BY AMY ROSE HARTE

IF YOU like treating yourself, then don't let the idea of a seaweed bath wash over you. It's simply too wholesome to pass up.

Ever the self-indulgent twentysomething, I went for one recently. The spa therapist brought me into this small tiled room, with a steaming hot tub full of gooey seaweed in the centre.

She handed me a towel, bathrobe, glass of water and told me she'd come back to get me when my time was up. I climbed into the tub and immersed myself underneath the slimy weed.

Immediately I felt all my senses getting distracted by the sensation of the seaweed as the oily bathwater began soaking into my skin, softening and moisturising it. I continued to wallow there in the plasma-like soak for ages, feeling like a gorgeous woman of the sea.

If you have an afternoon free and 20 euros to spare, then go get a one-hour seaweed bath in Bundoran.

The Bundoran Seaweed Baths and Aqua Mara Treatment Rooms with Relaxarium are based in Waterworld, and they are re-opening for the Spring season on the 10th of February.

For silky smooth skin, and healing aches and pains, seaweed baths are a tried-and-tested favourite among many Donegal customers.

BENEFITS

It is believed that the benefits of seaweed water come from that fact that the composition of sea water is remarkably similar to human blood. Its contents are a lively mix of live micro-organisms, vitamins, proteins, mineral salts and tiny algae that contain elements such as copper, zinc, iodine and selenium.

In fact, there are more than 90 elements in seawater that are essential in a healthy human body. These elements can penetrate through the skin to provide nourishment to the body.

We all know how healing a bath of water can be. Soaking in heated water is one of the oldest known methods of pain relief, particularly for muscle strains, sprains, backache and fatigue.

Water therapies such as hydrotherapy and the simple jacuzzi bath have long proved their worth as effective preventive medicine. It's hardly surprising then to hear that a hot bath is even better for you when seaweed is added.

POPULAR

Seaweed baths have always been popular with people with special needs, aswell as people with skin conditions such as psoriasis. Brace yourself for the technical part (glance away if necessary) - seaweed detoxifies the body by stimulating the release of excess body fluids. Toxins are then replaced with depleted minerals, particularly potassium and iodine. The vitamin K in seaweed promotes adrenal regulation, which helps to maintain hormonal balance. Phew. One popular theory explaining the healing power of seaweed baths is that the gel in the bath which comes from the seaweed is similar to the plasma in the womb.

While seaweed baths are not new to Ireland (they've been around for about 40 years), there are relatively few in the North West.

The Bundoran Seaweed Baths offer eight bathing rooms including three dual facility rooms with individual steam cabinets. Each bath contains filtered and heated sea water with local Donegal seaweed, and each session is finished with a refreshing cold sea water drench shower.

The Aqua Mara Treatment Rooms offer seaweed based therapy including Algae Body Wraps, Marine Face Masks and Body Massage. Possibly the best seaweed bath facillity in the country exists only a few miles south of Donegal. The award-winning Celtic Seaweed Baths in Strandhill, Sligo are so popular that they were featured on RTE's 'The Mentor' last year and Hollywood stars such as Catherine Zeta Jones, Aidan Quinn and Stuart Townsend have visited in recent times.

The best time to have a natural seaweed bath in Ireland is from about mid-March until the end of October, as the seaweed is at its best between the spring and summer equinox, although many spas offer seaweed-based treatments all year-round.

Alternatively, buy yourself a net of seaweed from your local health food store and make your own home-made seaweed bath. Most places wash and re-use their seaweed after each bath so you can do the same.

Finally, back to my own seaweed bath experience. About two hours after getting into the tub, it began to dawn on me that I had been abandoned. The silly therapist forgot I was even there. Perhaps she thought my skin looked super-dry and I required extra tub time?

While I was under the impression I had paid for a one-hour session, she was under the impression that I didn't exist anymore. What if I began to grow webbed feet in there?

The idea that I may begin turning into a human octopus had me scambling out of the bath in seconds. Not that I was really complaining. I got an extra hour feeling like a true goddess of the sea.