Bath Salts – Salt Selection Guide
Most of us have seen bath salts. Lots of bath salts. Bath salts that come in different scents, colors, sizes and shapes. But what is the real difference between all of the bath salts out there? Why take a sea salt bath when a regular bath is plenty relaxing? We'll help guide you in the world of bath salts, and explain the many benefits and differences between the wide selection of bath salts available.
All of our bath salts are sea salts (with the exception of Epsom salt and Himalayan salt), obtained naturally from evaporating sea water. Sea salt is hailed for its health-enhancing minerals, therapeutic properties, and all-natural harvesting process. Adding a little sea salt to the bath can stimulate circulation, ease muscle cramps, help relieve stiffness in joints, aid with arthritis or back pain, and soothe achy, overworked legs and feet. Plus sea salt helps cleanse and detoxify the largest organ in the body—your skin.
Bath salt can be made from several different types of salt, and comes in many grades. At SaltWorks, we guarantee our bath salts are the highest grade available anywhere on the planet. 100% authentic, and all natural. Below is a list of bath salts that can be used as a luxurious bath salt on their own; or they can be combined with other salts, herbs, scented oils and/or colors to make your own therapeutic bath salt blends. After choosing your favorite bath salt to use as a base, read more about making scented bath salts. Or, for the ultimate relaxation experience, shop from our new line of luxurious professional scented bath salts!
Bath Salt Types:
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Ancient Sea Bath Salt
Other Names: Himalayan Bath Salt, Jurassic Sea Salt
150 million years ago, during the formation of the great mountain ranges of today, ancient sea salt deposits were preserved and protected from pollutants by layers of volcanic eruptions. These days, careful, sustainable harvesting unearths some of the finest, most beneficial bath salts available anywhere in the world. These salts are full of up to 84 valuable trace minerals, giving these salts a beautiful, natural pink coloring that makes it a perfect option for attractive, clear packaging.
Buy Now: Bolivian Rose (shown) • Himalayan Bath Salt
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Atlantic Sea Bath Salt
Atlantic sea salts are collected from deep, clean ocean waters by channeling the sea water into large clay trays and allowing the sun and wind to evaporate it naturally. This white bath salt is great for adding coloring or scent, as it is naturally absorbent and generally comes in a variety of grain sizes, perfect for customizing your end products. This salt will give you the fresh feeling of bathing in the sea.
Buy Now: Ceara Atlantic Bath Salt (shown) • Rio Sea Salt Crystals
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Coarse Bath Salt
Coarse sea salt is large grain bath salt about 2-3 millimeters in size. It’s ideal for sprinkling in the tub to dissolve for a bath. Coarse sea salts are a great addition to therapeutic bath salt blends with scented oils or colors, as their size helps absorb the oils and colorants easily.
Some sea salts are also available in jumbo sizes, ranging from the size of a dime up to the size of a golf ball. These sizes are beautiful, and ideal for making bath salt teas or salt potpourri (See Crystal Sea Salt below).
Buy Now: Bokek™ Dead Sea Salt • Breton Organic Grey Bath Salt • Ceara Atlantic Bath Salt • EuroSpa • Himalayan Bath Salt (shown) • Sonoma Spa Bath Salt
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Crystal Sea Salt
Large crystal sea salt chunks are ideal for bath salt teas. Simply pour the salt crystals into an organza (or similar) bag, hang below the water spout, and let the water run over the sea salt rocks on its way into the bathtub. You can also add fresh or dried herbs to this mixture for aromatherapy and additional soothing benefits. Crystal sea salts can be used again and again.
You can also scent these large bath salt crystals and use them for décor or salt potpourri.
Buy Now: Himalayan Salt Crystals • Rio Sea Salt Crystals (shown)
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Dead Sea Bath Salt
The world’s first Day Spa was set up by Cleopatra on the shores of the Dead Sea. The “woman who time could not wither” and countless others have testified to the benefits of this special sea salt. Dead Sea salts differ greatly from other sea salts in mineral content, being made up of only 8% sodium chloride with a high percentage of magnesium, sulfates and potassium.
You can bring that ancient, therapeutic experience home with our guaranteed authentic Dead Sea bath salts. Dead Sea bath salts aid in the treatment of common dry skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis. They’re known to reduce pain and inflammation from arthritis and rheumatism. The high mineral content is credited with the cleansing and detoxification of the skin. There’s even a bit of calcium, your body will love it!
Buy Now: Bokek™ Dead Sea Salt (shown) • Bokek™ Fresh Scents Dead Sea Bath Salt • Bokek™ Premium Dead Sea Salt • Relief RX™ Psoriasis Treatments
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Dendritic Salt
At SaltWorks, we have a love-hate relationship with dendritic salt. Dendritic is a highly purified sodium chloride that is crystallized under special conditions. In other words, dendritic salt is commercially manufactured and created by machines, rather than being a natural, carefully harvested product of the earth like the sea salts we specialize in.
