Here’s how to make your own DIY body wraps at home! They make wonderful bath and body recipes to treat yourself as well as having plenty of other health and beauty benefits.
For centuries, body wraps like the recipes below have been used as a way to relax and detoxify the body while you tone and tighten the skin.
An Overview On Homemade Body Wraps
DIY body wraps can also be great beauty recipes to reduce cellulite and improve blood circulation through your body. Perhaps the biggest benefit of a body wrap is that it can help to mobilize fat cells so they can be eliminated from your body more easily.
Unfortunately, the cost of body wraps as spa treatments have increased in price as their popularity has risen too. You don’t have to pay the exorbitant costs of a spa treatment when you can make a diy body wrap at home.
Body wraps work by using specific salts, vitamins, minerals and essential oils that can help detoxify your body and various herbs that can induce feelings of relaxation at the same time as promoting health benefits.
So relax and treat yourself to a homemade spa day with some of my favorite tried and tested body wraps that can be adapted to use as a full-body treatment or used on individual areas of the body you wish to treat.
Using Your Homemade Body Wrap
- A body wrap is excellent for helping your body to release any impurities. Before you begin, warm up the room so you can lie down comfortably.
- If you don’t have an air mattress to lie down on, then you can lie in the bath tub. You might want to put down some old towels wherever you intend to lie down. Drink plenty of water before you begin and pour a fresh glass of water to keep beside you during your wrap.
- Lighting a few candles, listening to music, reading a book or just taking time out to relaxing will make the experience so much more enjoyable and leave you feeling re-energized.
- Cotton sheets, a shower curtain, plastic wrap, tin foil and bandages all make excellent wrapping material’s just make sure you don’t wrap too tightly, and if you do start to feel uncomfortable loosen or remove the wrappings straight away (whilst your body wrap is drying it is quite normal to feel a little itchy when using clay or other drying ingredients).
Herbal Body Wrap
Method
- To make a herbal body wrap, make some herbal tea – this organic chamomile tea from Mountain Rose is great for body wraps.
- Fill your sink with hot, strong herbal tea and soak an old sheet in the tea. Wring out as much tea as you can and then wrap the hot sheet around your body, leaving your head and arms uncovered.
- Wrap enough plastic wrap around the sheet to hold it in place. The wrap should be firm enough to keep the sheet against your body, but not so tight that it’s constricting in any way.
- Lie down on the old towels you placed on your air mattress or in the bath tub and wrap these around the plastic wrap as well. Set a timer for 20 minutes and then simply relax while the body wrap does its work. Remember to take regular sips of water during your wrap.
- When your 20 minutes is up, unwrap yourself and rinse off in a warm shower.
Oriental Papaya Body Wrap
Papaya contains enzymes that are well known for softening and revitalizing the skin. Papaya contains a natural fruit acid that works the same way as an alpha hydroxyl acid and is a great exfoliant. It will help to remove dead skin cells leaving your skin feeling smooth and soft.
Method
- To make this diy body wrap, warm up the room so you’re able to lie down comfortably without getting cold.
- Puree the pulp of a very ripe papaya until it’s smooth (takes just a few seconds with a hand blender). Spread it over your body, making sure not to rub it in. Roll your body in a plastic sheet.
- Lie down on some old towels and wrap these around your body too. Set a timer for 20 minutes.
- When your 20 minutes is up, unwrap the plastic and wash off the papaya in a warm shower. Your skin should feel invigorated immediately.
DIY Seaweed Wrap
Seaweed is full of vitamins and minerals as well as containing large amounts of iodine. Seaweed can ease those aches and pains, detoxify the body, boost circulation and metabolism, and lower blood pressure and cholesterol. The algaes and minerals are great at soothing away stress and totally recharging your body.
So if you are lucky enough to live by the sea, you can reap the benefits by collecting your own seaweed, then steam cleaning it and adding it to your bath water.
You can used dried powdered seaweed as an alternative to make your own body wrap, mainly because it’s easier to handle and still holds the same beneficial elements as fresh seaweed.
For best results take a warm shower and exfoliate before applying this seaweed wrap. And drink plenty of water to prevent dehydration as seaweed has a strong diuretic effect.
Ingredients
- 8oz (225g) of Dried powdered seaweed
- 2 drops of Lavender essential oil
- 1drop of Rosemary essential oil
- 3 tablespoons (45ml) of Almond Oil or light Olive Oil
Method
- To make this homemade body wrap mix the seaweed powder with a small amount of warm water to produce a paste.
- Mix the essential oils into the almond/olive oil, and then stir into the seaweed paste. If the paste is too thick add a little more water, if it’s too thin and runny add more seaweed powder until you have a good consistency to work with.
- Apply the seaweed mix all over the body starting with your feet and working upwards. Cover yourself with plastic wrap or a foil thermal blanket (they aren’t usually very expensive and can be reused).
- Lay down in a warm room for 20 to 30 minutes before rinsing off in a warm shower.
