Truthfully, I’m not the best at taking care of myself after a long trip. Usually, I order takeout and pass out on my bed for a few hours. I then wake up more dehydrated and exhausted than I did when I first dragged my suitcase up two flights of steps.

One of my continuous goals is to take care of my skin and health, especially after long bouts of travel. When I am on top of things, this is the step-by-step guide to what I do for a post-travel detox. I always feel about a thousand times better when all is said and done, and I bounce back from jetlag much more quickly.

How to Detox After a Trip in 11 Steps

1. Immediately do some yoga!

Gripe all you want about how yoga isn’t a good workout for you, yadada. It’s the perfect thing to do right after getting back from traveling.

I go to Youtube and find fairly simple videos from around 20-30 minutes. You can do an intense one (like “fat burning yoga” or “yoga meltdown”!), but I always go for the lighter ones. By the time I’m done, I’ve stretched out my back and legs and all the muscles that have tensed up in transit.

2. Prepare the hair and face masks.

I love a good hair or face mask! You can buy some from your local drug store, but it’s so easy to just DIY them with ingredients you already have.

For a good hair mask from an egg, 1/2 cup of milk, juice from half an orange, and 2 T of olive oil.

As for your face, just mix plain yogurt and oatmeal.

3. Make a cup of green tea.

In the summers, I have unsweetened iced green tea in my fridge, so I just pour that into a water bottle or tumbler. In the winters, I make a fresh cup. You could easily do any sort of detox water or just water, but just make sure you don’t add sugar! If you need it sweeter, try honey or agave.

Take this and some water with you into the bathroom to sip on while you soak in the tub.

4. Light a candle.

In the area, you’re relaxing (both the bathroom and your bedroom), light a calming candle. I’m obsessed with lavender, so I have a great one I always light. As you get everything together, it’ll start filling the room with its scent!

5. Put in the hair mask.

I recommend doing this in the actual tub or over a sink because it can get messy. Just rub it all in and then put it up in a plastic cap. Rinse out the tub if you, like me, managed to get a quarter of your mask all over the ground instead of your hair…

6. Get your bath ready.

Once you’ve cleaned it up from your hair mask, start filling up the tup! Use baking soda and Epsom salts to really get the body to sweat out toxins. You can also add some essential oil. The key is to stay in for at least 30-40 minutes.

If you don’t have a bathtub, the least you want to do is fill up a bucket and let your feet soak.

7. Wash your face and put on the face mask.

Before you get in, wash your face. I used to use my Clarisonic* and some Clean & Clear face wash, but now I use an oil cleanser, regular cleanser, and, sometimes, an exfoliating scrub from Innisfree.

Once you’ve patted your face dry, put on a face mask. As I said above, my DIY go-to is a plain yogurt and oatmeal face mask. However, I have some face masks from Innisfree that I use at the moment. When I’m home in the US, I love LUSH’s face masks.

8. Take a bath for about 30-40 minutes.

Once your face mask is on and your hair secure in its cap, climb into the tub. Enjoy it and just decompress. Watch a show, read, or listen to music. Whatever you find most relaxing. I always like watching a TV show or listening to an audiobook while I relax.

9. Exfoliate!

Okay, so now for clean-up. As your drain your tub, rinse off your face with water from the faucet.

Then exfoliate your whole body. I use Italy cloths*, which are amazing. If you ever get a scrub down in a Korean sauna, this is what they use. Your skin will be soft after laying in the tub, so it’s perfect to get a layer of dead skin off with the rough material. I usually follow this up with a more gentle exfoliating scrub. For a quick DIY, use ground up coffee beans and coconut oil.

10. Rinse it all off.

Once you’ve exfoliated, just shower as normal. Make sure to really get the hair mask completely out! After you dry off, makes sure to really lather on some lotion.

11. Hop into bed.

Put on your pajamas or something comfortable, and then hop into bed! If you want, you can put on a sheet mask for extra hydration. Read or watch TV and then go to bed early to feel refreshed in the morning.

And there you have it! How do you detox after being on the road?

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*Originally published: 5/2015, updated 3/2018

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