Fans of dendritic salt like its absorptive capacity. A relatively small amount can be a great addition to bath salt blends. It helps maintain fragrance, holds essential oils stronger and for longer, requires less pigment, and reduces clumping. It’s a preservative for sea salt bath blends. It doesn’t have any therapeutic benefits that we know of.
We don’t currently carry or sell any dendritic salt at SaltWorks.
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Epsom Salt
Other Names: Magnesium Sulfate
News flash! Epsom salt isn’t actually salt. It should be called Epsom “salt.” Or Epsom salt-like. Epsom salt is a pure mineral compound of magnesium sulfate in crystal form, so it looks an awful lot like salt. But it has no sodium chloride. Sodium chloride is salt. Salt is sodium chloride. We like to have all of the facts on the table here at SaltWorks.
Even though it isn’t salt, we don’t deny the many time-proven benefits of Epsom salt. A lot of people are magnesium deficient, which can be to blame for a number of maladies including heart disease, stroke, osteoporosis, arthritis and joint pain, digestive problems, and chronic fatigue.
A number of factors work against magnesium sulfate if you ingest it. We do not recommend ingesting Epsom salt (unless under the direction of a doctor). So, the very best way to benefit from this mineral is in the form of a bath salt. A dose of Epsom in your bath salts will power it up, and make it extra therapeutic.
Buy Now: Ultra Epsom Salt (shown)
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European Spa Bath Salt
Other names: Mediterranean Sea bath salt
Harvested using a similar process to Atlantic sea salt, European spa bath salt is another perfect salt for adding straight to the tub or as a raw ingredient in your bath product. Ideal for blending with essential oils for scrubs and body treatments. Available in two grains, fine and coarse.
Fine grain is similar in size to table salt. Fine is great for exfoliating scrubs and body treatments, as well in bath salt blends with herbs and powders.
Coarse is medium grain, closer to grinder salt. Coarse grain absorbs essential oils easily, and is great for therapeutic bath soaks and blends.
Buy Now: EuroSpa (coarse grain shown)
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Grey Bath Salt
Other Names: Sel Gris, Celtic Salt, Brittany Salt
Grey bath salt is traditionally hand-harvested in Guérande, France in the Brittany region. The gray color is indicative of the salt’s natural trace minerals absorbed from its sea origins. Unwashed, unrefined, and additive-free, this gray bath salt maintains all of its health-enhancing nutrients vital to the human body like calcium, potassium, copper, zinc, iron and others. This salt is low in sodium, and certified Organic by Nature & Progrès (France’s organic certifying body).
Buy Now: Breton Organic Grey Bath Salt (brut grain shown) • Sel Gris
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Hawaiian Red Bath Salt
Other Names: Alaea, Alae, Volcanic Salt
Hawaiian Red bath salt, also known as Alaea sea salt, is a natural, unprocessed salt. It gets its distinctive color from purified red Hawaiian clay (Alae). Volcanic red clay is high in iron oxide. The recommended use of Hawaiian Red salt in your bath includes healing wounds, body aches, and muscle sprains. It is believed to draw toxins from overworked muscle tissue. Mix Hawaiian Red salt with one of our white bath salts for an aesthetically pleasing and beneficial combination.
Buy Now: Alaea Hawaiian Sea Salt (fine grain shown)
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Organic Bath Salt
Organic salt cannot be "organically grown", as it is a mineral, not a plant, therefore in the United States we have no recognized organic certification for salt. However, there are countries that do issue their own organic certification for salt within their own borders. If you are looking for "Certified Organic" bath salt, then you are looking for salt with the Nature & Progrés (France) or BIO-GRO (New Zealand) certification. This certification is awarded to saltworks that are located in a nature reserve, without risk of pollution, producing strictly by hand, without purifying the salt, and fulfilling the high standards of chemical analytics. Organic sea salt retains all its original vital elements, as it is not processed or refined.
Our Breton Organic Grey Bath Salt has been certified as an Organic salt by Nature & Progrés in France.
Buy Now: Breton Organic Grey Bath Salt |
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Solar Salt
Solar salt is a term used to refer to salt that has been naturally dried by the sun’s heat. Generally, this refers to a white chunky sea salt, commonly sourced from the Mediterranean Sea, the North Sea, and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, among many. These large, bright crystals are very attractive when blended with smaller grained bath salts, such as Epsom salt or European spa bath salt. Many of SaltWorks’ wide selection of bath salts are considered to be solar salt.
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Sulfur Salt
Other Names: Kala Namak, Sanchal, Black Salt
This Indian Black salt is not actually black in color, but rather a pinkish gray. This bath salt is very popular in France, Spain, and Japan for a wide variety of conditions including skin infections, inflammations, and respiratory problems. Sulfur salt is an unrefined mineral salt, natural disinfectant, and has a strong purifying and re-mineralizing effect on the body. Harvested in the volcanic regions of Pakistan and India, black salt is a staple in India’s classical Ayurvedic healing methods.
Warning: Bathing in sulfur salt is similar to bathing in sulfuric thermal springs, including the strong, distinct smell!
Buy Now: Kala Namak Black Salt (shown)
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