Now that you have created a home spa, you will decide what treatments you would like to experience. You may try a long soak in the tub, or an invigorating shower. Maybe you will give yourself a facial. How about a dry friction rub? You have a variety of techniques to consider. You may use one or, better still, try them all.

Something you might want to try is creating your own spa treatment products. You already know which fragrances and essential oils please you so you can easily take the next step toward being creative. You might even decide to share your new spa and give one of your treatments to someone you love.

Essential oils work best when added to a carrier oil, such as jojoba, sunflower, or soy oil. The carrier helps to dilute the potency of the essential oil and allows you to minimize your expense. Essential oils also make great skin toners when you blend the aromatic oil with distilled water or vinegar.

Homemade Oatmeal Facial Cleanser

An easy, old-fashioned remedy for face cleansing is made from oatmeal and honey. Long-cooking oats work better than instant oats, but whatever you have in the pantry will do. Use one cup of oatmeal and combine it with one or two tablespoons of honey, and either one-eighth cup of almond oil or eight drops of orange oil (these are essential oils, not the kind from the baking section in your grocery), or another stimulating essential oil. If you have dry skin, try using both the orange oil and the almond oil. Add five or six drops of distilled water or witch hazel and stir until all the ingredients are mixed. This face cleanser will remove the dirt and excess oil from your skin while leaving your natural facial oil. Use it once a week for a deep cleansing.

A facial toner is used after you wash your face. You can make your own toner with essential oil of peppermint or lavender. Use up to twenty drops in a small bottle of witch hazel or distilled water. Essential oil of orange works well too.

Creative Facial Masks

Facial masks are often used after deep cleansing to tighten and tone the skin. While daily use of a toner is recommended, masks are used less often. A simple recipe for a mask is an egg white. One egg white applied over your face and left on for fifteen minutes will tighten up your skin and leave you with a smooth feel. Another old remedy mixes a tablespoon of honey into a whipped egg white. This variation should also be left on for fifteen minutes, then rinse off with cold water. Add strained fruit and essential oil to your egg-white concoction, and you create a more sophisticated facial mask that will exfoliate the skin, helping to prevent wrinkles. Essential oils such as orange, neroli, and bergamot are good choices to combine with fruit, and will provide an enhancing addition to your facial mask.

Make Your Own Creams and Oils

A facial and body cream is also easy to make. A few folk remedies combined with aromatherapy give a new twist to an old healing art. Everyone wants a peaches-and-cream complexion and this recipe really helps.

Cook up a batch of soft, too ripe peaches and mash them through a strainer. Sir together one-half to one cup of the strained juice and one-quarter cup less of dairy cream. Add six to twelve tablespoons of brewed chamomile tea along with a few drops of witch hazel. Stir until smooth and pastelike in consistency, then apply. This cream will soak right into your skin helping to relieve any dryness you may feel. Make enough to use on your whole body, and refrigerate any leftovers.

Scented oil for your body and your bath can be made with essential jojoba or almond oil as the carrier. Have a small plastic bottle cleaned and ready. Fill a small bottle with the carrier oil and add six drops of chamomile oil, plus four drops of neroli or bergamot oil. Shake well before massaging your arms, legs, and torso with the oil. Use six drops of the blended oil in your bath or add only the essential oil to your shower gel.

The complimentary bottles containing shampoo and cream rinse that you receive when you stay in a hotel make perfect bottles for your oil, and you will be recycling as well. Or pick up some inexpensive plastic travel bottles at the drugstore.