Product review: Westlab Himalayan Bath Salts

I’ve posted about bath salts before, back in January when I reviewed a gift set by Next that contained a small package of them. I’m still slightly surprised that they’re making a comeback, I always associate them with my granny. Or, perhaps I’m wrong, perhaps they aren’t making a comeback and they’ve always been popular, and I’m just now noticing.

In any case, I was given a large pack of Bath & Spa Westlab Himalayan Salts for Christmas. I know, way back, right? The problem is, since I’m not used to using them, I just forget that they’re there. Anyway, I have now remembered, so I decided to take a long soak and give them a try.

According to the packaging, these bath salts are “detoxifying, for smooth, radiant, healthy looking skin”, they’re “naturally rich in over 80 minerals” and the pack contains “pure, genuine, a-grade Himalayan Pink Crystal Salt.” Let’s break down that first claim, shall we?

It’s no secret that I get frustrated about nonsense in the beauty industry. I’ve written about how parabens don’t cause cancer, about what the actual (minimal) risks of sulphates are, and in general, when I review a product, I attack any claims that happen to be unscientific garbage (e.g. this Nivea moisturiser which I love but which comes with nonsense claims on the bottle). This is another example of that. So, for the benefit of anyone who doesn’t realise this, let’s say it loud and clear:

If you have a functioning liver you don’t need to detox. If you don’t have a functioning liver, no amount of bath salts will fix that.

Got it? Good. I mean, it’s not strictly harmful in this context, but it is totally bogus and it’s a crummy way to sell a potentially good product. I wish we could persuade the entire beauty industry to get past this stuff.

Now, here’s what good bath salts will do:

• Reduce the surface tension of the water and thus aid cleaning
• Exfoliate the skin leaving it softer and allowing moisturisers to soak in better
• Smell nice and make the bath feel ~*~*special*~*~

Isn’t that enough? Do they really need to do all that and perform a miracle of modern medicine? I don’t think so.

Anyway, as it happens, these are actually quite nice. They do look exactly like the pink Himalayan salt I have in my salt cellar on the dinner table, which is a bit odd, but I’m not quite brave enough to try putting them on my chips. Not quite.

They’re quite gritty and don’t all dissolve right away, aiding that exfoliating effect I was talking about. They are, as far as I can tell, unscented, but I don’t mind that since I tend to use bubble bath anyway and it would be annoying if the fragrances clashed. Impressively, they don’t kill the bubbles, which is something I’ve seen other bath salts do, so they get points for that.

Now, I’m not totally sure whether my skin felt any different compared to my typical bath routine but after the bath, it did feel soft, smooth and clean. Again, unlike other bath salts I’ve tried in the past, I didn’t feel the need to rinse the salts off with a quick blast under the shower when I was done and I didn’t feel salty. So more points here.

All in all, now I remember that I have these, I’ll keep using them whenever I get a bath because they really are a nice addition. However, they really, really, don’t have any detoxifying effects. Seriously.

 

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