I tried dry brushing for a month, here’s how it changed my skin

Body brushing 101.

I’ve always been partial to the idea of dry brushing, but hesitant to add another step to my shower routine. Some days, washing my face or moisturising my body feels hard enough. But when a gift pack with a dry and wet brush from the newly launched body care label, By Katia, landed on my desk, I felt like it was finally time to try it out.

Though dry brushing is making the rounds on TikTok, its roots predate social media. A century-old practice commonly used in Ayurvedic medicine, dry brushing has been practised across cultures like ancient Greece and Japan for years.

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The act itself is fairly straightforward, too. It’s done pre-shower and only takes up a few minutes of your time. So, armed with my new brush and a renewed sense of motivation, I decided to put the dry brush to the test.

How does dry brushing work?

As the name suggests, dry brushing is a pre-shower ritual, meaning it’s done on dry skin. According to By Katia co-founder, Erika Ascenzo, the best way to start is by stripping down and starting at your feet.

“Brush in upward strokes, always towards the heart in a gentle but firm manner,” she explains. “Do at least three to six strokes per area. But keep in mind, this must become a practice that feels good to you, so start off however much and however long you feel.” Erika also suggests avoiding any cuts, wounds or delicate areas.

Dry brushing shouldn’t be a painful experience, either. Sometimes it can depend on how hard you press, but it can also depend on the type of brush you use. “A huge part of the innovation behind our brush having an interchangeable bristle head was so we could create two types of bristle heads that varied in firmness,” Erika tells me. By Katia’s ‘natural’ bristle is softer, providing a more gentle experience, while the ‘vegan’ brush is a bit firmer, giving a more intense exfoliation.

Once you’re done, the next step is to jump in the shower so you can wash off any dead skin cells and moisturise.

What are the benefits of dry brushing your skin?

Although there’s limited scientific evidence, dry brushing is believed to have many benefits, including exfoliating the skin, stimulating the lymphatic system and increasing circulation.

When going through the first stages of creating By Katia, Erika says she was motivated by the fact that no matter how much product she would apply to her skin, it still felt dry. “Dry Brushing prepares the skin to better absorb the moisture we put back in by lifting and sloughing away the dead skin cells while increasing better circulation and improving your body’s lymphatic system,” she explains.

“To me dry brushing mirrors how we brush our teeth to better care and protect them daily or how we brush, scrub and stimulate our hair and scalp before washing and drying it.”

The process

It took me a little over a week to properly build dry brushing into my routine. I prefer to shower in the mornings, which means I rarely give myself enough time to do anything other than the basics. But it was for this reason, more than any other, that I wanted to try dry brushing.

It was the perfect chance to reset and carve out a little more time for myself. As the month carried on, I managed to find pockets of time before my shower at least a few times a week.

Initially, I also struggled with the firmness of the brush. At the start, I took the brush along with me for a mid-week sauna. I remember gritting my teeth and wondering how the hell people did this without scrubbing their skin raw. It didn’t feel relaxing at all. Soon realising the fault was probably with me rather than the brush, I lightened up my pressure and managed to find my own groove.

Towards the end of the month, I picked up speed, preferring to dry brush almost daily. It soon became habitual and though it wouldn’t have hurt to slow down and allow more time, I found it only took a couple of minutes before hopping in the shower.

Would I try it again?

A key benefit of dry brushing is how it exfoliates your skin, helping remove dead skin cells so you can absorb topical treatments more effectively. Although I didn’t religiously moisturise my body before road-testing the dry brush, I’d often notice small dry patches on my skin – either from shaving or the occasional bout of eczema.

I also started using the By Katia cleansing oil in the shower and aside from the incredible smell, it was a nice, hydrating addition that felt a lot easier than moisturising my entire body post-shower.

Flash forward to the end of the month and my skin feels and looks a lot more hydrated than it did going into the challenge. And if dry brushing meant my products could stretch further and I could use less, I considered myself satisfied.

While the external benefits felt worth it on their own, I also loved dry brushing for the ritual of it. Doing it in the morning was incredibly invigorating and left me feeling far more energetic than usual. There was something in taking an extra few minutes for myself during what would be an otherwise hurried morning.

Find more from By Katia here.