The Dirt on Spa Mud
Every day Southern Californians pay surprising sums to be smeared with decomposed plant matter. Amazingly, they do so knowing that it will make them look like a Navy SEAL on a demolition mission.
But, say the people who do the smearing, this is completely normal. It’s a short-lived wallowing that purportedly hydrates, remineralizes and exfoliates the skin.
The stuff being applied to faces and troweled on bodies is measured by the ounce, not the shovelful, and is flown in from geothermal hot spots around the world.
“It’s very specialized mud,” says Charlene Florian, accounts director for Kerstin Florian, an Irvine-based distributor of skin-care products.
For example, the firm gets its therapeutic moor mud from a spot outside Budapest known for a black goo that’s unusually high in mineral content. Hungarians have long used it to treat rheumatism, arthritis and aching muscles because it holds heat so much longer than water. A more acidic mud from the same area offers another beneficial side effect. “It acts as a natural peel of sorts and it smooths and softens the skin,” Florian says.
There’s a fancy word, picked up from Florian, to describe the process of encasing oneself in a crust of mud: pelotherapy. Europeans as far back as the 12th century apparently used mud as a home remedy. Cleopatra apparently had a thing for Dead Sea-area muds. And while it has been applied as a cosmetic salve in spas for at least 200 years, there’s still no consensus on its therapeutic value.
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Similar to the practice of using thermal mineral waters as a natural medicinal therapy, the positive results associated with the use of therapeutic muds cannot be explained by any single accepted theory. Even so, and allowing that certain effects might be attributed to psychological, cultural or psychosomatic influences, the general positive effects of pelotherapy appear to be beyond doubt.
--Kerstin Florian literature
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Even so, it’s also unlikely to claim the disposable income of anyone who’s less than a true believer. At the La Costa Resort and Spa, where Hungarian moor mud is tapped for facial treatments and full-body wraps, the wholesale price per five kilograms--about 11 pounds--is $145.
“It takes about 250 to 300 grams per person,” says Diane Mestre, the director of La Costa’s spa in Carlsbad, “and we average about 30 people a day, so we go through a lot of it.”
The mud at the Givenchy Hotel & Spa in Palm Springs comes from southern France, says proprietor Rose Narva. A Swiss company called Swisscare then processes (yes, the dirt gets a thorough cleaning) and packages the raw material in 5-kilogram buckets, which Givenchy keeps cool--between 40 and 50 degrees.
A one-hour, full-body mud wrap here costs $95.
“It’s applied like any paste,” Narva explains. “It’s painted on the body and the body is then wrapped in foil and then a blanket and towel. The mud dries during the process. It promotes cell rejuvenation, emulates cell energies and promotes deep detoxification of the cells. It also relieves blocked and swollen areas.”
Even bug bites. Mestre says she got quick relief after applying mud to a wasp sting. “The swelling went down within a few hours,” she says. “It’s basically a home remedy that’s very, very good.”
Some of it is home-grown too. At the Glen Ivy Hot Springs Spa near Corona, visitors pay $19.50 ($25 on weekends) to luxuriate in mineral-rich red clay mud baths. Some even put their heads under, saturating the hair.
“Yes, hair,” says Pamela Gray, the spa’s salon manager. “It naturally draws out the dirt and oil, even though it is dirt itself.”
The russet clay is mined about half a mile from the sulfur-rich hot springs, which have been bubbling for at least 100 years.
“It’s basically the same clay you see on red-tile roofs,” Gray says. “It’s in powdered form when it’s mined, and then we mix it with the sulfur water. It’s probably about the same consistency as cake frosting.”
The clay is also available in 14-ounce takeout canisters for $20. A facial takes about a tablespoon, Gray says.
Like the European mud, the red stuff’s therapeutic value is questionable. But the visitors happily oozing around in the Glen Ivy baths don’t seem to care.
“I think [its benefits] have been passed down by word-of-mouth over the years,” Gray says. “I tried researching it, and I couldn’t find anything conclusive. But people swear by it. They just have so much fun with it.”
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What Mud-Slingers Charge
* One-hour, full-body wrap: $128, La Costa Resort and Spa, Carlsbad; (619) 438-9111
* One-hour, full-body wrap: $95, Givenchy Hotel & Spa, Palm Springs; (619) 770-5000
* Mud bath, $19.50 ($25 on weekends), Glen Ivy Hot Springs Spa, Corona; (909) 277-3529
