As we stood peering back into the volcano out of which we’d just crawled, there was a sense of freedom, a feeling of clearing away one of life’s fears, refreshed and refocused. There outside Cartagena high above the river, we realized that what Iceland and Colombia have in common, and what left us with incredibly renewed skin was mud. Mineral Mud to be specific. And we went into research mode to learn why it worked so well.

Two things immediately go through your mind when you emerge from a volcano in the Colombian countryside, two miles from the bottom. The first is pride in overcoming some incredible odds to be there, scaling peaks and facing fears. The second is realizing that your skin looks as young and your muscles feel exactly as toned as they did after visiting the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, thousands of miles on the other side of world.

So what’s the connection? Mud. Mineral mud, to be exact.

A mineral mud is composed of the elements infused into the earth from various inputs borne of the area. They can come out of the mountains, straight from the sea or deep below ground. There are four basic types of mineral mud from very specific locations around the world.

Muds Around the World

Glacial Minerals - minerals frozen into the ancient glaciers and released by a warming sun to seep back into the surrounding ground, cultivated; Iceland

Moor - Darkest mud from the in-land waters of Europe. Contains traces of the plant life surrounding the fresh first water; Ireland

Volcanic - Mud made using earth soaked with ash contains sulfur, the same element in your skin that barricades pores against pollution and radiation; Colombia

Dead Sea - The mud with the highest concentration of salt and magnesium, two ingredients that reduce cellulite, improve circulation and moisturizer, all in one step; Israel

For us, nothing but the best. We’d tried the glacial and volcanic, but all the signs pointed towards the most mineral-rich, skin restoring mud: Dead Sea.

What Dead Sea mineral mud can do will astonish you!

Allowed to dry on the skin, toxins are drawn out of skin cells, minimizing pores and smoothing wrinkles and fine lines. Enhanced blood circulation improves skin elasticity, reducing blemishes.

But besides simply improving your physical appearance, there are a plethora of health benefits specifically treated by the unique blend of elements enriching the mud.

The big three minerals in Dead Sea mud are magnesium, potassium and calcium (but don’t forget the healthy doses of iron and sodium!).

Magnesium moisturizes so well because its molecules are smaller than skin pores, penetrating your largest organ to wash out toxins while enriching your blood to encourage your body’s natural moisturization.

As the third most abundant mineral in humans, potassium is crucial to efficient brain, heart and muscle tissue function. By balancing sodium’s effect on blood pressure, nerves get the relief they need.

Calcium is well known for benefiting internally, but its side job is encouraging the body’s anti-oxidant production, which protects skin texture.

Combined, these big three can help make a little you. By cleansing, balancing and protecting, fat trapped in skin cells is released when blood is flowing and cellulite effects disappear.

Dead Sea mineral mud also helps control the symptoms of eczema, psoriasis and acne. When used in combination with prescriptions, mud balances pH levels to help the body manage these disorders more efficiently.

How much can you get done in 7 minutes?

It doesn’t take much time or effort to get the full benefits of Dead Sea mineral mud.

Three easy steps:

1. Dip a small brush into the mud, a very small layer
2. Apply to the body and face, avoiding the eyes, and allow to dry (7–10 min.)
3. Rinse thoroughly with warm water

That’s it.

So simple, we’re going to take the liberty to suggest a few things we do while letting our mud therapy do its thing:

Check Instagram or Facebook

Stretch

Start a crossword puzzle

Make coffee

Meditate

Clear a few emails

Research, research, research

And just so you know, a 2 ounce jar will last about a month of daily use.

Your body will tell you if a mud isn’t helping

Whether your skin is naturally oily or dry, a mineral mud will have a different effect.

By penetrating pores so efficiently, some mineral muds may cause reactions. Moor mud has been tested to reveal over 1,000 plant and sediment elements that are present, inviting the very real possibility of a skin issue. And while sulphur is necessary in humans to create protein, it’s not an essential nutritional componen recommended for any daily allowance. Oh, and it’s not the most pleasant of fragrances.

There’s an old morning ritual of clinking coffee cups and toasting, “Here’s mud in your eye”, which certainly shouldn’t apply here. So many rich minerals on such a vulnerable area is just a bad eye-dea. (Pause for laughter) But if eye irritation occurs, you might be mucking up the mud.

Some muds contain alcohol additives which ease the application of the mud (read: you don’t have to mix it each time), but causes irritation and actually dries out the skin. Always check the label for cetearyl, cetryl and cetyl; they’re the biggest culprits.

The Dead Sea’s the mud for me

After trying Iceland’s glacial mineral mud, with respect to our introduction to the world’s spa, and traversing northern Colombia to drop into a volcanic mud, why did we choose the Dead Sea for our Mineral Mud Therapy?

The Dead Sea has the most consistent concentration of minerals with the highest availability and the best refined for cosmetic use. It smells like a tropical rainy afternoon. The smooth texture has a natural creaminess. And the deep gray colour just looks like a mud should.

We’re proud to introduce Teal N Bronze’s Mineral Mud Therapy. Buy today, begin tomorrow and restore your youth.