Massage body brush with a wooden handle

There are small things that change a morning more than strong coffee does. This brush is one of them.

I first saw one in an old German sauna – wooden, heavy, worn smooth by countless hands. And I understood why brushes like this have been kept there for a hundred years: three minutes before the shower, and the skin comes alive, and your thoughts finally settle.

The brush sits comfortably in your palm. No long handle – just a round wooden knob of lotus wood that you hold like a small ball. On the other side, dense natural bristles with rounded nubs between them that massage and wake up the circulation. I sweep it over dry skin in circles, from the feet upwards, towards the heart. After the shower the skin is soft, as if after a long holiday Sunday.

For me it is an evening ritual – for when you want not one more screen, but five minutes to yourself.

The essentials

• Dimensions: 11 × 11 × 7.5 cm
• Materials: lotus wood, natural boar bristles, massage nubs
• Made by: Croll & Denecke, Germany

How to use

Sweep over dry or lightly dampened skin in circular motions, from the legs and arms towards the heart. Rinse after use and leave to dry bristles down.