Mud and salt – good for the skin in Spain

Perhaps not the two ingredients you would first mention as key to healthy skin. Visit the Lo Pagan mud bathing site and you might be surprised. A short drive south of Torrevieja and at the northern end of the lagoon of Mar Menor, you will see people plastering themselves with black mud from the seabed and then washing it off again. Why?

The black mud is reported to be rich in mineral salts such as magnesium, calcium, sodium, bromine, iodine and fluorine. This perhaps unenticing combination  is reputed to cure all kinds of ailments including skin problems, abscesses, sores, boils and acne. The procedure starts with you covering yourself in mud and letting it dry. Once it’s baked you wash it off in the salt channel whilst also exfoliating your skin with the salt itself.

It’s claimed that the application of the mud helps stimulate your blood system and helps expel toxic waste. If nothing else the combination is likely to make your skin feel softer and is worth a try for that alone.