The secret benefits of mineral waters

For a long time in North America, the notion of bathing in mineral waters for health and beauty held about as much appeal as vibrating electric belts and exercise corsets. The 1994 film The Road to Wellville, which parodied breakfast-cereal tycoon Dr. John Harvey Kellogg's attempts to introduce early-20th-century Americans to spa culture, pretty much summed up the overriding Protestant sense of propriety governing our ablutions. With the growing number of skin-care products made exclusively with mineral waters, claiming to soften and calm mildly to severely irritated skin, cosmetics companies are hoping to change all that.

Rise up
Mineral waters start as rain. When runoff seeps below the surface of the earth, it can remain there for up to 40 years, picking up beneficial trace elements from layers of ancient rock before journeying back up to the surface at temperatures as high as 45°C. Most cosmetics are made with demineralized tap water, but thermal water for products is collected directly at the source -- without being artificially processed -- maintaining its original beneficial properties. The waters from different regions can be as complex and varied as wines, their mineral compositions directly reflecting the geological makeup of the site. For example, in Vichy, France, the waters are particularly high in sodium bicarbonate, while the springs at La Roche-Posay -- more than 300 kilometres away -- are rich in selenium.

What your skin says about you
"Our skin tends to get irritable, losing its ability to protect itself and maintain moisture for a number of reasons," says Nella Arangio, a spa specialist and consultant at Aveda and Civello Salon-Spa. Stress, diet, lifestyle and weather all play a role. "The body is constantly using water for cellular metabolism, maturation and function, but that rate slows down if you're highly stressed," says Arangio. "Also, if you're eating high-sodium foods, your body dehydrates even more, just as it does from too much caffeine and alcohol consumption. And when you look at people's lifestyles today -- you're in your car with the heat on, then in the office -- the hot and cold extremes of going to and from home and work further dehydrate skin." While Europeans have been using mineral waters for skin healing for centuries, many Canadians remain skeptical of their benefits. "I still find that a lot of North Americans don't believe in the waters because they like to see fast results," says Faouzi Berradia, medical relations and national training manager for Vichy Laboratoires in Canada. "In France, people suffering from skin irritation and sensitivity can spend several weeks at a time at the Vichy springs." Donna Cook, marketing coordinator for the Canadian Rockies Hot Springs in Banff, Alta., agrees. "I occasionally get calls from Europeans asking to book an appointment with the spa doctor, but we don't have one," she says. "They still subscribe to the therapeutic benefits of soaking in mineral waters -- not just for the muscles but for the skin, too. European spas also cater to a broader range of health concerns. I guess it comes down to cultural differences in how we look at health and well-being."