Salt, From The Earth

Long before salt was recognized as being extremely beneficial to skin, it was so valuable as a preservation of food that it was used as money.  Roman soldiers were sometimes paid in salt, giving us the word ‘salary’, derived from the Latin word for salt – “sal”.

Salt is one of those crazy, wonderful, natural items that comes from the earth and provides so many benefits it’s kinda hard to name them all.  The same salt that you use to season your food and add to baked goods is also tremendous healer and skin booster.  It is healing, cleansing, antiseptic, hydrating, exfoliating and is packed full of minerals that benefit all types of skin ailments.  I am a runner, and at times, when I have run a particularly rough trail during the heat of summer, I will notice large streaks of salt lining my skin.  It’s actually scratchy and looks strange to those that don’t understand the significance.  When we sweat, we sweat salt.  It’s released to maintain the sodium balance in our body so we don’t get sick and can stay hydrated.  Salt is a wonderful, natural thing!

That’s me on the left

So, salt.  I use two different kinds of salts in my scrubs for Harvest + Harmony.  Let’s start with Sea Salt.  Sea Salt is salt that is produced by the evaporation of seawater.  Pretty simple.  It is used as a seasoning in foods, cooking, cosmetics and for preserving food.  Production of sea salt has been dated to prehistoric times, so it goes wayyyyy back.  Ask any hunter and they will tell you that salt is the most important item to have when in the wild in order to preserve the meat. I mean, you can’t carry a deep freeze with you on a hunt, so you carry salt. Modern sea salt production is almost entirely found in the Mediterranean area and other warm, dry areas such as Jordan (the famous Dead Sea Salt), the Bahamas and other Caribbean Islands.  The salt is harvested just as it sounds – from water evaporation on the shore and the manual raking of the salt on the shore into piles (like shown above)  or mining it from the salt deposits along shoreline.

The Dead Sea in Jordan

Sea Salt benefits your skin in tremendous ways.  Here are some of them:

• A natural exfoliator: The gentle, yet abrasive texture of Dead Sea salt makes it an excellent exfoliator, which combined with its high sodium content, helps slough off dead skin cells and flakes, leaving you with fresh, revitalized skin.
• Replenishes skin moisture: Minerals like calcium, zinc and potassium work to promote moisture retention, helping your skin stay soft, plump and hydrated.
• Purifies your pores: Dead Sea salt has wonderful antifungal, antimicrobial, and antibacterial properties that help cleanse and detoxify the pores by driving out oils, dirt and other impurities. This helps to eliminate acne, pimples, blackheads and whiteheads.
• Helps calm skin allergies, eczema, and psoriasis: A soothing bath in Dead Sea salt water can work wonders for skin allergies and conditions. The rich minerals work to exfoliate dead skin, help calm inflammation, and fight off allergens and microbes.
• Help fight off pro-aging free radicals: Many of the minerals in Dead Sea salt fight off oxidation in the skill cells by eliminating free radicals, helping your skin looking younger and more vibrant. It’s fibroblast-protecting and hydrating properties also help to keep the skin looking plump and refreshed.
• Soothes sore joints and muscles: A long, hot soak in Dead Sea salt water is a brilliant way to relax, unwind, and sooth those aching joints and muscles. Bromide helps ease muscle cramps, while the anti-inflammatory and detoxifying agents help reduce joint swelling, soreness and stiffness.

So, yeah, it’s pretty great stuff.  Just ask Cleopatra, who used it in her daily beauty rituals and who tried to get a monopoly on the Dead Sea so she could retain her beauty and her b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l skin.  All because she knew the secret of salt.

Next week I’ll talk about the benefits of Himalayan Salt.  Until then, try the Dead Sea Salt Scrub from us, you will love the results and the feel of your skin afterwards.  And for just a bit, feel a little like Cleopatra.

Salt, from the earth.  It doesn’t get much more natural than that.