Spa At Home Hero

Welcome to our spa at home guide

Enjoy the wellness benefits of a spa from the comfort of your own home

How can I create an at-home spa?

The spa at home guide by Spabreaks.com

Part of the Spabreaks.com Guides

Wellbeing should be something that we take care of all the time. From facials to manicures and pedicures at home, beautiful products and advice available from talented therapists at some of the world’s leading spas and spa hotels, mean that you can relax and unwind from the comfort of your own space and on your own schedule.

Candle

What do I need for a spa day at home?

One of the real beauties of a spa day at home is that you can make it exactly how you want. Crucially, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to spoil yourself, and you don’t need lots of time.

  1. Create the right ambience: Lighting a candle gives your house both a warm gentle glow and a beautifully relaxing aroma.
  2. Time for a skin treat: Give your skin a treat with a face mask. Your skin should always be cleansed prior to applying a mask to ensure that the mask can penetrate the skin and do its job
  3. DIY head massage: Whilst your face mask is at work, treat your locks to a little nourishment.
  4. Home spa pedicure: Once you have removed your facial mask and applied your moisturiser, take some time to indulge your feet.
Aromatherapy Lavender

Aromatherapy at home

Aromatherapy is a wonderful way to bring the spa experience home. Different scents and essential oils can have a powerful impact on our mood and how we feel.

The rule of thumb when it comes to aromatherapy is that while different scents offer different wellbeing benefits, it’s the scent that you are drawn to at that moment in time that your body is currently in need of.

For example:

  • Frankincense is great for focusing the mind
  • Lavender is relaxing and can help with a headache
  • Vetiver can help you unwind and prepare for sleep
  • Pink grapefruit can help you wake up
  • Rosemary helps to stimulate circulation
  • Ylang ylang can be a fantastic confidence boost

How to do a spa manicure or pedicure at home?

You can adapt your manicure or pedicure as you see fit, but here’s our quick guide to treating those hands and feet:

  1. Remove any traces of old nail polish first.
  2. Cleanse and exfoliate hands or feet with a luxurious scrub, taking your time and enjoying the scents. Massage hands or feet with a rich nourishing cream, taking care to gently push cuticles into place with cotton buds if needed.
  3. Clean and shape nails as you choose your nail file.
  4. Apply your base coat, leaving a good five minutes for it to dry, and then apply two coats of polish, leaving it to dry for at least five minutes each time. Finally apply a top coat of clear polish for good measure.
Facial

How to do a spa facial at home?

As with all at home spa treatments, this is a guide, but you can adapt to suit you:

  1. Start with a facial steam: add hot water and a few drops of essential oil to a bowl, drape a towel over your head to steam with eyes closed for a few minutes at 30 second intervals. Use a cool towel between sessions.
  2. After your facial steam, apply a cleanser and toner.
  3. Use a facial scrub of your course and really take your time to massage the skin before rinsing and drying with a soft towel.
  4. Apply your face mask and sit back and relax, listening to music, breathing in the scents or reading that book you haven’t had time for recently.
  5. Remove the mask with a damp cloth and rinse.
  6. Apply a toner before massaging your chosen facial oil and/or moisturiser into your skin. This is all about taking time so don’t feel you need to rush at any point.
Salt Scrub

How do you do a spa body scrub at home?

  1. You can buy ready made body scrubs or mix high quality salts and base oils. Himalayan salts are often used, invigorating and refreshing the skin, to remove dry and dead skin cells and bring fresh new skin to the surface.
  2. Helpful additions to body scrubs include essential oils. However, always make sure you mix your essential oils with base oils and follow instructions carefully before applying to the skin.
  3. Concentrate on a select part of the body or use from top to toe (use different, purpose made products for face), and then rinse in the shower with your preferred cleansing product.
  4. After cleansing, apply a nourishing body cream or oil and take time to massage it in, because you deserve it and this is all about quality time.
Male Massage

How do you do a spa massage at home?

It’s amazing how even a simple back rub can really make you feel better sometimes. Obviously for a full body massage you will need the help of a willing accomplice, but if you’re on your own, or don’t trust the skills of your partner, never underestimate the power of a hand or foot massage.

  1. We suggest focusing on hands and forearms or feet and calves. Use a generous dollop of nourishing cream or oil and massage into the skin firmly - taking your time to really get into the gaps between fingers and toes.
  2. There are a number of online tutorials if you want a little extra guidance, but the key here is taking your time and being kind to yourself.

How do you do a spa day for kids at home?

Spas often have age restrictions when it comes to certain facilities as well as treatments. In general, therapies are not available for anyone under the age of 16. So one of the benefits of being at home is that you can start to introduce your kids to spa-style wellbeing practices that can really inform how they care for themselves, and how they learn to relax and unwind.

Naturally you need to be careful when it comes to products used on children’s skin, so make sure you read any labels and follow advice. Beyond that, there’s no reason they can’t join you in your spa experience.

Here are a few tips:

  • Choose essential oils that are known to support children’s wellbeing to scent the room. For example, mandarin is known as the children’s oil in France. Its fruity aroma dissolves tiny tantrums and the refreshing scent cools hysterical outbursts.
  • Let them take part in choosing the relaxing music for your spa day.
  • Use child friendly body creams to encourage them to massage their hands and feet.
  • Make caffeine free herbal teas for you all to enjoy together, such as mint or chamomile - add honey to taste if they prefer.
  • Encourage them to join you in dressing in their robes and slippers to sit and relax.
  • Create face masks using home ingredients such as oats, avocado, natural yoghurt and honey, and let them remove them with warm clothes.
  • A manicure or pedicure is an easy way to introduce a child to spa experiences. You could simply file and massage a gentle moisturiser into their hands and feet, or if you are happy to apply polish then it’s a great way to help them take a little time to sit quietly while it dries!

How do you do a teen spa day at home?

Planning a teen spa day at home is, in itself, not that different to the one you might plan for yourself. A lovely combination of relaxing space, nice scents, music, herbal teas and a planned treatment can be wonderful for them to enjoy on their own, with friends, or for parents to share a little wellness with their kids.

However, teenagers do have different needs to adults, especially when it comes to skincare. The main thing is how you wash the skin. While teenagers tend to be overzealous, it’s best to keep cleansers simple and gentle, finishing with a lightweight moisturiser.

Incorporating healthy eating into your spa day is also a lovely way to help teenagers enjoy their food and take care of their skin at the same time. Why not prepare a healthy lunch and pretend you’re looking out across the lawns of Champneys?

Choose an essential oil to help them relax. For teenage girls, for example, you might choose bergamot and geranium. The onset of menstruation can cause many symptoms from bloating to mood swings. These two balancing and uplifting essential oils harmonise to help alleviate symptoms.

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