On Today’s Podcast Ashley talks about Dry Brushing for Lymphatic Drainage. She goes over:
Why dry brushing for lymphatic drainage is so very important
How to do it
Brush options – including a special at home modality that does lymphatic drainage while diminishing fine lines and wrinkles as well as helping to contour your face!
Here are the tools/products Lindsey & I use for this episode! One is a special facial device that not only does lymphatic drainage but helps contour the face and reduce fine lines and wrinkles! I know! It’s amazing!
The Sisters!
Lindsey and Ashley
“Just because today is a terrible day doesn’t mean tomorrow might not be the best day of your entire life. You just have to wake up and get there” ~Pete Wentz
Ask your Dry Brushing Questions inside, Lapree beauty, our free anti-aging community!
Let’s first talk about lymphatic drainage. What’s the big deal? What is the purpose?
You have over 600 lymph nodes in your body. Think of these lymph nodes as a filter device. The lymph is a fluid that is used to trap bacteria and viruses or other sicknesses, so it won’t infect other areas of your body and it stores them in the lymph nodes. Your lymph nodes then need to get rid of the yucky stuff through the lymphatic system. So think of your lymphatic system as a main defense against viruses and bacteria
Now here is the key part. Your lymphatic system does not have a pumping system to clear the lymph nodes! Your body needs exercise and deep breathing to help move the lymph out of your lymph nodes into the lymphatic system so it can eliminate these toxins. So, you can see how the lymphatic system can get blocked.
What happens when it gets blocked?
When it gets blocked you can have an impaired system which can contribute to joint pain, colds, flu, and sinus problems, water retention, heart disease, cancer, inflammation, swelling and on and on. We have over 600 collection sites known as lymph nodes in our body that need to be cleared. In us women – keep in mind that in our armpits is where the breast lymph goes, behind our ear, neck and chest area for our face if we want to help contour and depuff. For the face, I like to use this special at home modality that I will get to in a minute. For the rest of the body, I like to use this dry brush to clear out the lymph nodes and get the lymphatic system moving!
Lymph node sites to focus on are neck, arms and groin.
This is where dry brushing for lymphatic drainage can help stimulate the lymphatic system. I know! Right now you are probably so glad that amazon has a 2 day delivery system right now – I put the ones my sister and I like and use in our online beauty store. There are so many dry brushes out there and I love my dry brush so much – this one is sturdy and has not broken on me like several others I have used in the past!
But before you order one, keep reading because I want to explain what type of brush you want for your body then what type of device you want for your face and neck and chest.
Dry Brushing for your body
You want a long handled dry brush so you can reach behind your back and also get to your legs and hard to reach places without hurting your back or twisting the wrong way. Also, you want to clean your brush when dry brushing for lymphatic drainage! Feel free to ask me how in our free anti-aging skincare community. Inside our community, called lapree beauty, is an ASK YOUR QUESTIONS HERE section and it’s FREE. It’s just easier for us to communicate with you if we put all the questions and answers in one spot.
How to dry brush
Do the dry brushing right before showering. You are going to do the dry brush on your dry skin. Do not apply any lotion. As you are doing the dry brushing, I want you to think up up up towards your heart. Then when you get to the breast area think brushing outwards towards your armpits. Then when you get to the groin area do it up to groin from your leg but above your groin lower belly area you want to brush it down to the groin! You want to push the lymph fluid to the lymph node sites.
Main ones are groin, arm pit, neck and chest area.
How I use dry brushing for lymphatic drainage
I begin with my feet. I do several mini upward strokes up to my knees. Then my knees to my bottom. Get the entire leg and behind the knees too. I then do several mini upward strokes on the side of my groin area to stimulate the lymph nodes there. I then continue up my bottom and up my stomach and sides brushing upwards. When I get to my breasts, I stop and then focus on my hands and brush upwards towards my shoulders and then my arm pits. Then I take my breasts from the middle point in between my breasts and brush outwards to the armpits. Do this gently – You don’t have to dry brush hard to stimulate the lymphatic system. No need to rub your skin raw – be kind and gentle – have a light touch. Anyways, back to the breast – I find this is extremely important considering all of the breast cancer so many women unfortunately get. Then I do my back and brush upwards and then stop when I get to my chest. I’ll explain my chest in a minute but before I forget I hop in the shower and afterwards I apply and massage lotion onto my damp skin to hydrate.
