One of my resolutions for 2025 is to do at least one self-care treatment for myself each month. As a massage therapist, I’m always providing relaxation to my clients, but I haven’t been great about sticking to it for myself.

So for January, I tried something new and went to a salt room – sometimes referred to as halotherapy.

It was a really cool and interesting experience!

Why I Tried Halotherapy

When it comes to self-care and different therapeutic options, there are so many to choose from! I absolutely could have gone for a massage, but I wanted to try something new. The place that I found near me offers massage, floatation tanks (these are absolutely amazing by the way, I’ll write an article on them later), halotherapy, and several other services.

Halotherapy was something I had never tried before and was super curious about. They tout a lot of different benefits and though I hadn’t done the research on them yet, it sounded like a neat experience. Some of the things their website stated was that halotherapy is good for respiratory health and eczema.

I have two little kids, and that means we get exposed to a lot of germs. Also, my husband’s boss had pneumonia and with all of the different respiratory conditions we’ve been hearing about since COVID hit, we can absolutely use that boost for respiratory health.

I’ve struggled with eczema since I was a little kid. It was significantly better when I lived in Texas – I think the climate had a lot to do with it – but being back in Pennsylvania with the bitter weather we’ve been having it’s been a little more difficult to manage. So why not try out something that is supposed to be beneficial for it?

What can I expect from a halotherapy appointment?

When I first got there I was told to put my belongings in a locker. They also let me know that I shouldn’t bring my phone into the salt room with me since the salt in the air can damage your cell phone.

I did end up bringing mine into the salt room since I had pockets on my pants and I brought a blanket along with me. So I just tucked my phone in real tight in case the school called me for any reason to hopefully protect it from the salt. It ended up being fine, but this is something you should think about before scheduling a session. I’ll probably plan that better next time so I don’t need to bring it into the room with me.

You have to bring an extra pair of socks to change into so you have a clean pair on to go into the salt room. I’ll be honest, before I booked the appointment I thought you’d be barefoot going in for the extra exfoliation. But after thinking about it, it’s nice to know that somebody else’s foot exfoliations aren’t hanging out in the salt you’re walking through.

You go into the salt room which is really pretty and calming. The one I went to had sandy salt all over the floor which was fun to walk in and almost beachy feeling. They have a salt wall that is illuminated and provides a pretty orange/pink color to the room.

Then you sit in these big comfy chairs, and they have an MP3 player (yes, they still exist!) loaded with relaxing music for you. I opted to not use this since I brought a book along to read but still cool that they offer it. Honestly, it probably makes it even more relaxing to use the music, but if I have downtime I want to break into my to-be-read list.

Then they bring you a neck wrap and an additional one to put on your eyes. At the place I went to, they use aromatherapy on the neck wrap, which is a nice touch! I was able to choose from lavender or eucalyptus – I picked lavender. Since I was reading I popped the extra wrap on my chest to help relax my chest muscles for better breathing.

Then they leave you alone for 40 minutes while you hang out and relax.

There is a machine that grinds up the salt into tiny, breathable particles, so you get even more benefit from the salt. This whirs on and off throughout the session which you probably don’t notice if you’re using the MP3 player. It wasn’t loud, clunky, or annoying so it didn’t bother me at all. But for people who have sensory issues, it’s something to note.

Once my time was up the lights turned back up and they came to get me from the room.

Overall it was a really nice experience.

I went to Kohl’s afterward, and honestly, this is how I test how relaxed I am from a session. If I go into a store and start feeling overwhelmed by all of the things around me I know I am relaxed and that was definitely the case. Typically Kohl’s doesn’t feel overwhelming to me since it’s a clean and well-organised store. But after a relaxing session, it definitely felt more overwhelming than I’m used to.

I was really relaxed the rest of the day too. On the way to basketball practice, my daughter brought along her “Knock-Knock Jokes” book and read jokes to me the entire 30-minute ride. Normally I’d have been over it after 10-15 minutes but we lasted the ride and laughed. And I didn’t feel irritated with the knock-knock jokes the way I sometimes do when I’m stressed.

I also was calm enough after practice that I didn’t doom scroll on my phone but instead had the patience to sit down and have my son read me a book. Anyone with a 6-year-old learning to read knows that can be a pretty trying time. But I remained calm through the whole time.

