The Salt Room

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During a stay in the Phoenix metro area, a friend invited me to make a trip to Mesa with her to check out a store that sells salt lamps. My friend was interested in buying a salt lamp for another friend and wanted to shop in person rather than through a website. I’m open to new experiences, so I said I’d tag along.

IMG_4365The store in question is Himalayas Salt Lamps & More, located at 240 West Main Street in Mesa, AZ.

While we were talking about taking a trip to the store, my friend told me that Himalayas Salt Lamps & More has a salt room. A what? I asked, then got on the store’s website to get more information.

According to the store’s website,

Salt Rooms have become popular in the U.S. because of the success of Speleotherapy [the respiratory therapy involving breathing of the mineral infused air of a salt mine] in Europe…Patients get lasting relief from Respiratory disorders with the benefits of Himalayan salt therapy. This Natural treatment is recommended by many doctors and relieves symptoms of Asthma, COPD, Sinus Congestion, Allergies, Migraines, Chronic Cough, Cystic Fibrosis and other Respiratory conditions. There are absolutely no side effects.

I teased my friend, telling her I was going to call Himalayas Salt Lamps & More and ask if I could lick the salt room. This joke made us laugh a lot, and after a while, all I had to say to get us both giggling was, Can I lick it?

The day of our excursion arrived. We were at the store not long after it opened. Before we walked in, we were able to read a sign with information about the history and benefits of salt lamps.

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We went in. We learned more.

IMG_4367The store was comprised of several small rooms lit by salt lamps. The dim lighting gave the store a sense of tranquility.

The rooms beyond the front counter where purchases are made housed salt lamps in a variety of colors, sizes and shapes. Most of the lamps looked somewhat like rocks in various shades of pink, but other lamps had been fashioned into hearts and crosses. I prefer the natural, chunky shapes.

In one of the rooms where lamps were displayed, there was a large, hand-painted sign which read, You lick it, you buy it. Apparently I was not the first person to make the connection between salt lamps and salt licks. And I had thought myself so clever!

Why would anyone want to own a salt lamp? According to the store’s salt lamp page,

Salt Lamps work like an air purifier. Removing bacteria, dust, allergens, smoke, odors and mold spores from the air we breathe and emit no noise, odors or HARMFUL OZONE…Salt Lamps never get dirty or dusty and require no maintenance (other than changing a bulb occasionally). They help you Breathe Easy and Sleep Better!

How Do They Work?

…when warmed by the low wattage bulb, the salt crystal lamp produces negative ions which bind with the excess positive ions (dust, allergens, etc.). It builds up the ion field by reacting with the humidity in the air. Best if left on 24/7 as it takes time for the lamp to warm and create the ions. Claims of the efficacy of Salt Lamps have a solid foundation in science. The positive effects of soothing light and color, air cleaning and negative ions have been studied for decades. The book, Water & Salt: The Essence of Life [by Dr. Barbara Hendel and Peter Ferreira] documents the use of Himalayan salt products for use in the home.

The combination of negative ions and their effects leads to relief in Asthma, Allergies, Migraines, Sinus congestion and more. Snoring is normally relieved by the clearing of sinuses within a few days…

After looking at all the lamps available, my friend and I decided to sit in the salt room. The floor of the salt room was IMG_4363made from multiple blocks of pink/orange/yellow salt  There were blocks of salt in the walls of the room as well. Behind the blocks of salt were lights, ostensibly to heat the salt so it produces the negative ions needed to clean up the air. I found the soft amber light in the room peaceful and quite calming. I was happy to sit in the salt room while my friend walked around the store and made her decision about which lamp to buy.

I didn’t think the salt room was going to provide anything more than a relaxing environment. I didn’t really believe it could help me breathe easier.

I do actually have problems breathing. Both of my nostrils always feel as it they are at least halfway plugged. I don’t have to breathe through my mouth, but do feel as if I’m having to stretch a little to get each good breath.

I’ll be dammed if after sitting in the salt room for about five minutes my nostrils didn’t open up, and I could breathe, really breathe. WOW! When my friend came back into the room and I told her about my breathing and my initial disbelief, she said I was experiencing the opposite of the placebo effect. With the placebo effect, a person feels better because they think the treatment will be helpful, but I was feeling better despite having been convinced the treatment wasn’t going to do anything for me.

My friend gave me a small salt candle holder, but I haven’t yet bought tea lights to go in it. Once I get candles and try it out, I’ll post an update in the comments about whether or not it helps.

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The Health Ambition website has a really good article on pink Himalayan salt lamps which includes a critical analysis of the health benefits they offer.

