I recently went to a wellness retreat and will be posting more from that experience soon, but one of the spa offerings was an ionic detox foot bath. Neither my friend nor I was able to try it, but it piqued my curiosity. I am constantly recommending foot soaks to my clients - warm water 3 inches above the ankle with Epsom salt and your fave essential oil (OR the amazing herbal foot soaks that I sell at my clinic). There are tons and tons of important acupoints on the feet and ankles plus water is super wonderful for relaxing the body and bringing the attention down and away from our ever active brain.
I wasn’t sure what the ionic detox stuff meant
so I took to Google and found out that the foot bath includes something called an “array” which you set in the water and it bubbles and basically creates a reaction with the salt you put in. I hated chemistry sooooo some kind of ionizing of the water happens with the ionizing machine giving the hydrogen in the water a positive charge which does something cool with your body and then allegedly detoxes your system and pulls out toxins into the water.
Sounded cool enough for me to give it a whirl.
I found out that the water will always turn a rusty brown color even if you never put your feet in it due to the ionization process. So, the muddy water is not a detox, but rather a chemical reaction. If you look up ionic foot detox charts there are color coded detox keys, but I believe this relates to extra flakes or particles in the water as the base line water will always turn a light rusty brown. Yum.
I set up a date night foot soak adventure
I gathered the Epsom salt, essential oils and the foot tubs. I cleverly boiled a huge pot of water while making dinner so our post-dinner foot soaks would be toasty. Turns out I way over did that and our foot soaks were so toasty that our little toes stayed out of there for several minutes waiting for the water to cool down. I think next time I’ll do about two cups of boiling water and fill the rest with lukewarm water.
Definitely set a towel underneath the tubs for water splashage, wear shorts or pants that roll up, and have a delicious beverage nearby. I was sweating within 2 minutes of getting my feet in that water! It was fun to sit and chat while feeling like you’re doing a health and wellness thing together. I wish I’d thought to swap foot rubs after, but we had already spent too much time waiting for the scalding water to cool down.
Super important note: if you have any kind of neuropathy or altered sensation PLEASE test the water with a thermometer or have a friend test it for you so you don’t get burned.
My feet had a subtle orange hue to them plus a puffy redness from the heat. I had to really wash the bin so that the ionized water didn’t stain it (it came with plastic covers but I didn’t want to soak my feet in yucky thin plastic chemicals - even though the tub is a hard plastic and probably also chemically).
There are definitely things I’d do differently next time
less boiling water,
more essential oils,
use an herbal foot soak in addition to Epsom salt,
have a foot rub afterwards with a thick lotion…
But, overall I am looking forward to doing this again.
If you want to read more about this check out this article from my doctoral program!
xo,
jenna
Ionic Food Detox Bath