Natural skin care treatment reaches new highs, and lows, with the summer/winter combination

Never to be outdone, Las Vegas entrepreneurs have opened a new spa that offers a unique skin care treatment �" winter. Doesn’t sound like much of a spa to you? Well, believe it or not, it works, especially when combined with a very hot, and possibly humid - summer. This spa takes a lesson from the Finns �" home of the sauna, and home of the practice of plunging oneself into freezing water directly afterwards. While the spa doesn’t go to that extreme, and we don’t have to either, this combination gets the circulation going and flushes away impurities that can cause dry skin, eczema and other skin conditions. Followed with a skin care treatment that prevents absorption of impurities, you’ve got a winner.

How can you replicate this at home? You can do something as simple as sit in a steamy bathroom with the hot shower running for 15 or 20 minutes. It’s not going to get as hot as a sauna, but it will still open the pores. The Finns also gently swat themselves with small, fresh birch branches, leaves and all, to increase the circulation and help get things moving. If you’re doing this exercise as a skin care treatment, gentle swats are better than a loofah because they don’t rub on and irritate the skin.

Follow this with a cold shower to rinse off the toxins and close the pores, pat yourself dry with a soft towel and, voila, you’re clean and fresh. Before you step out into our, unfortunately, somewhat polluted environment, apply a skin care treatment product that keeps out impurities, and you’ve got it made. One word of warning, make sure the water in your shower is filtered. This is a cleansing process �" don’t load up your body with the chlorine and other toxic chemicals in our water.

If you’re adventurous, you can also try building a sauna. It doesn’t have to be expensive �" as long as you have a bit of a back yard. Just build a small well-insulated wooden room, a grate to hold stones, and a burner to heat them. If you want steam, just pour cold water over the hot stones. Nothing fancy, more likely to be pictured in National Geographic than Architectural Digest, but it’s quaint, and it works.

If money’s not a big consideration you can buy something a little more sophisticated. And maybe plunge into your pool - with a chlorine-free, non-toxic cleaning system.

Whichever method you choose, don’t forget to follow with a natural skin care treatment that keeps out toxins. That’s what this summer/winter process is all about �" and it will make you feel like spring.