Dead Sea Salt

If you read my blog regularly, you’ll know I have a bit of an obsession with natural ingredients! The world is full of things that are amazingly beneficial for our health and beauty, and in my opinion these ingredients work far better than synthetic, chemically ones. My inner-hippie likes the idea of reconnecting with Mother Earth!

Today’s post is about one of my favourite natural ingredients: Dead Sea Salt. I’ve mentioned it a few times in some other posts (here, here and here), but I really wanted to share with you exactly more details what makes it so amazing.

The Dead Sea is actually a very large lake on the borders of Jordan and Israel in the middle east. It is the lowest natural point on earth at nearly 400 meters/1300 feet below sea level. It’s also one of the saltiest seas on the planet, with 8x more mineral salts than normal sea water. All these salts, combined with the low amount of pollens in the air, the reduced UV from the sun, and high atmospheric pressure, all contribute to the Dead Sea’s amazing health benefits. The Dead Sea itself was one of history’s first health resorts, having been used since the Ancient Egyptian times. Cleopatra loved the benefits of the Dead Sea so much, she ordered Mark Antony to conquer the region so she could have an unlimited supply!

Now for the GSCE science lesson (bear with me, its interesting!). Normal sea water is 3% salt, whereas the Dead Sea water is 27% salt. Also, while sodium makes up around 80% of the salts in normal sea water, the Dead Sea contains much less, and its full of others like magnesium, potassium, calcium chloride and bromides. All this salt makes the water far more dense than in the normal sea, which is why people can float so easily. However, because of its high salinity, no animals can live in the water, or near it – hence the name!

But why is it so salty? The Jordan River flows in but no river flows out. The only way for the water to escape to the sea is by evaporating. As this part of the world is so hot, more water evaporates from the Dead Sea than flows in. As the water evaporates, it leaves behind the mineral salts. And they can’t escape, so they just stay there.

So what are the benefits of Dead Sea Salt? All these minerals are essential for the healthy running of our bodies, and they have been scientifically proven to help with many different conditions including;

• Dry Skin
• Cuts
• Acne
• Eczema
• Psoriasis
• Skin Allergies

• Stress
• Insomnia
• Muscular Aches and Pains
• Arthritis

• Wrinkles
• Cellulite
• Water Retention

Dead Sea Salt is also brilliant for your general skin health because of its balancing, rejuvenating and anti-aging properties. It also aids miniaturization and the removal of toxins from your skin.

But if you don’t fancy indulging in an extreme beauty regime and heading into a warzone, or travelling that far, don’t worry. Dead Sea Salt is a popular ingredient in many cosmetic products these days, and there’s even a little section dedicated to the stuff in my local Boots. One of my favourite ways to use it is to add the raw salts to my bath; creating my own personal Dead Sea right in my own home! I use these Dead Sea Genuine Bath Salts – you can buy 1kg for just under £8. My mum recently got me these Dr Salts+ Bath Salts, which have added Eucalyptus, which not only smells amazing but its extremely relaxing (and natural, of course!)

Dead Sea Salt has worked wonders on my skin, and I can’t recommend it enough to anyone who has any lasting skin conditions. And besides, what’s good enough for Cleopatra is good enough for me!

Panda Eyes xx