Ginger and Strawberry – Body Cellulite Wrap
Cellulite is actually pockets of fat stored under the skin and is unfortunately the vain of just about every woman over the age of 25. Cellulite is mainly caused by having poor circulation that can slow down the removal of any toxins or fluids stored within the body.
By warming your skin blood rushes to the surface enabling the ingredients from this homemade body wrap to reach the bloodstream more efficiently. This helps to flush out the toxins and any other impurities from the body that are responsible for the cellulite, water retention and other common skin problems.
The ginger, strawberries and clay blended together makes an excellent circulation stimulant.
Ingredients
- 2 (4 inch) ginger roots (gives a wonderful warming effect)
- 4 tablespoons (60ml) of Kaolin clay powder
- 15 large strawberries (give cleansing astringent properties)
Method
- Place the ginger, strawberries and kaolin clay into a blender and blend for a minute, if the mixture feels a bit too runny add a little more clay until you reach a good thick paste.
- Apply to the areas of the body affected by cellulite or poor circulation then wrap with tin foil or plastic wrap. Relax for about 20 minutes before rinsing off with warm water followed by a quick cold rinse.
Heating It Up (circulation)
There are lots of natural ingredients around to help heat up the body and improve circulation, apple cider vinegar, nutmeg and root ginger works well.
Or you could also try a blend of cedarwood, lavender, and grapefruit essential oils. Simply steep them in a sink of hot water, then soak a towel in the water. Wrap the towel around the area of your body you want to treat.
Mustard has a heating effect on the skin, as the skin rises in temperature it helps bring the blood to the surface and increases circulation.
This DIY mustard body wrap will help relax and relieve tired, aching joints and muscles.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons (30ml) mustard powder
- 8 tablespoons (120ml) flour
- 2 drops Thyme essential oil
- 2 drops Pine essential oil
Method
- Combine the mustard and flour with a little warm water to make a paste. Add the essential oils and mix well.
- Slightly warm the paste in a microwave or by standing it in a bowl of hot water before applying to the painful area. Leave for 10 minutes then rinse with warm water.
- To make the mustard pack more effective wrap with bandages, or plastic wrap to preserve the heat and induce perspiration.
Homemade Slimming Wrap
If you’re going on a special night out or just need to lose a few inches to fit into a favorite outfit then this is the homemade body wrap recipe for you.
Using the right mineral and essential oils you can achieve an instant (although temporary) Inch loss. This wrap works with elasticised cotton bandages soaked in a warm seaweed and clay solution that acts like a vast compress. It works by drawing out the unwanted toxins from your body, and helps to expel fluids via the body’s own waste disposal process.
Ingredients
- 3oz (85g) of dried, seaweed powder
- 30z (85g) of Fullers earth powder
- 8 tablespoons (120ml) of lime juice
- 1tablespoon (15ml) of Sweet Almond Oil
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5) of clear honey
- 4 drops of Sandalwood essential oil
- 2 drops of Rosemary essential oil
- 2 drops of Lavender essential oil
Method
- Blend together the seaweed, fuller’s earth and lime juice to produce a paste.
- If the mix is too thick add a little water to it then stir in the almond and the essential oils.
- Thin the paste out into a fluid consistency by adding a little warm water to it, and then soak the bandages in the warm seaweed and clay mixture.
- Starting from the ankles, wind the bandages up the legs keeping the bandages taut enough to compress the fatty tissues without feeling uncomfortable.
- You need to keep this on for 45 minutes so relax and have a lay down in a warm room before discarding the bandages and rinsing off with warm water.
Tip
Use a shower curtain or a foil thermal blanket (they aren’t usually very expensive and can be reused) over the bandages to preserve the heat and induce perspiration.
A DIY Healing Body Wrap
Many herbs have great healing properties. If you’re stressed or generally feeling unwell, you may find you feel better after releasing some of the built up toxins in your body.
Before you begin to make this diy body wrap, put down some old towels on an air mattress or in the bath tub. Warm up the room to a comfortable heat and light some scented aromatherapy candles to promote relaxation during your wrap.
Drink plenty of water before, during and after your wrap.
Method
- Pour 3 cups of boiling water into your sink and leave some herbal tea-bags (chamomile tea is best) to steep.
- When the tea is strong, soak an old sheet with the tea. The tea should still be warm, but not overly hot.
- Mix together two tablespoons of Olive Oil with a few drops each of Lavender, Peppermint and Geranium essential oils. Massage the oil into your body and then wrap yourself in the old sheet, leaving your arms and head free.
- Wrap the sheet in some plastic wrap to keep the sheet close to your body, but not constricting.
- Lie down on the old towels and wrap these around you too.
- Set a timer for 20 minutes. When your time is up, unwrap yourself and rinse off in a warm shower.
Do you make your own diy body wraps? What ingredients do you use?
Can I subsitute the essential oils with ginger powder instead for the seaweed wrap?
Hi Nancy
It’s certainly OK to leave the essential oils out if you want to. I haven’t tried it but I guess ginger would be an interesting spin, let me know how you get on with it.