I took all of the photos in this post.

About Blaize Sun

My name is Blaize Sun. Maybe that's the name my family gave me; maybe it's not. In any case, that's the name I'm using here and now. I've been a rubber tramp for nearly a decade.I like to see places I've never seen before, and I like to visit the places I love again and again. For most of my years on the road, my primary residence was my van. For almost half of the time I was a van dweller, I was going it alone. Now I have a little travel trailer parked in a small RV park in a small desert town. I also have a minivan to travel in. When it gets too hot for me in my desert, I get in my minivan and move up in elevation to find cooler temperatures or I house sit in town in a place with air conditioning I was a work camper in a remote National Forest recreation area on a mountain for four seasons. I was a camp host and parking lot attendant for two seasons and wrote a book about my experiences called Confessions of a Work Camper: Tales from the Woods. During the last two seasons as a work camper on that mountain, I was a clerk in a campground store. I'm also a house and pet sitter, and I pick up odd jobs when I can. I'm primarily a writer, but I also create beautiful little collages; hand make hemp jewelry and warm, colorful winter hats; and use my creative and artistic skills to decorate my life and brighten the lives of others. My goal (for my writing and my life) is to be real. I don't like fake, and I don't want to share fake. I want to share my authentic thoughts and feelings. I want to give others space and permission to share their authentic selves. Sometimes I think the best way to support others is to leave them alone and allow them to be. I am more than just a rubber tramp artist. I'm fat. I'm funny. I'm flawed. I try to be kind. I'm often grouchy. I am awed by the stars in the dark desert night. I hope my writing moves people. If my writing makes someone laugh or cry or feel angry or happy or troubled or comforted, I have done my job. If my writing makes someone think and question and try a little harder, I've done my job. If my writing opens a door for someone, changes a life, I have done my job well. I hope you enjoy my blog posts, my word and pictures, the work I've done to express myself in a way others will understand. I hope you appreciate the time and energy I put into each post. I hope you will click the like button each time you like what you have read. I hope you will share posts with the people in your life. I hope you'll leave a comment and share your authentic self with me and this blog's other readers. Thank you for reading.  A writer without readers is very sad indeed.

11 Responses »

  1. I have a dozen salt lamps in my small apartment. It makes a HUGE difference 🙂 People are allowed to smoke in their own units in this building and SLC has horrible temperature inversions, with dangerous smog. My salt lamps make the air much cleaner. To get to my place requires going down a long hall that I call the gauntlet of smoke. When people get to my apartment, they are surprised not to smell smoke inside. At night, the wire basket lamps full of chunks look like little campfires. Most of the people who have been in my apartment went on to buy their own lamps.

    • Thanks for reading and for sharing your experiences with salt lamps, Wendy. It sounds like they really work for you.

      I haven’t seen the kind with the salt chunks in wire baskets that look like little campfires. They sound really cool.

      If I lived in a house, I would have a salt lamp next to my bed, although I like to sleep in pitch darkness, so I probably would not leave it on all night.

  2. Ok, so what kind of $ is involved? How large or many does one need for a small bedroom in a humid region? Sounds great. M

    • Instead of buying salt lamps from a specialty store, it’s cheaper to get them online, especially if shipping is free/cheap. I bought half of mine at my local Smith’s, which is part of Kroger. I think you get more ions floating around with the lamps that are baskets of salt chunks rather than the solid salt lamps. I have both sorts in various sizes and shapes. Most of my lamps were $20 or less on sale. The lamp that stopped my allergies the first time was in a mansion I was visiting. It was at least 3 feet tall and cost hundreds of dollars.

    • I think my friend paid about $30 for the lamp she bought. It came with an electrical cord and a light bulb. (The owner of the store stressed the lamp doesn’t work properly unless there is a 15 watt bulb burning in it.)

      I don’t know the answers to your other questions, but Wendy has information to share.

      Thanks, Miss M for reading this post and asking your questions.

  3. How interesting! I think I might have to go there! I never knew salt was therapeutic, but actually I believe it since mineral baths and things like that are.

    • Liselle, you make a good point with the connection between salt lamps and mineral baths. I wonder if the minerals in the hot water releases negative ions and also cleans up the air.

      Himalayas Salt Lamps and More also sells salt for eating and adding to water and soaking. (I guess that’s the “and More” part.) People are really into the multiple healing applications of that salt.

  4. I never did use the Himalayan salt candle holder my friend gave me. It bounced around in my van for a while, then I gave it to my friends in Vegas. I figured someone should be using it, and I wasn’t.

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