Short answer: The Dead Sea sits on Israel's eastern edge at the lowest land elevation on Earth, roughly 430 meters below sea level, and its water is about 34 percent salt, close to ten times saltier than the ocean (about 9.6 times, to be exact). What sets it apart is its mineral makeup: magnesium, calcium, and potassium chlorides plus the highest bromide concentration of any body of water on the planet. Controlled dermatology research shows that bathing in magnesium-rich Dead Sea salt can improve skin hydration and barrier function and calm inflammation in dry, sensitive skin, which is why Israeli brands build entire skincare lines around its mud and minerals.
The geography that makes it one of a kind
The Dead Sea is a terminal, hypersaline lake shared by Israel and Jordan and bordered by the West Bank. It is fed mainly by the Jordan River but has no outlet, so under the desert sun the water evaporates and its minerals concentrate to extreme levels. Its surface now sits about 439.8 meters (1,443 feet) below sea level as of 2025, the lowest exposed land on Earth, and the lake keeps shrinking by more than a meter a year.
Its salinity was measured at about 34.2 percent in 2011, which makes the water roughly 9.6 times saltier than the ocean, per encyclopedic measurements of the lake. That extreme density is the physical reason bathers float so easily, and it is also why the shoreline has drawn people seeking relief for thousands of years.
What is actually in the water
Ordinary seawater is mostly sodium chloride, plain table salt. The Dead Sea is chemically different. Roughly 50 percent of its dissolved salts are magnesium chloride, about 30 percent sodium chloride, about 14 percent calcium chloride, and about 4 percent potassium chloride, and it holds the highest bromide-ion concentration of any body of water on Earth. That magnesium-heavy, mineral-rich profile, not the raw saltiness alone, is what skincare formulators care about, because magnesium is the mineral tied most directly to the skin-barrier results below. The dark shoreline mud carries the same minerals, which is why it is scooped, refined, and sold as mineral mud masks.
What the science says about your skin
The strongest evidence sits with dermatology rather than folklore. In a 2005 controlled study, Proksch and colleagues had volunteers soak one forearm in a 5 percent magnesium-rich Dead Sea salt solution and the other in ordinary tap water. The salt-bathed skin showed better barrier function, higher hydration, and less roughness and redness in dry, atopic skin, effects the authors tied to magnesium binding water at the skin surface and supporting barrier repair. That is a specific, measured benefit, not a vague promise.
Salt bathing paired with UVB light, a practice called balneophototherapy, also carries some, though low-quality, evidence of easing psoriasis compared with UVB alone. It helps to be clear about the limits too: the research supports hydration and the soothing of dry and atopic skin far better than it supports sweeping anti-aging or acne claims, so treat those with healthy skepticism. The fair takeaway is modest but real. Dead Sea minerals can genuinely hydrate and calm troubled, dry skin.
People sensed as much long before anyone ran a clinical trial. King Herod the Great built fortresses and palaces along the western, Israeli shore around 30 BCE, and the region is frequently described as one of the world's first health resorts, per historical accounts of the site. The science simply gives that ancient intuition a measurable footing.
Bringing the Dead Sea home
Israel has turned this natural resource into a real industry. Ahava, founded in 1988 and based in Israel, makes hand creams, cleansers, body milks, and anti-aging products from Dead Sea mud and minerals, and it is one of several Israeli brands working the same source. If you want the magnesium, calcium, and mineral mud without a flight to the desert, our Dead Sea collection gathers mineral mud, bath salts, moisturizers, and serums drawn from the region.
The bridge: keep your expectations anchored to the science. These products earn their keep on hydration and on calming dry, sensitive skin, which is exactly what the controlled research supports. A good starting point is a mineral mud mask once or twice a week plus a magnesium-rich moisturizer, so you are using the same raw material dermatologists studied, sourced straight from Israel's most unusual body of water. Buying from an Israeli brand also means your purchase supports the country's stewardship of a one-of-a-kind natural resource.
Related
- Benefits of Dead Sea Salt
- Why Is the Dead Sea So Salty?
- Benefits of Dead Sea Skincare Products from Israel
Last updated July 2026.
