Dry Brushing Side Effects

How about something that lets you take care of your skin in the shortest possible time? Furthermore, something that does not need anything else but one object- a dry brush. Apparently, you should be familiar with the term dry brushing as it is quite in a vogue now. The best thing about it is that dry brushing side effects are not so serious if proper awareness and care are in place.

What is dry brushing?

It is exactly what it sounds like. In fact, it is a brush that is used to brush the skin of both your body and face. While the brush for the two different parts of your entity may be different, it is usually a brush with soft bristles.

Do not think it is like a scrub because it is not. While you may establish and relate its function with a scrub like a thing- it actually is quite different. The material that builds the brush and the softness of the bristles is what sets this dry brush apart from other brushes. Let’s know the race between Tao Clean and Clarisonic automatic facial brushes.

Another thing you should keep in mind is that both your body and the brush is dry when you are using it on your body.

Starting from applying potatoes to your face to applying honey and milk, we leave no stone unturned in taking care of our skin. In fact, we want that natural radiance, that sense of feeling naturally beautiful. Who does not want to wake up in the morning flawless and go out without the least bit of makeup?

However, even the stars on television or movies, in fact, especially the stars on television or movies have an incredible amount of makeup on their faces. But, you can consider the skin of both face and body to be slightly better than ours. Why? Because they are constantly taking care of their skin and it is the professionals themselves often helping them.

Nothing in life comes easy and so doesn’t good skin. You have to take care of your skin to make it good. Among the many techniques of taking care, you often look for the techniques that are there with the least side effects- the natural techniques. While you can totally use fruits and more to enhance your skin from inside- it takes time. Before we get to dry brushing side effects, let’s check out what dry brushing actually means.

Dry Brushing Side Effects: The Benefits

People do not dry brush their body skin for no reason at all. There definitely are benefits of dry brushing but what are they? Apparently, wherever you go, you will find similar benefits of dry brushing being stated. But, not all of them are true. Let’s check all the potential benefits out.

Exfoliates the skin.

The dead skin layers on our skin make our skin look way worse than it actually is. It makes it look darker and also feels rougher. So, you get the drill- it is better to get rid of all those dead cells.

There is no end to ways you can get rid of these cells. You can buy scrubs, creams, strips, what not to deal with the dead cells. But, most or all of them require some moisture. Dry brushing does not and it actually often does a way better job.

But, how does this simple thing do better? Since both your skin and the brush is dry, the friction occurring between the two is higher as well. As a result, there are more dead cells going away. So, the first and best thing dry brushing does is exfoliate your skin with the least effort and the cheapest price.

Improves blood circulation.

What do massages do? It improves blood circulation leaving you rejuvenated. And, how exactly do you dry brush? By running the brush in various directions and motions throughout your body.

It creates a flow in the bloodstream, it guides the flow, and it creates some heat as well. As a result, the blood circulation within your body improves manifold. However, you do have to make sure that you are moving the brush the right way.

Whether you aid your blood circulation or hamper it depends a lot on how well you dry brush and in what direction. Therefore, understand which part of your body needs the blood to circulate there ‘more’. Once you do, move your brush in motions towards that direction. The blood will follow your path as well.

It increases the energy within you.

When you wear a face mask and lie there in your bathtub or room for a while, what do you feel? You feel relaxed and loved. In fact, after you are done, the world feels like a better place. Whatever trouble you were going through feels like no trouble at all for that particular moment.

That is exactly what dry brushing feels like as well. It may be the small amount of time you dedicate to yourself by keeping every worry of the world away and indulging in self-care. Or, it may scientific reasons like how the brushing helps the blood flow and invigorates your body. Whatever it is, you just feel way better and much more energetic after the dry brushing.

It is more about the soulful break you take from life rather than the comfort of dry brushing. In fact, if cause and effect had a more mental health-ish example- self-care through dry brushing could be it. You work to make your skin better and in the process, both your skin and mood get better.

Dry Brushing Side Effects: The Maybes

When you research the benefits of dry brushing you will come across a few complex ones. While these benefits can be charming, they are quite ridiculous to believe as well. Let’s check them out and see if there is any way we can believe them.

Activates the lymphatic system.

The lymphatic system is the system in your body that helps to detoxify and gets rid of the harmful fluids. Now, according to many, dry brushing helps to stimulate this system. When dry brushing stimulates the system, the system becomes more active, causing more harmful fluids to decentralize, move around and go out.

As a result, your skin becomes more radiant and you become healthier from inside. However, according to many others, this is quite impossible. Apparently, it is the kidney and the liver that are responsible for detoxifying. Even if the lymphatic system is, dry brushing should not be able to help it because it is such an external act.

Then again, the friction produces some heat, then heat produces motion, and that might stir up the system to some extent. But, the question is that when dry brushing only takes a few minutes- are these few minutes enough for the lymphatic system to matter so much?

Improves digestion.

Among the many things that people say dry brushing helps with, improving digestion is pretty much the most ridiculous one. The question here is how exactly can dry brushing help digestion? Massaging around the tummy could improve bowel movement, but digestion? No way.

Probable Negative Side Effects of Dry Skin Brushing

While dry brushing does not contain any chemical like thing, it still can cause different side effects in many. Let’s see if these side effects could haunt you if you ever took up dry brushing.

Skin irritation.

As you already know, dry brushing is very literally dry. While dry on dry causes great friction and exfoliation, it can cause a bit of roughness too. Therefore, if you have sensitive skin, the dry brushing may harm it by being too rough on it.

It is normal to find that your skin has gone pink after dry brushing. But, it is not normal to feel pain while doing it, or finding red skin or rashes after doing it. In such cases, you should totally give up dry brushing and find some other way to take care of your skin.

This side effect mostly depends on your skin sensitivity.

Dry Skin.

Yes, we are not running out of the need to use the word ‘dry’ very soon. After all, it is dry brushing that we are talking about. You may find that after you are done dry brushing, your skin actually feels quite dry. Therefore, you should resort to using a moisturizer afterward.

In fact, many people use oil before dry brushing as well. If you have dry skin- it is best to use some kind of oil when you dry brush.

Infection

If you are not well aware of dry brushing areas and mistakenly dry brush the wounded areas, there is a chance of spreading and even origination of infection. So, try to avoid the places on your body with infection or open wounds.

Eczema

If you have some sorts of eczema, please be kind to avoid the affected area during dry brushing and consult a dermatologist for better suggestions. Dry brushing full body without consideration may spread the problems to new places.

Micro-cuts in Skin

As suggested by the New York-based and AAD( American Academy of Dermatology ) member dermatologist Dr. Marc Glashofer, dry brushing too often or too harsh or with too rough bristles may lead to micro-cuts on the skin that eventually pave the way to infections. Know how often to exfoliate your Face and Acne-prone skin.

In conclusion

When it comes to skin, it is best to use the safest products there are out there. While you can do many things to take care of skin, it is best to try and make your skin glow from within. Dry brushing is a technique that helps you achieve exactly that.

However, it has both good and bad side effects. Know these effects well and check your skin out too. Judge if dry brushing would be a good skin care method for you. Test-check if necessary but be careful before you do it. One last advice would be to never dry brush a skin that has a disease or has an opening.