What is it?
Healing earth has a broad spectrum of activity and is used today mainly in the context of naturopathy. It is known that healing earth was already used in ancient and medieval times. It consists of naturally pure loess or loamy earth, but can also be produced from clay or bog earth.
Healing earth is mined from the layer of earth that emerged from the last ice age, which is why healing earth is often called ice age loess. For human use, it was first cleaned after mining and then dried. The exact composition depends on the respective mining area.
Aluminium silicate makes up the largest component. Furthermore, healing earth contains minerals such as potassium, calcium, magnesium and sodium in different compositions. In addition, the trace elements such as chromium, copper, iron, selenium and zinc are contained.
Application
Nowadays healing earth is mainly available in powdered form and can be taken mixed with water (“internal use”). The healing earth-water mixture can also be applied to the hair or skin (“external application”). It is also available in capsule form, as granules or as a ready-to-use cream.
Two major areas of application of the healing clay are, in addition to the treatment of gastrointestinal complaints, the application on the skin in case of skin impurities and on the scalp or hair in case of oily hair. Here, the healing clay is not consumed, but applied as described in the respective sections. Healing earth is available in pharmacies, drugstores and health food stores.
The effect of the healing clay is manifold and depends on its application. Despite its beneficial properties, the side effects of healing clay, although rare, should not be neglected. Since healing earth can render the active ingredients of other medicines ineffective, its use must be clarified with a doctor if you are taking other medicines regularly.
Healing clay can also cause allergic reactions on the skin. For internal use, powdered healing earth is mixed with water and drunk or taken as a finished capsule. Thus it has a detoxifying and purifying effect on the body, as it can buffer acids and bind toxins in the body.
Accordingly, healing clay is used to stabilize the intestinal flora or for intestinal rehabilitation during fasting. Healing clay calms the stomach, helps against heartburn and relieves intestinal irritations such as flatulence or diarrhoea. For external use, healing clay can be applied as a moist compress.
The effect varies depending on the temperature of the compress. Cold compresses have a dampening, decongestant and calming effect, tighten the vessels and thus relieve inflammation. Cool healing earth envelopes are also popular for joint complaints such as rheumatism.
Warm compresses have the opposite effect on the vascular system. By dilating the vessels, they promote blood circulation and thus relax the muscles. Well known are warm healing earth envelopes from fango treatments.
Healing earth has also been used on the skin to treat insect bites, sunburn, neurodermatitis, psoriasis, allergic rashes, abscesses and acne. In addition, it relieves the symptoms of muscle tension or tenosynovitis and relieves itching and pain. Its use as a mask is particularly popular for acne, as healing earth has a drying effect that counteracts impure and oily skin.
It develops its effect by removing excess sebum and dirt by “sucking” it in. Bacteria are also absorbed so that inflammations are prevented. The application of the healing clay on the face is usually in the form of a mask.
This is described in detail under the point Mask. For severe acne with very oily skin, it is recommended to apply a mask two to three times a week. If the skin condition is clear, the application can be limited to once a week.
In order to prevent the skin from drying out, a moisturizer should be applied afterwards (Attention – do not apply oily creams!). The drying effect also exists when applied to the scalp or hair. The scalp is dried out and the healing earth absorbs the excess fat.
It also cleanses blocked sebaceous glands. After the application, the scalp should not be so quickly re-greased.A suggestion for a healing earth-water mixture for the hair could look like this: Mix 6 tablespoons of healing earth and 10 tablespoons of lukewarm water. Should the mixture become too thick, some more water can be added.
The mixture is applied to hair and scalp. After a reaction time of about 5 minutes, the hair is then rinsed with lukewarm water. The effect of the healing clay unfolds more strongly if no shampoo is used in the same washing process.
For a rinse, which can be used after washing the hair with “normal” shampoo, less healing earth is combined with more water. A suggestion here would be to mix 2 tablespoons of healing earth and 500 ml of lukewarm water. After application to the hair, the conditioner should work for about 5 to 10 minutes and then rinse thoroughly with lukewarm water.
In case of very greasy hair, the application time can be increased to 15 to 20 minutes. Interestingly, animals also treat themselves with healing clay. It has been observed that, for example, dogs or deer with skin problems expose the corresponding layer of earth and then wallow in it. It has also been observed that animals ingest the earth that corresponds to our healing clay when digestive problems occur. Therefore, healing earth can also be used in veterinary medicine in consultation with a veterinarian.
