At Alan Heath and Sons we create and design stunning, luxurious and relaxing bathrooms.
A bathroom should be your sanctuary; your escape from the world, your place to go to recover from busy modern life. But without the right techniques you’ll be missing out on what a great bath can give you.
We love a good bathroom but we love a good bath too. Bathing has long been considered one of the greatest healings and public bathing was of course made popular by the Romans.
It’s something we can all reap the benefits of and you don’t need a brand new bathroom to do it… although we can recommend some bathroom improvements if you want the full experience.
Bathroom Lighting
Make sure the lighting in your room is soft and low. If you can’t dim your lights just place candles along the top of your bath and around the sink and window sill, making sure they’re on a safe surface. Play your favourite soothing music and you’ll be in your very own tranquil oasis.
Keep The Heat On
Keep the heat in for the perfect bath and steamroom. Close the door and windows to create a steam effect. This helps to open your pores which is a great benefit from bathing but it also keeps the water warm for a longer soak. We should also point out that after you do this to your bathroom you should open the windows and doors to combat damp and mould building up.
We can of course create you the perfect steam room for this effect
Take Your Time
If you really want to enjoy yourself, take a longer bath. Bath salts and oils take time to work on your skin while the warmth of the water improves your circulation and lowers your blood pressure. Taking a longer soak will really help your body and it will also help relax your mind too.
Get The Temperature Right
The ideal temperature for your bath water is 33 degrees C (92 degrees F). Just like with baby milk from the stove, use your wrist, not your hand, to test the water, as your wrist is a better gauge of temperature and it will give you the ‘under the water’ feel too.
Take A Pillow
Bath pillows can really get you relaxed by making sure you’re comfortable. Get yourself a plastic bath pillow so you can lie back and relax. Most bath pillows will have suckers on the back to secure them to your bath’s edge leaving you free to lie back and close your eyes for a while or just read your favourite book. In our experience, cloth bath pillows can get mouldy more quickly.
We have a great bath pillow from Villeroy and Boch in store – great for laying back and relaxing!
Add Some Scented Oils
Adding scented oils like lavender and jasmine to the bath add to the experience with glorious smells and luxury and they also help to sooth, relax and many other benefits too. Choose an oil that will help you fix your body so lavender for sleep and Ylang Ylang to relax muscles.
Make sure you add them when your bath is half full as this helps the oils mix with the water more evenly.
Our friend Amanda from Blue Owl Therapy recommends Seaweed and Arnica Foaming Bath by Neal’s Yard Organic.
Get Some Bath Remedies
Add some bath remedies to your bathing experience. From milk and honey just like the Egyptians used to, to red wine and Champagne like… well very rich people do (apparently this works wonders!).
Here are some great bath remedies to try in your next soak including that rather lavish champagne soak!:
Scrub Your Body
Body scrubbing helps take away the dead skin and leaves you feeling fresh. Gently massage your body with a sponge or body scrub and soak away the tired and dry skin.
You can buy different types of bath scrub sponges for different types of skin. Get scrubbing away that old layer and leave yourself feeling fresh and rejuvenated.
Close Your Eyes
Drift away…
A short session in the bath with your eyes closed will relaxed your body. When our eyes are open we’re constantly analysing and decoding what the eyes are sending to the brain. It’s exhausting being awake – have a rest!
You could also try to experience mindfulness which is a practice which helps you focus your mind on your body and breathing. This is also something you can do away from the bath too and it’s very easy to do. There’s a great App for beginning mindfulness that talks you through the whole process and even has relaxing wave sounds or birds or rain on the windows – bliss!
Get Some Bath Salts
Use bath salts to help sooth aching muscles or even to help relax happy muscles that need a brief moment or respite. Salts help circulate blood around the body and muscles need fresh supplies of that to regenerate and recover after strenuous exercise.
Have A Bath Detox
You can use your bath to detox your body. A detox bath can really help to cleanse your body and relax your mind as well as giving extra health benefits to your body.
There are loads of different types of detox bath remedies but here’s a great list of some of the best.
Don’t Rush Off!
Keep the relaxing going after your bath. Don’t get too active after your bath. Take the time to slowly get back into your day or even better have your bath at night time and sleep after it. You’ll get way more benefit if you give your body the time to relax.
Lie back, relax and soak away your troubles…
Bathing can and should be a really pleasurable and beneficial experience. From soothing aching muscles to relaxing the mind and giving yourself some ‘you time’ it can really help your health and wellbeing.
Life’s too busy for short baths. Shut the door, light the candles and lie back and recover – you deserve it!
For more information on how to improve your bathing time, speak to us at Alan Heath and Sons at our Warwickshire bathroom showroom.