Citrus Self Care
I have found the perfect pandemic self-care moment.
So, as a little background, I discovered some amazingly aesthetic bath content on TikTok. Yes, by the way, I’m obsessed with TikTok. Judge away… or follow me on Tiktok at @glamingotham or both judge AND follow. I made a couple videos about this experience here and here.
I’ve never really been a bath person before. I know everyone was so obsessed with Lush and bath bombs, but bath bombs are not really my thing, pretty as they may be. After I saw some information about milk baths and citrus baths, and thought, hey, let’s look more into this because that sounds more my speed!
As a reminder, I am a style blogger, NOT a doctor, scientist, or skin expert. I am sharing information that I have found after browsing multiple articles and many beauty sources. So, take this with a grain of salt, because I could be wrong, but from everything I am reading, citris fruit is very rich in Vitamin C and ascorbic acid which not only is great for collagen production and pigmentation prevention, but also can aid in exfoliation. It is supposed to make your skin plumper, smoother, and eve help to level out your skin-tone. (Not change your skin tone. I do not believe in lightening or whitening treatments, because your overall pigmentation is beautiful no matter the shade, and we have to stop prioritizing white beauty- especially as Asians). This is supposed to help with erasing or preventing u/v damage which can create uneven tones and pigments in your skin.
Being as this was before Phase 1 of NYC’s reopening, and I was a stay at home NYC fashion blogger with very little else to do, I decided, what did I have to lose from testing out a citrus bath? We were really excited when we got this apartment that it actually had a bathtub. Not a common NYC item. It’s a little small. Lol. I realized that it’s a lot shallower than I had anticipated, but it still got the job done. Ideally, I would have completely submerged, but, for all intents and purposes, this was fine.
Here’s what you’ll need to get started:
6-8 grapefruits
8-10 oranges
10-12 lemons
8-10 limes
We sliced up the fruit, being careful to remove the seeds (save us the cleanup after a bath). I recommend cutting into discs, not wedges. I filled the bathtub with hot water then slowly introduced each layer of fruit. I started with the grapefruits, then added the oranges, lemons, and the limes. I tried to overlap some of the fruit so it created little islands of fruit. It makes a difference to edge the orange slices onto the grapefruits and then add the lemons and limes to fill things out and even adding fruit on top of the other fruit to create a really beautiful aesthetic. Remember to leave yourself some room to climb in.
I have to tell you, this smelled AMAZING. I let it sit for a few, and when I returned it smelled just heavenly. Who needs essential oils when you have the real thing? I also added a few candles that I thought would add complementary scents.
I obviously needed to share this, because frankly, it was too pretty not to take some photos. Again, NYC fashion blogger life can turn anything into a style blogger moment, am I right?? I chose this little lemon print one-piece bathing suit (friends, I like you all, but I obviously wasn’t going to get naked with only some fruit as a cover in a photo… lol), and I added this cute yellow vintage hat. Yes, I did glam up for a bath-time shoot. Don’t judge me. I threw some loose curls in my hair that I wasn’t concerned about immediately undoing once I submerged. I tried to choose a citrus themed eye palette, and I think it turned out pretty great!
I would LOVE to try this with a bigger tub sometime, but I doubt a hotel would be thrilled with me introducing fruit into their bathtubs, lol. The tub made it difficult to fully lie down, and of course, I couldn’t completely cover myself with fruit (also hence the bathing suit for these photos).
Once I settled in for the actual bath, (after maneuvering my husband along the edges of the tub for the photo shoot), it was really lovely. Like I said, the smell was just incredible and it was extremely relaxing. I thought having the fruit in the bath might be weird, but it was really calming and I settled in, did a little mediation, and then read my kindle for a bit. I did choose to shower afterwards… I have bad memories of summers spent with my girlfriends using lemon juice to lighten hair and add “natural highlights” so I did not want to risk that. (I’m sure there was no risk as no one else has mentioned this, but why take the chance, right?) After I got out of the bath, I noticed that my skin absolutely felt smooth and soft and it had a glow to it. This was such a noticeable difference I then acted like an excited idiot running around going, “HOLY CRAP MY SKIN IS SO SOFT” and my husband Nate rolled his eyes at me, “of course it is, wasn’t that why you did this?” To which I had to sheepishly admit that I really did it because of TikTok. I am really impressed because I never thought that this would end up with real results. I genuinely believed it was just an aesthetically pleasing relaxation moment. I can’t guarantee that it is right for everyone, but it did wonders for my skin.
To clean up afterwards, remove all of the fruit from the bath before you drain. We cleaned the tub after it drained to remove all the fruit residue from the tub. All in all, pretty easy to prepare and to clean up, though the fruit isn’t cheap, so I don’t recommend that you make this an everyday occurrence. I think this is an excellent self-care moment for when you really need to unplug and re-center yourself. It really touched most of the senses, and it made my skin luminescent and soft.
Mary’s Tips: I also recommend adding some kind of stopper/sieve after you pull the drain plug to catch any remnants that remain. That way you’re not pouring fruit down your drain because if you are familiar with NYC plumbing, it’s sensitive.
I highly recommend this self-care moment.
Let me know if you get the chance to try this out!
Xoxo, Mary