Used pure or with the addition of essential oils, bath salts release their virtues. Here are some ideas for making the most of their benefits.
Even in antiquity, various peoples, including the Chinese, the Greeks and the Romans, used bath salts for daily hygiene, but also to relax the body, treat skin conditions and ease muscular pain. These and other benefits have been passed down from generation to generation, so much so that they are used all over the world to improve one's wellbeing. Being antibacterial, decongestant and purifying, they can be used in any season, although winter is the ideal time, since showers can be replaced with a lovely hot bath to which a handful of salts is added. Alternatively, a regenerating practice that does not require excessive water consumption is the foot bath. In both cases, we can choose from several types of salts. Let's look at them together.
The most widespread and least expensive are those based on sea salt: among these are fleur de sel, suited to culinary uses, and whole sea salt. The latter does not undergo the refining process and is rich in precious trace elements, including iodine, fluorine, calcium, magnesium and potassium. Being unrefined, it contains no additives and is slightly moist, with a colour that can tend towards grey — a sign that it has not undergone any industrial processing. In winter, added to the water of a hot bath, it releases its properties: it helps ease muscular tension, soothes skin irritations and also acts on mood, facilitating the elimination of stress and anxiety. Adding a few drops of lavender essential oil intensifies the relaxing effect.
For quite some time now, Dead Sea salt has also been well known for its beneficial action on the skin. It is extracted from waters with a high salinity, owing to the climatic and geological characteristics of the region where it is produced, between Israel and Jordan: a place where the average annual temperature is around 32°. Dead Sea salt, rich in magnesium and potassium, facilitates hydration, acts against acne and psoriasis, soothes inflamed skin and normalises skin pH.
Highly valued in Ayurvedic medicine is pink Himalayan salt, whose distinctive colouring is due to the presence of iron. Its history goes back more than 200 million years, to when it was formed. It is in fact a salt known as fossil salt, rich in trace elements: 84 have been identified, including calcium, potassium, magnesium, sulphur oxide, manganese, fluorine, iodine, zinc and copper. It undergoes no refining processes and is pure: all its qualities are kept intact. As well as being perfect for purifying baths and relaxing foot baths, pink Himalayan salt is ideal for removing toxins and dead skin cells. Here is a simple, easy-to-prepare exfoliating recipe.
Ingredients: two tablespoons of pink Himalayan salt; two tablespoons of sweet almond oil; 3–4 drops of lemon essential oil, which has antiseptic and stimulating properties and also performs a disinfecting action. Combine the ingredients and, once a soft mixture has formed, rub it in circular motions over the most difficult areas of the body, starting from the feet; then rinse everything off with lukewarm water or in the shower.
Epsom salts have been used since the 17th century, after they were discovered by Henri Wicker while analysing the mineral spring that gives them their name, located in the English town of the same name. Rich in magnesium sulphate, these salts are excellent for foot baths, purifying baths and various cosmetic recipes, such as the preparation of facial cleansers. Simply add a teaspoon of Epsom salts to a neutral natural cream (or another, as preferred); mix everything together well and spread the cleanser gently in circular motions over the skin; then remove with lukewarm water.
Salt is a versatile and beneficial product for our bodies. Here we have offered just a few ideas for choosing and using it, but its use in cosmetics is truly wide-ranging. It can be personalised to taste by adding herbs or flowers, such as rose petals or lavender flowers, for fragrant baths or foot baths.