Editor's note: Barbara O'Neill is an alternative-health educator, not a licensed medical practitioner. Don't dry brush over broken, irritated, or sunburnt skin, or if you have eczema or psoriasis in the area. This article is not medical advice.
Dry brushing is cheap, takes two minutes, and feels good. One of its claimed benefits is well established; the other is mostly not.
What It Definitely Does: Exfoliate
The stratum corneum, your outermost skin layer, is made of dead keratin-filled cells that shed continuously. When they build up, skin looks dull and feels rough. Brushing removes that layer mechanically, which is why skin feels smoother immediately afterward. This part is simply true.
What's Unproven: The Lymphatic Claim
The popular claim is that brushing stimulates lymphatic vessels near the skin surface and helps drain waste. Lymphatic capillaries do start in the skin, but there's little evidence that brushing meaningfully moves lymph in a healthy person. Brushing toward the heart, as O'Neill recommends, is at least the direction lymph flows, and it costs nothing to do it that way.
The Circulation Part
The warm, tingling feeling afterward is real — friction brings blood to the surface. Whether that does anything lasting is another question, but plenty of people find it a good way to wake up, and that's a fine reason on its own.
How to Do It Without Irritating Your Skin
- Use a natural bristle brush on dry skin, before showering.
- Work from hands and feet toward the heart, with light pressure.
- Stop if skin turns red or stings — this should feel brisk, not painful.
- Skip broken, irritated, or sunburnt skin entirely, and go easy if your skin is thin or you bruise readily.
- Two or three times a week is plenty. Daily brushing strips more than it helps for most people.
A Straight Answer About Our Soap
Our bars are soap: they clean. They don't reach "deeper" on freshly brushed skin, and pores don't open — so no bar works better because you brushed first. A gentle one afterward is a good idea though, since exfoliated skin is more easily irritated. Browse our bar soaps.
Beyond Clean, Beyond Ordinary.