminating those lovely lines (after all, they are the calling card of a life well-lived!) here’s some more insights for glow-and-go wrinkle reduction.

Know Your Active Ingredients!

The following active ingredients may result in slight to modest improvements in wrinkles…while nothing is a miracle cure, these are considered top tier:

1. Retinol. An antioxidant neutralizes free radicals, which are unstable oxygen molecules that break down your skin cells and cause wrinkles. Retinol is a critical antioxidant and the first one to be widely used in nonprescription wrinkle creams.
2. Hydroxy acids. These are exfoliants that remove the upper layer of old, dead skin and stimulate growth of smoother, more evenly pigmented skin. Look for alpha hydroxy, beta hydroxy and poly hydroxy. But note: these are synthetic substitutes for sugar-containing fruits, so a DIY all-natural or organic option would be better!
3. Copper peptides. Antioxidant power is pushed even further when combined with copper peptides, small protein fragments that are combined with trace elements of copper that are found in every cell.
4. Kinetin. Derived from plant growth hormones, kinetin is another antioxidant that helps skin retain moisture and stimulate collagen production.
5. Tea extracts. Green, black and oolong tea…not just for sipping! With their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, these teas are often found in wrinkle creams, with green tea leading the way.

Don’t forget to avoid junk food skingredients…and don’t forget organic everything for the rest of your bod!

We hope by now you’re treating yourself to at least one relaxing, aromatherapeutic bath a week that’s:

• Good for the earth: the non-toxic ingredients in organic bath and beauty products don’t wind up in our water streams.
• Great for your body: by making smart choices about the products you put on your skin, you’re investing your health.

Now it’s time to think about transporting all the nutrient-rich soaps, sea salts, scrubs and more available from Napa Valley Bath in the most eco-conscious way…

Sea and Be Seen

Opt for sea sponges versus synthetic sponges, which are typically made from petrochemicals.

For thousands of years, people have been cleansing themselves with multi-celled sea sponges. Sea sponges live in almost every aquatic environment, filtering nutrients from the water through their pores.

Real sea sponges:

• Are a non-endangered species, so they are greener alternative to synthetic sponges
• Regenerate, so there’s no worries about over-harvesting
• Hold a greater amount of water
• Biodegrade, so there’s no waste

So ditch that pink, plasticized pouf hanging in your shower – your green bath is truly sea sponge-worthy!

Love Your Loofah

Did you know that a loofah is a dried plant related to the squash family?  Loofah sponges can be used every day to:

• Give a boost to your circulatory system
• Cleanse and exfoliate your skin
• Help prevent cellulite build-up

Make sure that any loofah you buy is organically-grown and unbleached.

Removing dead skin cells using exfoliation promises healthier looking skin that feels less congested.

When you use an all-natural exfoliating ingredient like sugar, you protect your skin from the following toxins. These ‘ingredients’ are often used in the products doled out by spas and high-end skin care clinics in deep-cleansing treatments:

• petrochemicals
• synthetic preservatives
• penetration enhancers
• sodium laureth/lauryl sulfates
• artificial fragrances and dyes

Why slough off dead skin cells with toxins when healthy, organic options abound? After all, our skin is our largest organ, a conduit to our circulatory system and our other organs.  In fact, what you put on your body is just as important as what you eat!

Sugar Love

Sugar is super sweet on the skin and a fantastic, all-natural exfoliator.  Sugar is…

• alpha-hydroxy rich, which amounts to a great glow
• safe: no harsh side effects
• great for all skin types
• an effective lymph fluid stimulator and circulator
• a skin hydrator – a natural humectant, sugar scrubs draw moisture to the skin

Healthy How To

To delight in the natural decadence of organic sugar exfoliating, simply follow these steps:

1. Apply sugar scrubs during a shower or warm bath

2. Apply the sugar scrub with small onward and outward movements; roll and press on your skin versus rubbing the scrub into it.

3. Focus on dry and scaly patches – but don’t press too hard!

4. Leave on longer to make your sugar scrub work as a mask

5. Rinse off with tepid water.

Check out all of our Napa Valley Bath products and find the one that appeals to you!