Okay now let’s talk about the face and chest. This is where I switch from my dry brush to that special modality I mentioned before.
The special modality is called a High Frequency Machine – It is a healing electrical current that promotes circulation and nourishes the skin. I researched a ton to find the best at home device – I wanted it to have a padded case to protect the vacuumed sealed glass applicators, I wanted it to have a strong current so it could achieve the results I wanted at home. I want to mention that before and after using this device, sanitize your glass applicators with rubbing alcohol – unplugged of course;-)
How to Use Lymphatic drainage for your Face
To use this at home device you can either use an oil or you can use gauze.
You want to use one of these because the glass applicators have a very mild electrical current. So when you plug in the device, the gas goes into the glass instrument, and it becomes electrified.
When it comes in contact with your skin the electrified gas has a chemical reaction that creates an ozone of oxygen. When this ozone is on your skin it increases circulation, reduces inflammation and congestion and helps move that lymph!
I like to begin with a cleansed, dry face. You do not want a wet face because you are dealing with electrical current. I then apply one of my favorite facial oils – Why facial oil? Because you want the machine head to glide across your skin so you can properly do the lymph drainage. You don’t want to tug at your skin. If you don’t want to use facial oils then use a piece of gauze and either tie it with a tiny little rubber band around the head (think braces rubber bands) or wrap the gauze around the head and hold it with your finger. I put the gauze in our skin and beauty shop as well.
Plug in the device, set it to the lowest setting so you can get a feel for the machine and how it works with your skin.
Place your finger on the glass part of the applicator to “ground” the machine. When you ground the machine, it will avoid you getting a tiny shock of current.
Once the machine is on your skin. Lift your finger off so the current can flow. You will see it light up into an orange color – So cool!!! Then glide across your face in circular motions, under the eyes back and forth to grab the lymph then across the jawline and down the neck and then I go up on the forehead and all the way down and behind the ear and down the neck. Divide your face in fours and do 1 to 2 minutes on each area.
Then put your finger on the glass node and take the glass applicator off your face.
I love the jaw line and under my chin for the contouring effect! The forehead for my wrinkles and 11s and my chest for my soft lines and my under eyes to depuff!
Time to use lymphatic drainage on your chest!
Same process. Begin with a Clean, dry chest and apply it with facial oil, OR if you prefer use gauze!
Put your finger on the glass node stem. Apply applicator to your chest. Lift your finger off the applicator and begin in circular and sweeping motions. When done, put your finger on the stem and lift off the chest.
Unplug, clean the applicator with rubbing alcohol.
If you are going to use oil – Choose the oil that works best for you. I put the ones Lindsey and I love and use in our beauty and skin care shop. There is also a conditioning oil that I absolutely use and love on my face. Since I did a ton of research on these items, I went ahead and put the oils and the high frequency machine that I like in our online beauty store.
It comes with several attachment heads. I like to use the Mushroom one (it literally looks like a button mushroom) for my face and jaw line.
As we age, our lymphatic system starts to slow down. So this will cause our face to be puffy and have more sagging in the jaw line. We want to help our bodies get the yucky stuff moving out of our head area to get more contour!
To sum it up, Lymph drainage hydrates the skin, removes toxins, relaxes your facial muscles, increases circulation to nourish your skin!
That’s it for today!
Wishing you a healthy and happy day! Until next time and See you inside our free anti-aging community named lapree beauty.
Here is my disclaimer – you always want to check with your doctor before using any at home modality – not for those with heart issues, pregnancy, breast feeding, seizures, etc. Check with your doc!
All our best!
Lindsey and Ashley