health

What is salt therapy? And does it actually work? We found out.

Image via iStock

I’ve been hearing a lot about salt therapy lately. Footballers, performers, kids with eczema, asthma-sufferers – my social media kept throwing me images of people having life-changing results from sitting in a salty room.

And Megan Gale did it. If it’s good enough for Megan and her newborn baby, it’s good enough for me. So I decided to give it a whirl.

RELATED:Why Megan Gale believes in salt therapy

As soon as you walk into the Salts Of the Earth centre, two things are apparent. One is salt. Everywhere. The air is salty, the walls look salty, salty salty salt salt. The other is relaxation. Soft music, low lighting – everything about this place feels like a treat.

As usual, I’m immediately skeptical. Salt? Surely I could just pour some table salt into my air conditioner and save a few bucks?

A lovely lady greets me. Her skin is so clear, she may actually be a smooth grain of salt. I fill in a quick form (it’s laminated and reusable, environmental hurrah!) asking if I have any respiratory, skin, sinus or contagious (gah!!) conditions.

RELATED: The very unexpected health benefit of eating salt

I am slightly asthmatic and prone to bronchitis (admit it, you were DYING to know that about me) and I am also an actor, so breathing = good. Lovely Lady explains to me exactly how the treatment can help my situation, and what I might feel in the session. Potentially, I may get a runny nose and cough up some phlegm that gets broken down by the salts.

ADVERTISEMENT

Note to self: Do not do salt therapy before a date.

I am told about the difference between the salt therapy salt, and table salt. Apparently, my air conditioner idea won’t work. This salt is special, with no bleach or anti-caking agents (don’t know what that is, but I am definitely pro-cake, so it can’t be good), plus 84 good minerals and stuff. A little more complex than the rocks in my salt grinder.

A before and after snapshot of salt therapy (Image via Instagram/saltsoftheearth)

I get little blue booties to put over my feet (because the salt cave ground is covered in more salt) and a blue cap for my hair (so that I can look extra stylish) and get lead into the salt cave.

Everything is white, salty, and a bit like heaven. There is also a fish tank to look at. Even the fish look relaxed.

What's this? I GET A RECLINING MASSAGE CHAIR? With a BLANKET? Lovely Lady talks me through the buttons of the chair, and shows me where the salt air filter is. I can't hear her because I'm already so relaxed that I'm unconscious.

RELATED:What really happens to your body during a massage

45 mins flies past in a salty dream. The machine whirs when the salt pumps, but other than that, there is meditation music, my magazine and a massage chair. Shhhh. No one talk to me. I'm remembering it right now.

ADVERTISEMENT

My nose gets a bit runny and my throat feels a bit phlegmy, but I don't cough much up. I'm assured that this is okay, everyone differs in their reactions.

Sadly, it's over.

One of the rooms available for salt therapy (Image via Instagram/saltsoftheearth)

As I'm leaving, I can see into the cute little kids room, with beanbags and a TV screen. I'm told that during a kids' session, they might play a DVD while the kids decongest and build salt castles on the floor. Lucky I didn't know this as a child. I never would have left.

Salt therapy requires a few sessions for results to start showing. Though I don't feel I have symptoms that require any kind of regular treatment (my asthma is very mild), surely my skin and airways can never be too clean.

RELATED:The top 7 myths about skin. Busted

And that massage chair gets me. It just gets me.

Verdict: Salt therapy, you are a delight. A mystical, relaxing delight.

A note to performers: I wouldn't try it on a day you need to sing, as I was too phleghm-y on stage that night (so hot). But next day, I felt amazing.

For more information you visit Salt of the Earth.

Check out some of our favourite superfood infused beauty products...