The Japanese love to use their bathtubs as often as they can. In fact, they have a bathing culture known worldwide. Additionally, they have a choice between pampering themselves in the comfort of their homes or in a public bath.
People from the land of the rising sun believe in the healing power of a hot bath. Also, they don’t just use pure water because most often than not, they include some natural ingredients that help keep their body warm even during the cold winter months.
Here are the most popular bath add-ins you might be interested in using yourself.
Ginger
Apart from its benefit in one’s health such as relieving sore throat, protecting against colds, lowering blood pressure and improving one’s appetite, ginger also helps keep the body warm. In addition, those who regularly use this root crop claim that ginger’s strong aroma helps relieve their headaches.
To use it, just remove the skin and cut off thin slices. Put the sliced ginger in a tea bag or a thin cloth then add it to a hot bath. Let it sit for a maximum of 10 minutes and no more than that as it may affect sensitive skin.
Garlic
You may not like its smell but garlic can actually be used in a hot bath. Its benefit is in improving blood circulation which means it can protect the body against cold air.
Did you know that garlic is also good for the skin and can help relieve headaches?
To use it, get one bulb of garlic and peel it. Put it in a tea bag or similar container before adding it to the bath. You may add a slice of lemon if you’re not comfortable with the smell.
Mikan
Being a citrus fruit, the mikan orange is naturally rich in Vitamin C and as such, plays a major role in protecting the body against drops in body temperature.
During cold weather, taking a hot bath increases one’s body temperature and adding the mikan orange helps keep pump up the temperature. This allows the body to lower its temperature rather slowly when you get out of a bath instead of letting it drop sharply. Keep in mind that bathrooms in Japan are normally not heated.
To use the fruit, get the peel and tear them off into little strips. Allow them to dry under the sun for a week or put them inside a microwave for about two minutes.
Once dried, you can tie up 3 to 5 pieces of the peel in a piece of thin cloth and add to your hot bath.
Yuzu
For those unfamiliar with the Yuzu, it a small citrus fruit native in Asia that looks like a lemon and mandarin orange. It has a pleasant citrus smell which helps improve circulation and makes the body more resistant to cold weather.
In Japan, it is a common tradition to take a yuzu bath during the winter solstice. Since the nutrients in the peel are very important especially for the skin, you can just put some of them in your bath.