NumaDerm — If your skin could talk » Salt Water and Skin: Pros and Cons

NumaDerm — If your skin could talk » Salt Water and Skin: Pros and Cons

For a long time, people were told that salt was bad for their skin. However, anecdotal reports of people swimming in the ocean only to emerge with cleaner, clearer, and healthier looking skin kept popping up. Now we know that some salt can do wonders for your skin. Of course, there are still some reasons to avoid salt water in certain situations.

Positive Results

Salt has many healing properties that most of us take for granted. Today, we tend to see it as a flavoring for food or the enemy of our blood pressure readings but it actually can be the base for a useful mouthwash, toothpaste, insect and bee sting treatment, and more. However, salt can also play a role in helping with our beauty regime. For example, if you want to give yourself a facial, you can do so by combining olive oil and salt then rubbing the mixture into your skin. When you wash it off, you’ll find that your face feels tingly and rejuvenated for a lot less than the cost of spa facial.

If you have trouble with dry itchy skin, especially during the winter, call in the salt brigade. When you finish your bath or shower, spend a few minutes rubbing salt into your skin. The rubbing actually helps improve circulation which is always good but the friction from the salt particles will remove dead skin which is often the source of the itchiness.

While not necessarily just a treatment for the skin, salt water baths can deliver fabulous results, including some you may not have considered. These baths can help reduce inflammation and increase circulation to promote the healing of damaged or sore muscles. Adding a few handfuls of salt to your bathwater can also help reduce fatigue.

Some research also suggests that salt water can help to acne treatment, improve eczema outbreaks, and treat psoriasis. That makes sense given that salt has been used for treating skin infections and other problems for centuries. Even the earliest physician – Hippocrates – recognized the benefits of this chemical.

Negative Results

While salt intentionally applied to our skin or obtained via a dip in the ocean may be good for our skin, other encounters may not always be so positive. For example, if you have too much salt in your water, your skin may feel slimy and unclean. In fact, because most soaps do not work well in the presence of salt, your skin probably won’t get very clean and this could cause to future skin problems, including acne.


Salt in your water can sometimes cause over-softening. You don’t want that either. Instead, find ways to reduce the salt content of your water. Adding a salt-free softener might do the trick.

Salt Penetration: Good or Bad

Overall, the deliberate use of salt as part of your beauty or relaxation routine seems to have plenty of benefits. Whether you have oily or dry skin, the salt can help your skin look more beautiful and younger than even spa-quality treatments.