Sometimes it’s good to break your routine and take some time for yourself. After a well-deserved vacation, you’re back at the office, piles of files piling up around you. The frenzy of the beginning of the year and the start of the new school year makes it necessary to take a welcome break. One practice embodies relaxation better than all the others: the bath.
While humans often prefer a quick shower to the joys of a bath, there are exceptions: Tom Ford, for example, once boasted of taking four baths a day, and top sportsmen and women have long known the benefits of bathing for recovery. So while you may feel like you’ve been running around and killing yourself since the first few minutes of 2016, you probably need to recuperate. However, mastering the bathing exercise is a complex art.
Tom Ford, again, practices the art of bathing at its most extreme: the man gets up at the crack of dawn, immerses himself in a first hot bath, his bathroom plunged in the dark, and sips a large glass of iced coffee for half an hour. Of course, nothing forces you to be so extreme: the light, for example, is acceptable unless you like candlelight.
How to enjoy your bath?
The important thing when you opt for a bath instead of your traditional shower is to be able to relax. For this, of course, everything must be impeccable.
The importance of the water temperature
You could be missing out by not controlling the water temperature. For example, a bath that is too cold when you enter it is torture. The water shouldn’t be too hot but warm enough to open your pores. A tip: find the temperature that feels right to you, and run it slightly warmer. When you get into the bath, it will cool down slightly. No one likes unpleasant surprises like this.
Treat yourself to special care
The bath will allow you to take care of yourself in more detail than you would typically do. For example, use the opportunity to exfoliate your skin with a balm. Please do this before you get into the bath when your skin is still dry, as it stimulates cellular renewal.
The cleanliness of the bath
Apart from relaxation, the purpose of a bath is obviously to wash. For this, you can rely on the classics.
Use liquid soap. In addition to fragrances, particularly pleasant when they come to perfume your bathroom, they also allow, like all liquid soaps, to make bubbles in your bath. It will undoubtedly please your childish soul.
Wash your hair with your usual shampoo. Better do this at the very end of the bath so that the water doesn’t turn into an indescribable mess while you are still soaking.
Stay hydrated
A drink, whether it’s a tall glass of iced espresso or a simple glass of water, can also help. The heat of the bath could lead to rapid dehydration. It would be funny to get dehydrated when surrounded by water, wouldn’t it?
Avoid boredom
Of course, it’s possible to feel a certain amount of boredom while soaking in the tub. It is essential to combat this if you want to relax properly. There are many good ways to do this.
Some people, for example, listen to jazz or read the latest news. Note that using electronic devices is to be avoided: if you have an accident, you would rather have your newspaper wet than your iPad. To ensure peace of mind, leave your phone out of reach. Except for reality TV contestants, no one likes to have conversations in the bath.
Do something else. Don’t answer your emails, and don’t worry about your work day or colleagues. Think about your first novel, favorite football team, and retirement, and smoke a cigar like Tony Montana. Just relax, above all. That’s the point.
Beware, once mastered, the exercise is addictive. You may soon need to get up earlier and take one every morning.