Herbal Body Wraps Continued

It also must be said that to get truly lasting  incremental effects from the wrapping you need to also watch your diet.  Our bodies react in amazing ways to junk food and chemicals in our food. You can pull out toxins with your wrap and then undo all your work by eating sugar or other junk.  I had an interesting experience once I would like to share along those lines.  About 10 years ago I studied fasting and tried various fasting methods. 

One method was very strict and only allowed distilled water and nothing else.   I weighed myself  3 times a day and monitored my progress for 7 days.  Then on the 8th day I chewed a pack of gum throughout the day.  The next morning when I weighed, I had gained 2 1/2 pounds and it took 2 more days of water fasting to take it off!  It was explained to me that eating anything, even the smallest thing, would cause some type of reaction in the body.

Eating one pound of food does not equal one pound of weight gain.  Ingesting the sugar and chemicals from the chewing gum was apparently enough to cause my cells to react and hold onto more water to combat the toxins.  It was an amazing lesson I have never forgotten.  Admittedly it is an extreme example and I don't mean to suggest that you have to live on water to get results from wrapping!!  But you can see overall lasting results a lot quicker if you combine wrapping with a healthy lifestyle.  I was told at the spa that as long as you don't gain weight the inches will stay off that are removed during wrapping since toxins are removed, not water.  So if you are one of those lucky people who can maintain a steady weight you may see results even faster.
 
 So how do you wrap and what do you use?  For spot wrapping my thighs and stomach area I  use plastic wrap like saran wrap.  I wouldn't use it as an all body wrap and only use it for spot wrapping.  It is hard to work with and your skin can't breathe and really isn't effective for all body wrapping since you will need an absorbent material.  For the all body wraps you can use rolled gauze, ace bandages, or make your own from white cotton sheets, or terry cloth. Gauze is expensive and it doesn't hold up to repeated use. 

Ace bandages will wash out well and can be reused but the standard size found in stores is just a little too narrow.  They roll down and can be difficult to work with. I do use them sometimes though.  My favorite wrapping material is simply to use a white sheet cut into strips. You could use cotton or flannel. Cut the strips about 5 to 6 inches wide and 3-5 feet long. Use this as a guide for your first strip and practice wrapping with it. You can make the strips any size you want.  Do whatever makes it easy for you.

If you use thin cotton sheets you may need to wrap in two layers especially for the walking wrap.  The purpose of wrapping is to keep the solution in contact with the skin and to lightly compress the skin. The wrap just needs to be tight enough to maintain contact and lightly compress the skin but not so tight as to impair circulation.  If you use ace bandages you need to be especially careful not to make your wraps too tight.

Before you wrap take a nice warm shower to open your pores.  You may want to leave the hot shower running while you wrap  so the warm steam will keep your pores open while you work.  Prepare the wrapping solution and have it ready to go.  You may want to place newspaper on the floor to stand on especially when doing the coffee wrap or mud wrap. Have all your wrapping material within reach so once you start you won't have to run get something. 

Place your wrapping strips into the tub or a basin that has very warm water (not applicable for plastic wrap).  You can also pour a cup of epsom salt into this mixture if you like. You'll need the first layer of wraps to be damp and warm.  As you wrap, grab a strip that is soaking, squeeze out the water, dip it in your wrapping solution (unless it is a mud wrap), squeeze again, and now you are ready to begin wrapping.

Apply your solution to one leg first. A thin layer of mud is fine and will help your clay to last longer too. You can use a wash cloth or sponge to apply the mineral solution.  Then begin at the soles of the feet and wrap mummy style up your leg to the top of the thigh. When one strip ends, place another on top and keep going. You may need to tuck the ends in, but the best thing is just to leave the ends smooth and wrap over them.  Always wrap up. 

The idea is to tone and uplift your skin so you want the force of the wraps to be up rather than the weight of the wraps pulling down.  As you wrap use your other hand to pull up a little on your skin to keep it pulled up while you wrap.  This is not as important on the legs and arms but you should try to keep your skin pulled up when working around your neck, hips, and bust area.  You can wrap around and around keeping all the skin covered as you go or wrap once in wide spirals leaving a little skin between passes and then make a second wrap with spirals in the opposite direction which cover the gaps the first wrap made. 

When you are finished with your leg, no skin should be showing.  The wrap should not feel tight but it should be snug enough it doesn't fall off. You can add a second layer if you want.  Your second layer can be made of dry strips and can be applied in an 'X' pattern to give more support.  Or when you are finished you can lie down and cover with towels instead. When doing the walking wrap you may want a second layer of dry strips before putting on your sweat suit or robe.  Follow the same procedure for the second leg.

Now you are ready for the hip area. For this area and also the bust you can make a sling out of a strip to uplift before you begin wrapping.  You will need an extra long strip for this.  Place the strip under your bottom and then pull up and bring the strips in front of you and cross them and wrap around your waist remembering to pull up on your skin as you go.  Leave one side shorter so you can wrap over it with the long strip and keep things as smooth as possible. 

You'll have your midsection wrapped, then go back and wrap over your hips.  Keep adding new strips as you need them.  You can leave your panties and bra on if you prefer, just be sure the solution is on your skin underneath.  It may be easier to give your bust an uplift if you do have your bra on. You make a sling for this area by passing a strip underneath your bust and bringing the ends up over your shoulders and under your arms. Flatten out the strips and begin wrapping the area above your bust pulling up on the skin as you go. Because you don't want to flatten your bust, you may need to get creative at this point in order to get the skin on your back covered.

Continued Click Here!