Calmer parenting alone was definitely worth the $29 session. But my eczema also seemed to be better, which was a nice benefit, too.

So that was my experience with halotherapy. It’s definitely something I’ll be trying again. I’d love it for there to be somewhere closer to me to do it since it was nearly an hour away, but it’s something that when I’m in the area, I’ll be booking.

Scientific Proof of Halotherapy Benefits

With all of the claims on their website, and me being who I am, I obviously needed to look into halotherapy and see what research says. So here is what I found on what is scientifically backed for halotherapy.

There are two types of halotherapy categories: wet and dry.

• Dry halotherapy is when you go into a “salt cave” like what I tried.
• Wet halotherapy is when you use things like a saline solution or take a bath with Epsom salts.

The results of studies done on halotherapy are conflicting. Some say there is no benefit, while others say there are benefits. Some of the issues with the research being done on halotherapy is that they’re done on small groups of people which doesn’t get an accurate representation for the general public.

Since they’re smaller studies, they typically focus on one thing but don’t get to dive deeper into the specifics of how and why something worked. So while they may be experiencing benefits, understanding the how is up in the air.

One study found benefits for COPD patients who used halotherapy with an inhaler. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a double-blind study so they couldn’t rule out a placebo effect.

Another study found that halotherapy (this one actually used a salt cave like the one I experienced) can benefit people with inflammatory conditions like allergies, asthma, bronchitis, and other respiratory issues. This could be a great indicator as to why it can help with skin conditions too because of the inflammatory response being part of it. Acne, psoriasis, and eczema all have an inflammatory response to them and this could be why some people benefit with these conditions.

A meta-analysis looked through data from different studies that used halotherapy for asthma. Most studies resulted in positive benefits from halotherapy as an adjuvant therapy for asthma patients – specifically in helping them sleep better at night. This study also indicated that more (and larger) studies need to be done to develop specific treatment plans using halotherapy to treat asthma.

The problem with studies for alternative therapies is that there isn’t usually enough funding to find true results for this. So it’s often something you’ll have to try on your own. The only reported problems with halotherapy were throat irritation (usually when people are using an inhaler) and coughing. This can be from the dryness in the room and the salt that is sprayed throughout the room. It’s a normal reaction that drinking extra water can help with.

Should you try halotherapy?

So here’s my verdict after trying halotherapy and researching it.

I think it’s a really calming environment. Any kind of calming environment will help reduce the stress response in your body which can then affect inflammatory responses. In respiratory and skin conditions, there is an inflammatory response and often stress is a trigger.

With halotherapy not having many side effects, I think it’s a fairly safe option for the vast majority of people.

Things that I did before my session that I feel helped me to relax more were:

• Dry brushed before my shower so my skin was exfoliated prior to the session. This way, the salt could have all the benefits it could have on my skin. This also kick starts the lymphatic system, so the salt could be more impactful and have less mucous to fight off.
• Didn’t wear makeup or anything else on my skin that would’ve potentially been a barrier to the salt.
• Stretching the chest and back muscles prior to the session. This allows for less compression of your chest so your lungs can expand more so you’re breathing in more potential benefits from the salt. Salt can help dry out pathogens which gives it the potential to help clear out your lungs. So you’ll want to be breathing deeply and muscles that aren’t caving your chest in will help that.
• Using aromatherapy. I didn’t realize they’d be giving me an aromatherapy option when I got to the salt room so I made a blend beforehand and rubbed it on my chest before I entered the room. The blend I used I’m calling my Relaxed Breath blend. It has oils that complement the halotherapy (lavender – relaxing, marjoram – antimicrobial, and doTERRA’s Breathe – respiratory support). The scent helps to calm and promote deeper breathing.
  • Fun fact about lavender and marjoram! When you use them together they have been known to help with feelings of panic. I keep them both on hand for those times when anxious feelings get out of control. Mixing these two together is a game-changer for times like that.
• Prayed. I was thankful for the time to relax to myself. I was grateful that something like this existed near me. And I asked that it would be healing to my body and mind. I think getting yourself in the right mental state to relax is extremely beneficial in setting yourself up for deeper relaxation and that in and of itself can provide health benefits.

If you’re looking for a way to relax and want to support your respiratory, skin, and inflammatory health, I’d absolutely suggest giving halotherapy a try. If you’ve tried it before, I’d love to hear your experience in the comments!