I first heard about a “lotion challenge” when I was an undergrad at Brown University. One of the RAs in my dorm talked about it as part of a presentation on body image, along with the requisite warnings about the Freshman 15. “Just rub lotion on your body! It will help you love yourself more!”

At the time, it sounded horribly cheesy to me, so I never attempted it. The lotion challenge slipped from my mind until a commenter on one of my XoJane columns recently brought it up.

By that point, I had developed a similar exercise for my women’s pleasure program, The Pleasure Principles: The Modern Woman’s Guide to Stronger Relationships, Deeper Fulfillment, and Sizzling Sex.

I realized that it was time to rethink my feelings about the lotion challenge, so today I’m sharing my personalized version of it for The Weekend Sexperiment!

So here’s the challenge:

Step 1: Buy a new bottle of lotion

Try to find something that feels luxurious – a nice, rich consistency with a fragrance that is sensual and soothing to you.

Go to a fancy wellness store or order something off of a swanky online boutique. Local holiday gift fairs are also a great place to look at this time of year (check out SF Made if you’re in the Bay Area).

Lotion is pretty inexpensive, so splurging on something nice for yourself shouldn’t set you back more than $20.

 

Step 2: Pick a part of your body

Go with an area that you feel self-conscious about. Thighs, hips, stomach, and butt all tend to be trigger areas for a lot of women.

If you feel a lot of anxiety about this exercise, you can start with a part of your body that feels a little less scary. Maybe you dislike your breasts, but they don’t make you feel quite as terrible as your gut does.

 

Step 3: Create a ritual

Pick a time in the day to devote a few minutes to the challenge. If you’re a morning person, try it first thing when you wake up. If you’re more of a night owl, do it in the evening. Try to be consistent and do it every single day at the same time.

You can also think of other aspects to add to this ritual to make it more relaxing, enjoyable, fun, or even sensual. Maybe you can light a candle, put on some of your favorite music, or get cosy in comfortable clothes.

 

Step 4: Come up with a message

It’s important to think about the message you want to send to your body when doing this exercise. Why are you doing this challenge? What kind of relationship do you want to have with your body? How do you feel about the fact that you’re self-conscious about your own skin?

Your message could be something like:

“I want to feel more comfortable with you”

“I’m tired of letting the media dictate what my body should look like”

“You’re safe now”

“This is hard for me, but I’m trying”

 

Step 5: Lotion up!

Put some lotion in your hand and gently start rubbing it into the part of your body that you have chosen. Think about the message you want to be sending, and try to touch your body as gently and lovingly as you can.

Try to touch yourself for about two minutes. At first you may only last a few seconds, but try to work your way up to longer and longer periods of time.

Keep doing this every day until your bottle of lotion is gone. Then, take the time to think about the effect this daily practice has had on your relationship with your body.

 

Step 6: Repeat

Start over again with a new part of your body, or try putting lotion on your entire body.

Happy Sexperimenting!