I don’t know about you but I absolutely love a day at the spa. Not necessarily for the fancy treatments, but more for the experience of sheer relaxation and pampering. What I do not love, however, is the expensive price tag which can be several hundred bucks depending on the treatments chosen!
However, as part of my new focus on self-care, I wanted to indulge in a little pampering so decided to explore ways to have a luxurious spa experience at home.
1) Clear The Clutter
As you’ll want to do this at home, take a few minutes to clear the space where you’re going to indulge in your self-pampering. If you’re going to soak in the tub, clear the miscellaneous shampoo bottles, shower puffs and bath toys which often clutter your bathroom; if you’ll be in your bedroom clear the clothes, laundry and other miscellaneous debris – you get the idea, clear all unnecessary items from your pampering space to create a clear calming space.
2) Set The Stage
Have you ever noticed that most spas use soft lighting, relaxing music and provide their guests with soft robes and fluffy slippers? Well, your at-home spa should be no different – dim the lights, light some candles, cue up that relaxing Spotify playlist or Enya CD and wrap yourself in a luxurious fluffy robe.
3) Deep Condition Your Hair
No matter what other pampering options I’ve chosen, I always start by deep-conditioning my hair, the longer I leave the treatment on my hair, the better! There are so many options for giving your hair a fabulous deep-conditioning treatment, but my go-to is to simply use coconut oil.
For my shoulder-length hair, I use about 2 tablespoons of coconut oil, which I warm by rubbing between my palms and then massage through damp hair from the tips to the roots (as my hair can be quite oily, I avoid putting on my actual scalp as much as possible). Once I’ve coated my hair as thoroughly as possible, I then also comb it through with a fine comb to be sure of even distribution. Finally, I wrap my hair in a shower cap and leave to sit for the rest of my pampering treatment.
Bonus Tip: You can maximize the benefits of coconut oil by adding a couple of drops of certain essential oils like lavender to the coconut oil, or by mixing with honey or shea butter. Aditya over at Bliss Only has some great tips for coconut oil combos that will do wonders for your hair.
4) Give Yourself A Facial
My pampering treatment would not be complete without a luxurious facial. You should use products best suited to your own skin type but the steps to a good facial usually include Cleansing, Exfoliation, Steaming, Extraction, Mask/Treatment, Toning, and Moisturizing. I try to use natural products as much as possible and love this Avocado, Egg White and Coconut Oil face mask from Aditya over at Bliss Only.
5) Take A Soak
You may not have a hot tub or whirlpool bath, but you can still set yourself up for a luxurious soak. Fill your bath with warm to hot water (depending on your preference), add some Epsom Salts to the water along with a few drops of your favorite essential oil (I love a Lavender & Jasmine blend) and then soak your troubles away. Bonus points if you sprinkle some fresh flower petals on the water, nothing feels more luxurious than a rose-petal bath!
6) Hydrate
As you’re soaking in the tub and drawing out all those toxins, it’s important that you also remember to stay hydrated. Personally, I vary between iced water with a twist of lime or soothing herbal tea, depending on my mood. Whatever beverage you choose, try to avoid caffeine and alcohol as these will actually dehydrate you further.
7) Full Body Scrub
To me, I always feel my pampered best with soft smooth buffed skin, so for me, an essential spa treatment typically includes a full body scrub. You can buy a ready-made one if you want, but there are so many awesome options for creating your own at home, like this goddess-worthy Pink Lemonade Sugar Scrub from Erin over at Suburban Simplicity, that I haven’t bought one from a store in LONG time.
8) Massage
If you’re lucky enough to have a partner or spouse who’ll give you a head to toe massage, then definitely take advantage of that! Since my at-home spa night usually means the hubby gets a couple of hours of quality time with his Xbox, I can usually convince him to give me a neck a shoulder massage. If I’m on my own, however, I’ve also found massage balls fantastic to help work out knots and tension in my back.
Unfortunately, however, the hubby absolutely hates giving a foot rub so I had to improvise and found this great tutorial to give yourself a foot rub. Whether you’ve someone to help or not, take some time to work out any tension in your neck and shoulders and to deeply massage your calves and feet – trust me, you’ll feel so much more relaxed afterward!
9) Full Body Deep Moisturize
Once I’ve soaked, scrubbed and buffed myself from head to toe (bonus points if you’ve also de-haired as part of this process), I like to complete the process with a deep moisturization. You can use your favorite bottle of body lotion, but I love to use the homemade body lotion from One Crazy Mom.
10) Give Yourself A Manicure
My one frequent indulgence is my gel nails and I do typically get them redone every 2-3 weeks, but about once per week I also tidy the edges of my nails with a nail file, push back and (if necessary) trim my cuticles and apply a moisturizing cuticle oil to keep my nails in top shape and prolong the life of my gels.
When I don’t have gel nails, I do take the time to give myself a full manicure, as I always feel more “put together” when my nails are done. The FashionLady provides a great step-by-step tutorial for giving yourself an at-home manicure – from preparation to buffing to painting and this is a great guide for anyone looking for fabulous nails!
11) Give Yourself A Pedicure
The last pampering treatment I usually do is to give myself a pedicure, including soaking my feet, preparing my nails, softening and trimming my cuticles, buffing and exfoliating away any hard skin, massaging and moisturizing my feet and finally applying my favorite color of nail polish. You can read my guide on how to Give Yourself the Perfect Pedicure At Home for more details. This is also a great excuse to sit with feet up for a while which again feeds into that feeling of indulgent pampering.
12) Relax With A Magazine
Whether it’s while I soak in the tub, or while I wait for my toenails to dry, I love having some trashy magazines on-hand for some light reading. I love to read and do unwind most evenings with a good book, but there’s something about spa treatments that makes me feel like trashy mags are the required reading material.
So those are my top tips for creating an at-home spa experience. How do you pamper yourself and create that feeling of luxury at home? I’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments below!
