Proponents claim body wraps can help flush excess fluids and toxins out of your body, condition and moisturize your skin, support immune system function and contribute to quick weight loss and a reduction in size. During a body wrap, elastic cloths soaked in a mixture that contains combinations of herbal extracts, essential oils, clay or salt is wrapped snugly around your body and covered with a thermal blanket to promote sweating. Most day spa centers offer different levels of body wrap treatments; however, you can perform an inexpensive body wrap at home.
Plastic Sheets
An at-home body wrap can be messy. You will need at least two large plastic sheets or drop cloths: one to cover the floor of the room in which you'll be applying the body wrap and one to cover the bed or couch you will rest on after you apply the body wrap solution. You can purchase these at home or garden supply stores.
Blankets
An essential part of the body wrap procedure is to wrap yourself tightly in blankets that will capture and retain your body heat. To replicate the spa experience at home, use a foil thermal blanket--also known as a space blanket--and a thick, normal blanket. Place the foil thermal blanket on the bed or couch, put the normal blanket on top, then cover both with one of the plastic drop sheets. After applying the body wrap mixture, you'll wrap yourself in these three covers.
Towels
You will need at least seven to nine towels--enough to wrap around each part of your body you plan to include in the wrap. Remember that these towels will cover the body wrap solution and may become stained.
Clay
Mixtures of powdered, natural clays have been used for centuries in skin treatments. Clays such as bentonite clay and kaolin clay are thought to exfoliate the skin, promote new skin cell growth by stimulating and enhancing circulation in the epidermal layers, absorb excess dirt and oil from the skin and draw toxins out of the body. For a typical home body wrap solution mixture, you will need 1 to 2 cups of powdered clay mixed with 2 cups of warm water. Spa Living for Health recommends you choose the clay based on your skin type: pink kaolin clay for dry or easily irritated skin, yellow kaolin clay for normal skin and bentonite clay for oily skin.
Salt
Both sea salt and Epsom salts are excellent choices for body wrap solutions. When Epsom salt--the common name for magnesium sulfate--is absorbed through the skin, it can reduce fluid build-up and tissue swelling, promote the release of toxins from the body and act as a natural exfoliator and calming agent, reports Care2. Use approximately 1/4 cup of salt for every cup of clay used.
Essential Oils
Essential oils made from lavender, rosemary, sandalwood and lemongrass are also important components of a body wrap mixture. These essential oils in particular have muscle relaxing properties, as well as acting as skin cleansers and conditioners. Typically, a body wrap solution using 1 cup of clay includes up to 2 tbsp. of one or more essential oils.
Herbs
Powdered chamomile, lavender, ginger, calendula, basil, rose petals and rosehips are all herbs traditionally used in body wrap mixtures. You can add as much as 1 cup of the powdered herb to the clay paste before applying. These herbs have a calming effect on the nervous system and are traditionally used to decrease muscle pain and tissue inflammation.
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