After Swimming in Chilean Salt Baths, This Product Saved My Dry Skin

Visiting Chile was never on my bucket list — let alone taking a dip in a nature-made salt bath in Chile in the middle of the Atacama Desert. When I got the invite from Dove to travel to the second driest climate on the planet — Antarctica is first — I jumped at the opportunity. As someone who's never been to South America, I couldn't wait to experience all that Chile has to offer, but what awaited me on the other side of the 13-hour journey was beyond my wildest dreams.

The itinerary for this special trip had everything: scenic hikes (we even took a trip to a place called the Rainbow Valley, named for its multicolored rocky mountains), local cuisine, stargazing (due to the altitude, the night sky was the clearest I'd ever seen), shopping in the city center, and, of course, a visit to the salt baths.

The purpose of this trip? To put Dove's Deep Moisture Body Wash ($9) to the test, seeing how its hydrating claims would stack up against one of the driest climates in the world. And boy, did I need all the hydration I could get after taking a dip in the salt baths. Keep reading to learn more about my full experience.

What Are Salt Baths and Why Are We Bathing In Them?

Salt baths occur naturally in a handful of places around the world — the Atacama Desert being one of them. Despite thinking I knew what I was getting myself into, nothing could have prepared me for seeing the natural phenomenon in real life. It was about an hour's drive from our hotel, the Our Habitas Atacama, in San Pedro, down winding, bumpy dirt roads and nestled between some mountains. The baths came out of nowhere, placed in the middle of a large, flat stretch of land. The surrounding area was all white (because of the salt), and the bright turquoise pools popped against the beige and brown of the mountains and sand.

Salt baths have a myriad of benefits, from relaxing your muscles and soothing aches to potentially minimizing inflammation. They also gently exfoliate the skin, leaving you feeling soft and smooth — after you rinse off all the salty residue and moisturize, but more on that later.

My Experience at the Salt Baths

Before jumping into the salt baths, some preparation was needed. First and foremost (and most importantly to me as a beauty editor), your hair has to be up. If hair gets in the salty water, it can become tangled and incredibly dry (not to mention, the salt can mess up your dye job). We were also instructed to remove all jewelry, as the salt could potentially damage it as well. Then we were ready to jump in.

I'm not going to lie: walking across the salt wasn't very pleasant. Picture huge salt crystals with all of their rough, jagged edges — now picture walking on them with bare feet. After tiptoeing my way to the edge of the pool, I slowly waded into the water. The bottom of the pool wasn't much better in terms of comfort — this is not your fancy bath house in SoHo — but at least the water wasn't cold.

The coolest thing about the pools — aside from the fact that nature just made them — is how easy you can just float, thanks to the high sodium content. If you've ever swum in a saltwater pool and noticed how easy it was to swim, picture that with 100 times the salt. I was able to sit in the water practically upright without needing to tread water or make any effort to swim.

The experience didn't end when I climbed out of the water and toweled off. Standing under the hot Chilean sun, my skin began to dry and I was left with a white, chalky residue on my skin. It felt prickly and rough under my touch, as if I were buffing a salt scrub into dry skin (not exactly the most pleasant sensation). A shower was in order.

There were stalls to rinse off the salt residue, but the trickle of some water wouldn't do. It helped some — I was no longer covered in as much white, salty residue — but I needed soap and a washcloth. When I got back to my hotel, I sprinted for the shower, where I went to town with the Dove Deep Moisture Body Wash. The foamy, rich lather coated my skin, even locking in hydration thanks to the ingredients in the formula.

The real test of this body wash's moisture content, however, came after I rinsed off and ventured back out into the high Chilean temperatures again — sans any body lotion. If you had told me before embarking on this trip that I would not apply body lotion for five days, I probably would have shuddered in horror, because my dry skin needs constant hydration. But the body wash kept me feeling good long after I rinsed.

Jessica Harrington (she/her) is the section lead of Popsugar Beauty, where she oversees coverage around makeup, skin care, hair, tattoos, and more. With more than nine years of industry experience, she has interviewed countless celebrities, reported on hundreds of beauty trends, and swatched more lipsticks than she can count. Prior to PS, Jessica worked for publications such as Makeup.com, Skincare.com, and The Zoe Report.