Having a long soak in your own bathtub filled with a rich infusion of mineral-rich seaweed is, I imagine, almost as balancing, nourishing, and purifying as soaking in the Dead Sea or hot mineral springs. Seaweed baths are one of the most divine experiences you can give yourself at home.

Try this relaxing, deeply beneficial bath once a week. You’ll feel refreshed, your skin will thank you, and you’ll be able to face the week feeling more nourished, grounded, and recharged. It’s easy!

How Make a Seaweed Spa
For my baths, I use about 3-4 ounces of dried seaweed—half kelp and half dulse. Kelp is very abundant in calcium, potassium, iodine, iron, and magnesium, and dulse is also rich in minerals and has a very high Vitamin A content.

Ten wet pounds of seaweed dries out to about one pound of seaweed, so in a sense I am giving myself a bath with about 2.5 pounds of wet seaweed. I buy seaweed at my local health food store, or online at
Maine Coast Sea Vegetables, where the cost is about $20 a dried pound (enough for four to five rich baths). If you harvest your own seaweed, gather it from the water of the ocean, rather than from what’s washed ashore.

When using dried seaweed, fill muslin bags, large tea infusion balls, or old stockings cut off at the knee with dried seaweed. (The bags are needed to keep the seaweed from going down your drain.) Boil water in a large pot, add the seaweed, and steep for half an hour or so. Pour into the bath (seaweed in its bag and all). Fill the bath with water as hot as you can stand it. When using fresh seaweed, just add it to the bathtub as it is filling with very hot water, making sure to remove it before you open the drain at the end of your bath.

A slight gel or film from the seaweed will softly coat your body while you soak. Once it dissolves and you don’t feel it on your skin any more, you know your bath is done and you’ve absorbed the seaweed’s benefits.

Seaweed baths are considered very therapeutic because of their very high mineral content. Some call these baths iodine baths, since the iodine content of 1/3 of a cup of seaweed is more than 2,000 times the RDA—recommended daily allowance. I feel my thyroid stimulated from seaweed baths, just like when I do the thyroid-stimulating headstand pose in yoga. Seaweed baths also reportedly benefit other organs, including the adrenal glands, because of its vitamin K content, and helps maintain hormone balance.

Caution: Those with high blood pressure or other health problems should consult their doctors before having a hot seaweed bath.