Seaweed Bathing

On Sunday we had been out for lunch (actually eaten pizzas made in a WOOD burning oven - my favourite kind!) and I found a brochure for a place called Voya - a spa that offers many treatments including a seaweed bath. I remember my friend Rose talking about them and how good they are so I stuck the brochure in my bag and decided to find out if Jeane would be interested in joining me for a soak.
Fast forward to Tuesday morning then, obviously Jeane was interested because at 10h15 on a cold, wet morning we drove ourselves to Strandhill to immerse our bodies. We each got a separate bathroom which contained a steam room and a lovely old fashioned looking bath half filled with warm water and cuttings of seaweed. We were told to steam for up to 10 minutes and then step into our baths and relax, taking the seaweed and rubbing it on our skin and hair, we were also told that we could take a shower afterwards, the steam room was dual purpose, but that for the soak to be most beneficial a shower was not recommended.
We had 50 minutes and an alarm clock and bottle of water were also made available to us.
I sat in my steam room for 5 minutes and then could not wait any longer to try out the bath. Hind sight is 20/20 and if I do it again I will definitely bide my time in the steam room, it was lovely and steamy, when I opened the door and stepped in I could hardly see a thing, but sadly patience is not my middle name.
So to the bath then...I added more hot water before stepping in, water which is pumped in from the ocean, pretty cool stuff! The water was fascinating, it had been described as oily but it is not a word I would use...slimy, glycerin or albumin aka egg white would be a better description, I sank into the warmth and lifted my fingers, making slime webs and watching the water drip off excruciatingly slowly due to the SLIME, or as they describe OILS...
I rubbed away with the seaweed, hesitantly soaked my head and my hair went all weird and felt thick and heavy under the slippery water. I lifted my head and ran my hands over my hair and it was all spongy and felt oh so strange. COOL.
It was fun playing with the seaweed and I also marvelled at how great it felt rubbing my arms and legs, really soft and silky like, but sadly 50 minutes was a little too long for me - that is why I think longer in the steam room is a good idea, and I did end up climbing out the bath 5 minutes earlier than was necessary. There is only so much lying around and draping seaweed that I can do, especially as I had nobody to talk to! Having said that, there is a double room which I would have loved to book but it was occupied and there is the option of sharing, but that would only work for little children, or couples who like to be close as it would be a bit of a tight squeeze for two adults...
But I digress....
Before getting out the bath I removed all the seaweed (as we had been instructed to do) and placed it in a lovely wooden pail that had been provided, apparently the used seaweed is then sent off to an organic farm to be used as fertilizer. I towelled dry without showering (reckon I need all the benefits this seaweed bath can provide) and got dressed, which was slightly challenging as my skin seemed a bit sticky, I tied my hair back in a messy ponytail and went to reception to wait for Jeane. All in all a fantastic 50 minutes worth the €25 fee I paid and we floated out of there feeling pampered and okay yes, a bit sticky. The benefits are amazing and Malcolm says it is rather disconcerting as my skin feels like that of a baby now, Jess was rubbing my legs crooning and sighing and telling me how the silkiness of my skin could actually put her to sleep! So I would have to say 10 out of 10 for experience and performance for Voya http://www.voya.ie/ in Strandhill...and I can safely say that I will happily do it again and again...
I have provided the link to Voya as I found the benefits of seaweed bathing very interesting and adding them to my post would just take too long...so if you are interested pop over and have a look!