Celebrating Mud Pack Day is as simple as a trip to your local spa, let them take the time to treat you to a beautiful experience that will leave your skin feeling clear and beautiful. You can even make a full day of it with you and your friends, and don’t forget to invite the men along!
Mud packs are mixtures of therapeutic clays when applied to the skin increase circulation, ease muscle tension, release toxins and boost immunity. They work well on oily and some combination skin types. While commonly used as a facial, mud packs treat the entire skin’s surface.
- Fango is the Italian word for mud. Used in treatments, a highly mineralized mud may be mixed with oil or water and applied over the body as a heat pack to detoxify, stimulate the circulation and relieve muscular and arthritic pain.
- Fangotherapy is the application of mud, peat, and clay on the skin for healing purposes.
- Since mud packs come in a variety of mixtures, they can be customized for each person. When paired with a massage, the relaxation benefits multiply. There’s also a difference between mud masks and clay masks, so look into the benefits of each.
- Other benefits of mud packs include relieving pain and swelling related to arthritis, digestion, stress and a quick treatment for bee and wasp stings
- The use of mud for therapeutic and beauty purposes can be traced back to the 16th century during the Renaissance. Baths were considered to be of such import that the proper way to bathe for therapeutic purposes was considered to be the province of a physician.
- A total of 78 different conditions were listed during this time that could benefit from bathing.
- Mud has been known to have health properties for a very long time, and has been a popular way of sustaining beauty and staving off old age.
- Mycobacterium vaccae found in mud increase human serotonin levels, which may explain why playing in mud makes children happy.
- Humans have been making huts and pottery from mud for about 30,000 years.
- The phrase “as clear as mud” dates back to 1804, “as fat as mud” was first seen in 1807, and the toast “Here’s mud in your eye” appeared in 1927.
- Mud packs owe their popularity to vitamin E in mud which revitalizes the skin.
- Other words for mud in the Oxford English dictionary include slobber, slabber, slutch and slushiness
- Clay aka mud pottery dates back to 27,000 BC!
- Volcanic mud is a great hair moisturizer and is sold by several companies
- Animals such as pigs, elephants and rhinos bathe in mud to lower their body temperatures
- Medical mud has 4 basic types:
- 1. Silt sulphide medical. Higher biological activity than other peloids.
- 2. Sapropel healthful. High moisture-holding ability.
- 3. Peat healthful. Biologically active substances (eg, anions of chloride).
- 4. Hill healthful. Mainly mineral structure rather than organic
- Dead Sea Mud Is Salt of the Earth. Has been studied for its health benefits and healing properties—but not as a replacement for medical treatments. Controls symptoms of skin disorders, such as psoriasis, eczema, and acne. Accelerates natural exfoliation and restores skin’s pH balance. Can improve the appearance of facial skin, prevent hair loss, reduce the appearance of cellulite
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